Слово 83

(1) About dispassion and virtuous life. – (2) How to cut off your will and ascend to the heights of perfection? – (3) About the union of God with the soul and the soul with the body. - (4) About the glorious union of these three - God, soul and body. – (5) About spiritual healing, and how one should heal those who are weak in soul? 1. Having repeatedly talked with brethren in the world, I heard from almost all of them that it is impossible for a person to ascend to such a height of dispassion so that, while talking and eating food with women, he would not be in the least damaged in his soul, and would not be subjected to some secret unclean movement. Hearing this, I grieved a lot, cried and shed tears for those who say so. For I know very well that they say this out of great ignorance of the matter, that is, that they do not know at all experimentally the power of God’s gracious gifts. If they had not been deprived of true dispassion, blinded by the darkness of passions and enslaved to the pleasures and lusts of the flesh, then, of course, they would have known about the life-giving death that Christ Jesus our God bestows on His holy members, and would not have disbelieved about it. For those who are such, how is it possible to believe that there are people who are dead to the world and live only the life that is in the Holy Spirit - while all their lives they only care about how to please people and earn the name of God-loving and saints, and, therefore, they do all their deeds hypocritically? How they think that they are correcting the matter of dispassion by remaining passionate, that is, being entirely sin, and how they assure themselves that human praise alone is sufficient for virtue and holiness; so again, when they deny dispassion and say that saints do not have it, they want to be and be called saints without dispassion, as if acquiring holiness through human praise alone. The one whom the crowd does not praise simply and as they had to, they regard as unworthy and despised, not knowing, the unfortunate ones, that one who knows God and is known by God is better than myriads of infidels who do not know God, although they are praised and pleased by the whole world, just as the one who sees is better than countless numbers of blind people. But that it is possible to achieve freedom from passions, or dispassion, for one who truly strives - that for one who receives the grace of God, it is possible to rise to a state of dispassion of soul and body and not only not be disturbed by passions when he talks or eats food with women, but even when he is in the middle of the city, hears singing and music there, and sees people laughing, having fun and dancing, does not suffer any harm at all, and that such people really exist and exist, every scripture of the saints testifies to this; Much evidence has been written about this in history and in the lives of saints. For this dispassion, the pious have every ascetic activity, every arbitrary deprivation and all-round severity towards themselves. The first task of those who strive for God is to escape from the world and from everything in the world. World I call real life, that is, this temporary age. By the same thing that is in the world, I mean everything around us that the Lord commands us to leave and run away from everything, that is, to leave father, mother, brothers, sisters, relatives, friends, estates, money and in general all wealth. It is not necessary because these things are forbidden and harmful, but because, being among them, we cannot get rid of our addiction to them. He who is overcome by lustful pleasures, unless he cuts off the causes that arouse sinful pleasures and moves away from them, cannot in any way free himself from their lust. 2. When he is stripped of everything that constitutes his property, then he has a duty to renounce his very life, if he is sincerely zealous for virtue, and this is accomplished by the mortification and complete cutting off of his will. I mean not only the external will, that is, not to eat, not to drink, not to do anything of one’s own free will, not to sleep, and in general to do nothing, no matter how good something else may seem, without the permission of one’s superior, but also internal movements of the heart, namely, not to look passionately at anything, not to judge anyone internally, not to rejoice at anyone’s fall, not to be angry in one’s heart, not to envy anyone, not to be jealous with evil jealousy. And where can I list all the properties and all the signs of a pious mood of the heart in order to show you more precisely what a true Christian ascetic should be like? Listen, however, to some more requirements of life-giving self-mortification, namely: never hide even the slightest thought from your spiritual father, - as much as you can, do not let a single day pass without tears, - do not overly whiten your face, as is a certain custom, - do not remove the hair of your head and your beard in a more beautiful way, - do not let go of your belt when you go to bed, so as not to become soft. your body and you have not slept more than it should, - do not put your hands in your bosom or under your arm over your body, - do not grab another by the naked body, do not squeeze or rub it tenderly, - do not look simply and in any way at the face, even an old one, because the evil one, who in any case interferes with his thinness, twirls everywhere, - do not nod to one about the other, - do not say any inappropriate word, - do not hold back anything than, what should be said, - never abandon your usual rule, until your death, - do not make special friendships with anyone, even someone who seems to be a saint, - not at all, no more, no less, do not worry about beautiful clothes and shoes, except for the necessary ones, and let them be sedate and humble, - do not eat any food for pleasure and do not touch the one that you like. The ascetic abstains from all this and much more. And again, whoever is negligent and does not abstain from all this, he does his will every hour, although he is pleased by all people as one who has renounced the world. He who abstains in the external, in what is visible to everyone, is announced and boasted as an ascetic by those who do not know how to see the internal well. But if such a person secretly does the will of his heart, then he is disliked by God, as if he were unclean, and even if he spends thousands of years striving in this way, he will never find benefit from external exploits alone. 