Spiritual Homilies 1 part 23/36

But when it is taken away from Christians, from those who love Christ himself, and from those who seek him in truth, to these he appears and manifests himself, just as the Gospel said:

"He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him"; and again the Lord says:

"and I will make my dwelling with him."

Do you see, brother, the exhortation of Christ, how he calls us into his own kingdom and to the salvation of our souls?

Since, then, the kingdom lies before us, let us hasten to draw near with our whole heart to him who cannot lie, so that we may obtain the promise and the new covenant which the Lord inaugurated through his death and the cross, when he descended and broke through the gates of hades, led out the faithful souls, gave them the Comforter within, and brought them up into his prepared kingdom, into that age which is there, into the city of Jerusalem, into the heavenly church, into the choir of the holy angels.

The Master of all, God who loves mankind, is everywhere and in all creatures, and all creatures — heavenly, earthly, and those beneath the earth — exist in him and hold together in him, just as Paul said:

"For in him we live and move," and "there is no creature hidden before him." He is, then, in all things and everywhere; why, then, do the souls of all people not behold him, but he happens to be invisible while present here? What is it that stands in the middle, and what is it that hinders? But this is clear:

for indeed the Spirit has announced to us through the Scriptures that from the transgression of Adam, the first man who transgressed the commandment of God, sin entered into the world — the spirit of wickedness, the ancient serpent called the devil, who deceived Adam and dragged him down from his own glory under his own authority, taking him as a slave and subject, together with all his children — this same one, by his own darkness, covered the soul, so that it might not gaze upon its Maker, might not enjoy his light,

this becoming for man the origin of his no longer seeing his Master and doing the things pleasing to him, but instead being in the darkness of sin and working the desires of sin, which entered into man and blinded the eyes of the soul.

For before Adam transgressed, being pure from sin, he saw his Master, was deemed worthy of the Master's converse, and rejoiced together with the angels.

But from the time he was taken captive by wickedness, from then on the eyes of the soul were blinded, and it no longer sees its Lord, who is present here, but he has become invisible to it.

In all things, then, and everywhere God is present, but because of the veil of darkness lying upon the soul, he is as though far from the soul.

For just as those who are physically blind do not see the sun, though it shines everywhere and falls upon their eyes, because they have been blinded; and just as the deaf man does not hear the sounds and speech that are near him and directed to him, because he has been made deaf — in the same way the soul, blinded by the sin that entered into it and covered by the darkness of wickedness, neither sees the sun of righteousness nor hears that living, divine voice which is present everywhere.

And just as a dead man does not breathe the very air nearest him in which he lies, because he no longer has his soul, and — behold — all his beloved ones and his neighbors weep over him, yet he does not hear; so also the soul that has become dead to God and does not have the Holy Spirit does not breathe, though present here, that air of the kingdom of the Godhead — as the Lord says:

"The kingdom of God is spread out upon the earth, and people do not perceive it"; and again:

"The kingdom of God is within you" — and the Lord weeps over it, and the Holy Spirit, and all the angels, because of its ruin and its deadness, yet it neither hears nor sees.

Just as, again, they rejoice over the soul that repents and is made alive:

"There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents."

Just as, then, the soul of a person is close within the person, yet the mind can be far off and distant, so also God, though near the soul, is far from your understanding — he is both near and far.

One must, then, believe with the whole heart and with love, and seek the Lord and entreat him, that he who is present here and dwells within us may be made manifest, and may reveal himself, and may work in our souls.

For if the sun's energy and heat penetrate even to the inside of the body, and likewise the coldness of frost also reaches to the inside of the body and works there, and if the fire's heat and energy enter even into the inside of cauldrons, boiling the meat so that it becomes useful to men, how much more shall the Maker and Creator of these things, the power of the divine Spirit, when by its own good pleasure it is manifested and works upon the soul, illumine it with its own light, and by its own divine fire of warmth boil away the rawness of sin, and thus restore it, sweet and useful and edible, unto the heavenly table for the heavenly Father.

For if this air is present everywhere in this life, and if the darkness of night is everywhere and in all creatures, how much more is the Creator and Maker of these things everywhere present.

Here then is the Lord, and He is near to us; but He is revealed and made manifest to those who believe in Him and love Him and wait for Him, according to the word of the Lord:

He who loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him; and again:

We will come—I and my Father—and will make our abode with him.

