Spiritual Homilies 1 part 28/36

Those who wish to set the life of Christianity aright with great precision ought before all else to make it their earnest care to tend the rational, discerning, and governing part of the soul, so that, having acquired with precision the discernment of good and evil, and always distinguishing the passions contrary to nature from the pure nature, they may conduct themselves rightly and without stumbling according to their purpose, and, using the discerning part as an eye, may be able to remain uncoupled and uncompounded with the occasions of wickedness, and thus, having been deemed worthy of the divine gift of the Spirit, may become worthy of the Lord.

Let us take an example from visible things.

For the body resembles the soul, and the affairs of the body resemble those of the soul, and visible things resemble hidden things.

For just as the body has the eye as its guide, and the eye, by seeing, directs the whole body in a straight course — now suppose for me that someone is passing through certain wooded places full of thorns and mire, where fire also is kindled and swords are fixed in the ground, and there are precipices and quantities of water there —

then the diligent and agile man, having the eye as his guide, passes through those harsh, terrible, and fearful places with the greatest attentiveness, holding his tunic together on every side with his hands, lest it be torn to pieces amid the woods and thorns, or burned up in the fire, or lost in the mire, or cut through by the swords; and the eye guides the whole body, being its light, lest it be dashed down the precipices, or drowned in the waters, or harmed in any way.

He who thus passes through swiftly and prudently keeps himself unharmed, and likewise the tunic of his garment,

unrent, unburned, and unstained.

...his laxity and sloth...

But if he does not attend well and rightly to the eye, he will fall into precipices and ravines, or, sunk in the waters, will perish.

In the same way, the soul also, wearing the garment of the body like another tunic, and having as its eye the cognitive, rational, and discerning faculty, which directs the whole soul and body, as it passes through the woods and thorns of this world, and its mire and fire and precipices (that is, the desires and pleasures and other absurdities of this age), ought on every side, with sobriety, diligence, and courage, to hold itself together and to guard itself and the tunic of its body, lest it be torn anywhere amid the world's woods and the thorns of cares, occupations, distractions, or earthly affairs, and be scorched by the fire of desire.

For it ought to turn away the eye so as not to see evil things, likewise the ear so as not to hear evil things, and to restrain the feet from wicked practices.

For the soul has the will to turn away and restrain the members of the body from most evil wills, and from wicked and shameful hearing, and from wicked and worldly practices.

It turns itself away from distractions, guarding the heart so that it may not wander and so that its members — that is, its thoughts — may not spread themselves out into the world.

And thus, contending and striving, and keeping the members of the body at all times with much attentiveness away from the desires and evil practices of this world, it preserves the good tunic of the body unrent, unburned, unbemired, and unstained, and it keeps itself unwounded through the cognitive, rational, and discerning eye of the soul; and the whole shall be kept safe through the power of the Lord, the soul itself gathering itself together on every side with all its strength and first turning away from every worldly desire, and thus, being helped by the Lord, it is truly kept from the snares and desires and manifold pleasures of this world.

For when the Lord sees a soul thus turning away from the pleasures of the world and its distractions and occupations and material cares and earthly bonds and the wanderings of worldly and vain thoughts, and guarding the body and itself with all attentiveness from all these things, he gives it his own gracious help, keeping it unfallen as it passes well through the present evil age of darkness; and thus it will obtain heavenly praises, because it has preserved the tunic of its body and itself, as far as was in its power, having turned away from and hated every desire of the world, and, being helped by him, has run well through the course of the race of this world.

But if someone, in laxity, negligence, and indolence, walks through this life inattentively, and does not willingly turn away from every worldly desire, and does not seek the Lord alone with his whole desire, he becomes impaled on the thorns and woods of this world, and the tunic of his body is scorched by the fire of desire and stained by the mire of pleasures, and he is shown to be without confidence on the day of judgment, having failed to keep his garment unstained, but rather having corrupted and torn it through the deceits of worldly desires; and thus he becomes cast out of the kingdom of God.

For what will God do for one who, of his own will, hands himself over to the world, is deceived by its pleasures, and is led astray by the wanderings of material thoughts? For he gives help to the one who turns away from all earthly and visible things, and forcibly draws his mind always toward the Lord, and denies himself, and seeks him alone.

