Уривок із житія преподобного отця нашого Максима на ім’я Капсокаливіт

An excerpt from the life of our venerable father Maximus named Kapsokalivitus, the divine Gregory the Sinaite of St. Maximus and, talking with him, said to him, among other things, the following: “I beg you, my holy father, tell me, do you keep the prescribed prayer?” And he bowed his head, smiled and answered: “I will not hide from you, honest father, that a miracle of the Mother of God happened to me. From my youth I had great faith in the Lady of my Mother of God, I prayed to her with tears to give me the grace of a conditional prayer. Once I came with tears to her temple as usual, fervently begging her for this. I began to kiss the divine image with fear and here I felt the warmth that fell into my heart. It did not burn my insides, but on the contrary, it sweetened and touched my soul. From then on, Father, my heart began to enjoy the memory of my Jesus and the Mother of God, and this prayer never stopped in my heart.” And the divine Gregory said: “Tell me, saint, when you prayed this prayer “Lord, Jesus Christ…”, did you feel any change, or rapture, or some other fruit of prayer and the Holy Spirit?” The divine Maximus answered: “For this, father, I went to a desert place and always wished for silence, in order to obtain a more generous and fuller fruit of prayer, that is, divine love and rapture of the mind towards the Lord.” Saint Gregory then spoke: “I beg you, father, tell me, have you obtained what you are talking about?” And the divine Maxim bowed his head again and, smiling, said: “Give me food and do not look for deception.” Then Saint Gregory said to him: “Oh, if I too fall into such a delusion, Saint. But I beg you, tell me clearly: during prayer, when he is absorbed in God, what does he see then with conditioned eyes, can he carry prayer with his heart?” And St. Maximus answered: “It cannot at all. When during prayer the grace of the Holy Spirit comes and restrains the mind, then the prayer stops, because the mind is possessed by the coming of the Holy Spirit and cannot spread its power, but remains inactive and obeys only the Holy Spirit, where He leads it: either into the supernatural space of divine and ineffable light, or into another contemplation with indescribable rapture, or into divine conversation. That is The Comforter – the Holy Spirit – gives consolation to everyone according to his merit and according to his desire. And this, of which I am talking, can be clearly seen in the prophets or apostles, who were pleased to see such visions, even though people mocked them and considered them drunkards. The prophet Isaiah said: “I saw the Lord on a high and exalted throne, and above Him stood seraphim” (Isa. 6, 1). And Stephen, the first martyr, saw “open heaven and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7, 56). Therefore, even today, the servants of Christ like to see various visions in which others do not believe, and consider them to be false, and those who see such visions.I am very surprised that those blinded by the soul do not believe in the grace of the Spirit, which the prophet Joel once foretold, saying in God’s name: “I will pour out my spirit on all flesh … they will prophesy” (Acts 2, 28). The same grace Christ gives now and will give until the end, as he promised, to his faithful servants. When such grace is in someone, it does not show him this ordinary and sensual world, but secretly teaches him what he had never seen or imagined before. Then the mind secretly learns high and secret mysteries, which, according to the divine Paul, the human eye cannot see and the mind cannot grasp with its own powers (1 Cor. 2, 9). So that you understand how our mind sees them, listen attentively to what I will tell you: when the wax lies far from the fire, it is hard and can be held in the hands, but when it is thrown into the fire, it melts, the fire ignites it, it becomes active and becomes like light; all of him becomes so in this flame and it is impossible for him not to melt in the fire and become liquid like water. Likewise, the human mind, while it is not united with God, ponders on its own strength, and when it is united with the fire of the Godhead and the Holy Spirit, then it becomes completely possessed by this divine light, and becomes light itself, and is engaged in the flame of the Holy Spirit, and is filled with the divine mind, and it is impossible for him in the flame of the Godhead to think about his own or about what he wants. Then Saint Gregory tells him: “There are other signs similar to these – signs of delusion.” And that great Maximus answered: “The signs of delusion are one, and the signs of grace are different. The cunning spirit of delusion, having come near, acts on the mind and makes it angry, cruel, and darkens the heart, instills fear, and fear, and pride, makes the eyes fierce, disturbs the brain, causes tremors in the whole body, shows in dreams in the eyes a light that is not bright and impure, but beautiful, makes the mind crazy and demonic, prompts the tongue to utter words inappropriate and blasphemous. To whom the spirit of delusion comes, he is very furious and angry, then there is no fragrance of humility or prayer or true tears in him; he begins to boast of his virtues, falls into vanity, fearlessly joins the bow with his passions, and finally goes completely mad and comes to complete destruction. Let us get rid of this delusion with your prayers to the Lord. And the signs of grace are as follows: the Holy Spirit comes and focuses the mind, making it attentive and humble, gives it the memory of death, its sins and eternal torments, makes the soul moved and weeping, and fills the eyes with gentleness and tears. The closer he comes to a person, the more he calms the soul and consoles it with the holy passions of our Lord Jesus Christ and His immeasurable love for man, and gives the condition lofty and unmistakable visions. The first happens according to God’s immeasurable power, because God created all things sustaining with a single word, so that there would be. The second is an immeasurable force that holds everything, manages everything and provides for it. The third is the immeasurable Holy Trinity and the incomprehensible immensity of God’s being.And then the mind captures the divine light and illuminates its divine mind, and the heart becomes completely quiet and produces the fruits of the divine Spirit: joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, mercy (Ch. 5, 22) and divine humility according to the model of Christ, which contains everything. The soul accepts his gaiety indescribably”. Hearing this, St. Gregory the Sinaite fell in love and was surprised at what the divine Maximus told him, and already called him not a man, but an earthly angel.