By the Same Author: A Discourse on Faith, and Instruction for Those Who Say That It Is Impossible for Those Who Remain in the World and Have Worldly Cares to Reach Perfection in the Virtues

Of the same venerable father of ours, Symeon the New Theologian, a Discourse on Faith, and Instruction for Those Who Say That It Is Impossible for Those Who Remain in the World and Have Worldly Cares to Reach Perfection in the Virtues, and a Narrative Which at the Beginning Is Very Useful. My beloved brothers and fathers! It is a very good and soul-profiting work to preach together to all the great and endless mercy of our all-good and all-merciful God and to reveal to all our Christian brothers the abyss of God’s mercy and goodness which He has toward us. I, as you know, my brothers, did not perform strict and numerous fasts, nor vigils, nor did I lie on the ground, nor did I perform any of such strict excessive bodily mortifications, but I knew my unworthiness, and thought about my sins, and condemned myself, and humbled myself, and the multi-merciful and all-good Lord saved me by this, as divine David also says: “I was brought low, and He saved me” (Ps. 114, 6). And, not to speak at length, I believed only God’s words, and the Lord my God accepted me through this faith. For there are many obstacles that prevent one from acquiring humility, but to find faith and believe God’s words—there is no obstacle at all. Therefore, when with all our soul we want to find faith, we find it immediately without any effort, because faith is a gift of the all-good God, given to us by our nature, so that we might have it at our disposal, and have it when we want. So we see that both the Scythians, and the barbarians, and all nations by their nature have faith, and each believes the words of another, and show faith among themselves. And so that you may see this in deed, and not in words, listen to this narrative. One young man, named George, very young in age—about 20 years old, lived in our times in Constantinople, and was very handsome and of such appearance that many had shameful thoughts about him, and especially those who usually look only at the outward appearance of a person and, not knowing the secret thoughts of everyone, condemn and become unwise judges for others. This young man got to know a certain monk, a holy man, who lived in a certain Constantinopolitan monastery, and, revealing to him all the secrets of his heart, told him also that he wants to be saved and has a great desire to leave the world and become a monk. And that honorable elder praised his intention and instructed him as was proper, and gave him to read the book of Saint Mark the Ascetic on the spiritual law. And the young man received it with such desire and reverence, as if God Himself had sent it to him, and trusted it very much, because he hoped to receive great benefit from reading, and, having come to his house, at once began to read it with great attention, and read it all very reverently three times, and a fourth time, and still did not let it out of his hands, and, as he expected, had great benefit from that book. However, he chose only three chapters and engraved them in his heart, and resolved to fulfill them in deed, and keep them with all attention. In the first chapter it is said: “If you want to find healing of your soul, you must have great diligence and care to keep your conscience clean, so that it does not reprove you in any matter, and whatever good deeds it tells you to do, that you should do, not being lazy, but doing them—and you will find great benefit.” In the second chapter it was said: “He who seeks to feel the operation of the Holy Spirit, not yet fulfilling God’s commandments, is like a newly bought slave who asks his master to set him free at the very time when the master pays for him.” And in the third chapter it was said: “He who prays with his lips and has not yet acquired spiritual understanding and does not know how to pray in mind, is like that blind man who called out: “Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Lk. 18, 38). But he who has acquired spiritual understanding and prays in mind and opens the eyes of his soul, is like the same blind man when the Lord has already healed him of his blindness, when he saw the light with his own eyes and beheld the Lord, and no longer called Him the Son of David, but confessed Him as the Son of God and worshipped Him as was proper.” These three chapters pleased that young man very much, and he marveled at them greatly, and received them into his soul, and believed without doubt that he would find great benefit if he watched his conscience well, as Saint Mark says, and that he would enjoy the gifts of the Holy Spirit and His power when keeping God’s commandments; and third—that by the gift of the Holy Spirit he would be vouchsafed to have the eyes of his soul opened, and in mind would behold the Lord. Therefore, hoping to see the unspeakable beauty of the Lord, he was wounded in his heart with love for it and had a great desire to see it. However, he did not do anything else, as he assured me later, but only this: every evening, when he retired to his bed to rest, he first performed the prayer and bows that that holy elder had commanded him, and then lay down to rest. When some time had passed—and he listened well to his conscience—when he performed the rule of that elder, his conscience told him one evening that he should perform another prayer and bows and say also this: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!”—many times, as much as he could. And he listened with great diligence to what his conscience told him, and began without any doubt to do so, believing that God Himself told him what he was doing. And from then on he did not lie down to rest until he had first done what his conscience suggested him to do. And when he in this way submitted to his conscience and it enlightened him, telling him to do this many times, soon his prayer grew so much that he performed it, as I have already said, every evening. During the day he had no convenient time for prayer, because he was in charge of the whole house of a certain great prince and had many cares and affairs, went daily to the imperial palace, and had no time left to pray during the day, but every evening, when he went to rest, he prayed, as I have already said; and his heart began to warm and come to contrition, and many tears flowed from his eyes, and he often made genuflections, and uttered numerous prayers to the Mother of God with sighs and heart-pain; and imagining that he stood before the Lord, and falling down at His pure feet, prayed to Him with tears to have mercy on him, as on the blind man of whom the Holy Gospel speaks, and to grant light to his eyes. And day by day the prayer shone, which he performed every evening and until midnight, and when he prayed—he stood motionless, like a pillar, and did not step from foot to foot, and his body did not move at all, and he did not look here and there, but stood with great fear and trembling, not slumbering, nor falling into despair, nor being lazy. And one evening, when he was praying and saying intellectually in his mind: “God, be merciful to me a sinner,” suddenly some divine radiance shone upon him and he was filled with that light, and that blessed young man George stood in ecstasy and forgot about himself, that he was in the house, because he saw light everywhere, and was as if out of himself, and did not know whether he was walking on the earth or standing in the air; and he had no, absolutely no bodily or worldly care, but completely forgot about the whole world, and was completely changed, and was united with that divine light, and it seemed to him that he himself became light, and was all full of tears and unspeakable joy; and in this way his mind was caught up to heaven and there he saw another light, much brighter, and in that light he saw that holy elder who had given him, as we have already said, the book of abba Mark and the rule which he performed. And I, when I heard this from the young man, understood that the prayer of the holy elder had greatly assisted in this, and God gave this to show the young man in what high virtue that holy elder remained, therefore indeed he saw him standing in that light. Then that young man who saw this vision came to himself and was full, as he said, of joy and awe and poured out tears from his heart, and together with those tears felt also great joy. Finally he lay down on his bed to rest a little, and then the cock crowed and soon they began to strike the semantron in the churches for Matins. Then the young man stood up to read Matins, according to his custom, and that night he did not sleep at all and did not even think about sleep. This the young man told to those who were with him, that he did nothing else, as he himself assured me, but this that you heard: he had only faith and unshakable hope and therefore was vouchsafed such a vision. And let no one say that he did this showing off, for he—as he himself told me—did not even think of seeking praise, but had an indubitable faith; here, having cast away from himself every other fleshly and worldly thought, he obtained such great diligence to keep and correct his conscience. And what to say of conscience, when to all things of this world he was insensible, and did not feel them at all, nor did he want to eat and drink, just as if he had fasted for a long time. Have you heard, my beloved brothers, what works faith performs and what power it has when it is established by good works? Have you understood that youth does not harm us and old age does not help us when the fear of God weakens in us? Have you learned today that living in a city or town does not prevent us from keeping the commandments of God when we have diligence? And that neither departure from the world nor solitude will help us when we are lazy and negligent? We all hear about David, that with so many cares and royal governance he had his mind completely with God, and we marvel at this and say that there was no other like David. But with this young man something greater than with David happened: David received a calling from God Himself, was anointed prophet and king, and received also the grace of the Holy Spirit. And if he also sinned against God and lost the grace of the Holy Spirit and the prophetic dignity, and departed from union with God, and then came to himself and thought of all the blessings he had and lost, and tried to find them again, then what is wonderful here? But what is wonderful and worthy of praise is that a twenty-year-old young man, who was attached only to worldly things, and his mind was fixed only on transitory things, and besides these did not think of anything high, to whom such a thought did not even cross his mind, and who only heard a little from that holy elder, and, having read those three chapters of abba Mark, at once indubitably believed what was written and fulfilled it in deed with firm hope, and by that small action which he did—was vouchsafed that his mind was caught up to heaven, and inclined the Mother of God to have mercy on him, so that by her intercession before God she reconciled him with Him to such an extent that the Lord sent down to him from on high His divine illumination and the grace of the All-Holy Spirit and strengthened him to reach beatitude and enjoy that light which many desire but few acquire. Moreover, this blessed young man George, who did not fast for many years, nor keep vigil, nor perform other struggles like the ascetics, who never slept on the ground, nor wore a hairshirt, nor was a monk, nor departed in body from the world, but by a short vigil and the prayer he performed, became an earthly angel and a heavenly man: a man in appearance and bodiless in mind, natural and supernatural, visible to all and himself remaining with God, who knows all things. Therefore indeed he was vouchsafed to behold that sweetest light of the intellectual sun of righteousness, and rightly so. For it was love and desire for God that made him spiritually outside the world, and he forgot the world and the flesh and all vain worldly affairs, and completely cleaved to God; in this way he became all spiritual and all enlightened, and saw such a vision, and experienced such pleasure. And most of all, living in a city, and in such a city where he lived in the imperial palaces, and had besides the charge in the house of a great prince over numerous slaves and a multitude of other servants, and over ministries, and over many and great affairs. But enough of this that I have said in praise of this young man, in order to awaken you, so that you too may reach such desire and imitate him and be vouchsafed to receive the same grace from God. Do you want me to tell you something else, greater than what I have spoken? But what else is greater than the fear of God? Gregory the Theologian says that “the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God. For where the fear of God is, there is also the keeping of the commandments; and where the keeping of the commandments is, there is also the cleansing of the flesh, for there stands before the soul something like a thick cloud, and does not allow it to see clearly the divine radiance.” And further: “…where the cleansing of the flesh is—there is the divine radiance, and where the divine radiance is—there is the fulfillment of the divine desire. Therefore, illumination by the divine light and enlightenment by the Holy Spirit is the endless end of every virtue, and he who has reached this end forgets everything sensory and begins gradually to know spiritual gifts.” These are, my brothers, the wonderful works of the all-good God, by this the all-wise God reveals His hidden saints, and let others imitate them, and pass their lives as they did; and if they will not imitate, they will remain without excuse and will not be able to give any answer. For those too who are in cares and troubles, when they live as is proper, are saved and are vouchsafed to receive from God great blessings only by faith in Him. Therefore, grieve, brothers, in your soul and believe with all your heart indubitably in your Lord and His words, and hate the transitory things of the world, and leave them, for they are temporary, and come to the Lord and cleave to Him. For without God there is nothing in the world; all things are nothing when we do not cleave to God. Therefore I weep and wail and greatly grieve when I think that we have such a Lord, rich in gifts and loving mankind, who only through faith that we show in deed to Him and His promises, gives us these gifts that we have heard and seen; and we, senseless as irrational beasts, honor more the earth and earthly and corruptible things, which the all-good God for His great mercy gave us abundantly for the need of the body, so that we might use them moderately, as much as is necessary for life, and let the soul have no obstacle to act according to its understanding, and let it live as is proper, and let it feed on intellectual food and the grace of the Holy Spirit. For a person is created into this world for this purpose, that through worldly things they might have occasion to glorify God who gave them to them, and that they might know their Benefactor and the All-Good, and love Him, and thank Him both in word and in God-pleasing deeds, and so be vouchsafed to receive also other benefits from God and gifts exceeding great and eternal. And we? Oh woe! We do not think at all about those future gifts, but cleave to the present ones, and care about them, and hasten to acquire them, so that they may be in abundance with us, but about Him who gives them to us we do not think at all, and show great ingratitude toward Him and become like demons, if not worse, to tell the truth. And therefore it is fitting for us to be punished more than them, because we received also greater benefits. For we were born Christians, received such mysteries, such spiritual gifts, and believe in the one God who became man for our sake, endured such sufferings and finally death on the cross, in order to free us from the devil’s deceit and from sin, and with all that we believe in Him only in words, but by our deeds we are real disobedient ones. Is not the name of Christ preached everywhere today: in cities, and villages, and monasteries, and deserts? And if you want, ask and you will learn how Christians keep His commandments, and you will hardly find among them even one, in words and deeds, true Christian. Does not our Lord say in the Holy Gospel: “He who believes in me, the works that I do he will do also. And greater works than these he will do” (Jn. 14, 12). Who among us now will dare to say: “I do the works of Christ and rightly believe in Him?” Do you see, brothers, that on that terrible day of judgment we will be like unbelievers and will suffer torments more than those who neither know Christ nor believe in Him? Therefore it remains for us either to receive condemnation as unbelievers, or to stand before our Lord Jesus Christ—the Truth itself—as those who did not walk in truth, which is impossible. And I wrote this, my brothers, not with the intention to forbid Christians to retire and be silent, preferring a worldly life. Let this never be! But my intention is to announce to all who will read this narrative that he who wants and desires with all his soul and heart to do good and virtue, receives power from the all-powerful God, so as to be able to do this in every place and be vouchsafed to receive spiritual gifts and divine visions, like this, I say, blessed young man George; having him as my acquaintance and sincere friend, I asked him to tell me this, so that I might write it down. For the sake of this, my brothers in Christ, I entreat you, let us also receive into our hearts diligence and the desire to do good, and let us go with indubitable faith and hope to fulfill the commandments of God; and our Lord is faithful and true, and our faces will not be put to shame. We shall truly be able to perform every good work wherever we are: whether in cities, or villages, or in monasteries, or in deserts. For the all-good God, according to His promise, opens the gate of His Kingdom to everyone who knocks, and there is no case where he who seeks with his whole soul does not find the wealth of God’s gifts. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen.