March
10, 2002
"Directions
in Spiritual Work - Part I"
-- Sts. Barsanuphius and John
We would like to recommend a wonderful book for
your spiritual bookshelf! It is simply exquisite! Beautifully bound and
printed, and elegantly typecast and laid out, this book is pure pleasure
for a lover of fine books, but a treasure for lovers of spiritual
wisdom. It is called, "Counsels from the Holy Mountain," a
selection of letters and homilies of Elder Ephraim of Mount Athos, a
true Desert Father of the twentieth century. With over 400 beautiful
pages of spiritual riches, it will provide you with many years of
spiritual nourishment. You can order "Counsels
from the Holy Mountain" on-line or directly from the St.
Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery, 4784 N. St. Joseph's Way, Florence,
Arizona, 85232, USA.. Order this one on-line or direct from the
publisher -- you'll definitely be glad you did!
Now, on to our reading!
Sts. Barsanuphius and John lived in the sixth
century as fellow spiritual strugglers in Palestinian monasteries and in
isolation in the desert. We are blessed today to have a wonderful
collection of their teachings on the spiritual life which should be
studied by every serious student of the Christian faith. St.
Barsanuphius spent some fifty years in his cell, forbidding himself the
sight of another person. A great ascetic, he was brought three loaves of
bread a week by the monastery purser, but often did not eat even that.
St. John was his equal in asceticism and was blessed with the additional
gift of prophecy.
The book written by these two fathers contains
850 answers to various questions asked by a wide variety of people. Some
were written by St. John, but the vast majority were give by St.
Barsanuphius. He did not actually write the answers down himself, but
dictated them to Abba Serid. When the saint first began to give his
answers to questions, he asked Abba Serid to write it down. Not
expecting to retain in his memory all the words said to him by the great
desert father, Abba Serid was in a quandary how to write down so many
words and expected the saint to tell him to bring paper and ink in order
to take dictation as he listened. By his gift of clairvoyance, St.
Barsanuphius read the secret thought of Serid. His face became like a
flame and he said to Serid, "Go, write it down and fear not. Even
if I say innumerable words for you to write down, know that the Holy
Spirit will not you write one single word more or less than what I have
said, even though you wish it, but will guide your hand in writing down
everything correctly and in right order."
Obviously, we cannot put all 850 of their answers
in our newsletter, but we will share some of our favorites with you over
the next couple of newsletters.
DIRECTIONS IN SPIRITUAL WORK
-- Dispose yourself to give thanks to God for
everything, hearkening to the word of the Apostle: "In every thing
give thanks" (I Thessalonians 5:18). Whether you are assailed by
tribulation, or suffer want or persecution, or have to bear physical
hardships and infirmities, give thanks to God for all that befalls for
"we must through tribulation enter into the kingdom of god"
(Acts 14:22). So let not your soul be assailed by doubt, nor your heart
weaken; but remember the word of the Apostle: "Though our outward
man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day" (II
Corinthians 4:16). If you do not endure sufferings, you will not be able
to mount the cross and share its fruit which brings salvation.
-- While the ship is at sea, it is a prey to
dangers and winds. When it reaches a calm and peaceful harbor, it no
longer fears dangers, calamities or winds, but remains safe. In the same
way, while you are among men you must expect tribulation, dangers and
mental buffetings. But when you reach the harbor of silence prepared for
you, then you will have no fear.
-- You have no peace from thoughts, which impel
you to trouble others, and in turn to be troubled by others. But know,
my brother, that if we offend by word or deed, we are thereby ourselves
offended a hundredfold. By longsuffering in all things and refrain from
letting your own will enter into anything. Carefully examine your
thoughts lest they infect your heart with deadly poison (ill temper) and
make you take a gnat for a camel, a pebble for a cliff, and lest you
become like a man who has a beam in his own eye but beholds the mote in
the eye of another.
-- You call yourself a sinner, but in effect you
show that you do not feel yourself to be one. A man, who admits himself
to be a sinner and the cause of many evils, disagrees with no one,
quarrels with no one, is not wroth with anyone, but considers every man
better and wiser than himself. If you are a sinner, why do you reproach
your neighbor and accuse him of bringing afflictions upon you? It seems
that you and I are as yet far from regarding ourselves as sinners. Look
brother, how base we are: we speak with our lips only; our actions show
something different. Why, when we oppose thoughts, do we not receive the
strength to repulse them? Because, previously, we have surrendered to
criticizing our neighbor and this has weakened our spiritual strength.
So we accuse our brother, being ourselves guilty. Put all your thoughts
in the Lord, saying: God knows what is best, and you will be at peace
and, little by little, will be given the strength to endure.
-- Churn the milk and you will bring forth
butter; but if you wring the nose, you will bring forth blood (Proverbs
30:33). If a man wants to bend a bough or a vine into a hoop, he bends
it gradually, lest it break, for if he suddenly bends it too much, it
snaps. (This refers to strict measures of abbots and excessive
asceticism of monks.)
-- Do you wish to be free of afflictions and not
to be burdened by them? Expect greater ones, and you will find peace.
Remember Job and other saints, and the afflictions they suffered.
Acquire their patience, and comfort will come to your spirit. Be of good
courage, stand firm and pray.
-- While we have time, let us have attention in
ourselves and learn to be silent. If you wish to be untroubled by
anything, be dead in relation to every man, and you will find peace. I
speak here touching thoughts, touching all kinds of activities,
relationships with men and cares.
-- You wrote me asking me to pray for your sins.
And I will say the same: pray for my sins. For it is said: "As ye
would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise" (Luke
6:31). Although I am accursed and lower than all men, I continue to do
so as much as I can, according to the commandment: "Pray one for
another, that ye may be healed" (James 5:16). END
Kadloubovsky, E., and Palmer, G.E.H., trans., "Writings
from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart," (London: Faber and
Faber, 1983, pp. 346 - 350.
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