Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Fasting: Feeding on Divine Grace

By St. Dimitry of Rostov 

Revere fasting and temperance if you desire to be made whole in your thoughts and have a clear victory over the passions. Guard against overeating and drunkenness – they are the root and beginning of every sin and behind them comes impurity and fornication, which bring preparation for eternal affliction. Adam, our first father, was not guarded and thus in bitterness he lost paradise and fell under death.

From overeating and drinking the soul becomes weighed down, the reason becomes muddled, the flesh is stirred up and makes constant battles, the demons approach easily, and estrangement from God ensues. From overeating and drinking not only is the soul harmed but the body also becomes sick. They rob a person of not only eternal but even temporal life; they also destroy the soul and body, making them useless to God and people. Fleeting carnal pleasures prepare the way for everlasting grief. The one who guards himself and is temperate in this life is even now in paradise, but the one who is unguarded and sinful is even now in hell and heaviness of soul.

Be then one who overcomes, not one who succumbs. Master pleasures, do not let them master you if you want to be free in the coming life. “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God” (Rev. 2:7). It is also written, “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life” (Jn. 6:27).

Be moderate in everything if you desire to find peace of soul; without moderation, you will never find stillness and peace. If some food were incredibly delightful but poisonous, you would not eat it. Therefore scorn having a full stomach so that you will not fall into the bonds of the passions and be held by them. Through enduring hunger and thirst, you will be freed from heaviness of soul and satiated with Divine food. The one who cannot endure even the smallest deprivations will suffer from falls into the passions. The pleasures of the flesh, compared with the sweetness to come, are but burdens and momentary comforts are but bitterness of soul, therefore strive to estrange yourself from bodily pleasures. “For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:17), as the Apostle says. Do not deem your comfort to be found in food and drink, but in seeking the best Heavenly grace in God. Even if you enjoy every kind of food and drink in abundance, remember that they are neither eternal nor immutable, but Heavenly blessing is.

If you were able to call to mind every kind of food you ate and every type of drink you drank from youth on up, it would be clear: although you have consumed much, it has all disappeared as if it never were; you can not even remember most of it! It is the same then and now, from food and drink comes but a little comfort and much sorrow, only a little sweetness, and great heaviness. They are sorry comforters, carrying behind them sadness and bitterness. No one unreasonably enslaved to overeating and drinking has ever done anything worth remembering or of merit in this world. Instead, they lose not only this life but eternal life as well.

You yourself at some point have experienced and known that fleshly pleasures bring heaviness, they bind the soul and produce confusion in it. More than once you have burdened your soul with overeating, drinking, sleeping, and other such things. From now on keep yourself at least from fleshly desires, so that in doing so you will be kept from evil. Do not seek comfort in such pleasures, but in the Lord; do not be a slave to the imprudent pleasures of appetite, but instead it is necessary to exercise them with prudence. If you subjugated yourself to the flesh then it will never leave you in peace, it will only push you into the depths of sin.

Do not count on receiving heaven either without effort or without living the heavenly life; if you still have not learned to rule over your passions, do not count on inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven for free. It is written, “Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards … will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9-10). You will go to the next life with whatever you have acquired here. Look to it that you do not hear, “In your lifetime you received your good things” (Lk. 16:25). All these pleasures of appetite are not new to you, more than once they have caused bitterness and confusion, and more than once they may have seduced you, but stop now; no longer be your own unmerciful enemy.

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Mat. 4:4). Fleshly pleasures are not natural to mankind's soul, they appeared after the fall of Adam, for a particular time, in the generation of humanity. For we have not yet learned to eat the divine spiritual food, but instead we imprudently turn away from it. The constant satisfying of the flesh brings only ailment, weakness, affliction, and sadness. The more you satisfy the flesh, the more you will weaken. The more you try to please it, the sicker you will become. No one has ever seen a drunk and a glutton in perfect health. Do not be like a fly or an ant, which are attracted to the sweetness of honey and then end up drowning in it; nor be like a swine that, no matter how many times, is driven away from a vegetable garden and immediately it forgets and returns again. Do not be so irrational and do not labor for worldly sweetness; remember, it is only given for a short time. It is better to be free than enslaved. Serve God alone and not your various desires, so that you may attain salvation.


In the eternal age, we will not feed on this earthly food but the Divine grace of the Most Holy Spirit. Concern yourself with receiving that food, because there is no peace or rest in fleshly sweetness, but only constant strife and rebellion, gloom and darkness. Yet the Divine and spiritual food imparts to the soul peace, quietness of life, freedom of spirit, joy, and gladness. As it is written, “They shall be drunk from the plenteousness of Thy house, and Thou shalt give them drink of Thy pleasure, as out of a river” (Ps. 35:9).








Sunday, November 9, 2014

Orthodox Christianity Must Remain Eternally Unchanging

By St. Theophan the Recluse

It reached my ears that, as it seems, you consider my sermons very strict and believe that today no one should think this way, no one should be living this way and therefore, no one should be teaching this way. “Times have changed!” 

How glad I was to hear this. This means that you listen carefully to what I say, and not only do you listen, but you are also willing to abide by it. What more could we hope for, we who preach as we were ordered and as much we were ordered? 

Despite all this, in no way can I agree with your opinion. I even consider it my duty to comment on it and to correct it, since – even though it perhaps goes against your desire and conviction – it comes from something sinful, as though Christianity could alter its doctrines, its canons, its sanctifying ceremonies to answer to the spirit of each age and adjust itself to the changing tastes of the sons of this century, as though it could add or subtract something. 

Yet, it is not so. Christianity must remain eternally unchanging, in no way being dependent on or guided by the spirit of each age. Instead, Christianity is meant to govern and direct the spirit of the age for anyone who obeys its teachings. To convince you of this, I will put forward some thoughts for you to consider.

Some said that my teaching is strict. First of all, my teaching is not my own, nor it should be. In this sacred office nobody should, nor even can, preach his own teaching. If I or someone else ever dare to do so, you can put us outside the Church.

We preach the teachings of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ, of the holy Apostles, and theHoly Church, which is guided by the Holy Spirit. At the same time, we make sure to do everything possible to keep these teachings whole and inviolate in your minds and hearts. Every thought we present and every word we use, we do so very carefully, so as not to overshadow this brilliant and divine teaching in any way. Nobody can act differently.

...a single raising of your mind to God, and a single humble genuflexion to His glory and in His honor has infinitely more value than all the treasures of the world... --St Nicodemos and Theophan the Recluse (Unseen Warfare: Chapter 20)

Such a law that calls for each man’s preaching in the Church to be "God-sent," was established at the creation of the world, and should thus remain valid until the end of the world. The Prophet Moses, after the delivery of the commandments from God Himself to the people of Israel, concluded: “You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you.” (Deut. 4:2)

This law of constancy is so unalterable that the Lord and Savior Himself, when He was teaching the people on the mountain, said: “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” (Math. 5:17-18)

Then He gave the same validity to his teaching, before interpreting the commandments in the spirit of the gospel, by adding: “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.” (Math. 5:19)

This means that anyone who wrongly interprets the commandments of God and lessens their validity, will be an outcast in the future life. This is what He said at the beginning of His preaching. He assured the same thing to Saint John the Theologian, the beholder of ineffable revelations, to whom He described the final judgement of the world and the Church, indicating in the Apocalypse (Book of Revelations): “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.” (Apoc. 22:18-19)

From the time of His first appearance in the world until the Second Coming, Christ has given the Holy Apostles and their successors the following law: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.” (Math. 28:19-20)

That means “for you to teach, not what anyone else could possibly imagine, but what I ordered, and this to the end of the world.” And He adds: “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.” (Math. 28:20)

The Apostles received this law and sacrificed their lives in order to keep it. And to those who wanted to keep them from preaching what it was they preached under the threat of punishment and death, they replied: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19-20)

This clear law was delivered by the apostles to their successors, was accepted by them, and has timeless effect in the Church of God. Because of this law, the Church is the pillar and the ground of truth. Can you see then what an inviolable steadfastness it has? After that, who would be so bold as to stubbornly disturb or move anything in Christian doctrine and law?

Next listen to what is said of the Prophet Ezekiel who for seven days was in the ecstasy of prayer and after seven days heard the word of the Lord: “Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth” (Ezek. 3:17), and he declared to the people: Here is the law for you! If you see a wicked person committing iniquity and you do not tell him: leave your iniquity and change your way, “that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.” (Ezek. 3:18) Conversely, “if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul.” (Ezek. 3:19-21)

What a strict law! And though it sounds in the consciences of all pastors during their election and consecration, when a heavy yoke is put on them, namely the instruction of the flock of Christ that He entrusted to them, big or small, not only to guide it but also to preserve it. How could anyone be so bold, to pervert everything in the law of Christ, when this involves the destruction of both pastors and flock?

If the saving power of this teaching depended on our opinion of it and our consent to it, it would make sense for someone to imagine rebuilding Christianity according to human weaknesses or the claims of the age and adapt it according to the sinful desires of his heart. But the saving power of Christian law does not at all depend on us, but on the will of God, by the fact that God Himself established precisely the exact path of salvation. Beyond this there is no other way, nor could it exist. Therefore, anyone who teaches in any other way, is deviating from the true path and is destroying himself and you. What logic is there in that?

Notice how strict judgment was mentioned when something similar happened to the nation of Israelduring the difficult years of their captivity. Some prophets out of pity for the suffering and sick talked to the people, not as the Lord had ordered, but as their heart dictated. Concerning them the Lord gave the following commands to Ezekiel: “And you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own minds. Prophesy against them and say, Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the women who sew magic bands upon all wrists, and make veils for the heads of persons of every stature, in the hunt for souls.” (Ezek. 13:17-18)This means: Woe to those who order any kind of special treatment and suggest such leniency, so no one feels the slightest displeasure, either from those on top or those at the bottom, not caring whether this is for their salvation or destruction, whether it is pleasing to God, or repulsive. Woe to them, because “thus says the Lord God...your pillows and veils,” namely your candied and comforting teaching, “upon which there you are perverting souls, I will tear from your arms and I will let their souls that you are perverting, go away...” (Ezek. 13:20-21) from this teaching of yours and I will destroy you corrupters.

This is the benefit of this special treatment and leniency, such as you want to hear from preachers! When you put all this deep in your heart, it is not right for you to want us to make any concessions in Christian doctrine, having the wrong desire to be pleased by us. On the contrary, you are obliged to persistently demand from us to remain true to doctrine, as strictly and firmly as possible.

Have you ever heard of the indulgences of the Pope of Rome? Here is what they are: special treatment and leniency, which he gives defying the law of Christ. And what is the result? From all of this, the West is corrupt in faith and in their way of life, and is now getting lost in its disbelief and in the unrestrained life with its indulgences.

The Pope changed many doctrines, spoiled all the sacraments, nullified the canons concerning the regulation of the Church and the correction of morals. Everything has begun going contrary to the will of the Lord, and has become worse and worse.

Then came along Luther, a smart man, but stubborn. He said, “The Pope changed everything as he wanted, why shouldn't I do the same?” He started to modify and re-modify everything in his own way, and in this way established the new Lutheran faith, which only slightly resembles what the Lord had commanded and the Holy Apostles delivered to us.After Luther came the philosophers. And they in turn said, “Luther has established himself a new faith, supposedly based on the Gospel, though in reality based on his own way of thinking. Why, then, don't we also compose doctrines based on our own way of thinking, completely ignoring the Gospel?” They then started rationalizing, and speculating about God, the world, and man, each in his own way. And they mixed up so many doctrines, that one gets dizzy just counting them.

Now the Westerners have the following views: Believe what you think best, live as you like, satisfy whatever captivates your soul. This is why they do not recognize any law or restriction and they do not abide by God's word. Their road is wide, all obstacles displaced. Their way is broad, all the obstacles taken out. But the broad road leads to perdition, according to what the Lord says. This is where leniency in teaching has led!Lord, save us from this broad way! But it is better to love each difficulty that the Lord has appointed for our salvation. Let us love Christian doctrines and let us compel our mind with them, pushing it not to think otherwise. Let us love Christian morals and let us compel our will in them, forcing it to lift the light yoke of the Lord humbly and patiently. Let us love all Christian rituals and services which guide us, correct us, and sanctify us. Let us compel our heart with them, encouraging it to convey its desires from the earthly and perishable, to the heavenly and imperishable.

Let us confine ourselves as though in a cage. Or better, let us drag ourselves, as if we were passing through a narrow passage. Let it be narrow, so no one can deviate neither to the right left, nor the left. Yet undoubtedly, through this narrow way we will obtain the kingdom of the heavens in return. For as you know, this kingdom is the kingdom of the Lord. The Lord laid this narrow way and said, “Follow exactly this route and you will obtain the kingdom of heaven.”Could anyone then doubt whether the traveler will get to his destination? And what mind would one have who starts wanting all kinds of annulment of the commandments, when by doing this he would immediately lose his way and be lost?

Once you have fully understood this assertion, do not worry if something in our teaching seems to be strict. The only thing you should strive for is to carefully make sure if it is from the Lord. And after you have made sure it is from the Lord, accept it with all your heart, no matter how strict or obliging it may be. And not only avoid wanting special treatment and leniency with doctrine and the ethics, but even flee from all these, as though fleeing from the fire of Gehenna. Those who cannot escape from this are those who think up such things and with them lure those who are spiritually weak to follow them. Amen.

December 29, 1863  Sunday after Christ's Birth

Taken from the website of the Holy Monastery of Pantokrator (MelissohoriGreece).
Originally from: St. George (periodical) 1995, vol. 20.

Reposted from:
http://slava-bogu.blogspot.com/2011/11/sttheophan-recluse-why-orthodox.html