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by Elder Paisios the Athonite (+1994)
Before I refer to my limited experience with beginner monks, it would be good to offer some counsel for their edification while they are, for one reason or the other, still found in the world. Perhaps this meagre assistance will strengthen them for their monastic journey.
It is most important for a beginner, while still in the world, to find a spiritual Father who will be a friend of Monasticism, because most of the spiritual Fathers in our times are monachomachoi (“monk-fighters”) and war against Monasticism in many different ways. In waging their war they even make use of Fathers of the Church who were involved in important social work, such as Saint Basil the Great and his Vasileiada. [6]
I don’t wish to refer to the life of Saint Basil the Great before he began the Vasileiada, but simply express my thought: What would Saint Basil the Great do if he lived in our era? I am of the opinion that he would again retreat to a cave with his komboskini [7] watching the flame of love (of the social work of other holy fathers) being spread everywhere; not only to the faithful but even to the unfaithful, who all together constitute Social Providence, which also looks after members of the Spiritual Charity Associations (although only by granting a certificate of pauperism). In other words, social welfare is shouting every day: “Holy Fathers of our times, leave charity to us, the lay people, who are not in a position to do something else, and look to concern yourselves with something more spiritual”.
Unfortunately, however, some clergymen not only do not follow this exhortation, since they do not understand it, but they also prevent those who do understand it and want to dedicate themselves entirely to Christ, feeling intensely the inclination to depart from the world. That is to say, as if it weren’t enough that a beginner monk has to hear this from laymen; he has to hear plenty from the clergymen as well, who even make the unreasonable demand that monks leave the desert and come to the world to take up the social work and philanthropy. It is good to also mention some of the crowns which they weave for monks: “slackers, self-seekers, cowards”, etc., considering themselves heroes because they struggle in the sinful society and monks cowards because they depart to save only their own soul.
I wonder why they are unable to understand the great mission of the monk! The monk departs far from the world not because he hates it, but because he loves it. In this way he will, through his prayer, help the world more in those matters that are, being humanly impossible, only possible by God’s intervention. This is how God saves the world. The monk never says: “I will save the world”. Instead, he prays for the salvation of the whole world, along with his own. When the Good God hears his prayer and helps the world, he does not say: “I saved the world”, but “God saved the world”.
In a few words, monks are the “radio operators” of Mother Church, and therefore, if they depart far from the world, they do it out of love, departing from the distractions of this world in order to be in better contact with God and help people more effectively.
Of course, when their unit is in danger, some mindless soldiers also share the irrational demand of certain clergymen (i.e. that monks should return to the world). They say that the radio operator should leave the radio aside and grab his rifle, as if by adding one more gun to the two hundred others he will salvage the situation. While the radio operator clamours to make contact, yelling “calling headquarters, come in, come in” etc., the others think that he calls pointlessly into the wind. However, astute radio operators pay no attention, even if they are reviled. They struggle until they make contact and then ask for immediate help from Headquarters and the air forces arrive, as well as the armed forces, the navy etc. Thus, in this way, and not with their meagre rifles, the unit is saved. The same applies to monks who advance with divine power, with their prayer, and not with their negligible individual powers. It is especially the case in our age, when evil is so widespread, that we are in need of God’s intervention.
It is another matter if a monk, on account of some need, is found in the world for a short or even long period of time; then he assists also with his personal spiritual strength, which God has granted him. This activity, however, he considers as a secondary work, prayer always being his main work. He does this, of course, when in his cell as well, where he employs his handiwork as a secondary task, and if he sees anyone suffering next to him, he helps with whatever he has. Furthermore, when a person with problems visits him, he lays everything aside and tries to assist him humanly as well, in whatever he can.
All of this is to say that, the aim of the monk is not to be engaged in much handiwork and collect money to help the poor, as this translates into spiritual decline. Rather, through his prayer the monk could help, not by pounds, but by tons the needs of others (when, for instance, there exists a drought, by his prayer he could replenish the world’s storehouses). Therefore, God “raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill” [8]. Let us not forget what the Prophet Elijah [9] did.
Monks, therefore, don’t leave the desert in order ‘to go to the world to help a poor person, nor to visit someone ill in the hospital to give him an orange or some consolation (that which is usually done by lay people, and is the sort of thing that God will ask from them). Monks pray for all the sick to receive a twofold health (physical and spiritual), and the Good God has mercy on His creatures and helps them recover, so that they, in their turn, working as good Christians, will also help others.
Furthermore, neither do monks visit those in prison, for they themselves are voluntarily imprisoned due to their great philotimo [10] towards Christ, their Benefactor and Saviour; Christ gives His love in abundance to His children who have philotimo, the monks. Thus, while they are within the castle (the monastery), the presence and love of Christ transforms it into Paradise. This heavenly joy that the monks feel, they pray and ask that Christ give it to all our incarcerated brothers in the world’s prisons. In this way, the Good God is moved by the love of His good children and spreads consolation to the souls of prisoners, many times even setting them free.
Besides these prisoners, monks help other more serious cases of those who are not imprisoned for just ten or twenty years, but eternally, and are in need of much greater help. These are our brothers awaiting trial, who have fallen asleep, whom the monks visit in their own way, offering many spiritual refreshments. The Good God helps the reposed, and, at the same time, acquaints the monks, after their pained prayers for their departed brothers, with an inexpressible rejoicing, as if saying: “Don’t worry, my children, I have helped the departed as well”.
Someone might ask: “Should we beseech God for His help?”. Certainly we should beseech Him. Particularly, God is greatly moved when we sympathize with our brother and ask Him to help, because then He intervenes without transgressing our free will. Here, one observes the great spiritual nobility of God in that He does not even give the devil the right to protest. That is why He wants us to beseech Him so He can intervene—and He wants to intervene immediately to help His creatures. Of course, if God wants to, even now He can wind the devil into a ball and throw him into hell. However, for our own good He does not do it, because the devil, by beating us with his ill will, removes the dust from our soul.
In all that I have said and will mention further down, I want to stress the great mission of the monk, which is of greater importance than human philanthropy. For, even before someone becomes a monk, he has done his charitable work by giving everything away, as well as his own self to Christ (his rich Father), as Christ said to the young man [11]. So now, being His child (as a poor monk), he has a share in God’s fortune and asks anything he wants from his Merciful Father. Then, his Father gives His mercy in abundance when it does not spiritually injure His unfortunate children.
A beginner monk hears a great deal from certain clergymen, as well as from many laymen, in their effort to dissuade him from the grandeur of Monasticism. Apart from that which is shameful to say (things, of course, that are not said by serious people), they also say that the monk is a dead entity, who doesn’t have children, etc.
I don’t want to examine those who say these things and ask them if they themselves have children, for this is the purpose of marriage and, thus, their life has meaning. The monk’s aim, however, is different: virginity, “another life” [12]. But I would also like to ask those who have children: “Have they helped their children to secure Paradise, or do they only assist them materially?”. Monks, who are concerned with the salvation of men’s souls, become more affectionate fathers than fathers according to the flesh, have more children than that of the largest family, considering as their own children and brethren all of God’s creatures, and with pain they pray that we might all reach our destination, close to God.
Since it is not easy for certain people to understand the spiritual regeneration that monks bring about in the people, I will mention how they also contribute to physical childbearing. Remaining chaste themselves and pure even from thoughts, they undo the sterility of many mothers on account of their boldness before God, both while still found in this life and also after they have fallen asleep. Therefore, when they are saints, monks “give birth” even after they have fallen asleep. Naturally, monks do not help in the pulpit with the preaching of the Gospel in order to enlighten the young and old, for their life is the Gospel. Thus, the Gospel is preached by example, which is the most positive way, something today’s world especially thirsts after. As everyone is, more or less, educated in our day, they can speak of great truths about which they have read, which, however, have no relation whatsoever with the lives of most preachers. Hence, these preachers are constantly carrying about on their back the “woe” [13] Christ directed toward the Pharisees.
