The inner man, secluded in the cage of his heart, studying and praying in secret (translation 1839)

Composition by St. Demetrius of Rostov “The inner man, secluded in the cage of his heart, studying and praying in secret” is a spiritual guide to the practice of inner prayer and mental doing (the innermost work of the mind and heart in communication with God). The text consists of 4 chapters, which cover the following topics: - dual nature of man (external and internal); - the meaning of prayer as a means of connecting with God through love; - the importance of attention of the mind in prayer; - advantages of short but frequent prayer over long ones. The author relies on the Holy Scripture and the works of the Fathers of the Church (St. Macarius the Great, St. John Climacus, etc.), emphasizing that true prayer is performed not so much with the lips as with the mind and heart (“in the cage of the heart”), following Christ’s commandment about secret prayer (Matthew 6:6). See also: On the prayer of a person who has secluded himself in the cell of his heart, studying and praying in secret (translation 1910) St. Demetrius of Rostov “My heart is warmed within me, and a fire is kindled in my teaching” (Ps. 39:4) There are many who are ignorant in us, what is the inner work of a God-thought person, below what is God-thought, those who understand, nor about prayer created by the mind, that they know, but who think that these are the only prayers that should be prayed, the essence of which is written in church books, but about secret conversations in the hearts with God, and about the benefits that come from there not at all ignorant, having once tasted that spiritual sweetness; and just as someone born blind only hears about the sun’s radiance, what kind of radiance there is, that is not known; Do they really hear about God-thought teaching and prayer, but when they understand, they do not understand, and through their ignorance they are deprived of many spiritual blessings, and what remains is the success of the virtuous, who leads to the perfect pleasing of God: for this reason, some small thing is offered here for internal training, and for God-thought prayer, the instruction of the simple, for the sake of it, so that the one who wishes will begin to be gradually instructed in the Lord hurry[...] 1 Spiritual training of the inner man begins from these words of Christ: “When you pray, go into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father in secret” (Matthew VI:6). CHAPTER 1. About the fate of man, learning, prayer and the cage Substance is man, external and internal, carnal and spiritual: external, carnal, visible; internal, spiritual, invisible, but (in the words of the Holy Apostle Peter) “the hidden man of the heart in the incorruption of a meek and silent spirit” (1 Peter III:4); and Saint Paul expresses the depth of humanity, saying: “Even though our outer man decays, yet the inner man is renewed” (2 Cor. IV:16). Behold, the Apostle says that the outer and inner man be in reality. The outward appearance of a man is made up of many members; the inner one comes to perfection through the mind, attention to oneself, the fear of the Lord, and the grace of God. The works of the outer man actually happen; the essence of the inner man is not known, according to the Psalmist: “a man will approach, and the heart will be deep” (Psalm LXIII:7); and the Apostle says: “Who is the message of man that is in man, even the spirit of man living in him?” (1 Cor. II:11) Only try the hearts and bellies to know all the secrets of the inner man. There is deep learning, external and internal: external in books, internal in the thoughts of God; external in love of wisdom, internal in love of God; external in orbits, internal in prayers; external in wit, internal in warmth of spirit; external in the arts, internal in thoughts; The outer “mind is puffed up” (1 Cor. 8:1), but the inner one is humble; the outer one is curious, although he knows everything, the inner one listens to himself, and wants to know nothing else except God, Davidically speaking to Him: “My heart says to you: I will seek the Lord; I will seek my face for You; I will seek Your face, O Lord” (Psalm XXVI:8). And again: “In the same way the tree longs for the springs of water: my soul longs for thee, O God” (Psalm XLI:2). Pure prayer, external and internal, done publicly and in secret, collectively, and in private, due and voluntary. Performed in reality, according to the church charter, conciliar prayer has its own times: midnight, matins, hours, Liturgy, vespers, compline, to which people are called by prayers and ringing; You must, as a due tribute, pay the King of Heaven every day. Conducted in secret, arbitrary prayer happens untimely, when someone delights, I call to no one except the moving spirit itself: this church prayer has the number of prescribed Psalms, troparions and canons, and other songs and actions of the Priests; This (secret and arbitrary) is timeless, indefinite and indeterminable in number, as long as anyone wants to pray, sometimes briefly, sometimes longer. This is said verbally and out loud; This is only with the mind. She works standing; This is not only standing or walking, but also sitting and resting on a bed, as when it happens to raise your mind to God. This conciliar meeting takes place in the church of the Lord, in a church, or on occasion in some house, or perhaps others gather for this purpose; This solitary act takes place in a closet closed to oneself, according to the word of the Lord: “Whenever you pray, go into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father in secret” (Matthew VI:6). There is a deep and internal cage, external and internal, material, I say, and spiritual: material from wood or stone, but a spiritual cage, heart or mind, or (according to Saint Theophylact) secret thought, yet there is one thing. This poor material cage stands in one place; This is carried everywhere with a person, wherever a person is, always inside his heart, in it he can gather his thoughts with his mind, shut himself up and pray in secret to God, even though he exists among people, and converses with many: internal prayer (will anyone among people who exists be moved to it in spirit) neither requires the lips, nor seeks books, nor He uses movements of the tongue, not a guttural voice, and even then it happens in solitude, but the very point of raising the mind to God and deepening into Him is something that can be done in any place. The material cage of a single person, silent in it, closes; the inner spiritual contains within itself God and the entire Heavenly Kingdom, who says to Christ Himself in the Gospel: “The Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke XVII:21), and in the words of St. Macarius of Egypt it is explained: “The heart is a small vessel, but all things are contained in it: there is God, there are Angels, there is life and the Kingdom, there are heavenly cities, There are treasures of grace." In that inner, heartfelt cage, rather than often shutting yourself up between the walls, it is fitting for a person to gather all his thoughts, present his mind to God, and pray to Him in secret with the warmth of the spirit and living faith, and also to learn in the thought of God, so that he may grow into a perfect man. CHAPTER 2. About prayer that warms a person and unites him in love with God In the first place, be aware of this, as a Christian man (especially a spiritual person according to the position of his rank), it is appropriate to take care of this in every possible way, so that he may unite with God the creator, lover, benefactor, and his utmost goodness, from the Unfit and to the Unworthy he was created; for the soul, created by God, has no other center (ultimate place) than God Himself, from which it has its being and nature, and in Him it can live forever. Everything that is visible on earth that is kind and desirable, be it wealth, or glory, or a wife, or children, briefly say: all the red and sweet and amiable things of this world are not natural to the soul, unless they are some kind of body, and they are temporary, they will soon pass away, like a shadow; But the soul, an eternal being, has nowhere to rest forever, except in the one eternal God, as in its utmost goodness, more than all beauties and sweets and loves, its reddest, sweetest and most amiable, and natural place, having come from nowhere, and may still have to return. Just as flesh, which is from the earth, is brought into the earth: the soul, which is from God, returns to God and abides with Him, for this is why it was created from God, so that it may abide in God forever. For this reason, here in this temporary life you must diligently seek union with God, so that in the future you will be worthy to be with Him and in Him forever. No one can unite with Him other than through extreme heartfelt love; for for this sake the Gospel sinful wife also received from Him great sin-forgiving mercy, and a strong union with Him, “for you have loved much” (Luke VII:47). For He loves those who love Him, and cleaves to those who cling to Him, and represents Himself to those who seek Him, and generously gives sweetness to those who wish to enjoy His love. May such a person be able to arouse Divine love in his heart, so that he can unite with God, and be bound by an inseparable union of love: you must pray often, raising your mind to God: just as firewood, often added to a fire, multiplies the flame: so prayer, often done with deepening in the God of the mind, arouses Divine love in the heart, even when it is ignited, it will warm the entire inner man, and enlighten and teach, the unknown and secret wisdom will reveal to him, and create him, like the fiery Seraphim, standing before God in spirit, and looking at Nan with the mind, and from there drawing spiritual sweetness. CHAPTER 3. Like a prayer spoken with the lips but not heeded by the mind, it is nothing It is not inappropriate here to remember a certain inconvenience of understanding, about prayer created by the spirit or mind, the Apostolic saying, and thereby make a decision. In his letter to Ephesians, the Holy Apostle Paul advises to pray in the spirit: “with all kinds of prayer and supplication, praying at all times in the spirit” (Eph. VI:18): the same Apostle in the letter to the Corinthians says: “my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful” (1 Cor. XIV:14); somehow does it happen that I pray to a person in spirit, but the mind remains barren? Reply That word, spirit, from Holy Scripture is understood differently in a person: sometimes it is placed instead of breathing, sometimes instead of the soul itself, sometimes instead of a desire and intention of good or evil, and instead of an internal virtue or non-virtue, like this: the spirit of humility, the spirit of love, the spirit of mercy, and so on; and the opposite: the spirit of pride, the spirit of hatred, the spirit of love of money, and so on; When a spirit is placed in place of the gift of the Holy Spirit, like the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of reason, the spirit of insight, etc.; But when it is eaten instead of the mind itself, as in the same Apostle it is written: “Be renewed,” he said, “by the spirit of your mind” (Eph. IV:23). When the Apostle of Ephesians advises to pray with the spirit, he puts the spirit there instead of the mind itself, which the person praying must focus on God. Whenever he writes to the Corinthians, he says that the spirit is praying, but the mind remains unfruitful, he puts in the place of the spirit instead of human breath and voice, like saying to them: what good is it to you, O Corinthians! how do you pray with only the voice that comes from your breath, but your mind does not heed your prayer, but dreams of something else? What is the use of saying a lot of verbs with your tongue, but not understanding what is being said with your mind? Even if you utter darkness of words with your tongue, O man; Even with all your throat, as much as your spirit can, sing: when your mind is not before God, and does not see Nan, but is evaded by your thoughts, then your prayer will bring you no gain, will not be heard from God, and will remain without fruit. Saint Cyprian also judged well, saying: “How do you want to be heard from God, but you don’t hear for yourself? You want God to remember you when you pray, but you yourself don’t remember about you?” Until here Saint Cyprian. The Apostle gives it to the Corinthians, and to all of us as an example, saying: “I will pray in the spirit, I will pray also with the mind: I will sing in the spirit, and I will sing in the mind also” (1 Cor. XIV:15); Whenever I say, “I pray with my tongue,” and with the voice that comes from my breath, I must also pray with my mind (1 Cor. XIV:14). CHAPTER 4. As a short prayer, often performed, is more useful than a long one Having learned from those who are skilled in the thought of God and about prayer created with the mind from the heart, that the warmest and most useful is the one that is short, but often works better than the prolonged one: (even if the prolonged one is not without many benefits, it is in the perfect, and not in beginners); in continued prayer, the mind, not of a person accustomed to this, cannot stand before God for a long time, but overcome by the usual inconstancy of weakness, it admires the external, and the warmth of the spirit soon becomes cold in it, and such a prayer is not a prayer, but a confusion of the mind, attracted by this and other thoughts, which also occurs in church cathedral singing, and in private cell rules. Short and frequent prayer is more persistent; In all my mind, if I delve deeper into God for a short hour, things can become warmer. For this reason, the Lord also said: “When you pray, do not say too much: ... Do not speak too much, for you will be heard” (Matthew 6:7). And Saint John of the Climacus teaches: “Don’t start to talk too much, lest your mind be distracted by the need for words.” There is one word of the publican, propitiate God, and one word is faithful to save the thief; verbosity, because many times in prayer the mind imagines and overflows, but unity of words can bring the mind together with multiplicity.” 2. Until here, Climacus. But who says: why is it that the Apostle, writing to Thessalonians, says: “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians V:17)? Reply Usually in the Holy Scriptures there is a work that is often done, I call it done, like this: “I will take out the Priest who goes in into the first tabernacle, performing the services” (Heb. IX: 6): this is, all the days at the appointed hours, and not incessantly, day and night, often, and not incessantly. Even if the priest beats incessantly in the church, like the fire that came down from heaven, and adding wood to it, let it not go out: but even then I do not do everything in bulk, but change in batches, just as it is written about Saint Zechariah: “And I served him in the order of my order before God” (Luke I: 8). Likewise, regarding prayer, which is constantly commanded by the Apostle, understand this: it is not possible for a person to continue in prayer, so that from that day and night he should not cease: before and for other matters, and even for the necessary care and management of his home, you need time: a time of doing, a time of conversation, a time of eating and drinking, a time of rest and sleep: in whatever way it will be possible pray unceasingly? Is it possible to pray often? The prayer that is often performed is imputed as if it is being performed incessantly. Keep your prayers frequent and short, without multiplying unnecessary verbs, as the Holy Fathers teach: Saint Theophylact, in the interpretation of Matthew, wrote, saying: it is not proper to continue prayers, but often, but not enough verbs 3 . In Chrysostom’s Apostolic Epistles of Paul’s conversations, it is written: “Whoever speaks too much in prayer does not pray, but talks idlely 4.” And again Theophylact, in the same Gospel passage above, says: superfluous verbiage is idle talk. The good Apostle said: “I want to speak five words with my mind rather than ten thousand words with my tongue” (1 Cor. XIV:19); Sit down, let me make a short prayer to God with attention, rather than say countless words without attention, and just fulfill the words and voice in vain. Also the above-mentioned Apostolic words: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians V:17), meaning be aware of the prayer created with the mind; The mind can be fixed on God and pray to Him unceasingly. Get started already, oh soul! Little by little touch on your intentional training, begin in the name of the Lord, according to the admonition of the Apostle who says: “Whatever you do in word, or deed, or mind, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Col. III:17): eat, do, speak, with a good intention, not only your own, but also spiritual, seeking selfishness, greater than the glory of God, so that in all our words, deeds, and thoughts the name of the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior is glorified. But first, with a brief interpretation, explain to yourself what prayer is. Prayer is the turning of the mind and thoughts to God: to pray is to stand before God with your mind, and to contemplate Nan with an unwavering thought, and to talk to Him with reverent fear and hope. Gather all your thoughts, and putting aside all external, worldly cares, present your mind to God, and see Nan. In the source text there is a small lacuna - perhaps two or more syllables long (Editor's note) Climacus. Word 28. About prayer Chrysostom to Ephesus. VI, Conversation 24 You might be interested in: