O Holy Spirit, Eternal King and Giver of life incorruptible:
Look down in Thine infinite mercy on the infirmities of our nature.
Illumine and hallow us.
Let the light of Thy knowledge shine forth in our darkened hearts.
And in the earthen vessels of our nature manifest Thine invincible
strength.
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| Saint Sophrony the Athonite. Daniel Nicolae. 2020. |
Prayer is infinite creation, the supreme art. Over and over again
we experience an eager upsurge towards God, followed only by a falling away
from His light. Time and again we are conscious of the mind's inability to rise
to Him. There are moments when we feel ourselves on the verge of insanity. "Thou
didst give me Thy precept to love but there is no strength in me for love. Come
and perform in me all that Thou hast commanded, for Thy commandment overtaxes
my powers. My mind is too frail to comprehend Thee. My spirit cannot see into
the mysteries of Thy will. My days pass in endless conflict. I am tortured by
the fear of losing Thee because of the evil thoughts in my heart."
Sometimes prayer seems to flag and we cry, "Make haste unto me, O God”
(Ps. 70.5). But if we do not let go of the hem of His garment, help will come.
It is vital to dwell in prayer in order to counteract the persistently
destructive influence of the outside world.
Prayer cannot fail to revive in us the divine breath which God
breathed into Adam's nostrils and by virtue of which Adam “became a living
soul” (Gen. 2.7). Then our regenerated spirit will marvel at the sublime
mystery of being, and our hearts echo the Psalmist's praise of the wonderful
works of the Lord. We shall apprehend the meaning of Christ's words, “I am come
that (men) might have life and that they might have it more abundantly” (John
10.10) .
But this life is full of paradox, like all the Gospel teaching. “I
am come to send fire on earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? (Luke
12.49). Unless we go through this fire that consumes the decaying passions of
nature, we shall not see the fire transformed into light, for it is not Light
that comes first, then Fire: in our fallen state burning precedes enlightment.
Let us, therefore, bless God for this consuming fire. We do not know altogether
but we do at least know 'in part' (1 Cor. 13.9) that there is no other way for
us mortals to become 'children of the resurrection' (Luke 20.36), to reign
together with Christ. However painful this re-creating may be; however it may
distress and lacerate- the process, agonising as it is, will be a blessed one.
Erudition requires long labour but prayer is incalculably harder to acquire.
When the Gospels and Epistles become real for us we see how narve
were our past notions of God and life in Him, so far does Reality surpass man's
imagining. 'Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him' (1
Cor. 2.9). Even a whisper of the Divine is glory beyond compare to all the
content of life lived apart from God.
Strait is the way, and thorny and sorrowful. We shall heave many a
sigh as we go along. The peculiar fear which is 'the beginning of wisdom' (Ps.
111.10) will clutch at our heart and twist our whole being outside in to
concentrate attention on what is happening within. Impotent to follow Christ, we
stop short in dread. 'Jesus went before (the disciples); they were amazed; and
as they followed, they were afraid' (Mark 10.32).
None of us can escape suffering if we would be born into a new life
in God- if we would transform our natural body into a spiritual body. (As St
Paul said, 'It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body' (1 Cor.
15.44)). Only the power of prayer overcomes the resistance of matter and
releases our spirit from this cramped, inert world into the vast open spaces
radiant with Light.
The mind is bewildered by the trials that befall in our struggle
for prayer. It is not easy to identify their cause or their kind. Until we go
'into the sanctuary of God' (Ps. 73.17) we shall often hesitate, unsure whether
our works are pleasing to the All-Holy. Since we are not exempt from sin we can
only think that it is our wrong-doing which provokes the storms raging around
us- though St Peter reminded the early Christians in their despair that 'the
spirit of glory' (1 Pet. 4.14) rested upon them. One thing, however, is not
open to doubt: the hour will come when all our trials and tribulations will
disappear into the past. Then we shall see that the most painful periods of our
life were the most fruitful and will accompany us beyond the confines of this
world, to be the foundation of the Kingdom 'which cannot be moved' (Heb.
12.28).
The omnipotent God summoned us from the void. By nature we are of
the void; yet even from God we expect consideration and regard. Suddenly the
Almighty reveals Himself in boundless humility. The vision floods our entire
being and instinctively we bow in adoration. Even this does not seem enough but
however much we try to humble ourselves before Him we still fall short of His
humility.
Prayer to this God of love and humility rises from the depths of
our being. When our heart is filled with love for God we are wholly aware of
our closeness to Him- although we know full well that we are but dust (cf. Gen.
3.19). Howbeit, in the visible form of our nature the immortal God described
the likeness of His invisible Being, and thus we apprehend eternity. Through
prayer we enter into Divine life; and God praying in us is uncreated life
permeating us.
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| "In making us in His image, after His likeness, God placed us before Him" |
In making us in His image, after His likeness, God placed us before
Him, not as action of His, entirely subject to Him, but as fact (datum) even
for Him as free beings And by virtue of this, relations between man and God
are based on the principle of freedom. When we take advantage of this freedom
and commit sin, we thrust God aside. This liberty to turn away from God is the
negative, tragic aspect of free will but it is a sine qua non if we are to take
hold of the life which is truly divine, life which is not predetermined.
We have the diametrically opposite alternatives: either to refuse
God- the very essence of sin- or to become sons of God. Because we are made in
the likeness of God we naturally desire the divine perfection which is in our
Father. And when we follow Him we are not submitting to the dictates of some
extraneous power: we are merely obeying our own impulse to assimilate His
perfection. 'Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is
perfect' (Matt. 5.48).
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name
Thou hast given me to perceive Thy holiness, and I would fain be
holy in Thee.
Thy Kingdom come
May Thy glorious life enter into me and become mine.
Thy will be done
in the earth of my created being, as it is in heaven, in Thee
Thyself, from all eternity.
Give us this day our daily bread
'the true bread which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto
the world' (John 6.32-33).
And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive them that trepass
against us
By Thy Holy Spirit grant me so to forgive others that nothing may
prevent me from receiving Thy forgiveness.
Lead us not into temptation
Thou knowest my perverseness; that I am ever ready to transgress.
Send Thine angel to stand in the way for an adversary against me when I would
sin (cf. Num. 22.22).
But deliver us from evil
Deliver me from the power of the mortal enemy, the adversary of man
and God.
(According to our Christian interpretation evil- like good- exists
only where there is personal form of being. Without this personal form there would
be no evil- only determined natural processes.)
The problem of evil in the world generally and in mankind
particularly poses the question of God's participation in the historical life
of the human race. Many lose their faith because it seems that, if God existed,
evil could not be so rampant and there could not be such widespread senseless
suffering. They forget that God cares for man's freedom, which is the root
principle of his creation in the Divine image. For the Creator to interfere
when man inclines to evil would be tantamount to depriving him of the
possibility of self-determination, and would destroy him altogether. But God
can and does save individuals and nations if they tread the road He designates.
Christ said, 'I came not to send peace, but a sword' (Matt. 10.34)
and 'division' (Luke 12.51). Christ summoned us to war on the plane of the
spirit, and our weapon is 'the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God'
(Eph. 6.17). Our battle is waged in extraordinarily unequal conditions. We are
tied hand and foot. We dare not strike with fire or sword: our sole armament is
love, even for enemies. This unique war in which we are engaged is indeed a
holy war. We wrestle with the last and only enemy of mankind- death (1 Cor.
15.26). Our fight is the fight for universal resurrection.
The Lord justified and sanctified the line of His forefathers.
Likewise, every one of us, if we follow Christ, can justify ourselves in our
individual being, having restored the Divine image in us through total repentance,
and by so doing can help to justify our own forefathers. We bear in ourselves
the legacy of the sins of our ancestors; and, by virtue of the ontological
unity of the human race, healing for us means healing for them, too. We are so
interjoined that man does not save himself alone.
I found that the monks of the Holy Mountain understood this well. A
monk is a man who has dedicated his life to God; who believes that if we want
God to be wholly with us and in us, then we must give ourselves to Him completely,
not partly. The monk renounces marriage and the fathering of children in order
to observe and keep Christ's commandments as fully as possible. If a monk does
not achieve his true purpose- to live his life on earth in the spirit enjoined
by Christ- his monasticism has not been duly implemented. In other words, he
neither assists in the continuation of the human race by procreating children,
nor does he entirely further immortality through resurrection. He drops out of
the historical plan by his refusal to take positive historical- not to say,
political- action, yet he does not transfer existence to the spiritual,
meta-historical plane. Having gained no victory on the universal plane of
spiritual warfare, he is not helping his fellow-humans to attain the divine
plane. However, though the monk may not realise Christian perfection, his
striving, even so, helps the whole world.
O Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Spirit, The only Truth and God;
Ever-living and all-powerful,
Who alone dost give strength to the troubled and upholdest the
weak;
O Thou without Whom the strong shall weary and the firm grow
feeble,
those who are full shall hunger
and young men shall bend:
Hear us in our affliction
and raise us to worthy service of Thee.
We beseech Thee, be swift to hear and have mercy.
When by the grace of the Holy Spirit it is given to a man to 'come
... unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of
Christ' (Eph. 4.13), such an event reflects in the most decided fashion not
only on the destiny of all mankind- its influence reaches beyond the confines
of history and reflects on the whole of cosmic life, for the world itself was
created for man.
When we turn away from the path indicated by Christ- that is, from
the deification of man by the power of the Holy Spirit- the whole point of
man's coming into the world disappears.
Reference:
Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov (2001) (2nd ed.) His Life is Mine.
Chapter 8: The Struggle in Prayer. New York: St Vladimir's Seminary Press.