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| Saint Sophrony with his spiritual father Saint Silouan the Athonite. |
How wondrous is this way! It is beyond
our mind. Our spirit is unable to follow the "example" of Christ[1],
our God, Who brought down to earth the fire of the Father's love[2].
Today I will refer to the subject of
repentance and filial adoption. Despite the fact that these states in their
perfect form are beyond every human description, we, in our foolishness, will
speak in the measure of our capacities about these things, which are infinitely
and inexplicably great and sublime.
How many times have we repeated that
we begin our journey from the small step of repentance... The end however of
this way, according to our understanding, is the deification of man. When we
dare speak about these matters, many faint-hearted persons become troubled and
annoyed. O, if only they knew with what fear is filled our soul, lest we be
mistaken in any of our words, when we refer to the most Holy of all and
everything, Father's love!
How can we however approach this
subject? Leaving behind for the time-being some details, we will speak about
the most essential.
Christ's preaching began with the
word: "Repent"[3].
And when we examine this word, as with many others of Christ's words, we
discover many levels of meaning. Thus we need to find in addition a suitable
language in order to interpret these. And notice, we will discern two levels of
repentance: one touches the limits of ethics, whereas in the other there is no
longer any reference to ethical matters but to eternity itself, that is God.
The first refers to the creative judgment of man who cannot and does not yet
understand how it is possible to discern these two aspects of repentance. The
first I would call an ethical act, whereas the other, that is the passage from
the temporal trajectory to the eternal, an ontological act. In our present case
we will not try to explain whether the passage is possible or not from the
transient to the eternal or from the ethical to the ontological.
An example of a deep and beautiful act
of repentance we can see in the rich young man of the Gospel, who thirsted for
divine eternity and asked Christ what he should do to pass from the transient
to the eternal. The Lord looked at him with love and said:
- Keep the commandments...
- Which?
- Do not kill, do not commit adultery,
do not steal...
- I have kept these from my youth.
What do I still lack?
Then the Lord said to him:
- If you want to be perfect, leave
everything, all your property, all your knowledge and follow me as a poor man.
The young man could not bear this[4].
From the Gospel narration we see that this young man
was a pious Jew of that time, when the expectation of the Messiah by mankind
was at its peak. From an ethical point of view this young man was at a high
rank. But there exists a higher one, which relates to the divine sphere of the
uncreated and beginning-less Being. Thus, this example shows that there are
different grades of spiritual states in people. And the passage from the
transient to the eternal seems impossible, as is impossible in mathematics the
passage from numbers to the infinite.
Let us
take another example: There lived at Bethany two sisters, Martha and Mary.
Christ loved both of them, and they loved Christ and believed that He is the
Messiah. When however Christ came to their house, Martha was busy with many
things offering hospitality and preparing food, whilst Mary when the Bearer of
such a Spirit, as was Christ, approached her, sat at His feet thirsting to hear
every one of His words.
And
what happened? Martha, heavy leaden with the daily chores, the anxieties and
with all the unessential matters of housekeeping, turned to Christ and said:
"Tell Mary to help me". Then the Lord replied meekly: "Martha,
Martha you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needed;
Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her."[5]
You see
what a difference! The level of ethical or visible love of our customary human
relations is praiseworthy, but it does not yet transfer us to the divine
eternity. The Lord says: "Heaven and earth will pass away but my words
will not pass away"[6].
Reading these words of Christ we spontaneously bring to mind: "In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God"[7].
You see
how closely the two sisters lived together, but simultaneously what a great
distance there was in the thirst of each one. Mary was ready to receive Christ
in the conditions of disorder and everyday informality, whether the other
wanted to show all her love through every external expression. You see the
difference in levels? On the one side "In the beginning was the Word"
and on the other, love "from all the heart and all the mind"[8],
which does not yet however go beyond the limits of the spiritual development
which we have called ethical. So also in some other Gospel examples we find
very deep meanings, ideas and life situations, about which using a different
terminology we can say that they comprise the "second rank", which is
no longer ethical -physical but ontological - spiritual.
In
these latter times we encounter on earth a paradoxical phenomenon: on the one
side the oppression of all mankind through the most unbelievable cruelty, and
on the other the trend to comprehend the principle of the human person, that is,
what man is as a person, where the mind of the person is directed.
When
the Hypostatic principle begins to develop within us, then, even if we are shut
in prison, we escape with our spirit to the boundless expanses of the created
cosmos. Then man does not see the external, but lives with the internal. His
theoria or contemplation however, which extends to the infinite abyss, is
impossible to be defined in human words.
What
can we say about the abysses which open for the man who dives into the love of
Christ? What characterizes these abysmal chasms and from where do they
originate? Are they perhaps external or internal? We cannot grasp them nor
determine them, but only through repentance of the ontological type can we
enter this world. But even then it remains unknown to man if the infinity which
opens before him exists somehow as an "objective reality" or does it
comprise a state of mind, which was created "in the image" of the
Mind of the Creator, of God Himself...
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| Saint Sophrony conversing with Metropolitan Ioretheos Vlachos. |
Really,
we can feel that this world was created by the Mind and the Will of that
Spirit, whom we call God and God the Father: "Let us create man in our
image and resemblance "[10].
It is however difficult for us to discern the starting point, in order for us
to speak about the tragedy which has crushed all of us. The sufferings of the
world over thousands of years are incomprehensible. How could God create such a
world, in which sufferings reach a dead end? What happened? What did Adam do? I
would like to speak about that great tragedy which also crushed me thousands of
times. How is it possible for such sufferings to be endured during all the
thousands of years which passed from the moment when it was worded: "Let
there be light"[11]? In
our Christian ethics we are astounded by the image of Man, the one Man, Who
climbs Golgotha, in order to lift on His shoulders the whole weight of the
earth's curse and the burden of all the passions. Thus, from an ethical point
of view we do not see anything more grand, more Holy than Christ. I speak about
this because our mind can grasp the reality of the Divine Being, even if it
does not yet know the character of this great Spirit.
It my
youth it happened that I read the words of Pushkin: "Who with hostile
authority called me out of naught?" The poet was considering that the
world was suffering. And if the world was suffering, then of what kind of
spirit could the Creator of this world be? But you see however, His Son comes,
in order to speak with that man, whom He created in the image and resemblance
of God. In His person we contemplate the prior to the ages concept of our
Creator God for man. And if man sees himself in Christ intrinsically so good,
alike to God Himself Who appeared on earth, then of course, when He reveals
Himself by the Holy Spirit, we can no longer by any means draw ourselves away
from this great Act of the Divine Being. This means that the Creator is not
guilty for these sufferings, but a single being, potentially alike to Him: man,
the image of the Absolute God.
But you
see however, we call on His Name: "Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, He Who
takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us. He Who takes away the sins
of the world, accept our supplication. He Who sits at the right hand of the
Father, You Who are truly the only Holy One". And there is no end to our
awe in front of that Original, in Whose image man was created.
From
the moment then when man is lifted in mind and heart to the divine sphere, his
mind will constantly be carried precisely to this sphere. And how could it be
possible to wish to depart from there! All these things are beyond our mind,
our capacities, and no mental attempt conduces to the acquisition of revelation
relating to the depths of God Himself.
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| "Yes, you are my son" |
Forgive
me, my beloved. There is only a little time left for me to be speaking with
you, and this is why I am in a hurry. In speaking I have no other aim but to
impart to you the beating of my heart. I mean, it is frightful for us to speak
further, because the Lord is calling us to follow Him. But where is He walking?
In the garden of Gethsemane, at night time. And then on to Golgotha...
Thus,
when we become Christians and see the sufferings of the whole world, we begin
somewhat to understand the "language" of Christ. The Apostles John
and James asked that it be granted to them to sit at the right hand and left of
Christ. Christ answered: "Are you able to drink the cup which I drink and
to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? They said to Him: We
are able." As the Father of us all, Christ answered with love: "The
cup which I drink you shall drink and the baptism with which I am baptized you
shall be baptized"[12].
And we too, as souls, will drink the cup and will be baptized, as the Lord was
baptized.
With
what wisdom did the Fathers of the Church teach that, gradually, from the small
things we are suddenly lead to the vision of the grand, even in the details!
And this is the true man, the image of God. Our striving, the ascetic fight of
the monks, takes place with the aim of reinstating within us this image, which
was blackened by sin and the base passions. Then our mind is renewed and sees
things through a different perspective and a different light. However, this
does not at all mean that one is freed from the passions.
In our present
times the outside world is becoming all the more distant from Christ, and this
is the most wretched, tragic, frightful aspect of the events of our epoch: to
lose Christ for the second time, as Adam did in Paradise... How can this be
possible? Bearing the small frictions of our daily life, we do not
"see", in a certain way, our own slips towards anger, towards
discontentment, towards anything else, because we should see the sufferings of
man and not his negative aspects. In reality this constitutes "material"
for a great "being", about which we cannot yet speak. And our path begins
from the point where almost always I end my word: Even in the small things keep
your mind where the Lord is, "behind the second veil"[13]
of the Eighth Day; keep your mind there, whilst with the body live and
participate in the conditions of these times. The soul of man is placed in
these in order to begin his awareness of being. The Lord thus often behaves
with us as if He does not perceive our weakness. And it would be impossible to endure
such a world, if Christ was not God. But as long as He is God, then "all
things are possible"[14].
We however, despite all the afflictions, say to Him, our Father: "Glory to
You, O most High God, Glory to You unto the ages of ages".
Before
closing, I would like to say two words also regarding the question which one of
you submitted in written form, and I don't remember if I replied: "When
did Israel receive filial adoption?"
When we
pray to God, according to the advice of the spiritual father from the Holy
Mountain, we will not ask for small things, but from the great God we will only
ask for the great things. Nevertheless, we should discern these two moments:
where does the ethical end and where does the divine ontology begin.
In one
of the Psalms is found the following phrase: "I am Yours, save me"[15].
When we pronounce these words, we may seem exceedingly bold. How do you, O man,
say: "I am Yours, save me"? Does God have need of you? Is perhaps
what you are doing so great, that God Himself should come and meet you?
There
comes a moment however when God says suddenly to man: "You are my son,
today I have begotten you"[16].
When we pray saying: "I am Yours, save me", we should go beyond the
ethical level. We can really ask for filial adoption, but we cannot be sure
that we will be accepted. This can be done only by God Himself. Thus in
Paradise our forefather made the foolish step: He wanted to achieve deification
without God; a simple-minded and childish step...
When
God Himself "corrects" this
phrase saying: "Yes, you are my son", then the filial adoption takes
a decisive and eternal form. If however I am saying: "I am Yours", I
am saying this within the limits of ethical nature: "I don't know anyone
better than You, but You save me". This means that I am not Your son,
prior to You Yourself bearing witness to me that I am.
We read
in the Gospels that the voice of the Father was heard: "This is my beloved
Son, listen to Him"[17].
Thus the testimony of the Father Himself was necessary, in order to confirm the
extreme power of the reality of this divinization, that Jesus Christ is the Son
of the Father.
*******
Reference:
BUILDING THE TEMPLE OF GOD WITHIN US AND IN OUR BRETHREN by Archimandrite SOPHRONY (Sakharov), Vol. 3, Translation from Russian to Greek by Archimandrite Zachariah, St. John the Baptist Monastery, Essex, England, Third Edition, 2014. Homily113(Delivered in Russian on 1 February 1993)
Translation of the above Homily from Greek to English by Holy Trinity Family, Douma, Lebanon.
[1] See Jn. 13,15.
[2] See Lk. 12,49.
[3] Mt. 4,17.
[4] See Mt. 19,16-22.
[5] Lk. 10, 41-42.
[6] Mt. 24,35.
[7] Jn. 1,1.
[8] See Mt. 22,37.
[9] Jn. 4,24.
[10] Gen. 1,26.
[11] Gen. 1,3.
[12] See Mk. 10, 35-39.
[13] See Heb. 9,3.
[14] Mk. 9,23.
[15] Ps. 118,94.
[16] Ps. 2,7.
[17] Mt.3,17 and 17,5; See also Mk. 9,7; Lk. 9,35.