Orthodox Church Fathers: Patristic Christian Theology Classics Search Engine
St Symeon Metaphrastis: Paraphrase of the Homilies of St Makarios of Egypt: VI: The Freedom of the Intellect
116. When you hear that Christ descended into hell in order to deliver the souls dwelling there, do not think that what happens now is very different. The heart is a tomb and there our thoughts and our intellect are buried, imprisoned in heavy darkness. And so Christ comes to the souls in hell that call upon Him, descending, that is to say, into the depths of the heart; and there He commands death to release the imprisoned souls that call upon Him, for He has power to deliver us. Then, lifting up the heavy stone that oppresses the soul, and opening the tomb. He resurrects us - for we were truly dead - and releases our imprisoned soul from its lightless prison.
117. It often happens that Satan will insidiously commune with you in your heart and say: 'Think of the evil you have done; your soul is full of lawlessness, you are weighed down by many grievous sins.' Do not let him deceive you when he does this and do not be led to despair on the pretext that you are being humble. After gaining admission through the fall evil has the power to commune at all times with the soul, as man to man, and so to suggest sinful actions to it. You should answer it: 'I have God's written assurance, for He says: 'I desire, not the sinner's death, but that he should return through repentance and live'' (cf Ezek. 33:11). What was the purpose of His descent to earth except to save sinners, to bring light to those in darkness and life to the dead?'
118. Just as the power of evil works by persuasion, not by compulsion, so does divine grace. In this way our liberty and free will are preserved. If a man commits sins when he is subject to the devil, he himself pays the penalty, not the devil, since he was impelled to evil not by force but by his own will. It is the same where a good action is concerned: grace does not ascribe this action to itself but to the man, giving him the credit for it, since he is the cause of the goodness that befalls him. Grace does not make a man incapable of sin by forcibly and compulsonly laying hold of his will but, though present, allows him freedom of choice, so as to make it clear whether the man's own will inclines to virtue or to evil. For the law looks not to man's nature but to his free power of choice, which is capable of turning towards either good or evil.
119. One must guard the soul and not allow it to commune with impure pernicious thoughts. Just as the body is defiled through intercourse with another body, so the soul is corrupted through coupling with evil and polluted thoughts, assenting to them and uniting with them. Not simply thoughts of cunning and unchastity, but of every vice: unbelief, guile, self-esteem, anger, envy, contentiousness and so on. That is what St Paul means when he says: 'Let us cleanse ourselves from all pollution of the flesh and spirit' (2 Cor. 7:1). For corruption and unchastity work also through shameless thoughts in the hidden places of the soul; and just as God will destroy the person who destroys His temple, which is the body (cf I Cor. 3:17), so the person who corrupts his soul and intellect by assenting to shameless thoughts and uniting with them is liable to punishment. Just as one should guard the body against visible sins, so one should guard the soul, which is the bride of Christ, against shameless thoughts. 'I betrothed you to Christ, hoping to present you to Him as a pure virgin to her sole husband', writes St Paul (2 Cor. 11:2). 'Guard your heart with all diligence, for on this depends the outcome of-life', says Scripture (Prov. 4:23); and: 'Crooked thoughts separate us from God' (Wisd. I :3).
120. Let everyone call his own soul to account, examining it and testing it to see to what it is attached; and should he find that his heart does not conform to God's laws, let him try with all his strength to keep not only the body but also the intellect free from corruption and involvement with evil thoughts - if, that is to say, he wishes God in His purity to take up His dwelling within him according to His promise. For God has promised to dwell within souls that are pure and devoted to what is beautiful and good (cf. 2 Cor. 6: 16).
121. The prudent farmer first clears his land of brambles before sowing it with seed. Similarly, the man who aspires to receive from God the seed of grace must first clear the earth of his heart, so that when the seed of the Spirit falls it may yield a good and abundant harvest. If he does not first cleanse himself from 'all pollution of the flesh and spirit' (2 Cor. 7:1), he remains flesh and blood and is far from the realm of life (cf. I Cor. 15:50).