To those broken in heart, and lame, and blind, and deaf in soul, the Lord came, and was crucified, and died, that He might raise up and heal the souls of all.

For through Isaiah the Spirit prophesied concerning the coming of the Lord, how He was about to heal souls:

The Spirit of the Lord, it says, is upon me, for which cause He anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent me to proclaim release to captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to comfort those who mourn, to give to those who mourn the oil of gladness instead of ashes, and a garment of glory instead of a spirit of heaviness.

But to our God be the glory forever.

Concerning Paradise and the spiritual law. Just as from visible works it is possible to understand hidden meanings, so also the matters of the soul may be understood from the narratives of Scripture.

But this is not for all, but only for those who through affliction have partially acquired dispassion.

For just as Scripture narrates things to come, so also the matters of the soul.

For all things to come are spiritually hidden within her, and of whatever things one partakes here, of these same things he shall be a partaker there also.

Whenever, then, you hear Scripture relating the things of Paradise, and of Adam, and of the serpent, attend carefully with your heart, and you will find that Paradise is the word of the Lord; the enjoyment within it is the participation of the Holy Spirit; the serpent is the creeping pleasure of ease, which through familiarity crawls in and deceives us into tasting of the tree (that is, worldly care), and puts to death through disobedience:

for do not be anxious about tomorrow.

Both of these the same God spoke, both the saying:

In the day that you eat of the tree, you shall die the death; and this:

Take heed lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation.

For the darkness that arises from care and dissipation puts the soul to death, casting it out from the spiritual word and depriving it of the divine energy.

From this tree, then, the Lord keeps us away, saying:

Take no thought for anything except the kingdom.

For as many as entered into the paradise of God and kept this commandment were not cast out, but to the degree that they abstained from earthly things, they enjoyed a hundredfold of spiritual things, actively and correspondingly, as grace summoned them.

Let us, then, also pray to keep it, that abiding in the word of the Lord we may enjoy the delight of the Spirit both here and in the age to come.

For just as Adam was cast out after tasting of the tree of knowledge, so those who mind earthly things cannot remain in the word of Christ.

According to what is written, that the friendship of this world is enmity with God.

Wherefore Scripture commands one to keep one's own heart with all watchfulness, that guarding one's own word as a paradise, one may enjoy grace, not heeding the serpent coiling within, counseling toward pleasure, through which a fratricidal wrath is begotten and the soul that bears it dies; but heeding the Lord's command to attend to faith and hope, through which the love of God and of man is begotten, bestowing eternal life.

Into this paradise Noah was brought, keeping the commandment and working it, and through love he was delivered from wrath.

Keeping this, Abraham heard the voice of God.

Keeping this, Moses received glory upon his face and changed creation.

But also Saul, as long as he kept his heart, was fragrant with grace.

But when he transgressed to the very end, then to the very end he was taken captive.

According to this proportion, the word of the Lord deals with each one.

To the degree that one masters it, to that degree one is mastered by it; and to the degree that one keeps it, to that degree one is kept by it.

Choosing poverty instead of wealth, dishonor instead of glory, affliction instead of enjoyment, and hence love instead of wrath.

For hating the pleasant things of life, they loved all the more those who took them away, as fellow-workers with them toward their goal, abstaining from the knowledge of good and evil.

For they neither chose the good nor blamed the evil, but considered all to be ministers of the Master's dispensation.

Toward all, then, they had an inward disposition of goodwill.

For whenever they heard the Lord saying:

Forgive, and you shall be forgiven, then they reckoned those who wronged them as benefactors, having from them occasions unto forgiveness.

But when again they heard him saying:

As you would that men should do to you, do you also to them likewise, then they also loved the good according to conscience.

For leaving their own righteousness and seeking the righteousness of God, they found accordingly also love hidden within it according to nature.

For the Lord also, though He commanded much concerning love, bade us seek the righteousness of God:

For He knew it to be the mother of love.

For there is no other way to be saved except through one's neighbor, as the Lord commanded, saying:

Forgive, and you shall be forgiven.

This is the law of the Spirit, written in faithful hearts, the fulfillment of the first law:

For I came not, He says, to destroy the law, but to fulfill it.

The first law, through the reasonable occasion afforded by the one who sinned, condemned all the more the one who was wronged:

For in that which one judges another, he condemns himself; but in that which he forgives, it shall be forgiven him.

For thus also the law says:

Between judgment and judgment, and between stroke and stroke.

The fulfillment of the law, then, is forgiveness.

But we have spoken of a first law, not because God set forth two laws for men, but one:

spiritual according to its nature, but according to just retribution rendering to each his sentence:

To him who forgives, it will forgive; and to him who seeks retribution, it will seek retribution.

With the elect you shall be elect, and with the crooked you shall show yourself perverse.

For this reason those who spiritually fulfill this very law, and partake of grace proportionately, loved not only those who did them good, but also those who reproached and persecuted them, awaiting the spiritual recompense of good things.

Not that they condoned the wrongdoings, but that they also did good to the souls of those who wronged them:

For thus they commended them to God, so that through them they might obtain the blessing, as He says:

Blessed are you, when they persecute you and revile you.

By the spiritual law, then, they were taught to think in this manner.

For as they endured and kept the gentleness of the mind, the Lord, seeing the endurance of the heart though warred against, and the love not departing, tore down the middle wall of partition, and thereupon cast away the enmity, and no longer with force but with help they held on to love.

The Lord then abolished the turning sword that stirred up the thoughts, and they entered into the interior of the veil, where the Lord entered as a forerunner on our behalf, and they delighted in the fruits of the Spirit, and having beheld the things to come with firmness of heart, they spoke, according to the Apostle, as in a mirror, in a riddle, the things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, whatsoever things God has prepared for those who love Him.

If it has not entered into the heart of man, how do you know these things—especially since in the Acts you confessed yourselves to be men of like nature with us? But hear what the blessed Apostle answers to this:

But to us, he says, He has revealed them through His Spirit.

For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

But lest anyone should say that the Holy Spirit was given to them as to apostles, but that this is by nature incapable of being received by us, for this reason he says, praying:

May God grant you to be strengthened with power in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts; and the Lord is the Spirit:

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty; and again he says:

But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

Let us therefore also pray, with full assurance and perception, to receive the grace of the Holy Spirit, and to enter whence we were cast out, and henceforth to turn away from the wrath-begetting serpent and vainglorious counselor, the spirit of anxiety and dissipation, so that, believing firmly, we may keep the commandments through the Lord and grow in Him unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of maturity, no longer to be mastered by the deceit of this age, but to be in the full assurance of the Spirit and not to disbelieve that even upon repenting sinners the grace of God is well pleased.

For that which is bestowed according to grace is no longer measured by comparison with the preceding weakness, since otherwise grace would no longer be grace; rather, believing in the almighty God, let us approach with a simple and unaffected heart Him who grants participation through faith in the Spirit, and not through comparison with the works of nature.

You did not receive the Spirit by works of the law, but by the hearing of faith.

You said that all things are hidden spiritually within the soul.

'I desire to speak five words in the church with my understanding'? Answer:

And the church is understood under two aspects: in the assembly of the faithful, and in the composite constitution of the soul.

When, then, it is taken spiritually with reference to man, the church is his whole composite being.

And the five words are comprehensive virtues, building up the whole man, though divided in many ways.

For just as he who speaks in the Lord encompasses all wisdom through five words, so he who follows the Lord builds up piety through five virtues.

For being five, they contain them all.

The first is prayer; then continence, almsgiving, poverty, and long-suffering.

These, when accomplished with longing and free choice, are words of the soul spoken by the Lord and heard by the heart.

For the Lord works, and then the spirit speaks with understanding, and the heart openly accomplishes as much as it longs for.

And the virtues, just as they are comprehensive of all, so also they generate one another.

For when the first is lacking, all are destroyed; and likewise, when the second is lacking, those that follow it are destroyed, and so on in order.

For how shall anyone pray who is not moved by the Spirit? And Scripture bears witness, saying:

No one can say that Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.

And how shall he who practices continence without prayer endure it without help? And he who is not continent in everything, how shall he show mercy to the hungry or the wronged? And he who does not show mercy will not willingly accept to become poor either.

And again, wrath is the companion of the desire for money, whether one has money or does not have it.

And thus the virtuous soul is built up into the church, not because it accomplished, but because it desired.

For it is not one's own work that saves a man, but He who granted man the power.

If, then, anyone endures the marks of the Master, let him not suppose in any respect that he has done even the smallest thing of himself, or that he is thereby contributing toward the benefits bestowed on him.

Do not, then, ever suppose that in virtue you have gotten ahead of the Lord, according to him who says that it is He who works in us both to will and to work, for His good pleasure.

'Does Scripture command every man to do this?' Answer:

We have said before that man possesses this aptitude by nature, and it is this that God seeks.

He commands, then, that man first understand, and having understood, love, and with his will pursue it.

But for the mind to be moved, or the labor to be endured, or the work to be completed, the grace of the Lord grants this to him who has willed and believed.

The will of man, therefore, is as it were a substantive offering.

But when the will is not present, He Himself does not act either, although able to as God, but on account of free self-determination.

The accomplishment, then, is God's, but the will is man's; yet if we give the whole will, He credits the whole work to us.

God is wonderful in all things and incomprehensible, but we men attempt to speak some small part of His wonders, leaning upon Scripture, or rather being made wise by it.

For, it says, 'who has known the mind of the Lord?' Yet He Himself says:

How often I wanted to gather your children together, and you were not willing!

So that from this we may believe that He Himself gathers us together, and seeks from us only the will.

But what is the manifestation of the will?

For just as iron, when sawing, cutting, tilling, or planting, itself yields under the pressure applied, yet it is another who moves and drives it, and who, when it is worn away, refines it with fire and renews it — so also man, even if he is afflicted and toils at working what is good, yet the Lord secretly works within him, and in the toiling and the crushing of the heart comforts and renews... the paradise of God, and kept this commandment, were not cast out, but insofar as they abstained from earthly things, they enjoyed spiritual things a hundredfold, effectively and in the same manner, grace comforting them.

Let us therefore also pray to keep it, so that, abiding in the word of the Lord, we may enjoy the delight of the Spirit both here and in the age to come.

For just as Adam was cast out after tasting of the tree of knowledge, so those who set their minds on earthly things cannot remain in the word of Christ.

According to what is written, that friendship with this world is enmity with God.

Therefore Scripture commands us to keep our own heart with all watchfulness, so that one, guarding his word as a paradise, may enjoy grace, not listening to the serpent coiling within, counseling what leads to pleasure, through which is begotten a fratricidal wrath, and the soul that bears it dies; but listening to the Lord who commands us to attend to faith and hope, through which is begotten the love of God and love of man, which grants eternal life.

Into this paradise Noah was brought in, keeping the commandment and working it, and through love he was redeemed from the wrath.

Keeping this, Abraham heard the voice of God.

Keeping this, Moses received glory upon his face, and changed creation.

But Saul too, as long as he kept his heart, prospered.

But when he transgressed completely, then he was utterly cast away.

For the word of the Lord deals with each in measure, according to proportion.

To the extent that one masters it, to that extent is he mastered by it; and to the extent that he keeps it, to that extent he is kept.

Choosing poverty instead of riches, dishonor instead of glory, hardship instead of enjoyment, and thus also love instead of wrath.

For hating the pleasures of life, they loved all the more those who took them away, as fellow-workers with them toward their purpose, abstaining from the knowledge of good and evil.

Considering it a dispensation of the Master.

Toward all, therefore, they had an inward goodwill.

For when they heard the Lord saying:

'Forgive, and you shall be forgiven' — then they regarded those who wronged them as benefactors, having the occasions from them as means toward forgiveness.

And again, when they heard him saying:

'As you wish that men would do to you, do also to them likewise' — then they also loved the good in good conscience.

For having abandoned their own righteousness and seeking the righteousness of God, they consequently found also love, hidden by nature within it.

For indeed the Lord, though commanding much concerning love, bade us to seek the righteousness of God:

For He knows it to be the mother of love.

For there is no other way to be saved except through one's neighbor, just as the Lord commanded, saying:

Forgive, and you shall be forgiven.

This is the law of the Spirit, inscribed in faithful hearts, the fulfillment of the first law.

For, He says, 'I did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it.'

The first law, through the seemingly reasonable pretext afforded by the one who sinned, condemned all the more the one who was wronged.

For in that a man judges another, he condemns himself; but in that he forgives, it shall be forgiven him.

For thus the law also says:

Between judgment and judgment, and between plague and plague.

The fulfillment of the law, then, is forgiveness.

But we have called it 'the first law,' not because God set forth two laws for men, but one.

Spiritual by nature, but bringing upon each, according to just retribution, the appropriate verdict.

To the one who forgives, he will forgive; and to the one who exacts a strict reckoning, he will exact a strict reckoning.

With the elect you shall be elect, and with the crooked you shall show yourself crooked.

For this reason those who fulfill this law spiritually, and who partake of grace in due proportion, loved not only those who did them good, but also those who reproached and persecuted them, awaiting the spiritual recompense of good things.

Not that they merely forgave the wrongs done to them, but that they even did good to the souls of those who wronged them;

for thus they commended those persons to God, so that through them they might obtain the blessing, as he says:

Blessed are you when they persecute you and reproach you.

And it was by the spiritual law that they were taught to think in this way.

For as they endured and kept their noetic gentleness, the Lord, seeing the endurance of a heart under assault and a love not displaced, broke down the dividing wall of the fence, and thereupon cast off the enmity, and no longer with struggle but with help did they possess love.

Thereupon the Lord abolished the turning sword that stirred up the thoughts, and they entered into the inner sanctuary beyond the veil, where the Lord entered as a forerunner on our behalf; and they delighted in the fruits of the Spirit, and having beheld the things to come with steadfastness of heart, they said, according to the Apostle, as in a mirror, in a riddle, the things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, as many things as God has prepared for those who love him.

But I will ask this marvelous question:

if it has not entered into the heart of man, how do you know these things—especially since in the Acts you confessed yourselves to be men of like nature with us? But listen to what the blessed Apostle answers to this:

But to us, he says, God has revealed them through his Spirit.

For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.

But lest anyone should say that the Holy Spirit was given to them as apostles, while by nature this is incapable of being received by us, therefore he says, praying:

May God grant you to be strengthened with power in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts; now the Lord is the Spirit.

And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom; and again he says:

But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

...of the Spirit, and to enter whence we were cast out, and henceforth to turn away from the wrath-begetting serpent and vainglorious counselor, the spirit of anxiety and dissipation, so that, believing steadfastly, we may keep the commandments through the Lord and grow up in him into a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of his fullness, no longer to be mastered by the deceit of this age, but to be in the full assurance of the Spirit and not to disbelieve that the grace of God is well pleased even toward sinners who repent.

For that which is given as a free gift according to grace is no longer measured in comparison with the preceding weakness, since otherwise grace would no longer be grace; but let us believe in the almighty God and, with a simple and uncomplicated heart, come to him who through faith grants participation in the Spirit, and not through comparison with the works of nature.

You did not receive the Spirit from works of the law, but from the hearing of faith.

You have said that all things are spiritually hidden within the soul.

"I desire to speak five words in the church with my understanding"? Answer.

The church is understood under two aspects: in the assembly of the faithful, and in the constitution of the soul.

When, then, it is taken spiritually with reference to man, the church is his whole constitution;

and the "five words" are the comprehensive virtues, which build up the whole man, and are divided in manifold ways.

For just as he who speaks in the Lord comprises all wisdom through five words, so too he who follows the Lord builds up piety through five virtues.

For being five, they comprise them all;

first, prayer; then, self-control, almsgiving, poverty, longsuffering.

These, when accomplished with longing and free choice, are words of the soul spoken by the Lord and heard by the heart.

For the Lord works, and then the spirit speaks with the understanding, and the heart accomplishes openly just as much as it inwardly longs for.

And the virtues, just as they are comprehensive of all the rest, so too are they generative of one another.

For when the first is lacking, all are destroyed; and likewise, when the second is lacking, those that follow it are destroyed, and so on in sequence.

For how shall anyone pray who has not been moved by the Spirit? And Scripture bears witness, saying:

No one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except in the Holy Spirit.

And how shall he who practices self-control without prayer endure, having no help? And how shall he who does not practice self-control in everything show mercy to the hungry or to the wronged? And he who does not show mercy does not willingly accept to become poor either.

And again, wrath is the foster-companion of the desire for possessions, whether one has possessions or has none.

The virtuous soul, then, is built up into the church in this way—not because it has accomplished, but because it has longed for these things;

for it is not one's own work that saves a man, but he who has granted the power to man.

If, then, one endures the marks of the Master, let him not suppose that in anything—even the least thing—he has accomplished it of his own accord, and so lay claim to the benefits received.

Do not, then, ever suppose that in virtue you have gotten ahead of the Lord, according to him who says that it is God who works in us both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.