The Lord’s Suffering

December 3, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[I Tim. 5:1-10; Luke 17:20-25]

Having said that the Son of Man will appear in his day like lightning, instantly illuminating everything under heaven, the Lord added: But first must He suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation. The word order here makes it apparent that this “must suffer” should precede Lord’s appearance in glory. Thus, the whole time until that day is the time of the Lord’s suffering. He suffered in His person at one known time; after that His sufferings continue in believers—suffering as they are born, their upbringing in the spirit and protection from actions of the enemy, both inner and outer—for the Lord’s union with His own is not just mental or moral, but living. Everything that touches them is accepted by Him as well, as the head. Therefore, it is impossible not to see that the Lord indeed suffers much. The most painful sorrows are the falls of believers; even more painful for Him is when they fall away from the faith. But these are the final wounds; as continuously wounding arrows are the sorrows, temptations, and wavering faith of unbelief. Words and writings that exude unbelief are kindled arrows of the evil one. Nowadays, the evil one has led many blacksmiths to forge such arrows. The hearts of believers ache when they are struck by them and see others being struck. The Lord aches too. But the day of the Lord’s glory will appear—then all the secret darkness will be revealed, and those who have suffered will rejoice with the Lord. Until that time we must endure and pray.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Tempting and Condemnation

December 2, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[I Tim. 4:4-8, 16; Luke 16:15-18, 17:1-4]

It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! Therefore, one cannot live offhand, uninhibitedly. One must look around carefully not to tempt anyone. The mind is arrogant and does not look at anyone; but it arouses temptations all around in deed, and even more, in word. Tempting increases and magnifies the woe of the tempter, but he does not sense this and even further expands his temptations. It is good that God’s threat in return for tempting here, on the earth, is almost never fulfilled in hopes of correction; it is put off until the future judgement and retribution; only then will the tempters feel how great is the evil of tempting. Here almost nobody thinks about whether he tempts or doesn’t tempt those around him in his deeds and words. Two sins which are very great in the eyes of God are not regarded as anything by people: tempting and condemnation. The tempter, according to the word of the Lord, would be better off not alive; he who condemns is already condemned. But neither the former nor the latter think about it and cannot even say whether they sin in any such way. What blindness, indeed, surrounds us and how carelessly we walk in the midst of death!

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Ashamed Of Christ

October 23, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

Tuesday. [Col. 2:20-3:3; Luke 9:23-27] Do not be ashamed to confess the Lord Jesus Christ as the incarnate 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 ashamed of you, When he shall come in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy Angels. Now in society there is a trend to not talk at all about 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 abides. 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 people, 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 excluded 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 Christian or pagan. Now, however, it is impossible to guess what they are, neither by their talk, nor by their writings. Look through all the periodicals — what don’t they write there? But nobody wants to make Christian conversation. What a complicated time!

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Sudden Tempest

October 17, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

Wednesday. [Col. 1:18-23; Luke 8:22-25] When they got in the ship to sail to the other side of the lake, did the apostles think that they would meet with a tempest and expose their lives to danger? Meanwhile, a tem?pest suddenly arose and they did not expect to remain alive. Such is the path of our life! You do not know how or from where misfor?tune will sweep in, capable of de?stroying us. Air, water, fire, beasts, man, bird, house, in a word — ev?erything around us could suddenly be transformed into a weapon for our death. From this comes a law: live in such a way that every minute you are ready to meet with death and fearlessly enter into its realm. This minute you are alive, but who knows whether you will be alive the next? Keep yourself according to this thought. Do everything you have to, according to the routines of your life, but in no way forget that you could immediately move to a country from which there is no re?turn. Forgetting this will not post?pone the determined hour, and in?tentional expulsion of this decisive upheaval from your thoughts will not lessen the eternal meaning of what will happen after it. Commit your life and all into the hands of God; spend hour after hour with the thought that each hour is the last. From this the number of empty pleasures will decrease; while at death this deprivation will be im?measurably recompensed with a joy to which there is nothing equal in the joys of life.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Giving Alms

October 16, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

Tuesday. [Col. 1:1-2, 7-11; Luke 8:1-3] The Lord preaches, the women serve Him from their substance, and are thus as participants in his very preaching. It is not given to ev?eryone to preach the Gospels, but everyone can help spread them, and be participants in this most impor?tant matter on the earth. There were many such participants, both men and women, at the time the ho?ly apostles preached; and then at the time of their successors, and fi?nally, throughout the entire history of the Church. Such participants ex?ist to this day. Our apostles in the Caucasus and in various areas of Si?beria labour zealously, suffering ev?ery need and deprivation. They con?tinue the work of the Lord and the holy Apostles. Those men and wo?men who send them help join the ranks of the women who served the Lord, and become worthy of equal recompense. The Lord said: He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiv?eth Me (John 13:20). This means that He equates Himself with the one who is sent to preach; it would fol?low that He equates the service ren?dered to his messengers with serv?ing Him. According to the law of His goodness and truth, the way a per?son receives one determines the re?ward he will receive (Matt. 10:41). This would seem to be sufficient in?centive to keep giving alms to help in the great work of preaching of the Gospels.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Path to Righteousness

October 13, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

Saturday. [II Cor. 1:8-11; Luke 5:27-32] I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. What a consolation for sinners! But it is necessary to leave sins and do only good; and when doing good, to con?tinue to call oneself a sinner not on?ly on the tongue, but in the heart. Do not sin, but as a true sinner re?pent and call to the Lord for forgive?ness. When you will be disposed in such a way, it means that you stand in the truth; as soon as you give way to self-righteousness and start con?sidering yourself sinless, know, that you are turning aside from the right path and have headed toward those for whom there is no salvation. How we can combine a proper life with feelings of sinfulness is some?thing only scribes ask. They write, but do not do. For the one who fol?lows the path of action this is so clear that he cannot understand how it could be any other way.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Men of this Generation

