Spiritual Homilies 1 part 31/36

But he, being troubled at this, goes in to his servants and gathers together all his powers.

And the ruler brings forth the handwritten bonds and says:

"Behold, how they obeyed my word; behold, how men worshiped us." But God, being a righteous judge, even there shows forth his justice and says:

"Yes, Adam obeyed you; you have held fast all his hearts; humanity obeyed you. But what is my body doing here? This one is without sin."

"The body of the first Adam owed you a debt, and justly you hold his bonds."

But all bear witness for me, that I have not sinned.

And that I am the Son of God, all bear witness. For from above, out of the heavens, a voice came upon the earth and testified, saying:

This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. John testifies:

Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! And again, Scripture says:

He who did no sin, neither was deceit found in him; and that the ruler of this world is coming:

and he will find nothing in me.

And you yourself also, Satan, bear witness to me, saying:

I know who you are — the Son of God. And again:

What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come here before the time to torment us?

Those above the heavens send forth a voice; those upon the earth do likewise; and you yourself as well.

I therefore redeem, through my sinless body, the body that was sold to you through the first Adam; I cancel for you the handwritten bond:

For I have paid Adam's debts, having been crucified and having descended into Hades.

I command you, therefore: cast out the imprisoned souls (that is, of the race of Adam).

And so from then on the evil powers, trembling, give back the imprisoned Adam.

But when you hear that at that time he delivered souls from Hades and from darkness, and that the Lord descended to Hades and accomplished a glorious work, do not suppose these things to be far removed from your own soul.

For Hades is understood also to be man himself, capable of containing and possessing evil.

Death, then, holds fast the souls of Adam; that is, within the darkness the thoughts of the soul lie imprisoned.

And when you hear about the tomb, it is not this visible one that is meant:

for your heart is the tomb and the grave.

For when the ruler of wickedness and his angels nest there, and when the powers of Satan hold, in your mind and your reasoning, the paths and passages in which they walk about, are you not Hades, and a tomb, and dead before God? For there Satan has stamped counterfeit silver; in the soul he has sown bitter seeds; it has been leavened with old leaven; there a fountain of filth wells up.

The Lord, then, comes to the souls that seek him, into the depth of Hades, of the heart, and there he commands death, saying:

Cast out the imprisoned souls who seek me, whom you hold by force. He then breaks apart the heavy stones lying upon the soul, opens the tombs, raises up the truly dead, and brings out from the dark prison the imprisoned soul.

Just as, suppose a man is bound hand and foot with chains, and someone comes and looses his bonds, and lets him walk free in relief — so too the Lord looses from its bonds the soul that is bound with the chains of death, and sets it free, and frees the mind to walk without weariness, in rest, into the divine air.

And just as, suppose a man has fallen into the flood of a river and been submerged, he then remains in the flood, his body lying in the midst of terrible beasts;

and if another man, inexperienced in swimming, should wish to rescue the one who has fallen in, he himself also perishes along with him and is drowned;

so that, entering into the depth of the water's bosom, he may dive down there and bring up the one who has been sunk and drowned and is in the midst of terrible beasts —

and the water itself, when it sees one who is experienced and skilled at swimming, helps him and bears him up to the surface above — so too the soul, sunk into the abyss of darkness and into the depth of the bosom of death, has been drowned and is dead to God, in the midst of terrible beasts.

And who is able to descend into those inner chambers and the depths of Hades, except the Craftsman himself who fashioned the body? He himself comes into both parts — both into the depth of Hades and again into the deep bosom of the heart, where the soul is held fast by death together with its thoughts — and he brings up out of the dark depth the deadened Adam.

And death itself, through this trial, becomes a help to that man, just as the water is to the one swimming.

For what is difficult for God, to enter into death, and again into the deep bosom of the heart, and from there to call back the deadened Adam? For in this visible age there are buildings and houses where mankind dwells, and there are caves where beasts, or lions, or serpents, and other venomous creatures dwell.

If, then, the sun, though a created thing, enters everywhere — through windows, and into the caves of lions, and into the holes of creeping things — and comes out again, and suffers no harm at all, how much more does God, the Master of all, enter into the dens and into the houses where death has taken up its dwelling, and into the souls, and from there, delivering Adam, is not harmed by death?

And as rain, coming down from heaven, manages to descend to the lowest parts of the earth, and from there to moisten the roots that had dried up, and to renew them, and to awaken them, and to bring forth there new growth.

He who has struggle and affliction and warfare against Satan — this one has his soul crushed:

for he is in anxiety, and mourning, and tears.

If, then, such a one stands his ground amid these circumstances in the warfare, the Lord is with him, and guards him, and earnestly seeks him out, and knocks at the door, waiting for when it will be opened to him.

Again, if a brother appears to you kind, gentle, loving of the brethren, good — yet he is merely upheld and put at ease by grace alone,

while he who has no foundation does not have so great a fear of God, nor is his heart contrite, nor is he in fear, nor does he guard his heart and his other members so as not to walk disorderly.

This one still has his soul unrestrained:

for he has not yet entered into the struggle.

One, then, is he who is in struggle and affliction, and another is he who does not know what warfare is.

For indeed, when seeds are cast into the earth, they endure affliction — in the frosts, in the storms, in the coldness of the air — and in the proper season the crop is brought to life.

And it happens that Satan converses with you in your heart:

See how many evils you have done; behold, your soul is filled with every kind of lawlessness, and you are weighed down by sins. But he does this in order to bring you to despair, suggesting that you can no longer be saved, nor is your repentance acceptable.

For since wickedness entered in through the transgression, it now converses with the soul every hour, as one man with another.

You too, answer him: I have the testimonies of the Lord in writing, that I do not desire the death of the sinner so much as his repentance, that he may turn from his evil way and live.

For this is why he came down: that he might save sinners, raise the dead, bring to life those who had been put to death, and give light to those in darkness.

For truly he who came has called us to adoption as sons — to a holy city established in peace, to a life that never dies, to incorruptible glory —

in sojourning as strangers, in hardship, in petition made to God, knocking at the door with shameless persistence.

For just as the body is near to the soul, so the Lord is even nearer, ready to come and open the closed doors of the heart and to grant us the wealth of heaven.

For he is good and loves mankind, and his promises are without falsehood — only let us endure to the end, seeking him.

What shall we say to our beloved brothers, or what shall we remind you who have made yourselves ready to go after Christ? Shall we tell you that whoever wishes to please God must withdraw and renounce this world? Behold, you have already done this beforehand.

But we will tell you that whoever wishes to follow the word of the Lord must become a stranger and alien to his own homeland, and to parents, and kinsmen, and friends, for the sake of love toward the Lord and longing for his commandments.

Behold, this too each of you has readily done, and has become a stranger to his own homeland for God's sake.

But we will remind you concerning the need to persevere in prayers and fastings, according to the Lord's command and according to the apostle's exhortation:

He spoke a parable to the effect that one ought always to pray and not to lose heart. And the apostle says:

Pray without ceasing. But behold, by the grace of Christ, we see you continuing in this very work, and remaining steadfast in it.

But let us say to you that you ought to be well versed in the God-inspired Scriptures, and to be immersed in them, so as not to forget the living words of the Lord, and his commandments, and divine precepts. Behold, by the grace of the Lord you exercise yourselves in them, and you make them your continual meditation.

We will speak to you about mutual love, and brotherly affection, and submission, and humility, and honoring one another. Behold, each of you is zealous, and exercises himself in these things, and cultivates in himself a good habit.

Well then, O children, you have come rightly and purely to serve and to please your own Master, Christ.

Good and acceptable before God is such a beginning.

For those who come to the Lord purely and with a whole resolve — these he appoints unto election and eternal life.

He requires, then, that those who have come and who draw near to him purely — that is, with the whole of their resolve — be of the following character:

to keep the body pure from corruption — from fornication, and theft, and falsehood, from idle and vain words, from gluttony and every kind of covetousness, and from the other sins accomplished through the body — and to keep the soul pure from vain, filthy, and wicked thoughts, and not to consort with wickedness.

For just as the body is corrupted and defiled when it has union in impurity with another body, so too the soul is corrupted when it has communion, coupling itself with the powers of wickedness that trouble it.

Whoever corrupts the temple of God (that is, the body), him God will corrupt. So too, whoever corrupts the soul and the mind, consenting to and coupling himself with the wickedness of the passions dwelling within, becomes liable to punishments for the invisible sins of his thoughts.