122. One must watch very carefully and in every direction for the enemy's trickery, guile and malice. Speaking through St Paul, the Holy Spirit says: 'I became all things to all men so as to save everyone' (cf. I Cor. 9:22); and in the same way the enemy tries to become all things so as to bring everyone to destruction. He pretends to pray with those who pray, so as to cheat them into self-conceit by making them think they have attained the state of prayer. He fasts with those who fast, with the purpose again of filling them with self-conceit because they have succeeded in fasting. With those who understand the Scriptures he tries to do the same, hoping to lead them astray by making them claim to possess spiritual knowledge. To those who have been granted a vision of the light, he pretends to offer the same kind of vision, transforming himself into 'an angel of light' (2 Cor. 11:14), so that through this simulation of the true light he may seduce them to him. In short, he uses every kind of deceit and adapts himself to every kind of appearance, so that by assuming the likeness of what is good he becomes a plausible agent of destruction. 'We destroy evil thoughts and all the self-esteem that exalts itself against the knowledge of God', says St Paul (2 Cor. 10:5). You see to what limits the impostor carries his defiance, wanting to cast down even those who have already attained a divine knowledge of the truth. Hence we must guard the heart with all diligence and beseech God for much understanding, so that He enables us to discern the devil's wiliness, to cultivate and train the intellect in understanding, to attend continually to our thoughts, and to conform ourselves to His will. There is no work greater than this. 'Praise and magnificence are His works', as the psalmist writes (Ps. 111:3. LXX).
123. The devout soul, even if it practices all the virtues, ascribes everything to God and nothing to itself. God, on the other hand, when He sees its sound and healthy understanding and knowledge, attributes everything to the soul, and rewards it as though it had achieved everything through its own efforts. He does this in spite of the fact that, if He were to bring us to judgment, no true righteousness would be found in us. For material possessions and everything that man regards as valuable and through which he is able to do good, the earth and whatever is in it, all belong to God. Man's body and soul, and even his very being, are his only by grace. What, then, is left to him that he can call his own, by virtue of which he can pride himself or vindicate himself? Yet when the soul recognizes - what is indeed the truth - that all its good actions for God's sake, together with all its understanding and knowledge, are to be ascribed to God alone and that everything should be attributed to Him, then God accepts this as the greatest gift that man can make, as the offering that is most precious in His eyes.
124. When a woman comes to live and share her life with a man, all that each has is held in common. They share one house, a single being and existence. And the woman is mistress not only of the man's possessions but also of his very body: as St Paul says, 'The man does not have power over his own body, but the woman does' (1 Cor. 7:4). Similarly the soul, in its true and ineffable communion with Christ, becomes one spirit with Him (cf I Cor. 6:17). It necessarily follows that, since the soul has become His bride, it is as it were mistress of all His untold treasures. For there is no doubt that, when God joins Himself to the soul, all that He has belongs also to the soul, whether it be world, life, death, angels, principalities, things present or things to come (cf. Rom. 8:38).
125. While the Israelites were well pleasing to the Lord-though they were never as they should have been, but at least while they seemed to have some faith in Him-the Lord went before them in a pillar of fire and in a pillar of cloud (cf. Exod. 13:21), He made the sea go back (cf. Exod. 14:21), and conferred on them a thousand other wonders. But when they lost their love for God, then they were handed over to their enemies and were sold into bitter slavery. Something similar happens in the case of the soul. When through grace it has come to know God and has been cleansed of its many past stains, then it is granted gifts of grace; but when it does not ceaselessly maintain befitting love for the celestial bridegroom, it falls away from the life in which it shared; for the enemy can attack even those who have attained a high level of grace. Let us struggle, therefore, as much as we can, and guard our life with fear and trembling. In particular, those who have come to share in the Spirit of Christ should be careful not to grieve the Spirit by acting negligently in any way, great or small. Just as there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents (cf. Luke 15:7), so there is grief over one soul that falls away from eternal life. 126. When a soul has become worthy of grace, then God will give it spiritual knowledge, understanding and discrimination to the degree that is profitable for it. God will give these things when the soul asks for them, so that it may be enabled acceptably to serve the Spirit that it has received, and not be seduced by evil, or led into error through ignorance, or perverted by negligence and lack of fear into doing something contrary to His will.