— working out his own salvation with fear and trembling, and passing with all attentiveness through the snares, thorns, and mire of this world, not spreading himself out in worldly thoughts, but always holding himself together with all his strength, and seeking the help of God, and hoping in his mercy, and being saved through grace.

For behold, those five wise virgins who were sober, who did not deny that which was foreign to their own nature, having taken oil in the vessels of their hearts (that is, the grace of the Spirit from above), were able to enter with the bridegroom into the heavenly bridal chamber.

But the others, the foolish ones, remaining in their own nature, were not sober and did not take pains to receive the oil of gladness in the vessels of their hearts, as they were in the flesh, but fell asleep, as it were, through negligence, laxity, and indolence, under the conceit of their own righteousness.

Therefore they were also shut out of the bridal chamber of the kingdom, being unable to please their heavenly bridegroom.

For they were held fast by the bond of the world and by some earthly love, and therefore they did not give their whole love and longing to the heavenly bridegroom, nor did they obtain the oil.

For the souls that seek what is foreign to their nature — the sanctification of the Spirit — bind all their love toward the Lord;

for there they walk, there they pray, there they think, there they meditate, turning away from all things and loving only the good bridegroom.

Therefore, having been deemed worthy to receive the oil of heavenly grace, they were able to go forth unfallen, being found perfectly pleasing to the spiritual bridegroom.

For souls that remain in their own nature mind earthly things, and their thoughts crawl upon the earth, and they reason on the earth, and their mind has its dwelling upon the earth; and they suppose themselves to belong to the bridegroom, but in appearance only, for they are not, because they were not born from the Spirit from above, not having received the oil of gladness.

For the five senses of the soul — understanding, knowledge, discernment, patience, mercy — if they receive the grace from above and the sanctification of the Spirit, are truly found to be wise virgins, having received the wisdom of grace from above.

But if they remain only in their own nature, they are found to be foolish, and are shown to be children of the world.

For they did not strip off the spirit of the world, even though, through certain plausible appearances, they suppose themselves in appearance to be brides of the bridegroom.

For just as souls that are wholly and entirely cleaving to the Lord —

there they have their thoughts, there they pray, there they walk, there they are swallowed up into the love of the Lord, and therefore they are found unfallen.

So too, in turn, souls that are bound to the love of the world and wish to have their dwelling on earth walk there, reason there, and their mind lingers there; there it is sunk and swallowed up in matter. Therefore they remain unturned toward the good mind of the Spirit.

Since, then, the heavenly gift is foreign to our nature, we need it to be mingled with and interwoven into our nature, so that we may be able to enter together with Christ into the heavenly bridal chamber of the kingdom and obtain eternal salvation.

For just as we received within ourselves the evil of the passions, which was foreign to our nature, having come upon us through the transgression of the first man, and held it in ourselves as though it had become our nature because of its long-standing precedence, so also, through that which is foreign to our nature — the heavenly gift of the Holy Spirit — this evil must again be driven out from our nature, and we must be restored to our original purity.

unless we conduct ourselves without falling in all his commandments, we shall not be able to obtain the heavenly kingdom.

But I wish to speak a certain subtle and profound word, according to the power that is present in me.

The infinite, invisible, and unapproachable God embodied himself, on account of his infinite and inconceivable goodness, and, so to speak, diminished himself, so that he might be able to be mingled with his invisible and intelligible creatures — I mean, for instance, the souls of the saints and the angels — so that they might be able to partake of immortal life and of divinity.

For each of these — the angel, the soul, the demon — is, according to its own nature, a body.

For even though they are subtle, nevertheless they exist in substance, in form, and in image, and, according to the subtlety of their nature, each is found to be a subtle body.

For just as this bodily substance is coarse, so too the soul, being a subtle body, clothed and put on the members of this body;

It put on the eye by which it sees, likewise the ear by which it hears, the hand, and, in short, the soul took in the whole body and its members, and was wholly commingled with it, hand with hand, foot with foot, eye with eye, ear with ear, through which it accomplishes all the activities of this life.

