Zeal for God

May 9, 2019 | Saint Theophan

Fri­day. [Acts 8:40–9:19; John 6:48–54] Saint Paul de­fend­ed the Old Tes­ta­ment rou­tines so zeal­ous­ly at first, be­cause he was sin­cere­ly cer­tain that it was the un­al­ter­able will of God that these rou­tines re­main unchanged. He was not zeal­ous be­cause it was his fa­thers’ faith, but be­cause he was zeal­ous in bring­ing ser­vice to God. In this lay the spir­it of his life — to de­vote him­self to God and di­rect all his en­er­gy to­ward things pleas­ing to Him. Thus, in or­der to bring a­bout his con­ver­sion, or to make him stand for the realm of New Tes­ta­ment things rath­er than the Old Tes­ta­ment, it was suf­fi­cient to tan­gi­bly show him that God no long­er wants the Old Tes­ta­ment but rath­er the New, and that He has removed all of His good will from the for­mer and giv­en it to the lat­ter. The Lord’s ap­pear­ance on the road ac­com­plished this in him. There it be­came clear to him that he was not di­rect­ing his zeal where he ought, that he was not pleas­ing God by act­ing as he did, but was go­ing con­tra­ry to His will. This vi­sion of the state of af­fairs, with the help of God’s grace, im­me­di­ate­ly changed his striv­ings, and he cried out: emLord, what wilt Thou have me to do?/em (Acts 9:6). And from that mo­ment on he di­rect­ed all of his zeal to­ward what was shown to him, and he did not for­get this event for his whole life, but thank­ful­ly re­mem­ber­ing it, stirred up his zeal with it — not sparing any­thing to work for his Lord and Sav­iour. This is how all peo­ple act who have sin­cere­ly turn­ed to the Lord.

Go to the Lord

May 9, 2019 | Saint Theophan

Wednesday. [Acts 14:6–18; John 7:14–30] On Mid-Pentecost a cry is heard from the Lord: If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink (John 7:37). If so, then let us all go to Him. Whoever thirsts for anything, as long as it is not contra?ry to the spirit of the Lord, will find satisfaction without fail. Whoever thirsts for knowledge, go to the Lord, for He is the only light truly enlightening every man. Whoever thirsts for cleansing from sins and to soothe the burning of his con?science, go to the Lord, for He lifted up the sins of the whole world onto the tree (cf. I Pet. 2:24) and tore up their handwriting (cf. Col. 2:14). Whoever thirsts for peace of heart, go to the Lord, for He is the trea?sure, the possession of which will force you to forget all deprivations and despise all goods in order to possess Him alone. Whoever needs strength — He has every strength. Glory — He has glory on high. Free?dom — He is the giver of true free?dom. He will resolve all of our un?certainties, will break the bonds of the passions, will disperse all sor?rows and grieving, will enable us to overcome all impediments, all temptations and snares of the ene?my, and will smooth out the path of our spiritual life. Let us all go to the Lord!

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Belonging to Christ not of the world

May 8, 2019 | Saint Theophan

[Acts 10:21–33; John 7:1–13] The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil (John 7:7). The Lord did not say this to His disciples; to His disciples He foretold later that the world would hate and persecute them also, be?cause He has taken them out of the world. So, note what the world hates, and you will learn of Christ’s lot. The world rebels most strongly against what is of Christ, what is closest to Him, and more like unto His spirit. This is an external indica?tor, but for those who live external?ly this is enough. The world does not act on its own, but is kindled in its works by its prince — satan, the works of whom the Lord destroyed, and continues to destroy in believ?ers and with believers. He cannot do anything to the Lord directly; this is why he directs his anger up?on those who believe in Him, so that in frustrating them he will frustrate the Lord. He does not act directly in this, but through his agencies, which make up the world. This does not mean that he is strong; do not fear him, but rather be bold, for the Lord overcame the world and the prince thereof. Satan is not in a con?dition to do anything to one who does not yield on his own.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

True Source of Life

May 7, 2019 | Saint Theophan

[Acts 10:1–16; John 6:56–69] When the Lord presented His teaching about the mystery of His Body and Blood, setting it as a nec?essary condition for communication with Himself and as a source of true life, then many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him (John 6:66). Such an act of God’s boundless mercy toward us seemed too miraculous to them, and their disinclination toward the miracu?lous tore them from the Lord. The Lord saw this, and although He was prepared to be crucified for the sal?vation of every person, He did not consider it possible to diminish or cancel the miraculous. It is so cru?cial in the economy of our salva?tion! Albeit with regret, He allowed them to depart from Him into the darkness of unbelief and destruc?tion; and said to them and to the chosen twelve as well, will ye also go away? (John 6:67) This showed that He was ready to let them go al?so, if they could not bow down be?fore the miraculous. So it is, that to flee from the miraculous is to flee from the Lord and Saviour; and one who turns away from the miracu?lous is as one who is perishing. May those who are horrified by the mi?raculous heed this! Even they will come across a miracle which they will not be able to thwart: death, and after death, judgment. But whether this inability to thwart it will serve them unto salvation, only God knows.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Zeal for God

May 4, 2019 | Saint Theophan

Friday. [Acts 8:40–9:19; John 6:48–54] Saint Paul defended the Old Tes?tament routines so zealously at first, because he was sincerely certain that it was the unalterable will of God that these routines remain unchanged. He was not zealous be?cause it was his fathers’ faith, but because he was zealous in bringing service to God. In this lay the spirit of his life — to devote himself to God and direct all his energy to?ward things pleasing to Him. Thus, in order to bring about his conver?sion, or to make him stand for the realm of New Testament things rather than the Old Testament, it was sufficient to tangibly show him that God no longer wants the Old Testament but rather the New, and that He has removed all of His good will from the former and given it to the latter. The Lord’s appearance on the road accomplished this in him. There it became clear to him that he was not directing his zeal where he ought, that he was not pleasing God by acting as he did, but was going contrary to His will. This vision of the state of affairs, with the help of God’s grace, immediately changed his strivings, and he cried out: Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? (Acts 9:6). And from that moment on he directed all of his zeal toward what was shown to him, and he did not forget this event for his whole life, but thankfully remembering it, stirred up his zeal with it — not sparing anything to work for his Lord and Saviour. This is how all people act who have sincerely turn?ed to the Lord.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

The Lord’s Dwelling Place

April 30, 2019 | Saint Theophan

[Acts 6:8–7:5, 47–60; John 4:46–54] Saint Stephan says: The most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands… What house will ye build Me? saith the Lord or what is the place of My rest? (Acts 7:48–49). Only the temple in the heart not made with hands can contain God, as the Lord said: If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Fa?ther will love him, and We will come unto him, and make our abode with him (John 14:23). How this is accom?plished is unfathomable for us, but it is true because it is obvious that then it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure (Phil. 2:13).[1] Do not rea?son, just give your heart away to the Lord, and He Himself will establish of it a church for Himself — but give it unsparingly. If there are parts which are not given, then from the heart a whole church cannot be es?tablished, for one thing will be de?cayed, another broken — and what will come out, if anything comes out, is a church with holes or with?out a roof, or without doors. It is not possible to live in such a church: the Lord will not be in it. It will only seem that it is a church, but in reali?ty will be a conglomerate mass.

[1]The Slavonic for Phil 2:13 reads: God worketh in us both desire and action, according to his good plea?sure

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Fleshly and Spiritual Lives

April 21, 2019 | Saint Theophan

[Acts 3:11–16; John 3:22–33] We have two lives, fleshly and spiritual. Our spirit is as though buried in our flesh. Once it begins to extract itself — coming to life by God’s grace — from its intertwining with the flesh and to appear in its spiritual purity, then it will be res?urrected, or it will resurrect itself piece by piece. When it wholly tears itself out of this binding, then it comes forth as if from a tomb, in a renewed life. In this manner the spirit becomes separate, alive and active; whereas the tomb of the flesh is separate, dead and inactive, though both are in the same person. This is the mystery of what the apostle says: where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (II Cor. 3:17). This is liberty from decay, which surrounds our incorruptible spirit; or from passions, corrupting our na?ture. This spirit, entering into the freedom of the children of God is like a beautifully coloured butterfly, fluttering away from its cocoon. Be?hold its rainbow colouring: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temper?ance (Gal. 5:22). Is it possible for such a beauty of perfection not to arouse in us a desire to emulate it?

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Life According to the Resurrection

April 20, 2019 | Saint Theophan

Friday. [Acts 3:1–8; John 2:12–22] There are certain individuals whom the holy fathers praise for their Christian lives, for they rose from the dead before the general resur?rection. What is the secret of such a life? They mastered the characteris?tic features of a life according to the resurrection as they are shown in the word of God, and made them their own inner properties. The fu?ture life is devoid of all that is flesh?ly: there men neither marry, nor are women given in marriage, there they will not eat dead food, and they will receive a spiritual body. Thus, whoever lives estranged from all fleshly things receives in himself, or returns to himself, elements of the future life according to the resur?rection. Reach the point that all fleshly things within you die, and you will be resurrected before the future resurrection. The apostle in?dicates the path to this when he says: Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh (Gal. 5:16). And he attests that through this path it is surely possible to at?tain what is awaited: he that soweth to the Spirit, he says, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting (Gal. 6:8).

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Breath the Air of Resurrection

April 19, 2019 | Saint Theophan

[Acts 2:38–43; John 3:1–15] Beneficial is the work of those who, using sensible reason, crush the enormous lie mustered against the truth of the resurrection. Read and arm yourself with this reason; meanwhile, do not be too lazy to al?low more and more space for the power of Christ’s Resurrection to enter into you. The more you do this, the more you will breathe the air of the Resurrection, and you will become quite safe from all the darts of the enemy, which are directed a?gainst this truth. You ask, what is needed for this? Nothing special: be the way you ought to be according to the vow you made in holy bap?tism, which is our resurrection. You spat on satan and all his works? So continue to preserve yourself thus in relation to him. Did you unite yourself with Christ? Then abide with Him. The deeds of darkness and light are obvious. Flee from the former and make all diligence with the latter. But do this without any compromises, even the smallest, so that the norm of your life becomes the following: there is no commu?nion of light with darkness, or of Christ with Belial (cf. II Cor. 6:15).

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Truth of the Resurrection

April 18, 2019 | Saint Theophan

Wednesday. [Acts 2:22–36; John 1:35–51] The mind can prove the truth of the Resurrection through reason based on the scriptures, and a non-believer cannot but admit the power of its arguments, as long as a sense of truth is not yet dead in him. A believer does not need proof, be?cause the Church of God is filled with the light of the Resurrection. Both of these indicators of truth are faithful and convincing. But count?er-reasoning can spring up and con?tradict mind’s reason, and faith can be trampled and shaken by perplex?ities and doubts, coming from with?out and arising within. Is there no invincible wall around the truth of the Resurrection? There is. It will occur when the power of the Resur?rection, received already at bap?tism, begins to actively be revealed as it purges the corruption of soul and body, and establishes within them the beginnings of a new life. He who experiences this will walk in the light of the Resurrection, and anyone talking against the truth of the Resurrection will seem to him insane, like a person saying in the daytime that it is night.

Saint Theophan the  Recluse