127. The energy of the passions-which is the worldly spirit of delusion, darkness and sin-fills the man in whom it dwells with concern for things of the flesh. The energy and power of the Spirit of light, on the other hand, dwell in the saintly man, as St Paul indicates when he says: 'Do you seek a proof that Christ is speaking through me?' (2 Cor. 13:3); and: '1 no longer live, but Christ lives in me' (Gal. 2:20); and: 'Those of you who have been baptized in Christ have clothed yourselves in Christ' (Gal. 3:27). And Christ affirms the same when He says: '1 and My Father will come and make Our dwelling with him' (cf John 14:23). To those who are found worthy of them these things happen, not unperceived or without manifesting their activity, but with power and trath. The Law with its implacable sentence first brought men to repentance, placing them under an unbearably heavy yoke without being able to hold out the least help. But what the Law cannot offer, the power of the Spirit can provide: 'For what the Law could not do because it was enfeebled through our fleshlmess, God has done', says St Paul (Rom. 8:3). Since Christ's coming the door of grace has been opened to those who truly believe, and they have been given the power of God and the energy of the Holy Spirit.
128. Christ first sent the gift of the natural goodness of the Holy Spirit to His disciples (cf. Acts 2:3). Thereafter the divine power, overshadowing all the faithful and dwelling in their souls, healed the passions of sin and delivered them from darkness and spiritual death. For until then the soul was wounded and captive, held fast in the obscurity of sin. Indeed, even now the soul is still in darkness if Christ has not yet come to dwell in it, and if the power of the Holy Spirit is not active in it, filling it with all strength and assurance. But to those on whom the grace of the divine Spirit has descended, coming to dwell in the deepest levels of their intellect, Christ is as the soul. As St Paul says: 'He who cleaves to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him' (1 Cor. 6:17). And as the Lord Himself says: 'As I and Thou are one, so may they be one in Us' (cf. John 17:21). What blessing and goodness has human nature received, abased as it was by the power of evil! But when the soul is entangled in the depravity of the passions, it becomes as though one with it, and even though it possesses its own will it cannot do what it wants to do. As St Paul says: 'What I do is not what I want to do' (Rom. 7:15). On the other hand, how much closer is the union it enjoys when one with God's will, when His power is conjoined with it, sanctifying it and making it worthy of Him. For then in truth the soul becomes as the soul of the Lord, submitting willingly and consciously to the power of the Holy Spirit and no longer acting in accordance with its own will. 'What can separate us from the love of Christ' (Rom. 8:35), when the soul is united to the Holy Spirit?
129. He who wants to be an imitator of Christ, so that he too may be called a son of God, born of the Spirit, must above all bear courageously and patiently the afflictions he encounters, whether these be bodily illnesses, slander and vilification from men, or attacks from the unseen spirits. God in His providence allows souls to be tested by various afflictions of this kind, so that it may be revealed which of them truly loves Him. All the patriarchs, prophets, apostles and martyrs from the beginning of time traversed none other than this narrow road of trial and affliction, and it was by doing this that they fulfilled God's will. 'My son,' says Scripture, 'if you come to serve the Lord, prepare your soul for trial, set your heart straight, and patiently endure' (Ecclus. 2:1-2). And elsewhere it is said: 'Accept everything that comes as good, knowing that nothing occurs without God willing it.' Thus the soul that wishes to do God's will must strive above all to acquire patient endurance and hope. For one of the tricks of the devil is to make us listless at times of affliction, so that we give up our hope in the Lord. God never allows a soul that hopes in Him to be so oppressed by trials that it is put to utter confusion. As St Paul writes: 'God is to be trusted not to let us be tried beyond our strength, but with the trial He will provide a way out, so that we are able to bear it' (1 Cor. 10:13). The devil harasses the soul not as much as he wants but as much as God allows him to. Men know what burden may be placed on a mule, what on a donkey, and what on a camel, and load each beast accordingly; and the potter knows how long he must leave the pots in the fire, so that they are not cracked by staying in it too long or rendered useless by being taken out of it before they are properly fired. If human understanding extends this far, must not God be much more aware, infinitely more aware, of the degree of trial it is right to impose on each sod, so that it becomes tried and true, fit for the kingdom of heaven? 130. Hemp, unless it is well beaten, cannot be worked into fine yam, while the more it is beaten and carded the finer and more serviceable it becomes. And a freshly molded pot that has not been fired is of no use to man. And a child not yet proficient in worldly skills cannot build, plant, sow seed or perform any other worldly task. In a similar manner it often happens through the Lord's goodness that souls, on account of their childlike innocence, participate in divine grace and are filled with the sweetness and repose of the Spirit; but because they have not yet been tested, and have not been tried by the various afflictions of the evil spirits, they are still immature and not yet fit for the kingdom of heaven. As the apostle says: 'If you have not been disciplined you are bastards and not sons' (Heb. 12:8). Thus trials and afflictions are laid upon a man in the way that is best for him, so as to make his soul stronger and more mature; and if the soul endures them to the end with hope in the Lord it cannot fail to attain the promised reward of the Spirit and deliverance from the evil passions.
131. It was by experiencing many torments and enduring even to the point of death that the martyrs earned their crowns of glory; and the greater and more grievous the suffering, the greater their glory and the more intimate their communion with God. In the same way, when our souls are undergoing afflictions-whether they come in a visible form from men, or in an intellectual form by means of evil thoughts, or derive from bodily illnesses-if we endure them to the end, we will gain the same crowns as the martyrs and will enjoy the same intimacy with God. For we will have sustained the martyrdom of afflictions produced by the evil spirits, as the martyrs sustained those that came through men; and the greater the diabolic afflictions we have endured, the greater the glory we receive from God, not only in the future but also in this present life through the grace of the Holy Spirit.
132. Since the road leading to immortal life is extremely narrow and full of affliction, and on account of this there are few who traverse it (cf. Matt. 7:14), we must staunchly endure every trial of the devil, awaiting with hope our heavenly reward. For, however great the afflictions we suffer, what are they compared with the promised future reward, or with the grace of the Holy Spirit that visits souls even in this present life, or with the deliverance that we have received from the obscurity of evil passions, or with the enormous debts we owe because of our sins'? As St Paul says: 'The sufferings of this present life are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us' (Rom. 8:18). Hence we must patiently endure everything for the Lord's sake, like brave soldiers dying for our King. Yet why is it that when we gave our attention to the world and to worldly things we did not fall into such distress, but now that we have come to serve God we suffer these manifold trials? It is because the devil, jealous of the blessings stored up for us, tries to make our souls sluggish and lazy, lest by enduring these afflictions for Christ's sake in the way that He wishes we should be granted our reward. No matter how much the devil arms himself against us, if we endure his attacks courageously, with Christ's help all his designs against us will be brought to nothing. For we have Jesus as our defender and ally: let us keep in mind that He too passed through this present life vilified, persecuted and reviled, and that finally He was made perfect by a shameful death on the Cross (cf. Heb. 2:10).
133. If we want to endure every affliction and trial readily, let us long to die for Christ and let us keep this death continually before our eyes. For we have been commanded to take up the cross and to follow Him (cf. Matt. 16:24); and this means that we must be prepared and ready for death. If we have this disposition we will endure every affliction, visible and invisible, much more easily. How can he who is anxious to the for Christ's sake have any difficulty in putting up with suffering and distress? Yet we think afflictions are hard to bear, for we do not keep death for Christ's sake before us or rivet our mind always on Christ. But if we want to share His inheritance we must be willing to share His sufferings with an equal zeal. Those who love the Lord may be recognized by the fact that because of their hope in Him they bear every affliction that comes, not simply courageously but also wholeheartedly.
134. If we want to draw close to Christ we must first drag ourselves forcibly towards the good, even though our heart may not wish it. 'The kingdom of heaven is subjected to violence, and the violent take it by force', said the Lord (Matt. 11:12). And He also said: 'Strive to enter through the narrow gate' (Luke 13:24). We must, then, force ourselves even against our will towards virtue, towards love when we lack love, towards gentleness when we have need of it, towards sympathy of heart and compassion, towards patience in the face of insult and contempt, and steadfastness in the face of mockery, if we have not yet acquired the habit of these things, and towards prayer if we still have not attained spiritual prayer. If God sees us struggling in this way and forcibly dragging ourselves towards the good even when our heart seems to oppose it. He will bestow true prayer on us, will give us compassion, patience, forbearance, and in general will fill us with all the fruits of the Spirit. Indeed, if a person lacking the other virtues forces himself towards, say, prayer alone, so that he may possess the grace of prayer, but at the same time is not apathetic or indifferent with regard to gentleness, humility, love and all the other virtues that ennoble our soul, including firmness of faith and trust in Christ, then sometimes the Holy Spirit gives him, at least in part, the grace of prayer for which he has asked, and fills him with gladness and repose. But he is still bereft of all the other virtues, because he has not forced himself to acquire them, nor has he besought Christ for them. Moreover, we should force ourselves, even unwillingly, not only towards the virtues mentioned, asking to receive them from God, but also towards the power to judge useless and wholly idle words, unworthy of being spoken; for we should assiduously meditate upon God's words both when we speak and in our heart. And we must also force ourselves not to get angry or to shout-'Rid yourselves of all bitterness, anger and shouting', the apostle says (Eph. 4:31); not to defame or to judge anyone, not to become puffed up. When the Lord sees us putting pressure on ourselves and dragging ourselves along forcibly. He will assuredly give us the strength to do painlessly and easily what it was impossible for us to do before, even with force, because of the evil dwelling within us. And then the whole practice of the virtues becomes as it were part of our nature, since henceforward the Lord, as He promised, comes and dwells in us, as we equally dwell in Him; and in Him we fulfill the commandments with great ease.
135. When someone forces himself only towards prayer, while he does not exert or force himself with regard to humility, love, gentleness and all the other interdependent virtues, the result is much as follows. Sometimes in response to his entreaty divine grace visits him, because God in His goodness and love does respond to the petitions of those who call upon Him; but because he has not habituated and trained himself in the practice of the other virtues, either he lapses from the grace he has received, falling through self-conceit, or else he does not dedicate himself to this grace and grow in it. The abode and resting-place of the Holy Spirit is humility, love, gentleness and the other holy commandments of Christ. If, therefore, a person desires to grow and to attain perfection by acquiring all these virtues, he must initially force himself to acquire and must establish himself in the first-mat is to say, in prayer- wrestling and striving with his heart to make it receptive and obedient to God. If he first forces himself in this way, completely subduing the resistance of his soul, through good habit making it obedient to him so that it joins with him in his prayer and supplication, then the grace of prayer that he has been given by the Spirit grows and flourishes, reposing upon him together with the humility, love and blessed gentleness which he has also sought to acquire. So, then, the Spirit grants him these virtues as well, teaching him the true humility, genuine love and gentleness that he has previously impelled himself to ask for. Thus he grows and is made perfect in the Lord, and is found worthy of the kingdom of heaven. For the humble man never falls: where, indeed, can he fall to if he regards himself as lower than all things? While lofty -mindedness leads to great humiliation, humble -mindedness on the contrary is a great and highly exalted glory.
136. Those who truly love God do not serve Him in order to obtain the kingdom, as though they were engaged in commerce for the sake of gain, nor yet to avoid the punishment that is in store for sinners. They love Him because He is their sole God and Creator, since they know the proper hierarchy of things and that it is the duty of servants to please their lord and maker; and they submit to Him with great understanding in the face of all the afflictions that befall them. Many are the obstacles that stand in the way of pleasing God; for not merely poverty and obscurity but also riches and honor are trials for the soul. Indeed, to some extent even the solace and ease which grace bestows on the soul can easily become a temptation and a hindrance if the soul is not properly conscious of these effects of grace and does not enjoy them with great circumspection and understanding: for the spirit of evil tries to persuade the soul to relax now it possesses grace, and so contrives to implant in it sluggishness and apathy. Thus even participation in grace requires caution and discretion on the soul's part, so that the soul shows proper respect for grace and produces fruit worthy of it. There is a danger, then, that not only affliction but also relaxation may prove a temptation for the soul, since through both it is tested by the Creator, so as to make it quite clear that it loves Him not for the sake of some gain but for Himself alone, who is truly worthy of love and honor. For the inattentive, who are deficient in faith and immature in mind, there are many obstacles to eternal life - not only distressing and painful things such as sickness, poverty and obscurity, but equally their opposites like riches, honor and praise from others, as well as the unseen warfare of the devil. For those with faith, understanding and courage, on the other hand, such things aid and abet progress towards the kingdom of God: as St Paul says, 'AH things work together for good to them that love God' (Rom. 8:28). The devout man, therefore, breaking through, overcoming and transcending those things regarded by the world as obstacles, cleaves to divine love alone. 'The cords of sinners have entangled me,' writes the psalmist, 'but I have not forgotten Thy law' (Ps. 119:61. LXX).
137. St Paul most accurately and lucidly revealed to every believing soul the perfect mystery of the Christian faith, showing to all how to attain experience of it through divine grace. This mystery is the effulgence of celestial light in the vision and power of the Spirit. He did not want anyone to think that the illumination of the Spirit consists simply in enlightening us through conceptual knowledge, and so to risk falling short of the perfect mystery of grace through ignorance and laziness. To indicate the true character of spiritual knowledge St Paul therefore gives as an example the glory of the Holy Spirit that shone from the face of Moses. 'If the ministry of death,' he says, 'engraved in letters on stone, was accompanied by such glory that the sons of Israel could not bear to gaze at the face of Moses because of the glory, transitory though it was, that shone from it, then how much greater must the glory be that accompanies the ministry of the Spirit? If the ministry of condemnation is glorious, the ministry of righteousness must greatly excel it in glory. Indeed, what once seemed full of glory now seems to have no glory at all, because it is outshone by a glory that is so much greater. If what was transitory came with glory, what endures will be far more glorious' (2 Cor. 3:7-11). He says 'transitory' because it was Moses' mortal body that shone with the glory of light. And he continues: 'Having such hope as this, we can proceed with great confidence' (2 Cor. 3:12). A little later he affirms that this everlasting and immortal glory of the Spirit shines even now with immortal and indestructible power in the immortal inner being of the saints: 'With unveiled face we all'-all, that is to say, who through perfect faith are born in the Spirit -'reflect as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, and are transfigured into the same image from glory to glory through the Lord who is the Spirit' (2 Cor. 3:18). The words 'with unveiled face' indicate the soul; he adds that when one turns back to the Lord the veil is taken off, and that the Lord is the Spirit (cf 2 Cor. 3:16-17). By this he dearly shows that from the time of Adam's transgression a veil of darkness has encroached upon mankind and has covered the soul. But we believe that through the illumination of the Spirit this veil is now removed from truly faithful and saintly souls. It was for this reason that Christ came; and to those who truly believe in Him God has given the grace to attain this measure of holiness.
138. As we said, the effulgence of the Holy Spirit is not merely some kind of revelation on the level of conceptual images, or merely an illumination of grace. It is the true and unceasing effulgence of God's own light in the soul: 'The God who said, 'Out of darkness let light shine', has made His light shine in our hearts, to give us the illumination of the knowledge of Christ's glory' (2 Cor. 4:6). And the psalmist says: 'Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep unto death' (Ps. 13:3) - that is to say, lest when my flesh is dissolved my soul is darkened by the veil of the death that is the result of sin. And other passages in the psalms speak in the same way: 'Open my eyes and I will perceive the wonders of Thy law' (Ps. 119:18); and: 'Send Thy light and Thy truth, and they will guide and lead me to Thy holy mountain and into Thy tabernacles' (Ps. 43:3); and: 'We have been marked by the light of Thy countenance, Lord' (Ps. 4:6. LXX), and so on.
139. Again, the light that illumined St Paul on the road to Damaskos (cf Acts 9:3), the light through which he was raised to the third heaven where he heard unutterable mysteries (cf. 2 Cor. 12:4), was not merely the enlightenment of conceptual images or of spiritual knowledge. It was the effulgence of the power of the Holy Spirit shining in His own person in the soul. Such was its brilliance that corporeal eyes were not able to bear it and were blinded (cf. Acts 9:8); and through it all spiritual knowledge is revealed and God is truly known by the worthy and loving soul.
140. Every soul that through its own effort and faith is privileged in this present life to put on Christ completely in the power and full assurance of grace, and to unite with the heavenly light of the incorruptible image, is initiated here and now substantively into the knowledge of all the heavenly mysteries. Moreover, in the great day of the resurrection the body also will be glorified with the same heavenly image of glory; it will be caught up by the Spirit to the heavens (cf I Thess. 4:17), will be given a form like the body of Christ's glory (cf. Phil. 3:21), and with Him will comhent the eternal kingdom.
141. In so far as a man through his own effort and faith has partaken of the heavenly glory of the Holy Spirit, and has beautified his soul with good works, to the same degree will his body, too, be glorified on the day of the resurrection. What he has now stored up inwardly will then manifest itself outwardly, just as the fruit hidden during winter inside the tree comes out when it is spring. The deiform image of the Spirit imprinted even now on the inner being of the saints will make their body, too, outwardly deiform and heavenly. But impure sinners who enwrap the soul in the tenebrous veil of the spirit of this world, and who darken and disfigure the intellect with the ugliness of the passions, will outwardly manifest a body that is also tenebrous and full of every vileness.
142. When God in His love condemned Adam to death after his transgression, he first experienced this death in his soul (cf. Gen. 3:19): his spiritual and deathless organs of perception, deprived of their celestial and spiritual enjoyment, were quenched and became as though dead. Later, after 930 years (cf. Gen. 5:5), came the death of the body. Similarly, now that God has reconciled mankind through the Cross and death of the Savior, He restores to the truly believing soul its enjoyment of spiritual light and mystery while it is still in the flesh, and once more enlightens its spiritual organs of perception with the divine light of grace. Later He will invest the body also with deathless and incorruptible glory.
143. Those who have withdrawn from the world and lead a godly and devout life are still in many cases subject to the veil of the passions to which we all became liable through Adam's transgression: I refer to the carnal will, fittingly called death by St Paul when he said that 'the will of the flesh is death' (Rom. 8:6). Such people may be likened to men walking at night, their way lighted by the stars that are God's holy commandments; but since they have not yet completely escaped from the darkness, they cannot see everything clearly. Thus, cultivating virtue with tribulation and great faith, they should beseech Christ, the sun of righteousness, to shine in their hearts, so that they can see everything lucidly. For to those who have reached the heights of virtue, and whose hearts have been actively illumined by spiritual light, the manifold attacks of the demons are clearly evident, as are also the inexpressible vision and the hidden delight and beauty of the incorruptible world. As St Paul says: 'The perfect, whose organs of perception have been trained by practice to discriminate between good and evil. take solid food' (Heb. 5:14). And St Peter also says: 'We have the assurance of the message of the prophets; and until the day breaks and the morning star rises in your hearts you do well to give attention to it, for it is like a lamp shining in a dark place' (2 Pet. 1:19). Most people, however, are exactly like men walking at night wholly without light and not enjoying the slightest illumination in their souls from the divine Logos, so that they scarcely differ from the blind. They are totally caught up in material entanglements and the chains of temporal life, neither restrained by divine awe nor performing any virtuous acts. On the other hand, those who live in the world and are illumined by the holy commandments as by the stars, and who do cleave to God with faith and awe, are not utterly shrouded in darkness and for this reason can hope to attain salvation.
144. Worldly riches come to men from different sources and pursuits, from high-ranking office, trade, industry, farming and so on. Something similar is the case where spiritual riches are concerned: some derive them from various gifts of grace, as St Paul makes clear when he says, 'Having then gifts different according to the grace given to us .. .' (Rom. 12:6); and some from various ascetic labors and acts of righteousness and virtue carried out for God alone, when through grace they refrain from judging, mocking or censuring their fellow-men. But some can be likened to people who dig for gold, and they are quite unmistakable: they are those who strive forward with forbearance and patience, gradually enriching the blessed hope that sustains them. Unmistakable, too, are those who are like hirelings, who are stupid and sluggish, who consume at once whatever they can lay hands on, and never patiently bring to conclusion what they have undertaken but are always threadbare and indigent. Even if they are anxious and ready to receive grace, they are lazy, indolent and fickle when it comes to putting it into practice or developing it. They have no sooner started than they have had enough, and lose all impetus for spiritual labor. For this reason whatever grace they may have received is taken away from them. The dull, slothful, lifeless and negligent disposition, always at variance with grace, barren of good works, worthless and ignoble in the sight of God, is recognizable both now and in the age to come.
145. When man broke God's commandment and was expelled from paradise he was bound in consequence as by two chains. The first is that of temporal things and worldly pleasures-riches, glory, affection, wife, children, relations, country, possessions and, in short, all visible things from which God has summoned us to liberate ourselves through our own free choice. The second is hidden and invisible; for the soul is bound by a certain chain of darkness to the spirits of evil, and because of this darkness it cannot love God, or believe or pray as it wishes. In consequence of the transgression of the first man, we each of us find that all things visible and invisible are opposed to us. Thus, whenever someone listens obediently to the word of God, he must first begin by cutting his attachment to temporal things and renouncing all worldly pleasures. Then, if he waits attentively upon God and enters into constant communion with Him, he will receive the power to learn that there is another struggle and another battle of thoughts hidden in the depths of his heart. Persevering in this way and beseeching Christ's mercy, combining great faith in Him with endurance, he can with God's help escape from these inner bonds and fetters and from the darkness of the spirits of evil, which are the energies of the hidden passions. Through Christ's grace and power we can bring this war to a successful conclusion. But by ourselves and without divine aid it is altogether impossible for us to free ourselves from the struggle against evil thoughts: we can merely rebut them and not take pleasure in them.
146. If a man is entangled in the things of this world, caught by their many shackles, and seduced by the evil passions, it is very hard for him to recognize that there is another invisible struggle and another inner warfare. But, after detaching himself from all visible things and worldly pleasures, and beginning to serve God, he then becomes capable of recognizing the nature of this inner struggle and unseen warfare against the passions. Yet, as we said, unless he first achieves outward detachment by aspiring to serve God totally with his whole soul, he will not recognize the secret passions of evil and his inner fetters. On the contrary, he will be in danger of thinking that he is healthy and not ailing, when in fact he is lull of wounds and nourishes unseen passions. But if he has despised desire and glory, he may first become aware of these inner passions and then fight against them, calling on Christ with faith and receiving from heaven the weapons of the Spirit: the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit (cfEph. 6:14,17).
147. The devil tries to disrupt our hope in Christ and our love for Him in a thousand ways. Inwardly he brings afflictions on the soul by means of the evil spirits, or he fills it with foul and immoral thoughts by stirring up its memory of former sins, so as to make it grow sluggish and to despair of ever attaining salvation. His aim is to cheat the soul into thinking that it generates these thoughts of its own accord and that they are not sown in it maliciously by an alien spirit. Or else he inflicts bodily suffering and brings on us vilification and tribulation through the agency of other people. But the more he shoots his fiery arrows at us, the more we must enkindle our hope in God, knowing with certainty that He deliberately permits souls that long for Him to suffer these things, so as to discover if they truly love Him.
148. Compared with the incorruptible and eternal world, a thousand years of this world are like a grain of sand. I look at things in this way. Suppose it is within your power to be sole king of the entire world and to possess all its treasures; and suppose that your rule had begun with the first creation of mankind, and was to continue until the final transformation of the whole visible world. Would you, then, given the choice, exchange the true and unchanging kingdom, that contains nothing fleeting or perishable, for this temporal kingdom? Not, it seems to me, if your judgment is sound and you have a proper regard for yourself. 'What good will it do a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?' Christ asks His disciples (Matt. 16:26); and He says that there is nothing equal in value to the soul. Since the soul by itself is far more valuable than the whole world and any worldly kingdom, is not the kingdom of heaven also more valuable? That the soul is more valuable is shown by the fact that God did not see fit to bestow on any other created thing the union and fellowship with His own coessential Spirit. Not sky, sun, moon, stars, sea, earth or any other visible thing did He bless in this way, but man alone, whom of all His creatures He especially loved. If, therefore, no one with sound judgment would exchange the eternal kingdom for all the great wealth of the world and for the kingdom of the whole earth, how great is the folly of those who exchange it for accidental and casual things such as desire for something, meager glory, mediocre gain, and so on? For whenever we love something worldly and are attached to it, we are certainly choosing it instead of the kingdom of heaven. Worst of all, we regard this thing as God: as it has been said, 'A man is the slave to whatever has mastered him' (2 Pet. 2:19). We should, therefore, commit ourselves entirely to God, making ourselves dependent on Him and crucifying ourselves in soul and body as we advance in the practice of all His holy commandments.
149. Would you think it right if this perishable glory, ephemeral kingdom and other such temporal things were gained only after great toil and sweat by those who hanker after them, while to reign endlessly with Christ and to enjoy inexpressible blessings was something to be gained cheaply and easily, and could be attained without labor and effort by anyone who wished?
150. What is the purpose of Christ's advent? The restoration and reintegration of human nature in Him. For He restored to human nature the original dignity of Adam, and in addition bestowed on it the unutterable grace of the heavenly inheritance of the Holy Spirit. Leading it out of the prison of darkness. He showed it the way and the door to life. By traversing this way and knocking on this door we can enter the kingdom of heaven. As He said: 'Ask and it will be given to you... knock and it will be opened to you' (Matt. 7:7). By passing through this door it is possible for everyone to attain the freedom of his soul, to cut off his evil thoughts, and to become Christ's bride and consort through the communion of the Holy Spirit. Such is the ineffable love of the Lord towards man, whom he has created in His own image.
