Theological and Ethical Discourses 1 part 22/27

Let each of you, therefore, repent and mourn for himself, when he sees himself in such a state, because he has deprived himself of such great and so many good things, having fallen from the glory and contemplation of the King of heaven; and let him be zealous, through repentance and confession, to attain the eternal good things, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, forever:

DISCOURSE 14. () On feasts, and how one ought to keep feast, and of what the things performed at feasts are symbols, and against those who take pride in them

And concerning those who commune worthily or unworthily, and what the difference is between these:

He who is able to understand and to perceive that he entered the world naked, having been brought forth out of that which is not -- this man will recognize the One who made him, and will fear him alone, and will love him, and will serve him with his whole soul, and will in no way whatsoever prefer any visible thing to him; but knowing in full assurance that he is a stranger to all earthly things, and, one might even say, to those in heaven as well, he devotes the whole purpose of his soul to the service of him who made him

For if he is a stranger to that from which he was formed and in which he passes his life, much more is he a stranger to those things from which he is far removed, both in nature and in essence and in manner of life

But he who has recognized that he is a stranger to earthly things, and knows that he entered this theater naked and is again about to depart from it naked, how shall he not mourn?

And how shall he not weep -- not for himself alone, but also for all men of his own kind and like passions with him?

But he who loves and fears God alone, how shall he be gladdened bodily, or keep feast bodily after the manner customary among men, so ignorantly and thoughtlessly, () since the Lord himself continually says to such as these:

The world will rejoice, but you will be sorrowful;

but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world

For I will rise up in you, the inferior world being swallowed up by the life dispensed to all from my Spirit;

and when you see me, your heart will rejoice, and no one takes your joy from you

How then shall he who beholds the heavenly Master come to desire any earthly thing, or conceive anything that does not please God?

And how shall he who knows in full assurance that he himself is a stranger, naked and poor -- even though, to speak in apostolic terms, he possesses all things -- adorn himself with vanity, or be puffed up over what he does, or think great things over a multitude of candles and lamps, or over spices and myrrh-ointments, or over a gathering of people, or a well-furnished and lavish table, or boast in the attendance of friends and the presence of glorious men on earth?

For such a man -- who also knows well how to keep feast -- does not fix his mind or his sense at all upon what is happening (for this belongs to those who imagine nothing more than what is seen), but, as one present amid the things being performed, he beholds with a wise mind the things to come, and over these his heart rejoices, and he seems to be wholly present in those things, together with those who keep feast in the heavens -- not upon the multitude of the people, or the gathering of friends -- but he ever considers what comes shortly after: that these things will be extinguished, and the others will depart each to his own home, and he himself alone will be left in darkness

Do not say these things to me, nor number all the feasts; but do not even reckon these to be sufficient for you unto the salvation of your soul, nor think that your feast consists in bright garments and proud horses and costly perfumes, in candles and lamps and a multitude of people

For these things do not make the feast splendid, nor is this the true feast -- but rather symbols of a feast

...to the temple and the church of the faithful -- but if I am able to acquire for myself such lights as the sun that shines from heaven, and, instead of many lamps, to fix the stars upon the ceiling of my mind and make it a new heaven and a thing strange upon the earth; and if, further, exulting in the light of these, I should be marveled at and praised by those who have gathered -- and then, shortly after, all of them being extinguished, shall I myself be left behind in darkness?

But if today I should perfume myself and those gathered with me with sweet ointments, and tomorrow I should be filled with stench from my own flesh and its filth, what profit is there for me? Tell me, O man of the splendid feasts, and answer intelligently, if you have understanding, according to the Wise Man

Truly, nothing -- even if you keep silence, choked by the argument

For if today I shall be illumined but tomorrow darkened; or today gladdened but cast into grief tomorrow; or on this day I should enjoy health but on the next be stricken with disease -- what is my gain?

And what is the enjoyment to be had from what has been said?

"For who," he says, "has required these things at your hands?" It is not thus that Christ has ordained us to keep feast

But first I will set before you the objections of those who argue against this teaching, who speak thus: "What then?" he says.

I do not say this -- far be it -- but I even urge and counsel and agree that you should do these things very lavishly

But I want you to know the manner of it, and I now suggest to you also the very mystery itself of the feast of the faithful

This is what the things done by you symbolically signify to you

For just as the temple, this exceedingly beautiful house, is illumined by many lamps, so too the house of your soul, more precious than this temple, ought to be enlightened and illumined in a spiritual manner, with all the spiritual virtues burning and shining in you—clearly through the divine fire—so that no place in it may be left without a share of light; and the multitude of the burning lamps you behold represents for you your luminous thoughts, so that, just as each of these lamps shines, no thought may be left dark in the house of your soul, but that all of them, throughout, may ever shine, burning with the fire of the Spirit, so that the crown-like chain of the discernment of your thoughts may not be broken.

The oils that are poured out, and the compounded incenses, show you your spiritual myrrh, and they teach you that you must possess this richly within yourself.

For that which is sprinkled outwardly will be, for spiritual people, an image of the dew descending upon the mountains of Zion, and like that which comes down upon the beard of Aaron and upon the hem of his garment; while that which wells up from within, cooling the spirit like water, will become, for the one energized by the divine Spirit, a fountain flowing with waters of eternal life—being kindled and sent up as fragrant smoke, which both shines brightly and at the same time perfumes the senses with spiritual fragrance: on the one hand as light, seen by the pure in heart; on the other, as the tree of life, crucifying the desires of the flesh, filling all things with fragrance and ever gladdening only the faithful with spiritual gladness.

But indeed, these things do not stop at what has been said; rather, they also carry another intimation of spiritual teaching.

For these myrrh-oils, compounded by human hands and perfuming your senses with the fragrance of the myrrh, depict your own formation, and, as it were, wisely intimate it.

For just as the hands of perfumers fashion myrrh-oils compounded from various kinds and produce one form out of many, so too the hands of God fashioned you, wisely composed and joined together in the spiritual members of the spiritual myrrh—that is, in the gifts of the life-giving and all-working Spirit; and you must be fragrant with the sweet odor of his knowledge and wisdom, so that those who hear the words of your teaching may have the senses of their soul perfumed and rejoice with spiritual gladness.

The crowds gathered together for you, singing loudly to God, signify to you the heavenly ranks and the innumerable powers of the angels, who hymn the heavenly Master on account of your salvation.

The praise and the hymn sung through them hints at that mystical hymn which the holy angels unceasingly sing, so that you too may make yourself such a one, and, as an earthly angel, may with the immaterial mouth of your heart unceasingly hymn, in a mystical way, the God who fashioned you.

The friends and acquaintances, and those of the rulers who are present, teach you by their presence that you must, through the whole practice of the commandments and through the wealth of the virtues, become a fellow-numbered and fellow-dwelling companion of the apostles, prophets, martyrs, and all the saints.

If, celebrating in this way, you consider yourself and have become such a one as this discourse has portrayed, you are keeping a feast in what you do, celebrating spiritually, and you are keeping the feast together with the powers of the angels above.

But if it is not so, and you have not made yourself such through the practice of the commandments, what profit is there for you in keeping the feast?

Beware lest you too, like the Jews of old, hear it said: 'I will turn your feasts into mourning,' having turned your joy into sorrow.

Shall we not keep the feast bodily and with the senses at all, unless we are able to become such as you have shown us by your discourse?

'Keep the feast,' he says, 'and perform, as far as you are able, the things pertaining to the honor of God and his saints; and, if possible, call together all—kings, rulers, high priests, deacons, monks, laypeople—so that God may be glorified through all of them by your means; and their glory, since it is offered up to God from you as from one, will be reckoned to you, and you will be well-pleasing to him.'

But do not suppose that God and his saints are glorified as a result of this, or that any addition is made to their glory thereby.

'For,' he says, 'that which has been glorified was not glorified because it stood in need of its surpassing glory, nor do the saints lack earthly and human glory.'

But keep the feast so that you may obtain mercy from God through their intercession.

But do not even suppose that what takes place in this way is a true feast; rather, consider it a type and shadow and symbol of the feast.

For tell me, what fellowship could sensible and inanimate things, wholly devoid of perception, ever have with things intelligible and divine and living—or rather, to speak more properly, spiritual and living and productive of eternal life?

Let there be for you a feast, celebrated rationally and piously, not the light of lamps soon to be extinguished, but purely the lamp of your soul itself, which is the knowledge of divine and heavenly things, granted by the Holy Spirit to the mind of the Israelite.

Let this shine throughout your whole life, giving light beyond the sun's rays to all who dwell in the universal house, a pure light of the word seasoned with the salt of the Spirit, according to the commanding precept: 'Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.'

Instead of many lamps, let there be for you luminous thoughts, through which the whole world of the virtues is woven, and the manifold beauty of the spiritual temple is clearly shown to those who see rightly.

Instead of myrrh and spices, let the spiritual fragrance of the Holy Spirit perfume you, whose scent is ineffable and whose exhalation is luminous to the sense of smell.

Instead of a multitude of people, let the ranks of the holy angels come together for you, glorifying God on your account and ever rejoicing over your salvation, ascent, and progress.

Let these be beloved to you and preferred above all others, so that when you depart they may receive you beforehand into their eternal dwellings, as Abraham received Lazarus into his bosom—even if what has been said may also be understood otherwise.

Instead of a table laden with abundance of foods, let the living bread alone be yours—not the one that is sensible and appears only, but that which, in the sensible and through it, has become and is given to you as sensible: the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world, which those who eat are not merely nourished by, but are also made alive, and, living, are raised up as if from the dead.

Let this be for you delight and food, insatiable and inexhaustible; and wine—not this wine that is also seen, but that which appears as wine yet is understood to be the blood of God: ineffable light, unspeakable sweetness, eternal gladness. If you drink this worthily always, you shall never thirst forever—only in the perception of the soul, in the readiness of the peace of its powers.

If you partake of these things in perception and knowledge, you partake worthily; but if not so, then you eat and drink altogether unworthily.

If you have partaken in pure contemplation of what you have partaken, behold, you have become worthy of such a table; but if you have not become worthy, you will not be joined, in no way will you be united to God.

Let not those who partake of the divine mysteries unworthily suppose that through them they are simply thus joined and united to the invisible God; for this will in no way be theirs, nor shall it ever come to pass.

For only those who, by partaking of the divine flesh of the Lord, are also counted worthy through spiritual contact to see and taste, with the spiritual eye and mouth, the revelation of the invisible Godhead, know that the Lord is good—those who eat and drink at once not only sensible bread sensibly, but also God together in the same act spiritually, being nourished in a twofold perception, the one visibly, the other invisibly, are united in both respects to Christ, who is twofold in his natures, becoming of one body with him and fellow-partakers of his glory and Godhead.

For thus those who worthily, and with a knowing contemplation of the mystery, eat of this bread and drink of this cup, with a soul and heart perceptive of it, are united to God; but those who do this unworthily are void of the gift of the Holy Spirit, nourishing only the body, but not also their own soul.

But do not be troubled, beloved, on hearing the truth declared to you by us.

For if you confess that the flesh of the Lord is itself the bread of life and gives life, and know that his blood also gives life to those who partake of it, and becomes, in the one who drinks it, a fountain of water leaping up into eternal life, then tell me, how is it that you, partaking of these, add nothing further to your soul, but even if perhaps you feel some small joy, you remain again after a little while just as you were before, having no addition of life in yourself, nor a fountain welling up, nor seeing any light whatsoever?

For this bread, to those who have not gone beyond sense-perception, appears sensibly as a morsel, but spiritually it is an uncontainable and unapproachable light; so too the wine likewise is itself light, life, fire, and living water.

...him within you, as the prophet received him: if you have drunk the Master's blood as leaping and speaking water—yet if you have come to be in contemplation and participation of none of these things at all, how do you suppose that you have become a sharer of life?

And how do you think you have touched the unapproachable fire, or how do you suppose that you have wholly partaken of the eternal light?

By no means has this come to pass in you at all, since you remain imperceptive with regard to such things; rather, the light shines upon you while you remain blind, the fire warms you but has not touched you, life has overshadowed you but has not been united to you, the living water has passed through the channel of your soul as through a streambed, since it found in you no worthy receptacle.

Thus receiving in this way, and thus touching the untouchable, and merely supposing that you eat, you remain not receiving, not eating, having nothing at all within yourself.

For the unapproachable Word, the bread that comes down from heaven, is not contained sensibly; rather he himself contains, and touches, and is united without confusion to those who are worthy and well prepared to receive him.

If in this way you keep the feast, and in this way also partake of the divine mysteries, your whole life will be one single feast—or rather not even a feast, but the occasion of a feast—and one Passover: the passage and departure from things seen to things understood, where every shadow and every type and the present symbols cease, and, being pure, we shall purely and eternally enjoy the most pure Victim, in the Father, God, and the Spirit of one substance, ever beholding Christ and being beheld by him, being with Christ, reigning together with Christ, than whom nothing is greater in the kingdom of the heavens—to whom belongs all glory, honor, and worship, together with the Father and his all-holy and life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the endless ages of ages. Amen.

LOGOS 15. Concerning stillness, and what kind of work he who perseveres manfully in it ought to hold fast to.

Desiring to say a few things about the most perfect of the virtues, I beseech you, open your ears to me, you who love the measure of this virtue and are preparing yourselves, through progress and the ascent along the path of the other virtues, to climb up to its height—directing your mind, that is, with attention to what is said—so that, having been taught its work by this discourse, you may hasten, in your longing for its worth and its riches, to present yourselves worthy for the reception and the practice of it.

I will begin, then, from this point, and I will make the beginning of the discourse for the lover of this virtue in summary form as follows.

Let, then, the one who practices stillness, sitting alone in his cell, become like the protomartyr Thecla; for she, sitting at the window and attending to Paul's teaching—having, that is, gone out of herself with respect to worldly affairs and bodily necessities (for, it says, she would not withdraw, but, clinging to the window like a spider, would not rise up either to eat or to drink, but kept listening to Paul)—pursued him when he had withdrawn, using flight alone, and, abandoning parents and betrothed and everything, sought him and ran after him in her longing, unable to bear remembering anyone else at all except Paul.

For the longing for Paul so mastered her that, rolling on the ground in the place where Paul sat teaching, she kept kissing the very spot where his feet had stood.

Let none of these things seem to you to have been said in vain; rather, if you have not found their meaning, seek, and you shall find.

Let him become, if he wishes, also like the harlot, spiritually holding the feet of the Lord and kissing them and wetting them with tears, looking to no one else but him who is able to forgive his sins.

Let him become also like the handmaid, whose eyes are upon the hands of her mistress, himself too gazing unblinkingly upon the hands of his Lord and God.

Let him become also like a bride, being united in the bridal chamber with Christ the Bridegroom, lying down and rising up together with him unto eternal life—or rather, ever abiding in him, and bearing about within himself him who abides in him.

Let him become, if he is able, also like one of the rulers who stand beside the earthly king within his bedchamber, conversing with him familiarly and mystically, speaking face to face with his Master.

Let the one practicing stillness become like those who went up with Jesus onto Mount Tabor, and who beheld the flashing splendor and the transformation of his garments and the light of his face; who saw the luminous cloud and heard the paternal voice saying, 'This is my beloved Son,' and, being astounded, fell prone upon their faces, so that he too may be able to say, as Peter did, 'Lord, it is good for us to be here.'

'Let us make three tabernacles'—for you, and for your Father, and for your Holy Spirit, the one kingdom—as an eternal dwelling place for soul and body and mind, renewing these through purification and building them up unto a height through the manifold variety of the virtues.

Or let him become like those who were then sitting in the upper room in Jerusalem, he too awaiting the power from on high, or receiving the Paraclete who came upon them as they did, and, as though filled with new wine, being so reckoned by carnal-minded people, and as though boasting and exalting himself beyond his own nature, being so accounted by them, on account of bringing forth new things and interpreting old teachings, and speaking in tongues, and overturning the arguments of those set against the teaching of the Spirit.

Let him become also like Moses on the summit of the mountain, going up alone, and himself entering into the cloud, hidden from the eyes of others; if he becomes such a one, he will not see only the hind parts, but will be made manifest, in a knowing way, to the face of God, and, seeing God himself alone and being seen by him, and hearing his voice, he will first be initiated into the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, and then thereafter he will legislate for others; he will be enlightened, and will enlighten others with the light of knowledge; he will be shown mercy, and then he will show mercy.

This one asks and receives, and having received, imparts to those who ask of him; he is loosed from the bond of evils, and looses others—and only in this way does he himself benefit.

Let the one who rightly practices stillness become like those within, who, with the doors shut for fear of the Jews, were sitting, and, beholding Jesus entering—or rather, since he is everywhere and coexists within them—having asked for the peace that he gives, let him receive it; and let him also receive, with fear and trembling, the Holy Spirit as he breathes it upon him.

But let him look carefully and feel out well, with the intelligent hands of the mind and with the perceptions of the soul, whether this is indeed he who is God over all.

For he will not be angered at being scrutinized by him; rather, welcoming his praiseworthy caution, he will say something like this to him: 'Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your heart?'

'Peace be to you; I am he; do not be afraid.'

'Behold my glory of the Godhead; touch, and know that it is I myself; taste, and see that he who is darkness, and who transforms himself into an angel of light in appearance but not in truth, neither possesses, nor indeed will produce in you, goodness and sweetness and joy and freedom and a state of calm and spiritual perception and illumination of soul—such as you see me to be, both of these things at once, and working them in you.'

All these things, then, the one who practices stillness ought not merely to understand as spoken in words, but ought also to see each one of them, daily, being accomplished in deed in himself.

But if he does not sit in his cell conducting himself in this way, what profit is there in enclosing his body within its walls?

The mind is immaterial and incorporeal; not held fast by walls, but by the divine Spirit, it stands firmly established according to nature, and converses with God.

The one, then, who sits alone in his cell—what else ought he to do, if he does not precisely know the things we have said, and does not have these as his spiritual and continual work?

For the one who has departed from the commandments and has ceased bodily from works, if he does not know how to work spiritually, is altogether idle in both respects.

If, then, idleness is an evil, the one who conforms to it is truly sinning, since the one who is skilled in spiritual labor is not, on this account, hindered with respect to the actions performed through the body for the fulfillment of God's commandments—but rather is greatly assisted toward these, and performs them more easily—whereas the one who displays his skill only through outward works, that is, who pursues asceticism, if he ceases from these, is no longer able to work even in spiritual things.

That he carries the tools and the material in his hands, but being inexperienced in the art he is unable to fashion and complete the work with them, but his labor proves weak and fruitless.

How many, if you can say, have been as eager to weep as the harlot was, yet did not receive forgiveness as she did?

How many have gone up onto Mount Tabor, and still go up even to this day, yet have in no way beheld the Lord who was transfigured there — not because Jesus Christ is not altogether present there, for he is present, but because they are not worthy to be beholders of his divinity?

How many of the Jews entered into the house where the apostles were sitting, yet none of them received the Paraclete?

How many interpret the Scriptures, yet are wholly ignorant of him who speaks in the Scriptures?

How many have breathed their last in caves and mountains, yet have not become so surpassingly worthy that the world was not worthy of them, but instead — O the depth of your judgments, Lord! — have been numbered together with the world?

How many have practiced stillness and now practice it, yet do not even know the meaning of its very name, much less can speak of the mystery that is in stillness?

For the knowledge of God is not given from external stillness, as some wrongly understand the verse, 'Be still, and know that I am God'; rather, it is from the knowledge of God that stillness comes to be in the one who contends lawfully and well.

For if we call abstention from works 'leisure,' and idleness 'stillness,' and prefer these to the labor of the commandments, how shall we fulfill the law of Christ and the ordinance of the apostles — he saying, 'Whatever you wish that men should do to you, do also likewise to them,' and again, 'If then I, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet,' and again, 'He who wishes to be first among you, let him be last of all and servant of all and minister of all'; while another says, 'Let him who is idle not eat,' and elsewhere, 'I have shown you all things, and how, by laboring, you must support the weak,' and, 'These hands ministered to me and to those who were with me'?

And when they have insatiably delighted in such a good, and have been confirmed, according to the divine Apostle, that 'the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed,' and that 'each one shall receive his reward according to his own labor,' they are not content with their previous contests, but again proceed from that rest and such delight to further struggles — according to what was said by the Theologian, 'from stillness to the word' — not for themselves, even though also for themselves, but out of ambition for God, whom they desire and by whom they are desired in return.

No longer striking and being struck, nor engaging their enemies in the former manner, they are terrible to them by their very appearance alone; for as soon as they appear, their enemies turn to flight, while those who had been wounded by them are immediately healed, bound up and anointed by them, and taught how one must approach such enemies, and with what sort of weapons and engines.

If the one who practices stillness, and the one who presides over others, and the one who teaches others, does not know these things point by point, then he who seems to practice stillness is not truly practicing it, but sits in ignorance, having merely enclosed his body; nor is he who seems to preside truly presiding, but, walking in a way he does not know — or rather, outside the way — he will cast down, together with himself, those who follow him into the precipice of eternal fire; nor is he who seems to teach a teacher of others, but a liar and a deceiver, because he does not have within himself the true wisdom, our Lord Jesus Christ.