World Philosophical Heritage: Wisdom and teachings of christian religion

G od is fire and He is so called by all the inspired Scripture (cf. Heb. 12:29). The soul of each of us is a lamp. Now a lamp is wholly in darkness, even though it be filled with oil or tow or other combustible matter, until it receives fire and is kindled… The man whose soul's lamp is still in darkness, that is, untorched by the divine fire, stands the more in need of a guide with a shining torch who will discern his actions.

Saint Symeon the New Theologian quote, Christianity, Orthodoxy
The Discourses, p. 339, Trans. C.J. de Catanzaro. Ramsey, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1980.

N or should you circulate in search of famous monks, nor inquire into their lives. Rather, if by God's grace you have chanced on a spiritual father, tell only him about yourself. If not, but as seeing Christ, look always at Him and in all things keep Him alone as the One Who sees your sorrow and affliction.

Saint Symeon the New Theologian quote, Christianity, Orthodoxy
On the Mystical Life : The Ethical Discourses. Trans. Alexander Golitzin. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1996, (Vol. 2), p.95

C onstantly call on God, that He may show you a man who is able to direct you well, one whom you ought to obey as though he were God Himself, whose instruction you must carry out without hesitation… It is better for you to be called a disciple of a disciple rather than to live by your own devices and gather the worthless fruits of your own will… So, brother, do as we have said, and go to the man whom God shows you, either mystically in person, or externally through His servant.

Saint Symeon the New Theologian quote, Christianity, Orthodoxy
The Discourses, p. 232, Trans. C.J. de Catanzaro. Ramsey, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1980.

P aul says that those who are still alive will be lifted up to the clouds where they will meet the Lord in the air. (1 Thess. 4:17)} … in every way endeavor to be lifted up even but a little from the earth. Should this wonderful thing happen, which would astound you, that you should float up from the earth into the air, you would not at all want to descend to the earth and stay there! But by "earth" I mean the fleshly mind, by "air" the spiritual. Once the mind is set free from evil thoughts and through it we contemplate the freedom that Christ our God has bestowed on us, we shall never again be willing to descend to our former slavery to sin and the fleshly mind.

Saint Symeon the New Theologian quote, Christianity, Orthodoxy
The Discourses,Trans. C.J. de Catanzaro. Ramsey, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1980.

J ohn tells us that we should neither love the world nor the things of the world. (1 John 2:15-16)} But what is "the world"? What are the "things that are in the world"? Listen! It is not gold, sliver, or horses, or mules. All these things that serve our physical needs we ourselves possess {even though we are monks}. It is not meat, nor bread, nor wine, for we ourselves partake of these things and eat them in moderation. It is not houses, nor baths, nor fields, nor vineyards, nor suburban properties, for great and small monasteries consist of these. So what is the world? It is sin, brethren, and attachment to things and passions…

Saint Symeon the New Theologian quote, Christianity, Orthodoxy
The Discourses, pp. 109-110, Trans. C.J. de Catanzaro. Ramsey, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1980.

P eter said that he and the other disciples had forsaken everything in order to follow Christ (Mt. 19:27)} By the word everything he included lands, money, their own wills, to the point of contempt and abhorrence for this transitory life in order that they might taste that life which is substantial and eternal. It is altogether sweeter and preferable; it is nothing else but God Himself.

Saint Symeon the New Theologian quote, Christianity, Orthodoxy
The Discourses, p. 357, Trans. C.J. de Catanzaro. Ramsey, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1980.

T he poor in spirit (Mt. 5:3) have no attachment to the things that are present, nor are they even in thought passionately involved with them, not even to the extent of simple enjoyment.

Saint Symeon the New Theologian quote, Christianity, Orthodoxy
The Discourses, p. 52, Trans. C.J. de Catanzaro. Ramsey, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1980.

T hose who are ailing do not know these things. Indeed, they do not even understand that they are sick. And who then can ever persuade with argument people thus inclined that they are under the sway of sickness and disease? They imagine rather that it is health to accomplish the wishes of the flesh, and to practise all its lust and desire. And, just as no one will ever make those who are gone mad and deranged take account of the fact that they are insane, just so neither will anyone persuade those who are wallowing in the passions, and ruled by them, and unconscious of their being possessed, that they are in a bad way, and so make them change for the better. For they are blind, and neither do they believe that anyone else can see. Thus they live, deprived of sight and unconvinced they can lift up their eyes.

