1. Now in the springtime, when nature is wearing its
most beautiful apparel, one feels inexpressible joy when this natural
beauty is accompanied by a sublime spiritual state. Truly, our holy God
has made all things in wisdom! [(cf. Ps. 103:26 (All quotes from the Old
Testament are from the Septuagint )]. The soul cannot get enough of
beholding the beauty of nature. Oh, if man would only lift his mind
above the earthly realm to the heavenly Jerusalem, to the inconceivable
beauty of paradise where the finite, earthly mind ceases to operate! If
here in exile, in this accursed land of weeping, our holy God has given
us so much beauty to enjoy, I wonder how much there will be in the
place where God Himself dwells! Truly, “the sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory and bliss.”
(cf. Rom. 8:18 ). Theosis in the heavens, my child! There the Lord our
God will remove every tear from our eyes, and do away with all sorrow
and pain and sighing, for there the angelic way of life reins, and the
only work is to chant hymns and spiritual odes! An eternal Sabbath is
prepared for us where we shall live in joy with our Father, God, Who is
waiting for us to be ready so that He may call us to Him forever! There
every saved soul will live in an ocean of love, sweetness, joy,
amazement, and wonder!
2.A time will come, the hour will strike, the moment
will arrive for these eyes to close and for the soul’s eyes to open.
Then we shall see a new world, new beings, a new creation, a new life
without end. Its title is: “Infinite Immortality,” the great homeland,
incorruptible and everlasting—the heavenly Jerusalem, the mother of the
firstborn, where redeemed souls, which have been washed of their
impurity by the blood of the innocent Lamb, will dwell!
Who is able to express in words or with a pen the joy, the exaltation, the bliss of those blessed saved souls? Blessed are they who have died in the Lord, for the riches of God’s goodness awaits them. Blessed is he who wins the “lottery” for the heavenly festival, for riches that cannot be taken away, for the glory that God Himself has described: “sons of the Most High, children of God, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.” Before the Passion, the Lord entreated His heavenly Father on behalf of His disciples and those who would believe through them: “Father, I desire that they also whom Thou hast given Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me; for Thou didst love Me before the foundation of the world.” (Jn. 17:24 ).
How great is Jesus’ love for us! He took on human nature and was hanged upon the Cross, giving us freedom and paying off our debt to His heavenly Father. And as a dear brother, He makes us worthy of jointly inheriting the infinite wealth of His heavenly Father! Oh, what love for us! Oh, how cold we are to Him! Oh, how ungrateful I am towards my Benefactor! My God, my God, have pity on me, and do not condemn me as I deserve because of my deeds!
Who is able to express in words or with a pen the joy, the exaltation, the bliss of those blessed saved souls? Blessed are they who have died in the Lord, for the riches of God’s goodness awaits them. Blessed is he who wins the “lottery” for the heavenly festival, for riches that cannot be taken away, for the glory that God Himself has described: “sons of the Most High, children of God, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.” Before the Passion, the Lord entreated His heavenly Father on behalf of His disciples and those who would believe through them: “Father, I desire that they also whom Thou hast given Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me; for Thou didst love Me before the foundation of the world.” (Jn. 17:24 ).
How great is Jesus’ love for us! He took on human nature and was hanged upon the Cross, giving us freedom and paying off our debt to His heavenly Father. And as a dear brother, He makes us worthy of jointly inheriting the infinite wealth of His heavenly Father! Oh, what love for us! Oh, how cold we are to Him! Oh, how ungrateful I am towards my Benefactor! My God, my God, have pity on me, and do not condemn me as I deserve because of my deeds!
3. Just as God has spiritually united us with an
unbreakable bond, likewise may He count us worthy to be together in His
heavenly kingdom, so that we may dine at the spiritual table and delight
in His divine fare, united with the heavenly Father, in Whom the
everlasting rivers of His divine waters flow. Oh, what a great calling!
Oh, how rich are the fruits of transitory afflictions! The children of
God will be adorned with heavenly garments; the divine features in their
faces will appear radiant; they will enter into the paternal legacy—the
eternal repose! They will go about those heavenly dwellings, and
beholding those boundless riches, they will remain in ecstasy without
realizing that eons are passing! Oh, what a great calling for man! But
two distressing thoughts blemish this good meditation. The first one is
that I shall not participate in all of this glorious blessedness—this is
just a meditation now, but later it will take on flesh and bones, in
other words, it will materialize. The second one is that people live
their lives in ignorance of this great calling, and consequently this
ignorance gives rise to separation from God, and spiritual death.
O my God, Lord of Sabaoth, enlighten the darkness of our hearts that we may see Thee, the true light, the blessed light that enlightens and gladdens the hearts of Thy friends. Enlighten us that we may follow Thee until the eternal rest.
*Ecstasy.
One experiences ecstasy when, with the synergy of grace, detaches his nous from reason and the surrounding environment and brings it back to the heart. Then, "through the heart the nous ascends to God",according to St. Gregory Palamas. During ecstasy, the nous is found in a different, spiritual realm. It is not a respite of the actions of the soul and nous, but a respite of physical actions, such as eating, sleeping, etc.
**Nous.
The English word that best conveys the meaning of the Greek word "νους" is the word "mind". The Fathers use this term with several other meanings, too.
***Meditation.
The term "meditation", as used by the Holy Fathers, indicates a thoughtful reflection or pondering upon a certain aspect of the faith, e.g., the Incarnation. God's mercy, the Crucifixion, the Transfiguration, one's sinfulness, etc. This is quite different from what is known as "Eastern meditation", which is the use of various psychosomatic techniques intended to bring about self-identification with a "supreme being" (or so-called "deity"), an "impersonal reality", or even nothingness. On the other hand, for an Orthodox Christian, meditation brings about humility, gratitude, and love, and is a preparation for prayer, which is a personal experience of the one, true, living God.
O my God, Lord of Sabaoth, enlighten the darkness of our hearts that we may see Thee, the true light, the blessed light that enlightens and gladdens the hearts of Thy friends. Enlighten us that we may follow Thee until the eternal rest.
*Ecstasy.
One experiences ecstasy when, with the synergy of grace, detaches his nous from reason and the surrounding environment and brings it back to the heart. Then, "through the heart the nous ascends to God",according to St. Gregory Palamas. During ecstasy, the nous is found in a different, spiritual realm. It is not a respite of the actions of the soul and nous, but a respite of physical actions, such as eating, sleeping, etc.
**Nous.
The English word that best conveys the meaning of the Greek word "νους" is the word "mind". The Fathers use this term with several other meanings, too.
***Meditation.
The term "meditation", as used by the Holy Fathers, indicates a thoughtful reflection or pondering upon a certain aspect of the faith, e.g., the Incarnation. God's mercy, the Crucifixion, the Transfiguration, one's sinfulness, etc. This is quite different from what is known as "Eastern meditation", which is the use of various psychosomatic techniques intended to bring about self-identification with a "supreme being" (or so-called "deity"), an "impersonal reality", or even nothingness. On the other hand, for an Orthodox Christian, meditation brings about humility, gratitude, and love, and is a preparation for prayer, which is a personal experience of the one, true, living God.
4 . Everything will pass and will end as if had never
existed, whereas works done in God will remain with the soul that worked
them so that the worker may reap eternal life from them. Blessed are
the spiritual philosophers of God, who give away transient things and
store up eternal things, so that when they depart, they will find their
treasures in God’s treasury with accrued interest. Blessed are they who
clean their hearts from the weeds of sin and cultivate the good seed,
for the time will come for them to reap sheaves of eternal life! Blessed
are they who sow tears with spiritual fasting, that is, always
hungering and thirsting for good works, for they will reap eternal joy!
5 . All the labor, toil, and temptations in this life,
my blessed child, cannot be compared with that blessed life. Even if we
had thousands of lives and sacrificed them all, we would not have done
anything significant in comparison with the future glory in which Christ
the Master longs to establish us through His precious and life-giving
Blood! This is why the Apostle Paul says, “The sufferings of this
present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be
revealed in us.” (Rom. 8:18 ). Furthermore, reflect that man “withers
like a flower and passes like a dream,” (cf. Is. 40:6-8 ), and that
“when the trumpet sounds, all the dead will rise as if in an earthquake”
(cf. 2 Thes. 4:16 ) to meet Christ. When the door of the age to come
opens, and when the present world is destroyed, then our nature will be
restored to its original state. The Lord “will transform our lowly body
that it may be conformed to His glorious body.” (Phil. 3:21 ). Our
nature, which groans and travails together with all of creation, (cf.
Rom. 8:22 ), awaits the glorious revealing of the children of God with
an intense yearning. “For the earnest expectation of the creation
eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.” (Rom. 8:19 ). The
grandeur of man, whom God raises to such heights and glory, is
unrivaled! Yet we passionate sinners are unaware of and indifferent to
these great riches, and our way of thinking is completely earthly. Just
think: this body which is fetid dirt is counted worthy to be conformed
to God’s glory, to become angelic! (cf. Phil. 3:21 ). Now, men are
material in comparison to the angels, which are purely spiritual beings.
Angels in comparison to God are somewhat “material”. They are not
purely spiritual as God is, Who is unapproachable light. In this manner
men will also become angelic then. Then, a single unity of the fullness
of the Church, of the faithful with Christ will occur. How tenderly and
paternally our Lord puts it: “Father,” He said to His Father, “I desire
that they also whom Thou hast given Me may be with Me where I am, that
they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me” (Jn. 17:24 ). Can
worldly riches compare with these words of God? If only we were there
where our Lord is—where angels shudder and tremble to approach! O hidden
wisdom and infinite wealth of God!
6 . Do not forget your goal, my child. Look into
heaven and see the beauty that awaits us. What are the present, earthly
things? Aren’t they but ashes and dust and a dream? Don’t we see that
everything here is subject to decay? Whereas things above are
everlasting, the kingdom of God is endless, and blessed is he who will
dwell in it, for he will behold the glory of His divine face! My child,
do not forget that we are in this world only temporarily and that our
life dangles by a thread and that all the desirable things in the world
are vain. So, whoever despises the vain things of the world—in other
words, does not passionately desire them—will participate in the eternal
good things. So, when we have this knowledge of the truth, naturally we
shall turn the eyes of our soul at every moment towards the eternal
life, towards the heavenly Jerusalem, where the choirs of angels chant
godly canticles of ineffable sweetness and wisdom. Oh, my children, how
much glory your souls will have when after death they ascend to the
heavens and are numbered with the angels in heaven!
7 . Let us glorify the risen Lord, Who counted us
worthy to celebrate His holy Resurrection. Let us pray that He will also
count us worthy to celebrate the eternal Sabbath in the heavens, in the
new Jerusalem, in the eternal joy. “And no one will take this joy away
from you (cf. Jn. 16:22 ). Indeed, my child, for earthly joy is followed
by sorrows which can annihilate it, whereas heavenly joy is not,
because it flows continuously as if from an inexhaustible and
life-giving spring.
Let us compel ourselves in our Christian duties in order to be able to celebrate the eternal Pascha, close to our Christ and see Him face to face for our blessed enjoyment, without it being interrupted anymore by trials and despair.
Let us compel ourselves in our Christian duties in order to be able to celebrate the eternal Pascha, close to our Christ and see Him face to face for our blessed enjoyment, without it being interrupted anymore by trials and despair.
8 . I sent you a letter in which I wrote a few things
about the paradise; I hope this pleased you. Ah, if you could only see a
little bit of paradise, if you could only hear for a few seconds the
chanting of the sweet angels who shine with heavenly light and emit paradisaical fragrance! Oh, what beauty! Unfortunately, we are in the
dark about all these things. There everything shines with limitless
bliss. And what does the throne of Christ tell you? Christ the Master
sits upon a throne, and due to His light no one can discern His sacred
and most sweet face. Oh, what sweetness and beauty! What is more
beautiful than this? This is truly paradise: to behold the face of our
Jesus! Glory to Thy Cross, O Lord, and to Thy Resurrection! O depth of
the wisdom of God! O mysteries of the three sun Deity! Blessed is he who
humbles himself like a child, obeying all commands with a guileless soul
for the love of God! And woe to him who will hold on to his egotism,
like me; how many divine gifts does he deprive himself of! My children,
run with humility to reach the Lord Who humbled Himself for our sake—our
sweetest, beloved Christ, the light of our poor souls. See what beauty
awaits us! If you could only see how beautiful it is! You would
disregard everything; you would even become like trash to be stepped on,
just as long as you would not be deprived of everything that the sweet
love of Jesus has prepared! These are the kinds of things my Elder used
to tell me, and I am conveying them to you so that you may be sweetened.
I am done—forgive me!
9 . I, however, am not fit for paradise, because my works notify me in advance that I am only fit for hell.
The Apostle Paul speaks to us about paradise very beautifully. He was caught up to the third heaven (vid. 1 Cor. 12:2 ) and to the beauty of the kingdom of heaven and cried out in ecstasy, “How lovely and exquisitely beautiful the kingdom of God is, which cannot be compared with any earthly beauty!” Paradise is so beautiful that the eye of man has never been able to see such beauty. Likewise, a human ear has never heard sweeter chanting, since in heaven angelic choirs chant incomparably sweeter than the most sweet-voiced nightingales!
The Apostle Paul goes on to say that man has never conceived what God has prepared in heaven, in paradise, for His children. Indeed, it is the truth that if we knew the spiritual pleasures of paradise, we would be patient in every situation in order to gain it. Whereas now, because of our ignorance, we do the opposite and thus go far away from it!
Oh, if we only knew what paradise is! The human mind is unable to conceive the magnitude of its beauty! There the choirs of angels and holy souls chant incessantly-an eternal Pascha! There, souls converse with exultation. They talk about how they passed this vain life and how much God helped them to escape hell and to repose in this blissful place of God! They offer endless thanks to God for this tremendous mercy of His, that He gave them paradise!
What is paradise? It is a place full of unfading flowers, replete with divine aromas, the delight of angels, Paschal life, divine eros, ceaseless doxology of God, and an eternal life! So then, it is worth struggling for- but how insignificant our struggle is in light of this “fantastic,” so to speak, paradise!
Oh, paradise, how beautiful you are! Your beauty allures me and changes me into a different person. Why shouldn’t I endeavor and struggle properly to obtain you?
My God, our Lord, deliver us from accursed pride, so that guided by holy humility we may become inhabitants of sweetest paradise. Amen; so be it.
The Apostle Paul speaks to us about paradise very beautifully. He was caught up to the third heaven (vid. 1 Cor. 12:2 ) and to the beauty of the kingdom of heaven and cried out in ecstasy, “How lovely and exquisitely beautiful the kingdom of God is, which cannot be compared with any earthly beauty!” Paradise is so beautiful that the eye of man has never been able to see such beauty. Likewise, a human ear has never heard sweeter chanting, since in heaven angelic choirs chant incomparably sweeter than the most sweet-voiced nightingales!
The Apostle Paul goes on to say that man has never conceived what God has prepared in heaven, in paradise, for His children. Indeed, it is the truth that if we knew the spiritual pleasures of paradise, we would be patient in every situation in order to gain it. Whereas now, because of our ignorance, we do the opposite and thus go far away from it!
Oh, if we only knew what paradise is! The human mind is unable to conceive the magnitude of its beauty! There the choirs of angels and holy souls chant incessantly-an eternal Pascha! There, souls converse with exultation. They talk about how they passed this vain life and how much God helped them to escape hell and to repose in this blissful place of God! They offer endless thanks to God for this tremendous mercy of His, that He gave them paradise!
What is paradise? It is a place full of unfading flowers, replete with divine aromas, the delight of angels, Paschal life, divine eros, ceaseless doxology of God, and an eternal life! So then, it is worth struggling for- but how insignificant our struggle is in light of this “fantastic,” so to speak, paradise!
Oh, paradise, how beautiful you are! Your beauty allures me and changes me into a different person. Why shouldn’t I endeavor and struggle properly to obtain you?
My God, our Lord, deliver us from accursed pride, so that guided by holy humility we may become inhabitants of sweetest paradise. Amen; so be it.
Counsels from the Holy Mountain
Selected from the letters and homilies
of Elder Ephraim
Selected from the letters and homilies
of Elder Ephraim
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