My Spirit Shall Not Strive With Man

March 29, 2013 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

Friday. My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh (Gen. 6:3).[1] Man has two op‐posing forces inside, but one con‐sciousness — the human being. The characteristics of this being are de‐termined by his inclinations. If he sides with the Spirit, he is spiritual; if he sides with the flesh, he is flesh‐ly. The spirit does not disappear al‐together even from the fleshly, but it is enslaved, and has no voice. It becomes yoked, and serves the flesh like a slave serves its mistress, in‐venting all sorts of pleasures for it. Similarly, the flesh does not disap‐pear from the spiritual, but it sub‐mits to the spirit and serves it. It los‐es its natural rights for food through fasting, its rights for sleep through vigil, for rest through continuous la‐bour and weariness, for pleasing the feelings through seclusion and silence. Where the flesh reigns, God does not abide; for His organ of communication with man is the spirit, which is not given its due pri‐ority in the flesh. God’s approach is felt for the first time when the spirit begins to claim its own through the operation of the fear of God and one’s conscience. When conscious‐ness and freedom also come to help, then God communicates with man and begins to dwell in him. From that moment on begins the inspira‐tion of the soul, the flesh and of the entire inner and outer man, while God becomes all in all in him. By be‐coming spiritual, man is made di‐vine. What a marvellous benefit, and how little it is remembered, val‐ued and sought after!

[1]The Slavonic for Gen. 6:3 reads: My Spirit shall not eternally be scorned by men, because they are flesh.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Eye of the Mind

March 28, 2013 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

Thursday. Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler (Prov. 6:4–5). Everyone who in his heart has set out now, before the face of the Lord, to live according to His commandments, should take this rule as his guide. He must not give sleep to his eyes — not these outer eyes, but the inner eyes of his mind — so that they will gaze into his heart, and faithfully observe all that occurs there, and thus enable those who are zealous to find the enemy’s snares and avoid danger from them. The heart now becomes an arena for struggle with the enemy. There the enemy unceasingly sows his own [seed], which is in turn reflect‐ed in one’s thoughts. Such thoughts, however, are not always outra‐geously bad, but are for the most part disguised by false kindness and correctness. The chain of all thoughts is like a net of artful de‐sign! He who sets out after them heedlessly will not escape entangle‐ment, and, consequently the danger of a fall. This is why, brother, you must keep the eye of your mind sharp-sighted by means of strict at‐tention toward everything that oc‐curs in you and around you. Notice what your relentless “advisor” pro‐poses to you on the left side, and sift out the reason it was proposed to you and where it will lead, and you will never fall into his nets. Only, do not forget that attentiveness alone is not effective — it must be joined with abstinence, vigilance, and un‐ceasing prayer to the Lord. Combine all these, and it will be hard to catch you.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Confession Of Sins

March 22, 2013 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

Friday. The Lord scorneth the scorn‐ers: but He giveth grace unto the lowly (Prov. 3:34). Particularly re‐member these words when you go to confession. Nothing like pride binds your tongue to keep it from saying, “I am a sinner.” Humble yourself before the Lord, do not spare yourself, do not fear the face of man. Reveal your shame for it to be washed; show your wounds for them to be healed; tell of all your unrighteousness that you be justi‐fied. The more merciless you will be with yourself, the more compassion the Lord will show towards you, and you will leave with a sweet feel‐ing of forgiveness. This is that grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, given from Him to those who humble them‐selves through sincere confession of their sins.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Forgive And You Will Be Forgiven

March 18, 2013 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[Rom. 13:11–14:4; Matt. 6:14–21] For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you; But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, nei‐ther will your Father forgive your trespasses (Matt. 6:14–15). What a simple and handy means of salva‐tion! Your trespasses are forgiven under the condition that you forgive the trespasses of your neighbour a‐gainst you. This means that you are in your own hands. Force yourself to pass from agitated feelings to‐ward your brother to truly peaceful feelings — and that is all. Forgive‐ness day — what a great heavenly day of God this is! If all of us used it as we ought, this day would make Christian societies into heavenly so‐cieties, and the earth would merge with heaven.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Ye Shall Be A Blessing

March 15, 2013 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

Friday. So will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing, promises the Lord through the prophet Zechariah (Zech. 8:7–23). But under what con‐dition? Under the condition that ev‐ery man will speak the truth to his neighbour, that men will righteous‐ly sort out their affairs amongst themselves, that men will not re‐member wrongs in their hearts a‐gainst their neighbour, that they will love no false oath, and will love truth and peace. If these conditions are met, says the Lord, they shall be My people, and I will be their God, in truth and righteousness (Zech. 8:8), and His blessing shall spread among them. Then all strangers shall hear and say, “Let us go speedily to them to pray before the Lord, for we have heard that the Lord is with them (cf. Zech. 8:21–3). Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts (Zech. 8:22). Thus did the high moral purity of the first Christians attract people and na‐tions to the Lord. Those who live al‐ways according to the spirit of Christ are, without the use of words, the best preachers of Christ and the most convincing apostles of Chris‐tianity.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Their Back Towards the Lord

