Father Ambrose (Yurasov)
Any passion that is in us can be rooted out. For this the main thing is to come to hate this sin. That first of all. Secondly, we must certainly come to confession and repent before the Lord in the presence of a priest. During confession the Lord gives us strength to struggle with sin. Returning from confession, a person feels a barrier raised up within himself against the sin, and revulsion for it. The main thing is not to grow slack, but constantly to strengthen oneself with prayer and fasting, because “this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting” (Matt. 17:21) — so said the Lord.
For a person to be healed, first of all he must realise that he is sick and feel the need of a physician; that is, he must admit that he is a sinner. Without this admission there is no hope of healing for him, and he is held by prideful delusion.
Christ is the Physician of our infirmities. But He waits for our turning, for our confession of our sins, and only after this confession does He free us from them and give us strength to struggle with sin. But what is repentance?
Here is the definition of repentance given us by the venerable Isaac the Syrian: “The meaning of the word ‘repentance,’ as we have understood it from the true nature of things, is this: it is an unceasing prayerful petition, full of contrition, addressed to God, for the forgiveness of the past and for protection in the future.
Repentance is the ship of the soul, in which it crosses the spiritual sea of sin and is saved.
St Ignatius (Brianchaninov) explains repentance thus: “All God's commandments are gathered together in repentance. Repentance is the awareness of one's own fall, because of which human nature has been defiled and corrupted, and so it constantly needs a Redeemer.”
The process of the soul's repentance is shrouded in mystery. At this time we lay bare before God the wounds of our soul, and with a contrite heart and pain we testify that we are aware of them, that their ugliness repels us, and we ask for the healing of these wounds and the forgiveness of our sins.
The more deeply the soul comes to know its sins, the more it is washed with tears of repentance. By this path walked all whom the Church has numbered among the saints and the righteous. Only walking this “narrow” path of spiritual poverty and deepest repentance makes the salvation of the soul possible.
But what, after all, does the process of repentance consist of? It is preceded by the mind's recognition that we have broken God's commandments. This is followed by asking forgiveness of sins from God, and also from people, if the sin involves an offence committed against them. But this is not yet repentance.
To the confession of one's sins must be added works of repentance — prayers of repentance and, for the physically healthy, perhaps prostrations, fasting, abstinence and so on.
But even these are not yet sufficient signs of the fullness of repentance. We may carry all this out and still not repent, not be able to be reconciled with God, not receive from Him the forgiveness of sins and the return into our heart of the Holy Spirit and the fullness of His grace.
True repentance is conceived in the depth of the heart. In it (in the heart) there must arise shame for the sin, a sense of the dirt on our spiritual garment, revulsion at our own inclination to sin — to sin, which defiles the soul with loathsome uncleanness and a terrible stench.
When this terrible stench and uncleanness oppresses our soul, when we come to hate ourselves for our own spiritual ugliness, when we fall down in mind before God, stretch out our hands to Him and ask for forgiveness and help, when, in the words of the Elder Silouan, we go down into the hell of repentance and truly feel that we are worse than every creature — then our true repentance begins. It lies not always in outward manifestations, but in the deepest experiences of the heart.
On the mystery of confession
The final removal of sin from a person's “book of life” is then achieved in the mystery of confession, when the sin is confessed before a priest.
At this time a person feels shame for the sin, and then, through the priest, receives in God's name the final forgiveness of the sin. As St Theophan the Recluse says: “For the penitent it is not enough to know his sins with the mind alone, without confession and the loosing of sins.”
This is followed by the mystery of Communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord, whose grace as it were renews the Christian, clothes him with Christ, and thereby gives him strength to struggle with sin.
The holy fathers called the mystery of confession and Communion a “second baptism.” At this time the grace and purity that are given to the newly baptised, and which he loses through sins, are returned to us.
The mystery of confession and Communion is the greatest mercy of God to weak mankind, prone to falling; it is a means of salvation within everyone's reach, for the soul that constantly falls into sin.
St John of Kronstadt writes: “We should confess our sins as often as possible, because by open confession we overthrow them, scourge them and feel greater revulsion for them.”
A person who goes to confession often, and whose soul is not weighed down by the burden of unrepented sins, cannot but be healthy. Confession is a grace-filled release for the soul. In this sense the significance of confession is immeasurable, as is that of life with the grace-filled help of the Church in general; so confession should not be put off. Weak faith and double-mindedness are no obstacle. Be sure to go to confession, and confess your weak faith and doubt as your infirmity and sin… That is how it is: full faith belongs only to the strong in spirit and the righteous; can we — the unclean and faint-hearted — have their faith? If it were so, we would be holy, strong and godlike, and would no longer need the help the Church offers us. Do not you shun this help either.
The sign of accomplished repentance is a feeling of lightness, peace and inexpressible joy, when committing the sin seems as hard and impossible as, only a little while ago, this joy was far from us.
Our repentance will not be complete if, in repenting, we do not make a firm inner decision not to return to the sin laid bare at confession.
But people say: is that possible? How can I promise myself and my spiritual father that I will not commit this sin again? Would not the opposite be closer to the truth — that the sin will be repeated? After all, everyone knows from experience that after a while he will certainly return to the same sins. Watching ourselves for years, we notice no good changes: “a person seems to make a leap, but stays on the same level.”
It would be dreadful if it really were so. But, happily, it is not so. There has never been a case where, given the desire to amend, frequent and consistent confession and Holy Communion have not produced a good change in a person's soul.
The point is, first of all, that we cannot be judges of ourselves. A person cannot assess himself rightly, judge whether he has become worse or better, because in this case both the one judging and the thing judged are changing quantities.
“Do not be afraid,” says John of the Ladder, “even if you fall every day, and do not turn aside from God's way. Stand courageously, and the angel, your guardian, will honour your patience.”
If this feeling of lightness and renewal has not come to you, you must find the strength to return to confession again, to free your soul completely from uncleanness, to wash it with tears from dirt and defilement. Whoever strives for this always finds what he seeks.
The mystery of Communion of the Holy Body and Blood of Christ
The significance of the mystery of the Eucharist is immeasurable; to grasp it is beyond our mental powers.
It kindles in us love for Christ, lifts the heart up to God, plants virtues in it, withstands the attack of the dark powers on us, grants us strength against temptations, gives life to soul and body, heals them, strengthens them, makes the virtues grow — restores in us that purity of soul which the first-created Adam had before the Fall.
In his discourse on the Divine Liturgy, Bishop Seraphim (Zvezdinsky) describes a vision that a certain ascetic monk had, which clearly shows the significance for a Christian of Communion of the Holy Mysteries. The ascetic saw: “A sea of fire; the raging waves made a terrifying picture. On the opposite shore a beautiful garden spread out, from which came the singing of birds and the fragrance of flowers.
The ascetic hears a voice: ‘Cross this sea.’ But it was impossible to cross the sea. He stood a long time wondering how to get across, and again he heard the voice:
‘Take the two wings that the divine Eucharist has given you: one wing is the divine Body of Christ, the other wing His life-giving Blood. Without them, however great the ascetic labour, it is impossible to reach the Kingdom of Heaven.’”
St John of Kronstadt writes of the significance of the mystery of the Eucharist in the struggle with strong temptations: “If you feel the weight of the struggle and are convinced that you alone cannot cope with the evil, hasten to your spiritual father and ask him to give you Communion of the Holy Mysteries. This is a great and all-powerful weapon in the struggle.”
Repentance alone is not enough to keep our heart pure and to strengthen our soul in the fear of God and the virtues. The Lord said: “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first” (Luke 11:24–26).
Thus, if repentance cleanses our soul of uncleanness, Communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord fills us with grace and bars the way back into our soul to the tempting spirit driven out by repentance.
That is why, by the custom established in the Church, the mystery of repentance (confession) and Communion follow directly one after the other. The venerable Seraphim too says that the rebirth of the soul is accomplished through two mysteries: “through repentance and Communion of the Most Pure and Life-giving Mysteries of Christ, by way of complete cleansing from every sinful defilement.”
At the same time, however necessary Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ may be for us, it cannot take place unless it is preceded by repentance.
As Archbishop Arseny (Chudovskoy) writes: “Receiving Holy Communion is a great thing, and its fruit is immeasurable: the renewal of our heart by the Holy Spirit, a blessed disposition of the soul. And the greater its significance, the more diligent the preparation it requires of us. So if you want to gain the grace of God at Holy Communion, use every effort to set your heart right.”
But we must also remember the words of Bishop Theophan the Recluse: “The action of the mystery of Communion cannot always be felt, because it also acts in secret.”
A healing that came about through the word of the Elder Seraphim of Vyritsa
Once a woman came to see the elder, and since the elder was not receiving visitors because of illness, she sent him a note with the question that was troubling her. When Mother Seraphima handed the elder the note, he answered at once: “Open the door and repeat aloud after me: ‘Woman, are you not ashamed! You have poisoned our stairway with your disgusting tobacco smell; leave this vice, repent, go to confession, receive Communion and do not touch tobacco again.’” The woman whom this instruction concerned recalls: “Mother Seraphima said this so loudly, in front of so many people waiting in the queue to see the elder, that I was very ashamed. I decided to give up smoking — and, according to the elder's word, I have not smoked for 40 years now.”
Passion as a temptation
It should be noted that in some cases, by the Lord's allowance, there are prolonged temptations, and He is in no hurry to help us. In one case, those who are already spiritually strong undergo prolonged attacks of the spirit of despondency. This happens by the Lord's allowance, so that a person may be tempered still more in spiritual battles.
In other cases, in order to protect the soul from the most ruinous passion — pride — the Lord allows a person to fall for a time under the influence of less dangerous passions, for example drinking, an inclination to tobacco and so on.
As the schemamonk Silouan says: “The Lord, in training the human soul, does not spare it the encounter with evil, but gives it strength to overcome every evil.”
Overcoming temptation by the power of Christ, a person is enriched with spiritual experience. He acquires the ability to recognise temptation and to overcome it through prayer. In this way a firm foundation is laid for the Christian's success in the “unseen warfare” with the spirits of darkness, and so for the acquisition of the Holy Spirit.
A prayer for every passion
Save, O Lord, and have mercy on these Thy servants (names), through the words of Thy divine Gospel, read for the salvation of these Thy servants (names).
Burn up, O Lord, the thorns of all their sins, voluntary and involuntary, that Thy grace may dwell among them, enlightening, warming and sanctifying these people.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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