In the same way, the infinite, unspeakable, and inconceivable goodness of the Lord makes itself small, out of its infinite glory, on account of its gentleness and love for mankind, and embodies itself, and mingles and blends and embraces the faithful, worthy souls that are pleasing to him, and becomes with them one spirit, according to Paul's word — soul, so to speak, with soul, and substance with substance — so that the worthy soul pleasing to him may be able to live in the Godhead and to perceive it, and to become a partaker of immortal life and incorruptible pleasure, and to enjoy ineffable glory.

For if he has made this visible creation, out of things that were not, to come into being, with much diversity and variety — creation which, before it came to be, did not exist —

he willed it, and easily made, out of things not existing, substances thick and hard (I mean, for instance, the thick earth, mountains, trees;

you see what sort of hardness of nature this is), and again things intermediate and soft (such as the waters), and from these he commanded birds to be generated; and again things more subtle (such as air and winds), though these are bodies, they are not seen by the bodily eye.

Oh, how the infinite and indescribable skill of the manifold wisdom of God has created, out of things not existing, bodies both coarser and softer, harder and more subtle, and they have come into being in substance by his will! If, then, this is so, how much more does he himself, who is as he wills and what he wills, on account of ineffable goodness and inconceivable benevolence, change together with, diminish, and liken himself, and embody himself, and blend himself with the holy, worthy, and faithful souls, so that the invisible one may be seen and the untouchable one may be touched (according to the nature of the subtlety of the soul), and that the soul may perceive his sweetness and goodness, and enjoy his light, and receive some experience of the ineffable re-formation!

When he wills, he becomes fire, burning up every base and intrusive thing of the soul;

for indeed, as the prophet says, our God is a consuming fire.

When he wills, he becomes ineffable and unspeakable rest, so that the soul may rest and enjoy the Godhead.

When he wills, he becomes joy and peace, warming and enfolding the soul.

And if he wills to embody himself even as one of his creatures, for the joy and exultation of the soul — such as the city of light, Jerusalem, or the heavenly mount Zion — he is able to do so as he wills, just as it is said:

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.

All things are easy and simple for him, as he changes and transforms and manifests himself into whatever he wills, in his holy and faithful souls.

...of the Godhead — truly, things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man — all that the Spirit of the Lord becomes for the rest and exultation and delight and eternal life of the worthy soul.

For he embodies himself even as spiritual food, and garments, and unspeakable beauties, so that he may give rest ineffably and unspeakably, and fill the worthy and faithful soul with spiritual gladness, as the Lord says:

'He who eats this bread shall live forever'; and:

'I am the bread of life'; and:

'Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him, it shall become in him a well of water springing up into eternal life'; and, he says, we have all been enlightened by the same Spirit.

And I think that at every hour Moses, entering into that spiritual table, delighted and feasted upon the mountain, during his forty-day fast.

And he appeared to each of the saints as he willed, so as to give rest, save, and give life, and bring them to the knowledge of the truth.

For all things that he wills are easy for him, and as he wills he makes himself small, embodying himself, transforming himself, and appearing to those who love him, while remaining what he is.

But on account of his great and ineffable love, he is manifested to those worthy of him according to their capacity and power, not according to what he himself is in his fullness;

For the soul that has been deemed worthy, with much desire, expectation, faith, and love, to receive that power from on high, and to have the heavenly love of the Spirit mingled into its members, and has been deemed worthy to receive the heavenly fire of immortal life, is truly loosed from all worldly love and set free from every bond of wickedness.

For just as iron or lead or gold or silver, when cast into fire, is dissolved and changed from its hard nature into a kind of softness, and for as long as it is in the fire it remains dissolved and altered from that natural hardness, on account of the most intense power of the fire, in the same way the soul too, having denied the world and longed for the Lord alone with much seeking and labor and striving, and having unceasing expectation toward him in hope and faith, and having received that heavenly fire of the Godhead, the fire of the love of the Spirit, is then truly loosed from all love of the world, and is set free from every wickedness of the passions, and finds all things to be outside itself, and is changed from that very natural condition and hardness of sin, and regards all things as superfluous in comparison with the one heavenly bridegroom whom it has received, resting in his fervent and ineffable love.

And I say to you, that even the most beloved brothers whom she has before her eyes, if they in any way hinder her from that love, she turns away from them, so to speak.

For that is her true life and spiritual rest — the ineffable communion of the heavenly bridegroom.

For if the love of fleshly union (I mean marriage) separates a man from father, mother, and brothers, and all else becomes external to him in his mind, so that even if he loves something, he loves it in a merely external way, but has set his whole disposition upon his own consort, and that fleshly union has the power to dissolve every other love — for it is said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his own wife, and the two shall become one flesh' —

— then how much more, for those souls, will all else appear superfluous, because they have been conquered by heavenly longing and, through that wound, have been united with the divine love.

For there they live wholly and entirely, there they reason, there they walk, there their mind always dwells, conquered by that divine and heavenly love and by a gentle and spiritual longing.

Therefore, beloved brothers, since such good things lie before us and such promises have been given to us, let us break off from ourselves every obstacle and turn away from all love of the world, and give ourselves to seeking and laboring through faith for those good things alone, that we may be able to attain that ineffable love of the Spirit, concerning which the blessed Paul exhorted much, that we should hasten toward it, saying:

Pursue love, that we may be counted worthy, out of our hardness, of the change wrought by the right hand of the Most High, and come into gentleness and spiritual rest, being wounded by the divine love of the Spirit.

For behold, the Lord shows loving-kindness and is moved with compassion toward us, awaiting when we shall turn to him wholly, with our whole being, lifting ourselves away from the things that are contrary.

Even though we, through much ignorance and childishness and the prepossession of evil, turn away from life and set up many obstacles for ourselves, being unwilling to repent in truth;

yet he himself is greatly moved with compassion and shows kindness toward us, being long-suffering, awaiting when we shall come to him in truth and our inner man be enlightened, that our faces may not be put to shame on the day of judgment.

Even though it appears difficult to us to draw near, because of the hard discipline of virtue—or rather because of the suggestion and counsel of the adversary, who wishes to turn us all away from the good—yet the Lord is long-suffering and compassionate, awaiting our return; and when we sin he bears with us, waiting for our repentance, and when we fall he is not ashamed to receive us again, as it is said by the prophet:

"Does he who falls not rise again, or he who turns away not return?" Only let us sober up a little, acquiring a good thought, and turn to him at once, seeking help from him, and he is ready to save us.

From our will he requires the impulse toward him, as much as is in our power, and the love, faith, and eagerness that come from our own choice; but all the accomplishment he himself works in us.

Let us be diligent, then, O children, bravely stripping off all prepossession, negligence, and slackness, and let us be willing to become ready to follow after him, not putting it off from day to day, nor being stolen away by evil;

for we do not know when our departure from the flesh will take place.

For great and ineffable are the promises of the Christians, to such a degree that all the glory and beauty of heaven and earth, all the adornment and loveliness and variety of visible things, do not compare with the wealth and glory of a single faithful soul.

How then shall we not be willing, in view of so many promises of the Lord, to draw near wholly with our whole being and to give ourselves up to the Lord, renouncing, according to the Gospel, all things—and even our own soul besides—and to love him alone and nothing else together with him? But behold all these things: how much glory has been given, how many dispensations of the Lord have come to pass through the fathers, how many promises were announced beforehand, how many exhortations, how much compassion of the Master has been shown toward us from the beginning!

And finally, through his own coming among us, he displayed toward us his ineffable goodness by the crucifixion, that he might carry us, once we had turned back, into life.

Not giving us over completely to evil and to the deceit of the world, nor allowing us to perish, but through much goodness and long-suffering watching for when we shall turn back.

But let us take care lest, living together with a contemptuous mind and being carried away with our own prepossessions, we confirm against ourselves the saying of the apostle, which says:

"Or do you despise the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?" For if, against the great goodness and long-suffering and forbearance of God, we add sins upon sins and procure for ourselves a greater condemnation through our own negligence and contempt, we bring upon ourselves what follows in the saying:

"But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are storing up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and of the revelation and righteous judgment of God, when he will render to each according to his works;"

For God has employed great goodness and indescribable and inexpressible long-suffering toward the race of men.

Only let us be willing to become sober and let us be diligent to turn to him wholly, that we may be able to attain eternal salvation.