As, then, the body must be kept pure from manifest and visible sins, because it is a temple of God, so too the soul must be kept pure from wicked and unclean thoughts, so that the thoughts may not be willingly corrupted and the mind defiled — as it is said somewhere:

for out of it are the issues of life. And again:

for the thoughts of the crooked separate one from God, since she is the bride of the great King, Christ:

For I have betrothed you, he says, to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

For thus God was well pleased, and thus he ordained: to dwell within, and to walk about among, those who come to him and seek him.

One must therefore keep the soul pure, so as not to consent to and consort with wickedness in one's reasonings, and keep the body pure from manifest evil deeds.

For God is not pleased to dwell among fornicators and worthless and defiled and licentious persons, nor is He pleased to dwell in souls whose thoughts are willingly corrupted by the invisible passions through the indwelling wickedness of the evil and old man.

For the rest, let each one demand an account from his own soul, examining his thoughts by the divine Scriptures, and let him test in what respects he has been willingly overcome, and let him see whether his heart and reasonings agree with the laws of God; and if they do not agree, let each one be zealous and strive with all the power of soul and body, so that, just as he guards the body outwardly from fornication and corruption as a temple of God, so he may also guard the soul and its reasonings inwardly from the corruption of the evil spirits, so as not to share in their reasonings and to defile itself, being as it is the bride of Christ.

For just as the body, joining with another body, is corrupted and commits fornication, so too the soul, secretly joining with evil powers in its reasonings, is corrupted and commits fornication in invisible sins—in unbelief, in deceit, in vainglory, in wrath, in envy, in jealousy, in strife.

For wherever the soul has communion, there also it renders service.

For it says, "of men corrupted in mind"; and again:

"Their mind and conscience are defiled"; and again:

"I fear lest, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."

So then there is fornication and corruption secretly accomplished in the soul through evil reasonings. For indeed in the Law, the Holy Spirit, signifying a mystery concerning the soul, distinguished the clean four-footed animals and the clean birds from the unclean, and the clean produce clean offspring. So too the pure reasonings that belong to the soul's own nature ought, through the knowledge of the Word and with much zeal and struggle, to be separated from the unclean reasonings of the sin that troubles it, so that the soul may bring forth, through the knowledge of the Word, the pure reasonings of its own nature as pure offspring, and not, by consenting to and having fellowship with the indwelling wickedness, unwittingly bring forth unclean thoughts as though they were natural.

It says that those animals which divide the hoof and chew the cud are clean; that is, that each person ought to view himself in a twofold manner, contradicting and not agreeing with the indwelling wickedness of the passions.

The soul must therefore, first of all, in its own reasonings, mark itself off and distinguish itself, through the Word, from fellowship with sin.

For then it is truly separated, by the power of the Spirit, from the spirits of wickedness, which are the roots of its reasonings.

For just as a farmer who takes good care of his land first renews it and clears away the thorns and thistles, and thus casts the seed, so as to yield fit and complete fruits, so too it is necessary that the one who wishes to please the Lord and who expects to receive the seed of grace should, as far as lies in his own power, cleanse beforehand, renew, and make ready the ground of his heart, so that the seed of the Spirit, having fallen on the good soil of the heart, may yield fruits many times over and complete.

Or just as a craftsman, skillfully working the hides of animals—the so-called "little bodies," the membranes—

—removing the blackness of the blood and the rest of the impurity, and skillfully making them clean and bright—until this is done, they do not write the laws of God upon them.

But when the skilled craftsman, in the manner that is required, has removed all that is superfluous, cleansed it, and made it bright, then the laws of God are written, and then they are Scriptures.

In the same way, those who wish and hope that the laws of the Spirit may be written in their own mind and soul, and who long to put on the heavenly image of the life of Christ, should, with all zeal and diligence, work upon their own heart as skilled craftsmen, and cleanse it from all the material grossness of this present age and from flesh and blood (that is, from earthly cares and bonds).

Let them make it (the heart) to stand apart, and let them cleanse it from the fleshly distractions of matter (which are the blackness of the blood), so that, once they have thus prepared beforehand and purified their mind and heart, God may write there His own laws of the Spirit, according to His promise.

"Giving my laws into their heart, and I will inscribe them upon their minds."

"And I will be their God, and they shall be my people"; and the apostle adds:

"Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit."

Then one will be able truly to know God and to live the eternal life.

But if the laws of the Spirit are not inscribed in the soul, such a one is still flesh and blood, and his heart has not yet been worked as God requires, nor has he obtained eternal life.

But the illustration of the farmer and of the craftsman may also be understood in another way: just as the land lies unresisting before the farmer, and he works it as he wishes and tends it as he himself knows how; or just as the little parchment, being lifeless, does not resist the craftsman, but he works it, cleanses it, and finishes it fit for use, forming it as needed, according to his own will and knowledge—so also each person ought to present himself and give himself wholly, with his whole purpose and will, to the Word and to the grace of the Lord, withdrawing from his own wills and putting himself to death, so as never again to do his own will, just as the apostle also says:

"Let us no longer live for ourselves, but for him who died for us and was raised"; and again:

"You are not your own," so that, as the wise craftsman and farmer, the Word, knows and understands, He may Himself work through grace and cleanse the ground of the heart, drawing the soul away from the bonds of matter, from the deceit of the world, and from the passions of dishonor, in order that He may present to Himself, as the apostle says, the church without blemish—which is the soul—in which from the beginning no evil thought was implanted.

And so, once it has fittingly come into agreement with grace, Christ writes the laws of freedom, of perfection, and of the rest of life in the soul, having wrought it into a pure bride for communion with His own incorruptible life; and then, being joined to the Lord, it becomes one spirit with Him and inherits eternal life.

With all zeal, then, and every struggle, labor, understanding, and sweat of soul, let us strive to attain these things, diligently working upon our own heart, watching on every side for the wiles, the villainies, and the deceits of the evil spirit of sin.

For just as the Holy Spirit spoke through Paul:

"I became all things to all men, that I might by all means gain some"—so likewise the all-imitating wickedness strives to become all things, that it may destroy all.

And to those who pray, the devil makes himself like one who prays, so that under the pretext of prayer he may deceive them through ignorance and self-conceit.

To those who fast, he fasts along with them, so that he may lead them astray through the self-conceit of fasting.

To those who have been deemed worthy of a revelation of light, he makes himself like them, as though through a similar revelation of light.

Satan transforms himself into an angel of light, so that, having deceived through a similar light, he may hold them fast to himself.

In the same way he makes himself like all the rest, so that through similar things he may destroy the soul under a plausible pretext.

For he approaches each person cunningly and terribly, having made himself like all good things, so that, going unrecognized, he may be able to cast someone into his own will.

"Casting down reasonings," it says, "and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God."

See to what extent he dares and exalts himself, wishing to cast down even those who already have God in the true knowledge of Him.

With all vigilance, then, one must guard one's own heart, and ask from God much understanding, so that He may grant us to recognize the cunning and the arts of wickedness, lest through his evil craft the evil one should win us over to himself.

It is fitting, therefore, that each of us should labor and toil continually with all understanding and sobriety, and cleanse the mind and the reasonings, for there is no work greater, better, or more precious than to labor upon one's own soul and to conform one's own purpose to the will of God.

This alone is a great and precious work in the sight of God, as the Lord says:

"Labor not for the food that perishes"—that is, for the practices of wickedness—"but for the food that endures unto eternal life"; and again:

"Confession and majesty are his work," it says.

For when someone thus works upon his own heart, God from above gives him a heavenly work within the soul, an eternal work of life belonging to the Godhead of the Spirit.

Well then, O children, and fittingly, having left behind all temporal things, you have come to God; and instead of an earthly father you seek the heavenly Father; and instead of a corruptible mother, you have the good Spirit of God and the heavenly Jerusalem as your mother; and instead of the brothers whom you left behind, you have the Lord Himself, who has deigned to be called the brother of the faithful and of those worthy of Him; and instead of the relatives and friends whom you have left, you find the holy angels and the choirs of the holy powers; and instead of the passing earth that you have left, you inherit the land of life and the eternal kingdom—"for I shall be well-pleasing to the Lord," it says, "in the land of the living"; and the Lord says:

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth"; and instead of the corruptible fellowship that you have hated, you have the fellowship of the Holy Spirit; and instead of all these earthly possessions that you have left, you receive the possessions of eternal and ineffable life, which remain forever, unto the age.

For the possessions of this material world and the goods of the earth are external to man, but those eternal possessions and the goods from heaven, given from now on to the faithful, are given by God within the soul and the heart to those who are worthy.

This is the eternal consolation of the Holy Spirit, in the incorruptible fellowship of grace.

For certain treasures of darkness and death are cast out of the soul, and treasures of the light of life are placed within those who are worthy.

Well and fittingly, then, have you done in casting away these things reckoned as goods of the earth, and in coming to God, so that you might obtain the eternal goods that remain forever.

For the God-loving soul, which approaches Christ with right knowledge and true understanding, ascribes to itself no good of its own whatsoever, as though it had accomplished or labored at something, or as though it knew something—even if it should distribute all the wealth of the earth to the poor, even if it should be crucified night and day, looking only to Christ and having left behind all the occupations, bonds, and distractions of this age, even if it should have consumed its own body with many fastings, or given itself to prayers and vigils, even if it should have attained to much knowledge and understanding—it accounts itself as nothing before God and men.

But it ascribes everything to God, because all its good works belong to Him—as Abraham says, that he is earth and ashes before Him—and it does not think highly of itself on account of its own works, nor does it suppose itself to be anything.

For from the beginning these things belonging to

—virtuous practices, as well as the possessions of the earth, were given to Adam.

The God-loving soul, then, ascribes everything to God, as the one who directs and cooperates in it all; and then God, taking note of the soul's sound understanding and right knowledge, in turn truly gives everything back to it, and renders the reward as though it were the soul itself that had labored and worked.

For indeed, if God should wish to be judged and to render an account, nothing is found to belong properly to man.

For the wealth and all the goods in the world, by which each person does good, belong to God.

Who made the earth and all that is in it? Who created the body of man, and who made the soul? And if He wills, the earth brings forth, and if He does not will it, it does not bring forth.

And if He wills, you are healthy, and if He does not will it, you are not healthy.

What, then, does man have of his own, that he should be justified by it, or be exalted, or think himself to be something? For behold, all things are in the power of God, and man has all things by having received them, and possesses all things by grace.

His very existence he has by grace. But God receives this as the greatest grace from man, and in this He finds great rest—in the soul that has come to know, with true understanding of insight and precise knowledge of faith, and that has learned the things that are as they truly are, ascribing to Him all the good things it does, and everything it labors for God's sake, and everything it comprehends and knows.

—and attributes it to Him, never at all supposing that it has itself done anything good, but ascribes itself and all that belongs to it to Him.

And when God sees the soul, so full of understanding, that has ascribed everything to Him and has recognized that it possesses everything by His grace, then He truly gives back to it all that is its own, all that He gave from the beginning.

And not only this, but in addition He also grants to it Himself and all that is His, and He says to it:

"Behold, the earth is yours, and the things in the earth are yours; the gold and the silver are yours; and my body is yours; my soul, my knowledge, and my understanding are yours; and altogether, I myself and all that is mine are yours."

"And if you do not have it in your own nature, I give you myself and all that is mine."

For when God is hers, it is clear that all that is His, even the hidden treasures of wisdom, are hers also, as the apostle says:

"All things are yours, whether the world, or life, or death, or angels, or principalities, or things present, or things to come."

For just as, if there is a comely woman, and a certain rich man takes her for his own life together and communion—

—and she brings all that is hers to him, likewise he too will give all that is his to her, and there becomes for them one household, one substance, one being.

And not only does she rule over what is his, but she is also deemed worthy of his very body.

For his body is hers.

For the husband, it says, has no authority over his own body, but the wife does.

So too there is with God a true and ineffable communion of the soul with the Lord, so that, having communed with Christ, she may become one spirit with him, and thereafter must necessarily become mistress of his ineffable treasures, because she is the bride of the great King, Christ.

For, according to the Scripture, the Lord was well pleased that his faithful ones should become partakers of the divine nature:

that you might become partakers of the divine nature.

Again, the same thought must be heard by way of another illustration.

Just as if there were a king, exceedingly rich and glorious, who should be pleased with some poor woman possessing nothing but her own body, and should become her lover, and wish to take her to himself as bride and consort—

—if she preserves toward him the love that is owed, in the manner that is fitting, behold, that poor and destitute woman becomes mistress of all that belongs to her husband.

For he is satisfied only with her chastity, and the service duly rendered by her to him, and her whole and complete love toward him.