Theological and Ethical Discourses 1 part 11/27

the former belongs to combatants and to saints, if they should attain to be perfected in this; but the latter belongs to those who are dispassionate and perfect, who, evidently through many labors and sweats, have routed their own enemies and have won a complete victory over them, and have gloriously clothed themselves in the life-bearing mortification of the Lord.

But the rest are left, as it is said, to wander in a trackless waste and not by the way, concerning whom it is written:

'I sent them away according to the devices of their own hearts;'

'they shall walk in their own devices.'

For inasmuch as they did not see fit to have God in full knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do the things that are not fitting.

Those, therefore, who with fear and trembling have laid down a good foundation of faith and hope upon the rock of obedience to their spiritual fathers, and who, building upon this foundation of submission without hesitation the things enjoined by them as though from the mouth of God, immediately succeed in denying themselves.

For to fulfill, not one's own will, but the will of one's spiritual father, for the sake of God's commandment and for training in virtue, brings about not only self-denial but also a complete death to the world.

Then, as though in a desert, or rather outside the world altogether, such a one, having come into perfect perception, and being seized with ineffable fear and trembling, cries out to God with his whole soul, as Jonah did from the sea monster, as Daniel from the den of lions, as the three youths from the furnace of fire, as Manasseh from the bronze cage.

And the all-good Master, who gave his soul for us sinners, hearing at once the anguished groanings of the voice of his supplication, delivers him, as from the sea monster, from the depth of ignorance and the darkening of love for the world, so that he no longer turns back to such things even in thought;

and as from the den of lions, from the evil desires that seize and devour the souls of men;

and as from the furnace of fire, from the passionate preconceptions that hold all men fast, which, like fire, burn and ravage and violently drag us toward improper deeds and kindle in us the flame of the passions, by bedewing him with the Holy Spirit and rendering him unburned;

and as from the bronze cage, from this earthly, heavy, and passionate flesh of ours, in which our soul dwells and, being terribly held fast, fettered, and weighed down, remains altogether immovable and unwilling toward every virtue and the practice of God's commandments.

Being set free from this flesh, yet not separated from it, the soul cries out together with the prophet David, saying:

And not only this, but it also gives thanks together with Paul, saying:

'I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death.'

These things, then, having thus come to pass by the grace of Christ, having been delivered from ignorance and the darkening of love for the world (to say the same things again), having been freed from evil and shameful desires, and having been liberated from the death of the body which enslaves us under the law of sin, what, from then on, will such a one proceed to do?

Will he then use this freedom for ease and carefree indolence?

Such notions truly belong to slaves, and not to free men;

for he who has been deemed worthy of this freedom knows that he has been freed from the law of sin, so that he no longer serves sin, but serves righteousness, which is Christ God, who both is and is called the Sun of Righteousness.

And in order that I may show you by an example what kind of goodwill toward God such a one henceforth displays all the more, I will illustrate it from human affairs, from things that always happen among us.

and while he is in service to the impure desires of that wicked tyrant, that very one, arriving, snatches him away, and shows him to be free from that shameful and wretched servitude, and having brought him up, restores him among the royal household, in no way reproaching him for anything;

But that slave, having been delivered from so many and such great miseries, is eager, in his goodwill toward his own master, to appear more zealous in keeping his master's commandments than those fellow slaves who were never taken captive, so that he might display a greater and warmer love toward him, continually remembering from how many evils he was rescued by him;

Understand it thus, in my view, also concerning the one who has enjoyed God's help, as has been said.

And just as that king, seeing that slave eagerly and with all humility fulfilling his wishes, even though he has no need whatsoever of his service, having countless multitudes of servants, will nevertheless, on account of his gratitude, display toward him immeasurable love, so also understand it to be in the matters we have spoken of.

For neither will he who has enjoyed the freedom of the Spirit from God ever give up doing the will of God again and again, and with an ever warmer eagerness; nor will the eternal King and God fail to lavish upon him the good things of eternal life, and this to the very degree that he sees him intensifying his service to him each day.

