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

New Years Resolution

January 2, 2012 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

New Year’s Day. The Circumcision of the Lord. Saint Basil the Great. [Col. 2:8–12; Luke 2:20–21, 40–52]. Since New Year’s Day is the begin­ ning of the days of the year, we ought to gather in our soul those thoughts, feelings and dispositions that would direct our affairs throughout the year in a Christian way. We will find this the moment we bring to mind what New Year’s Day is in the spiritual life. In the spiritual life, New Year’s Day is when one who has been living care­ lessly becomes zealous about salva­ tion and pleasing God. When one makes this resolution, then all is re­ built afresh both internally and ex­ ternally, upon new beginnings —the old passes away and all is new. If you have this, renew it; if not, ac­ quire it — and for you this will be New Year’s Day. A worthy celebrati­ on of the feast of the Circumcision of the Lord and of the commemora­ tion of Saint Basil the Great are also tied with this. The essence of this change we have mentioned is that a person begins from this moment on to live solely for God, for his salva­ tion; whereas previously he lived exclusively for himself, preparing destruction for himself. Now he abandons former habits, all com­ forts and all in which he found plea­ sure; he cuts off passions and lustful dispositions and takes on works of strict self-denial. Such a change pre­ cisely represents what, according to the Apostle, the circumcision of the heart should be. The celebration of the circumcision of the Lord re­ minds us of this and obligates us to do it, while St. Basil the Great pro­ vides us with an example to follow. So all the themes which crowd our consciousness on New Year’s Day come together into one — our inner renewal through the circumcision of the heart. If it pleases the Lord to give someone this mindset on New Year’s Day — that is, not only to think in such a way, but also to bring all of this into his life — he will celebrate New Year’s Day in a most perfect Christian manner, and will prepare for a Christian passing of the whole year. On the following New Year’s Day he will only have to renew and enliven what he has now taken on.

Saint Theophany the Recluse

Celebration of the Nativity

December 27, 2011 | Istochnik Choir, Uncategorized

When: December 27, 2011
Where: Saint George Serbian Orthodox Church, San Diego, CA

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Christ is Born, Glorify Him!

December 25, 2011 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[Gal. 4:4–7; Mt. 2:1–12] Glory to Thee, O Lord! Once again we greet the awaited bright days of Christ’s Nativity. Let us be glad and rejoice. In order to raise our festivities to a higher level in these days, the Holy Church has intentionally instituted a preceding fast — a certain a­ mount of difficulty, so that when we enter the festive period we might feel as though liberated. Neverthe­ less, the Church in no way desires that we should give ourselves over to purely sensual delights and flesh­ ly pleasures. Since the Church has from olden times called these days sviatki, or the “holy days,” these days require that our very festivity be holy, as they are holy. So that those who rejoice might not forget themselves, the Church has placed a short song upon our lips to glorify the born Christ, by which the flesh is restrained and the soul is uplift­ ed, showing the proper occupations for these days. It says, “Christ is Born, give ye glory,” and the rest. Glorify Christ; glorify Him, so that by this glorification the heart and soul would delight, and thereby si­ lence any urge for various other deeds and occupations that might promise certain consolations. Glori­ fying Christ does not mean devising lengthy songs of praises to Christ. But if when contemplating or hear­ ing about the birth of Christ the Sav­ ior you involuntary shout from the depths of your soul, “Glory to Thee, O Lord, that Christ is born!” —this is sufficient. This will be a quiet song of the heart, which neverthe­ less reaches the heavens and enters in to God Himself. Repeat a little more clearly to yourself what the Lord has wrought for us, and you will see how natural this exclama­ tion now is. So that this might be easier for us, we shall compare it to the following incident. A king prom­ ised freedom to a man who was im­ prisoned in a dungeon and bound with fetters. The prisoner waits a day, then another, then months, and years. He sees no fulfillment of the promise, but does not lose hope, and believes in the king’s words. Finally, he sees signs that it is coming soon, his attention increases — he hears a noise; some one is approaching with cheerful words. Now the locks fall and the liberator enters. “Glory to Thee, O Lord!” the prisoner invol­ untarily cries. “The end of my im­ prisonment has arrived, and soon I will see God’s world!” Or another incident: A sick man is covered with wounds and paralyzed in all his members. He has tried all medi­ cines and various doctors. His en­ durance is exhausted, and he is ready to give himself over to de­ spair. He is told, “There is one very skilled doctor who heals everyone from those very illnesses that you have. We have asked him to come, and he has promised to do so.” The patient believes them, cries out in hope, and waits for the promised one… One hour passes, then anoth­ er, and his soul is tormented with anxiety. Finally, at evening, some­ one arrives… The door opens, and the desired one enters… “Glory to Thee, O Lord!” the sick man shouts. Here is another example. A thun­ dercloud hangs over the sky, and the face of the earth covered with darkness. Thunder shakes the foun­ dations of the mountains and light­ ening tears the sky from one end to the other. All are in fear, as if the end of the world had come. When the thunder passes and the sky clears, everyone breathes freely, saying, “Glory to Thee, O Lord!” Bring these examples closer to your­ self and you will see our whole his­ tory in them. The threatening clouds of God’s wrath were over us. The Lord has come — the peace­ maker, and has dispersed that cloud. We were covered with wounds of sins and passions; the healer of souls and bodies has come and healed us. We were bound by the fetters of slavery; the liberator has come and released our fetters. Bring all of these examples closer to your heart and take them in with your senses, and you will not be able to refrain from exclaiming, “Glory to Thee, O Lord, that Christ is born!” I will not try to convey this joy to you in words; it is unreacha­ ble by any words. The work that the Lord Who is born has wrought touches every one of us. Those who enter into communion with Him re­ ceive from Him freedom, healing, and peace; they possess all of this and taste of its sweetness. There is no reason to say “rejoice” to those who experience this within them­ selves, for they cannot help but re­ joice; but to those who do not expe­ rience it, why say “rejoice”? They cannot rejoice. No matter how much you say “rejoice” to one bound hand and foot, he will not re­ joice. From whence can the joy of healing come to one who is covered with the wounds of sins? How can one who is threatened by the thun­ der of God’s wrath breathe freely? You can only say to him, “Go to the Infant wrapped in swaddling clothes in the manger, and seek de­ liverance by Him from all the evils that encompass you, for this Infant, Christ, is the Savior of the world.” I would like to see everyone rejoicing with this very joy, and not wanting to know any other joys; but not ev­ erything that comes from Israel is Israel. Festivities will now begin that are empty, wild, and inflaming of the passions: the lust of the eyes, smoking, costume-wearing. [1]My soul hateth… your solemnities: they are become troublesome to me, I am weary of bearing them (Is. 1:14)! Truly, many of our social festivities are really pagan abominations; that is, some of them are brought to us straight from the pagan world, while others, though they appeared later in time, are penetrated with the spirit of paganism. And they come out as if on purpose in great quantities for the feasts of Christ­ mas and Pascha. By getting caught up in them we give the prince of this world, our tormentor, the ene­ my of God, an excuse to say to God, “What have You done for me with Your Nativity and Resurrection? They are all coming to me!” But let the words of the fiftieth Psalm be repeated more often in the depth of our hearts: That Thou mightest be justified in Thy words, and prevail when Thou art judged (Ps. 50:4). No matter how much you tell these people to stop, they only shut their ears and pay no heed; they bring these bright days of the feast to such an finale that the Lord is compelled to turn His eyes from us and say, We are interested in enlightened Europe. Yes, the abominations of paganism that were cast out of the world were first restored there; they are passing from there to us. Having breathed in that hellish poi­ son, we run around like madmen, forgetting our own selves. But let us remember the year of 1812 —why did the French come to us then?God sent them to wipe out all the evil that we had learned from them. Russia repented then, and God had mercy on her. But now it seems that we have forgotten that lesson. If we come to our senses, of course, noth­ ing will happen. But if we do not come to our senses, who knows? Perhaps the Lord will again send similar teachers, so that they would bring us to our senses and place us on the path of correction. Such is the law of God’s righteousness: to cure someone from sin with the thing that enticed him into it. These are not empty words, but a matter that has been confirmed by the voice of the Church. Know, ye Or­ thodox, that God will not be mock­ ed; and know, ye who make glad and rejoice on these days with fear. Illumine the bright feast with bright deeds, occupations, and festivities, so that all who look upon us will say, “They have holy days, and not some wild games with the unrigh­ teous revellers who do not know God.

[1] St. Theophan coins the word o­ borotnichestvo, (from the word obo­ rotni, meaning “werewolf”) here, which refers to a strange entertain­ ment in Russia during the Christ­ mas holidays that resembles Ameri­ can Halloween. Young people dress as ferocious animals like wolves and bears, and make pranks. The use of this word also implies that this practice is something from the realm of witches and sorcerers.

Close the Door to Bad Thoughts

December 23, 2011 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[Heb. 7:18-25; Luke 21:37-22:8] Satan entered into Judas, and taught him how to betray the Lord; he agreed, and betrayed Him. Satan entered because the door was o­ pened for him. What is within us is always closed; the Lord Himself stands outside and knocks, that we might open. What causes it to open? It is opened by sympathy, predispo­ sition, or agreement. If all of this is inclined in the direction of the Lord, He enters. If satan enters, and not the Lord, the person himself is guilty.

If you do not allow thoughts pleasing to satan, if you do not sym­ pathize with them, or dispose your­ self to their suggestions and agree to do them, satan walks nearby and then leaves, for he is not given pow­ er over anyone. If he takes posses­ sion of anyone, it is because that person gives himself over in slavery to him. The source of all evil is one’s thoughts. Do not allow bad thoughts and you will forever close the door of your soul to satan. That bad thoughts come — what can you do? Nobody on the earth is without them; there is no sin here. Chase them away, and that will end every­ thing. If they come again, chase them away again — and so on for your entire life. When you accept thoughts and become engaged in them, it is not surprising that sym­ pathy toward them appears as well; then they become even more persis­ tent. After sympathy come bad in­ tentions either for these or other bad deeds. Vague intentions then define themselves by an inclination toward one thing or another. Choice, agreement and resoluteness set in, and then sin is within! The door of the heart is opened wide. As soon as agreement forms, satan jumps in and begins to tyrannize. Then the poor soul is driven weari­ somely like a slave or a pack-ani­ mal into doing indecent things. If it had not allowed bad thoughts, noth­ ing of the sort would have happen­ ed.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Render Unto Caesar

December 16, 2011 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[Tit. 1:15-2:10; Luke 20:19-26] Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s. This means that each gets what is his own. In our times, instead of “the things which be Caesar’s” we should say, “the things which are earthly.” Also, earthly things have their turn, while Godly things have theirs. But everyone has rushed toward earthly things alone, and they leave the Godly things behind. That is why Godly things not only are left out of their proper place — that is, the first priority — but are completely forgotten. A consequence of this as if unintentional forgetfulness is that the Godly is darkened over in one’s consciousness, and then both its content and foundation become un­ clear. From this come weakness of conviction and unsteadiness of faith; and then alienation from faith, and influence of the winds of various of teachings. Everyone goes down this path when they begin to be careless about Godly things; soci­ ety takes this path when it begins to ignore what God requires of it. When Godly things are left in the background, then emancipation from Godly requirements begins to set into society, in the intellectual, moral and aesthetic sense. Seculari­ zation (serving the spirit of the time) occurs of politics, customs, en­ tertainment, and then of education and all institutions. At the current time, people do not think, speak, write or even keep Godly things in mind — not in any of their under­ takings. Is it surprising, given such a mood, that teachings contrary to the faith find access to society and that society is inclined toward total un­ belief?

Saint Theophan

Belief

December 16, 2011 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[II Tim. 4:9-22; Luke 20:1-8] The priests, scribes and el­ ders did not believe in the Lord. In order to raise them up to faith He offered them a question: the bap­ tism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? Reason about this without bias and your reasoning will bring you to faith. What is said about John’s appearing can be said about every event accompanying the Lord’s coming in the flesh, and a­ bout His very coming, and all that comes into contact with it. Let each person reason about all of this —the conclusion will be the same: “truly this was the Son of God.” Var­ ious thoughts can come, confusion can arise, what seems like incongru­ ities can be encountered; but at the end of all investigations one univer­ sal conviction will come: that it is impossible to think any other way than as is shown in the Gospels and apostolic writings. Great is the mys­ tery of godliness: God is manifest in the flesh (I Tim. 3:16).This remains a mystery, but it will be clear to the mind according to the moral neces­ sity which the mind’s own investi­ gation will apply to itself — to con­ fess this way, and in no other way. Unbelievers either do not investi­ gate at all as they ought, or they in­ vestigate superficially, with a mind alien to it, or they accept a wretched frame of mind that is opposed to what faith would require. The most insignificant refutation of the faith is enough for them, in order to justi­ fy their unbelief. The words of un­ believers shake believers, because believers are satisfied with simple faith, and do not seek clarification of the foundations of faith. Those words take them unawares; that is why they are shaken.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

Prayer in Church

December 13, 2011 | Saint Theophan, Uncategorized

[II Tim. 3:16-4:4; Luke 19:45-48] My house is the house of prayer. And indeed, just enter into a church, and it already calls you to prayer. Everything there is disposed and done in order to dispose one to and assist prayer. Therefore, if you want to stir up prayer in your heart, go more often to the church of God. At home you will not pray as you can in church. There are those who pray warmly at home too, but if they pray this way at home, how much higher is their prayer in Church? But when you are in church, be there not only in body, but rather in spirit. Stand where it is quieter, and beholding the Lord before you with your mind, pour out before Him your soul. Chase a­ way daydreams, do not allow con­ cerns, and heed only one job — the job of prayer. Lift up your heavy soul on high and break up its coarseness through contemplation of Divine things. If you have some [sin on your conscience], remove it from yourself through repentance and a promise of correction. If your conscience is not satisfied, add deeds of self-denial and love. Stand­ ing in church, prepare for how you will be outside of church for the rest of the time, prepare yourself to nev­ er step away from the Lord in thought, but always to see Him be­ fore you, so that your steps would not stray from the right path to the wrong one. Then, when you come to church it will be easier for you to be as you ought to be there. By stand­ ing appropriately in church it will be easier for you to hold your atten­ tion before the Lord when you are outside of church… Thus your [state of] abiding in the Lord will grow higher and higher. What more could one desire?

Saint Theophan the Recluse