Mystagogy 1 part 3/13

in a particular sense, the teaching and progress in faith of those who have come to believe; and, in the case of the active, the firm disposition toward virtue, according to which—walking in step with the divine law of the commandments—they stand manfully and unshaken against the wiles of the devil and escape the opposing energies; and, in the case of the gnostic, the contemplative habit, according to which, gathering as far as they can the spiritual principles of sensible things and of the providence over them, they are borne unerringly toward the truth.

they forget the toils of virtue, and renew their vigorous longing toward the remaining divine and undefiled good things.

The holy Gospel is, in a general sense, a symbol of the consummation of this age; in a particular sense, for those who have believed it signifies the utter abolition of the ancient error; for the active, the mortification and consummation of the law and mind-set according to the flesh; and for the gnostic, the gathering and reference of the many and diverse principles to the most comprehensive Principle, once the more detailed and varied natural contemplation has been completed and brought to its term for them.

The descent of the bishop from the throne and the dismissal of the catechumens signify, in a general sense, the second coming from heaven of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, and the separation of the sinners from the saints, and the just recompense according to each one's worth; in a particular sense, the perfect assurance in faith of those who have believed, which God the Word effects by His invisible coming, through which every thought still limping in any way as to faith—after the manner of a catechumen—is driven away from them;

and for the active, perfect dispassion, through which every passionate and unenlightened thought departs from the soul;

and for the gnostic, the comprehensive knowledge of the things that have been known, through which all the images of material things are driven out of the soul.

The closing of the doors, and the entrance of the holy Mysteries, and the divine kiss, and the proclamation of the Symbol of faith signify, in a general sense, the passing away of sensible things and the manifestation of intelligible ones, and the new teaching of the divine mystery concerning us, and the identity of concord and like-mindedness and necessity that shall come to be among all toward both one another and God, and the thanksgiving for the ways by which we were saved;

in a particular sense, for the faithful, the progress from the faith of error toward instruction in doctrines, and initiation, and unanimity, and godliness.

For the first of these the closing of the doors signifies; the second, the entrance of the holy Mysteries; the third, the kiss; and the fourth, the proclamation of the Symbol.

For the active, it signifies the transfer from action to contemplation—having closed their senses and become outside flesh and world through the casting off of the energies pertaining to them—and the ascent from the mode of the commandments to their inner principle, and the kindred affinity and union of the commandments themselves, according to their own principles, with the faculties of the soul, and the habit suited to theological thanksgiving;

and for the gnostic, the transfer from natural contemplation to the simple apprehension of intelligible things, according to which they no longer pursue the divine and ineffable Word through sense-perception or through any of the things that appear, and the union of its own faculties with the soul, and the simplicity that according to the mind unitively comprehends the principle of providence.

The unceasing, sanctifying doxology of the Trisagion by the holy angels signifies, in a general sense, the equal polity and conduct and harmony of the divine doxology that shall come to be—simultaneously and together—between the heavenly and earthly powers in the age to come, when the body has been made immortal for human beings through the resurrection, no longer weighing down the soul by corruption nor being weighed down, but having received, through its change into incorruption, both power and fitness for the reception of God's presence;

...of hymnody; and for the gnostic, the angel-like understandings and hymnings and ever-moving (contemplations) concerning the Godhead, so far as is possible for human beings.

The blessed invocation of the great God and Father, and the proclamation of the "One is holy" and what follows, and the partaking of the holy and life-giving Mysteries (communion), signify the adoption as sons that shall come to be upon all and over all who are worthy, on account of the goodness of our God, and the union and intimacy and divine likeness and deification;

through which God Himself shall be all in all in like manner to those who are being saved, shining forth as the archetypal beauty, in the manner of a cause, in those who likewise shine together with Him by virtue and knowledge according to grace.

He called the faithful and the virtuous and the gnostic those who are being introduced, and those who are advancing, and those who are perfect—that is, slaves and hired servants and sons, the three ranks of those who are being saved.

Hired servants are those who, out of longing for the promised good things, bear with patience the burden of the day and the scorching heat—that is, the affliction innate and conjoined to the present life from the ancestral condemnation, and the trials for the sake of virtue that come with it—and who wisely, by their own free choice, exchange life for life, the present for the one to come.

But sons are those who, neither through fear of the things threatened nor through desire of the things promised, but by their very disposition and the settled habit of the soul's voluntary inclination and orientation toward the good, are never separated from God — like that son to whom it was said, 'Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.' Such persons become, by the position of adoption in grace, what God is by nature and as cause, and is so believed to be.

Let us not, then, forsake the holy Church of God, which contains so many mysteries of our salvation in the holy ordering of the divine symbols celebrated within it — through which she fashions each of us, who lives well according to our measure in Christ, and brings to manifestation the gift of adoption granted through holy baptism in the Holy Spirit. Rather, with all our strength and zeal, let us present ourselves worthy of the divine gifts, pleasing God through good works, not conducting ourselves like the nations that know not God in the passion of lust; but, as the holy Apostle says, putting to death our members which are upon the earth — fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry, for which things the wrath of God cometh upon the sons of disobedience — and all wrath and anger and filthy language and lying; and, to speak briefly, putting off the whole old man, which is corrupted according to the lusts of deceit, together with his deeds and desires, let us walk worthily of God, who has called us into His own kingdom and glory.

putting on bowels of mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;

forbearing one another in love, and forgiving one another if any have a quarrel against any, even as the Lord forgave us; and above all these, the bond of perfectness — love and peace, unto which also we were called in one body; and, to speak briefly, putting on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him.

with all building up and longsuffering, with joy giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet to partake of the portion of the inheritance of the saints in light.

Now a clear proof of this grace is the voluntary, well-disposed fellowship of feeling toward our own kind, whose work it is, as far as we are able, to make our own — as we would God — every man who in any way stands in need of our help, and not to leave him uncared-for and unprovided, but with fitting zeal to demonstrate in action the living disposition within us toward both God and neighbor.

For a deed is the proof of a disposition.

For nothing is so conducive to righteousness, nor so suited — so to speak — to deification, that nearness to God, as mercy offered from the soul to those in need with gladness and joy.

For if the Word declared that the one in need of kindness is God —

'Inasmuch,' He says, 'as ye did it unto one of the least of these, ye did it unto Me' —

and since it is God who said this, much more will He show the one who is able to do good, and does it, to be truly God by grace and participation, as one who has worthily taken up in himself the very activity and characteristic of God's beneficence.

And if the poor man is God, on account of the condescension of the God who became poor for our sake, and who compassionately takes upon Himself the sufferings of each, and until the consummation of the age ever suffers mystically in proportion to the suffering in each one out of His goodness — then plainly, according to right reasoning, that man will be God to a yet greater degree who, in imitation of God, out of love for mankind heals through himself in a God-befitting manner the sufferings of those who suffer, and is shown to possess, in his disposition, the same power as God in proportion to His saving providence.

Who then is so slow toward virtue and so hard to move that he does not long for divinity, when its acquisition is thus so cheap and so easy to obtain and so simple? Sure and inviolable is the safeguard of these things, and easy the road to salvation;

without which, I think, in truth none of the good things will be preserved unharmed for the one who possesses them —

namely, minding our own affairs, or attending to our own business; by which, learning to look only to and examine the things concerning ourselves, we are set free from incurring vain harm from the affairs of others.

For if we learn to see and scrutinize ourselves alone, we shall never set upon the affairs of others, however they may happen to be;

knowing the one and only Judge, wise and just, who is God, judging wisely and justly all that comes to pass according to the reason for which it has come about, and not according to the manner in which it has appeared;

which manner perhaps even men might be able to judge, looking dimly at the outward appearance — about which the truth by no means lies, nor the true reason of things that come to pass.

But God, beholding the unseen motion of the soul, and the invisible impulse, and the very reason according to which the soul has been moved, and the purpose of that reason — that is, the end pre-conceived in every action — judges justly, as I said, all that is done by men. And if we shall earnestly strive to set this aright, and shall confine ourselves to ourselves, not fastening upon outward things, we shall release the eye, the ear, and the tongue from seeing, hearing, and speaking the affairs of others — if possible, entirely; but if not, at least with compassion rather than passion — not acting upon them with passion, but permitting ourselves to see and hear and speak only for our own profit, and only so far as seems good to the divine reason that holds the reins over these faculties.

For none of these organs is more prone to slip into sin when not trained by reason;

and again, none is more ready for the salvation of these very organs, when reason orders them and regulates them and leads them to what is needful and what it wills.