3. Whoever abstains from everything and teaches his soul not to whirl around in disorder here and there and not to do his own will in anything, especially in that which is displeasing to God, but compels it to continually walk in the commandments of God, with warm love and with such great attention, as if walking at a height in the air on some kind of rope, such a one will in a short time find the hidden God in those divine commandments, Whom, as soon as he finds, he will forget everything and become beside himself, and, falling to Him, will with all his soul desire to behold Him, and only Him alone. When after this God providentially disappears from his intelligent eyes, then he is overcome by sorrowful bewilderment, and he begins again from the beginning to walk the path of God’s commandments and his mother-in-law more quickly, stronger and more cautiously, looking at his feet, stepping thoughtfully, burning with memory, burning with loving desire and inflamed with hope to see Him again. When, in this way, flowing for a long time and having overworked himself, he is unable to achieve what he wants and, in exhaustion, completely loses heart, so that even his mother-in-law no longer has the strength, then suddenly he will see the One Whom he was looking for, will reach the One Who fled from him, will embrace the One Whom he desired - and will again become completely outside the world and forget this whole world, unite with the Angels, be surrounded by light, taste from life, will meet immortality, will be filled with consoling sweetness, will ascend to the third heaven, will be raptured into paradise, will hear unspeakable words, will enter the Bridegroom's chamber, will go to the place where the Bridegroom rests, will see Him Himself, will become a partner in spiritual marriage, will be satisfied, drinking from the mysterious cup and eating from the fat calf, from the bread of the animal and from the drink of life, from a lamb without blemish and from mental manna, and will receive all these benefits that even the Angels themselves do not dare to contemplate. Being in such a state, he burns like fire and is enlightened by the Holy Spirit, and from here, from this life, he sees the mystery of his deification. Having become all fire in the soul, it transmits to the body the radiance acquired within, just as sensual fire transmits its effect to iron, and then the soul becomes to the body what God has become to the soul, as the theological voice says. For just as it is impossible for the soul to live if it is not enlightened by its Creator, so it is impossible for the body to live if it does not receive the strength to do so from the soul. 4. Take a closer look at the meaning of what was said - God, soul, body. God is beginningless, endless, unapproachable, unsearchable, invisible, ineffable, inviolable, intangible, impassive, ineffable, who in the last days appeared to us in the flesh through the Son, and was known through the Holy Spirit, as we believe, like us in everything except sin - combined with the soul in thought for the sake of my soul, in order to save both the spirit and the body immortal, as Gregory the Theologian said (in his homily on the Nativity of Christ), and at the same time utters the following promise: I will dwell in them and walk around (2 Cor. 6:16). I and the Father will come and make an abode in them (John 14:23), - in those, that is, who believe and show their faith by the above-mentioned deeds. - But pay attention! – Since God dwells in us, His true servants, and walks in our souls through the actions and illumination of the Holy Spirit, we believe without a doubt that souls worthy of this are inseparable from God. Since the soul is again in the whole body and does not leave a single part without itself, it necessarily follows that all this flesh is governed by the will of the soul, inseparable from the soul and cannot live without a soul, for just as it is impossible for a body to live without a soul, it is also impossible for it to have a will separately from the soul. So, it is clear that just as one God is worshiped in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, without the merging of three persons and without dividing the one being and nature, so again, man is by grace God in God, both in soul and in body, without merging and dividing; and neither the body is transformed into the soul, nor the soul is changed into flesh - and again, neither God merges with the soul, nor the soul is transformed into the Divine. But God abides as God is, and the soul again abides as its nature is, and the body as it was created is dust; and God Himself, Who wonderfully united these two - soul and body, and dissolved the mental and the immaterial with the dust, unites with these two without merging - and I am a man in the image and likeness of God, as the word showed. - However, if it seems blessed to you, we’ll say the same thing again. Moved by spiritual pleasure and joy, I wish to tell you the same thing again in order to more clearly present to you these thoughts: Father, Son and Holy Spirit - there is one God, Whom we serve and worship. God, soul and body - man, created in the image and likeness of God, and worthy to be God by grace. But why did I spread my word about this and for what reason did I say in more detail how a person becomes God by grace? In order for those who do not have in themselves the features of the image and likeness of God and are distant from God to be ashamed, or, better yet, to know themselves, let them cry for themselves, knowing what blessings they are deprived of, and, listening to my word, let them see what passions possess them, and let them understand what the deepest darkness covers them - as a result of this, let them be afraid to contradict those who have grace within themselves God, through her they learn everything and with her they can do everything - and further, let them stop saying that it is impossible for any of those who live according to God, while being in the middle of the world and eating food or talking with women, to remain undefiled mentally and physically. – There is a dispassionate God who has no predilection for the visible. - However, I know that those who cannot see with the eyes of their souls (because they are not open) and do not even feel that they have their own feelings in the soul (for spiritual things), not understanding the meaning of the words I have spoken, will object to me, saying: we also know that God is impassive, and we doubt this not in relation to God, but in relation to man. “But in order to stop such people from speaking, I said above that man can also be God by grace, through the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is why it happens that just as the sun, illuminating unclean places, does not defile even a few of its rays, so the soul or mind of a blessed person who carries God within himself is not desecrated if his purest body happens to come into contact with unclean human bodies. And not only this, but if he happened to be imprisoned along with a countless multitude of infidels and wicked people, filled with all kinds of filth, and rub his naked body with them, naked, and then it would be impossible for him to either be damaged in his faith, or to alienate his mind from his Lord God and forget His wondrous beauty. Much of this happened to the martyrs and other saints, and yet this wiles of the devil did not cause them any harm, because they had God who dwelt and abided in them. Whoever either from the beginning retained in himself the features of the image and likeness of God, or, having lost them, then regained them again, such at the same time receives the ability to look at things as they are by nature - and after that, as if he walks gracefully in the days, he now looks at all things as they are by their nature, does not look at their color, beauty and splendor, but, thinking about their essence and properties, remains unperturbed in any way about them passion, paying attention only to what is essential in them and what they always remain. He looks at gold, but does not chain his mind to its brilliance, but thinks only about the matter from which it is made, that is, that it is earth, dust or stone, and can never change into anything else. He looks at silver, margaritas and all sorts of precious stones, and his feeling is not deceived by the pleasantness of their attractive color, but looks at all these stones as at any other simple stone, considering them all dust and ashes. He looks at beautiful silk clothes and is not surprised at their variety and color, thinking that they are all the excrement of worms, and grieving for those who rejoice because of them and treasure them like jewels. He looks at a famous man walking through the streets, accompanied by a multitude of people and proud of such glory, and, considering what he sees to be a dream, he marvels at human ignorance and laughs at it. He sees the world, walking among some big city (the witness of the truth of my words is the Lord, who does this in us), and yet he is in such a blissful state, as if he were alone in the whole world and was in a deserted place, impenetrable by people, as if he had nothing to do with anyone and did not know any of the people living on earth. Such a person, even if he sees a woman, even the most beautiful one, does not look at the beauty of her face, but sees her smoldering and decaying, as if she had shortly died and become all the food of worms and a lump of stinking dirt - as this actually happens. His mind will never concern itself with the beauty of a woman, but imagines the substance from which she is, and the decay for which she is being prepared. But if he wants to think about its external beauty, then he knows how to rise from creation to the Creator and marvel at Him, and not serve the creature more than the Creator. In this way, from the greatness and beauty of creatures, he comes to know the Creator; his mind rises to the contemplation of Him and inflames the soul to strive for the Creator of it; along with which divine love and tears are revived in him, and he is completely outside the visible, completely renouncing all creatures. Know that just as the light of our sensual eyes is sent by us to other people, and with its visual power it goes around everything that exists before it, without being defiled by anything that it sees, although much of it is shameful - and we again transfer this light of our eyes to another undefiled, so the mind of saints, if it happens to pay attention to unclean and vile passions, is not defiled, because they have it naked and distant from all passionate lust. If any of them wants to examine them, then he does this for no other reason than to discuss and learn about the good of the passionate movements and actions of the passions - from what they are born and by what medicines they are pacified. This is what we hear doctors do when they dissect dead bodies in order to examine the structure of the body and learn from the dead bodies what is in the bodies of living people, and then use this knowledge when treating diseases that are not visible on the outside. This is what a spiritual doctor does, who wants to skillfully heal the passions of the soul. To show you his healing art in words, I will present it to you with an example. 5. Suppose that one of the mentally ill goes to a spiritual doctor, darkened by passion, completely confused in mind, and instead of healing asks him for something that is harmful, that is, something that will either increase his illness or even cause him death. A humane and compassionate doctor looks at this sick brother, delves into his illness, the burning and stinging from it, and finds that it is already heading for death if measures are not taken. And what does it do? He does not shout at him for his unreasonable request, does not immediately refuse him the medicine he wants, does not say that it is bad and deadly - I will not give it to you - so that he does not run away from him, does not go to another doctor who is inexperienced in healing mental illnesses, and, having received what he wants from him, does not die immediately, but shows him every condescension and sincerity in order to convince him that he is ready to treat him with the medicine he asks for and will satisfy him desire. Hearing this, the patient awaits healing with joy. The doctor, meanwhile, as an experienced and wise healer, introduces him to other medicines, which are similar in appearance to those desired by the patient, but significantly different in composition, and different in taste and marvelous in potency. For as soon as the patient takes these medicines, he already feels their healing power, the burning passion immediately stops or diminishes, and the spiritual wound begins to close, which predisposes him to them; It is undesirable for him to remember the same healings that he previously desired with such fervor and irresistibility. And you can see a certain miracle happening in him and in others like him - how these healings, usually not so pleasant, make the sick healthy, close wounds, extinguish the burning sensation, and those who previously hungered for harmful and deadly foods are disposed to desire only useful ones and tell everyone about the wondrous art of the doctor and his wise method of healing. Let those who are healthy hear this and understand what I said in secret, if they have accepted the grace of spiritual understanding, because the sick cannot understand this, especially when they do not even know that they are sick. And who can convince such people that they are sick? For they consider their very illness to be health and always want to do the will of the flesh and everything that their lust and nature requires. Just as it is impossible to convince those who have gone out of their minds to realize that they have really gone out of their minds, so those who wallow in passions and, being in slavery to them, do not feel their slavery to them, no one can bring to the consciousness that they are in such a bad state, or convince them to change for the better. They are blind and do not believe that anyone can see; How can we convince them that it is possible for them too, so that they open their eyes? If they had been convinced of this, then perhaps they too would have sought the opening of their eyes; having found it, they would have seen clearly and known those who were crucified to the world. But since they do not want to free themselves from passions, they thereby close their ears and cannot clearly hear the Apostle Paul, who says: peace has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Gal. 6:14). No one lives, but Christ lives in me (Gal. 2:20). And again: put to death your evils that are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil lust and covetousness (Col. 3:5). Whoever died in this way to the world (which is the cross), who does not live himself, but in whom Christ lives, who killed the souls of the earth, that is, the passionate movements of the body, making it uninvolved in any passion or any evil lust, how is it possible, tell me, to perceive even the smallest passionate feeling, or to allow oneself to experience the movement of sinful sweetness, or to incline towards it at least a little in the heart? If you still do not believe this and reject what I have said, then think about whom you condemn and whom you consider an accomplice in sin? Alas for your insolence! For about those who have Christ abiding and living within them, you say that they are deceived in their hearts by sinful lust. According to these words of yours, it turns out that Christ, Who did not commit sin, below found flattery in His mouth, He, who takes away the sins of the world and delivers the souls united with Him from all passion, became an accomplice in sin. “I see, man, that you do not understand what I am telling you, and how great the blasphemy you are uttering. Aren't you trembling? Do you not block your mouth with your hand? Do you not teach your tongue not to say what you have not yet experienced in practice, what you have not known with your mind, what your eyes have not seen, and the greatness of which your ear has not accepted? Don’t you know that those who have experienced this both in deed and in word laugh at you as if you are foolish when you undertake to talk about it, because you say everything topsy-turvy? So, if you have been honored to receive Divine grace, then teach freely about what concerns grace, and theology without hindrance about God by nature and about the sons of God by grace, and you, too, say without hesitating that holy men are servants of the glory of God. If you confess, and you do it well, that you have not received such a gift, you do not feel that you should die to the world, you do not realize that you ascended to heaven and hid there alone, without appearing outside, if you did not go outside the world, like Paul, either in the body or apart from the body, if you do not know that you have changed entirely and become like a spirit through the