The Good Seed

November 23, 2011 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[I Cor. 1:1-9; Matt. 13:24-30] The good seed was sown, but the enemy came and sowed tares a­ mong the wheat. The tares in the Church are heresies and schisms, and in each of us they are bad thoughts, feelings, desires, and pas­ sions. A person accepts the good seed of the word of God, decides to live in a holy way, and begins to live in this way. When such a person falls asleep, that is, when his atten­ tion toward himself weakens, then the enemy of salvation comes and places evil ideas in him, which if not rejected at the start ripen into desires and dispositions, introduc­ ing their own spheres of activity, which mix themselves in with good deeds, feelings and thoughts. Both remain together this way until the harvest. This harvest is repentance. The Lord sends the angels — a feel­ ing of contrition and the fear of God, and they come in like a sickle, then burn up all the tares in a fire of painful self-condemnation. Pure wheat remains in the grain-house of the heart, to the joy of the man, the angels, and the most Good God wor­ shipped in the Trinity.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

The work of the Lord is our first priority

November 14, 2011 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgement with the men of this generation, and con­ demn them. For what? For indiffer­ ence to the work accomplished by the Lord before their eyes. That queen, upon hearing about Solo­ mon’s wisdom, came from afar to hear him, but these men,having be­ fore their face the Lord Himself, did not heed Him, although it was obvi­ ous that He was higher than Solo­ mon, as the sky is higher than the earth. And the queen of the south condemns everyone who is indiffer­ ent to God’s works, because the Lord always, even among us, is as obviously present in the Gospel ac­ counts as He was then. Reading the Gospels we have before our eyes the Lord with all of His marvellous works, for they are as doubtless as the testimony of one’s own eyes. Meanwhile, what is more attentive to the Lord as that which is im­ pressed upon our souls? We have closed our eyes or turned them the other way; this is why we do not see; and not seeing, we do not de­ vote ourselves to works of the Lord. However, this is no excuse, but rath­ er the reason behind our unheed­ fulness, which is as criminal as what comes from it. The work of the Lord is our top priority — that is, the salvation of the soul. Further­ more, we should heed what comes from the Lord even if it is not direct­ ly related to us; ever more so should we heed what is directed at us for the accomplishment of our essential work, the significance of which ex­ tends throughout eternity. Judge for yourselves how criminal it is to dis­ regard such a matter!

Saint Theophan the Recluse

The Rich man and Lazarus

November 13, 2011 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[Gal. 6:11-18; Luke 16:19-31] The parable about the rich man and Lazarus shows that those who do not live as they should will suddenly wake up to reality, but they will no longer have the opportunity to cor­ rect their state. Their eyes will open and they will clearly see where the truth lies. Remembering that on the earth there are many who are blind as they were, they would like some­ one to be sent from the dead for the assurance that one must live and understand things only according to the indication of the Lord’s Revela­ tion. But they will be denied even this, because for those who desire to know the truth, Revelation alone is a witness. But for those who do not desire it, and do not love the truth, even the resurrection of the dead will not be convincing. The feelings of the rich man in this parable are probably felt by everyone who de­ parts this life. Consequently,accord­ ing to the conviction of that world which will be the conviction of us all, the only guidance for us on the path of life is the Lord’s Revelation. But there, for many, this conviction will have come too late — it would have been more useful here, but not everyone had it. We will believe, at least, the testimony of those there, putting ourselves into their state. Those who are in torments do not lie; pitying us they want our eyes to be opened, that we not come to the place of their torment. We cannot say of this subject as we often do of current affairs, “Maybe somehow things will go all right.” No; it will not just go all right somehow. We must be fundamentally certain that we will not find ourselves in the place of the rich man.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest

November 12, 2011 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[II Cor. 8:1-5; Luke 8:16-21] Nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad. Therefore, no matter how much we hide of our bad deeds, a record of them is made in­ dependently of us, which in its time will be presented. What is the parchment on which this record is written? Our conscience. We some­ times force it to be silent — and it is silent. But although it is silent, it does its work, keeps a most precise chronicle of our deeds. What is one to do if many bad things are written there? One must wipe out what is written there. With what? With tears of repentance. These tears will wash away everything and not a single trace will remain of these bad things written. If we do not wash them away, then at the judgement we ourselves will have to read ev­ erything written. But since then the truth will reign in our conscious­ ness, we ourselves will pronounce our judgement, and the Lord will confirm it. Then there will be a deci­ sion which cannot be appealed, be­ cause each person will condemn himself, and will have nothing to do with anyone else. All of this will oc­ cur in the twinkling of an eye: you will look and see what you are. You will immediately hear from the Lord, Who is omnipresent, a confir­ mation of the judgement; and then it will be the end of everything…

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Why our prayers are left unanswered

November 10, 2011 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[I Thess. 2:1-8; Luke 11:9-13] The Lord convinces us to pray with the promise of His hear­ ing, explaining this promise as the soft-heartedness of a natural father, favourably disposed to the petitions of his children. But here He hints at the reason why sometimes our prayers and petitions are not heard or are not fulfilled. A father will not give His children a stone instead of bread, or a serpent instead of a fish. If a natural father does not do this, how much more will the Heavenly Father not do it? And yet our peti­ tions not infrequently are similar to petitions for a serpent and a stone. It seems to us that we are asking for bread and fish; while the Heavenly Father sees that what is requested will be for us a serpent and a stone — and does not give us what we ask for. A father and mother pour out before God heartfelt prayers for their son, that He arrange for him what is best, but in addition they ex­ press what they consider to be bet­ ter for their son, that is, that he be alive, healthy and happy. The Lord hears their prayer and arranges for their son what is best, not according to the understanding of those ask­ ing, but as it is in reality for their son: He sends a disease from which their son dies. Those who think that everything ends with the present life will feel that the Lord has not heard them, but rather did the op­ posite of what they asked, or left the person about whom they pray to his own fate. But those who believe that the current life is only a prepara­ tion for the other life have no doubt that the son for whom they prayed fell sick and died precisely because their prayer was heard and because it was better for him to leave here than to remain here. You will say: then why pray? No, you must pray; but in prayers for specific things you must always keep in mind the condition: “if, O Lord, Thou Thyself deem this to be saving.” Saint Isaac the Syrian advises to shorten all prayer to this: “Thou knowest, O Lord, what is needful for me: do un­ to me according to Thy will.”

Saint Theophan the Recluse

No man knoweth… who the Father is, but the Son

November 7, 2011 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[I Thess. 1:1-5; Luke 10:22-24] No man knoweth… who the Fa­ ther is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. The Son was on the earth and revealed every­ thing necessary for us Himself and through the Holy Spirit which acted in the apostles. Consequently, what you find in the Gospels and the ap­ ostolic writings is all you will and can know about the Father and Godly things. Do not seek more than this, and do not think to find apart from this anywhere else the truth a­ bout God and God’s plans. What a great treasure we possess!… Every­ thing has been said already. Do not rack your brains, just accept with faith what has been revealed. It has been revealed that God is one in es­ sence and triune in persons — the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; accept this with faith and uphold it. It has been revealed that the thrice-hypo­ statical God created all through the word, preserves all in His right hand, and is providential toward everything; accept this with faith and uphold it. It has been revealed that we were in a blessed state and fell, and that for our restoration and redemption the Son of God, the sec­ ond person of the Most Holy Trinity, was incarnate, suffered, died on the cross, was resurrected and ascend­ ed into heaven — accept this with faith and uphold it. It has been re­ vealed that one who desires to be saved must believe in the Lord, and accepting divine grace in the holy mysteries, live, with its help, accord­ ing to the Lord’s commandments, struggling with the passions and lusts, by means of corresponding spiritual endeavours — accept this with faith and do it. It has been re­ vealed that whosoever lives accord­ ing to God’s direction enters after their death into bright dwelling places, the pre-beginning of eternal bliss; while whosoever does not live thus, upon death will pre-begin to experience the torments of hell —accept this [revelation] with faith and thus give yourself understand­ ing, and inspire yourself for good and spiritual endeavours. Thus ac­ cept all with faith and keep it faith­ fully. There is no need to rack your brains over your own invented things. Do not listen to those who show off their intelligence — they do not know where they are going.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Whom say the people that I am?

October 31, 2011 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[Col. 2:13-20; Luke 9:18-22] Whom say the people that I am? the Lord asked. In answer to this the A­ postles related the current opinions among the people concerning Him, formed according to the nature of people’s views at that time. Some said that He was John the Baptist, others that He was Elias, others that he was one of the ancient prophets resurrected. How do they answer today? Also in various ways, each according to his own way of think­ ing. What sort of answers could be given by materialists, atheists, and the soulless who believe we are de­ scended from the apes, when they have neither God nor a soul?Spirit­ ualists, like the Arians, have the same response that was denounced at the first ecumenical council. De­ ists see God as being very far from the world, and since they do cannot contain in their system the mystery of the incarnation, they answer like the Ebionites,[1] Socinians[2]. You will hear similar answers in Rus­ sian society, for the aforesaid three types of identities exist and are multiplying among us. But thanks to the Lord, we still have a boundlessly predominating number of sincere believers and those who strictly maintain the apostolic confession that the Lord Jesus Christ is the on­ ly-begotten Son of God incarnate, the Saviour and Redeemer of the human race who even in paradise was promised to our forefathers. Which party will overcome is known only to God. Let us pray that we preserve within us the light of Christ, and that darkness of false teachings be driven away. We have a weakness for bad things; that is why it is not surprising that a lie comes out on top. Now it is already walking the streets of town openly, while in the past it cautiously hid from the gaze of Christian believers.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

[1] An early Judaizing, heretical sect of Jewish Christians originating in Palestine, who did not believe in the virginal birth of Christ, or that He is the Son of God. [2] An antitrinitarian Protestant sect begun by Lelio Sozzini (1525-62) and his nephew Fausto Sozzini.

Filling of the Faithful

October 29, 2011 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[Col. 2:1-7; Luke 9:12-18] The miraculous filling of the multitude in the desert is an image of the fill­ ing of the faithful in holy commu­ nion with the Most Pure Body and Most Pure Blood of the Lord. The Lord is sitting apart; the multitude is made to sit in groups; the apostles are intermediaries — they receive the bread and give it out. So it is now: believers are all divided into groups — small individual churches in which the Lord, invisibly present, gives out His Body and Blood through the apostolic successors. As He did to the apostles then, so now to their successors does He say, Give ye them to eat. As then, so now do the believing multitudes stand steadfastly before the Lord in fast­ ing, hearing the word, and a prayer­ ful desire be healed from sins as they prepare to approach the Divine Mysteries. Thus the mystery begun by the Lord’s appearance continues until now and will continue until the end of the world. And in the world to come there will be a com­ munion of its own sort, for the Lord promises to give to eat of the hidden manna and of the tree of life (Rev. 2:7,17). Our forefathers’ own mysti­ cal communion was also arranged in the earthly paradise — eating from the tree of life. In the Old Tes­ tament Church its image is the eat­ ing of the paschal lamb. Thus, mys­ tical communion began with the hu­ man race, was and will be with it until eternal ages, in various forms, but in the one meaning of the most true communion with the Lord; for In Him was life; and the life was the light of men (John 1:4). It is fitting for those who are created according to the image of God to be in such communion with Him, Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person (Heb. 1:3)

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Love As Thyself

October 24, 2011 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[II Cor. 11:31-12:9; Luke 6:31-36] The fundamental, original command­ ment is: love! It is a small word, but it expresses an all-encompassing thing. It is easy to say: you must love, but it is not easy to attain love to the necessary degree. It is also not exactly clear how to attain it; this is why the Saviour surrounds this commandment with other ex­ planatory rules: love as thyself; and as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. Here is shown a degree of love that one can call boundless; for is there any limit to one’s love for oneself? And is there any good which one would not want for himself from others? Meanwhile, however, the instructions are not impossible to fulfil. The matter depends upon having perfect compassion toward others, to fully transfer their feel­ ings to yourself, to feel the way they feel. When this occurs, there will be no need to point out what you must do for others in a given situation: your heart will show you. You must only take care to maintain compas­ sion, otherwise egoism will immedi­ ately approach and return you to it­ self and confine you in itself. Then you will not lift a finger for another, and will not look at him, though he might be dying. When the Lord said: love thy neighbor as thyself, He meant that our neighbour should be in us, that is, in our heart, instead of our own selves. If our “I” remains in there as before, we cannot expect anything good to come of it.

Saint Theophan the Recluse.

Is He the One That should come?

October 21, 2011 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[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 in­ dications 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