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| Saint Sophrony the Athonite. |
In the example of Christ Who withdrew into the wilderness, our
Tradition has appointed Great Lent.
«Then Jesus was led up by the
Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had
fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.
Now
when the tempter came to Him, he said: "If You are the Son of God, command
that these stones become bread." But He answered and said: "It is
written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceeds from the mouth of God."
Then
the devil took Him up into the holy city, and set Him on the pinnacle of the
temple, and said to Him: "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down;
for it is written He shall give His angels charge over you, and In
their hands they will shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a
stone." Jesus said to him: "It is written again, You shall
not tempt the Lord your God."
Again,
the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the
kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him: "All these
things I will give you if you fall down and worship me." Then Jesus
said to him: "Begone, Satan! For it is written: You shall
worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve."
Then
the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.»[1]
I don't consider it possible today to
approach all the contents of this temptation, but from all aspects we can see
that it was a temptation at the highest level. The devil didn't know yet with
Whom he was speaking. But the Man, with Whom he was speaking, was giving rise
to these temptations: "If You are the Son of God, do this miracle...";
"if You are the Son of God, then throw yourself down and the angels will
protect you..."; leading Him to the High mountain and showing Him all the wealth
of this world, he said: "I have been given authority over this
entire world. Worship me and I shall give it to you...". And the
Lord vanquished all these three temptations and said: "Get behind me,
Satan!". In this way the Man Christ[2]
vanquished the world. And afterwards, at the end of His earthly course, He said
to His disciples: "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."[3]
What is characteristic about this
temptation? The Lord was fasting forty days remaining in a state of constant
spiritual tension. When however, He became exhausted and His physical
powers naturally became weak, precisely then the devil approached Him. And this
means, that when we fast and consequently become exhausted, we are easily prone
to the enemy's temptations.
We cannot compare ourselves with
Christ. His knowledge of the world was absolute, divine. But even in His human
nature, in His Incarnation, He was not a simple man, as can be seen by His
conversation with the devil: "If You are the Son of God, make miracles...
fall down... worship me... I shall give you authority". We however, are
tempted by the enemy with lesser things, which nonetheless shake us, even if we
experience undoubtedly a lighter war than the Lord. The cosmic laws and energies
are everywhere the same; they pass through us. When the Lord said: "I have
overcome the world", it means that these temptations "touched"
Him also, but He rejected them and vanquished them. The same spirit of the
world however comes to us also and shakes us. Thus then, this fight is cosmic,
as well as supra-cosmic... Since the Lord says "I have overcome
the world", this means that He has become supra-cosmic.
Now, I would like to speak to you
related to this, also about something else, very important: It is possible
to live this Great Lent, without blaming ourselves about anything. And then, as
regards noetic knowledge, the Fast will pass without any benefit. I am
referring to "noetic knowledge", because Great Lent is a fight with
the passions. And this fight is not without benefit or result...
 |
| The Fast constitutes certainly a trial on all the levels. |
We are never free of the fight
against the passions. Due to the war of the flesh we should remain constantly
in an intense state of vigilance, so that the body does not demand from us that
which obstructs our ascent towards God. Thus the approach of thoughts is possible
then also for us, at almost the same level at which Christ was tried in the
Gospel. However, in our case such trials are a very rare phenomenon. Different
also is our reason for coming into the world. The Lord came to save the
world[4],
vanquishing all cosmic energies and guiding all of us, who have already escaped
from the influence of the powers of the world, to the level of divine life.
We live at a lower level, but nonetheless we are trained gradually for this
life. And when- if God extends our life- Great Lent comes again, pay attention
to this. The problem does not concern the body only, but primarily our
eternal soul...
... Finally, through fasting
and prayer we prepare ourselves for what has been promised to us, that is
Resurrection. We arrive at Easter with "Christ is Risen" and we
celebrate our common resurrection and not only the Resurrection of Christ. As
says St. John Chrysostom in his homily on Easter: "Christ is Risen, and
not one dead remains in a tomb"[5].
Forgive me, for allowing myself to
speak about this. Mindfulness of death was granted to me, during which the
entire cosmic being is subject to death, awaits its end. When however the
mercy of God visited me and I felt within me the potential for eternal life,
then for me the entire world was resurrected. And the negative experience
of mindfulness of death was suddenly converted to the knowledge that for us
there is no death.
We are created "in the image and
resemblance" of the beginning-less and immortal God. When we speak about
the Resurrection, we turn our attention to the last words of the Creed: "I
await the Resurrection of the dead...". This waiting in hope constitutes
that energy within us which will raise us in an unknown way. Those who have
turned away from Christ[6]
and are totally under the power of death cannot achieve this. They do
not believe in the Resurrection.
I wanted to say to you these few
words, in order for you to pass Great Lent in a fruitful way not only on the
sphere of knowledge but also on the sphere of awareness. For there to be a
successful conscious strive on all levels: the fight with the passions of the
flesh, on the level of the spiritual weapon of patience, on the level of the
trial of our faith. And the temptations can be of various intensity; they
can really lead us to the boundary of perdition. When we come out of this state
and experience the Resurrection, then we shall feel this victory:
"Christ has overcome the world[7]
and He is Risen from the dead[8]".
(To
be continued)
Reference:
BUILDING
THE TEMPLE OF GOD WITHIN US AND IN OUR BRETHREN by Archimandrite SOPHRONY
(Sakharov), Vol. 1-3, Translation from Russian to Greek by Archimandrite
Zachariah, St. John the Baptist Monastery, Essex, England, Third Edition, 2014.
Translation
of the above extracts of HOMILY 65 from Greek to English by Holy Trinity
Family, Douma, Lebanon.
[1] Mt. 4,1-11
[2] See 1Tim. 2,5.
[3] Jn. 16,33.
[4] Jn. 12,47.
[5] St. John Chrysostom, Catechismal Homily on the Holy and Glorious
Day of the Resurrection, See Penticostarion, Matins of Easter Sunday.
[6] See Jn. 6,66.
[7] See Jn. 16,33.
[8] See Mt. 28,7.