Let us not, then, as far as we are able, neglect to obey God, who calls us to eternal life and a blessed end through the working out of His divine and saving commandments, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need;

for grace, says the divine Apostle, be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption — that is, with those who love the Lord with the incorruption that is according to virtue and with a pure, unfeigned reverence of life, in doing His will and in not corrupting any of His divine commandments.

These things, then, concerning these matters I have set forth as best I could, for the reward of obedience, according as I was taught, not daring to lay hold of things more mystical and more lofty;

And if this has not fallen far short of your desire, thanks be to Christ, the supplier of good things, and to you, who constrained me to speak these things.

But if it falls far and much short of expectation, what shall I suffer or what shall I do, being weak in speaking? For weakness is pardonable, not punishable;

and what is within one's power and possible is rather to be accepted, not blamed — especially by you, who have set yourselves to love for God's sake.

And to God, too, dear ones, everything genuinely offered from the soul according to one's ability is pleasing, even though it may appear small in comparison with great things;

He who did not even reject the widow when she brought her two mites — whoever this widow was and whatever the two mites were: whether a soul widowed of wickedness, having cast off as a husband the old law, but not yet worthy of the highest union with the Word and God, yet nonetheless bringing to Him, as it were as mites, by way of a pledge, the for-the-time-being measured reason and life, or faith and a good conscience, or the habit and activity concerning good things, or the contemplation and practice befitting these, or the corresponding knowledge and virtue;

or those things a little above these — I mean the reasons in the natural and the written law, which the soul, having acquired, brings forward in ecstasy from them and in their relinquishment, as of one's whole manner and course of life, desiring to be united to the Word and God alone, and consents to be widowed, as of husbands, of the natural and legal modes and ordinances and customs that constrain; or whether something else more spiritual than these, contemplated only by those pure in mind — this the discourse hints at obscurely through the letter fulfilled according to the historical sense.

For all things which among men seem to be great according to virtue prove to be small when compared with the contemplative principle of theology.

Except that, even though small, and from cheap and not very precious material, they nonetheless, in equal measure with the gold coins of more precious material which the wealthier offer, bear the royal stamp; and perhaps in fuller measure, in that the offerer brings the disposition of an offering made out of the whole heart.

Imitating this widow, I too, beloved, have offered to God and to you these small and cheap thoughts and words, brought forth from a poor and beggarly mind and tongue, as it were as mites — these things concerning which you commanded — beseeching your blessed and holy soul:

first, no longer to seek any written record of the things spoken by me, for two reasons:

one, that I have not yet acquired that pure and abiding fear of God, nor a firm habit of virtue and a steadfast, unshakable establishment of true righteousness — the things which especially bear witness to the firmness of one's words;

the other, that still being tossed about, like a wild sea, by the great surge of the passions, and being far from the divine harbor of dispassion, and having the end of my life uncertain, I do not wish — in addition to my deeds — to have also my words in writing as an accuser. Then, accepting these things for the sake of obedience, if it be needful, commend me through your prayers to Christ, the great and only God and Savior of our souls.

To whom be glory and dominion, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, unto the ages.

These things are perhaps nothing worthy of your expectation, yet not less than our own ability.

Yet let your holiness know that not even these are the husbandry of my own mind;

but having gone through the writings of the holy Fathers, and having gathered from there the understanding that bears upon the subject, and having compiled much into a few things, in summary fashion, so that they might be easily surveyed because easily remembered, I have sent them to your reverence, beseeching you to read with good will and to hunt only for the benefit in them;

but to overlook the inelegance of the wording, and to pray for my lowliness, which is destitute of all spiritual benefit.

And I beseech this also: do not regard what has been said as a burden;

I say this, since those of us who trouble others with words are many today;

but those who instruct or are instructed by deeds are very few.

But rather, give laborious attention to each of the chapters.

For not all things, I think, are easy for all to grasp;

but for the many, the many things require much careful examination, even though they may seem to have been said quite simply.

For perhaps something useful to the soul might appear, being uncovered from them.

And it will certainly appear, by the grace of God, to the one who reads with unmeddlesome thoughts and with the fear of God and love.

But to the one who engages either with this labor or with any other whatsoever, not for the sake of spiritual benefit, but to hunt for words in order to disparage the author, so that he may set himself forth as wiser than that one — as he supposes in his conceit — nothing useful will ever appear from any quarter.

FIRST CENTURY. (1) Love is a good disposition of the soul, by which one prefers nothing that exists to the knowledge of God.

But it is impossible to attain to the habit of this love for one who has any attachment to earthly things.

(2) Love is begotten by dispassion;

dispassion by hope in God;

hope by patient endurance and long-suffering;

and these by all-embracing self-control;

self-control by the fear of God;

and the fear of God by faith in the Lord.

(3) He who believes in the Lord fears punishment;

he who fears punishment exercises self-control over the passions;

and he who controls himself over the passions [endures afflictions]. [The text is taken from the Patrologia, collated against the text of the editions "TO BYZANTION" of the series "GREGORIOS PALAMAS," Thessaloniki, Philokalia of the Watchful and Ascetic Fathers, vol. ...]

he who endures afflictions will possess hope in God;

hope in God separates one from every earthly attachment;

and the mind, once separated from this, will possess love toward God.

(4) He who loves God prefers the knowledge of Him above all that He has made, and clings to it unceasingly through his longing.

(5) If all things that exist have come into being through God and for the sake of God, and God is superior to the things made through Him,

then he who forsakes the superior and occupies himself with the inferior shows himself to prefer the things made by God to God Himself.

(6) He who keeps his mind fixed on the love of God despises all visible things and even his own body as something foreign.

(7) If the soul is superior to the body, and God who created it is incomparably superior to the world, then he who prefers the body to the soul and the world made by God to God Himself differs in nothing from idolaters.

(8) He who separates his mind from the love of God and from constant attendance upon Him, and binds it to some sensible thing—this is the one who prefers the body to the soul and the things made by the Creator God to Him who made them.

(9) If the life of the mind is the illumination of knowledge, and this is begotten by the love of God,

then it is rightly said that nothing is greater than divine love.

(10) When through the eros of love the mind goes out toward God, then it has no perception whatever either of itself or of anything that exists.

For being illumined by the divine and infinite light, it becomes insensible to all the things made by Him, just as the bodily eye is to the stars when the sun rises.

(11) All the virtues co-operate with the mind toward the divine eros, but most of all pure prayer;

for through this the mind, taking wing toward God, comes to be outside of all that exists.

(12) When through love the mind is caught up by divine knowledge and, coming to be outside of all that exists, perceives the divine infinity, then, according to the divine Isaiah, struck with amazement and coming to a sense of his own lowliness, he says with deep feeling the words of the prophet:

"Woe is me, for I am pierced to the heart!

for being a man and having unclean lips, dwelling in the midst of a people who have unclean lips, I have seen with my eyes the King, the Lord of Hosts."

(13) He who loves God cannot but love also every man as himself, even though he is grieved at the passions of those not yet purified.

(14) Impassioned is the soul filled with thoughts of desire and hatred.

(15) He who sees a trace of hatred in his own heart toward any man whatsoever, on account of any fault whatsoever, is altogether estranged from the love of God;

for the love of God in no way tolerates hatred toward man.

(16) "He who loves Me," says the Lord, "will keep My commandments;"

"and this is My commandment, that you love one another."

Therefore he who does not love his neighbor does not keep the commandment;

and he who does not keep the commandment cannot love the Lord either.

(17) Blessed is the man who can love every man equally.

(18) Blessed is the man who is attached to nothing corruptible or transient.

(19) Blessed is the mind which, having passed beyond all that exists, ceaselessly delights in the divine beauty.

(20) He who makes provision for the flesh to fulfil its desires, and harbors rancor against his neighbor over transient things—such a one serves the creation rather than the Creator.

(21) He who keeps his body free from pleasure and sickness has it as a fellow-servant in the service of higher things.

(22) He who flees all worldly desires sets himself above all worldly grief.

(23) He who loves God assuredly loves his neighbor also.

Such a one cannot hold on to money, but dispenses it in a manner worthy of God, giving to each one in need.

(24) He who shows mercy in imitation of God knows no distinction between evil and good, or just and unjust, in the necessities of the body;

but distributes to all equally according to need, even though, on account of good purpose, he prefers the virtuous to the wicked.

(25) Just as God, being by nature good and dispassionate, loves all equally as His works, but glorifies the virtuous as being also united to Him in disposition, while in His goodness He has mercy on the wicked and, chastising him in this age, turns him to Himself;

so also the one who is good and dispassionate in disposition loves all men equally—the virtuous on account of his nature and good purpose, and the wicked on account of his nature and out of compassion, having mercy on him as one without understanding and walking in darkness.

(26) The disposition of love is made known not only by the sharing of money, but much more by the sharing of the word of God and by bodily service.

(27) He who genuinely renounces the affairs of the world and serves his neighbor unfeignedly through love is quickly freed from every passion and is made a partaker of divine love and knowledge.

(28) He who has acquired divine love within himself does not grow weary in following after the Lord his God, according to the divine Jeremiah;

but bears every toil, reproach, and insult nobly, never reckoning evil against anyone at all.

(29) When you are insulted by someone or slighted in any way, then guard against thoughts of anger, lest by grief they separate you from love and place you in the realm of hatred.

(30) When you are deeply pained by insult or dishonor, know that you have been greatly profited, for vainglory has been providentially cast out of you through the dishonor.

(31) Just as the memory of fire does not warm the body, so faith without love does not work the illumination of knowledge in the soul.

(32) Just as the light of the sun draws the healthy eye to itself, so also the knowledge of God naturally draws the pure mind to itself through love.

(33) A pure mind is one separated from ignorance and illumined by the divine light.

(34) A pure soul is one freed from passions and unceasingly gladdened by the divine love.

(35) A blameworthy passion is a movement of the soul contrary to nature.

(36) Dispassion is a peaceful state of the soul, in which it becomes hard to move toward evil.

(37) He who through diligence has acquired the fruits of love does not depart from it, even though he suffers countless evils.

And let Stephen, the disciple of Christ, persuade you, and those like him, who prayed even for his murderers and asked forgiveness from the Father for them as for those who knew not what they did.

(38) If it belongs to love to be long-suffering and kind, then he who is irascible and malicious is plainly estranged from love;

and he who is estranged from love is estranged from God, since God is love.

(39) "Do not say," says the divine Jeremiah, "that this is the temple of the Lord."

And do not you say that bare faith in our Lord Jesus Christ can save you.

For this is impossible, unless you also acquire love toward Him through works.

For as for bare belief, even the demons believe and tremble.

(40) The work of love is the heartfelt benefaction of one's neighbor, and long-suffering and patience, and the use of all things with right reason.

(41) He who loves God neither grieves nor is grieved with anyone over transient things;

but one grief alone he causes and feels, the saving grief, with which the blessed Paul both was grieved and grieved the Corinthians.

(42) He who loves God lives an angelic life on earth, fasting and keeping vigil, singing psalms and praying, and always thinking well of every man.

(43) If a man desires anything, he also strives to obtain it;

but of all things good and desirable, the divine is incomparably better and more desirable;

how much zeal, then, ought we to show, that we may attain to Him who is by nature good and desirable!

(44) Do not defile your flesh with shameful deeds, and do not pollute your soul with evil thoughts;

and the peace of God will come upon you, bringing love.

(45) Chastise your flesh with fasting and vigil, and devote yourself unwearyingly to psalmody and prayer;

and the sanctification of temperance will come upon you, bringing love.

(46) He who has been counted worthy of divine knowledge and has acquired its illumination through love will never be tossed about by the spirit of vainglory;

but he who has not yet been counted worthy of it is easily carried about by it.

If, then, such a one looks to God in all that he does, doing all things for His sake, he will easily, with God's help, escape it.

(47) He who has not yet attained the divine knowledge that works through love thinks highly of the things he does according to God.

But he who has been counted worthy to attain it says with deep feeling the words of the patriarch Abraham, which he spoke when he was counted worthy of the divine appearing:

(48) He who fears the Lord always has humility as his companion, and through her reflections he comes to divine love and thanksgiving.

For he remembers his former manner of life in the world, his various transgressions, and the temptations that befell him from his youth, and how the Lord delivered him from all of these and transferred him from the impassioned life to the life according to God;

always giving thanks with much humility to the Benefactor and Pilot of our life.

(49) Do not befoul your mind by tolerating thoughts of desire and anger, lest, falling from pure prayer, you fall prey to the spirit of listlessness.