deposition and rejection of the flesh, the spiritual judging the spiritual, - if, I say, you have not become such, then why are you not silent and do not seek in repentance and tears to receive and experience this, but want to talk in vain about what you do not know, you love to be called already a saint, you do not contradict the rumor that you are saved more than others, you do not tremble to accept other people’s thoughts, teach others and lead them to the light, being yourself deprived of divine light, you are not afraid to shepherd the brethren, sitting You yourself are still in darkness and have not yet acquired that eye that sees the true light, are you not ashamed to heal others, being yourself completely sick and not feeling your own wounds? Tell me, I ask you, if you do not realize that you were dispassionate, and do not feel that the dispassionate God dwells in you, then why, daring and trusting, did you take upon yourself the deeds characteristic of the dispassionate, and the ministries that belong only to the holy servants of God? Pay attention to the good, so that, forgetting yourself, you do not ascend to other people’s degrees and ministries, and then be expelled into the outer darkness, as a despiser of the will of God and as an impudent and indecent slave. See to it that you do not find yourself lacking the wedding garment (which is nothing other than the grace of the Holy Spirit), and that, naked from it, you do not be bound hand and foot and cast into the fire of Gehenna. Beware of undertaking to shepherd others before you become a faithful friend of the shepherd Christ, for know that you have to answer not only for your own lack of dignity, but also for the intelligent sheep that you will destroy due to your lack of training and your passionate life. Look, I ask you, do not take on other people’s debts, being a debtor yourself, even if it’s just a small debt. Do not dare to give someone absolution for his sins if you yourself have not yet acquired within your heart the world that takes away sin. Take heed, brother, so as not to desire to judge another, before you become a faithful judge of yourself and an investigator of your own downfalls, and before you pronounce a righteous verdict on yourself and pay tribute to the truth with tears and weeping. And then, as soon as you are freed from the law of the flesh and from the death of sin and are filled with the Holy Spirit, then agree to be appointed by the grace of God as righteous judges for judging others, as if you were ordained for this by God by the grace of the Spirit. See how none of the worldly rulers dares to ascend to the rank of judges before being appointed to do so by the king. If now such an order is observed in relation to human virtues and such fear is maintained so as not to somehow sin before the earthly king, then what reverence and what fear should we maintain in relation to the divine, so as not to ascend self-ordained to the virtues of God from ourselves and according to human judgment, before we are called to this from God, and so as not to fall into the hands of the living God? Tremble, man, fear the long-suffering of God and do not appear to have less fear before the heavenly King and God than the worldly rulers have before the king of the earth, or that you are negligent about the riches of God’s kindness and long-suffering, out of love for glory and love of power. He is the Ruler of all and the terrible Judge of all, rewarding everyone according to his deeds and according to the thoughts of his heart. Why, just as the worldly authorities bring honor and fear to the earthly king, so should you bring the same honor and fear to the heavenly King and God, so that, by honoring Him and fearing, you may thus keep His commandments, and through such observance of His commandments, prepare yourself to be worthy of becoming a dwelling place of His triscenium light, as He Himself falsely promised, saying: “Have My commandments, and keep them, that he who loves Me is: and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father; and I will love him and appear to him myself. And again: if anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and my Father will love him; and we will come to him and make our abode with him (John 14:21, 23). If you soon become such, you will no longer live for yourself, but you will see that you are dead to the world, as having your flesh dead and motionless for sin, but God is alive, as if you are active and moved by Him. Having seen yourself in such glory, you will begin to cry out loudly in the joy of your soul with the divine Paul: I thank my God that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and death. From this moment onwards, you will no longer establish differences between a man’s face and a woman’s and you will not be harmed by them, as if you have accepted what is by nature (introduced again into the state characteristic of man by his nature), and no longer look at the creations of God by their nature; but whether you sit and talk with husbands or wives, you will remain unharmed and unmoved from your position by nature, looking at them as members of Christ and churches of God. But before you reach such a measure and before you see the life-giving death of Jesus Christ in your members, you will do very well if you avoid people who cause you harm, who in themselves, of course, have nothing bad or tempting, but we are seduced by them and because of them we are drawn to inappropriate desires, due to the original sin living in us. If you do this, then your whole life will be trouble-free, and you will never stumble your foot against the stone of sin - if, I mean, you have God in you or strive to acquire Him with the help of Christ our God, to whom belongs all glory, honor and worship with the Father and the All-Holy and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. You might be interested in: