The Great Letter 1 part 1/4

THE FIRST LETTER OF SAINT MACARIUS TO THE MONKS. The Master of all things, God the lover of mankind, ever bestows good occasions upon the human race for the knowledge of the things to come; and willing that each one should receive advancement toward what is better, He sets before them, by a nod of His goodness, the means thereto, ever drawing toward the good the man who was made according to His image.

For while the soul by nature has its inclination toward what is good and hastens to desire the better things, the sinister side of wickedness, by its dreadful cunning, ever sets before the simpler souls a fantasy of good things, so as to darken what is truly good.

Wherefore the unspeakable love of the grace of God teaches us the knowledge of truth through the God-inspired Scriptures, according to him who says:

"Teach me kindness and discipline and knowledge," so that we may thus be able to thrust away ignorance, the cause of all evils, and—being guided by the light of true knowledge—may be wholly able to drive out that fleshly and irrational way of thinking within us, which is craftily strengthened by a promise of knowledge; for we have learned that the knowledge of the truth is the cause of salvation.

Since therefore you also, O most longed-for and beloved brethren, have often asked of us that we set forth a word concerning what manner of life he ought to keep who has withdrawn from the pleasures of the flesh and from the way of life of this present age,

and who, gathered together to the same place after the apostolic pattern set forth in the Acts, having become a sacred company and a band of brotherhood, have chosen to dwell devoutly with one another continually—how they ought to spend their time together, what disposition of character they should keep, what is the goal of the way of highest virtue, and what is that good and well-pleasing and perfect will of God, and what is the course and contest of those who long to attain unto perfection and who hasten to come to the measure of spiritual maturity;

and, that we may not draw out our discourse to too great a length—these things and what follows them you have asked us to set down for you in writing, for a continual reminder unto soul-profiting meditation, being fully persuaded, as is evident, concerning the devout doctrine of the orthodox faith: that there is one Godhead of the adorable and blessed Trinity, one essence, one will, one glory, and that we offer one worship to the three Persons of the one Godhead, even as also in the holy mystery of baptism we devoutly confessed the good confession before many witnesses.

For this cause we also, having beheld your great impulse toward the good and having seen your desire for the height of virtue, have not shrunk from making a reminder in a few words, taking the starting-points of our thoughts from the very God-inspired Scriptures;

and at the same time we have set down the scriptural testimonies themselves, for the full assurance of an unhesitating faith, lest anyone should suppose that we speak something of ourselves and suspect us of thinking inflated, empty things.

Let this, then, be set as the foremost goal before all who have consecrated themselves to God and who ever strive to present their bodies a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God—their reasonable service: namely, that enlightenment which godliness sets before us, so as to believe according to the sacred promises of the Gospels and of the rest of the Scriptures, giving themselves over to every good work and to every practice of virtue;

for with God, who has promised, these things are possible.

For the passions of sin came upon the soul and the body afterward, through the transgression of the first-formed Adam;

and that we may be counted worthy to receive, perfectly and entirely and in all full assurance, the Spirit of adoption unto the sanctification of soul and body, according to him who said: "Our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance, even as you know";

and again: "May your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ";

of which gift, the pledge of that unspeakable benefit, we who believed received at the holy baptism of the blessed Trinity, having been entrusted with this great and undefiled mystery unto the increase and advancement of the perfect inheritance and unto the multiplication of the talent.

For the divine and Comforter Spirit, which was given to the apostles and through them ministered to the one and true Church of God, from the hour of baptism is present with each one who has come to baptism out of a sincere faith, variously and in many ways, according to the proportion of his faith;

each one, however, receives the mina (pound) unto multiplication and labor and increase, as it is said in the Gospel.

For just as the infant born in this age does not always remain in the state of infancy, but day by day receives its growth, by a certain necessary sequence according to the unspeakable laws of nature, until it attains to a full-grown man and to the completion of its rational faculties; in the same manner also he who is born from above of water and Spirit ought not to stand still in the infant state of spiritual maturity, but day by day, employing struggle and toil and much endurance, by reason of his wrestling against the adversary, he must advance and grow unto the completion of spiritual maturity, according to that which was said by the apostle:

"Until we all attain unto the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, in craftiness unto the methods of error; but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head, even Christ."

And again in another place the same apostle says:

"Be not conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and well-pleasing and perfect will of God"—declaring that those come unto the perfect will of God who have come to the measure of stature and to the rational completion of the Spirit.

