A Discourse by Theoleptos, Metropolitan of Philadelphia, Explaining the Hidden Activity in Christ and Briefly Describing the Labor of the Monastic Order

The monastic order – is a tree with abundant leaves and fruits, and its root is estrangement from everything bodily, the branches are the passionlessness of the soul and the lack of desire for the things we have left. And the fruit is the accumulation of virtues and deifying love, and through them continuous joy. “The fruit of the Spirit,” says the Apostle, “is love, joy, peace, longsuffering” (Gal. 5, 22). Separation from the world grants refuge in Christ. And the world is attachment to sensible things and the flesh. He who estranges himself from them for the sake of knowing the truth becomes Christ’s, acquiring His love, for the sake of which he cast away everything in this world and bought the pearl of great price – Christ. You clothed yourself in Christ by saving baptism, received the brightness of spiritual grace and the nobility of creation. But what happened? Or, rather, what befell man through his foolishness? By attachment to the world, he changed the divine features; by sympathy for the flesh, he ruined the image of God in himself; the darkness of passionate thoughts darkened the mirror of the soul – the intelligible Sun – Christ. You nailed your soul to the fear of God. You understood the darkening of worldly disorder. You understood the dispersion of the mind, which vanity brings into the mind. You saw the vain anxiety that people experience due to a highly troublesome life. You were wounded by the arrow of desire for stillness. You desired peace of mind, for you learned what the Psalmist says: “Seek peace and pursue it” (Ps. 34, 15). You desired the rest of that place, for you heard the words: “Return, my soul, to your rest” (Ps. 116, 7). Because of this, you remembered the nobility that you received in baptism by grace and voluntarily cast away through passions, and remembering, decided to restore it of your own free will, which you did in deed. That is, you came to this sacred school and clothed yourself in the honorable garments of repentance, and promised to remain in the monastery until death. Now you have made a second covenant with God. The first covenant was when you entered this life, and the second was when you approached the end of this life. Then Christ accepted you through piety, and now you have united with Christ through repentance. Then you found grace, and now you confessed your guilt. Then you were an infant and did not realize the dignity you received, and only later, when you grew up, did you comprehend the full greatness of this gift and that you wear a bridle on your lips; but now, in full consciousness, you know the power of this vow. See to it that you do not despise this promise also, for you will be like a broken vessel, cast out forever into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Except for the path of repentance, there is no other way that leads to salvation. Listen to what the Prophet David says to you: “You have made the Most High your refuge” (Ps. 90, 9). And if you chose the narrow way for the sake of Christ, then no evil will come to you that you accumulated in worldly life. When you wish to repent, you cannot be accompanied by concern for money, pleasures, honor, ornaments, or incontinence of the senses. “The lawless shall not stand before Your eyes” (Ps. 5, 6) – that is, the wandering of the mind, the captivity of the mind, the weakening of frequent thoughts, and any other voluntary deviation and worry. You will not meet the love of parents, brothers, relatives, friends, and like-minded people, and you will not have to see and speak with them inappropriately and uselessly. When you love renunciation of them in body and soul, then the wound of pain will not approach your soul, and the arrow of sorrow will not wound your heart or sadden your face. Those who renounce pleasures and reject the desire for all the things mentioned blunt the sharpness of sorrow. Christ appears in the soul of the ascetic and grants the heart unspeakable joy, and no sweet or evil things of this world will take away spiritual joy from the heart. Good thoughts, and the memory of salvation, and divine understanding, and words of wisdom, serving the ascetic, keep him in all his ways, which are in God. Therefore, he treads upon every irrational desire and arrogant wrath, as upon an asp and a basilisk, and tramples anger like a lion, and sweetness like a serpent. And all this because the ascetic stopped hoping in men and in the things mentioned, but turned his hope to God, and shines with divine understanding, and always intellectually calls upon God for help. “Because he has set his hope on Me, I will deliver him,” says the Lord, “I will protect him, because he knows My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him, and [not only deliver him from oppressors, but also] glorify him” (Ps. 90, 14-15). Do you see how ascetics perform their struggle for the sake of God and what honors they receive from everywhere? Hasten to accomplish this calling in deed. And when you have secluded yourself in body, rejecting also the knowledge of things, and have changed your clothing, then become a stranger and turn away from words and from relatives. For if you do not stop wandering around external things, you will not rise against those who sit within. If you do not defeat those who fight openly, you will not conquer the invisible attackers either. But when you cease external vanity and reject internal thoughts, then the mind will rise in the deeds and words of the Spirit. Then, instead of socializing with relatives and friends, you will perform deeds of virtues, and instead of vain words born of worldly conversation, you will enlighten your soul and teach it the divine words that arise in the mind. The relaxation of the senses becomes fetters for the soul, and fetters for the senses grant freedom to the soul. When the sun sets, night comes, and when Christ departs from the soul, it is enveloped by the darkening of passions, and intelligible beasts tear it apart. The sun rises – and the beasts hide in their dens. Christ shines on the firmament of the mind that prays – and every custom of this world will depart, and the love of the flesh will pass, and the mind will go forth to its work, that is, to divine instruction, until evening, not determining the action of the spiritual law by time and fulfilling it in measure, but until the end of earthly life, until the soul departs from the body. Remembering this, the Prophet also says: “How I love Your law, O Lord! It is my study all day long” (Ps. 118, 97) – understanding by ‘all day long’ the duration of the earthly life of every person. Therefore, refrain from external conversations and rise against internal thoughts, until you find the place of pure prayer and the house in which Christ dwells, enlightening and delighting you with knowledge and His visitation. He will make joyful the tribulations you endure for His sake, and will teach you not to accept worldly sweetnesses, for they are bitter as wormwood. Winds stir up the waves of the sea, and until the winds subside, the waves will not lie down, and the sea will not be quieted. In the same way, evil spirits raise in the soul of the negligent memories of parents, brothers, relatives, friends, banquets, feasts, spectacles, and other sweet delusions, and push them to conversations through sight, tongue, and body, so that you are vainly exhausted both at this time and later, so that when you are alone in your cell, what was seen and heard is restored in your memory. Then the life of a monk has no benefit, for the memory of worldly deeds is imprinted in his thoughts, just as footprints are left in the snow. If we feed the beasts, when will we starve them? And if in deeds and thoughts we always learn to befriend irrational things and irrational customs, when will we mortify the wisdom of the flesh? A footprint in the snow melts when the sun warms it, or is washed away by water. In the same way, the memories of voluptuous inclinations and actions are destroyed by prayer to Christ shining in the heart, and by an abundant rain of tears. If a monk acts foolishly, how will he erase the images in his mind? The activity of virtues is accomplished in the body when you leave the custom of this world. Good memories come and divine words dwell in the soul when, by frequent prayers with hot contrition performed in the mind, you erase the memory of your previous deeds. The enlightenment of the memory of God with faith and contrition of heart erases evil memories like a razor. Imitate the wisdom of the bee: bees, seeing a swarm of wasps around their hive, do not fly out of it and avoid harm. Under wasps, understand worldly conversations. Fleeing from them as carefully as possible, remain in your monastic cell. And from it, try to enter the inner guardhouse of the soul, where Christ’s house is, in which you will see peace, joy, and silence. Christ – the intelligible sun – radiates these gifts and bestows them as a reward to the soul that receives Him with faith and love of the beautiful. Sitting in your cell, remember God, detaching the mind from everything; fall down with it silently before God, pour out before Him all that is in your heart, and cleave to Him with love. The memory of God is the contemplation of God that draws the sight and desire of the mind to itself and enlightens it with its light. The mind, turning to God when all thoughts that bring images cease, contemplates Him without form and is enlightened by that inaccessible glory. And though it does not know Him whom it contemplates, due to His incomprehensibility, it understands that He is truly the Existing, and the One, and above all. And with the wealth of grace that flows from Him, it nourives its zeal and, showing its swiftness, is deemed worthy of unceasing and blessed rest. These are the signs of zealous memory. And prayer is the conversation of the mind with the Lord, uttering the words of supplication when the mind is entirely turned to God. When the mind frequently pronounces the Lord’s name and the intellect attentively listens to the invocation of the divine name, the light of divine understanding envelops the entire soul like a bright cloud. And after the diligent memory of God follow love and joy. “I remembered God,” says the Prophet David, “and was glad” (Ps. 76, 4). After pure prayer follow knowledge and contrition. “On the day I call upon You, I know that You are my God” (Ps. 55, 10). And also: “The sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit” (Ps. 50, 19). After the mind and intellect stand before God with active contemplation and hot supplication, there also follows spiritual contrition. When the mind, word, and spirit fall down before God: the first with attention, the second with invocation, and the third with contrition, then the entire inner man serves the Lord with love. “Love the Lord your God,” says Incarnate Truth, “with all your heart” (Lk. 10, 27). However, I want to tell you something else, so that you do not think you are praying when in reality you are far from prayer, and laboring without gain, and struggling in vain. When with your lips you perform psalmody, but your mind is carried elsewhere, wandering among passions and things, and because of this the psalmody is disrupted, the same happens in the intellect. It speaks a multitude of prayerful words, but the mind does not accompany it, does not contemplate God, though this is a conversation addressed to Him by prayer, but secretly turns away. The intellect speaks habitual words, but the mind flees from the knowledge of God. Then the soul also becomes confused and disordered, because the mind is dispersed in some dreams and wanders either to those who rob it, or where it wants to go. When there is no understanding of prayer, and the one who prays does not even understand before Whom he stands and Who prompts him to prayer, how will the soul be delighted? How can the heart of the one who pretends to pray, but has not acquired true prayer, be glad? For it is said: “Let the heart of those who seek the Lord rejoice.” And he seeks the Lord who, with all his mind and hot zeal, falls down before God and rejects all worldly reasoning for the sake of the knowledge of God and love, which flow from frequent and pure prayer. And I, in order to explain what the memory of God should be in the mind, and pure prayer in the intellect, propose as a model the bodily eye and the tongue: what the pupil is to the eye, and the pronunciation of words is to the tongue, the same is memory to the mind, and prayer to the intellect. As the eye casts a glance at what is visible and makes no sound, but perceives visible things with sight, so also the mind, which by memory diligently goes to God, cleaves with the most ardent love and silence in the simplest contemplation, is illuminated by divine radiance and receives the betrothal of future clarity. And just as the tongue, pronouncing words, expresses the unknown will of the mind to the listener, so also the intellect, often with warmth pronouncing the short words of prayer, opens the request of the soul to the all-knowing God. Remaining in prayer and by unceasing contrition of heart, it receives into its inner being the wealth of salvation and opens the womb of the merciful God. “A contrite and humble heart,” says the Psalmist, “God will not despise” (Ps. 50, 19). What happens before an earthly king will also teach you pure prayer: when you approach the king, you stand before him in body, and request with your tongue, and look at him with your eyes – and so you incline the king’s favor to yourself. Do the same both in the church assembly and in the solitude of your cell. When for the Lord’s sake you gather with the brethren, you stand before the Lord in body, and bring Him psalmody with your tongue – so let your mind be attentive to the words, vigilant before God, and let it know to Whom the prayer is addressed. When the intellect firmly and purely remains in prayer, then the heart is full of joy and unspeakable peace. Sitting in your cell, in your intellect hold on to prayer with a sober mind and a contrite spirit – then contemplation will overshadow you with sobriety, and knowledge will dwell in you through prayer, and wisdom will lie in you through contrition, driving away irrational sweetness and instilling divine love. Believe me, for I tell the truth, that if in all your work the mother of all good – prayer – is constantly with you, she will not slumber until she shows you that bridal chamber, and leads you inside, and fills you with unspeakable glory and joy, for she removes all obstacles, smooths the path of virtues, and makes it convenient for the traveler. Look at the method of intellectual prayer. The words of prayer kill the thoughts of passion. The turning of the mind to God drives away the thoughts of this world. Such contrition of the soul drives away the love of the flesh. And the consequence of this prayer, when unceasingly repeating the name of God, is union and agreement between the mind, word, and soul. “Where two or three,” says Christ, “are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt. 18, 20). Thus this prayer, gathering together the powers of the soul divided by passions, uniting them with one another and strengthening the soul, which consists of three powers, acquires it for the one God in three Persons. First, by the appearance of virtues, it smooths out the shame of sin from the soul, and by the holy understanding it has in itself, having depicted the beauty of divine outlines, brings the soul to God. The soul immediately recognizes its Creator. “On the day I call upon You, behold, I know that You are my God” (Ps. 56, 10), says the Psalmist. And God also knows the soul, for it is said: “The Lord knows His own” (2 Tim. 2, 19). He knows by the purity of the image, for every image is connected with the prototype. He knows through the likeness of virtues, through which the soul knows God, and God knows it. He who seeks to gain the favor of the king uses one of three ways: either begs aloud, or stands silently before the king, or falls at the feet of the one who can help. And pure prayer, drawing to itself the mind, word, and spirit, calls upon the name of God by the word, with the mind without wandering contemplates God to Whom it prays, and in the spirit shows contrition, humility, and love within. And so it prays to the unoriginate Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God. As different dishes cause the desire to eat them, so different virtues cause the prompt vigilance of the mind. Therefore, going along the intellectual path, pronounce the words of prayer and speak with the Lord, always calling and not despairing. Praying frequently, imitate the boldness of the widow who begged the implacable judge. Then you will walk in the spirit and will not satisfy the lusts of the flesh, and will not interrupt prayer with worldly thoughts, but will become God’s temple, silently singing praises to God. Thus praying in the intellect, you will be deemed worthy of constant memory of God and entry into the secret place of the mind, and by mystical visions to see the Invisible, and you will be deemed worthy to serve the one God yourself with expressions of love understood only by you. When you see that your prayer is weakening, take a book in your hands and, reading carefully, approach what you read intellectually, not scanning the words with your eyes, but perceiving them with your mind and storing them in your intellect. Meditate on what you read, so that by this meditation your thoughts may be delighted and what you read may not be forgotten, and through this your ardor for understanding divine things may be kindled. “My heart grew hot within me, and in my meditation the fire burned” (Ps. 38, 4), says the Psalmist. The taste of food is felt when it is chewed, so also divine words, when they move in the soul, enrich and delight the intellect. “How sweet are Your words to my taste” (Ps. 118, 103), says the prophet of royal lineage. Test the words you hear, the words of the Gospel, the teachings of the blessed fathers and their lives, so that you may meditate on them by night. When your intellect grows tired of prayer, you will renew it by reading and meditating on the divine words and make it more diligent in prayer. With your lips perform psalmody, but in a very quiet voice and under the supervision of the mind, leaving nothing of what is uttered misunderstood. And if something escapes the mind, then start the same verse again, no matter how many times, until the mind is accustomed to follow what is said. The mind can both sing with the lips and remember God. Know that this is acquired by experience. When a person meets someone and speaks with him, he also looks at him with his eyes – so also he who sings with his lips can contemplate God with his memory. Do not neglect prostrations. Prostration is a prototype of falling into sin and confessing it. And rising signifies repentance, testifying to the vow to live by virtue. Let every bending of the knees be performed with the mental invocation of Christ, so that, falling down with soul and body before the God of souls and bodies, you may incline God to reconciliation with yourself. When without vanity you do any work with prayer in your intellect, this also will be a monastic labor. For all the mentioned actions, when performed with prayer, sharpen the mind, drive away despondency, make the soul more active, and the mind swifter and more zealous for exercise in intellectual activity. When you hear that they have struck the semantron, leave your cell, look at the ground with your bodily eyes, and direct your intellect to the memory of God. When you enter the church and join the choir, do not idle talk with the monk standing nearby, and do not wander with your mind around vain things. Let your tongue sing psalms, and your intellect be strengthened by prayer. After the dismissal, go to your cell and begin your appointed rule. When you come to the table, do not examine the portions of the brethren and do not tear your soul with evil watching. Look at what lies before you, touch it and give food to your body, to your ear – listening to the reading, and to the soul – prayer, so that, being strengthened in body and spirit, you may most perfectly glorify Him Who fulfills your good desires. And then, having stood up, go humbly and silently to your cell and, like a hardworking bee, diligently fulfill the virtues. When you perform the service with the brethren, let your hands labor, your lips be silent, and your mind remember God. If anyone dares to talk idly, standing up, make a bow to stop the disorder. Turn back thoughts and do not allow them to penetrate into the heart and linger in it. If passionate thoughts linger in the heart for a long time, they nourish passions and mortify the mind. When they attack, try to kill them with the arrow of prayer from the very first thought, and if they continue to strike you and trouble the intellect, now approaching, now retreating, know that they are strengthened by a desire that arose earlier. Therefore, as if having a right to the soul, since the will was conquered, they trouble the soul and worry it. They must be revealed by confession, for when evil thoughts are put to shame, they flee. As darkness retreats when the light shines, so also the light of confession destroys passionate thoughts, for they are darkness. If there were thoughts of vainglory and fornication, they will flee in shame when they are confessed and the penance is fulfilled. And then, when the intellect is already freed from passions by frequent and good-hearted prayer, thoughts will flee in shame. When the ascetic dares to cut down with prayer the thoughts that trouble him, he cuts them down for some time and forbids them to spread, fighting and struggling, but does not get rid of them completely, because he loves the causes of the thoughts that trouble him, loves the rest of the flesh and worldly ambition, and because of this does not resort to the confession of thoughts. Therefore, he has no peace, because there are reasons for the enemies to attack. And when someone keeps another’s vessel, do not the owners demand it? And when it is demanded from someone, and he does not return what does not belong to him, how can he be freed from his adversaries? But when the ascetic, supported by the memory of God, loves the humiliation and constraints of the flesh and, without being ashamed, confesses his thoughts, then the adversaries will immediately flee, and the intellect, being freed, preserves unceasingly the frequency of prayer and divine thoughts. Reject completely any suspicion that moves in the heart against anyone, for it destroys love and peace. Accept steadfastly any evil that comes from without, for it brings with it saving patience, patience for which a dwelling place will be built for you and rest will be granted in heaven. Thus completing your days, you will live cheerfully in the present life, rejoicing in blessed hope, and at the end of life, having boldly passed from this world, you will go to the place of rest that the Lord has prepared for you, rewarding you for your present labors, and you will go to reign with Him. To Him belongs all glory, honor, and worship, together with His unoriginate Father and His all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.