The Ascetic and Greatly Consoling Discourse of Blessed John of Carpathia to the Monks from India
Blessed John of Carpathia, to the monks from India who asked him about this. Never wish to glorify a layman above a monk — one who has a wife and children and rejoices that he does good to many, gives alms generously and is not tempted by demons at all. Do not think that you are less pleasing to God than he, and do not lament over yourself as though you were perishing. I do not say that you live blamelessly in enduring the life of a monk; but even when you are very sinful, the sorrow of your soul and the endurance of suffering have more honour before God than the outstanding virtues of a layman’s life.
Your sadness, and pity, and sighing, and lamenting, and tears, and the pangs of conscience, and the perplexity of thought, and self-condemnation in thought, and sobbing, and the weeping of the intellect, and the weeping of the heart with a cry, and grief, and confusion, and reproach, and weakness, and contempt — all this, and whatever else so often happens when we cast ourselves into the iron furnace of temptations, is more honourable and more pleasing than the approval given to a layman.
Therefore take care that the Divine Scriptures do not condemn you, repeating as it were your own words: “What profit is it to the suppliants who have come to the Lord and are always in His house?” It is known that every servant who is close to the house of the Master is sometimes beaten, and shaken, and scolded, and despised; while those who are outside do not experience this, being strangers. “What use is it to us?” they say. “We who always pray and sing experience sorrows in soul and body, while they neither pray nor listen, yet rejoice and are glad, and prosper, and lead a good life.” And the prophet says: “They build the houses of others, and we glorify strangers.” And he adds: “Thus spoke the servants of God who have knowledge” (cf. Mal. 3:15–16).
Yet it is necessary to know that there is nothing surprising in the fact that the afflicted suffer and grieve in various ways, enduring different temptations for their Lord; for they heard how He said in the Gospels: “Truly, truly, I say to you: you shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice” (Jn. 16:20). A little while longer, and I shall visit you in the Comforter, and I shall dispel your despair, and cheer you with thoughts of the heavenly life and with consolation, and with sweet tears; and those things which tempted you will depart for a few days. And I shall give you the reward of My grace, as a mother gives her breast to a crying infant, and I shall strengthen you with strength from on high, because you are exhausted from ceaseless struggle. And I shall comfort you who weep bitterly, as Jeremiah says in his lamentation over his hidden Jerusalem; and I shall look upon you, and your heart shall be glad at our hidden visitations, and “your sorrow shall be turned into joy” (Jn. 16:20), and no one shall take your joy from you.
So let us not close our eyes and become blind, praising the laity above ourselves. But, knowing how true sons differ from the sons of adultery, let us rather love the seeming evil that monks endure — the patience and the great tribulations, whose end is eternal life and the unfading crown of the Lord’s glory. Let us accept those who fast and consider themselves sinful; and I am not speaking of the sufferings of the righteous. Let us take care to dwell in the house of God, that is, among those who serve Christ unceasingly, and not to live in the dwellings of sinners, that is, among the laity, even though they perform great works of righteousness.
Your Heavenly Father, who loves you greatly, wounds you and presses you with various temptations, and says to you, O stranger: “Understand well, patient stranger, the words that I spoke through the prophet, that I will instruct you (cf. Hos. 5:2) and meet you on the Egyptian road, teaching you through sorrows. ‘Behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns’ (Hos. 2:6). I will not let you do what your foolish heart desires. And I will be to you as a lion, rebuking you for what you have not done — and this is the great grace of God. And I will be not only as a lion, but as a sting that pierces you with thoughts and pains of the heart. And the pain in your house, that is, in your soul and body, is well pruned by God’s sweet chastisements, from which honey drips; and in the end neither shame, nor fear, nor despair shall remain for those who have given themselves to asceticism. For the end of all these sorrowful things is not sorrow, but joy unspeakable, and indescribable sweetness, and unceasing gladness. This is why I have afflicted you,” He says, “in order to feed you with abundant knowledge, and to do you good at the last, and to bring you into the kingdom on high. Then rejoice, humble monks, set free from the passions of the flesh and from the temptations of the enemies; and then you shall trample upon the lawless demons who trample upon you now, and they shall be as ashes beneath your feet.”
When you are devout and humble and wise, and do not exalt yourself with vain pride or arrogance, but are broken in heart and consider yourself an unprofitable servant of contrite spirit — if such is your humility, then your very sins are better than the righteousness of the laity, and you profit more from your defilement than worldly people do from their great purification. Why then should you grieve? It happens that you fall into sin. But know that a certain man, having dirtied his hands with pitch, cleansed them with oil — how much more can you be cleansed by the grace of God. If it is easy for you to wash your garments, how much easier is it for the Lord to wash you from every vice, which may arise even daily because of temptations. As soon as you say, “I have sinned, O Lord!” — at once you hear the answer: “Your sins are forgiven. I am He who blots them out and remembers them no more.” “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed your transgressions from you. As a father has compassion on his sons” (Ps. 102:12–13), so do I have compassion on you; only do not draw back and do not flee from Him who chose you to sing and to pray. Cleave to Him with your whole life, and with pure boldness, or with devout shamelessness and firm resolve, confess to Him — and He will cleanse you with a single movement.
What God cleanses by His will, not even the chief apostle Peter himself may defile or condemn, for it was said to him: “What God has cleansed, do not you call common” (Acts 10:15). “It is God who justifies; who is he that condemns?” (Rom. 8:33–34). When we call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, our conscience is easily cleansed, and nothing separates us from the prophets and the other saints; for God has not appointed us to wrath, but to salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us. Whether we watch in the virtues or sleep because of assault — after some weakening we shall live together with Christ, contemplating Him with a great sigh, and weeping and sighing for Him without end. Therefore let us put on the armour of truth and take the helmet, the hope of salvation, so that the arrows of despair and hopelessness may find no entrance.
But you say that you are vexed when you see the laity, whom no one tempts, and that then you are enraged. Know, beloved, that Satan has no need to tempt those who tempt themselves and who are dragged down by the things of this world. Know also that honours and crowns are appointed for the tempted, and not for the laity, who deceive themselves and slumber.
You say that you yourself endure many temptations, that your loins are filled with burning, as the prophet says, and that there is suffering and oppression, and no rest in the body, nor “health to the bones” (cf. Prov. 3:8). But the great Physician of the afflicted is present near you, who took upon Himself our infirmities, healed us by His wounds, and now applies healing remedies. “I,” He says, “have struck, and I will heal. Therefore do not be afraid. When the anger of My wrath subsides, I will heal again. Just as a woman does not forget to have compassion on the child she has borne, so I will not forget you” (cf. Isa. 49:15). As a bird pours out her love in feeding her chicks and flies to them again and again while they call to her, and she feeds them with her beak, so much more are My bounties poured out upon My creatures, and much more is My love poured out upon you. I visit you secretly, and I give food to your thought that opens its beak like a swallow. I give you the food of holy fear, and the food of heavenly desires, and the food of consoled sighing; and I will feed you with compunction, and feed you with song, and feed you with the deepest knowledge, and feed you with certain Divine mysteries. Saying this to you, your Lord and Father both rebukes and intercedes.” Thus does the Lord always converse with us in our thoughts.
I know that I have gone to excess, for I have written much; but it is you who urged me to it. I have enlarged my Discourse in order to strengthen those who are afraid of falling through faintheartedness. For it turned out — and you wrote to me about it — that you have brothers in India who are greatly burdened with temptations; they renounce the monastic life and turn away, saying that it is full of oppression and sorrow, and they praise the laity and lament the day on which they received the monastic rank. That is why I was compelled to write this Discourse at greater length and in simple words, so that even the unlearned and untaught might understand. Therefore I have written much, so that henceforth monks may praise not the laity, but their own rank; for they are undeniably better than those who wear diadems upon their heads, and brighter and more glorious, because they always fall down before God.
Having written this, I entreat your love always to remember me in your prayers, that I, the wretched one, may receive the grace of God and live this life to a better and better end. “The Father of mercies and the God of all comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3) grant you eternal consolation and good hope in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Diadochos of Photiki
Our venerable father Diadochos, called bishop of Photiki, lived in ancient Epirus of Illyria. That he lived long ago, even before the seventh century, may be understood from the words of Saint Maximus, in which he mentions the chapters of Diadochos. That he was a wise man and shone in deeds and discernment, anyone who wishes may understand from this Discourse of his that has been preserved. He wrote it, having acquired great wisdom in his heart, and divided it into a hundred chapters. And with all zeal he expounded the deepest mysteries of the virtue that is desired, and confirmed it with the words of the Scriptures and with the knowledge that comes from contemplation. His Discourse is, as it were, the primordial teaching about sacred sobriety, which, having gathered it from all the virtues, he left to those of his own time — to the sober and God-bearing fathers. That is why many of them refer to these chapters as being concise and carefully composed; and when writing about sobriety, Photius also mentions them in the 201st reading, on page 263: “After the Discourse on the ten definitions, the Discourse of a hundred chapters is given for good, and in them they accomplish the struggle through perfectly performed works.” Those who were at the Council convened under Andronikos Palaiologos — Gregory of Thessalonica, Symeon of Thessalonica, Gregory the Sinaite, Saint Kallistos and many others — testified concerning them as blameless. And although, it seems, one might reproach the hundredth chapter, as Photius says, the divine Maximus removes every accusation from it, directing it towards true piety, as will be seen at the end.