But whereas in bodily birth, by a certain necessary sequence and by the law of nature, the child that is born attains to manhood—Providence having ordained, by the constraint of necessity and not by the choice of the will, that the bodily stature should be completed—

but in the birth from above, from the Spirit, He did not ordain this same sequence, but appointed toil and contest and a course with much endurance, to the self-determining choice of man, according to that which was said by the Lord:

"Strive to enter in through the narrow door";

"Take it by force, for the violent seize the kingdom of heaven"; and, "He that endures to the end, the same shall be saved";

and, "In your patience possess your souls";

and, "So run," He says, "that you may obtain";

and again: "As ministers of God in much endurance," and so forth.

Thus did the divine grace dispense it, that by his own resolve and his own will and toil and contest each one should take to himself the spiritual increase, in so far as he believes and in so far as he strives;

and in so far as one gives himself over to all the well-pleasing keeping of the commandments, by so much also does he gain participation in the Spirit unto the spiritual increase of the renewing of the mind—receiving salvation indeed by grace and divine gift, yet receiving the advancement and increase unto the perfect measure of spiritual maturity by faith and love and the contest of self-determining choice; so that, even as by grace, so also by righteousness, he may be heir of eternal life; neither receiving the whole increase of advancement by the divine power and grace apart from man's cooperation and zeal, nor being able to attain to the perfect will of God and to the measure of freedom and purity wholly by his own power and zeal and strength, apart from the cooperation and help of the Holy Spirit.

"For except the Lord build the house and guard the city, in vain has the one who guards and labors and builds kept awake";

"For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them"—though they fought with swords and arms—"but Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your countenance": which shows the power of God cooperating with their own contest;

and at the same time cutting off the self-conceit of those who think highly of themselves on account of a few virtues, the prophet taught that life comes by grace, through faith and love, to those who hope.

What, then, is the will of God, unto which the apostle, exhorting and beseeching, urges each one to hasten to attain? Is it not, perhaps, that concerning which the Lord spoke, blessing them: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God"?

"Be therefore perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Through these words He promises the complete cleansing from sin, which is the complete deliverance from the passions of dishonor, and the perfect taking-up of the highest virtue, which is the cleansing and sanctification of the heart through participation in the perfect and divine Spirit, wrought in full assurance, the soul giving itself wholly and entirely to God with faith and love.

"Let my heart be blameless in Your ordinances, that I may not be put to shame";

by this he signified that those who have not yet acquired a heart blameless from every spot and defilement bear shame and dishonor;

for again he says: "Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all Your commandments";

the Holy Spirit taught that the fulfilling of all the commandments and the complete withdrawal from every transgression possesses perfect boldness before God.

"Create in me a clean heart," the prophet said in his prayer, "O God, and renew a right spirit within my inward parts; and establish me," he says, "with a governing spirit"—which sets forth the same goal.

And when he asks in turn, "Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord, or who shall stand in His holy place?" he adds who and of what sort these are:

"He that is innocent in hands and pure in heart";

so that the Spirit declared that the sin which is accomplished through deed and word and thought must be wholly cut out of us by His own working, and that we must be earnest, praying and hoping through faith day by day to attain unto the perfect purity of God.

For the apostle, teaching expressly what manner of souls those ought to be who have withdrawn from the marriage of the flesh and from the bonds of the world, and who desire to practice virginity, says:

...inasmuch as she, like a bride of Christ, longs to be joined to the heavenly King, who is pure and undefiled.

For the soul that longs to be joined to Him must be made like to that blameless and undefiled beauty, and, desiring to become one spirit with Him, according to that which was said by the blessed John:

"And every one," he says, "that has this hope purifies himself, even as He is pure";

and, "Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ."

For not only from manifest sins—such as fornication or theft or murder or gluttony or slander or lying or idle talk or clamor or laughter or buffoonery or love of money or covetousness—must that soul be kept pure which has renounced fleshly union, withdrawn from the world, and practices virginity, and has pledged herself unto union and fellowship with the incorruptible Bridegroom; but much rather must she be kept clean from the more violent passions of the soul and from hidden sins—that is, from lust, vainglory, men-pleasing, hypocrisy, love of rule, guile, malice, hatred, unbelief, envy, exaltation, jealousy, self-pleasing, self-love, conceit, and the like invisible passions of dishonor.

For the Scripture knows the hidden sins of the soul—if indeed we believe the words of the Spirit—to be reckoned equal and like to the outward sins;

"For the Lord," it says, "scattered the bones of the men-pleasers," and, "The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man," reckoning guile and murder together as one transgression;

"For in heart you work iniquity in the land."

And the Lord, rebuking the men-pleasers, says:

"They do all their works to be seen of men";

wherefore He also commands, saying:

"Take heed that you do not your alms before men";

"otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven";

that is, do not desire to seek from men and to hunt after praise or glory for your good deeds, but rather from God, whose glory is true and eternal, and whose dishonor is eternal.

And the saying, "Woe to you when men speak well of you"—that is, when you desire to be well spoken of by men and to rejoice in the glory and praises that come from them;

for how were it possible that those who do good should not be manifest to all, when the Lord Himself says:

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven."

"Strive," He says, "to do every good deed unto the glory of God and not unto your own glory; neither seek nor rejoice in the praises of short-lived men, but await the praise and the glory from God alone";

"My praise is from You"; and again:

"My soul shall make her boast in the Lord";

even as the apostle also commands that even our eating and drinking be done unto the glory of God.

"Whether therefore you eat or drink, or whatever you do," he says, "do all to the glory of God."

For the Lord showed that those who seek glory or praises from men are unbelievers, saying: "How can you believe, who receive glory from men, and seek not the glory that comes from the only God?" And John, comparing hatred with murder, says:

"He that hates his brother is a murderer";

and, "You know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him."

He compares the hidden hatred which is directed against one's brother with murder,

reckoning the working of perdition—both hidden and manifest sins—together as one, and says:

"And even as they did not see fit to have God in their knowledge, therefore also God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, fornication, covetousness, malice;

full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity;

whisperers, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful;

who, knowing the righteous ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death," and so forth.

Do you see how he not only enumerated the manifest sins—which alone are abhorrent in the eyes of men—but together with the manifest ones also reckoned up the hidden passions of the soul: guile, pride, strife, malignity, boastfulness, hatred, want of understanding?

And again the Lord says:

"That which is exalted among men is an abomination before God"; and, "He that exalts himself shall be humbled, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted";

and Wisdom says: "Every one that is proud in heart is unclean before God";

and gathering up like sayings from the Scriptures, we should find very many things spoken against the hidden passions of dishonor in the soul.

"Cleanse me from my hidden faults, and spare Your servant from the faults of others";

so that, through much supplication and faith and a perfect good impulse toward God, we are able by the power of the Spirit to overcome the hidden passions of dishonor.

For just as we are earnest to keep the outward man—which is the body—from manifest sins, as a temple of God, even as the apostle said:

"If anyone defiles the temple of God" (speaking of the body) "him shall God destroy"—so also we must be earnest and strive to keep the inner man, which is the soul, from every defilement of filthy thoughts, as a bride of Christ, according to that which was said: "With all watchfulness keep your heart";

"for out of it are the issues of life"—[as a bride of Christ].

And this we shall be able to accomplish if we ever contend and contradict the evil thoughts—those of vainglory and hatred and conceit and guile and lust and unbelief, of jealousy and love of rule—and if with all exactness we search ourselves and keep the mind unmixed and out of accord with the hidden passions of the soul, and if in all good practices we give ourselves over with force and toil and contest, because the adversary hinders us;

for the blessed Moses, hinting at the single-minded uprightness and showing it through types, made plain that the soul ought not to follow two purposes, of evil and of good, but the good alone;

and that there ought not to be cultivated in us two fruits, the worse and the useful, but that, working the useful things single-mindedly, we should be wholly estranged from the worse.

"You shall not yoke together on your threshing-floor animals of different kind to the same task, such as an ox and an ass, but yoking together animals of the same kind you shall thresh your harvest";

that is, that virtue and vice should not have their working together on the same threshing-floor of your heart, but virtue alone.

"You shall not weave together," He says, "linen with a woolen garment, nor again wool with linen;

you shall not cultivate in the land of your ground two crops at the same time, nor twice in the year;

you shall not put an animal of a different kind upon another for breeding, but you shall yoke together those of the same kind with those of the same kind."

Through all these things He mystically hints that vice and virtue ought not to be cultivated together in us, but that the virtues should be brought forth from us single-mindedly, through the more divine begetting;

He commanded that the soul, being united and cleaving to the Spirit of God alone, should bring forth the sacred offspring of virtue and the fruits of the Spirit, and should not have fellowship or be joined to the worse; neither should the will agree with two persons, the worse and the better, but, using only the good and being wholly estranged from the evil, should cultivate in the soul the single-minded fruit of the virtues, according to that which is written:

"Every unrighteous way have I hated";

and, "I have hated and abhorred unrighteousness, but Your law have I loved"—so that the Lord, beholding thus the contest of the soul, may by His own love for mankind work in us, through the power of the Spirit, the great healing of the hidden passions wholly, executing vengeance upon our spiritual enemies;

even as the Lord Himself, in speaking of the widow who was oppressed by her adversary and came to the unjust ruler, seeking vengeance from him, and who—because of the persistence of her long waiting—obtained that very vengeance, teaches us not to lose heart in our supplications.

"For He spoke to them also a parable to this end, that they ought always to pray and not to lose heart," and so forth.

The "not losing heart" hints at the long perseverance in prayer;

and after these things the Lord says: "Hear what the unjust judge says";

"how much more shall your heavenly Father execute vengeance for those who cry to Him day and night?"

"Yea, I say to you, He will execute vengeance speedily."

For what manner of contest the apostle had on behalf of the disciples, and unto what kind of spiritual measure he was earnest that they should come, praying for them from his inmost heart—at the same time making the highest goal of Christianity manifest to all who are willing to run truly and without toil, and making plain the apostolic rule of the new creation to those who are earnest to advance forward:

"Admonishing," he says, "every man and teaching in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ; whereunto I also labor, striving."

And again he prays that those who are counted worthy of the seal of the Spirit of promise through baptism may receive the increase of spiritual advancement, saying:

"that the eyes of your heart being enlightened, you 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 toward us who believe";

and, having carefully noted down the manner of participation and partaking of the Spirit, which is wrought in full assurance, he says: "According to the working of His power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead";

according to that working of the Spirit, he says, that you also may receive the full assurance.

And again in the same epistle, going on a little further, desiring that they come to some higher increase and advancement of spiritual perfection, he prays, saying:

"For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God."

And in another epistle, teaching concerning the same things and displaying to the disciples the surpassing abundance of spiritual riches, and urging them to hasten to attain unto the perfect measure, he said:

"Earnestly desire the spiritual gifts";

"and yet I show you a more excellent way";

"though I speak with the tongues of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal;

and though I have prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing;

and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, I am nothing."

And he goes on to show what the fruits of love are, and how those who possess it are wholly delivered from the passions of vice, saying:

"it rejoices not in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth";

And the saying "it never falls" signifies this: that those who are in the aforesaid gifts of the Spirit, and have not yet received through the fullest and most active love of the Spirit the deliverance from the passions, are still in danger and contest and fear, because of the wrestling against the spiritual hosts of wickedness, even though they possess spiritual gifts.

For behold, what kind and how great a spiritual measure—as being no longer subject to falling and to passion—he has shown to those who wish to walk accurately the way of Christianity;

so that even tongues of angels and prophecy and faith and all knowledge and gifts of healings are as nothing in comparison with the highest virtue and the fullness of the love of perfection, although these too are workings of the same Spirit.

But in order that, if anyone be counted worthy of those gifts, he should not suppose, on account of the newer working of grace, that he has attained to perfection, and—thinking he no longer has need of anything—should remain short of the perfect measures of dispassion, being content only in the lesser gifts; for this cause he set forth the goal of perfection, that each one, recognizing himself poor amid so great a wealth, might unceasingly and unyieldingly fight the good fight, and so run the spiritual course until he lay hold of it, even as he said:

"So run, that you may obtain."

Behold how, through many things, he sets forth openly to all the boundary and goal and rule of godliness and perfection, praying for his own disciples that all might attain unto it;

for again the same apostle, in another place, showing the newness and change which is wrought in Christ for the faithful and for those who love the Lord, says:

"For neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation;

and as many as walk according to this rule, peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God."

"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away."

By the single phrase "new creation" he has set forth openly the apostolic rule;

and what else is the new creation but that which the same apostle says in another place:

"That He might present to Himself the Church glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she might be holy and blameless"—the complete cleansing from shame, which is the complete deliverance from the passions, and the full, unspeakable and mystical fellowship of the divine power of the Spirit in sanctification, wrought in the hearts of the saints who are counted worthy of a newer, supernatural and spiritual enjoyment in the virtues—this the apostle taught to be the new creation in Christ.

But also the saying, "Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump";

and, because we are not sufficient of ourselves for the wrestling against the principalities and the powers and the spiritual hosts of wickedness, he urges us to take up the whole armor of God;

"Put on the breastplate of righteousness, and shoe your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, and gird your loins with truth, above all taking up the shield of faith, by which," he says, "you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one"—which are the workings of the defiling passions;

"And take the helmet of salvation and the holy sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

The apostle showed that through the aforesaid spiritual weapons, which are above our nature, we shall be strong to stand against the grievous methods of the devil; and the manner in which we are able to acquire these things he carefully noted, saying:

wherefore he prays for all, saying:

"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."

"May your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Behold in how many ways he has set forth openly the straight way of righteousness and the highest goal of Christianity, urging and desiring all to attain unto it—the goal to which the lovers of truth look, and, contending wholly without weariness, with faith and hope and every condition of virtue, pray and desire to come.

For these will be able to fulfill also the great commandments, on which the law and the prophets hang—"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself"—being delivered from all vice, purely and perfectly and blamelessly.