Spiritual Homilies 1 part 1/36

Of those who hear the word of God and produce good fruit, these are the signs in them: groaning, weeping, attentiveness, silence, downcast countenance, perseverance, stillness, bowing of the head, sorrowful weeping, and pain of heart arising for the sake of piety.

Watchfulness and self-control, fasting, gentleness, long-suffering, unceasing prayer, meditation on the divine Scriptures, faith, humility, brotherly love, labor, hardship, love, submission, goodness, orderliness, and light entire, which is the Lord.

But of those who do not produce the fruit of eternal life, these are the signs:

Listlessness, distraction, gazing about, inattentiveness, murmuring, frivolous vanity—which is like the gull, the bird that is light and most reckless.

Gluttony, dissipation, wrath, anger, backbiting, puffed-up conceit, pride, unbelief, ill-timed speech, disorderliness, forgetfulness, disturbance, shameful gain, love of money, envy, contentiousness, arrogance, idle chatter, untimely laughter, vainglory, and darkness entire, which is Satan.

What is Satan, and what did he ever sin, that he became Satan?.. Answer.

He is a rational spirit, worldly, speaking evil things; but through his own wickedness and dark disposition he became dark.

But one must hear the Scriptures in a more mystical and deeper sense:

For before Adam was created, he transgressed and became Satan, not willing to do the will of God.

For how, it is said, did the morning star fall from heaven? And the Apostle says:

For before the law, sin was in the world—calling him "sin" as the one who became the originator and inventor of sin.

And again, recounting the fall of man, he says:

For sin, taking opportunity through the commandment—clearly the one given to Adam—deceived me, and through it slew me.

So then the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.

Did then that which is good become death to me? By no means!

But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, working death in me through what is good... so that sin might become exceedingly sinful through the commandment.

So then, sin (that is, the devil) already existed; but again, through his enmity, deceit, and envy toward man, he was shown to be sin in an exceeding degree.

For being before this great and glorious, and resting upon a certain principality of angelic glory, he desired to become god, proceeding into rebellion against the divine glory, as it is written:

The unjust ruler, wishing to be god.

For this reason, then, he was cast down to the earth, expelled together with the demons who shared his mind and were subject to him.

But he who was cast out and exiled from the region above, and who fell from the heavenly disposition, did not proceed to repentance, nor did he come to a good hearing by supplication to entreat the Master, that he might come again to his former dignity.

But adding envy to his own wickedness, he conceived a bitter grudge against man, because man, though formed from the earth, existed according to the image of God and happened to be master of all things visible.

Therefore he approached him deceitfully, promising that he would become god through eating of the tree from which God had forbidden him to eat.

And so, through such a promise, he dragged man down from his former glory, taking him under his own authority, and thus made him a sinner.

But he himself was shown to have become exceedingly more sinful, through his earthly mindset and his proud conceit, having desired through evil craft to seize the lordly dignity given to man in the world.

Therefore, having already been condemned from above for the reason aforesaid, and having furthermore deceived man also—since man is a creature appointed to rule—he was left for some other dispensation.

For just as hard iron, when it is not useful to become a vessel, is fashioned into an anvil, so that through it other vessels may be fashioned—for indeed in Job it speaks concerning him:

"He stands like an anvil that cannot be hammered out." So too the evil one was not condemned to hell immediately from that time, but having deceived man, he was left for certain seasons and times to test and exercise the whole human creation, so that the free will of men, being tested through him, might be made known—which men, loving God, did not acquire fellowship with him, but rather endured every temptation brought upon them through him and pleased God all the more, as has been shown from the saints remembered in the holy Scriptures.

Therefore it was also said from the beginning to Adam by God:

Of every tree that is in the paradise, you may freely eat;

but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, of it alone you shall not eat;

for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die—as though there already existed something of which he ought not to taste.

For God, guarding man beforehand, set the commandment for him unto life—for in the more mystical sense the scriptural word has some such meaning: the trees being understood as the intelligible paradise, the holy powers, and that very tree of the knowledge of good and evil—from it he was forbidden by God, that is, not to have any fellowship with it at all, but to be a partaker, friend, and companion of all the others.

Was not, then, the tree of knowledge Satan himself? Answer.

For the tree was a visible tree, like one of the rest, and the paradise was visible;

but visible things are a type of the invisible things.