In short, monks are not merely lanterns that illumine city streets that people not stumble, but they are remote lighthouses on the rocks directing the ships of this world with their flashes, and upon the open seas the ships are orientated in order to reach their destination.
For this reason, not even parents should prevent their children from becoming monks (the radio operators of the Church), when, according to their inclination, God calls them. This mission is very significant and superior to what they themselves offer to God through their own mission. Lay people go regularly to church and make a promise to light a small or large candle. A monk, however, keeps vigil in church every day and has dedicated his entire self to Christ and, burning out of love for Him, he praises Him and thanks Him for himself and for the whole world.
Yet, I cannot understand why some clergymen and lay people fight Monasticism. Just as the army considers the signal corps an artery of the whole army, so too does our Church regard Monasticism. I would like to know: these blessed people who fight Monasticism, to which Church do they belong?
Endnotes
6. Vasileiada was the name given by Saint Basil (Vasileios) the Great’s successors to his social and philanthropic work.
7. Komboskini (pl. komboskinia): The black woollen rope with 33, 50, 100 or 300 knots used by the Orthodox to count the number of times the Jesus Prayer is repeated.
8. 1 Sam. 2:8.
9. Cf. 1 Kg. 18:41-46.
10. Philotimo, according to Elder Paisios, is the reverent distillation of goodness, the love shown by humble people, from which every trace of self has been filtered out. Their hearts are full of gratitude towards God and to their fellow men, and out of spiritual sensitivity, they try to repay the slightest good which others do them.
11. Cf. Mt. 19:21,Mk. lO:21,Lk. 18:22.
12. From the Paschal Canon.
13. Cf. Mt. 23:13, Lk. 11:42-44.
From Epistles, by Elder Paisios of Mount Athos (Souroti, Thessaloniki, Greece: Holy Monastery “Evangelist John the Theologian”, 2002), pp. 31-38.
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There are people who say that monks ought to be of some use in the world, and not eat bread they have not toiled for; but we have to understand the nature of a monk’s service and the way in which he has to help the world.
A monk is someone who prays for the whole world, who weeps for the whole world; and in this lies his main work.
But who is it constrains him to weep for the whole world? The Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, incites him. He gives the monk the love of the Holy Spirit, and by virtue of this love the monk’s heart forever sorrows over the people because not all men are saved. The Lord Himself so grieved over people that He gave Himself to death on the Cross. And the Mother of God bore in her heart a like sorrow for men. And she, like her beloved Son, desired with her whole heart the salvation of all.
The same Holy Spirit the Lord gave to the Apostles, to our holy Fathers and to the pastors of the Church. This is how we serve the world. And this is why neither pastors of the Church nor monks should busy themselves with secular matters but should seek to be like the Mother of God, who in the Temple, in the ‘Holy of Holies’, day and night pondered the law of the Lord and continued in prayer for the people.
It is not for the monk to serve the world with the work of his hands. That is the layman’s business. The man who lives in the world prays little, whereas the monk prays constantly.
Thanks to monks, prayer continues unceasing on earth, and the whole world profits, for through prayer the world continues to exist; but when prayer fails, the world will perish.
— Saint Silouan the Athonite
From the chapter “Concerning Monks” in Saint Silouan the Athonite, by Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov) (Essex: Stravropegic Monastery of St. John the Baptist, 1991), pp. 407.408. Posted 3/23/2008.
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1 And Joseph arose and said unto Annas and Caiaphas: Truly and of right do ye marvel because ye have heard that Jesus hath been seen alive after death, and that he hath ascended into heaven. Nevertheless it is more marvelous that he rose not alone from the dead, but did raise up alive many other dead out of their sepulchres, and they have been seen of many in Jerusalem. And now hearken unto me; for we all know the blessed Simeon, the high priest which received the child Jesus in his hands in the temple. And this Simeon had two sons, brothers in blood and we all were at their falling asleep and at their burial. Go therefore and look upon their sepulchres: for they are open, because they have risen, and behold they are in the city of Arimathaea dwelling together in prayer. And indeed men hear them crying out, yet they speak with no man, but are silent as dead men. But come, let us go unto them and with all honour and gentleness bring them unto us, and if we adjure them, perchance they will tell us concerning the mystery of their rising again.
2 When they heard these things, they all rejoiced. And Annas and Caiaphas, Nicodemus and Joseph and Gamaliel went and found them not in their sepulchre, but they went unto the city of Arimathaea, and found them there, kneeling on their knees and giving themselves unto prayer. And they kissed them, and with all reverence and in the fear of God they brought them to Jerusalem into the synagogue. And they shut the doors and took the law of the Lord and put it into their hands, and adjured them by the God Adonai and the God of Israel which spake unto our fathers by the prophets, saying: Believe ye that it is Jesus which raised you from the dead? Tell us how ye have arisen from the dead.
3 And when Karinus and Leucius heard this adjuration, they trembled in their body and groaned, being troubled in heart. And looking up together unto heaven they made the seal of the cross with their fingers upon their tongues, and forthwith they spake both of them, saying: Give us each a volume of paper, and let us write that which we have seen and heard. And they gave them unto them, and each of them sat down and wrote, saying:
II (XVIII)
1 O Lord Jesus Christ, the life and resurrection of the dead (al. resurrection of the dead and the life of the living), suffer us to speak of the mysteries of thy majesty which thou didst perform after thy death upon the cross, inasmuch as we have been adjured by thy Name. For thou didst command us thy servants to tell no man the secrets of thy divine majesty which thou wroughtest in hell.
Now when we were set together with all our fathers in the deep, in obscurity of darkness, on a sudden there came a golden heat of the sun and a purple and royal light shining upon us. And immediately the father of the whole race of men, together with all the patriarchs and prophets, rejoiced, saying: This light is the beginning (author) of everlasting light which did promise to send unto us his co-eternal light. And Esaias cried out and said: This is the light of the Father, even the Son of God, according as I prophesied when I lived upon the earth: The land of Zabulon and the land of Nephthalim beyond Jordan, of Galilee of the Gentiles, the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light, and they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them did the light shine. And now hath it come and shone upon us that sit in death.
2 And as we all rejoiced in the light which shined upon us, there came unto us our father Simeon, and he rejoicing said unto us: Glorify ye the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God; for I received him in my hands in the temple when he was born a child, and being moved of the Holy Ghost I made confession and said unto him: Now have mine eyes seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of thy people Israel. And when they heard these things, the whole multitude of the saints rejoiced yet more.
3 And after that there came one as it were a dweller in the wilderness, and he was inquired of by all: Who art thou? And he answered them and said: I am John, the voice and the prophet of the most High, which came before the face of his advent to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation unto his people, for the remission of their sins. And when I saw him coming unto me, being moved of the Holy Ghost, I said: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him that taketh away the sins of the world. And I baptized him in the river of Jordan, and saw the Holy Ghost descending upon him in the likeness of a dove, and heard a voice out of heaven saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And now have I come before his face, and come down to declare unto you that he is at hand to visit us, even the day spring, the Son of God, coming from on high unto us that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.
III (XIX)
1 And when father Adam that was first created heard this, even that Jesus was baptized in Jordan, he cried out to Seth his son, saying: Declare unto thy sons the patriarchs and the prophets all that thou didst hear from Michael the archangel, when I sent thee unto the gates of paradise that thou mightest entreat God to send thee his angel to give thee the oil of the tree of mercy to anoint my body when I was sick. Then Seth drew near unto the holy patriarchs and prophets, and said: When I, Seth, was praying at the gates of paradise, behold Michael the angel of the Lord appeared unto me, saying: I am sent unto thee from the Lord: it is I that am set over the body of man. And I say unto thee, Seth, vex not thyself with tears, praying and entreating for the oil of the tree of mercy, that thou mayest anoint thy father Adam for the pain of his body: for thou wilt not be able to receive it save in the last days and times, save when five thousand and five hundred (al. 5,952) years are accomplished: then shall the most beloved Son of God come upon the earth to raise up the body of Adam and the bodies of the dead, and he shall come and be baptized in Jordan. And when he is come forth of the water of Jordan, then shall he anoint with the oil of mercy all that believe on him, and that oil of mercy shall be unto all generations of them that shall be born of water and of the Holy Ghost, unto life eternal. Then shall the most beloved Son of God, even Christ Jesus, come down upon the earth and shall bring in our father Adam into paradise unto the tree of mercy.
And when they heard all these things of Seth, all the patriarchs and prophets rejoiced with a great rejoicing.
IV (XX)
1 And while all the saints were rejoicing, behold Satan the prince and chief of death said unto Hell: Make thyself ready to receive Jesus who boasteth himself that he is the Son of God, whereas he is a man that feareth death, and sayeth: My soul is sorrowful even unto death. And he hath been much mine enemy, doing me great hurt, and many that I had made blind, lame, dumb, leprous, and possessed he hath healed with a word: and some whom I have brought unto thee dead, them hath he taken away from thee.
2 Hell answered and said unto Satan the prince: Who is he that is so mighty, if he be a man that feareth death? for all the mighty ones of the earth are held in subjection by my power, even they whom thou hast brought me subdued by thy power. If, then, thou art mighty, what manner of man is this Jesus who, though he fear death, resisteth thy power? If he be so mighty in his manhood, verily I say unto thee he is almighty in his god-head, and no man can withstand his power. And when he saith that he feareth death, he would ensnare thee, and woe shall be unto thee for everlasting ages. But Satan the prince of Tartarus said: Why doubtest thou and fearest to receive this Jesus which is thine adversary and mine? For I tempted him, and have stirred up mine ancient people of the Jews with envy and wrath against him. I have sharpened a spear to thrust him through, gall and vinegar have I mingled to give him to drink, and I have prepared a cross to crucify him and nails to pierce him: and his death is nigh at hand, that I may bring him unto thee to be subject unto thee and me.
3 Hell answered and said: Thou hast told me that it is he that hath taken away dead men from me. For there be many which while they lived on the earth have taken dead men from me, yet not by their own power but by prayer to God, and their almighty God hath taken them from me. Who is this Jesus which by his own word without prayer hath drawn dead men from me? Perchance it is he which by the word of his command did restore to life Lazarus which was four days dead and stank and was corrupt, whom I held here dead. Satan the prince of death answered and said: It is that same Jesus. When Hell heard that he said unto him: I adjure thee by thy strength and mine own that thou bring him not unto me. For at that time I, when I heard the command of his word, did quake and was overwhelmed with fear, and all my ministries with me were troubled. Neither could we keep Lazarus, but he like an eagle shaking himself leaped forth with all agility and swiftness, and departed from us, and the earth also which held the dead body of Lazarus straightway gave him up alive. Wherefore now I know that that man which was able to do these things is a God strong in command and mighty in manhood, and that he is the saviour of mankind. And if thou bring him unto me he will set free all that are here shut up in the hard prison and bound in the chains of their sins that cannot be broken, and will bring them unto the life of his god head for ever.
V (XXI)
1 And as Satan the prince, and Hell, spoke this together, suddenly there came a voice as of thunder and a spiritual cry: Remove, O princes, your gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. When Hell heard that he said unto Satan the prince: Depart from me and go out of mine abode: if thou be a mighty man of war, fight thou against the King of glory. But what hast thou to do with him? And Hell cast Satan forth out of his dwelling. Then said Hell unto his wicked ministers: Shut ye the hard gates of brass and put on them the bars of iron and withstand stoutly, lest we that hold captivity be taken captive.
2 But when all the multitude of the saints heard it, they spake with a voice of rebuking unto Hell: Open thy gates, that the King of glory may come in. And David cried out, saying: Did I not when I was alive upon earth, foretell unto you: Let them give thanks unto the Lord, even his mercies and his wonders unto the children of men; who hath broken the gates of brass and smitten the bars of iron in sunder? he hath taken them out of the way of their iniquity. And thereafter in like manner Esaias said: Did not I when I was alive upon earth foretell unto you: The dead shall arise, and they that are in the tombs shall rise again, and they that are in the earth shall rejoice, for the dew which cometh of the Lord is their healing? And again I said: O death, where is thy sting? O Hell, where is thy victory?
3 When they heard that of Esaias, all the saints said unto Hell: Open thy gates: now shalt thou be overcome and weak and without strength. And there came a great voice as of thunder, saying: Remove, O princes, your gates, and be ye lift up ye doors of hell, and the King of glory shall come in. And when Hell saw that they so cried out twice, he said, as if he knew it not: Who is the King of glory? And David answered Hell and said: The words of this cry do I know, for by his spirit I prophesied the same; and now I say unto thee that which I said before: The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle, he is the King of glory. And: The Lord looked down from heaven that he might hear the groanings of them that are in fetters and deliver the children of them that have been slain. And now, O thou most foul and stinking Hell, open thy gates, that the King of glory may come in. And as David spake thus unto Hell, the Lord of majesty appeared in the form of a man and lightened the eternal darkness and brake the bonds that could not be loosed: and the succour of his everlasting might visited us that sat in the deep darkness of our transgressions and in the shadow of death of our sins.
VI (XXII)
1 When Hell and death and their wicked ministers saw that, they were stricken with fear, they and their cruel officers, at the sight of the brightness of so great light in their own realm, seeing Christ of a sudden in their abode, and they cried out, saying: We are overcome by thee. Who art thou that art sent by the Lord for our confusion? Who art thou that without all damage of corruption, and with the signs (?) of thy majesty unblemished, dost in wrath condemn our power? Who art thou that art so great and so small, both humble and exalted, both soldier and commander, a marvelous warrior in the shape of a bondsman, and a King of glory dead and living, whom the cross bare slain upon it? Thou that didst lie dead in the sepulchre hast come down unto us living and at thy death all creation quaked and all the stars were shaken and thou hast become free among the dead and dost rout our legions. Who art thou that settest free the prisoners that are held bound by original sin and restorest them into their former liberty? Who art thou that sheddest thy divine and bright light upon them that were blinded with the darkness of their sins? After the same manner all the legions of devils were stricken with like fear and cried out all together in the terror of their confusion, saying: Whence art thou, Jesus, a man so mighty and bright in majesty, so excellent without spot and clean from sin? For that world of earth which hath been always subject unto us until now, and did pay tribute to our profit, hath never sent unto us a dead man like thee, nor ever dispatched such a gift unto Hell. Who then art thou that so fearlessly enterest our borders, and not only fearest not our torments, but besides essayest to bear away all men out of our bonds? Peradventure thou art that Jesus, of whom Satan our prince said that by thy death of the cross thou shouldest receive the dominion of the whole world.
2 Then did the King of glory in his majesty trample upon death, and laid hold on Satan the prince and delivered him unto the power of Hell, and drew Adam to him unto his own brightness.
VII (XXIII)
Then Hell, receiving Satan the prince, with sore reproach said unto him: O prince of perdition and chief of destruction, Beelzebub, the scorn of the angels and spitting of the righteous why wouldest thou do this? Thou wouldest crucify the King of glory and at his decease didst promise us great spoils of his death: like a fool thou knewest not what thou didst. For behold now, this Jesus putteth to flight by the brightness of his majesty all the darkness of death, and hath broken the strong depths of the prisons, and let out the prisoners and loosed them that were bound. And all that were sighing in our torments do rejoice against us, and at their prayers our dominions are vanquished and our realms conquered, and now no nation of men feareth us any more. And beside this, the dead which were never wont to be proud triumph over us, and the captives which never could be joyful do threaten us. O prince Satan, father of all the wicked and ungodly and renegades wherefore wouldest thou do this? They that from the beginning until now have despaired of life and salvation-now is none of their wonted roarings heard, neither doth any groan from them sound in our ears, nor is there any sign of tears upon the face of any of them. O prince Satan, holder of the keys of hell, those thy riches which thou hadst gained by the tree of transgression and the losing of paradise, thou hast lost by the tree of the cross, and all thy gladness hath perished. When thou didst hang up Christ Jesus the King of glory thou wroughtest against thyself and against me. Henceforth thou shalt know what eternal torments and infinite pains thou art to suffer in my keeping for ever. O prince Satan, author of death and head of all pride, thou oughtest first to have sought out matter of evil in this Jesus: Wherefore didst thou adventure without cause to crucify him unjustly against whom thou foundest no blame, and to bring into our realm the innocent and righteous one, and to lose the guilty and the ungodly and unrighteous of the whole world? And when Hell had spoken thus unto Satan the prince, then said the King of glory unto Hell: Satan the prince shall be in thy power unto all ages in the stead of Adam and his children, even those that are my righteous ones.
VIII (XXIV)
1 And the Lord stretching forth his hand, said: Come unto me, all ye my saints which bear mine image and my likeness. Ye that by the tree and the devil and death were condemned, behold now the devil and death condemned by the tree. And forthwith all the saints were gathered in one under the hand of the Lord. And the Lord holding the right hand of Adam, said unto him: Peace be unto thee with all thy children that are my righteous ones. But Adam, casting himself at the knees of the Lord entreated him with tears and beseechings, and said with a loud voice: I will magnify thee, O Lord, for thou hast set me up and not made my foes to triumph over me: O Lord my God I cried unto thee and thou hast healed me; Lord, thou hast brought my soul out of hell, thou hast delivered me from them that go down to the pit. Sing praises unto the Lord all ye saints of his, and give thanks unto him for the remembrance of his holiness. For there is wrath in his indignation and life is in his good pleasure. In like manner all the saints of God kneeled and cast themselves at the feet of the Lord, saying with one accord: Thou art come, O redeemer of the world: that which thou didst foretell by the law and by thy prophets, that hast thou accomplished in deed. Thou hast redeemed the living by thy cross, and by the death of the cross thou hast come down unto us, that thou mightest save us out of hell and death through thy majesty. O Lord, like as thou hast set the name of thy glory in the heavens and set up thy cross for a token of redemption upon the earth, so, Lord, set thou up the sign of the victory of thy cross in hell, that death may have no more dominion.
2 And the Lord stretched forth his hand and made the sign of the cross over Adam and over all his saints, and he took the right hand of Adam and went up out of hell, and all the saints followed him. Then did holy David cry aloud and say: Sing unto the Lord a new song, for he hath done marvelous things. His right hand hath wrought salvation for him and his holy arm. The Lord hath made known his saving health, before the face of all nations hath he revealed his righteousness. And the whole multitude of the saints answered, saying: Such honour have all his saints. Amen, Alleluia.
3 And thereafter Habacuc the prophet cried out and said: Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people to set free thy chosen. And all the saints answered, saying: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. God is the Lord and hath showed us light. Amen, Alleluia. Likewise after that the prophet Micheas also cried, saying: What God is like thee, O Lord, taking away iniquity and removing sins? and now thou withholdest thy wrath for a testimony that thou art merciful of free will, and thou dost turn away and have mercy on us, thou forgivest all our iniquities and hast sunk all our sins in the depths of the sea, as thou swarest unto our fathers in the days of old. And all the saints answered, saying: This is our God for ever and ever, he shall be our guide, world without end. Amen, Alleluia. And so spake all the prophets, making mention of holy words out of their praises, and all the saints followed the Lord, crying Amen, Alleluia.
IX (XXV)
But the Lord holding the hand of Adam delivered him unto Michael the archangel, and all the saints followed Michael the archangel, and he brought them all into the glory and beauty (grace) of paradise. And there met with them two men, ancients of days, and when they were asked of the saints: Who are ye that have not yet been dead in hell with us and are set in paradise in the body? then one of them answering, said: I am Enoch which was translated hither by the word of the Lord, and this that is with me is Elias the Thesbite which was taken up in a chariot of fire: and up to this day we have not tasted death, but we are received unto the coming of Antichrist to fight against him with signs and wonders of God, and to be slain of him in Jerusalem, and after three days and a half to be taken up again alive on the clouds.
X (XXVI)
And as Enoch and Elias spake thus with the saints, behold there came another man of vile habit, bearing upon his shoulders the sign of the cross; whom when they beheld, all the saints said unto him: Who art thou? for thine appearance is as of a robber; and wherefore is it that thou bearest a sign upon thy shoulders? And he answered them and said: Ye have rightly said: for I was a robber, doing all manner of evil upon the earth. And the Jews crucified me with Jesus, and I beheld the wonders in the creation which came to pass through the cross of Jesus when he was crucified, and I believed that he was the maker of all creatures and the almighty king, and I besought him, saying: Remember me, Lord, when thou comest into thy kingdom. And forthwith he received my prayer, and said unto me: Verily I say unto thee, this day shalt thou be with me in paradise: and he gave me the sign of the cross, saying: Bear this and go unto paradise, and if the angel that keepeth paradise suffer thee not to enter in, show him the sign of the cross; and thou shalt say unto him: Jesus Christ the Son of God who now is crucified hath sent me. And when I had so done, I spake all these things unto the angel that keepeth paradise; and when he heard this of me, forthwith he opened the door and brought me in and set me at the right hand of paradise, saying: Lo now, tarry a little, and Adam the father of all mankind will enter in with all his children that are holy and righteous, after the triumph and glory of the ascending up of Christ the Lord that is crucified. When they heard all these words of the robber, all the holy patriarchs and prophets said with one voice: Blessed be the Lord Almighty, the Father of eternal good things, the Father of mercies, thou that hast given such grace unto thy sinners and hast brought them again into the beauty of paradise and into thy good pastures: for this is the most holy life of the spirit. Amen, Amen.
The glorious disciples were illumined at the Supper during the washing of the feet, but ungodly Judas was darkened by the disease of avarice, and he delivered Thee, the righteous judge, to lawless judges. See, O lover of money, how for money’s sake he hanged himself. Flee from the greed which made him dare to do such things against his Master. O Lord, who art good towards all men, Glory to Thee.
Troparion (Tone Eight) from the Matin Service of Holy and Great Thursday (Eastern Rite)
O God from Whom both the traitor Judas received the punishment of his crime, and the robber the reward of his confession, grant unto us the full effect of Thy propitiation, that as in His Passion Our lord Jesus Christ rendered unto each according to their different deservings, so having destroyed the old man in us, He may grant unto us the grace of His Resurrection. Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, throughout all the ages of ages. Amen
Collect, from the Divine Liturgy of St. Gregory the Great for Maundy Thursday (Western Rite)
The Maundy Hymn
According to the Anglo-Roman Rite of the ancient Orthodox West the service entitled, “The Maundy of the Feet” is conducted in the temple or, in monastic communities, in the Chapter House following Complines.
First Antiphon.
A new commandment I give you, that ye love one another as I have loved you,” saith the Lord.
Each Antiphon is interpolated throughout an accompanying psalm
Ps. 66
Second Antiphon.
Let us love one another, for Love is of God; and he that loceth his brother is born of God, and seeth God.
Ps. 132
Third Antiphon.
In those days, a woman in the City, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the house of Simon the leper, came and brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood behind, at the Feet of the Lord Jesus, and began to wash His feet with tears, and did wipe Them with the hairs of her head, and kissed His Feet, and anointed Them with the ointment.
Ps. 50
Fourth Antiphon.
Mary, therefore, anointed the Feet of Jesus, and wiped Them with her hair. And the whole house was filled with a sweet scent.
Ps. 118
Fifth Antiphon.
After the Lord has risen from Supper, He poured water into a basin, and began to wash the feet of the Disciples. So He left them this example.
Ps. 48
In some places the following Antiphons are also sung:
Sixth Antiphon.
Ye call Me Master and Lord, and ye say well, for so I am; if I then, Your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.
Seventh Antiphon
The Lord Jesus, after he had supped with His disciples, and had washed their feet, said unto them, “Know ye what I, Your Lord and Master, have done unto you? I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done unto you.
Eighth Antiphon.
If I, Your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, how much more ought ye to wash one another’s feet.
Ninth Antiphon.
Before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come when He should depart out of this world to the Father, when Supper had ended, He riseth from Supper and laid aside His garments. And He took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin, and began to wash the Disciples’ feet. Then He cometh to Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Thou shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered and said to him, “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me.” “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.”
© St. Gregory Press, West Milford, New Jersey, USA
St. Gregory’s Press is a publishing arm of the Archdiocese of New York & New Jersey
Jean-Claude Larchet
In In Communion issue 9 (Pascha 1997) we published part of an essay by Jean-Claude Larchet on St. Silouan’s teaching on love of enemies. Here is a another section of the same text, which first appeared in Buisson Ardent, journal of the Association Saint-Silouane l’Athonite (Maxime Egger, secretary, Le Sel de la Terre, 79 avenue C-F Ramuz, CH-1009 Pully, Switzerland). Jean-Claude Larchet is professor of philosophy and a specialist in patristics living in France. The English translation was made by Mother Lydia of the Orthodox Cloister of St. John the Forerunner in The Hague.
Love is an interior disposition that cannot be described adequately, but one can specify conditions and manifestations. In this way it is possible, by close attention to the wisdom of the Fathers, to define different steps in the love of enemies, from the most elementary to the highest. [1]
The first step, says St. John Chrysostom, is not to be the first to cause harm. [2]
The second step is not to take revenge in the measure one has suffered. [3]
While the two first degrees do not seem to concern the love of enemies, they are its preconditions. The tendency to attack one’s enemies or to take revenge is instinctive and spontaneous, and receives its approbation from the Old Testament law of retaliation when taken in its most literal meaning.
The third step is not to take revenge at all, but to leave that to God, as the Apostle Paul said: “Recompense to no man evil for evil” (Rm 12:17); “Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Rm 12:19). St. Isaac the Syrian gives the same advice: “Let yourself be persecuted, but do not persecute. Let yourself be crucified, but do not crucify. Let yourself be insulted, but do not insult.” [4]
The fourth step is not to resist. This attitude was advised by Christ: “But I say unto you, That ye resist no evil.” (Mt 5:39)
The fifth step is not to be irritated by what our enemies do to us [footnote: St. Maximus the Confessor, Centuries on Charity I,38, II,49], but to bear [5], to show patience [6], to endure all we are made to suffer, following the example of the Apostle: “Being persecuted, we suffer it” (I Cor 4:12) and following what he describes elsewhere as an ideal: “For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.” (II Cor 11:20)
The sixth step is not to get inwardly upset about insults, abuse, trials and affliction that our enemies make us suffer [7], or as St. Simeon the New Theologian puts it: “not to turn a hair during trials and to have an equable and uniform attitude towards those who abuse one face to face, who accuse, persecute, condemn, insult, spit, or even to those who make a show of friendship and behind one’s back act in the same way that they can’t completely hide.” We must add that this can happen on different planes, as this attitude also has different steps. On the lowest step it can be allied to contempt, and so be the opposite to love; one step higher it can be allied to indifference, and so still not be in accordance with love; on a higher plane it can show that one has attained impassibility, and higher still, be allied to true charity.
The seventh step is to consider offenses as a gift [8], to rejoice about them [9], and to thank God for them. He who has reached this step understands the meaning of these words of Christ: “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.” (Mt 5:11) The Fathers advise us to consider the person who offends us as a physician providentially come to cure our souls of its diseases, particularly pride and vainglory [10], they emphasize the profit one can gain from what one is made to suffer. St. Zosima said: “If someone remembers a brother who has hurt, injured or insulted him, he must regard him as a doctor and benefactor sent by Christ. If you get upset in these circumstances, it means your soul is sick. Indeed, if you were not sick, you would not suffer. So give thanks to this brother, for through him you know your illness. Pray for him and receive what comes from him as medicine sent to you by the Lord.” St. John of Gaza writes, “If we are just, the trial sent us [by our enemies] is for our progress, and if we are unjust, it is for the remission of sins and our improvement; it is also an exercise and a lesson in endurance.”
The eighth step is to offer yourself voluntarily to suffer offenses [11]. This attitude is advised by Christ: “Whosoever shall strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Mt 5:39)
The ninth step is to want to suffer more than one is asked to endure [12].
The tenth step is to feel no hate for those who ill-treat us [13].
The eleventh step is to feel no rancor, wrath or resentment [14] towards our enemies. St. John Climacus wrote: “Charity is first of all to reject every thought of enmity, because charity thinks no ill.” (I Cor 13:5) [15]
The twelfth step is not to accuse our enemies, not to criticize them, not to speak ill of them, not even to reveal the harm they have done to us [16].
The thirteenth step is not to despise them [17].
The fourteenth step is to feel no trace of aversion or repulsion towards them [18].
The fifteenth step is not to feel the slightest bitterness towards them or to the memory of what they have done to us, nor the slightest sadness [19].
The sixteenth step is not to judge them at all [20] and only to consider one’s own faults. This in answer to Christ’s teaching: “Judge not, that ye be not judged . . . And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” (Mt 7:1-3)
The seventeenth step is to sincerely forgive them [21]. This attitude makes us worthy to invoke God for the forgiveness of our own faults in the prayer the Lord taught us: “And forgive us for our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Mt 6:12), and shows that we take these words of Christ seriously: “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Mt 6:14). This forgiveness in its highest form does not even remember what one has suffered. St. Simeon the New Theologian notes that in this degree love of enemies consists in “covering with total oblivion what one has suffered, think of nothing that has happened, whether the persecutors are present or absent.”
Still these seventeen first steps don’t yet take us into what is love proper, although they are its indispensable conditions and preparatory stages that one must pass. Love is not simply the absence of enmity and it is very superior to it [22]. In this respect St. Maximus the Confessor writes: “To feel no envy, nor wrath, nor bitterness towards the offender does not yet mean to have love for him. One can, without any love, avoid rendering evil for evil because of the commandment. Not to hate someone, does not yet mean to love him. One can feel for him something between the two: not love and not hate. It is the following steps that will bring us to real love.