But if you wish to know the great long-suffering and goodness of God, take knowledge of it from the divinely inspired Scriptures.

Look at Israel, from whom came the fathers to whom the promises were appointed, from whom is Christ according to the flesh, among whom were the worship and the covenant—how much they sinned, how many times they turned aside, and yet he did not abandon them utterly.

For even though, for a season and a time, for their own benefit, he handed them over to chastisements, wishing to soften the hardness of their heart, yet again, being moved with compassion, he turned back, comforted them, sent prophets; and for how many years he was long-suffering, and when they sinned and stumbled and turned back, he received them again with joy.

And again, when they turned aside, he did not depart from them, but through the holy prophets called them back to repentance; and though they turned aside many times, when they returned he gladly received them—until at last they were found in that great transgression, laying hands upon their own Master, whom they had been awaiting, according to the traditions of the fathers and the prophets, as Redeemer and King and Prophet;

and when he came, they did not receive him, but on the contrary subjected him to insults and reviling, and, having shown him the treatment fit for those without honor, afterward they punished him with the death of the cross.

And in this great stumbling-block and exceeding transgression their sins, having multiplied beyond measure, were fulfilled, and thus at last they were abandoned utterly, the Holy Spirit having departed from thence, when the veil of the temple was torn, and their temple and city, having been handed over to the nations, were razed to the ground and made desolate, according to the sentence of the Lord:

"Not one stone shall remain upon another until it is thrown down." And thus they were utterly given over and scattered throughout all the earth, forbidden by the kings who had taken them captive at that time ever again to return to their own places.

So also toward each one of us, being kind and good, he is long-suffering, seeing how much each one stumbles, and he remains quiet, awaiting when each will come to his senses and turn away so as to stumble no more, receiving with much love and joy the one who returns from the stumbling-blocks of sin.

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

"It is not the will of my Father that one of these little ones should perish."

But having gone far, he adds sin to sin, joins negligence to negligence, and builds stumbling-block upon stumbling-block; he fills up the full measure of sins, and at last arrives at such a stumbling-block that he can no longer rise up from it, but is crushed, and, given over at the end to wickedness, perishes.

Thus it happened in the case of Sodom:

Those who sinned much and did not turn back, at last stumbled into such an act of daring against the angels, presuming to commit sodomy against them, that they no longer had any repentance left to them.

For they filled up the measure of their sins and exceeded it; therefore they were also burned with fire by the divine judgment.

Thus in the time of Noah, stumbling much and not repenting, they arrived at such great sins that in the end all the earth was utterly destroyed.

Thus also in the case of the Egyptians, who stumbled much and sinned against the people of God, God showed kindness, bringing upon them such scourges that they were not utterly destroyed; rather, being long-suffering, he brought upon them those lesser plagues unto servitude and turning back and repentance, awaiting their repentance.

But they, having sinned much against the people of God, and turning back, and again repenting of it, and returning to the old unbelief of their evil purpose, and having oppressed the people of the Lord—later, when through many wonders he had led the people out of Egypt by Moses, they stumbled greatly, pursuing after his people.

Therefore in the end divine justice consumed them and destroyed them, and drowned them in the waters, judging them not even worthy of this visible life.

Likewise, as was said before, when Israel stumbled much and sinned and killed the prophets of God and did much evil, God was long-suffering, remaining quiet, awaiting their repentance; but at last they stumbled into such a state that, having been shattered, they no longer rose up again.

For they laid their hands upon the majesty of the Master.

Therefore, having been cast down at last, they were rejected, and prophecy and priesthood and worship were taken away from them and given to the believing nations, as the Lord says:

"The kingdom shall be taken from you and given to a nation producing its fruits."

For until that time God bore with them and was long-suffering and did not depart from them, being moved with compassion for their return.

But they filled up the measure of their sins and exceeded it abundantly; therefore they were at last abandoned by God.

We have gone through these things at length, beloved, establishing from scriptural considerations that we ought to hasten quickly to turn to him, departing from every habit and prepossession—he who shows us kindness and ever awaits us, and receives with much joy those who turn back—so that our contempt may not increase day by day, nor stumbling-blocks be added the more to us, and thereby we bring the wrath of God upon ourselves.