October 12, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

Friday. [Phil. 3:8-19; Luke 7:31-35] Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? That is, unbeliev?ers. If the Lord poses this question as if in perplexity, is it not even more proper for us to be perplexed by acts of unbelief? One might ask: how can people go against some?thing that is obvious in every re?spect? And yet they do. The fact that Satan resists is not surprising —such is his name: the enemy of truth and goodness. He clearly sees that God exists, that God will judge him and condemn him, that death for him is already prepared, but is nev?ertheless defiant, and not for the sake of anything but evil, and conse?quently, for greater ruin to himself. Are not unbelievers being con?trolled by this spirit of fighting a?gainst God? At least according to the understanding we have about the soul and its operations, unbelief, given the obviousness of the foun?dations of faith, is as inexplicable as a sinner’s slavery to sin after he has clearly seen that sin is destroying him. And here is another contradic?tion! Only unbelievers and lovers of the passions deny the existence of Satan and unclean spirits. Those who should have stood up for them most of all totally renounce them. Does not this teaching come from them? Those who are of the dark?ness love the darkness, they teach people to say that they do not exist, and that moral life takes shape by itself, without their snares and de?ceit.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Seeker of the Truth

October 11, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

Thursday. [Phil. 3:1-8; Luke 7:17-30] Saint John the Forerunner sends his disciples to ask the Lord: is He the One That should come? Or should they look for another? He did not ask this for himself but for his disci?ples, for he knew precisely who Je?sus Christ was, being informed a?bout this from heaven. The disciples sought an answer to this question not out of empty inquisitiveness, but out of a sincere desire to know the truth. To such as these there is no need to say much; the Lord does not speak, only indicates what had been accomplished by Him at that time. Divine deeds witnessed to His divinity. It was so obvious, that the questioners no longer questioned. This is the way it always is. The power of God lives in the Church; a sincere seeker of the truth immedi?ately feels it and is sure of this truth. This sureness through experi?ence puts an end to all questions and completely soothes. He who does not want to believe, and, hav?ing lost his faith, begins to seek in the Church and Christianity not the foundations of faith, but grounds to justify his unbelief, will find no indi?cations satisfactory. He considers his unbelief well-grounded, al?though its foundations are petty and insignificant. His heart wants this —that is why it is all tolerable.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Vigils

October 4, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

Thursday. [Phil 1:20-27; Luke 6:12-19] And He continued all night in prayer to God. Here is the founda?tion and beginning of Christian all-night Vigils. A prayerful heat chases away sleep, and exhilaration of the spirit does not allow one to notice the passing of time. True men of prayer do not notice this; it seems to them that they had just begun to pray, meanwhile day has already appeared. But until one reaches such perfection, he must take on the labour of vigils. Solitaries have borne this and bear it; cenobitic mo?nastics have borne this and bear it; reverent and God-fearing laypeople have borne this and bear it. But though vigil comes with difficulty, its fruit remains in the soul, directly and constantly present — peace of soul and contrition, with weakening and exhaustion of the body. It is a state very valuable for those who are zealous about prospering in the spirit! That is why in places where vigils are established (on Athos), they do not want to give them up. Everyone realizes how difficult it is, but nobody has a desire to rescind this order, for the sake of the profit which the soul receives from vigils. Sleep, more than anything, relaxes and feeds the flesh; vigils more than anything humble it. One who sleeps abundantly is burdened by spiritual deeds and is cold towards them; he who is vigilant is quick in move?ment, like an antelope, and burns in the spirit. If the flesh must be taught to be good, like a slave, then there is no better way to succeed in this than through frequent vigils. Here the flesh fully feels the power of the spirit over it, and learns to submit to it; while the spirit acquires the habit of reigning over the flesh.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Be Clean

October 2, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

Tuesday. [Phil. 1:8-14; Luke 5:12-16] The leper fell down before the Lord and besought: Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. The Lord said: I will: be thou clean. And imme?diately the leprosy departed from him. So does every moral leprosy immediately depart as soon as one falls down before the Lord with faith, repentance, and confession —it truly departs and loses any power over him. Why does the leprosy sometimes return again? For the same reason that bodily diseases re?turn. One who has recovered is told, “do not eat that, do not drink this, do not go there.” If he does not obey, the disease again flares up. So it is in the spiritual life. One must be sober, vigilant, and pray — then the disease of sin will not return. If you are not attentive toward yourself, if you allow yourself to see, hear, say, and do everything indiscriminately, how can sin not flare up and take power once again? The Lord charged the leper to fulfil all accord?ing to the law. This means that upon confession one must receive a pen?ance and faithfully fulfil it; within it is concealed great preventive strength. But why do some say: this sinful habit has overcome me, I can?not handle myself. Either because repentance and confession were not complete, or because after making precautionary changes he adheres only weakly to them, or indulges himself. He wants to do everything without toil and self-coercion, and is laughed at by the enemy. Resolve to stand unto death and show [this resolve] in deed, and you will see what power there is in this. It is true that in every insurmountable pas?sion that comes up the enemy pos?sesses the soul, but this is no justifi?cation; for he immediately flees as soon as you produce an inner change, with God’s help.

Saint Theophan the Recluse