37–42

37. From the day when my Lord Jesus Christ in His goodness and mercy woke my mind from a deadly sleep, great was my weeping and unconsoled were my sighs over human weakness. Often I used to think, and think still in my heart: what can we give the Lord in return for all that He has done for our salvation? For He commanded the angels to serve us, appointed His prophets to prophesy for us, and commanded His holy apostles to preach the holy Gospel to us. But far above all this is His own work, when He sent His Only-begotten Son into the world for our salvation and did not spare Him even unto death. So wake your mind from sleep and kindle your hearts with the fear of God. Know that John the Baptist and Forerunner of the Lord baptised with water and called people to repentance in order to prepare the baptism from our Lord Jesus Christ, which is performed by the power of the Holy Spirit and by divine fire. When we become worthy to receive the baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ, let us be filled with zeal for good works, so as to offer ourselves to our Creator as a fitting sacrifice. The Holy Spirit, who has entered into us through baptism into Christ, gives us the strength to act in purity and raises us again to our first state, so that we may become worthy to receive the ever-abiding inheritance. Know that he who receives this baptism of Christ puts on Christ too, since he is filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, as the Apostle Paul says: “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:27–28). Therefore, in the slave as in the free person, in the man as in the woman, as soon as they receive this grace of the Holy Spirit these bodily differences at once vanish and lose their force. And the Holy Spirit, at the very time when He becomes the pledge of the inheritance of the eternal heavenly Kingdom for those who have put on Christ, at the same time also teaches them how God the Father should be worshipped and glorified in spirit and in truth, as it is said in the Gospel: “…the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23–24).

38. I pray for you, that you too may become worthy to receive that great fiery Spirit whom I have already received. And if you truly wish with your whole heart to be filled with Him, and in such a way that He may remain in you, first of all do the works of the body and gain humility of heart. Unceasingly, day and night, lift up to heaven the thoughts of your heart and with a pure heart seek this fiery Spirit — and He will be granted you. So did Elijah the Tishbite and Elisha receive the Spirit of God, and the other prophets likewise. Whoever acts so and in this way prepares himself to receive the Spirit of God will have this fiery Spirit granted him for ever. So pray with your whole heart and seek with an urgent seeking — and the Spirit of God will be given you, since He takes up His dwelling in righteous and pure hearts. And when you receive Him, by Him the highest mysteries will be revealed to you. By Him too the fear of people and of savage beasts will be driven out of you, and always, day and night, heavenly joy will dwell in you. And even in this world, even in these passing corruptible bodies, you will be like those who already abide in the heavenly Kingdom.

39. If a person wants to gain the love of God above every other gain, he must first of all be filled with the fear of God; the fear of God will move him to weeping in repentance for his own sins, and weeping and repentance will breed courage in him. And when all this is accomplished in a person who seeks God, and his soul ripens for the love of God, then he will begin to bring forth good fruit in everything. And God the Creator, seeing these fair fruits in a person’s soul, will draw such a soul to Himself like the fragrance of choice incense; He rejoices with His angels over such a person, always fills him too with this joy and covers him on every road, so that he may reach the place of his eternal rest in peace and without danger. And then, seeing a person thus guarded by the highest keeper, the devil will no longer be able to fall upon him. And the devil is afraid even to draw near to the soul of such a person, for fear of this great power. So strive, brethren, to gain this power, so that every demon may fear to draw near to you! So that it may be easier for you to carry the labour you have taken on and so that everything divine may be sweet to you! For this sweetness of divine love far surpasses the sweetness of the honeycomb. Many monks living in one brotherhood, and likewise virgins living together, thought that they were already filled with the divine Spirit, whereas in fact they had not tasted even a little of the sweetness of this divine love and had never been filled with it; they showed no effort to gain it, and therefore God did not grant them His Spirit. So only that person will attain what he desires and by God’s help will gain the love of God who strives for it with his whole being. For God does not judge by outward appearance and is not partial. And when a person who desires to be filled with divine light and power disregards earthly hardship and humiliation, loathes all honour and glory, hates everything worldly and, in order to gain true peace, cleanses his body and soul of all evil thoughts and desires, so as to dedicate himself wholly to God, offering unceasingly the sacrifice of fasting and of the tears of repentance day and night, and likewise the sacrifice of pure prayers — then, when he does all this, God generously grants a person His power. It is precisely this power that you should labour for, brethren; and then you will do all your works with peace and with ease, will gain great boldness before God, and He will mercifully fulfil every request of yours.