I t is not only he who commits sin who is separated from God and becomes His enemy, but also he who loves it and covets something, or has an attachment in his heart to anything that is on earth. This constitutes friendship with the world (James 4:4). Thus is is clearly proven that, even if one is deprived of everything and commits no sin whatever in action, but merely likes it and favors it and, so to speak, is attached to it, he is an enemy of God. Thus John says, "If any one loves the world, love for the Father is not in him" (1 John 2:15). So the Lord Himself says, "You must love the Lord your God with all your mind and with all your strength and with all your soul" (Mk. 12:30). Therefore he who craves or has an attachment to anything else transgresses this commandment.

Saint Symeon the New Theologian quote, Christianity, Orthodoxy
The Discourses, p. 111, Trans. C.J. de Catanzaro. Ramsey, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1980.

W e think we will receive the full knowledge of God's truth by means of worldly wisdom, and fancy that this mere reading of the God-inspired writings of the saints is to comprehend Orthodoxy, and that this is an exact and certain knowlege of the Holy Trinity. Nor is this all, but the more august among us foolishly suppose that the contemplation which comes to pass only through the Spirit in those who are worthy is the same as the thoughts produced by beir own reasoning. How ridiculous! How callous!

B ut neither should you try to seize {God} with the hands of your intellect, for He is ungraspable, and the more you make bold to touch Him or fancy that you hold Him, the more you will have nothing inside and He will immediately disappear from you entirely.

H ow then was {the Word} everywhere before making the world and, when He had made it, how was He shining in it without the world comprehending Him? (cf Jn 1:1-15). Pay careful attention: God "Who is everywhere present and fills all things" was not, Scripture says, separated from it by location when He created this sensible world, but by the nature of the glory of His divinity, it being evident that nothing created approached or comprehended Him at all. Indeed, being inseparable from all He is as clearly in all.

G od, the cause of all, is One… That One is not such as are visible things. Rather, He transcends incomparably and inalterably all the visible world…

W hen the intellect has been perfected, it unites wholly with God and is illumined by divine light, and the most hidden mysteries are revealed to it. Then it truly learns where wisdom and power lie… While it is still fighting against the passions it cannot as yet enjoy these things… But once the battle is over and it is found worthy of spiritual gifts, then it becomes wholly luminous, powerfully energized by grace and rooted in the contemplation of spiritual realities. A person in whom this happens is not attached to the things of this world but has passed from death to life.

The Philokalia quote, Christianity, Orthodoxy
Philokalia (Vol. 2), p. 355

T he person who listens to Christ fills himself with light; and if he imitates Christ, he reclaims himself.

The Philokalia quote, Christianity, Orthodoxy
St. Thalassios, in On Love, Self-control and Life in accordance with the Intellect: ("Philokalia (Vol. 2)", p. 321)

Y ou should not doubt that the intellect, when it begins to be strongly energized by the divine light, becomes so completely translucent that it sees its own light vividly. This takes place when the power of the soul gains control over the passions. But when St. Paul says that "Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light" (2 Cor. 11:14), he definitely teaches us that everything which appears to the intellect, whether as light or as fire, if it has a shape, is the product of the evil artifice of the enemy. So we should not embark on the ascetic life in the hope of seeing visions clothed with form or shape; for if we do, Satan will find it easy to lead our soul astray. Our one purpose must be to reach the point when we perceive the love of God fully and consciously in our heart …

Diadochos of Photiki quote, Christianity, Orthodoxy
On Spiritual Knowledge: ("Philokalia (Vol. 1)", p. 265, text 40)

W hen in fear, trembling and unworthiness we are yet permited to receive the divine, undefiled Mysteries of Christ, our King and Lord, we should then display even greater watchfulness, strictness and guard over our hearts, so that the divine fire, the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, may consume our sins and stains, great and small. For when that fire enters into us, it at once drives the evil spirits from our heart and remits the sins we have previously committed, leaving the intellect free from the turbulence of wicked thoughts. And if after this, standing at the entrance to our heart, we keep strict watch over the intellect, when we are again permitted to receive those Mysteries the divine body will illumine our intellect still more and make it shine like a star.

Saint Hesychios the Priest quote, Christianity, Orthodoxy
On Watchfulness and Holiness: ("Philokalia (Vol. 1)", p. 179, text 101)

T he sun rising over the earth creates the daylight; and the venerable and holy name of the Lord Jesus, shining continually in the mind, gives birth to countless intellections radiant as the sun.

Saint Hesychios the Priest quote, Christianity, Orthodoxy
On Watchfulness and Holiness: ("Philokalia (Vol. 1)", p. 197, text 196)

T he guarding of the intellect may appropriately be called light-producing, lightning-producing, light-giving and fire-bearing, for truly it surpasses endless virtues, bodily and other. Because of this, and because of the glorious light to which it gives birth, one must honour this virtue with worthy epithets… {Those who have become contemplatives} bathe in a sea of pure and infinite light, touching it ineffably and living and dwelling in it. They have tasted that the Lord is good (cf. Ps. 34:8)…

Saint Hesychios the Priest quote, Christianity, Orthodoxy
On Watchfulness and Holiness: ("Philokalia (Vol. 1)", p 192, text 171)

W hile we are being strengthened in Christ Jesus and beginning to move forward in steadfast watchfulness, He at first appears in our intellect like a torch which, carried in the hand of the intellect, guides us along the tracks of the mind; then He appears like a full moon, circling the heart's firmament; then He appears to us like the sun, radiating justice, clearly revealing Himself in the full light of spiritual vision.

Saint Hesychios the Priest quote, Christianity, Orthodoxy
On Watchfulness and Holiness: ("Philokalia (Vol. 1)", p. 191, text 166)

T he Lord fills His teachers with grace according to the quality and longing of those who listen.

The Philokalia quote, Christianity, Orthodoxy
St. John Cassian in On the Holy Fathers of Sketis: ("Philokalia (Vol. 1)", p. 98)

W hen Christ Himself spoke to Paul and called him, He could have opened his eyes at once and made known to him the way of perfection; instead He sent him to Ananias and told him to learn from him the way of truth, saying: Arise and go into the city, and there you will be told what you must do (Acts 9:6). In this manner He teaches us to be guided by those who are advanced on the way, so that the vision rightly given to Paul should not be wrongly interpreted; otherwise it might lead later generations presumptuously to suppose that each individual must be initiated into the truth directly by God, as Paul was, and not by the fathers…

The Philokalia quote, Christianity, Orthodoxy
St. John Cassian in On the Holy Fathers of Sketis: ("Philokalia (Vol. 1)", p. 107)

A ll men are made in God's image; but to be in His likeness is granted only to those who through great love have brought their own freedom into subjection to God. For only when we do not belong to ourselves do we become like Him who through love has reconciled us to Himself. No one achieves this unless he persuades his soul not to be distracted by the false glitter of this life.

The Philokalia quote, Christianity, Orthodoxy
St. Diadochos of Photiki in On Spiritual Knowledge: ("Philokalia (Vol. 1)", p. 253, text 4)

A brother named John came from the coast to Father Philimon and, clasping his feet, said to him: "What shall I do to be saved? For my intellect vacillates to and fro and strays after all the wrong things." After a pause, the father replied: "This is one of the outer passions and it stays with you because you still have not acquired a perfect longing for God. The warmth of this longing and of the knowledge of God has not yet come to you." The brother said to him: "What shall I do, father?" Abba Philimon replied: "Meditate inwardly for a while, deep in your heart; for this can cleanse your intellect of these things." The brother, not understanding what was said, asked the Elder: "What is inward meditation, father?" The Elder replied: "Keep watch in your heart; and with watchfulness say in your mind with awe and trembling: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me. For this is the advice which the blessed Diadochos gave to beginners."

The Philokalia quote, Christianity, Orthodoxy
("Philokalia (Vol. 2)", p. 347)

I f you really wish to cover your evil thoughts with shame, to be still and calm, and to watch over your heart without hindrance, let the Jesus Prayer cleave to your breath, and in a few days you will find that this is possible.

Saint Hesychios the Priest quote, Christianity, Orthodoxy
On Watchfulness and Holiness: ("Philokalia (Vol. 1)", pp. 194-195, text 182)

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