December 20, 1998
Directions on the Life
in Christ -- pt. II
Today’s reading will continue with St. Anthony's
"Directions on Life in Christ" which we began in the previous reading.
BEGIN: Striving to attain perfect purity, it is needful to bear the labours of repentance
both in soul and body, harmoniously and in equal measure. When the mind is granted such
grace that it can enter upon its struggle against passions without self-pity or
self-indulgence, it receives suggestions, directions and comforts of the Spirit, with
Whose help it can successfully repulse from the soul all impure impacts that come from the
lusts of the heart. Combining with the mind or the spirit of man, this Spirit helps a man
in his decision strictly to fulfil the commandments he has learned, by directing him to
repulse from the soul all passions, both those which mix with it from the side of the body
and those of its own, which exist in it independently of the body. He teaches a man to
keep the body in order - the whole of it, from head to foot; eyes - to look with purity;
ears - to listen in peace (or to peaceful things) and not to take pleasure in gossip,
slander and criticism; tongue - to say only what is good, weighing every word, and
allowing nothing impure or passionate to become mixed with its speech; hands - to be moved
primarily for lifting in prayer and for acts of mercy and generosity; stomach - to be kept
within suitable bounds in food and drink, allowing only as much as is needful to support
the body, not letting lust and gluttony lead it beyond that measure; feet - to walk
righteously, according to the will of God, aiming at the service of good deeds. In this
way the whole of the body becomes accustomed to every good and, submitting to the power of
the Holy Spirit, gradually changes, so that in the end it begins to participate, in a
certain measure, in the qualities of the spiritual body, which it is to receive at the
resurrection of the just.
. . . With all my strength I pray to God for you, that He may send into your hearts that
fire, which our Lord Jesus Christ has come to send on the earth (Luke 12:49), that you may
have power to govern rightly your intentions and senses and to distinguish good from evil.
When the wind blows steadily, every sailor can think highly of himself and boast of his
skill; but only a sudden change of wind reveals the skill of experienced helmsmen.
God guides all by the action of His grace. Therefore do not be lazy or lose heart, but
call to God day and night to entreat God the Father in His loving-kindness to send you
help from above to teach you what to do. Do not give sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to
your eyelids (Psalms 131:4) in your zeal to bring yourself to God as a pure offering, in
order to see Him; for without holiness no one can see God, as the Apostle says (Hebrews
12:14).
He who does not with his whole heart conceive hatred of all that belongs to the material
and earthly flesh and to all its movements and actions, and who does not lift his mind on
high to the Father of all, cannot receive salvation. But a man who does this will move our
Lord to mercy by his labours and will be given an invisible transubstantial fire, which
will burn up all the passions in him and completely purify his mind. Then the Spirit of
our Lord Jesus Christ will come to dwell in him and will abide there, teaching him to
worship the Father aright. But as long as we take pleasure in our material flesh we shall
be enemies of God, His angels and all the saints. I beseech you in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, do not neglect your life and your salvation, do not let this short moment of
time rob you of eternity which has no end, nor this material body deprive you of the
kingdom of light, which has no bounds and which no words can describe. Truly my soul is
troubled and my spirit freezes at the fact that, although we are given freedom to choose
and do the deeds of the saints, we are intoxicated by passions, as though drunk with wine,
and do not want to lift our minds on high and seek greater glory, do not want to imitate
the deeds of the saints nor follow in their footsteps, to become heirs of their words and
receive with them an eternal heritage.
How many myriads there are of evil demons and how numberless are their varied wiles! . . .
They urge us to speak evil of one another, or, speaking sweet words, to conceal bitterness
in our hearts, to criticise the outer aspect of our brother, while we harbour a wild beast
in ourselves, to quarrel among ourselves and oppose one another, wishing to have our own
way and appear as the most upright. Every man who enjoys sinful thoughts falls willingly
when he welcomes (as in sympathy with) the suggestions of the enemies and when he expects
to justify himself solely by his visible deeds, while within he is the abode of the spirit
of wickedness, who teaches him every evil. The body of such a man will be full of shameful
uncleanness - for he becomes a prey to devilish passions, which he does not repulse from
himself. Demons are not visible bodies, but we become their bodies when our souls accept
dark thoughts from them. For, having accepted these thoughts, we accept the demons
themselves and make them bodily manifest. END
from "Early Fathers From the Philokalia," by E. Kadloubovsky and G.E.H.
Palmer, (London: Faber and Faber, 1954), pp. 41-44.
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