Беседа 5. Беседы мар Исаака о сокровенной молитве.

He drew them, composed them and composed them from words that were devastating and convincing; and he made a single body from the members, harmoniously: something useful for the reflection of secret prayer. A person does it standing or sitting, working or walking around his cell, falling asleep - until sleep steals him away - sitting at home or traveling: secretly inside the heart, constantly kneeling to the ground or standing anywhere, not necessarily even in front of the Cross. He adds 308 to the humility of his body the movement of his prayer: thanks to this he receives benefit, as well as thanks to those that he has assigned to himself as a rule, and thanks to the place allocated for prayer, with all the beneficial benefits that he gains from this according to the change in his mind, as well as the succession of peace and anxiety in him. And in this way he uses these, for they are composed in such a way that he finds consolation: thanks to them, his soul is sanctified and filled with the grace of the Spirit. 1. With all my bones and with all my heart 310 I bring You service worthy, bowing the head of my soul to the earth. O all-glorious God, who lives in indescribable silence! For the sake of my renewal, You built on earth a tabernacle of love, a place of rest for Your will, a church of flesh, built of holy oil, which is above all holiness. Thou hast filled it with Thy holy things, so that the service of all may be performed in it; and the worship of the eternal Hypostases of Your Trinity You indicated in it; and revealed to the worlds that You created by Your grace an ineffable mystery and power, which the senses of Your creatures who have come into being cannot feel or know. Before her, the angelic natures are in silence immersed in amazement before the cloud 311 of this eternal mystery and the stream of glory, from amazement, for in the realm of silence everything that thinks worships her, being sanctified and becoming worthy of You. 2. I throw myself at the footstool of Your feet, O Lord, 312 and at Your holy right hand, which created me and made me a man who knew You. But I sinned and committed evil before myself and before You, abandoning holy conversation with You and devoting my days to conversations with lusts. I beg You, Lord, do not impute to me the sins of my youth, 313 the ignorance of my old age and the weakness of my nature, which overpowered me and drowned me in thinking about hateful things. But from the annoying wandering of lusts, turn my heart to You; May the innermost light live in me. Your good deeds to me at all times anticipated my every will for good and the readiness of my heart for virtue. You never restrained Your care for me in order to test my free will; on the contrary, just as a father cares for his little son, so Your care accompanied me; Your fatherly grace visited my weakness and did not look to test my will, for You knew me at all times - you knew that I knew less than a child where I was going. 3. I beg You, God, send help from Your highest heavens and remove from my heart every evil action and every carnal desire. Do not deprive me, O Lord, of Your protection, so that my enemy does not find me and trample me, as he would like, and crush me completely. 314 For You are the One who gives repentance and a weeping heart 315 to the repentant sinner, so that thanks to the consolation from crying and from the gift of tears, You free 316 his heart from the burden of sin that lies on it. 4. I knock on the door of Your compassion, O Lord; send help to scattered impulses, poisoned by a multitude of passions and the power of darkness. Arouse in me suffering from the vision of my wounds, even if it does not correspond to the power of my sins, for if I receive an awareness of the extent of my sins, Lord, my soul will not endure the bitter pain from them. Help my weak impulses towards true repentance, and may I find relief from the burden of sins through this suffering, which is from Your gift; for without the power of Your grace I am completely unable to even enter within myself and recognize my sins, so that at the sight of them I can calm down from the abundance of absent-mindedness. 318 5. O name of Jesus, key to all gifts, open the door for me, so that I can enter Your treasury and praise You with all my heart for Your mercies that were upon me at the end of time; for You have come and renewed me with the knowledge of the new age. 6. I praise, O Lord, Thy holy nature, for Thou hast made my nature the sanctuary of Thy hiddenness and the ark of Thy mysteries, the place of Thy dwelling and the holy church of Thy Divinity - the One who holds the scepter of Thy Kingdom, Who rules all that exists, Who is the Ark of Thy eternal glory, 319 Renewal for the fiery ranks serving Thee, 320 The path to Thy knowledge, 321 The door to the house of Thy visions, the totality of Thy power and great wisdom - Jesus Christ, the only begotten from Thy womb and the “remnant” 322 gathered from Thy creation, both visible and intelligible. 323 7. O Mystery, exalted beyond words and silence, made human to renew us through voluntary union 324 with the flesh, open to me the path by which I would be elevated to your mysteries, walking along the clear path of silence from the thoughts of this world. Gather my mind into the silence of prayer and may my wandering thoughts be silenced through this enlightened conversation of prayer and amazement, filled with mysteries. 8. I throw myself, my Lord, at the Throne of Your Majesty—I, who am dust and ashes 325 and the rabble of mankind. Thousands of thousands of angels and countless legions of seraphim, with fiery praises and holy movements, offer You spiritual service in the secrecy of their natures - You, holy Nature, hidden from the feeling and knowledge of every creature; for with Your help, O Lord, You are close to everyone in every time of trouble; both in time and out of time, Your door is open to the requests of everyone. You do not disdain sinners, and Your greatness does not turn away from souls stained with all kinds of sins; but You remove everyone from endless evils - also me, Lord, completely defiled, whom You have deigned to fall on my face before You, so that I dare to pronounce the name of Your holiness with my lips, although I am a vessel of all uncleanness, unworthy to be numbered among the descendants of Adam. Grant me, Lord, to be sanctified by Your praises and cleansed by the memory of You; renew my life through a change of thought and beneficial thoughts, which You, by Your grace, arouse in me. Be the guide of my mind in my meditation on You and help me forget about things that lead me astray from the true path, 326 through the renewal of mind that You awaken in me. Arouse in me such petitions that bring benefit due to the agreement of my will with Your will, for You are the One Who gives prayer to those who pray. Fix in me a single will that looks at You at all times, and a thought that would never weaken in hope for You through constant dying for Your sake. Grant, Lord, that I may not pray to You with insensitive words of my lips, but that I may prostrate myself on earth in the innermost humility of my heart and the repentance of my mind. 9 . O God, thanks to Your patience with my sins, You give me life in this world; do not deprive me of the life of the world to come, which those who are looking for You here among sorrows await with hope. 10. O Christ, Whose love separated the saints from family, kinship and comfortable human habitation, so that the power of natural passions fell silent in them in the face of the sweetness of Thy love, Thou, Lord, grant me to hate my life out of love for Thee, and may I become dead during my life in relation to all the pleasures of this world; and by Thy power, O Lord, let the storms that burn in my members subside; and may Your love separate me from the world and conversations with it. Draw in my mind a single invisible image, so that the attraction to all sweet memories of the temporary and visible world is defeated. 11. I bow my knees before Your greatness and throw myself to the ground before You, God, for You brought me into existence, although I did not ask You for this, and indeed did not exist at all. Before You formed me in the womb, 327 You knew that my life was disordered and apostate, but this did not prevent You from creating me and granting me all the rights with which You honored nature, although You knew in advance about all my vices. 328 You know about my petitions even before they become known to me, and about my prayers - before they are spoken before You; Grant me, my God, at this hour also what You consider necessary for my pitiful nature, which is in danger. You know about the sorrow of my soul, and its healing is in Your hands. 12. O Power, thanks to which the ancient fathers surpassed the powerful and terrible attacks of the rebel - in human nature with its many needs, they were like those who had no needs, showing on earth the likeness of the future; and Thou hast made the graves of men, caves and chasms the places of the Shekinah 329 of Thy revelations unto them; You pour into my heart the fervor of their thoughts, so that I may be strengthened by it and trample on the natural desire and fear of opponents; sow in me the knowledge of humility and the uncontrollable desire to go straight to You. O Refuge of the weak, Straight Path for all those who are lost, Place of refuge for those overwhelmed by storms, You yourself bring down the pride of my adversary before me, You destroy the power of his tricks against me, You humiliate his exalted pride, make Your hidden paths smooth before my thoughts, be my consolation during my troubles and a guide in the place of danger. 13. O Sun of righteousness, thanks to whom the righteous saw themselves and became a mirror for their generations, You open in me the door of knowing You; grant me a vigilant thought that does not stumble over the pitfalls of mistakes, until I reach that bright refuge that the ancient fathers reached, who pleased You with all their exploits. 330 14. Sanctify me with Your mysteries, enlighten my mind with the knowledge of You, let Your hope shine in my heart, deign me to pray for it inwardly. 331 O God, my Father and Lord of my life, light Your lamp within me, place in me what is Yours, so that I forget about mine. Awaken in me the power of amazement by You, 332 so that it overpowers the compulsion of nature. Arouse in me a vision of Your mysteries, so that I realize what was invested in me in Holy Baptism. Thou hast given me 333 Guides: may He show me Thy glory at all times. You have destined me to be the light and salt of the world: 334 may I not become a stumbling block to my friends. Since I have left the world, let me not turn my gaze again to it and to the things that I rejected when I made my vow to You. 335 Place pleasant reins on my heart, so that my feelings do not look at what is outside the paths of Your laws. Gather my impulses for the ship of repentance, so that I may rejoice in it in the midst of the sea of ​​life, 336 until I reach the harbor of Your hope. Through the memory of You, may my mind gain courage in temptations. Through the radiance of knowledge about You, may the path of darkness be illuminated before me. 15. O God, deign me to understand the mystery of Thy love, reflected in Thy economy 337 in relation to the sensory world, in Thy creation of created being and in the mystery of the slaying of Thy Beloved! 16. Our Creator, who knows the pain of my nature, You Yourself remove from me the violence of the enemy, You drive out the rebellion of sin from my members, You extinguish its heat in my heart; stretch out your healing hand to my prostrate soul; 338 bind my inner feelings with the bonds of 339 the Cross; increase in me the fullness of love for You, from the knowledge of the Crucified One; make my mind internally thanks to the hidden secrets that are contained; 340 strengthen in me the memory of the humility 341 of Your Beloved; increase in me amazement at Your dispensation towards me. 17. O God, even before You were reconciled with the world, You gave it Your Only Begotten, and after reconciliation You gave Him 342 to inherit the throne of Your Divinity; do not leave me deprived of hope of going to the grave, and let me not sit in the bonds of the darkness of my sins, as if dead for eternity. 343 18. We thank You, O God, for Your gift to the world, for created things are not able to speak of its riches. 344 Since I, too, am a part of this, let me not regret my part of the thanksgiving that I owe to You. Therefore let me praise You and give thanks to Your name. Thou hast given Thy entire treasure to the world: if Thou hast given the Only Begotten from Thy womb and from the throne of Thy Being for the benefit of all, is there anything greater that Thou hast not given to Thy creation? The world mixed with God, and creation and the Creator became one! Praise be to You for Your incomprehensible Providence! Truly great is this mystery! Glory to Thee for Thy mysteries that are hidden from us! Vouchsafe me, Lord, to taste this great hidden and hidden secret, which the world is not yet worthy to know. Perhaps You have shown some of it to Your saints - to those who live above the world and who are above carnal movements at all times. 19. The flow of the mysteries of Christ, like the waves of the ocean, overwhelms my mind. I would like, Lord, to be silent before them and not speak, but they turned out to be like a burning flame in my heart, burning my bones. My conscience convicts me and shows me my sins. Your mystery stuns me, but compels me to look at it. In silence she points out to me: “Do not hesitate to draw near for fear of your sins, O sinner, for it is through meditation on them that the filth of sin will be removed from your mind.” 20. O Liberator of our nature, release me from the hidden bonds with which my inner members are entangled, 345 and from obvious obstacles in the face of my external senses, so that I may strive to enter the paradise of your mysteries and eat from the tree of life, 346 from which Adam was not allowed to eat. 21. My Savior, save me from demonic seduction; My God, deliver me from relaxation of conscience; My hope, pour into my heart the intoxication of hope in You. Resurrection and Light of all worlds, Jesus Christ, place the crown of knowledge of You on the head of my soul; suddenly open before me the gates of mercy; may the rays of Your grace shine in my heart; be a guide for the feet of my thoughts until I reach Zion, Thy holy mountain. 347 Honor me with that holy city into which the saints entered at the end of their journey. My Creator and my Hope, Anchor of my life in the midst of storms, Staff in my weakness, Honor in my dishonor, lift up my head, bowed to the ground, do not betray me to the will of my adversary; do not give an opportunity for his shamelessness. Place a great abyss in front of him, so that he does not stand across my path and confuse me. Grant me, in serving You, to end my short and fleeting life; may I be near You at the end of my days, may I be in Your vineyard at the end of my life. Honor me with that denarius, 348 which you assigned to the laborers, 349 even before the time of my departure. By grace, Lord, and not by my works, grant me, even at the eleventh hour of my life, to be awake in Your service. May the world not captivate me with its interviews, full of temptation, and may it not imprison me in the cage of its worries. 22. O Christ, clothed with light as with a robe, 350 Who for my sake stood naked before Pilate, clothe me with Thy power, with which Thou hast overshadowed the saints, and thanks to which they have emerged victorious from the struggles of this world. 351 O Lord, may Your Divinity rest in me and may it lead me above the world to be with You. 23. O Christ, upon whom the many-eyed cherubim cannot look because of the glory of Your Face, out of Your love You received spitting on Your Face: remove shame from my face and grant me prayer with an open face before You. 352 24. O Christ, Who, because of the duty of our nature to God, went into the wilderness and defeated the ruler of darkness, 353 taking away his victory for five thousand years; 354 make him run away from me - the one who at all times forces the human race to sin. 25. Let the shameful Cross that You carried for my sake be a bridge for me to this peaceful refuge. Let the crown of thorns with which Your head was crowned be for me a helmet of salvation 355 on the hot day of battle. May the spitting received by Thy Face prepare me for an open face before the judgment of Thy coming. May Your holy body, which was naked on the Cross, crucify me to this world and its lusts through love for You. Let Thy garment, for which the lot was cast, tear into shreds before my eyes the garment of darkness in which I am inwardly clothed. Let the water and blood that flowed from You be for me a book of liberation from my former slavery. 356 May Your Body and Your Blood, mixed with my body, remain in me as a guarantee that I will not be deprived of a constant vision of You in that place to which there is no limit. May the sacraments of faith, which I have kept intact within me, preserve for me something worthwhile on that day when the world is preparing to welcome Your coming, and may they there make up for the lack of my asceticism. 26. May they be remembered, O Lord, on Thy holy altar in the terrible hour, when Thy Body and Thy Blood are sacrificed for the salvation of the world, all the fathers and brothers who are in the mountains, in caves, in gorges, in rocks, in harsh and deserted places that are hidden from the world, and only You know where they are - those who have died and those who are still alive and serve You 358 with body and soul, O Holy One, living in the saints in whom Thy Divinity rests; those who left the temporary world and have already become dead to its life, for they went out in search of You and sought You diligently among their misfortunes and sufferings. O King of all worlds and all Orthodox fathers, who for the sake of the true faith endured exile and disasters from persecutors; those who in monasteries, monasteries, deserts and deserted places all over the world, in every place and locality, take care of pleasing You by working for the sake of virtue; may Thy help accompany them, O Lord, and be a helmet for them at all times, send them constant secret consolation and tie their minds to You in all their struggles; may the power of Your Trinity live in them, and may they serve You until the end of their lives with a good conscience and good behavior. Honor them with a haven of peace while they are still in the body. And to those who endure cruel battles with demons, openly or secretly, send help, O Lord, and cover them with the cloud of Thy grace; place the helmet of salvation on their mental head; bring down the power of the enemy before them; May the power of Your right hand support them at all times, so that they do not cease to constantly look to You in their thoughts; clothe them in the armor of humility, so that a sweet fragrance may emanate from them at every moment, delighting Your will. 27. May those who suffer from severe pain and bitter bodily illnesses also be remembered before You, Lord; send them an angel of mercy and pacify their souls, exhausted by the intense suffering of their bodies. Have pity, Lord, also on those who are in the hands of cruel, evil and godless people; Send them an angel of mercy quickly and save them from the hands of . My Lord and my God, send comfort to all who innocently endure all kinds of disasters. 28. Autumn, Lord, Thy holy Church, redeemed by Thy Blood; let Your true peace, which You gave to Your holy apostles, live in it; bind her children with holy bonds of unbreakable love; let the rebel 359 have no power over her, and remove from her persecution, rebellion and war, both internal and external; and may kings and priests be bound together in great peace and love, so that their minds may be filled at all times with a vision of Thee; and may holy faith be a wall for your flock. And me, a sinner, through their prayers, also deign to be preserved at every moment under the powerful protection of Your holy hand, which is Your Providence, which embraces everything. Amen. 29. I beg and ask You, Lord, to grant all those who are in error the true knowledge of You, 360 so that they may know Your glory. 30. For those who have passed from this world deprived of a virtuous life and not having faith, be a protector for them, for the sake of the body that You took from them, so that from the one united body of the world we bring glory to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in the Kingdom of Heaven and that pleasure that has no end forever and ever. Amen. 31. These reflections and this interview of supplication must be constant for those who hope in their inner man to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit; Thanks to such interviews they are sanctified, and with such a will they are rewarded with a gift from above. 32. We must pray with suffering and painfully pester God about all this. And we must have this attitude 361 towards all people: with suffering, pray for them as for ourselves, for in this way the Divinity will come and dwell in us, and His will will live in us both in heaven and on earth. 362 33. This goal in prayer and meditation should also be yours, our brother, all your days - while you are kneeling and kneeling on the ground, and at other times - hidden and inside your heart. Even if the order of words and their sequence are not the same, undoubtedly, the purpose of prayer should be the same at every moment, so that, thanks to such aspiration and such reflection, we are worthy of the gift received by our fathers, whose bodies and souls became temples of the Holy Spirit. 363 This is where the text begins, in which the paragraphs are numbered by the author himself. Wed. similar expressions in Ps. 9:2; 34:10; 118:10, etc. Var. “didn’t completely destroy me.” The term abila (“crying”), used by Rev. Isaac, had a very specific meaning in the Syriac language of his time: monks were called “weepers.” Lit. "The glory of Thy eternity." This paragraph must be understood in the light of East Syriac Christology with its emphasis on the two natures of Christ - divine and human. The meaning of what was said by Rev. Isaac is as follows: God created human nature capable of containing the Divinity, of becoming a church of the Divine; in the person of Jesus Christ, intelligible nature was united with visible nature, that is, divine with human. “Voluntary union” is an expression characteristic of East Syriac Christology, indicating the union of two natures in Jesus Christ. The expression is found in the Syriac text of the Book of Heraclides by Nestorius, in the Book of Unity by Babai the Great and other classical works of the East Syrian tradition. Var. "deeds of stumbling." Lit. “Though Your knowledge was before my evils.” Shekinah (Heb.) – the presence of God, the glory of God; one of the most important concepts in biblical theology. Lit. “all the differences (i.e., outstanding deeds) of one’s asceticism (way of life).” Lit. “honor me to ask for this within me.” Lit. “Place within me the compulsion of wonder at You.” We are talking about the vows that every Christian makes in the sacrament of Holy Baptism. Lit. "the seas (oceans) of the world." The term mdabbranuta corresponds to the Greek oikonomia and is translated as “economy” or “condescension”: this term indicates God’s care for the created world, the highest manifestation of which was the Incarnation and death of Christ for the salvation of the human race. Lit. "to the prostration of my soul." Lit. “tie”, “sling”, “bandage”. Lit. “Make my mind internal through the hidden things of the mysteries that it (i.e., the Cross) bears.” Var. “from the hidden snares that are thrown over my inner members.” Lit. "the image of that denarius." Lit. “and with which they conquered the world of struggle.” Lit. “Grant me an open face before You while I pray.” Lit. "taking away from him the victory of five thousand years." Isaac follows the chronology “from the creation of the world,” according to which the Incarnation occurred at the end of the fifth millennium. Wed. Rev. has the same chronology. Ephraim the Syrian (Hymns about faith 6.17). Those. a certificate of emancipation from slavery. Var. “which You have kept intact in my soul.” Lit. “who stand and serve before You.” Lit. "the truth of knowing You." You might be interested in: