Famous Reflections on Stillness and Prayer by the Same Author, and Also on the Signs of Grace and Delusion

Famous reflections on stillness and prayer by the same author, and also on the signs of grace and delusion, on the difference between fervor and energy, and that when we have no guide, we easily fall into delusion

1 It behooves us to repeat after the great teacher, O cross-bearing Longinus, that we do not need the help of Scripture or other fathers, but we ought to be taught by God. For Scripture says: “And they shall all be taught by God” (Jn. 6, 45), which means He will teach and we will learn from Him. Not only we, but every believer has been privileged to know useful things and to learn them; thus we carry the law of the Spirit written on the tablets of our heart and, directly, like the cherubim, which is wonderful, we converse with Jesus by pure prayer in the heart. But since we are infants at the time of our second birth, we do not understand grace and are not aware of our renewal, and, not knowing the greatness, honor, and glory to which we have been deemed worthy, and how it behooves us, by fulfilling the commandments, to grow soulfully and spiritually and to see with the mind what we have received, we often fall into insensitivity and stupor because of our negligence and passion. And then we do not know whether God exists, and who we are, and what we were – sons of God and sons of Light, children and members of Christ. Even when we are baptized as adults, we feel only water and not the presence of the Holy Spirit. Although the Spirit renews us, we believe with a simple faith – dead, not active; and when doubts arise in us, we thereby prove that we are carnal, living and behaving in a carnal manner. And when we repent, it is only bodily, and we do not fulfill the commandments and do not perceive spiritually. If, for the sake of many labors, someone is lovingly granted the manifestation of grace, we perceive it as a delusion. When we hear that grace is active in others, out of envy we speak of it as a delusion. And so we remain dead until death, living and acting not in Christ, and, according to the Scripture, “will be taken away” (Mk. 4, 25) from us for our unbelief even what we have, when the time of our end or judgment comes, for we do not understand that as with the Father, it is fitting also for the children of God to be of God, and spiritual of the Spirit, for the Scripture says: “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (Jn. 3, 6). But we are carnal, although we were faithful and heavenly, therefore the Spirit of God does not abide in us. And therefore God permitted attacks and captivities, multiplied sacrifices, wishing to cut off our sin or to save us by stronger means.

2 The first thing to say – with the help of God, who gives the word to those who preach the good news of spiritual things – is how one can find or, rather, retain what has already been found, that is, to receive Christ by baptism in the Spirit, as the Apostle Paul says: “Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?” (2 Cor. 13, 5). And then about how to perfect ourselves and preserve what has been acquired. The best and easiest way is to speak briefly about infinite things that have great breadth, and about things of medium importance. For many struggled in their ascetic effort until they obtained what they desired, and their desires only reached this far, and they did not go further or care about it, satisfied only with what they had obtained at first, stumbling and going astray; for they think they are walking on the right path, but they walk it without any gains. Some, having reached the middle degree of illumination, became lazy in the end and weakened, or because of a negligent life returned back and became like beginners. Others, having reached perfection, through inattention fall into pride and turn back, and in their deeds become equal to the intermediate or beginners. Activity is characteristic of beginners, illumination of the intermediate, and purification of the soul or resurrection of the perfect. On how to acquire power

3 In two ways can the power of the Holy Spirit, whom we mystically received in baptism, be acquired. First, generally speaking, this gift is revealed by the fulfillment of the commandments, through many labors and over a long time, as Saint Mark says. Insofar as we fulfill the commandments, to that degree His light shines brighter upon us. Second, by zealous and frequent invocation of the Lord Jesus, that is, by the remembrance of God, we invoke the Holy Spirit. By the first way He comes more slowly, and by the second – faster, though it can also be acquired by practice, if one digs the earth diligently and perseveringly, seeking gold. When we wish to find the undeceptive truth and to know it, let us labor to have the action of the heart without any imagination or appearance, so as not to see in our imagination any image or appearance of any saint or light. For delusion at the beginning tempts the inexperienced with such vain imaginations. Let us take care that in our hearts only prayer operates, which warms the mind, and gladdens, and inflames the soul to unspeakable love for God and for people. Therefore, through prayer there is no small humility and contrition, because in beginners prayer is always a moving condition, the action of the Holy Spirit. At the beginning it rises from the heart like a fire of joy, and at the end it acts like a fragrant light.

4 To the one who truly, and not out of curiosity, seeks this truth, its beginning will be manifested in the signs spoken of in the Book of Wisdom: “For he is found of them that tempt him not; and showeth himself unto such as do not distrust him” (Wis. 1, 2). Some seem to be illuminated with light, others feel a trembling joy, still others – joy, and some – joy and fear at the same time, others – trembling and joy, and still others – both tears and fear. The soul rejoices in God’s coming and God’s mercy, fears and trembles before His coming, because it has many sins. In some, at the beginning, there is unspeakable contrition and unspeakable mental pain, as the Scripture says: “Pains took hold upon them, as of a woman in travail” (Sir. 48, 19; Jn. 16, 21). The living and active Word, that is, Jesus, pierces, as the Apostle says, “even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4, 12). In others, steadfast peace and love for all appear, and in others – joy, which the fathers often called the leaping of the Spirit, that is, the power of the Spirit which evokes the liveliness of the heart. This same is also called the skipping and the sighing of the Spirit, who makes intercession for us with unspeakable groanings before God. The Prophet Isaiah called this a wave of God’s righteousness, the great Ephrem – a spur, and the Lord – “a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (Jn. 4, 14). The Lord called the Spirit water that leaps in the heart and boils with great power.

5 One must know that leaping, that is, rejoicing, is of different kinds. One of them is quiet and is called both the throbbing and the sighing and the intercession of the Spirit, and the second – the leaping and skipping of the heart – is the grand flight of the living heart to the divine aerial sphere. The Divine Spirit wings the soul with zeal and frees it from the bonds of passions, and then the soul, even before its departure, strives to fly up to heaven, desiring to rid itself of the burden. This is called the stirring of the Spirit or boiling and emotion, in the words of the Gospel: “Jesus… groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, and said, Where have ye laid him?” (Jn. 11, 34).

6 One must know that in divine fear there is no trembling. Regarding trembling, I will say that it comes not from joy, but from wrath, that is, from punishment and abandonment. And trembling joy, which comes from prayer, arrives in the fire of divine fear. Fear without trembling, that which comes not from wrath, that is, not from torment, but from wisdom, is therefore called “the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 1, 7). Fear is of three kinds, although the fathers speak of two kinds: introductory fear, perfect fear, and wrathful fear, which can also be called trembling, that is, shaking and contrition.

7 Trembling comes from various things: it can be from wrath, from joy, another from fury, and still another – from sin, that is, delusion. In the beginning, ascetics usually experience trembling from joy and trembling from sin, but this does not happen to everyone. The signs of these two are as follows: during trembling from joy, grace comforts the soul in joy and tears. And during trembling from sin, a disordered burden, pride, and hard-heartedness inflame the soul and disturb the reproductive organs toward bodily union or carnal love and, through consent to imagination, commit fornication.

8 We know that the actions of every beginner are dual; they act doubly in the heart and do not mix. Some come from grace, others from delusion, as the great Mark the Ascetic asserts, saying: “There are spiritual activities and satanic activities, unknown except to an infant”. And we also know that the warmth of action that is ignited in a person, one is from grace, another is from delusion, that is, from sin, and still another is from the rush of blood, which Thalassios of Africa calls confusion, which ought to be calmed and subdued by moderate abstinence.

9 The action of grace is the power of spiritual fire that moves, establishes, and warms in joy and strength of heart, purifies the soul and quiets thoughts, as if mortifying bodily movements for a certain time and a certain interval. The signs of this action and the fruits that manifest the truth are these: tears, contrition, humility, self-control, silence, patience, abstinence, and other such virtues by which we are without doubt established.

10 The action of delusion is the burning of sin, which inflames the soul with sweetness and, by bodily movements, causes a frantic desire for carnal union. According to Saint Diadochos, the action of delusion is everything that is disordered and unorganized, everything that comes from irrational joy, pride, rebelliousness, and disorderly mirth. Or it can be said thus: the action of delusion is felt in the desiring power and is manifested through inflamed sweetness; it provides the lust with inflamed sweetness, having the insatiable womb as an accomplice. To this is added and intensified the burning of the flesh, which causes an effect on the soul to inflame it and attract it to itself, so that a person gradually drives away grace and becomes accustomed to voluptuousness.