What Shall I Do to Entire Internal Life?

February 16, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[James 1:19-27; Mark 10:17-27] Someone turned to the Lord with a question: Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? What necessitated this question? Were there no scriptures? Was the law not read every Satur­ day for everyone? There was every­ thing —both Scripture and its inter­ preters; but in society difference of opinion went around and muddled everyone. The Pharisees said one thing, the Sadducees another, the Essenes, their own thing, the Samar­ itans their own. In Galilee, perhaps even pagan teachings were heard, and each put forth their own with a tone of conviction. Anyone who was zealous for salvation naturally came to the question: What should I do? What should I follow, that my soul not be destroyed? Our situa­ tion now is very similar those times. What teachings are not going a­ round our schools, in society, and in literature! For the indifferent it is nothing; but they for whom every teaching is not the same cannot but seek an answer to the question, “What should I do?” So what is the solution? The one the Saviour gave: Believe and live as God command­ ed, and do not listen to people’s talk; let them talk. The talk of scientists is like rumours and fashion: today they say one thing, tomorrow an­ other. But you should heed only God’s word, which abides unto the ages. What the Lord commanded no philosophizing can revoke. Every­ thing must be done, and cannot be put off. The judgment indeed will be according to the word of the Lord, and not according to our philoso­ phizing.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Innocence of childhood

February 15, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[James 1:1-8; Mark 10:11-16] With what love the Lord treated children! Who doesn’t treat them with love? The longer one lives, the more one loves children. In them is seen freshness of life, cleanness and purity of disposition, which cannot but be loved. Looking at the innocence of childhood, some suppose that there is no original sin, that each person falls himself when he comes of age and meets with im­ moral urges, which, it seems to him, he does not have the strength to overcome. Everyone falls himself, yet the original sin nevertheless is present. Apostle Paul sees in us the law of sin, warring against the law of the mind. This law, like a seed, at first is as if not visible, but then is revealed and entices. Those who are born of lepers do not manifest leprosy until a certain age, but then it is revealed, and begins to con­ sume them just as it did their par­ ents. Where was the leprosy before this time? It was hiding within. So does the original sin hide until the time, and then comes out and does its business. Environment means a lot for both suppressing this sin and revealing it. If there were no sinful elements all around, there would be nothing with which to feed this hid­ den sin, and perhaps it would dry up of its own. But herein is our sor­ row: that all around there is very much favourable food for it. There is much sin in every person as well as in society; but all of this does not necessarily determine that we will sin. Sin is always a matter of free­ dom — struggle and you will not fall. Only he who does not want to struggle falls. Why do we not want to struggle? There are no regula­ tions concerning desire and lack of desire: I want to, because I want to; and I don’t want to, because I don’t want to. Self-rule is the original principle — one cannot go beyond it.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

What Good Hath Joined Together…

February 14, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[Heb. 12:25-26, 13:22-25; Mark 10:2-12] What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. With these words the Lord affirms the integrity of marriage; only one lawful ground for divorce is indicat­ ed — a spouse’s unfaithfulness. But what should one do if one discovers something like this? Be patient. We have a universal commandment —to bear one another’s burdens; even more willingly should close ones, such as spouses,mutually fulfill this with respect to one another. Unwill­ ingness to be patient blows up some unpleasantness out of proportion, and trifles pile up into a dividing wall. What is the mind given us for? To smooth out the path of life. Wis­ dom will work out any unpleasant­ ness which is met. Because of lack of earthly wisdom, it not worked out; even more because of an un­ willingness to think over well the state of things, and even more from not having any goal in life other than pleasure. Pleasures cease, sat­ isfaction with one another ceases; on it goes until divorce. The more goals in life are debased, the more frequent divorces become on the one hand, and on the other — un­ lawful temporary cohabitation. The source of this evil lies in materialis­ tic views of the world and life.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Sacrifice Pleasing to God

February 13, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[Heb. 11:17-23, 27-31; Mark 9:42-10:1] Every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Before this the Lord said that one must be prepared for all sorts of sacrifice and all deeds of self-denial, only to stand on the good path. Though these sacrifices are dear to us, like our own eye, or indispensable like our right hand, we must offer them without a mo­ ment’s hesitation; for if you grudge offering such a sacrifice, and are lead away because of this from the right path to the wrong, you will be forced to suffer eternally in the fu­ ture life. So, offer painful and sor­ rowful sacrifice here to avoid tor­ ments there. Without purification by fire here one cannot be saved from the eternal fire. Everyone de­ siring to be saved must be salted with fire, and pass through purifica­ tion by fire. All of us, by the law of our creation, must offer ourselves in sacrifice to God; but every one of us is impure. That means we must purify ourselves, so that from us will be made a sacrifice pleasing to God. But if you start to purify your­ self, unearth passions from your soul, it will be painful, like being burned with fire. This operation of inner self-purification is like the op­ eration of fire purifying metal. Met­ al is without feeling. If you were to give it feeling, it would feel the puri­ fying and the burning simulta­ neously. The same thing occurs in a person who purifies himself. Under­ going this operation he is as if burned through by fire. The purify­ ing fire passes through all of the parts of his body like salt penetrates a body which is being salt-pre­ served. And only he who subjects himself to this operation is a truly God-pleasing sacrifice; that is why it is necessary for everyone to be salt­ ed with fire, as in the Old Testa­ ment, where every sacrifice was salted before offering it as a whole burnt offering.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Armour of God

February 11, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[Eph. 6:10–17; Matt. 4:1–11] The Apostle clothes Christians in the whole armour of God. It is ap­ propriate that this follows the pre­ vious lesson. For, if someone, heed­ ing the call of God, has taken on the beginning of a new life through God’s grace, providing for his own part all diligence (II Pet. 1:5), then he must not expect to rest on his lau­ rels, but rather to struggle. He has left the world — for that the world will begin to press him. He was saved from the power of the devil —the devil will chase after him and set snares before him, to throw him off the path of good and drag him back to his domain. He has denied himself, denied selfishness together with a whole horde of passions. But this sin living in us will not sudden­ ly relinquish its free and untram­ melled existence as we live in self-pleasure, and every minute it will attempt under various pretexts to establish once more the same life routine that so richly filled and fed it earlier. These are three enemies, each with innumerable hordes; but the commander-in-chief is the devil, whilst his closest helpers are the de­ mons. They run the show in a sinful life — the opponents of a spiritual life. That is why the Apostle arms the Christian against them as if there were no other enemies at all. He says: we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph. 6:12). If they did not exist, per­ haps battles would not exist either. Likewise, as soon as they are re­ pelled and struck down, it takes nothing to repel and defeat the oth­ ers. So each of you look to see where you need to direct your arrows, or at least look to see from which side you particularly need to defend yourself. Then, defend yourself! The Apostle prescribed several weap­ ons; but all of them have power only through the Lord. That is why expe­ rienced spiritual fighters have pass­ ed on to us this instruction: “Strike the enemy with the name of the Lord Jesus!”

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Deceivers

February 10, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[II John 1:1–13; Mark 15:22–25, 33–41] Saint John the Theologian writes, many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh (II John 1:7). Such it was in his time, whereas now deceivers enter the world, who confess that Christ is come in the flesh, but who never­ theless are “deceivers and anti­ christs” (cf. II John 1:7). This more o­ penly began in the time of Arias and continues to this day. However, the ancient deceivers stumbled more in the dogma about the person of Jesus Christ our Saviour, whereas from the time of Luther they began to stumble in the teaching about sal­ vation in Him. How many such “teachers” have there been? Such “deceivers and antichrists” have ap­ peared among us, who say “believe and it is enough;” nothing more is needed — neither the Church, nor the Sacraments, nor the priesthood. These too begin their deception starting with Christ the Lord and salvation in Him. But since they do not interpret these correctly, they are antichrists, and subject to con­ demnation. Beware of them. Who­ soever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God (II John 1:9). These people do not have Him, because they do not have the doctrine of Christ. This doctrine is in the Church, and they have separated themselves from the Church. Only those who follow the Church have the doctrine of Christ and abide in it. They therefore have both Christ, the Son of God, and God the Father. But the others do not, al­ though they keep saying that they do. Do not receive them, neither bid them God-speed (cf. II John 1:10).

Help from God

February 7, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[I John 3:11–20; Mark 14:10–42] Saint Peter so enthusias­ tically insisted that he would not re­ ject the Lord; but when it came down to it, he denied Him, and three times no less. Such is our weakness! Do not rely upon your­ self, and when you enter into the midst of enemies, place all your hope to overcome them on the Lord. For this purpose such a fall was al­ lowed to such a great person — so that afterwards nobody would dare on his own to do something good or to overcome some enemy, either in­ ner or outer. You must hope in the Lord, but not stop trying. Help from the Lord joins our efforts, and thus makes them powerful. If these ef­ forts are not there, God’s help has nowhere to descend, and it will not descend. But again, if you are filled with self-reliance, and consequently you have no need for help and seek no help — again, God’s help will not descend. How is it to descend when it is considered unnecessary?! Nei­ ther, in this case, is there anything with which to receive it. It is receiv­ ed by the heart. The heart opens up to receive through a feeling of need. So both the former and the latter are needed. Say, “Help, O God!” But don’t just lie around.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

The right to be heard

February 5, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[II Tim. 3:10–15; Luke 18:10–14] Yesterday the Gospel reading taught us persistence in prayer, and now it teaches humility, or a feeling of having no right to be heard. Do not assume that you have the right to be heard, but approach prayer as one unworthy of any at­ tention, allowing yourself only the boldness needed to open your mouth and raise up your prayer to God, knowing the Lord’s boundless condescension toward us poor ones. Do not even allow the thought to come to your mind, “I did such and such — so give me such and such.” Consider whatever you might have done as your obligation. If you had not done it you would have been subject to punishment, and what you did is actually nothing deserv­ ing reward; you did not do anything special. That Pharisee enumerated his rights to be heard, and left the church with nothing. The harm is not that he had actually done as he said, for indeed he should have done it. The harm is that he present­ ed it as something special; whereas, having done it he should have thought no more of it. Deliver us, O Lord, from this sin of the Pharisee! One rarely speaks as the Pharisee in words, but in the feelings of the heart, one is rarely unlike him. For why is it that people pray badly? It is because they feel as though they are just fine in the sight of God, even without praying.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Too much questioning

February 4, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[II Tim. 3:1–9; Luke 20:45–21:4] Who are those having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof? (II Tim. 3–5). Who are those others, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth? (II Tim. 3:7). The former are those who maintain all the external routines in which a godly life is ma­ nifested, but who do not have a strong enough will to maintain their inner dispositions as true godliness demands. They go to church and stand there readily. But they do not make the effort to stand with their mind before God continuously and to reverently fall down before Him. Having prayed a bit, they release the reins of the control of their mind; and it soars, circling over the entire world. As a result, they are externally located in church, but by their inner state they are not there: only the form of godliness remains in them, while its power is not there. You must think about every­ thing else in this manner. The latter are those who, having entered the realm of faith, do nothing but in­ vent questions — “What is this? What is that? Why this way? Why that way?” They are people suffer­ ing from empty inquisitiveness. They do not chase after the truth, only ask and ask. And having found the answer to their questions, they do not dwell on them for long, but soon feel the necessity to look for another answer. And so they whirl about day and night, questioning and questioning, and never fully satisfied with what they learn. Some people chase after pleasures, but these chase after the satisfaction of their inquisitiveness.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

The Church established by the Apostles

January 30, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[II Pet. 2:9–22; Mark 13:14–23] If any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not (Mark 13:21). Christ the Lord, our Saviour, having established upon the earth the holy Church, is well pleased to abide in it, as its head, en­ livener, and ruler. Christ is here, in our Orthodox Church, and He is not in any other church. Do not search for Him elsewhere, for you will not find Him. Therefore, if someone from a non-orthodox assemblage comes to you and begins to suggest that they have Christ — do not be­ lieve it. If some one says to you, “We have an apostolic community, and we have Christ,” do not believe them. The Church founded by the A­ postles abides on the earth — it is the Orthodox Church, And Christ is in it. The community established only yesterday cannot be apostolic, and Christ is not in it. If you hear someone saying, “Christ is speaking in me,” while he shuns the [Ortho­ dox] Church, does not want to know its pastors and is not sanctified by the Sacraments, do not believe him. In him is not Christ, but rather an­ other spirit appropriating the name of Christ in order to divert people from Christ the Lord and from His holy Church. Neither believe any­ one who suggests to you even some small thing alien to the [Orthodox] Church. Recognize all such people to be instruments of seducing spirits and preachers of lies.

Saint Theophan the Recluse