Armour of God

January 29, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[Eph. 6:10–17; Matt. 4:1–11] The A­ postle clothes Christians in the whole armour of God. It is appro­ priate that this follows the previous lesson. For, if someone, heeding the call of God, has taken on the begin­ ning 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 laurels, but rather to struggle. He has left the world — for that the world will be­ gin 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 suddenly re­ linquish its free and untrammelled existence as we live in self-pleasure, and every minute it will attempt un­ der 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 com­ mander-in-chief is the devil, whilst his closest helpers are the demons. 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

Rejecting the Lord

January 27, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[Col. 4:10-18; Luke 10:1-15] Will there be such indulgence in the other world toward those who do not accept the Lord as He showed toward those living on the earth? No, there will not be. Sending “the seventy” to preach, the Lord com­ manded them, that they when they are not received, they should say on the crossroads: Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwith­ standing, be ye sure of this, that the Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. That is, we do not need any­ thing of yours — not with self-inter­ est do we walk and preach, but for the proclamation unto you of peace and the Kingdom of God. If you do not want to receive this good — as you like; we will go on. Thus it was commanded for the present time; but how will it be in the future? It shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city. There­ fore, it is useless for unbelievers to hope for the Lord’s indulgence. While on the earth they only do as they like; but as soon as death comes, the entire storm of God’s wrath will come down on them. It is great unhappiness to be as the un­ believers! They do not even have joy on the earth, because without God and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Redeemer, even here all is dismal and dreary; what will be there is impossible to describe in words or to imagine. It would be more tolerable to be destroyed, but even that will not be given to them.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Simplicity of Faith

January 20, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[Heb. 11:8, 11-16; Mark 9:33-41] The Saviour sets forth a child as a model of faith and life. Simplicity of faith gives birth to simplicity of life; from both of these comes a model moral system. Let philoso­ phizing in here, and it will make disorder within; under the appear­ ance of better arranging affairs, it will throw one’s entire life into dis­ order. Philosophizing always cries, “This is not so, that is not so; let me establish everything in a new way; the old is worthless, boring.” But it has never yet, in any place, ar­ ranged anything good; it only throws things into confusion. The mind should obey what is com­ manded by the Lord. True, the mind is called “the tsar in the head”; how­ ever, this tsar is not given legisla­ tive power —only executive power. As soon as it starts making laws, it constructs it knows not what. Moral, religious, worldly, and political or­ ders are thrown into confusion, and everything goes upside down. It is a great misfortune for society when the mind in it is given freedom to soar, with no restraint by Divine truth! This is God’s wrath. About it is said, hide thyself a little for a mo­ ment, until the indignation pass a­ way (Isaiah 26:20) During this apo­ gee of mental self-wilfulness it is best to wrap oneself in simplicity of faith. Just as during a storm it is bet­ ter to sit at home and not step out to fight self-assuredly with it, so dur­ ing stormy self-mindedness it is bet­ ter not to step out into battle with it, or to seize the weapon of philoso­ phizing, or resist it. Simplicity of faith is stronger than philosophiz­ ing; clothe yourself in it, like in ar­ mour, and you will withstand.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Unbelief

January 12, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[Eph. 4:14-19; Mark 11:27-33] The Saviour proves that He was sent from heaven using the testimo­ ny of John the Forerunner. They were silent, for there was nothing to say to the contrary, yet they did not believe. Another time He proved the same thing through His deeds, and they thought up a new twist: [He casteth out devils] by the prince of the devils (Mt. 9:34, Mk. 3:22). But when this twist was exposed to be completely inappropriate, they again were silent, but nevertheless did not believe. Thus unbelievers never believe no matter what you tell them and how convincingly you prove the truth. They cannot say anything to the contrary, while nev­ ertheless they do not believe. One might say that their mind is para­ lyzed, since they reason sensibly a­ bout other things. Only when the is­ sue touches upon faith do they be­ come confused in their concepts and words. They also become con­ fused when they present their out­ looks as a substitute for the tenets of faith given by God. Here their doubt raises such a buttress that it is like a firm cliff. If you hear their entire theory through, you will see that a child could figure out that this is a spider’s web; but they do not see it. O unfathomable blind­ ness! One can explain the obstinacy of unbelievers as their not wanting to believe, but where does this come from? Where does it get such power that it makes a sensible man con­ sciously cling to an illogical form of thoughts? This is darkness. Is it not from the father of darkness?

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Fruit-Bearing Tree

January 10, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[Eph. 2:19-3:7; Mark 11:11-23] The fig tree covered with leaves was splendid in appearance, but was not honoured with approval from the Lord because there was no fruit on it, and there was no fruit because there was no inner fruit-bearing power. How many such fig trees there are in the moral sense! In appearance all is proper, but on the inside there is nothing. They are orderly, honourable, and fulfil all that is Christian, but they do not have the spirit of life in Christ Jesus; that is why they do not have living fruit. And what is in them only seems to be fruit, but is not. In what lies the spirit of life in Christ Jesus? To this we say: one part in this is from the Lord, and the other from us. What is from the Lord essential­ ly is a fruit-bearing spiritual power; while what comes from us is just the receiver of this power. Concern yourself more with the latter. The root of this is the feeling that you are perishing, and that if it were not for the Lord, you would perish. From this you will have a heart that is broken and humbled, in every­ thing you do, throughout your life. Further, since the future is un­ known, there are many enemies, and you can stumble every mo­ ment, fear and trembling accompa­ ny salvation, along with the unceas­ ing cry: “O Thou Who knoweth all things, save me.” Woe to him also who rests on something other than the Lord; woe to him who has worked for something other than the Lord! Ask yourself, you who la­ bour in deeds which are considered God-pleasing, for whom are you working? If your conscience boldly answers: only for the Lord — it is good; but if not, you are building a house upon the sand. Here are sev­ eral indications of a fertile inner spirit. You can understand many other things according to this.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

The Most Holy Trinity

January 6, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[Titus 2:11–14; 3:4–7; Matt. 3:13–17] The Baptism of the Lord is called Theophany [God Revealed] because in it the one true God, worshipped in Trinity, revealed Himself so pal­ pably: God the Father — through the voice from heaven, God the Son, incarnate — through His baptism, and God the Holy Spirit — through the descent upon the Baptized. Here the mystery of the relationship be­ tween the persons of the Most Holy Trinity is also revealed. God the Ho­ ly Spirit proceeds from the Father and rests in the Son, but does not proceed from the Son. Here also is revealed the fact that the incarnate Divine economy of our salvation is accomplished by God the Son incar­ nate, coexisting with the Holy Spirit and God the Father. And it is reveal­ ed that the salvation of each person can be accomplished no way other than in the Lord Jesus Christ, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, according to the good will of the Fa­ ther. All the Christian Mysteries shine here with their divine light and enlighten the minds and hearts of those who with faith celebrate this great festival. Come, let us men­ tally hasten on high and plunge our­ selves into the contemplation of these mysteries of our salvation, singing, “When Thou, O Lord, wast baptized in the Jordan, the worship of the Trinity was made manifest” — a salvation which in trinity es­ tablishes us, and in trinity saves us.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Baptism

January 6, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

Baptism (kreshenie) in the Russian language sounds like cross (krest). This is fortunate consonance, for al­ though the visible action of baptism is submersion, its essence is a co-crucifixion with Christ on the inner, spiritual cross. The Apostle Paul says: our old man is crucified with him in baptism (Rom. 6:6). This is not some sort of mechanical act, but a moral change, or a revolution of thoughts, goals, desires, and sym­ pathies. Before, all of these were stained with self-pleasure; now all are selflessly dedicated to God, in Christ Jesus, by the grace of the Holy Spirit. [If you were baptized as an infant] you will say, “I didn’t under­ stand that when I was baptized.” Now you understand; set it in your conscience to carry out the meaning of baptism, for your baptism is in­ delible. Even at the judgement its seal will be visible either for you, or against you.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Innocence of Childhood

January 4, 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

Integrity of Marriage

January 4, 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

God-Pleasing Sacrifice

January 2, 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