A detailed discussion on silence and prayer

The essay “A detailed discussion on silence and prayer” (or “On the actions of grace that come from prayer, and on the signs of delusion”) was written by St. Gregory of Sinaite between 1310 and 1326 and is dedicated to the study of internal spiritual activity. The work is addressed to the disciple of St. Gregory - the monk Longinus. In 10 chapters, the author sets out the path of acquiring and developing Divine grace, starting from its receipt in Baptism, through fulfilling the commandments and the unceasing Jesus Prayer, to achieving spiritual perfection. St. Gregory teaches the distinction between the true actions of the Holy Spirit and the various manifestations of spiritual prelest (seduction). He describes the signs of grace manifesting in the heart as “fire of joy” and “fragrant light,” accompanied by contrition, humility, tears and love. Particular attention is paid to warning against false, sensual or dreamy states that can mislead the inexperienced without an experienced guide. The author reveals the difference between genuine ardor and false energy, as well as signs indicating spiritual delusion. *The title of the work in Greek is Προοίμιον περὶ τῶν ἐνεργειῶν τῆς χάριτος, τῶν ἐκ τῆς προσευχῆς γινομένων, καὶ τῶν ἐκ τῆς πλάνης ἰδιωμάτων ἀκριβὴς περὶ ἠσυχίας καὶ προσευχῆς). *The title of the work in Latin is Accurata dissertatio de quiete et oratione. Moreover, about the signs of grace and delusion and about the difference between ardor and energy and how easy it is to fall into delusion without a guide We should, O standard-bearer Longinus, say, according to the great Teacher, that we do not need help from Scripture and various fathers, but thus be taught by God Himself. And they will, they say, all be taught by God (John 6:45), that is, as if from Him and through Him. [Directly] not only we [the silent ones] were worthy to learn and study useful things, but also every one of the believers, so that the law of the Spirit is carried inscribed on the tablets of our hearts and we are cherubically worthy to converse with Jesus through pure prayer in a wondrous way. Since at the moment of rebirth we are infants who do not understand grace, do not see renewal and are not aware of the extraordinary greatness and glory that we have received, nor the duties to grow mentally and spiritually by [fulfilling] the commandments and to know rationally what we have received, then many of us, through carelessness and passionate habit, fall into insensibility and darkness. We do not remember whether God exists, nor who we are and what we have become, having become sons of God, sons of Light, children and members of Christ. Are we, if we are already baptized as men, then only [being baptized] in water, and not feeling the Spirit? If we are renewed in the Spirit and, believing with an unproven, dead and inactive faith, we affirm that we are in doubt [regarding our grace], then we are truly carnal, we live and act carnally. When we repent, we only outwardly, and not consciously, do not fulfill the commandments spiritually. And the grace that deigns to be revealed to some after their many labors, we accept [obviously] as a deception. If we hear about its effect from others, then out of envy we assume that it is a charm. So until death we remain dead - living and acting not in Christ. And what we had, as a result of unbelief or despair during the departure [from this world] and judgment, according to Scripture, is taken away from us (see: Mark 4:25), who did not think that the children should also be like the father - God from God and spiritual from the Spirit. What is born of the Spirit, it is said, is spirit (John 3:6). But we are carnal, although we are destined to be faithful and heavenly, and as a result the Spirit of God does not dwell in us. That is why the Lord gave [us] up to plunder and captivity and multiplied the bloodshed, rightly wanting to improve us and teach us to believe or heal [our] evil with the most powerful healing means. 2. With the help of God, who gives the word to those who preach the good news about spiritual blessings, it must first of all be said about how someone can find or, better yet, has already found what he has acquired, that is, received through the baptism of Christ in the Spirit, according to the Apostle Paul, who affirmed: “Do you not know that Christ Jesus lives in our hearts?” (see: 2 Cor. 13:5). Then [let's say] how you can improve and then maintain what you have achieved. The best and closest way [to the truth] is to speak briefly about the ultimate, which has an enormous breadth, together with the average that determines it. Many indulged in the feat until they found what they were looking for, but did not move further and did not care about it. Such people are content only with the beginning that they have found and, stumbling, follow the wrong path. They think that they are walking on the right path, but [in fact] they are being carried away from it. Others, having reached an average degree of enlightenment, became exhausted before the end, fell into carelessness, or, returning to their former ways, became beginners again due to a careless life. Some, having entered the measure of perfection, becoming equal in deeds to the average and beginners, fall and change to their previous [state] due to carelessness and conceit. The novice, average and perfect are characterized by: some - activity, others - enlightenment and the last - purification of the soul, or resurrection. 3. How the action is achieved. The operation of the Spirit, which we have mysteriously received in baptism, is acquired in two ways. First of all, it should generally be said that the gift [of the Holy Spirit] is revealed by fulfilling the commandments with the help of great and long-term work, as the ascetic Mark said. And since we keep the commandments, [the Spirit] clearly illuminates us with His characteristic brilliance. Secondly, the Holy Spirit appears in obedience through the knowledge and continuous invocation of the Lord Jesus, that is, through the memory of God. With the skill of the first way of life [the gift of grace] is found more slowly, with the skill of the second - faster, if [only] you diligently and patiently dig the earth in search of gold [grace]. And if we want to find and know the truth without wandering, then we will strive to have only one heart action, completely formless and unimaginable, and we will not dreamily, [as] in a mirror, see either the image or the outline of the face, apparently, of one of the saints, or contemplate the light, [since] charm, especially at the beginning, usually misleads the mind of the inexperienced with these ghosts. Let us take care of only one thing, to have the action of prayer taking place in our hearts, warming and pleasing the mind and inflaming the soul to the inexpressible love of God and people. Therefore, whoever sees what happens from prayer [requires] considerable contrition and humility, especially since even among beginners, prayer is always the driving internal action of the Holy Spirit, at the beginning spreading from the heart like a fire of joy, and in the end manifesting itself as a fragrant light. 4. The signs of the beginning [of the action] of prayer in those who seek it correctly, and not as curious ones, are such, according to Wisdom, which said that it is acquired by those who do not experience it, and appears to those who believe in it (see: Pres. 1, 2). In some, its action is expressed as rising light, in others - as trembling joy, in others - as joy, in others - as a mixture of joy and fear, in some - as awe and joy, sometimes - as tears and fear. The soul rejoices at the providence and mercy of God, fears and trembles at His coming, being guilty of many sins. For others, at first there is an indescribable contrition and extreme tension of the soul, like the sorrow of giving birth and suffering in the pangs of birth, according to Scripture (see: Rev. 12, 2), since the living and active Word, that is, Jesus, as the apostle says, goes to the separation of soul and body, joints and marrow (see: Heb. 4, 12), in order to forcibly cut off the passions from all parts of the soul and body. In others [ascetics] there shine through indestructible peace and love towards everyone, in others - joy, which the fathers often call leaping, like the strength of the spirit, and the movement of a living heart. This [state] is also called the beating and breathing of the Spirit, inexpressibly turning from us to God (see: Rom. 8:26). Isaiah calls it the wave of God's righteousness, the great Ephraim calls it the spearhead, and the Lord calls it a source of water flowing into eternal life (John 4:14). [The Lord] actually called the [grace] of the Spirit water, beating in the heart and spreading with great intense force. 5. Leaping, or joy, has two differences, namely: there is a joy of a calm nature, which is called the beating, sighing and reasoning of the spirit, and there is a stormy heartfelt joy, called the playing [of the spirit], an enthusiastic movement, or trembling, or the majestic takeoff of the living heart into the Divine airy sphere. Inspired by jealousy from the Divine Spirit and freed from the shackles of passions, the soul, before death, tries to rise to heaven, irresistibly striving to free itself from the heaviness [of the body]. This [experience] is called excitement, effervescence and excitement of the spirit [according to the words]: Jesus Himself was grieved in spirit, greatly indignant and said: where have you laid him? (John 11:33–34). The divine David points out the discord between great and small raptures, saying: The mountains leaped like rams, and the hills like lambs (Ps. 113:4). He said this about perfect and novice ascetics. [Otherwise] it would be incomprehensible if he remembered soulless, and not animate, mountains and hills as jumping. 6. You should know that Divine fear does not have trembling, but trembling joy, which is formed through prayer in the flame of Divine fear. Here I mean the thrill not of joy, but of anger or punishment and abandonment [from above]; fear [I assume] is not from fear of anger or punishment, but from wisdom, which is called the beginning of wisdom. Fear, which the fathers call dual, is divided into three ways: introductory, perfect, and actually called trembling, that is, hesitation and contrition. 7. Trembling has various shades: one - from anger, another - from joy, the next - from carnal passion (when, as a result of excess blood near the heart, as they say, boiling occurs), another - from old age, also from sin or delusion, another - from the curse that fell on the human race through Cain. Moreover, at the beginning of the ascetic, the trembling of joy and the trembling of sin struggle. Trembling [by nature] is not the same for everyone. Its signs are twofold: firstly, tremulous delight in great joy and tears with which grace consoles the soul; secondly, immoderate heat, pride and soul-burning hardness of heart, exciting the members [of the body] to cohabitation or to bodily connection and love and causing depravity through the consent of the soul with dreams. 8. For every beginner, the action [of experience] is twofold and, without confusion, is accomplished in a dual way in the heart: one from grace and the other from delusion. The great Mark the Ascetic testifies to this, saying: “There is a spiritual action and there is a satanic action, unknown only to an infant.” And there is also a threefold warmth of action, kindled in people, now by grace, now by delusion and sin, now by an overflow of blood, which Thalassius Africanus called dissolution and confusion, tamed and pacified by moderate abstinence. 9. The action of grace is the power of the fire of the Spirit, which in the joy and gladness of the heart moves, strengthens, warms and cleanses the soul, stops thoughts as if for an hour and temporarily mortifies bodily movement. The signs and fruits [of grace] that reveal the truth and unshakably confirm us in it are as follows: tears, contrition, humility, abstinence, silence, patience, isolation and other [virtues] of this kind. 10. The effect of delusion is the ignition of sin, inflaming the soul with pleasure, awakening a frenzied passionate desire for carnal cohabitation in bodily movement. According to Saint Diadochus, everything that is distinguished by unreasonable joy is disordered and meaningless, or everything that, according to a fair expression, is unnutritious, greatly promotes passion with lukewarm pleasures and gives lust, with the cooperation of an insatiable belly, the substance of inflaming pleasure. Hence [the effect of prelest] attracts and inflames one to carnal confusion and for that reason moves, burns and chains the soul to itself, so that a person, through skill in voluptuousness, little by little expels grace from himself. You might be interested in: