And that the World of which the Devil is Prince does not refer to
God's Creation, but to Those who subject themselves to the Devil by
their Misuse of Creation
Delivered during the Litany
St. Gregory Palamas - Homily 33
1.
WHATEVER you sow in cultivated ground, you reap the same. If you plant
fruit trees, or sow wheat, barley or some other useful crop, the earth
brings them forth and they grow and are fruitful. But if the land is
left untilled and unsown, it sprouts useless plants, mostly the thorns
and thistles mentioned in the curse pronounced against us (Gen. 3:18).
Even if a tree happens to grow, it will most probably have no fruit,
be useless and full of thorns. It is the same with the soul. Whatever
attitudes you
instill in it, you will receive the same back. If you keep
company with good people, listen to spiritual teaching and follow it,
putting its precepts into practice, your soul cultivates virtues and
becomes useful to God, to others, and to yourself. But if you delight
in bad company and do not heed spiritual teaching, or even regard it
as trivial, your soul turns wild and out of control, sprouts evil
passions, and yields the stings and thorns of its own and the body's
death, namely, sins.
2.
In the beginning, as you all know, the serpent which originated evil
stung man through sin, made him mortal, threw him out of paradise and
brought him into this fleeting, painful world. Now, unless we hasten
through repentance to heal the wounds he has inflicted, he will
dispatch us to everlasting punishment and hell-fire. Just as savage
animals and reptiles lurk in wild woods and thorny thickets, so this
evil dragon, the great universal beast, dwells, according to Job,
under the various trees of pleasure (Job 40:21 Lxx), and, he says,
destruction runs in front of him (Job 41: 14 Lxx). Because I long for
you all to be out of reach of this destruction, and would do anything
to achieve this, I labour for your sake with words and spiritual
teaching, brethren, on a daily basis for those who approach me
privately, and also publicly for everyone in church, as the
opportunity arises. This instruction cuts down evil's trees, forces
open sin's depths, blunts the goads of wickedness, triumphs over the
dragon - the source of iniquity - shows up the straight path, and
bestows saving knowledge.
3.
Christ's Church, especially here in this great city, includes not only
persons who are simple and lacking in formal education, but also
people who are wise and cultivated, both by nature and through the
study of secular disciplines and the teachings of the Church. For that
reason I do not for the most part make my homilies too basic. I prefer
to help those who are lower to rise, rather than to bring down those
who are higher on their account. Anyone, even if he is unlearned, who
pays careful attention to my teaching, will not be wholly unaware of
what I am saying. That portion, however small, which he can understand
and take hold of and put into practice, will chase away every evil
from his soul and strengthen, fill, and save the heart which accepts
it. My instruction is derived from divinely inspired Scripture which
resembles that stone which, as Daniel tells us, was very small when it
came from the mountain, but it smote the image of transitory power,
broke it to pieces and destroyed it, and expanded to fill the whole
earth (cf. Dan. 2:34-35). Not only should the simple and less
cultivated listen attentively to what I am going to say, but
particularly the wise. Even if my address makes some allowances for
the unread, the wisdom it contains is far from lowly, and the benefits
it offers far from obscure. I shall teach you about evil passions and
about virtues, revealing their two distinct roots, that you may cut
off the former and cherish the latter.
4.
Whereas love for God is the source and starting point of every virtue,
love for the world is the cause of all evil. For that reason these two
loves are at enmity with each another and destroy each other. As the
Lord's brother declares: "Friendship of the world is enmity to
God. Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of
God" (Jas. 4:4). And John, whom Christ loved, says, "If any
man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that
is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, is not
of the Father" (cf. 1 John 2: 15-16). Let us take heed, brethren,
lest by loving evil desires and being arrogant to one another, we fall
away from our heavenly Father's love. For these two evils include
every passion which separates us from God.
5.
The foundation, origin and cause of these two opposing roots, love for
God and love for the world, is another pair of implacably opposed
loves. Love for the world springs from love for the body, since we
love the world because of our body's well-being. On the other hand,
love for God comes from love for our spirit, our soul, for we love God
on account of the comfort and good fortune our souls will have in the
world to come. The great Paul bears witness to the fact that these two
attitudes are at enmity with each other by saying, "The flesh
lusteth against the Spirit", meaning the soul, "and the
Spirit against the flesh" (Gal. 5: 17).
6.
How does love for our own soul engender love for God? We are
threatened with the unquenchable fire of hell and promised God's
eternal kingdom. This everlasting kingdom is for those who listen to
God's commandments and act upon them, whereas hell-fire is for those
who by their actions disobey Christ's Gospel. When true believers, who
love their souls and desire to keep them for eternal life, hear these
threats and promises, they immediately conceive longing and fear, fear
of the unending pain in the threatened fire of hell, and longing for
the promised kingdom of God with its eternal joy.
7.
Because they yearn to attain to divine, unfading delight and are
afraid of suffering in that fire, they break their ties with
everything passionate, blameworthy and earthly, and strive to cleave
to God through intense prayer, knowing for sure that He alone has
power and authority to deliver them from the agony of hell, and make
them worthy of that eternal joy which passes understanding. In this
way they acquire love for God, and as they become more perfectly
united with God through this love, they gain all the virtues as well.
When God is at work in us, every kind of virtue becomes our own, but
when He is not, everything we do is sin. As the Lord says in the
Gospel, "Without me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5). Those
who truly act virtuously are aware of this, and do not pride
themselves on any of their achievements, but humbly glorify God, the
Fount of virtues, by Whom they are filled with the light that bestows
goodness. When the air is full of sunlight, the glory and radiance it
displays are not its own but the sun's. So those who are united with
God through fulfilling His commandments are, according to Paul, the
sweet savour of Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 2:15). They have Christ's
fragrance, and proclaim the virtues of Him Who called them "out
of darkness into His marvellous light" (1 Pet. 2:9).
8.
Through spiritual instruction, knowledge of things to come is
instilled in us, and a right love for our soul engenders in us, who
believe, fear and longing for these future realities. This fear and
longing results in turn in sincere, unceasing prayer and supplication
to God. Then this continuous prayer brings love for Him and union with
Him, through which every virtue is born, accompanied by humility,
because we are aware of Who has brought about these virtues within us.
But how is it that loving our body gives rise to love for the world,
which then produces evil passions and a multitude, of sins? Just as
our soul naturally longs for the lasting enjoyment to come, so our
body yearns for the fleeting pleasure of the present. Such delight is
sensual, works through our senses, and comes from visible, tangible
things, that is, the world. Whoever is a friend of his body is a
friend of the world. When, as a result of this love for the body, we
have an excessive desire for worldly pleasures, pursue them and
cultivate them, we wrap ourselves in all the different kinds of
ugliness of the passions. As earthly enjoyment works through the
senses, and our senses are many and diverse, sensual pleasures and
passions too are of great number and variety. Some act through our
sight, others through our hearing, others again through our senses of
smell, touch and taste.
9.
It is not food that is to blame for those passions associated with
taste, but food to excess, which is self- indulgence. These passions
are gluttony, eating delicacies, drinking too much, and drunkenness.
When the stomach receives immoderate amounts of food, it passes it
through the digestive system in great quantities, and by so doing
provides abundant fuel for evil's fire. Having received loathsome
things, it yields disgusting torrents, by means of which the lower
passions come into being: fornication, adultery, immorality,
licentiousness, and bodily impurity in all its forms. These passions
enslave our hearing, sight and sense of smell, and make us long for
what is filthy: foul talk, immoral songs, satanic dances, perfumes
which encourage defilement, disgusting cosmetics, and self-adornment
with extravagant clothes and hairstyles. People in the grip of such
passions beautify themselves outwardly, but inwardly they wear the
ugly mask of dishonourable vices. They really are like the "whited
sepulchers", which appear outwardly beautiful, but within are
full of stench and all uncleanness (Matt. 23:27). Once our senses have
been subjected to evil from within and without, from far and near,
they attract filth, and deadly sin goes in and out through these
natural windows of ours. "Those things which proceed out of the
mouth", it says, "they defile a man" (Matt. 15: 18),
and "Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath
committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matt. 5:28).
10.
This sort of body-loving soul, which pursues pleasurable sensations by
every means and gathers material from all over to delight the touch,
the taste, and the other senses, begets acquisitiveness and love of
money, which give rise to theft, extortion and every form of greed. In
addition to these evils, there is another all-embracing means of
perception within us apart from the bodily senses, imagination, which
produces other pleasures and passions in those who love the world,
such as conceit, self-esteem and arrogance. Further complex passions
are formed from a mixture of sensual perceptions and imagination.
These are the desire to please people, vanity and pride.
11.
The soul's delight that originates from God and things divine is pure,
free from passion, and unmixed with suffering. By contrast, this world
offers enjoyment naturally accompanied by pain, not just on account of
all sorts of changes and alterations, but because it gives each person
a tiny part, and deprives him of the rest. There is only one world,
and it is divided among innumerable millions of people, each of whom
desires and strives to possess it all, and have it in his power. If
someone is enamoured of the world and desires the whole of it, whether
he has almost all of it, or just a small share, though still more than
someone else, he himself sorrows of what he lacks, and causes distress
to the person with less, because of his wealth. When, however,
spiritual and divine enjoyment and bliss are shared out, without
suffering any division, even if one person receives everything, no one
else suffers any loss. Each of us has the Faith in its entirety, but
instead of causing offence to our neighbour's piety, our faith assists
his in many different ways.
12.
As I was saying, this world yields pleasure accompanied by pain. Our
body accepts the pleasure but refuses the pain, so the world is at the
same time both kindly and vicious towards it. Those who are held fast
by love for their body are unaware that the world by its very nature
is a source of suffering as well as delight. They cannot grasp that
the world they dote upon should be utterly shunned, and when they are
discontented with the grief inherent in the world, being ignorant,
like people fighting in the dark, of the cause of their misfortune,
they blame one another each time difficulties arise. Hence, another
unpleasant string of passions is invented by the wretched human race,
giving rise to abusiveness, slander, false accusations, anger, hatred,
strife, envy, and all kinds of bitterness filled with malicious
desires. Because of such evils there are wars and murders all over the
world, especially in our generation, because love has grown cold and
sin has abounded (cf. Matt. 24:12).
13.
Let us continue in oneness of mind, bound together by peace one
towards the other, and abstaining from that rage which delivers bodies
and souls unto destruction. I beseech you brethren, if anyone has a
complaint against another, let us forgive one another as Christ
forgave us, that we may be always peaceful, not only in God's churches
but at home and in the market place, and with one mind and one mouth
glorify our Father in heaven. Apart from this evil catalogue of deadly
passions associated with pleasure and pain, there are others, which
are neither painless nor pleasant, but have their [origin] in a coming
together of opposites. They include sarcasm, flattery, deceit and
hypocrisy.
14.
Do you see how subtly misleading and treacherous this world is, with
how many evils it encompasses us, and by how many means it separates
us from God? It makes us subject to countless passions and removes us
in a variety of ways from Him Who is above all passion. That is why
the Lord Himself said, "The whole world lieth in wickedness"
(cf. 1 John 5: 19), and called the devil the prince of this world
(John 12:31), because he is the ruler of the darkness of this age. Do
not imagine that the evil one holds sway over heaven and earth and all
Creation in between, and is given the name of prince of this world on
that account - perish the thought! This is not the world that lies in
wickedness. Only He Who has measured heaven with a span, according to
the Prophet, and held the earth in a measure (cf. Isa. 40: 12), is the
Creator of all. However, the misuse of Creation, the impassioned abuse
of our free Will, the world of unrighteousness, evil desire and pride,
as the beloved disciple of Christ says, are not of the Father (cf. 1
John 2: 16). This is the world that is subject to wickedness, because
of our misuse and mismanagement. It is over this world that Satan
rules, over the many passions we have listed, which are brought about
by our sin-loving will with the evil one's cooperation, and unless we
free ourselves from this evil inclination, we shall make him our own
absolute master.
15.
We who are in Christ's ranks should long for the world above. Let our
desire be directed towards the kingdom He promised us. Let us shun
enjoyments which drag down our soul, fear the hell-fire with which
pleasure-lovers are threatened, flee self-indulgence, drunkenness,
fornication, prodigality, greed, injustice, vanity, pride, hatred,
anger and inhumanity. These are the things which give the evil one
power, alas, over ourselves and the world. We should escape from the
world's deception and from its prince, and show through our good works
that we are the work of God's good hands. By so doing, we shall make
best use of the present, and enjoy the promised eternal benefits when
the time comes.
16.
May we all attain to these by the grace and love for mankind of Our
Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom belongs glory together with the Father and
the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen.
St.
Gregory Palamas - Homily 33 - St. Tikhon's Seminary Press