March 13, 2013 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

Wednesday. Also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness. Blow the trumpet, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly… let the bridegroom go forth of his cham‐ber, and the bride out of her closet… let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say: “Spare thy peo‐ple, O Lord!” (Joel 2:2–17). Who now hearkens unto this voice, resound‐ing in the Church? If on the city squares a thunderous voice should resound from heaven, saying, “Spare yourselves, O people, so that the Lord will spare you!” — perhaps someone would hear it and awake from his ecstasy of pleasures, lusts and wine. The priests do not cease to plead, “Spare O Lord!” But from the Lord comes the just yet terrible answer, “I will not spare, for there are none seeking to be spared.” Ev‐eryone is standing with their back to the Lord; they have turned from Him and forgotten Him.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

The Lord coming to you Himself

March 12, 2013 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[Jude 1:1–10; Luke 22:39–42, 45–23:1] The Meeting of the Lord. At this meeting the Lord is surrounded on the one side by Sim‐eon — righteousness which awaits salvation, but not in righteousness itself, and Anna — a life of strict fasting and prayer, made alive by faith; and on the other side by sub‐stantial, comprehensive and stead‐fast purity — the Virgin Mother of God, and by humble, silent submis‐sion and devotion to the will of God — Joseph the Betrothed. Transfer all of these spiritual attitudes to your heart and you will meet the Lord; not carried to you, but coming to you Himself. You will take Him into the embrace of your heart, and you will sing a hymn which will pass throughout the heavens and glad‐den all the angels and saints.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Beyond Our Present Life

March 10, 2013 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

Saturday (Commemoration of the Dead). [I Thess. 4:13–17; John 5:24–30] Now the Holy Church directs our attention beyond the borders of our present life, to our fathers and brothers who have passed on from here. The Church hopes that by re‐minding us of their state (which we ourselves shall not escape), to pre‐pare us to spend Cheese-fare week properly, as well as Great Lent which follows. Let us listen to our mother the Church; and commemo‐rating our fathers and brothers, let us take care to prepare ourselves for our passing over to the other world. Let us bring to mind our sins and mourn them, setting out in the future to keep ourselves pure from any defilement. For nothing un‐clean will enter the Kingdom of God; and at the judgement, nobody unclean will be justified. After death you cannot expect purifica‐tion. You will remain as you are when you cross over. You must pre‐pare your cleansing here. Let us hurry, for who can predict how long one will live? Life could be cut off this very hour. How can we appear unclean in the other world? Through what eyes will we look at our fathers and brothers who will meet us? How will we answer their questions: “What is this badness in you? What is this? And what is this?” What shame will cover us! Let us hasten to set right all that is out of order, to arrive at least some‐what tolerable and bearable in the other world.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

True PrayerPrayer

March 5, 2013 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

Tuesday. [I Thess. 1:6-10; Luke 11:1-10] The Lord gave a common prayer for everyone, combining in it all of our needs, spiritual and bodily, in‐ner and outer, eternal and tempo‐ral. But since it is impossible to in‐clude everything which one has to pray to God about in life in only one prayer, a rule is given after the com‐mon prayer for private requests a‐bout something: Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. So it is done in the Church of God: Christians pray in common a‐bout common needs, but each pri‐vately sets his own needs and re‐quirements before the Lord. We pray in common in churches ac‐cording to established rites, which are nothing other than the Lord’s Prayer which has been explained and presented in various ways; while privately, at home, everyone asks the Lord about his own things in whatever way he can. Even in church one can pray about one’s own concerns, and at home one can pray with a common prayer. We must concern ourselves about only one thing: that when we stand at prayer, at home or in church, we have true prayer in our soul, true turning and lifting up of our mind and heart to God. Let everyone do this as he is able. Do not stand like a statue, and do not mutter the pray‐ers like a street organ wound up, playing songs. As long as you stand like that, and as long as you mum‐ble the prayers, you are without prayer, the mind wandering and the heart full of vain feelings. If you al‐ready stand in prayer and are ad‐justed to it, is it difficult for you to draw your mind and heart there as well? Draw them there, even if they have become unyielding. Then true prayer will form and will attract God’s mercy, and God’s promise to prayer: ask and it will be given, it will be fulfilled. Often it is not given because there is no petition, but on‐ly a posture of petitioning.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Ashamed to Confess Christ

February 27, 2013 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[Col. 2:20-3:3; Luke 9:23-27] Do not be ashamed to confess the Lord Jesus Christ as the incar‐nate Son of God who redeemed us through His death on the cross, who through His resurrection and ascen‐sion opened for us the entrance into the Kingdom of heaven. If you shall be ashamed, then He shall be a‐shamed of you, When he shall come in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy Angels. Now in socie‐ty there is a trend to not talk at all a‐bout the Lord and about salvation, whereas in the beginning these dear subjects were all that people talked about. One’s talk more readily flows from the place where the heart a‐bides. Can it really be that people’s hearts abide less with the Lord? Judging from the talk, this must be the case. Some do not know Him at all, others are cold towards Him. Fearing encounters with such peo‐ple, even those who are warm to‐wards the Lord do not direct the conversation towards Him, and the priesthood is silent. Now, talk about the Lord and Saviour and about our main concern — salvation — is ex‐cluded from the circle of talk ac‐ceptable in society. What, you say, are we really supposed to talk only about that? Why only about that? One can talk about anything, but in a way that is shaded by the spirit of Christ. Then it would be possible to guess whether the speaker is Chris‐tian or pagan. Now, however, it is impossible to guess what they are, neither by their talk, nor by their writings. Look through all the peri‐odicals — what don’t they write there? But nobody wants to make Christian conversation. What a complicated time!

Saint Theophan the Recluse