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| Saint Sophrony the Athonite. |
From the Gospel case, in which the
devil approached Christ and said: "If you are the Son of God...", it
is obvious that we are all children of God, Who said: "Let us
create man in our image and resemblance". And the enemy spoke with Christ
immediately about the utmost!
There are people who strive, resist in
their ascetic struggle, and out of the one hundred times of contact with the
passion of the flesh, they successfully reject it ninety eight times, whilst
once or twice in the one hundred they somehow give in against their will. For
the ascetic monk however, these once or twice times are experienced as a
nightmare. For this reason he does not think to teach others, because he does
not consider himself a victor over the passion.
But once again I am obliged to remind
you: Please say each time, as much as possible, in a conscious way:
"Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin!".
In what does our life differ from
the rest of the world? In the fact that we reject the lust of the passions, in
order to remain joined to God.
The Lord came
and said: "I am the way"[1].
What way? After the fall of Adam, when everything was lost, the Lord
restored in us the image of God, which was darkened by the fall. Now that we
know Christ, we try to live like Him. Nonetheless we come across trials, capable
of bending our will. This in the beginning requires a great and painful
struggle.
Many ascetic monks loved illnesses,
because illness alleviates the war with the passions of the flesh. And as long
as we haven't yet overcome the passions, we cannot experience the joy of the
Resurrection in its fullness. Nonetheless however, in part we do experience it.
Often then, it happened that I came
across this phenomenon, that Easter was for some a time of trial, and this was
felt as a certain empty space in being. "Christ is Risen, and not one dead
remains in a tomb", and I feel myself under the power of death. Not only
when you feel your authority over the passions as an accomplished fact, but
during the fight itself you should remember that there is nothing final
except Christ and you should rely on Him. The feeling may arise: "See,
Easter came, but however I remain in the death of the passions". We should
not however give in to this temptation, but really believe that we shall be
raised; and not only believe in this, but also to await it, as the Holy Fathers
admirably confessed in the Creed. Not only do I believe that the dead will
be raised, no; but I also await this Resurrection.
You should say these words with
greater conviction, you should examine yourselves and be aware of these type of
temptations. If we say in the Creed "I await the resurrection of the
dead" and in the prayers for the departed "in the hope of eternal
life do Thou give rest to Thy departed servant", we stress that in dying
we shall await our resurrection, for the time being though "into Thy hands
I commit my spirit"[2]. I
pray for all of you to live Easter with the awaiting of our common Resurrection.
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| Saint Mary the Egyptian. Camille Rahal.(2020). |
This fight may attain extremely great
intensity, something I did not mention in my books nor did I speak to you about
this; because not all possess the necessary good sense to understand this as it
should be. Many however of the ascetic monks fought with the passions of the
flesh by inflicting pain on themselves. Reading the Lives of the Saints you
will ascertain that, when some of these underwent such temptations, they burned
themselves, so that with the pain they would kill within themselves this
feeling of the flesh. A certain saint burned his fingers in order to overcome
this desire. When the passion was active in them, they would bite their fingers
causing pain; which they also inflicted through striking their body, especially
their feet, where there are no vital organs. This way is very dangerous for
some: that is for them to strike themselves, until the pain reaches the heart.
The tendency towards the desires of the flesh has a strange strength. When
the passion is strongly active within us, then the pain from the blows is not
felt. Only when the pain reaches the heart, does the passion cease.
Why then is this necessary? Because
each time we give in, the passion wins our will. Each time however
when we win the desire of the flesh through the blows, all our constitution
changes and the body begins to be subject to the disposition of the spirit. That
is, each time we succeed in overcoming the passion through such pain, our body
"adjusts", in order to be subject to the demands of the spirit.
Nonetheless, in essence, the most
effective fight is the fight in spirit. Inflicting blows are a form of the
ascetic struggle in order to suppress within us the action of the passion, that
is in order to prevent the passions from controlling us, for us not to harbour them. I
however prefer a different method for this fight: mindfulness of death. Its
action is amazing, because man becomes aware of his body as a corpse, and the
temptation stops at this without inflicting blows. The Holy Fathers held
mindfulness of death in great esteem, because it kills within us the passion of
the flesh.
There are times of deadly struggle
with the passion: "either you or me; one of us will remain alive!"
and every time we win at such moments of war, our body and mind are
regenerated. Afterwards the mind easily refuses any passionate image. We
receive moreover "authority" not due to fasting, but due to the behaviour of
the mind.
Thus the training of the mind is what remains
as the most effective method of fighting with the passions. I write about
this in my book on the Elder Silouan, how one should confront the passion,
"how not to surrender the mind", but also to teach it to reject every
passionate image. And when man trains his mind at this level, so as to no
longer yield to the passionate tendency, then the passion dies. This regards
not only the temptations of the flesh but also every other passion.
From my experience on Athos as spiritual
father and from my personal experience, I noticed, that when we are insulted,
when we are deprived of something and when we are treated in a harsh or unjust way,
then the war of the flesh is alleviated...
... I am not speaking as I would like.
Nonetheless however, despite the awkwardness of my word, I hope that something
will remain in your consciousness. You are all my precious brethren, and I pray
for all of you. Be steadfast. God allows each one of us to be tried in
something... Forgive me.
*******
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 extracts of the above HOMILY 65 from Greek to English by Holy Trinity Family, Douma, Lebanon.
[1] Jn. 14,6.
[2] See Lk. 23,46.