Saint Isaac The Syrian
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YET ANOTHER DISTINCTION BETWEEN DIFFERENT KINDS OF KNOWLEDGE
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Knowledge which is concerned with the visible, or which receives
through the senses what comes from the visible, is called natural.
Knowledge which is concerned with the power of the immaterial and the
nature of incorporeal entities within a man is called spiritual, because
perceptions are received by the spirit and not by the senses. Because
of these two origins (perceptions of the visible and of the spiritual)
each kind of knowledge alike comes from without. But the knowledge
bestowed by Divine power is called supranatural; it is more unfathomable
and is higher than knowledge. Contemplation of this knowledge comes to
the soul not from matter, which is outside it, as is the case of the
first two kinds of knowledge; it manifests and reveals itself in the
innermost depths of the soul itself, immaterially, suddenly,
spontaneously and unexpectedly, since, according to the words of Christ
'the kingdom of God is within you' (Luke 17:21). It does not feed hope
with any image in advance, nor can its coming be observed: but within
the image imprinted in the hidden mind, it reveals itself by itself,
without thought. The first kind of knowledge results from constant and
diligent work of learning; the second results from right living and
rational faith; the third is given only to the faith, which sets aside
knowledge and puts an end to actions.
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EXPERIENCE VERSUS BOOK KNOWLEDGE
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Accept without fail words spoken from experience, even if the speaker
is not learned in books. For though royal treasures may be the greatest
of all on earth, yet they do not despise adding an obol taken from a
beggar; and rivers are swollen by small streams to become mighty in
their flow.
Memory of good things and memory of bad things show us, like a pointing finger, either the shamefulness of our thoughts, or the height of our life, and each, according to its nature, strengthens in us thoughts and movements belonging either to the right or to the left. Our traffic with them is in the secrecy of our mind; but this mental traffic depicts our life and in it we can see ourselves.
There is a love like a small lamp, fed by oil, which goes out when the oil is ended; or like a rain-fed stream which goes dry, when rain no longer feeds it. But there is a love, like a spring gushing from the earth, never to be exhausted. The first is human love; the second - is Divine, and has God as its source.
Memory of good things and memory of bad things show us, like a pointing finger, either the shamefulness of our thoughts, or the height of our life, and each, according to its nature, strengthens in us thoughts and movements belonging either to the right or to the left. Our traffic with them is in the secrecy of our mind; but this mental traffic depicts our life and in it we can see ourselves.
There is a love like a small lamp, fed by oil, which goes out when the oil is ended; or like a rain-fed stream which goes dry, when rain no longer feeds it. But there is a love, like a spring gushing from the earth, never to be exhausted. The first is human love; the second - is Divine, and has God as its source.
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LITURGICAL PRAYERS AND RITUALS
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Do not doubt the power of our prayers in established services, if it
happens that prayers or hourly reading are not followed by strong
stimulation and constant contrition.
Do you wish to enjoy the words of your services and to understand the
meaning of the words of the Spirit that you utter? Then disregard
completely the quantity of verses, take no account of your skill in
giving rhythm to the lines, abandon the customary loud chanting, but let
your mind sink deep into study of the words of the Spirit, till your
soul is roused to heights of understanding and thereby is moved to
glorify God or to salutary mourning. There is no peace for the mind in
slavish work (in merely reading the set prayers); and disturbance of
mind deprives it of the taste of the meaning and of understanding and
disperses thoughts. Disturbance may truthfully be called the devil's
chariot, for it is Satan's practice to drive the mind like a charioteer,
and, carrying with him a load of passions, to enter the luckless soul
and plunge it into confusion.
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MANAGING THOUGHTS FROM THE EVIL ONE
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Do not oppose the thoughts, which the enemy sows in you, but rather
cut off all converse with them by prayer to God. We have not always
strength enough so to oppose hostile thoughts as to stop them; on the
contrary, in such attempts they frequently inflict us with a wound that
is long in healing. Despite all your wisdom and all your good
intentions, the enemies will succeed in dealing you a blow. But even if
you conquer them, the filth of such thoughts will pollute your mind and
their stench will long cling in your nostrils. But if you use the first
method, you will be free of all this and of fear; for there is no help
but God.
from E. Kadloubovsky and G. E. H. Palmer, "Early Fathers from the Philokalia," (London: Faber and Faber, 1981), pp. 196 - 198
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