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(See Confession, Baptism, Confirmation, Communion). Our bodies were created for spiritual pleasure... they descended to sympathy for bestial pleasures due to the fall... they can return to sympathy for spiritual pleasure through true repentance. Alas! Even the knowledge of the existence of the human body’s ability to sense spiritual sensations has been lost by people. 1.346 It will be born infected with death and sin, it will be born into death, in the image of that body, which was the body of the first, created from dust and returning to dust, the lost man; but is reborn in the font of Baptism into salvation in the image of the body that the Heavenly Man received, conceived and born of the Holy Spirit and the Most Pure Virgin: for if you were baptized into Christ, you put on Christ (Gal. 3:27). Through the wonderful Sacrament of the Eucharist, our body is united with the Body of Christ Himself - the body is united with the Divine Body, the blood with the Divine Blood. “Whoever eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood,” said the Lord, “abides in Me, and I in him (John 6:56). He who eats the all-holy Body of Christ and drinks the all-holy Blood of Christ, through such fullness of eating, comes into perfect union with the God-Man: his body becomes the Body of the God-Man, his blood becomes the Blood of the God-Man. A true Christian rests in the Lord, and the Lord rests in him; the Christian is clothed with Christ, and again in the Christian is Christ. Contemplating this greatness of Christians, the apostle calls out to them: Your bodies are the delight of Christ (1 Cor. 6:15). The body of the Lord and the Lord is the body (1 Cor. 6:13). Put on our Lord Jesus Christ, and do not please the flesh through lust (Rom. 13:14). “The gifts of the Holy Spirit,” said some great saint of God (Great Sisoi), “are already natural to a renewed nature.” It is already natural for the body, which is one with the Body of Christ, to be the temple of the Holy Spirit: where Christ is, there the Holy Spirit is unfused and inseparable with Christ. Many true servants of God demonstrated during their earthly life the presence of the Holy Spirit in their bodies and thereby experimentally proved that the bodies of Christians should and can be the temple of the Holy Spirit. 4. 75–76 Why are our bodies alien to spiritual sanctification? Why are our bodies capable only of bestial sensations, while the Holy Spirit has testified that there is another flesh for men, and another flesh for beasts? (1 Cor. 15:39). Because we do not heed the warning of our Lord, Who said: Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be burdened with gluttony and drunkenness and the sorrows of this life (Luke 21:34). Our hearts are burdened, our souls cling to the earth; such a position of the spirit reduces the body to whiteness, and we remain alien to the experimental knowledge that our flesh can rejoice in the living God (Ps. 83:3): We have grief in our hearts, and the body will be drawn there, following the heart. 4.76 Love the Lord your God with all your strength: not only may all the forces of your soul be directed towards God, but may your body itself take part in this endeavor. The body is capable of this desire. The lust for God was from the beginning natural to our body, created with the lust of God. The desire for God is spiritual and holy: the body was also spiritual and holy. It became infected with debility and decay due to the fall; it became infected with bestial lusts due to the fall. The Redeemer restored to him the ability for spiritual lust, and the true followers of the Redeemer took advantage of this gift, expelling passionate desires from their bodies and acquiring holy lust. Our bodies are characterized by Divine love. Freed from the disease of sinfulness, which is unnatural and hostile to them, even during their earthly wanderings they are drawn to God with all their strength, uniting their strength with the strength of the soul. After the general resurrection, the consecrated bodies, having received the consecrated souls, fly by the power of Divine love, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to the abode of paradise (1 Thess. 4.17); they fly to heaven, where our Lord Jesus Christ ascended with His holy flesh as the forerunner of men. The apostle says: Present your body as a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God (Rom. 12:1). It is fitting for this corruptible body to put on incorporeality, and for this dead body to put on immortality (1 Cor. 15:53). The spiritual body is sown, the spiritual body is raised (1 Cor. 15:44). 4. 256–257 (See Soul, Union, Heresy, Jesus Prayer, body in prayer). “The house of the soul is patience, because it lives in it, the food of the soul is humility, because it feeds on it,” said Saint Elijah Eudik. Exactly: by eating the holy food of humility, one can dwell in the holy house of patience. When this food is lacking, the soul leaves the house of patience. Like a whirlwind, her embarrassment steals away, carries her away, swirls around her. Various passionate thoughts and sensations rise in her like waves, drowning her in the depths of reckless and sinful thoughts, dreams, words and actions. The soul comes into a state of relaxation, gloomy despondency, and often approaches the abysses of murderous despair and complete disorder. Do you want to remain forever in the holy house of patience? Stock up on the food necessary for such a stay: acquire and multiply in yourself humble thoughts and feelings. 1.318 The Holy Fathers command to withstand battles without leaving room (residence - ed.), especially if there are no obvious reasons for sin. A monk who leaves his place of residence because of spiritual warfare will never be able to acquire spiritual fruits. Fortitude is one of the first virtues of warfare, both earthly and spiritual. Warriors experienced in battle consider a brave attack on an enemy formation to be a sign of courage, but an incomparably greater one is to stand silently with gloomy firmness under the cannonballs and grapeshot of enemy batteries, when the general plan of the military leader requires it. These are the warriors he can rely on the most. Our hero Jesus Christ most relies on such warriors and crowns them with spiritual crowns. The Holy Spirit commands us to do this: “If a strong spirit comes upon you, do not leave your place. On the contrary, He reproaches the unstable warriors and declares the deprivation of spiritual gifts to them: The sons of Ephraim are drawing and shooting bows, returning on the day of battle... And the Lord will cast away the village of Joseph, and the tribe of Ephraim is not chosen” (Ps. 77:9, 67). Of this you too will be afraid; try to bear fruit, according to the word of the Lord: with patience. 6.156 (See submission to the will, Sorrows, one’s infirmities, Temptations). Anxiety will come - reject the thoughts that bring it, calm the excitement of the blood, accepting as true that every thought that brings anxiety is ungodly... 6. 296 The Monk Agathon, a monk of the Egyptian Skete, being asked what is more important, whether a physical feat or an internal feat, answered: “Man is like a tree; a physical feat is like a leaf of a tree, and an internal one is like a fruit. But as the Scripture says that every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into fire (Luke 3:9), then from this it is clear that all our care should be about the fruit, i.e. about keeping the mind. It is also necessary that the tree be covered and decorated with leaves, which depicts bodily feat.” “Oh miracle! - exclaims Blessed Nikephoros of Athos, citing the words of the Monk Agathon in his essay on spiritual feat. - What a saying this saint uttered against all those who do not keep their minds, but rely on physical activity alone! Every tree that does not produce good fruit, i.e. observation of the mind, but having only one leaf, i.e. bodily feat, is cut and thrown into the fire. Your saying is scary, father! Preservation of the mind, guarding the mind, sobriety, attention, mental activity, mental prayer - these are different names for the same spiritual feat, in its various modifications. The spiritual feat turns, in due time, into a spiritual one. Spiritual feat is the same spiritual feat, but already overshadowed by Divine grace. The fathers define this mental or spiritual feat as follows: “Attention is heartfelt, unceasing silence, always and continuously calling on Christ Jesus, the Son of God and God, breathing Him, courageously taking up arms with Him against enemies, confessing to Him, the only one who has the power to forgive sins.” It’s easier to say - internal work, mental, spiritual work, mental prayer, sobriety. Preservation and guarding of the mind and attention mean the same thing: reverent exercise in the Jesus Prayer. Blessed Nicephorus of Athos likened these names to a cut piece of bread, which, depending on its appearance, can be called a piece, a slice, or a ukrukh. The Divine Scripture of the Old Testament lays down the law: “Guard your heart with all care; From these comes life" (Proverbs 4:23). “Take heed to yourself, lest the word of iniquity be hidden in your heart” (Deut. 15:9). Watching over the heart and cleansing it is especially commanded by the New Testament. All the commandments of the Lord are directed towards this. “First,” says the Lord, “clean the inside of the glass and the dish, so that the outside of them may also be clean” (Matthew 23:26). The Lord called people here vessels made of fragile glass and low-value clay. Saint Barsanuphius the Great says: “If internal work with God, i.e. overshadowed by Divine grace will not help a person, then he strives in vain externally, i.e. physical feat." Saint Isaac of Syria: “He who does not have spiritual activity is deprived of spiritual gifts.” In another word, this great mentor of Christian asceticism likens bodily feats without the feat of purifying the mind to barren wombs and withered breasts: “They,” said the saint, “cannot approach the mind of God.” Saint Hesychius of Jerusalem: “He who does not have prayer, pure from thoughts, has no weapon for war: I am talking about prayer that ever acts in the interior of the soul, about prayer in which the calling of Christ strikes and scorches the adversary who fights in secret.” “It is impossible to cleanse the heart and drive away hostile spirits without frequently calling upon Jesus Christ.” “Just as it is impossible to spend earthly life without food and drink, so it is impossible, without maintaining the mind and purity of heart, which is what sobriety consists and what is called sobriety, for the soul to achieve anything spiritual or to free itself from mental sin, even if someone, through the fear of eternal torment, forces himself not to sin.” 1. 204–206 This teaching of the holy fathers is based, like the cornerstone of a building, on the teaching of the Lord Himself. “True worshipers,” declared the Lord, “will worship the Father in Spirit and Truth, for the Father seeks such as those who worship Him. The Spirit is God: and whoever worships Him is worthy to worship through the Spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24). 1.207 The skill of listening to oneself protects against distraction and in the midst of noisy entertainment surrounding you on all sides. The attentive one is in solitude, with himself, in the midst of crowds. Having experienced the benefits of attention and the harm of absent-mindedness, a certain great father (St. Abba Agathon) said: “Without increased vigilance over oneself, it is impossible to succeed in any virtue.” 1.372 One careless glance often causes an ulcer to the heart; several repeated glances deepened this ulcer so much that it could hardly be cured by many years of prayer, many years of feat and crying. 1.375 The Monk Pimen the Great said: “Sobriety, heartfelt silence and reasoning - these are the three deeds of the soul.” Under the name of heartfelt silence here we mean mental prayer, performed with sympathy and complicity of the heart, not disturbed by absent-mindedness and daydreaming. 7.319 To those who wish to lead an attentive life, (Reverend) Seraphim bequeaths not to listen to extraneous rumors, from which the head is filled with idle and vain thoughts and memories; bequeaths not to pay attention to other people's affairs, not to think, not to judge and not to talk about them; bequeaths to avoid interviews, to behave like a wanderer, to honor the fathers and brothers who meet with bows in silence, while protecting oneself from attentively looking at them, because such a view will certainly produce some kind of impression in the soul that will cause her entertainment, attracting her attention to itself and distracting it from prayer. In general, one who leads an attentive life should not look at anything closely and not listen to anything with special care, but see as if not seeing, and hear in passing, so that memory and the power of attention are always free, alien to the impressions of the world, capable and ready to receive impressions of the Divine. 2.269 Sobriety is acquired gradually: acquired through long time and labor; is born primarily from attentive reading and prayer, from the skill of observing oneself, staying awake, pondering every word and deed set before us, being attentive to all one’s thoughts and feelings, watching oneself, so as not to become in any way a trap of sin. “Be sober, be vigilant,” says the holy Apostle Peter, “for your adversary the devil, like a lion, roars and goes about seeking someone to devour, whom you resist in the firmament by faith” (1 Pet. 6:8-9). “Be like the Cherub, all eyes,” said Euthymius the Great to a monk who was subjected to the devil’s temptation, “protecting yourself from everywhere with the greatest caution: because you are walking in the midst of snares.” The Monk Barsanuphius the Great and John the Prophet taught those who wished to lead a sober, godly life excellent advice on active sobriety. They advised before every undertaking, i.e. before entering into a conversation or starting a task, raise your thoughts to God asking Him for admonition and help. In order to remain sober, one must carefully preserve the freshness and brightness of the mind. The mind is darkened by the unwise use of food, drink and sleep, by long-winded talk, absent-mindedness and worldly cares. Take heed to yourselves, said the Lord, lest your hearts be burdened with gluttony and drunkenness and the sorrows of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly. 5. 265–267 Vanity is a vain desire and the search for temporary human praise. Vanity arises from deep ignorance of God or from deep oblivion of God, from oblivion of eternity and heavenly glory, and therefore, in its darkness, it insatiably strives to acquire earthly temporal glory. This glory seems to him, like earthly life, an eternal, inalienable property. Vanity, which seeks not virtue itself, but only praise for virtue, cares and works only to present the face of virtue before human eyes. And the hypocrite stands before humanity, clothed in the robe of sheer deception: on his appearance a virtue is visible, which in essence he does not have at all; self-satisfaction and pompousness are visible in his soul, because he is, first of all, seduced and deceived in himself. He painfully enjoys the vanity that kills him, painfully enjoys the deception of his neighbors, painfully and unfortunately enjoys the successful hypocrisy. At the same time, he becomes alien to God: everyone who is high-hearted is unclean before God (Proverbs 16:5). 4. 68–69 Particular attention should be paid to the effect of vanity in us, the effect of which on the blood is very difficult to see and understand. Vanity almost always acts together with refined voluptuousness and gives a person the most subtle sinful pleasure. The poison of this pleasure is so subtle that many recognize the pleasure of vanity and voluptuousness as a consolation of conscience, even as an effect of Divine grace. The ascetic, seduced by this pleasure, little by little comes into a state of self-delusion; recognizing self-delusion as a state of grace, he gradually comes into the full power of a fallen angel, constantly taking the form of a bright Angel - he becomes an instrument, an apostle of rejected spirits. Entire books have been written from this state, praised by the blind world and read with pleasure and admiration by people who have not been cleansed of passions. This pseudo-spiritual pleasure is nothing other than the pleasure of refined vanity, arrogance and voluptuousness. Pleasure is not the lot of the sinner: his lot is crying and repentance. Vanity corrupts the soul in the same way as lustful passion corrupts the soul and body. Vanity makes the soul incapable of spiritual movements, which then begin when the movements of spiritual passions become silent, being stopped by humility. That is why the holy fathers offer holy repentance as a common activity, which acts directly against vanity, bringing spiritual poverty to the soul. Already with significant exercise in repentance, the effect of vanity on the soul is discerned, very similar to the effect of fornication. Prodigal passion teaches one to strive for impermissible copulation with foreign flesh and in those who obey it, even with the mere pleasure of unclean thoughts and dreams, it changes everyone’s heartfelt feelings, changes the structure of the soul and body; vanity leads to the unlawful participation in human glory and, touching the heart, sets the blood into a discordant sweet movement - with this movement it changes the entire dissolution (disposition) of a person, introducing into him a connection with the stout and gloomy spirit of the world and thus alienating him from the Spirit of God. Vanity in relation to true glory is fornication. “It,” says Saint Isaac of Syria, “looks at the nature of things with a prodigal vision.” How much it darkens a person, how much it makes it difficult for him to approach and assimilate God, the Savior testified to this: “How can you believe,” He said to the vain Pharisees, who were seeking praise and approval from each other and from a blind human society, “accepting glory from each other, and do not seek glory other than that from the one God?” (John 5:41). 2. 215–216 “If you do not have heartfelt tears,” said some great father (St. Barsanuphius the Great), “you have vanity.” 4. 70–71 (See Glory, Passion, Pharisaism, Thoughts, Prelest). You might be interested in: