Слово первое в защиту священнобезмолвствующих. О Свете, Божественном просвещении, священном блаженстве и совершенстве во Христе

Those who begin to practice silence, abandoning spiritual reading, and devoting themselves to the monosyllabic prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me,” can acquire the habit of practicing it constantly in the mind, even when their body is occupied with something else. This work is explained in detail by Saints Diadochos of Photiki, the great Philemon, Saint Nile, Saint John Climacus and many other fathers, including those living today. We all know that almost every saint has shown through his deeds and words that prayer is a means of driving away evil spirits and passions. This is accepted and taught by every reasonable person. Saint Basil the Great said that the heart jumps and seems to jump in prayer from the delight of love for good. Saint Athanasius considers this a sign of grace. Saint John of the Climacus also clearly emphasizes that after a conversation of an unclouded mind with God, a person emerges from prayer as if engulfed in fire. Experience also teaches us this. Saint Isaac the Syrian and many others clearly testify to the fact that a feeling of pleasure arises in the mouths of those who pray, not only from prayer, but also from psalmody performed in the mind. Saint Dionysius the Areopagite says: “The presence of intelligent light will unite everything enlightened by it into true knowledge. This Light of knowledge comes from the presence of the Light of grace and frees man from the inner dividing ignorance.” Saint Macarius called this Light of grace “clever,” thus casting down all those who consider knowledge to be the light of God. He says this: “You will know the Light that has shone in your soul by its actions, understanding whether it is from God or from Satan.” The saint called immortality the glory that shone on the face of Moses when the Light of God shone on his mortal face. The same saint showed how harmoniously this Light manifests itself in the souls of people who truly loved God. He writes: “Just as our ordinary eyes see the sensual sun, the eyes of the soul of those who strive in prayer see the intelligent Light.” Of course, this Light clearly manifests itself in the mind that has ascended to Heaven, that is, in the mind of a person who has overcome himself. A person who practices inner work overcomes himself, and his mind becomes dispassionate and angel-like. Sacred men, through an indescribable visit to radiances capable of leading to perfection, achieve idolizing communion with the Spirit and see in themselves this god-like Light. This Light is the clothing of their deification. The mind is then filled with the radiance and grace of the Word of God, which, in conjunction with His body, shone on the mountain with the Light of Transfiguration. After all, God the Father gave Him and those who obeyed Him His glory, wanting His disciples to see it too. When a person’s mind ascends to Heaven, in some way, so to speak, it follows in the footsteps of Him Who exalted itself above Heaven for our sake. The soul that is clearly and inexpressibly united with God is granted supernatural and ineffable visions. It is filled with Light that surpasses all other knowledge. A person who has reached this height is no longer just an observer or a connoisseur of divine symbols. It is adorned with beneficial and timeless beauty, it is illuminated with Divine Radiance. The great Apostle Paul was caught up into Heaven to meet invisible and heavenly visions in this Divine Light (2 Cor. 12:2–4). This rapture into Heaven points to another mystery, known only to those who have experienced it. After all, the enlightenment of the mind becomes visible to those who have purified their hearts. This experience is completely different from human knowledge. Saint Neil says: “When the mind puts off the old man and puts on the new man by grace, then during prayer he sees the Light shining in his soul. This Light has a heavenly color. This is the very “place of God” (See Ex. 33:21), which the seers of God saw on Mount Sinai.” And Saint John Chrysostom interprets the corresponding passage from the second Epistle of the Holy Apostle Paul to the Corinthians as follows: “God, who commanded the light to shine in darkness, has Himself shone in our hearts” (2 Cor. 4:6). The saint says that the glory of Moses shines in our hearts just as the face of the prophet once shone. The light that Moses saw was not knowledge. He was the radiance that, passing on the face and soul of a person, rests in his pure mind (See Ex. 34:29–35). Saint Diadochos says: “There should be no doubt that when the mind begins to experience the constant action of God’s light, it becomes completely transparent, so that it itself clearly sees its light: after all, it all becomes light when the power of the soul takes possession of the passions.” Have you clearly understood, brother, that only the mind, freed from passions, sees itself as light during prayer, and the Divine Light surrounds it on all sides with its radiance? And now, with an obedient ear, listen to what Saint Macarius says: “Perfect spiritual illumination is not just some kind of enlightenment of thoughts, but a reliable and constant shining in the souls of the hypostatic Light.” Of course, God Himself is beyond any intellectual light and transcends any human spiritual experience. Sacred theologians call God Fire. There is nothing material that could contain His Divine presence. Now God is seen by those who have been purified by love, as we described this above. And in the next century they will see Him “Face to Face.” Some people, not having such a Divine experience, completely refuse to believe that God is visible as Light. Such people think that they can see God through logic. They are like blind men who, feeling the warmth of the sun's light on their faces, do not believe those who say that the Sun shines, that it is light. After all, when the mind is covered with a dark veil of evil passions, it can sense the knowledge of things, but is unable to see the Divine Light. Saint John the Theologian said: “God dwells in those and reveals Himself to those who love Him and are loved by Him” (John 14:21,23). Of course, God appears to such people as if through some kind of reflection, while in reality He is invisible. The goal we strive for is God's promises of future good things. This is adoption, revelation, acquisition of future benefits and enjoyment of them. And vice versa, knowledge that is acquired by external education accompanies this world. Knowledge about God is that contemplation that we call theology. It requires the use and movement of not only the forces of the soul, but also the members of the body. Through this theology, a person achieves communion with God and sees the purest Light in the Holy Spirit. Of course, it is also necessary to free yourself from any manifestations of your will and concentrate the strength of your soul, which through guarding your heart becomes spiritually sober. The more a person makes himself a friend of the power of the Holy Spirit, the more he sees the Light of God. This vision is not feeling, not thought, not knowledge, but the cessation of all action. It is not a product of imagination or intellect, nor is it an opinion or the result of inference. After real prayer comes inexpressible joy, vision and scope of ineffable sacraments. Then a person sees how this space dominates him, and how he becomes alien not only to every thing and the meaning of things, but also to himself. Saint Isaac the Syrian writes: “Over the purity of the mind during prayer, the light of the Holy Trinity flashes and the mind then rises above prayer: this should no longer be called prayer, but the birth of pure prayer sent by the Spirit, and the mind then prays not as prayer, but in a frenzy is transported into an incomprehensible reality, where ignorance is higher than knowledge.” The mind rises above prayer. This state should no longer be called prayer, but the birth of pure prayer. Then this spaciousness takes possession of the mind, it begins to see clearly and sees incomprehensible mysteries. Man is then illuminated by the Light and sees no end to it. It is as if he sees the Sun, an infinite number of times greater in size and radiance than the Universe. Therefore, the Great Macarius calls this Light infinite and supracelestial. Of course, this Light is not always visible to a person or a group of people. He who does not see this Light humbly realizes his weakness, which lies in the fact that he has not come into perfect harmony with the Spirit through the fullness of purity. But even with experienced people, it happens that their contemplation and silence of mind, and the fire of love for God, Whom they see, decrease. However, they do not despair, but constantly moving forward towards this godly deed, with attention, prayer and removal from everything extraneous, with faith they continue the feat in order to again achieve this blessed experience. This is a complete turn to God with all your soul without reserve. The experience of a person who strives in this way is the boundlessness of the radiance of God and at the same time the awareness of his own weakness and insufficient strength to approach the Light of God. Those who have risen to this height see with an intelligent feeling that this Light is God Himself. Such people are confident that the Divine is not limited to human knowledge. God prefigured this Light, giving manna from heaven for forty years. This Light was given by Christ, giving the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit to those who are unwaveringly faithful to Him and prove this faith by their deeds. “When a soul,” says Macarius the Great, “with fear, love and shame, like the prodigal son, turns to its Master and Father God, He accepts it, without listing its falls, and gives it the robe of glory (Sir. 6:32), the light of Christ.” The holy first martyr and archdeacon Stephen, raising his eyes upward, saw the open heavens, the radiance of God and Christ, standing at the right hand of God the Father. Do you see now that the Invisible God is visible to those whose hearts are cleansed by the ineffable power of the Holy Spirit? The holy evangelist Luke speaks of the holy proto-martyr this way: “Full of faith in the Holy Spirit, Stephen looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God” (Acts 7:55). So you too, being filled with faith and the Holy Spirit, will see with spiritual vision that which is invisible even to the mind. However, if you are completely empty and devoid of faith, you will not believe even those who will testify to what they have seen. Because having even a little faith, you will reverently listen to men who talk from their experience about what is impossible to talk about. By doing this, you will not go against the truth, and you will not reject from yourself the ineffable grace of God given to us. The Fathers call the action of prayer inside the heart spiritual warmth and pleasure. From them come the tears that flow by the grace of God. This radiance appeared on the face of Moses, who was so overwhelmed by the grace of God that those who looked at him with sensual eyes could not look at him. During prayer, Saint Mary of Egypt palpably rose with her body, because along with the elevation of her mind, her body also rose and, leaving the ground, seemed airy. When the soul is possessed by the love of God, when the soul is inspired by this love and directed towards Him, then it seems to be seething with uncontrollable spiritual zeal, and a person’s heart leaps, having partaken of the grace of God. The whole person tries with all his might to escape from here, from earthly reality, and run to meet God. What is described can happen both inside a person, by the power of his soul, and with the participation of his body. During persistent prayer, an intelligible fire flares up in a person, an intelligible candle is lit. Then, in a strange way, the body becomes weightless and as if on fire, igniting with the flame of God’s love. Even the sweat of Christ at the hour of His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane teaches me that fervent prayer to God causes a tangible heat in the body (Luke 22:44). What do those who claim that there is no need to pray with self-overcoming and constant persistence teach us? Relaxed prayer and its teachers do not lead a person to God and do not make him better. We know that by rejecting pleasure, through which we violated the Divine commandment and lost paradise, by voluntarily accepting pain, abstinence and entering into prayerful struggle, we taste the divine and immaterial feeling of contemplating God. The one who has tasted this pleasure of heartfelt prayer, which makes the body capable of dispassionate and divine zeal, cries out to God with all his might: “Sweet are your words to my throat, sweeter than honey to my lips” (Ps. 119:103) and: “My soul is satisfied with fat and ointment, and my lips will praise You with the tongue of joy” (Ps. 62:6). Believers who dare to devote themselves to this prayer and, with its help, put their hearts in order, rise to the highest heights, becoming partakers of peace and angelic nobility. By these spiritual fruits they are recognized by people who are near them and look at them with ordinary vision. Their meek disposition, their sweet tears, their grace-filled conversation make tangible what is written in the book of Songs: “Honeycomb flows from your mouth, bride” (Song. 4:11). Saint Macarius, referring to the prerequisites for such an experience, writes: “Those who did not have experience did not touch the spiritual; the communication of the Holy Spirit is comprehended by a pure and faithful soul, and heavenly intellectual treasures appear only to those who have received them through experience, but to the uninitiated it is completely impossible to even imagine them.” Speaking about spiritual experience with such reverence, the saint advises each of us to have patience: “Listen until you yourself are rewarded with grace for your faith, and then through real experience with the eyes of your soul you will see what treasures and secrets Christian souls can already partake of here.” Saint Dionysius the Areopagite said that in the next century the bodies of saints will shine with the Light of Christ revealed on Mount Tabor. Saint Macarius also says that the soul, united with this Light, is already initiated on earth into the heavenly mysteries, while on the day of the Resurrection it will be illuminated by the same Light and the same glory along with the body. The Light of God came to us carnally, but those who are pure in heart see it. If you also want to gain such experience, then go to those who see this Light and learn from them. I learned this from them and believed. Anyone who has turned away from passion for money and human glory and for the sake of life in Christ has despised passionate pleasures, feels the need to live with God. Such a person is gradually completely possessed by the love of God, and he is convinced that it is necessary to examine and carefully monitor bodily movements and spiritual forces - so as not to lose communication with God. When a person gets used to this activity, which consists of turning to himself and keeping his thoughts, it is easier for him to ascend to God. Communicating with God, he avoids a reprehensible lifestyle, aimless worries and worries. He wants to pray as much as possible, turning inward. There, in prayer, he finds indescribable joy, a deep desire to soar upward from earthly things and taste the sweet silence of God. The human mind goes beyond its limits, but God also seems to go out of His limits and unites with man, showing His condescension towards him. This union of God and man cannot be comprehended by thought. Saint Macarius teaches us about this this way: “Thanks to His boundless kindness, the Great and All-Essential One diminishes Himself in order to unite with His intelligent creations, that is, with the souls of saints and with angels, so that they too can join through His Divinity to immortal life.” And how could God not condescend to man? After all, out of true love, He even desired to take on human flesh and accept death, moreover, the death of the cross. He did this in order to abolish the veil of darkness that covered the human soul after breaking the commandment. So, are those unbelievers and blind who are ready to lead other blind people and lead them away from God really not afraid? All those who turn their eyes away from the Light and rush into darkness make such a great condescension of God towards man fruitless, insult and despise His love. Above human knowledge is the grace that is revealed to man. This is how Saint Nile writes about this: “Out of compassion for our weakness, Grace visits us even when we have not yet been cleansed. This grace, seeing that only his mind is praying in a person, rests on him and scatters the demonic hordes surrounding him.” And Saint Macarius also says that “God, who is good, in His extreme love for mankind, gives to those who ask what they ask for; and so, whoever works in prayer, even if he does not show similar zeal in other virtues, is sometimes visited by God’s grace and, to the extent of his search for God, gives him the gift of joyful prayer, although he remains deprived of all other benefits; they, of course, should not be belittled because of this, but through experience and exercise one must make the rebellious heart obedient and pliable for God, trying to acquire all the virtues, because then the grace given from God will increase, bringing with it in turn true humility, unfalse love and the whole family of virtues that a person tried to find. Do you see the prudence of the patristic instructions? Of course, I could write and write more, but I’m afraid that there is a lot already written. These words were written by me to you so that you would know the truth and be convinced that our faith agrees with the words of the fathers and we follow them.