The eighteenth step is to strive to be reconciled with one’s enemies [23], as ordained by Christ: “First be reconciled with thy brother” (Mt 5:24), “Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him” (Mt 5:25). By this attitude we show a desire of union that is the foundation of love, contrary to this is the tendency to division and separation.
The nineteenth step is to feel pity and compassion for them [24]. This attitude is in answer to Christ’s counsel, given in the context of His teaching on the love of enemies: “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Lk 6:36). This is how St. Isaac the Syrian describes him who has real compassion for all beings in creation, and so also for his enemies: “When he thinks of them, and when he sees them, tears run from his eyes. So strong and so violent is his compassion, and so great is his constancy that it wrings his heart and he can’t bear to hear or to see the least harm or the slightest sadness in creation.”
The twentieth step implies not only that one renounces being avenged by God, but also wishing that He will not punish our enemies. The Apostle’s instruction — “Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Rom 12:19) — seems to have been given to beginners hardly able to give up their own revenge. This twentieth step consists positively in wanting God to forgive our enemies, to keep and save them [25].
The twenty-first step is to pray God for them [26]. This attitude is in answer to Christ’s commandment: “Pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Mt 5:44, Lk 6:28). It is evident that praying for enemies has been implied from the first steps, but then it was a means of avoiding undesirable attitudes like hate, spite, resentment, and pride which bound to them, and be purified of them [27]. In the higher stages, the prayer is no longer for oneself but for the other: it leads to compassion and to love for the enemy and permits to develop, to strengthen and to show these positive attitudes. It consists then in asking God to take pity on him, forgive him his sins, save him and give him what is best [28]. A sorrowful heart and tears are the sign that the prayer is deep, sincere and motivated by real compassion [29]. St. Isaac the Syrian writes: “He who is compassionate prays tearfully, at all hours, for the animals without reason, for the enemies of truth, and for all who harm him, so that they be kept and forgiven.” “He who loves his enemies,” says St. Maximus, “will even suffer for them if the chance is given him.”
The twenty-second step is to have affection for them [30]. St. Simeon notes that at this level love consists in “loving them from the bottom of the soul, and more still in engraving in oneself the face of each one of them, to kiss them impassibly as true friends with tears of sincere charity.”
The twenty-third step is to wish them and do them good [31]. This attitude is in answer to the commandments of Christ: “bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you” (Mt 5:44; cf Lk 6:27-28); “But love ye your enemies and do good” (Lk 6:35); “And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise” (Lk 6:31), commandments repeated by the Apostle: “Bless them which persecute you, bless and curse not” (Rom 12:14), “Provide things honest in the sight of all men” (Rom 12:17); “Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink” (Rom 12:20). In their behavior the Apostles show this attitude: “being reviled, we bless” (I Cor 4:12). When a man who was being ill-treated asked him how to act, St. John of Gaza had only one answer: “Do good to him.” St. Isaac advises: “Show the greatness of your compassion by rendering good to those who were unjust to you” and he writes that “it is a great thing to do good to sinners more than to the just.” St. Maximus teaches that one only loves when one is able to “return naturally good for evil” and that “to be capable of doing good to those who hate us is only given to perfect spiritual love.” Love does not only consist of doing good to our enemies, but also in thinking well of them [32].
The twenty-fourth step is to consider those who harm us in the same way as those who do us good, and to love them in the same way [33]. St. Barsanuphios teaches that one must manage “to consider he who strikes as he who caresses, he who despises as he who esteems, he who insults as he who honors, he who afflicts as he who consoles.” More than all Fathers, St. Maximus advises us to treat all men equally and to love them all without making any difference, friends or enemies, just or sinners. He wrote: “Blessed the man who can love all men equally.” “He who is good and impassive, by the disposition of his will, loves equally all men, the just for their nature and their good disposition, the sinners for their nature [34] and with the compassionate pity one has for a fool wandering in the night.” He adds that “perfect love loves all men equally. He loves the virtuous as friends, and the depraved as enemies.” “If you detest some people, feel for others neither love nor hate, if you love these, but moderately, and if you love those very much, know by this inequality that you are still far from perfect, as this loves all men equally.” Indeed “the friends of Christ truly love all beings.” St. Isaac the Syrian gives the same teaching: “Consider all men, whether unbelievers or murderers, as equal in good and honor [35], and that each one by his nature is your brother, even if without knowing it, he has wandered from the truth.” “Compassion” he says “is a sadness born from grace; it feels for all beings with the same affection.” “He who loves all beings equally, with compassion and discernment, has reached perfection.”
The twenty-fifth step is to treat our enemies in the same way as our friends. He who really loves his enemies, writes St. Simeon, is capable of “receiving them too as friends at meeting for meals, without at all returning to the past.” [36] St. John Chrysostom says the same: “We act towards them who have harmed us as towards real friends, and love them as ourselves.” [37]
The twenty-sixth step is to love our enemies not only as ourselves, but more than ourselves. Charity, says St. Maximus “leads harmoniously to this praiseworthy inequality through which each prefers his neighbor to himself, as much as in the past he wanted to push him to the side and put himself forward.” [38] In the Apophtegmata, we read that the monks of Scetis in the desert west of the Nile Delta sought to love their enemies even more than themselves.
This classification in steps does not of course pretend to establish a rigorous hierarchy. Some attitudes are susceptible of being on different levels and each attitude more or less implies the others. In the end love is a disposition whole and undividable. Our classification is mainly pedagogical; it tries to help us understand that the love of enemies has many components, that is acquisition is the result of numerous demands and is only possible after a gradual and multiform interior effort. It also wishes to stress that there are different levels of quality and of intensity that those who haven’t long fought to reach will barely understand.
If one examines the teaching of St. Silouan on the love of enemies, one notices that he is not unaware of the elementary steps, but mostly considers the higher levels. This confirms what we have already said, that the teaching of the Starets is the expression of a personal experience at the highest level of spiritual life.
For the person as yet unable to love his enemies, St. Silouan teaches that at least he must not hate them, curse them or snub them, and to refuse thoughts of anger against them. In that way at least progress is made towards love.
The love of enemies implies that one not only must bear the afflictions that they make us suffer, but also that one suffers them with joy for God’s sake. It also implies correlatively that one thanks God for all these afflictions. As we have seen, they contribute to our spiritual progress and for this reason must be received as a providential gift of God for our salvation.
The love of enemies also implies that, face to face with the violence one suffers, one should maintain peace of soul and body; in other words not only must one not become irritated in return, but one must not even become agitated. Starets Silouan also recommends not only that one not accuse his enemies, but also not to think badly about them and even not to judge them at all [39]. Rather than accuse others, one must feel guilty oneself.
For the Starets the love of enemies supposes that one forgives them their offenses and prays for them. Yet forgiving is not yet loving; prayer can precede love and not yet be a manifestation of it: “When I was still in the world I liked to forgive with all my heart,” he said. “I forgave easily and I liked to pray for those who had offended me, but when I came to the monastery, while I was still a novice, I received a great grace and it taught me to love my enemies.”
It is in compassion that St. Silouan sees one of the principal dimensions of the love of enemies. Such compassion consists first of all in feeling pity for them. This pity is partly a result of being conscious that those who harm us or want to do so have a sick soul (in the traditional patristic teaching, the passions are spiritual illnesses) and act under a demonic influence; in this situation, they suffer profoundly. To the question: “How can a subordinate keep a peaceful soul if his superior is a violent and a bad man?” the Starets answers: “An irascible man endures great suffering caused by a bad spirit. He suffers torment because of his pride. The subordinate must know this and pray for the sick soul of his superior.”
On the other hand this pity results from the knowledge that he who causes harm and is opposed to the truth or doesn’t know it, lives aloof from God, deprives himself of His gifts, wanders far from the way to salvation, is heading for the plains of hell, a beginning of which he already suffers here on earth. “The soul has compassion for enemies and prays for them because they have wandered away from the truth and are going to hell. That is love for enemies.” “A good man thinks: each man who has wandered far from the truth is going to his fall, and this is why he feels pity for him . . . He who has been taught by the Holy Spirit to love, will suffer all his life for those who don’t save themselves; many tears run down his cheeks for man, and the divine grace gives him strength to love his enemies … Understand, it is so simple. They are to be pitied those who don’t know God and are opposed to Him; my heart suffers for them and tears run down my cheeks. We can clearly see Paradise and the torments: we know this through the Holy Spirit. And the Lord Himself said: the Kingdom of God is in you (Lk 17:21). So eternal life already starts here on earth; and the eternal torments too start here.”
We see here that pity is accompanied by compassion, that it consists in suffering what others are suffering as if one felt it oneself, in showing true solidarity with them in their suffering, in putting oneself in their place in their troubles: an authentic and unlimited love. The Starets himself gives us an example of his compassion which is deeply lived; it is accompanied by pain and tears and is permanent. It is as deep as what one feels for one’s loved ones when they are in pain or trouble: “The Lord teaches us to love enemies in such a way that we will feel compassion for them as for our own children.” We must, says the Starets, be compassionate not only for our own enemies and the enemies of truth, but for the demons who suffer infernal pains for turning away from God and denying Him in their voluntary deprivation of heavenly goods, their refusal to love God and to be loved by Him. “Taught by the Holy Spirit, one will feel compassion even for demons for they are separated from goodness, they have lost humility and God’s love.”
For the Starets compassion for enemies is linked to the compassion one must have for all creatures without exception: “One must feel compassion for every person, every creature and all of God’s creation.”
“The Spirit of God teaches us to love all that exists, and the soul feels compassion for each being, and also loves enemies and pities demons, because in their fall they were detached from the good.” Compassion makes no exceptions. “There are people who wish damnation and the torments in the fire of hell for their enemies or enemies of the Church. They think in this way because they haven’t learned from the Holy Spirit to love God. He who has learned love weeps for the whole world. You say: ‘Let him burn in the fire of hell!’ But I ask you: ‘If God gave you a good place in Paradise and that from there you could see in the fire the man to whom you wished this torment, wouldn’t you feel pity for him, whoever he is, even if he is an enemy to the Church?’ Or do you have a heart of metal?”
The Starets had so much pity for those who have to endure the sufferings of hell and felt so much compassion for them because he had himself had the experience of the beatitude of Paradise and of the dreadful wretchedness of hell, and he knew the painful distance that separated both. For him, the love of enemies implies wishing and doing good to them. He who loves his enemies wants what is best for them — that they should repent, know God, and obtain the grace of salvation. “We must only have one thought,” says St. Silouan, “that all be saved.”
Another factor of the love of enemies on which St. Silouan insists is prayer. “It is a great work in God’s eyes to pray for those who offend us and who make us suffer.” For the Starets, prayer for and love of enemies are intimately connected: “The Lord has given on earth the Holy Spirit who teaches the soul to love our enemies and to pray for them.” “Lord, teach us through your Holy Spirit to love our enemies and to pray for them with tears.” “Lord, as You prayed for your enemies, teach us also, through the Holy Spirit, to love our enemies”; “the soul that has been taught to pray by the grace of God, loves with compassion all creatures, and especially man.”
It is indeed prayer that awakens the love of enemies and at the same time, results from it and is a witness to it. To pray for enemies first of all permits one to obtain from God the grace to love them: “One can only love one’s enemies through the grace of the Holy Spirit. That’s why, as soon as someone has hurt you, pray God for him.” “I continuously beg the Lord to grant me to love enemies . . . Day and night I ask the Lord for this love.”
It is through prayer that it is possible to remain peaceful before our enemies and their offenses. “To have a peaceful soul, one must get used to loving him who has offended us and to pray immediately for him. The soul cannot have peace if it doesn’t with all its strength ask the Lord the gift of loving all men.”
Prayer is what permits us to retain the grace of loving enemies once it has been obtained. Prayer not only awakens the love of enemies, the love of enemies also awakens prayer. “The man who hasn’t been taught by the Holy Spirit to love will certainly not pray for his enemies.” The pity and compassion that one feels for enemies, conscious that they have wandered away from God, are deprived of divine goods and are heading for their ruin, lead one to pray for their escape from the ills they will have to suffer. They also lead one to pray God for them to repent and turn away from their bad ways, for them to know him and be saved. “The Lord has given on earth the Holy Spirit who teaches the soul to love enemies and pray for them so that they will be saved. That is love.” “The soul feels compassion for enemies and prays for them because they have wandered away from the truth and are going to hell.” “The man who carries in him the Holy Spirit (has a heart) full of compassion for all of God’s creatures and especially for the people who don’t know God or are opposed to Him, and who for this reason, will go into the tormenting fire. He prays for them day and night, more than for himself for them all to repent and know the Lord.” “Lord, all peoples are the work of Your hands; turn them away from hate and wickedness to repentance so that they all may know Your love.”
Because it proceeds from compassion, but also because it is bound to the feeling full of compunction, of being oneself a sinner, and even the worst of men, prayer for enemies is accompanied by tears. This is a sign of its profundity, its sincerity, and of the fact that it is bound to authentic love.
FOOTNOTES
1: St. John Chrysostom gives the most systematic classification, with nine steps (Homilies on St. Mat. XVIII,4)
2: Ibid, Hom. on Genesis XXVII,8
3. Ibid, Hom. on St. Mat. XVIII,4
4. Ascetical Discourse, 58
5. St. John Chrysostom, Hom. on I Cor XVI,6; St. Mark the Monk, On those who think they are justified by their works, 45; St. Isaac the Syrian, Ascetical Discourse 56; St. Simeon the New Theologian, Theological, Gnostic and practical chapters III,29
6. St. Maximus the Confessor, Centuries on Charity I,38,72
7. St. Isaac the Syrian, Ascetical Discourse 56; St. Simeon the New Theologian, Theological chapters I,92
8. St. Basil the Great, Small Rule, 176; St. John of Gaza, Letters 383, 680; St. Dorotheos of Gaza, Letters 7
9. St. Simeon the New Theologian, Theological chapters III,29; St. John of Gaza, Letters 383
10. Apophtegmata XVI,19; St. Dorotheos of Gaza, Letters 7; Ignaty Briantchaninov, On the Jesus Prayer, III
11. St. John Chrysostom, Hom. on St. Mat XVIII,4; St. Isaac the Syrian, Ascetical Discourse 56,58
12. Ibid, St. John Chrysostom
13. St. John Chrysostom, St. Maximus the Confessor, Centuries on charity II,50
14. Ibid; Ignaty Briantchaninov, On the Jesus Prayer, III
15. footnote: The Ladder XXX,8
16. St. Maximus the Confessor, Centuries on charity IV,35; St. Isaac the Syrian, Ascetical Discourse 56,58
17. Ibid, St. Isaac the Syrian
18. St. John Chrysostom, Hom. on St. Mat. XVIII,4; St. Maximus the Confessor, Centuries on charity IV, 84
19. St. Maximus the Confessor, ibid; St. Dorotheos of Gaza, Spiritual Instructions VIII,94
20. footnote: Ignaty Briantchaninov, On the Jesus Prayer, III
21. St. John Chrysostom, Homilies in St. Mat. XVIII,4; St. Mark the Monk, On those who think they can be justified by their works, 45
22. St. John Chrysostom, On virginity, I
23. St. John Chrysostom, Hom. on Genesis XXVII,8; on Mat. XVIII,5
24. St. Isaac the Syrian, Ascetical Discourse, 56
25. Ibid
26. St. John Chrysostom, Hom. on Genesis IV,16; XXVII,8; Hom. on St. Mat. XVIII, 3-4; Hom. on St. John, LXXI,3; Hom. on I Cor. V,4; XVI,6; Hom. on the Cross and the good thief I,5; II,5; Hom. on text “Father, if it be possible…” 4; Barsanuphios, Letters 31,97; St. Dorotheos of Gaza, Spiritual Instructions VIII,94; Letters 6; St. Simeon the New Theologian, Theological, Gnostic and Practical chapters I,92; Ignaty Briantchaninov, On the Jesus Prayer, III
27. St. Dorotheos of Gaza, Spiritual Instructions VIII,94; St. Maximus the Confessor, Centuries on charity III,90
28. St. John Chrysostom, Hom. on Genesis IV,16
29. St. Simeon the New Theologian, Theological … chapters III,25; Ignaty Briantchaninov, On the Jesus Prayer III
30. St. John Chrysostom, Hom. on Genesis IV,7; St. Mat. XVIII,4; Romans XXVII,3
31. John Chrysostom, Hom. on Genesis IV,7; Commentary on psalm 7,4; Hom. on St. Mat. XVIII,3-4; Hom. on Eph. VII,4; Hom. on the Acts of the Apostles L,4; St. Maximus the Confessor, Centuries in charity, I,7
32. St. Maximus the Confessor, Centuries of charity, IV,40] He who loves his enemies not only does not rejoice about their failures and the harm that happens to them nor is he saddened to see them honored or pleased, but he is grieved to see them in trouble or sorrow, and he rejoices for their success and sincerely wishes their happiness and in all circumstances tries to satisfy them. [footnote: Apophtegmata, Alphabetical series, Or. 11; St. Dorotheos, Spir. Inst. VIII,93
33. St. John Chrysostom, Hom. on the words "Because we have the same spirit of faith..." II,8; Hom. on Lazarus II,5; Hom. on St. John LX,5
34. Of course not their nature as sinners, but their human nature, worthy of respect and love because created in the image of God. In his conception of charity, St. Maximus constantly refers to this reality on which is founded the fundamental equality of all men, and so the duty to treat them all equally.
35. As men created in the image of God and children of the same Father.
36. St. Simeon the New Theologian, Theological . . . . chapters I,92
37. Hom. on the Acts of the Apostles IX,4
38. Letters, 2
39. If, being the superior or heguman of a monastery, one has the responsibility to judge someone, it must be done with compassion and with the goal of helping him to correct himself.
[reprinted from In Communion issue 10, July 1997]
Editor’s note: Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov’s writings on the life of St. Silouan as well as the texts the Staretz wrote himself are available in a single volume, Saint Silouan the Athonite, published by the Monastery of St. John the Baptist (Tolleshunt Knights by Maldon, Essex CM9 8EZ, England).
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Tags: PatristicWisdom, Inner Struggle, Love of Enemies, St Silouan
Here is a view into Orthodox Monastic Life
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Tags: OrthodoxChurch, Orthodox Monks, Asceticism, Angelic Life
The New Voice of Orthodoxy in the Greek Church
April 28, 2008 in Church Politics, Commentary | Leave a comment
On The Metropolitan +Seraphim of Piraeus.
For decades now the pan-heresy of Ecumenism infects the Orthodox faith and life. The shepherds, the guardians of the flock who should be alert and chase away the wolves of the papist and protestant heresies, many of them keep silent and hide, either out of fear and cowardice or so that they may not fall in disfavour of the powerful, while others have succumbed to the heresies and like wolves in sheepskins spiritually maul the flock. Many presbyters and monks assumed the protection of the faith but so also the flock itself, with spectacular candour. It is not however the first time in the history of the Church that the flock proved more prudent than its shepherds, being invisibly shepherded by the chief shepherd, Christ, who by the way installed the shepherds, not to devour but to protect the flock, not to usurp the hierarchal grace for their benefit but to even sacrifice their life, as He did for the salvation of the sheep. The good shepherd does not leave when he sees the wolf approaching, and even more so he does not join the wolves but “lays down his life for the sheep”.
The sacrificial prototype of the Great Shepherd Christ, was followed by the Apostles and the Holy Church Fathers, who were expended and martyred either struggling against the heresies of their time, or against internal distortions and forgeries of the evangelical ascetic ethos, like the great Holy Father and Teacher John Chrysostom, whom this year we feast the 1600th year of his martyric and heroic repose on his way to exile (407-2007).
This teaching of the holy bishops, strugglers and early fighters of the faith was never interrupted in the two thousand year march of the Church to conspicuously establish that there is an uninterrupted apostolic succession, not only in the positions and administration, but especially in the faith and life as we sing in the dismissal of the holy hieromartyrs. “Becoming shareholders of the ways and successors to the Apostolic thrones, the task you found, oh God inspired, to God beholding ascent. For this reason you rightly upheld the truth and for the faith you struggled by the shedding of your blood hieromartyr…..”
Following the natural, due to old age, silence of metropolitan Augustine Kontioti of Florina, in this apostolic and patristic nature of our times, we all wonder of the almost complete absence of courageous and activist bishops. There is no Kontiotis. When would at last be heard a bold, strong and loud voice of Orthodoxy, to scare the croaking frogs in the stagnant disease bearing waters of the Ecumenical heresy? There were of course some voices of a few bishops, that supported and fed the hope of becoming more vociferous, so that they could even be heard by the wolves and cause them to flee and by the sheep to become encouraged. The warm and hearty prayers of thousands of faithful to change the climate of silence and fear under which “fear overshadowed everything and squashed by slavery”, was heard by God. The impossible He makes possible, even if it seems humanly impossible the turn over of conditions. “The arrow of the strong weakened and the sick were limited in strength”. The powerful weakened but it was preordained by God that a loud Orthodox voice of an even young bishop be heard. The metropolitan of Piraeus, most reverend Seraphim, amazed us and pleased us all with everything he wrote and reported to archimandrite Marko Manoli, to the unshakeable as well fighter of Orthodoxy, a spiritual and elder of the “Panhellenic Orthodox Union” who is also the spiritual overseer of the “Orthodox Press”. Whatever he writes and declares is the Faith, the voice, the teaching of the Holy Fathers and the self-consciousness of the Church.
He accepts and declares that “the mixing crucible of the Ecumenism as expressed today by the World Council of the so called Churches as well as of the diverse national fora, deceives and debases the Christian revelation and makes worldly the message of salvation, rendering it into a morality deprived of life, grace and power of God. In the final end this effort is one more hopeless attempt by the dragon of the abyss to neutralize the crucifixion and resurrection message of life of the Apostolic Catholic Church”. The blended pan-heresy is Ecumenism, the churches of the World Council are called churches when they are not, showing that all the ecumenical effort springs from the devil. [ This Article Continues Here ]
By Protopresbyter Theodoros Zisis,Professor of the Theological School of the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki
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Tags: FalseEcumenism, Spiritual Struggle, True Orthodox Witness, Papism, Heresy