Η ομιλία πραγματοποιήθηκε στην Ιερά Μονή Αγίων Αυγουστίνου Ιππώνος & Σεραφείμ του Σαρώφ την Τετάρτη 15 Μαϊου 2013
Thursday, 16 May 2013
Saint Isaac The Syrian-THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN DIFFERENT KINDS OF KNOWLEDGE 2
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
ST. JOHN CASSIAN - Three Kinds of Gifts from God
Saint John Cassian
After the evening meal we sat on the mats, as monks do, and we waited for the discussion which had been promised us. Out of deference to the old man we remained silent for a while. Then he interrupted our respectful silence with the following words.
"The direction taken by our earlier discussion has brought us now to the need to state the nature of spiritual gifts, and the tradition of our elders, as we know, us that this takes a threefold form.
GIFTS THAT COME FROM THE HOLY
"The first cause of the gift of healing is the merit earned by holiness. The grace of working miracles is to be found among specially chosen and just men. It is quite evident that the apostles and many saints worked miracles and wonders. This was in accordance with what the Lord Himself had commanded when He said, 'Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, expel the demons. You have freely received. Give freely.' (Matthew 10:8)
GIFTS THAT COME FROM SINNERS
"Second, for the edification of the church or of those who bring forward their own patients or of those who have to be healed, the virtue of healing comes even from sinners and from the unworthy. Of such people the Savior had this to say in the gospel: 'They will say to me on that day: Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and did we not drive out devils in your name, and did we not do many wonders in your name? And I will say out loud to them. I do not know you. Leave me, you workers of iniquity' (Matthew 7:22 - 23). But by contrast, if faith is lacking in those who bring forward the sick, then it will not be permitted, even to those with the gift of healing , to work a cure. The evangelist Luke had this to say: 'And Jesus could not work miracles among them because of their unbelief' (Mark 6: 5 - 6 -- NOTE: this is NOT in Luke, but in Mark). It was at this time that the Lord said: 'There were many lepers in Israel in the days of Elisaeus the prophet and no one of them was cured except Neman the Syrian' (Luke 4:27).
GIFTS THAT COME FROM DEMONS
"The third kind of healing is a trick and deception worked by demons. A man caught up in obvious wrongdoing is an object of admiration of being a holy man and a servant of God and he becomes, for evil spirits, the means of enticing others to imitate him even to the extent of doing wrong like him. The way is now open for scandal and even the sanctity of religion is maligned. And it is quite certainly the case that this man who credits himself with the gift of healing is brought crashing down all the harder because of the pride in his heart.
"The demons have also the following trick. They cry out the names of those whom they know to have none of the merits of holiness and to possess none of the fruits of the Spirit. They pretend to be burnt up by the merits of such people and to take flight from the bodies of the possessed. Deuteronomy has this to say about such persons: 'If a prophet should arise among you or a man claiming visionary dreams, and if he foretells a sign and a portent, and if what he says should actually happen, and if he should say to you, "Let us go and follow strange gods who are unknown to you and let us serve them," do not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. For the Lord your God is putting you to the test, bringing out into the open whether or not you love Him with all your heart and with all your should (Deuteronomy 13: 1 - 3). And in the gospel he says this: 'Fake Christs and fake prophets will rise up and they will perform great signs and wonders so that if possible even the chosen will be led into error' (Matthew 24:24).
BEING ON GUARD
"Therefore we must never be admirers of those who pretend to do such things out of virtuousness. We must note, instead, whether they have become perfect as a result of driving out their sins and because of the improvement of their way of life. This is something that is certainly not achieved through the act of faith of someone else or for reasons that are obscure to us. It happens because of a man's own zeal and the divine gift of grace.
"Such, then, is the practical knowledge which is otherwise called 'charity' by the apostle and which, on his apostolic authority, is to be preferred to all the speech of men and angels, to the full faith which can even move mountains, to all knowledge and prophetic power, to the utter abandonment of the things of the world, and, finally, even to glorious martyrdom. He listed all the types of charismatic gifts and had this to say: 'To one man the Spirit grants wisdom in preaching, to another knowledgeable discourse, to another faith, to another the gift of healing, to another the working of cures' (I Corinthians 12:8 - 10) and all the rest. But he will go on to speak of love, and notice how he put this before all the charisms: 'I will show you a way that is better than any of them' (I Corinthians 12:31).
"In this way it is clearly shown that the high point of perfection and blessedness does not lie in the working of those miracles but rather in the purity of love. And not without good reason. The former have to vanish and to be done away with. But love will endure forever. Hence we never see the Fathers caught up in these wonderworkings. By the grace of the Holy Spirit they were possessors of such capacities but they never wanted to use them unless they were coerced by utter, unavoidable necessity."
from St. John Cassian (trans Colm Luibheid), "Conferences," (New York: Paulist Press, 1985), pp. 174 - 176
Γέροντας Ευσέβιος Γιαννακάκης: «Η συνήθεια στην λατρεία είναι ο μεγαλύτερος κίνδυνος»
Γέροντας Ευσέβιος Γιαννακάκης
Λοιπόν εκείνο που αποτελεί κίνδυνο, μεγάλο κίνδυνο είναι η συνήθεια, μεγάλο και τρομερό κίνδυνο η συνήθεια.
Εμείς να μη επιτρέψουμε στον εαυτό μας να συνηθίζει, είτε
την Λειτουργία, είτε την ψαλτική, είτε το Ποτήριο της Ζωής είτε…να μη το
συνηθίζουμε.
Να νοιώθουμε δέος κάθε φορά που γίνεται Λειτουργία.
Με πολλή συγκίνηση και συναίσθηση και ευγνωμοσύνη εις τον Θεόν να παρακολουθούμε.
Θα μπορούσαμε πάντοτε ως για πρώτη και τελευταία φορά να παρακολουθούμε την Θεία Λειτουργία;
Λοιπόν είναι ο μεγαλύτερος κίνδυνος η συνήθεια.
Συνήθεια και στον κανόνα και στην προσευχή και στη Λειτουργία και, και, και…
Όταν προσπαθεί κανείς να νοιώθει τον Κύριο κοντά του, και να ζει το
ιδανικό του, δεν γίνεται συνήθεια ποτέ. Μα, και να μην προλάβει, ας
πούμε, να κάνει τον κανόνα του όλον, αν κάνει κείνο τον κανόνα τον πιο
λίγο καλά, παστρικά, καθαρά, με πολλή συναίσθηση , τον δέχεται ο Θεός
σαν δέκα κανόνες. Να είναι ο νους και η σκέψις μας εις τον Θεό και να
νοιώθουμε εκεί τον Θεόν κοντά μας. Ε, ευλογεί , ευλογεί τότε ο Κύριος
και αγιάζει.
Η ζωή μας να περπατάει έξω από αδυναμίες και μακριά από
υποχωρήσεις και συμβιβασμούς. Να επιδιώκουμε βίον αγνόν και ζωή
ολοκάθαρη και Μυστηριακή.
Να μοσχοβολάει από προσευχή , από Λατρεία, από αγώνα πνευματικό και άγιο.
Ώστε όλα αυτά να βεβαιώνουν ότι είμαστε σταθεροί στην κλήση
μας, και ότι κρατάμε δυνατά την αγίαν παρακαταθήκην της ζωής που μας
ενεπιστεύθη Κύριος.
St.Nikodemos the Hagiorite- On How to struggle against bodily passions
Saint Nikodemos The Hagiorite
In
struggling against bodily passions, my brother, a different method
should be used than in struggling against the others. If you want things
to proceed in the right order, know that you should do one thing before
you are tempted by these passions, another thing during temptation and
yet another when it is over.
Before temptation, attention should be concentrated on the causes, which habitually give birth to temptation or which excite passion. The rule here is to use every means to avoid all occasions, which may upset the calm of your body, especially meeting people of the other sex. If you are forced to converse with such a person, let the conversation be short, and preserve not only modesty but a certain sternness of countenance; let your words be friendly, but reserved rather than forthcoming.
Before temptation, attention should be concentrated on the causes, which habitually give birth to temptation or which excite passion. The rule here is to use every means to avoid all occasions, which may upset the calm of your body, especially meeting people of the other sex. If you are forced to converse with such a person, let the conversation be short, and preserve not only modesty but a certain sternness of countenance; let your words be friendly, but reserved rather than forthcoming.
‘ Never trust thine enemy’ (Ecclesiasticus xii. 10) says the wise Sirach. So never trust your body; for as iron produces rust by itself, so the corrupted nature of the body produces evil stirrings of lust. “For like as iron rusteth, so is his wickedness’ (Ecclesiasticus xii. 10). I repeat again, do not trust yourself in this respect, even if you no longer feel and have not felt for some time this sting of your flesh.
For
this thrice-cursed wickedness sometimes achieves in one hour or one
moment what it has not done for many years, and always makes its
preparations for attack silently. Know that the more the flesh pretends
to be your friend and gives no cause for suspicion, the greater the harm
it inflicts later, and often strikes to death.
All must fear people of the other sex, communion with whom is regarded as good in ordinary life, either because they are relatives,or because they are pious and virtuous, or because they have done you a favour and you fee] under the obligation to express your gratitude as often AS possible. You should fear this because, without fear and attention to yourself, such communion is practically always mixed with the pernicious sensory lust which, gradually .”and insensibly, steals into the soul to its very depths and so obscures the mind that a man thus infected begins to disregard all the dangerous causes of sin, such as passionate glances, sweet words on both sides, seductive movements and postures of the body and the pressing of hands. Thus he finally succumbs to the sin itself and to other snares of the devil, from which at times he never manages to extricate himself completely.
All must fear people of the other sex, communion with whom is regarded as good in ordinary life, either because they are relatives,or because they are pious and virtuous, or because they have done you a favour and you fee] under the obligation to express your gratitude as often AS possible. You should fear this because, without fear and attention to yourself, such communion is practically always mixed with the pernicious sensory lust which, gradually .”and insensibly, steals into the soul to its very depths and so obscures the mind that a man thus infected begins to disregard all the dangerous causes of sin, such as passionate glances, sweet words on both sides, seductive movements and postures of the body and the pressing of hands. Thus he finally succumbs to the sin itself and to other snares of the devil, from which at times he never manages to extricate himself completely.
So, my brother, flee this fire, for you are gunpowder, and never dare to think in your conceit that you are damp gunpowder,moistened with the water of a good and firm will. No, no! Better think that you are as dry as dry and will catch fire as soon as you are touched by that flame. Never rely on the firmness of your resolve and your readiness to die rather than to offend God by sin.
For, although it can be assumed that this resolve makes your gunpowder damp, frequent communication and sitting together in private will gradually dry the moisture of your righteous will by bodily fire, and you will never notice how you are set aflame with bodily love to such an extent, that you will cease to be ashamed of men and to fear God,- and will disregard honour, life and all the tortures of hell in your longing to commit sin. So avoid in all possible ways:
(a) Communion with people, who can be a temptation to you, if you sincerely desire to escape the captivity of sin and paying its wages, which is death of the soul. The wise Solomon calls a man wise, who fears and avoids the causes of sin; and he calls foolish a man who, with great self-reliance, confidently neglects to avoid them, saying: ‘A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident” (in his actions) (Prov. xiv. 16). Did not the Apostle point this out when he advised the CORINTHIANS: “Flee fornication” (I Cor. vi. 18).
(b) Flee idleness and laziness; stand on guard watchfully, in all things peering closely at your thoughts, and wisely arranging and conducting the activities, demanded by your position.
(c) Never disobey your spiritual teachers and fathers, but obey them willingly in everything, executing their orders quickly and readily, and especially those which can teach you humility and go against your own will and inclination.
(d)
Never allow yourself boldly to judge your neighbour; judge and condemn,
no. one, especially for the particular bodily sin of which we are
speaking. If someone has manifestly fallen into it, rather have
compassion and pity for him. Do not be indignant with him or laugh at
him, but let his example be a lesson in humility to you; realising that
you too are extremely weak and as easily, moved to sin as dust on the
road, say to yourself: ‘He fell today, but tomorrow I shall fall.’ Know
that, if you are quick to blame and despise others, God will mete out a
painful punishment to you by letting you fall into the same sin for
which you blame others.
‘Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matt. vii. 1); you will be condemned to the same punishment, in order to learn from it the perniciousness of your pride and, thus humbled, to seek a cure from two evils: pride and fornication. Even if in His mercy God protects you from downfall and you keep the chastity of your thought inviolate, stop blaming others if you were blaming them, and instead of relying on yourself, be still more afraid and do not trust your own steadfastness.
(e) Pay attention to yourself and watch over yourself. If .you have gained some gift or another from God, or find yourself in a good spiritual state, do not in your vainglory accept vain illusions. about yourself, thinking that you are something and .imagining that your enemies would not dare to attack you that you abhor and despise them so much that you will immediately repulse them., if they dare to come near you. As soon as you think thus, you will fall as easily as an autumn leaf from a tree.
That is what you must do before the temptation of bodily passion assails you.
‘Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matt. vii. 1); you will be condemned to the same punishment, in order to learn from it the perniciousness of your pride and, thus humbled, to seek a cure from two evils: pride and fornication. Even if in His mercy God protects you from downfall and you keep the chastity of your thought inviolate, stop blaming others if you were blaming them, and instead of relying on yourself, be still more afraid and do not trust your own steadfastness.
(e) Pay attention to yourself and watch over yourself. If .you have gained some gift or another from God, or find yourself in a good spiritual state, do not in your vainglory accept vain illusions. about yourself, thinking that you are something and .imagining that your enemies would not dare to attack you that you abhor and despise them so much that you will immediately repulse them., if they dare to come near you. As soon as you think thus, you will fall as easily as an autumn leaf from a tree.
That is what you must do before the temptation of bodily passion assails you.
At a time of actual temptation, do as follows: hasten to discover the cause which provoked the attack and sweep it away immediately. This cause may be internal or external. External causes may be: undisciplined eyes, words sweet to the hearing, songs which delight your ears by their content or melody, fine garments made of soft materials, perfumes pleasing to the nose, free behaviour and conversations, physical touch and pressing of hands, dances and many other things. Remedies against these are:simple and humble attire, the will not to see, hear, smell, say or touch anything which may produce this shameful impulse, and especially avoidance of all intercourse with people of the other sex, as has been already said above. Inner causes are, on the one hand, ease and comfort of the body, when all bodily desires find full satisfaction; on the other—shameful thoughts, which either come of themselves brought by memories of things seen, heard and experienced, or which are excited by evil spirits.
As regards a life of physical ease and comfort, it should be hardened by fasts, vigils, sleeping rough, and especially by a great number of bowings and prostrations to exhaust the body, and by various other voluntary mortifications of the flesh, as advised and counseled by our wise and experienced holy fathers. The remedy against thoughts, no matter whence they come, is various spiritual exercises, compatible with your present state and dictated by it, such as: reading of holy and salutary books, especially of St. Ephrem the Syrian, St. John of the Ladder, the Philokalia and others of the same kind, devout meditations and prayer.
When shameful thoughts begin to assail you, pray thus: immediately raise your mind to our Lord, crucified for us, and call on Him from the bottom of your heart: ‘ My Lord Jesus! My sweetest Jesus! Hasten to help me and do not let my enemy ensnare me!’ At the same time embrace mentally (and also physically if there is one near you) the life-giving cross upon which your Lord was crucified, kiss often His wounds and say to Him with love: ‘Most beautiful wounds, most holy wounds, immaculate wounds! Wound my wretched and impure heart and do not let me offend and shame Thee by my uncleanness.” During the time when shameful thoughts of bodily lust multiply in you, your reflections must not be directed straight against them, though many advise this.
Do
not attempt to picture in your mind the uncleanness and shame of the
sins of bodily lust, nor the remorse of conscience which follows upon
them, nor the corruption of your nature and loss of your pure virginity,
nor the besmirching of your honour, and other similar things. Do not
attempt, I say, to think of these things, for such reflections are not
always a reliable means of overcoming bodily temptations and may only
give strength to the attacks and, at times, lead to your downfall. For,
although your mind remonstrates with the lust and mentally upbraids it,
yet the thought dwells on its objects, to which the heart feels such
predilection.
So
it is not surprising that while the mind is lavishly pouring out severe
condemnations of these things, the heart delights in them and consents
to them—which means inner downfall. No, you must think of such subjects
as would screen off these shameful things and completely distract your
attention from them, things which, by their nature, would have a
sobering effect on your heart. Such subjects are
the life and passion of our Lord Jesus, Who took on flesh for our sakes,
the inevitable hour of our death, the terrible day of judgment and the
various aspects of torment in hell.
If, as often happens, shameful thoughts should persist in spite of this, and should attack you with special force and impetuosity, fear not, do not stop reflecting as we have said, and do not attempt a direct attack on them to expose their shameful nature, Refrain from this, but continue to direct your whole attention to reflections upon the sobering and awe-inspiring subjects indicated above, without bothering about the shameful thoughts, as though they were not your own. Know that no better means exists of driving them away than disregarding and neglecting them. As often as possible, interrupt your meditation by this or a similar prayer:
‘Deliver
me, my Creator and Saviour, from my enemies, to the glory of your
passion and your infinite mercy.” Conclude your meditation by a similar
prayer,Take care not to cast the eye of your mind upon this bodily
uncleanness, since merely visualising it is not without danger; and do
not pause to converse with these temptations or about them, in order to
find out whether consent to them had occurred in you or not.
Although such analysis may appear good, in actual fact it is a trick of the devil, who strives by this means to weigh you down, to cast you into faintheartedness and despair, or to make you dwell on these thoughts as long as possible, in order thus to drive you to sinful action, of this kind, or some other.
Instead of all such investigations of the thoughts which trouble you, go, confess all in detail to your spiritual father, and thereupon remain undisturbed in your heart and thought, untroubled by any questions, but content with the ruling of your father. Only, you must reveal to him everything, which has troubled and is troubling your mind and feeling in this temptation, concealing nothing and not letting your tongue be tied by shame, but humbling yourself in self-abasement.
Although such analysis may appear good, in actual fact it is a trick of the devil, who strives by this means to weigh you down, to cast you into faintheartedness and despair, or to make you dwell on these thoughts as long as possible, in order thus to drive you to sinful action, of this kind, or some other.
Instead of all such investigations of the thoughts which trouble you, go, confess all in detail to your spiritual father, and thereupon remain undisturbed in your heart and thought, untroubled by any questions, but content with the ruling of your father. Only, you must reveal to him everything, which has troubled and is troubling your mind and feeling in this temptation, concealing nothing and not letting your tongue be tied by shame, but humbling yourself in self-abasement.
For
if, to gain victory, we need profound humility in all struggle with our
enemies, how much more so at moments of warfare of the flesh? For in
this case the very temptation is mostly either born of pride or is a
reproof and punishment for it. Therefore St. John of the Ladder says
that he who has fallen into fornication or some other sin of the flesh,
had previously fallen into pride; and that his fall into sin was
allowed, to humble him. ‘ Where a downfall has happened, there pride has
dwelt before it; for pride comes before a fall.’ And again,‘Punishment
for the proud is to fall’ (Chapter 23). When shameful thoughts are at
last subdued and temptation ceases, you must do the following: however
much you are convinced that you are now free from attacks of the flesh,
and however sure you are of yourself, take every
care to keep your mind and attention away from things and people, who
were the cause of this upsurging of temptation.
Do
not satisfy the impulse to see them, under the pretext that they are
your relatives, or that they are devout and your benefactors. Admonish yourself with the thought that this too is a sinful blandishment of our corrupt nature and a net of our cunning enemy the devil, who assumes here the form of an Angel of light, in order to cast us into the darkness of which St. Paul speaks (II Cor. xi. 14).
Taken From the Book "Unseen Warfare "edited by Saint Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain, and Saint Theophan the Recluse