For just as in each of us there are two men—the man of the body and the man of the soul—so also the visible man delighted in the visible paradise, while the hidden man of the heart enjoyed the invisible, intelligible paradise of the holy angels.

There was, then, a visible tree, from which he was commanded by God not to eat.

For having made him master of all things visible, God, according to His dispensation, commanded him not to have lordship over one tree, as a reminder of his lordly dignity, so that he might know that he had one greater than himself, his Creator, and might not, because of the authority given to him, come to conceit and suppose himself to be god.

The commandment, then, was given to him unto life, as it is written; and it was a word that destroyed him and made him disobey God.

Having then forsaken the word of God, and having heard and yielded to the word of the evil one, and having eaten of the tree, he perished.

For he who spoke through the serpent was mingled together with the fruit, and death entered into him, which is the mind of the flesh, as it is written; and thus the tares of the passions were sown by the enemy in the soul and in the body.

For just as the antitype of the body of Christ, the bread of the eucharist, is sanctified through the word, and for those who partake of it faithfully and reverently it is life, and it is the body of the Lord, and thus the soul and body, being sanctified, are made kin to the Lord—in the same manner also the body of Adam, through the word of disobedience, received death.

For just as through the word of the evil one, there man dies, so through the word of God now, being renewed again in mind, he lives anew.

For then the evil one spoke to the woman through the serpent.

For perhaps he did not even dare to approach Adam, but persuading the woman, the weaker vessel, through her he deceived Adam, and thus death was brought upon them, according to the sentence of the Master.

For if they had not obeyed the enemy, he who attempted to deceive them would have been condemned, while they themselves would have gone on to greater glories.

From it came life and salvation for all who believe in his name.

There was, then, already, as we said before, sin—which is Satan—even before the transgression of Adam, as it is also possible to understand the Scriptures more mystically; and because of the hardness and unrepentant state of his heart, he was from that time condemned to go into hell.

But because man was deceived and cast out of paradise, God, thenceforth calling back his own creation, permitted him to remain for the sake of its being exercised through him.

For henceforth he was left like a strap or a rod of discipline, so that, even against his will, a great dispensation might be accomplished through him, and, with an evil intent, he might cooperate with the good—so that he himself, because of his evil and unbending purpose, ever desiring to lead all men to death, might, through those who conquer him, become the more sinful and the more condemned, while the righteous might procure for themselves greater glory.

For the will of the evil one wishes to destroy all men, and therefore he undertakes to tempt them variously and in many ways; just as God wishes all men to be saved, and therefore does good in many ways and variously in the distribution of gifts, according to each one's faith.

He was left, then, in the midst, for the testing and training-ground of humanity after the transgression of Adam.

For having deceived him, he took the authority from him, and thus, having gained dominion over him, he was called the ruler of this age.

But it was man who had been appointed by God in the beginning as ruler of this age and master of the things that are seen.

For neither did fire harm him, nor did water submerge him, nor did wild beasts injure him, nor did venomous creatures have power over him.

But having been deceived, he surrendered his dominion and authority to the one who deceived him, by God's permission.

Therefore sorcerers and enchanters and magicians perform wonders by diabolical energy, and magicians have mastery over venomous creatures, fire, and waters—as those associated with Jannes and Jambres, who opposed Moses, demonstrated, or as Simon withstood the apostle Peter; and these things too the evil one has been permitted to do, through his subjects, for the testing of free will.

But also as to the Scripture saying:

"Darkness was upon the face of the deep"—what darkness, then, does it mean to signify? Perhaps someone will say that it was the shadow of the sky, which produced darkness before the sun was created.

But, as we have said before, all visible things are types and likenesses and images of the invisible things.

For I know a hidden, rational, worldly darkness, more interior than this visible darkness and shadow of creation; and I know the true sun, Christ, of ineffable light, and, more interior than this sun, the light shining in that darkness—and the darkness did not overtake it, that is, it neither saw nor recognized it, because of the ineffable and invisible power of the light of the Godhead.

For it is made known and seen spiritually only to those saints to whom it wills, insofar as they are able to contain it.

As has therefore been said before, the evil one had already come to be in transgression and had been cast away from God, since he is a creature and work of the Word of God who created all things; but through free choice, having become puffed up and exalted against the lordly dignity, and being moved by envy against man, and having deceived him, he wrought a greater transgression—the time of his condemnation and his sentence to hell having thus been determined.

He was left, then, as we have said before, for another dispensation, so that, even against his will, he might procure great glory for the righteous, and that they might become more perfect and more holy through their great endurance.

But he himself, having been found more sinful and more condemned because of his evil devices, shall be liable to a greater punishment of hell.

He showed this by causing the commandment of God to be disobeyed and, through her, deceiving Adam as through a similar vessel:

For he was not able to approach Adam openly, perhaps because of the glory that surrounded him.

Therefore, through the woman, having deceived him also, he caused his glory to be taken away, and thus he was found naked and saw his own shame, which before this he had not seen, his mind having been enjoying the heavenly beauties.

For after the transgression, his thoughts were brought down to the earth, and his simple and good mind became entangled with the fleshly mind of wickedness.

For Paradise was barred, and the flaming sword was set, and the Cherubim placed to prevent it, lest Adam should enter and eat of the tree of life and live forever.

This, as regards the visible, we believe to have happened just as it is said; but as regards the hidden, it is found within each soul.

For around the heart lies the veil of the darkness of the fire of the worldly spirit, not permitting the mind to draw near to God, and hindering it, so that the soul may not pray as it wishes, nor believe as it wishes, nor love the Lord as it wishes.

These things are known by actual experience to those who have wholly given themselves over to the Lord to persevere in prayers, and who have taken up a complete struggle against the adversary.

I consider that the enemy, seeing the former glory of Adam upon the face of Moses, was wounded, perceiving that his kingdom was about to be cast down.

In this way also the apostle's saying can be understood: 'Death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned.'

For in the case of Moses himself, death, wounded by the glory of his face, was cast down from its dominion in hope and expectation; but in the case of the Lord it was cast down in truth.

For having freed man from death, and having risen from the dead, and having ascended into the heavens, and having sat down at the right hand of Majesty, being full of glory — no longer in the face alone, as Moses, but in the whole body and the whole substance — there death was truly swallowed up in victory. For I think that the glorified face of Moses was a type and a teaching concerning the face of Adam, fashioned by the hands of God, which death, seeing and unable to gaze upon, was wounded, hoping to be dissolved and cast down from its dominion.

This indeed came to pass in the case of the Lord.

And from that time true Christians bear that glory in the inner man, and death is abolished within them — that is, the passions of dishonor no longer have power to work, but are wholly abolished in the case of perfect Christians, since the glory of the Spirit shines fully in their souls.

And thus at the resurrection death will be utterly abolished, even from those bodies that are glorified in the light, of which the souls of the saints, even from now, are counted worthy to partake with perception and with full assurance.

The devil, then, as has been said before, was placed and thereafter left — that is, that noetic and rational darkness, of which this visible darkness is a type — as a proving-ground and training-ground for men; in which hidden darkness the powers of wickedness, and authorities, and many principalities walk about.

It was left as a training-ground so that those who love God perfectly, contending and overcoming his devices and evil schemes, and having endured every temptation brought on by him, might become more perfect, and so that greater glory might accrue to them — which the evil one does not wish.

So then, as at a spectacle, God sits together with His holy powers and angels and the whole heavenly church, beholding the contestants and the victors.

The victory of these works great shame for that one.

For it was not fitting that rational creatures should simply be idle like trees, but it was necessary that they first be trained and tested, and afterward carry off the prizes of victory.

For just as an earthly king, having ordered some spectacle to take place — a horse-race, say, or a theater, if I may so speak — himself sits above and watches how the contest of the competitors unfolds, and how each chariot devises contrivances and certain tricks for the downfall and hindrance of the other, that it may be able to win; so too the evil one is always preparing himself for the downfall of man, and his whole art and villainy aim at ensnaring and hindering him through many and various snares and traps — whether through apparent gain, or wealth, or the wisdom of worldly words, or the glory of men, or the pleasure of the flesh, or some position of authority, or the losses of this life, or bodily afflictions, or scourges, or evil thoughts, or certain terrors and afflictions stirred up by him within the soul — so that by whatever means he may bring about the fall of man.

In the same way, let the soul also, having so great a power of God inclining toward it for help, contend and devise counter-strategies against his devices, so that, contending through much watchfulness and endurance and faith, it may be able to escape from him and carry off the victory over him.

The ruler of this age is, then, a rod of discipline and a strap of scourges; and through various temptations and afflictions all the saints are perfected and obtain great glory and greater honor, while he, because of his evil purpose, prepares for himself greater punishment of Gehenna.

For just as the rod is cut from a living tree, and the strap is dead skin from a living animal, yet they serve some useful purpose for the discipline of infants, so the evil one, having been cut off from the region above of the living, and having been deadened to the heavenly mind, and having given himself entirely over to a fleshly mind, and crawling upon the earth because he is a creature, accomplishes — against his own will — a great dispensation through himself, as it is said somewhere.

The evil one cooperates with the good, though not with a good intention.

For as many as truly and in truth love God, and are eager to walk after Him according to the commandments of the Gospel, hold every temptation brought on by the enemy as a fellow-worker toward the kingdom; being scourged and hindered by him, they draw near to God more keenly and more swiftly, seeking help from Him.

So it is not that, being hindered by him, they are held back; rather, because of their right and good purpose, they are perfected all the more swiftly, drawing near to God more keenly the more they are scourged by the evil one.

And for all souls that have a good and noble purpose, even the things that seem grievous are turned into good, as it has been said by the apostle:

To those who love God, all things work together for good.

For indeed wealth and poverty, glory and disgrace, affliction and ease — because of the right mind of their soul, and because they love God with their whole heart — all work together for good for them.

But as many as wish only in appearance to follow the Lord and to be found in the kingdom, not denying themselves according to the Gospel, having received a few scourges from the evil one, or having been tested by a few temptations, immediately turn back, not fighting nobly against the passions, but fearing the afflictions and temptations of the devil, they shrink back, and being led astray by him, are again carried away by the pleasures of the flesh and the deceit of the world, because they do not love God with their whole heart.

...not enduring afflictions, nor completely turning away from the pleasures of the world, but going back again, they are shown not to be lovers of truth, nor to have loved God above all things; therefore they also become cast out from the kingdom.

For this reason, as has been said before, this rod was left — this ulcer of wickedness — like a furnace of fire, so that through it the approved vessels, being tried by fire, might be found more approved and more solid, while the unapproved might be shown to be rotten and easily crumbled, unable to endure the burning of the fire.

But that we may demonstrate more fully that these things are so, let us call to mind a few narratives from the God-inspired Scriptures.

Whence could such great glory and acclamation of the heavenly and earthly ones have come to pass for those around Ananias, and God be proclaimed and made manifest to the world at that time — that there is one God in the heavens — if He had not permitted them to be tested, permitting also that great golden image to be made by the king, and all the nations to be gathered together according to the royal decree, as if for the worship of the image — the evil one clearly having attempted this through Nebuchadnezzar, the king of that time, while the noble youths acted valiantly through their faith and their trust in the Lord?

For since they had given themselves up on account of Him, by a reversal, through the wonders of the Master, it was found that, instead of the image, God was worshiped, and the adversary was all the more put to shame, because all his villainies and devices were undone, and the effort which he thought he was accomplishing for the destruction of men turned out against himself.

For then it was made known to all mankind, through the valor and perfect faith of the three youths, that there is a God in the heavens.

For indeed the very struggle itself proves to be varied for those who have given themselves over to the Lord.

For one, in trust and faith, takes courage in the power of God, as being unable to suffer anything grievous at the hands of men because of the power of the Spirit protecting him, and, being righteous, says to his adversaries:

You are not able to do me any harm;

fire will not consume me, sword will not kill me, wild beasts will not touch me, nor will any other evil lay hold of me, because I have a God stronger and more powerful than you, who will deliver me from all evils, that it may be shown that I have a living God in the heavens. According to his faith, then, and his trust, God so cooperates with him, as has been demonstrated from the things mentioned.

For such a one, how great are the acclamations of praise and the voices of the heavenly and earthly beings that arise!

Likewise another righteous man is led before a ruler, being compelled to transgression, who readily gives himself over to die for God's sake; and if they cut off his hands, he shows no distress; and if they gouge out his eyes, he is not afraid; and, as though suffering nothing grievous, he speaks thus:

"I have a God who will repay me with heavenly good things, and will restore me again whole in glory." And he readily endured the martyrdom of death.

For this one, how great are the shouts and acclamations of the heavenly and earthly beings!

For the apostle also speaks concerning the righteous who contended in various ways, who subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, turned to flight the armies of foreigners.

Women received their dead by resurrection; and he necessarily adds, concerning others, righteous men who contended through suffering, saying:

But others were tortured on the rack, not accepting release, that they might obtain a better resurrection;

and others experienced mockeries and scourgings, and still more, chains and imprisonment;

being ill-treated, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes of the earth — men of whom the world was not worthy.

Do you see how, for those who truly love God, the struggle and the contest occur in various ways through the same faith, so that through these things God may be glorified, and, once the rational and self-determining creatures of humankind have been trained and tested, the precious vessels may be made manifest, and likewise the dishonorable ones may be shown to be such by their own free choice?

The evil one, then, was left as a rod of discipline in the midst of the world.

But being a slave and a creature of the Master, he does not tempt as much as he wishes, nor bring afflictions upon men as much as he intends, but only as much as the will of the Master permits the soul to be tested.

For as God, He knows how much the soul is able to endure.

Therefore He permits only so much, as the apostle says:

God is faithful, and will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but will, with the temptation, also make a way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

And so, for the soul that loves God, temptations become, through the Master's permission, a shame and condemnation for the enemy, and a victory and glory for the man; whereas again, for those who do not endure afflictions nobly but turn back, they become an eternal shame and reproach — such people are condemned in Gehenna together with the evil one — so that Satan himself, together with his subjects who do not wish to do the will of God with their whole heart, may be condemned all the more in Gehenna, while the righteous who contend and subdue the passions of wickedness, having nobly endured all the afflictions brought upon them, may be glorified all the more, and the justice of God may be shown, rendering to each according to his deeds, as it is written, and the kingdom of the elect may be established through their perfect contest.

The word of the Lord is true, which said:

Ask, and it will be given to you;

knock, and it will be opened to you.

Far be it, then, for you to say:

"He who seeks and knocks and asks even to the end does not obtain his requests."

Let the one who seeks only have confidence before God, in that he always seeks Him with his mind and understanding, and also always perseveres in his bodily service to Him, not becoming entangled in worldly affairs, nor taking pleasure in the passions of wickedness — and then it is impossible for him to fail of life.

For the Lord is righteous and true, who promised with an unfailing mouth and said:

Whatever you ask me in prayer, believing, you will receive.

As for those who say that if someone keeps all the commandments and perseveres, and yet does not obtain grace in this age, he has profited nothing — they speak wrongly and out of harmony with the divine Scriptures.

For if a cup of cold water stands under promise, how much more will He give the good things He has promised to those who, for God's sake, have withdrawn from the world, and have been purified, and have renounced it, and entreat Him, longing for Him and seeking Him night and day.

For there is no injustice with Him, that, while human works are accomplished through us, He himself should neglect the spiritual, supernatural accomplishment and sanctification within us.

In this, then, let us have confidence, only let us remain to the end in the good things in which we have begun, and not turn back.

We who have begun to keep the flesh pure, let us continue in this to the end, and, persevering in prayers, carry it through smoothly to the end, and, in short, put a manifest conclusion upon all our achievements together;

for the end of every beginning is what brings glory.

...will he fail of the promise? Only let you be found engaged in these things when your soul is taken from the flesh — striving, being earnest, awaiting the promise, persevering, believing, seeking with discernment — and I say to you that with joy it will receive you, and you have confidence, and you become worthy of the kingdom, and the angels of the Lord meet you and receive you into life.

For such a one, in subtlety, already through faith and eagerness has communion with God, and is a laborer of the Lord.

Whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart; for even though he has not gone to her bodily and been defiled with her, he is already reckoned as having committed adultery.

Thus he who has turned away from all evils and clings to the Lord with seeking and longing and all perseverance and a settled state of virtue already, as it were, has communion with God.

He therefore already possesses a great gift of God in this very thing: his continuing steadfast in prayer, in good zeal, and in a virtuous way of life.

Why then does it happen that, day by day, I hate my brother, or I am even conscious in myself of other base things which I suffer even against my will? Answer.

Let the struggle and diligence of man always be to resist the evil one and to war against the opposing passions of evil thoughts.