40. God hears the entreaty of those who love Him and seek Him with their whole heart, and graciously receives their every request. But the requests of those people who do not draw near to Him with their whole heart and, being divided in heart, do everything out of love for vain glory and for show before people, so as to receive praise — the entreaties of such God does not receive; more than that, He is filled with wrath against them. And since the works of such people are vain and illusory, this word of the psalm will be fulfilled concerning them: “There they feared with fear where there was no fear, for God has scattered the bones of the men-pleasers; they were ashamed, for God despised them” (Psalm 52:6). For this reason the divine power does not work in such people, and in every work they lack firmness; whatever labour they set about, they will not become true zealots. They know neither divine sweetness, nor holy peace, nor true joy. So there are many in our kind, among monks, who have not received from God this power which gives sweetness to a person’s soul, fills it day by day with ever-growing courage and joy, and kindles the divine fire in it. Such monks are tried and led astray by the evil spirit because they, as I said above, do every work of theirs for show before people. But you, brethren, when you lay the fruits of your labour before the Lord, strive to put away from you the spirit of vainglory and not to exalt yourselves vainly; fight with it unceasingly, so that the Lord may graciously receive the fruits of your labour which you have offered Him, and so that He may send you from on high that power which is granted only to God’s chosen. Never cease to resist this evil spirit of vainglory, for as soon as a person sets about good works and a beautiful labour, the devil at once appears beside him, either to become a partner in the work or to turn him away from his good intention altogether. The devil cannot bear a person who acts righteously and godly, and opposes everyone who wants to be faithful to the Lord. Many of the weak he does not let come to the way of virtue at all, but turns them away from good works while they are still intending them; while with others, more diligent and zealous, he has to become a partner in their works and so to destroy the fruits of their labour. And with this he teaches them to do good works and give alms in such a way that they may be lifted up and filled with vanity because of them. Seeing such people, many think they are full of spiritual fruits, whereas in fact those wretched men have brought forth no fruit that would be pleasing to God, and have become like that fig tree which from afar looks as though it were hung with many sweet fruits but is in fact barren. And God will not only deprive such people of the incomparable sweetness of His Godhead, but will also wither them by His word, since He finds in them no desired fruit. Therefore you, brethren, when you set out on the spiritual labour, strive to resist the spirit of vainglory in you and to overcome it. And if you act so, the power of God will enter into you, which will come to your help in this fight, will remain with you and will always fill you with diligence, with zeal for God and with that heavenly warmth than which there is nothing dearer in this world. If any of us sees that he has not been granted this warmth from above, let him strive to find it, and his labour will not be in vain. This divine warmth is like a dying fire which we rouse and kindle with our breath in order to heat oil on it: from the breath the flame of the fire leaps up, gains its natural strength and heats the oil for us. In the same way, when you see that from negligence and sloth your souls have grown dim and cold, hurry to kindle them again and pour out hot tears for this. And that heavenly fire will certainly come to you and be joined to your souls — filled with this fire, you will bring your virtue to the boil and will accomplish good works. So the prophet David too, when he saw that his spirit had grown heavy and cold, said thus: “Therefore my spirit was grieved in me; my heart was troubled within me. I remembered the days of old; and I meditated on all thy doings: yea, I meditated on the works of thine hands. I spread forth my hands to thee; my soul thirsts for thee, as a dry land” (Psalm 142:4–6). You see: when his heart grew heavy, King David was shaken and greatly grieved by this, and he strove until the divine fire was kindled in his soul again. And then he cried out to God with thankfulness: “O God, my heart is ready, my heart is ready; I will sing and sing psalms with my glory” (Ps. 107:2). By such unflagging care and striving, day and night, David was restored to his former degree of divine grace. Do likewise, brethren, when you notice a cooling in your own heart, so that you may all be of one mind in preparing your hearts to receive the divine light and fire.

41. Pray always that God may grant you the grace to see and understand everything clearly, so that you may be able rightly to tell good from evil. For the Apostle Paul writes that “strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5:14). These are the monks who by long and diligent labour have trained their senses and thoughts rightly to tell good from evil, and by this have become heirs of the Kingdom and are written down as children of God. God granted them wisdom and understanding in every work, so that neither people nor demons might lead them astray. Know well, brethren, that the enemy tries those who are faithful to God by appearing in a good guise and clothing himself as an angel of light; and he leads many astray precisely because they have not gained true wisdom and understanding in the discerning of evil and good. That is why the blessed Apostle Paul, having come to know these riches of the mind which the Creator has prepared for those faithful to Him and to whose greatness nothing in this world can be compared, wrote thus to his disciples at Ephesus: “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power” (Eph. 1:17–19). These are believers who by long labour have gained divine wisdom. And God gave them true understanding and knowledge out of His measureless love for man; for if we reach such a state of soul, then no difficulty will meet us on the earthly road and we shall have no fear at all; and instead of this the joy of the Lord will console us day and night, and every labour at every hour will turn into sweetness for us. Many of the monks and of the nuns who have taken up the spiritual labour, living alone in cells, do not reach such a state of soul. And you, brethren, if you want to reach such a state of soul, which is the highest perfection, withdraw and keep away from everyone who bears the name of monk but has not gained divine enlightenment and understanding; for if you are beside such people and share their life, they will not let you labour successfully for the gaining of divine wisdom. More than that, they will stifle your fervour, because in themselves there is no fervour at all, but only coldness, indifference and sloth; and the reason for this is that such monks are enslaved to their own desires. So if such people come to you and at their own will strike up worldly, vain conversations with you, do not agree with them, do not be drawn into idle talk and turn your back at once, for the Apostle Paul says to us: “Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings” (1 Thess. 5:19–20). So know that nothing quenches and puts out the spirit in you like vain worldly conversations.

42. In every intelligent creature — whether man or woman — there is the power of love, by which people are able to attain both the love of God and the love of man. The spiritual love what is divine in everything, and the fleshly love what is bodily and material. Those who love the divine cleanse their hearts of everything unclean and keep themselves away from the affairs of this passing world; this world and their own souls are hateful to them; they have taken their cross upon their shoulders and followed the Lord, submitting to His will in everything and acting according to His command. Therefore God takes up His dwelling in such people and grants them that joy and sweetness which feeds, waters and makes a person’s soul grow. As trees cannot grow and bear fruit unless they are watered with ordinary water, so a person’s soul cannot grow and increase unless it is watered with heavenly sweetness. So only those souls grow and increase which have received the Holy Spirit and have been consoled with heavenly sweetness.