Now of the benefits and gifts of God, which he bestows upon his servants, there is no measure or comprehension of them on our part;

But of the things which the all-compassionate God gives here to those who love him, it is necessary to say a few things for the sake of our love, some grasped from the divine Scriptures, others from experience itself.

Since it is for these three things that men display all their zeal and care, I mean, for wealth, for honor, for glory, and for the freedom, joy, and enjoyment that arise from them for us, our Master and God, first of all, richly grants these very things to those who have cast away everything and taken up the cross and walk after him without turning back;

for instead of corruptible wealth, he gives them his whole self.

Do you understand the force of this saying?

For just as the wealthy of this world spend their wealth on whatever needs, desires, and enjoyments they wish, so too our good Master gives himself as a gift to his genuine servants, and fulfills every longing and desire of theirs, as they wish, and even beyond what they wish;

and he fills them ungrudgingly with every good thing, and abundantly and unceasingly supplies to them incorruptible and everlasting delight.

And first they are filled with ineffable joy, because it is not the world nor the things in the world, but the Maker of all things, the Lord and Master himself, whom they have acquired within themselves.

Then they are clothed over with the light, Christ and God himself, wholly, in their whole body;

and they see themselves adorned with ineffable glory and a flashing divine garment, and they cover their own faces, unable to bear the sight of the incomprehensible and unbearable radiance of their garment, so that they seek out a place of hiding, that they might go there and lay aside the great weight of the glory.

Then in this way the same Master becomes for them everlasting and immortal food and drink;

To some he appears as a light-formed breast, placed into the mouth of their mind, and grants them to suckle, those who are still infants in Christ and are not yet able to partake of solid food, for whom he becomes at once both food and drink, producing in them such sweetness that they do not wish, or rather, are not even able, to be torn away from him at all;

For just as an affectionate father makes his sons his table-companions, but, when he sees them disposed carelessly toward their studies and distracted by certain unprofitable matters, drives them from his table and instructs his servants not to give them food, thereby disciplining them not to be contemptuous and negligent, so also our good Master and God is disposed toward his servants, who by his loving-kindness and grace are also sons;

for he gives himself to them, he who is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world;

and from him, and together with him, they are fed to satiety, everlastingly, and by partaking of him are transformed unto eternal life, being sanctified both in soul and body.

But when they neglect the commandments and choose, of their own free will, to be disposed carelessly or contemptuously, and busy themselves with some of the affairs of the world, turning aside to unprofitable things and to what is unbecoming to godliness, then the Nourisher of all things withdraws himself from them.

But when they come to a realization of the good of which they have been deprived, and turn back again and, as is their custom, seek him and do not find him, they beat their breasts, weep, and bewail themselves, and bring upon themselves every kind of hardship, and long for every affliction and trial and dishonor, so that their loving Father might see their afflictions and voluntary self-abasement, and, having mercy on them, might turn back and again give himself to them;

and they are restored, with even greater confidence, to their former intimacy and glory and to that very delight of good things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, revering their Father more than before and trembling before him as Master, lest through carelessness they should again be entangled in the same evils and be cast away from their all-good Father.

These things, then, those who repent laboriously do; and by doing so, they at the same time obtain the good things that have been described.

But as many as give up in the face of the labors, afflictions, and hardships of repentance, and give themselves over instead to indolence and self-indulgence, as unworthy and illegitimate sons, or rather, to say it more truly, as men who despise, having preferred the pleasures of the body above the eternal good things and above God himself, are no longer counted worthy either of this delight or of the garment of God's glory, but justly deprive themselves also of the riches of God's goodness, and become like ownerless dogs.

For just as ownerless dogs roam about the streets and lanes of the city, so that they might somewhere get hold of a bone, or a discarded piece of old hide, or lick up dung or the blood of slaughtered animals, and if they should find a carcass, they eat insatiably and do not part from the corpse beforehand, but even fight off and chase away the other dogs, until they have stripped bare not only the innards but even the very bones of their sinews, so also these men run about begging at the doors of the rich and the poor alike, so that they might tuck away into their bosom whatever gold or silver or copper is given them, since they have fallen away from the true and unfailing wealth;

and when they attain their aim, then for a little while they are disposed as though satisfied and in need of nothing;

but when the famine of their insatiable greed, born of hopelessness, overtakes them again, they give themselves over once more to their former begging, pitiable in the present, even should they acquire all the wealth of the world, and still more pitiable with regard to the future, because they have willingly cast away eternal life.

For God has manifested to them the riches of his grace, so that they are without excuse;

and he has counted them worthy to taste of the heavenly gift and has made them partakers of the Holy Spirit, just as the divine Paul also cried out:

'and their senseless heart was darkened.'

But as many as, like grateful slaves and like genuine sons, bear with joy the chastisements of their own father and master, saying:

'I will bear the chastisement of the Lord, because I have sinned against him'; and again:

'The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us'; and thus, as we have said, remaining steadfast in daily chastisement and continual repentance, neither kicking against it nor being burdened by it, but being trained in the manner already described, they always remain gloriously arrayed in the paternal house, becoming table-companions with their own father, beholding his glory and the wealth which they are about to inherit.

But when they have been well brought up and, having been trained, arrive at the measure of the stature of a perfect man, then the all-good Father also gives into their hands all that belongs to him.

But let us first say what is the measure of spiritual stature and the height of the fullness of Christ, and thus let us go on to discuss the things that belong to the Father, and how he gives these into the hands of those who believe in him.

Attend, then, wisely to the force of what is about to be told you.

These, viewed spiritually, are the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:

And that I may begin from below, its feet are faith and holy humility, a firm and unshakable foundation.

Legs and ankles, shins, knees, and thighs are non-possession, destitution, exile, subjection for Christ's sake joined with knowledge, obedience, and willing servitude.

The members and parts that must be covered are unceasing prayer in the mind, the sweetness that arises from the shedding of tears, the joy of the heart, and its ineffable consolation.

The reins and the loins are the standing and endurance at prayers and gatherings, and the kindling that thence arises in the desiring faculty for the contemplation and communion of God, even as the divine David is recorded to say:

Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth.

And Peter, the foremost of the apostles, says: Therefore, having girded up the loins of your mind, being perfectly sober, hope fully for the grace that is being brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, as children of obedience.

The belly and stomach and the structure of the inward parts are the receptive and noetic workshop of the soul, in which you are to understand the rational faculty as a heart set in the middle, and within the rational faculty, the desiring and the incensive faculties:

which, like ribs, flanks, sinews, and fat, are held together and bound, tended and covered over, by gentleness, simplicity, forbearance of wrongs, sympathy, and reverence; these do not allow them to look toward visible things or to desire anything among them, nor do they permit them to bear a grudge, or envy, or be jealous, or grow angry, or ever be seen doing so by men.

For since no passionate impulse of theirs toward outward things occurs at all, they are kept covered.

But being within, by themselves, and securely guarded by those things we have named, the rational faculty distinguishes and separates the worse from the better, and shows the desiring faculty to what it must cling in relation, and what it must love, and what it must turn away from and hate:

But the incensive faculty stands between these two like some grateful servant, cooperating with and ministering to their wishes and desires, rousing them to courage and to resistance against good men or wicked who intend opposition, in the contention that touches the affairs of each.

...as we have said. And a man who has acquired a mind unconfused by passionate preconceptions will prefer and love the Maker and Master of all things, and will direct the whole of his desiring faculty toward Him alone, showing it to Him, as it were, and saying:

Touch Him with holy awe, taste the undefiled sweetness, smell the spiritual myrrh, and know that none is more beautiful than He, or more delightful, or sweeter, or in every way more powerful or more glorious; indeed, none other is able to give you life, or make you incorruptible, or immortalize you.

Therefore, when through all these the desire of the man is fulfilled, then the whole incensive faculty also, blended together with the rational and the desiring, the three become one in the contemplation of the triune unity, and in the very delight of their own Master.

For then their threefold division is not recognized at all, but they are altogether one.

Whenever, then, there is a division of these -- yet they are altogether one --

Whenever, then, these faculties turn away from the One and Good alone in His simplicity toward the things of this world, for the discerning and distinguishing of wicked and good matters, then their willing, and their division of these, and their aversion to what is contrary to the divine will, is shown to be undivided.

For it is only in these matters that the movement of the incensive faculty occurs.

But lest I extend the discourse too long, and make utterable to those hunters what should not be uttered -- those accustomed to grow rich from others' possessions -- we have left these things covered in silence, for those who wish to seek them out through practical experience.

But let us return to the matter at hand.

Since, then, we have formed the body of the stature according to Christ as far as the belly and stomach, we must also ascend as far as the head, until we complete it, whole and sound, in a spiritual manner.

Let us, then, now form for this body of the spiritual stature the breast and back, shoulders, arms, hands -- and now also the neck.

And by the breast you will understand tenderheartedness, in which the breasts of loving-kindness pour forth abundantly the milk of almsgiving to orphans, widows, and all others, according to the holy one who says:

Brothers, put on a heart of compassion.

Whence this milk is supplied to the breasts, and how it is produced, I will leave you to seek out.

And the back is to bear willingly upon oneself the burdens of others, and to carry about in oneself the marks of the Lord Jesus, as the Apostle says:

You who are strong ought to bear the burdens of the weak. And again:

For I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

And the Lord, through the prophet, says:

I gave my back to the scourges, He says, and my cheeks to blows.

Even if the occasion for suffering these things does not come, we must always hope for it and be prepared for it at every hour.

And the shoulders and arms are the capacity for endurance and steadfastness in temptations and afflictions, by which and with which the hands are able to work.

And by hands I mean the active and eager readiness for every obedience and the performance of God's commandments, which no one can ever acquire apart from much endurance and steadfastness.

And besides these, this stature also has spiritual hands, by which it comforts the fainthearted, raises up those who have fallen, binds up the broken, pouring oil and wine upon them; with which it also does, daily, many other things in word and deed toward the neighbor, and by which it touches the very hem of the Master's garment, and offers bread to its Lord, and puts the cup into His hands.

And thus it feeds Him who with a mere nod feeds every living breath -- the food which He said He desires and longs for:

because He also will make him recline in the kingdom of heaven -- He who rides upon the Cherubim -- and, girding Himself according to His unfailing promise, will minister to him.

And the neck of this body is unwavering hope.

Behold, then, with the help and grace of God, we have completed the whole body -- of a perfect man, as I think -- having all its members whole.

There remains, then, for this body only the head.

But perhaps you have supposed that we have said everything, and have lacked nothing whatsoever, as though the things already spoken were indeed sufficient for the completeness of virtue and the salvation of the soul.

But this is not so, it is not so.

For just as the body, having all its members but deprived of the head, is altogether dead and inactive; and again the head, apart from the rest of the whole body, is indeed by itself a head, but being separated from it is unable to show its own workings -- so understand that the same thing happens also to the spiritual body constructed by us through the cooperation of the Holy Spirit; and that all the things we have said, without the head, are stale and useless, even though many, having accomplished the labor of these and a partial acquisition of them, are foolishly disposed as though they had achieved the whole, and being dead, do not perceive of what good they have been deprived.

For although we have narrated the things said in a divided manner, for the sake of example and clearer knowledge, yet without the head and the natural connection of these things to one another, it is impossible for them to be constituted and made strong.

For just as the body of a small infant, if deprived of its own head, could never grow, but only when both are united and receiving nourishment from one another -- the body through the mouth, and the head in turn through the moisture sent up from the body -- thus is the whole man nourished and grows; understand the same in the same way concerning the spiritual body, once the head has been set upon it, and you will see it come to pass.

And that I may make this clearer for you, as I recapitulate what has been said, listen carefully.

You have, then, faith and humility as the foundations of the virtues, and upon these all the virtues I have already mentioned, built up; through which, evidently, the whole body was constructed and completed as far as the neck, which is hope:

which rises above the rest of the body, but by itself alone, not being joined to the head, has died along with the rest of the body's members, having no means by which to receive the breath or respiration of the Spirit that gives life and moves the body and its members, nor to partake at all of incorruptible food.

For this very reason, lest we leave the measure of the stature of Christ incomplete, we set holy love upon it as its very head -- not having conceived or contrived this of ourselves, far from it, but having been taught by that Holy Spirit whom he possessed who said:

And now these three remain: faith, hope, love;

but the greatest of these is love. And again:

If I have all faith, so as to move mountains, and if I have all knowledge and understand all mysteries, and if I give away all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I am nothing profited.

For faith, through hope mediating, invisibly and imperceptibly -- I speak here of those still infants in the faith -- being made eager, and taught, and enabled by holy love, accomplishes all the aforesaid things:

And thus, little by little, all the members of the spiritual body grow, being composed, fitted together, and bound -- bone to bone and joint to joint -- by holy love.

The head of all the virtues is Christ and God, who for this reason came down to earth and became man, partaking of our earthly flesh, that He might impart His divinity to us essentially, and, having made us spiritual and rendered us incorruptible, might carry us up into the heavens.

This is the love of which the divine Apostle speaks, that it has been poured out richly in our hearts -- that is, the participation and partaking of His divinity, through which we are united to God.

Concerning this, John the Theologian also says:

Perfect love casts out fear; and that:

He who fears has not been made perfect in love. And again:

Behold what manner of love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God.

By love here he means the Holy Spirit of God, through whom we also receive our adoption as sons.

This love, then, no man has been able to see, or receive, or be joined to, unless he has kept faith in Christ, as we have said, firm and unshaken, and upon this faith has diligently built up all the aforementioned deeds:

but he who has neither beheld it, nor been joined to it, nor partaken of its sweetness, is not able to love it worthily either.

For how can one love him whom he has not seen?

For he who does not love his brother, he says, whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And again, unless one first loves Him with the whole soul, with the whole heart, according to the natural conceptions and according to the friendly love and disposition inherent in us, he is not deemed worthy to see Him.

For he who loves Me, He said, will be loved by My Father; and then He adds:

and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.

From which it is clearly shown that, if one does not first love God with the whole of his soul, and demonstrate his love for Him in the denial of himself and of the whole world, he is not deemed worthy of His manifestation in the mystical revelation of the Holy Spirit, nor does he possess Him as his own head, but he is a body dead in spiritual works, deprived of the life of all things -- Christ.

Those, then, who have been deemed worthy to be joined to Him and to possess Him as their head -- attend closely to this word, I beseech you -- themselves also become gods by grace, like unto the Son of God.

For the Father clothes them with the first robe, the garment of the Lord which He wore before the foundation of the world.

For as many, it says, as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ — clearly the Holy Spirit, which also transforms them all, in a manner befitting God, with a certain strange and ineffable and divine transformation, concerning which David says:

This is the change of the right hand of the Most High. And the disciple who leaned on Christ's breast says: Brothers, now we are children —

but it has not yet, it says, been revealed to those in the world — that is, what we shall be.

But we know, from the Spirit which he has given us, that if he is revealed we shall be like him.

And not only this, but he also graciously grants them the mind of Christ, shining above their head, revealing to them mysteries which it is not permitted for a human tongue to utter.

For it is impossible to say all things.

That whole Word of God himself, together with the Father and the Spirit, dwells in them;

each such person then becomes a temple, in the perception and knowledge of God, and at that time, speaking with boldness, cries out:

'I live no longer I, but Christ lives in me'; and again:

'When I was a child, I thought as a child, I spoke as a child, I reasoned as a child;'

'but when I became a man, I did away with the things of a child.'

'And being reviled, I bless; and being slandered, I entreat; and being persecuted, I endure' — that the power of Christ, he says, may dwell in me.

This, then, is the perfect stature of spiritual men — a stature without end;

it is hidden, and its fullness is death on behalf of Christ and his commandments, so that just as he fulfilled the whole law and gave himself up for the sake of the whole world, enduring the cross and death, praying even for those who crucified him and saying, 'Father, forgive them this sin' —

'for they do not know what they do' — so we too, for his sake and the sake of his commandments, but indeed also for the salvation of our brothers, ought to carry about in ourselves the sentence of death, so that we may not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.