In line with earlier Fathers of the Church, Elder
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| The abbot of Vatopaidi Monastery, Archimandrite Ephraim, with Saint Sophrony The Athonite. St. John the Baptist monastery - Essex (1992) |
Sophrony describes three stages in spiritual life. He writes: “The total regeneration of the fallen man into the “new” man is accomplished in three stages: The first, the initial, is the stage of the calling and inspiration towards the present battle. The second is the stage where the “perception” of Grace is withdrawn and man is experiencing God-forsakenness…And the third is where the perception of divine Grace revisits and man holds on to it” (Elder Sophrony: On Prayer).
This last stage where divine Grace revisits the faithful is a period of spiritual delight, of perception of Christ’s love and His proximity and of wonderful sentiments in the heart which are inexpressible with worldly, created words. Nevertheless, Elder Sophrony views this gift which was given according to the Lord’s pleasure as the “mammon of unrighteousness” (Luke 16, 9) ( Arch Sophrony: We Shall see Him as He is). The faithful is not able to assimilate divine Grace during this period so that his nature is united with it unto eternity. The faithful must enter into the second stage which is a protracted period of God-forsakenness. (Above: “We shall see Him as He is). The stronger the experience of the first visitation by divine Grace, the more powerful becomes the experience of its desertion. Even the spiritually perfect experience God-forsakenness in a perfect degree, but they recognize and accept the discipline by the Lord and do not grow weary.
The Elder writes that the Lord, Who has initially wounded the heart with His love, recedes afterwards. A long stage of struggle opens up in front of one,
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| Saint Sophrony The Athonite |
which lasts for years, even decades (Above: We shall see Him as He is”). He says: “After the first visitation by Grace, battles and wars begin. A long time needs to pass before one assimilates the experience of the first visitation by Grace. The assimilation is accomplished through fortitude and determination during the times when divine Grace departs”. Grace revisits for a while, reinforces faith, regenerates the inspiration to continue the struggle and departs again” (See Elder Sophrony above). The times when divine Grace departs are moments of self-emptying, of spiritual indigence and of experiencing the anguish of being God-forsaken which lead us to some kind of despair. We feel as though we have fallen under some terrible spell. It is possible that our entire being is in anguish; our mind, our heart, our soul and our body. While in the beginning all the prayers offered and all requests made were immediately and miraculously fulfilled by the Lord, now everything has changed; the heavens seem to have closed off and every supplication falls in the Lord’s deaf ears.
What is really happening though? Does the Lord truly abandon the faithful? Does the Lord withdraw his Grace from one’s soul and leave him completely alone? St Diadohos Fotikis says that the devil is precisely counting on this; namely to convince one believing that God’s Grace no longer resides in his heart and not take up the arms against him with the memory of God (Diadohos Fotikis: Thirty Three chapters). Therefore, what is truly happening? The Elder stresses that the Lord withdraws “the perception of Grace” but His ontological communion with man is not severed. It is not a matter of an objective, total withdrawal of Grace, but the soul subjectively experiences its shrinkage and withdrawal as God-forsakenness (Above: On Prayer). During this period, the energy of Grace remains secretly with the faithful and not perceptively. Thus, God-forsakenness is noticeable. “Those belonging to Christ experience God-forsakenness through their spiritual perception and not their faith. The spiritual perception, which during the initial visitations by Grace has been developed to offer the faithful experiences of Paradise, now becomes the carrier of conditions from Hell”.
The Elder stresses: “The stronger the joy experienced from his union with the Lord, the more painful is the suffering from the separation from Him” (Above: “We shall see Him as He is”).
Elder Sophrony insists that when we undergo the withdrawal or reduction of Grace after its first visitation, this is in accordance with the providence of the Lord; God-forsakenness is inevitable even for the most disciplined ascetics. “God-forsakenness is not just one way to perceive the presence of the Lord but also a gift from God”. “It is a gift of God’s love” (See N. Sakharov: I love therefore I am). The main reason why God-forsakenness takes place has nothing to do with man, but occurs in accordance with God’s wisdom and his disciplinary providence. It is what Elder Joseph the Hesychast was describing as “the law of the Lord”. Elder Sophrony says: “Initially one receives the Lord’s Grace, then Grace recedes and man goes through the Lord’s discipline. Everyone must go through this discipline. Otherwise if he receives Grace without the necessary discipline, he may be harmed and may be eternally condemned. One must go by humility”.
Elder Sophrony compares the stage of God-forsakenness with the biblical times when the Jews had to wander in the desert before they were given the Promised Land. This course is painful but also astonishing. Its deeper meaning will be revealed to the one who will endure unto the end. Elder Sophrony goes on: “The essence of God-forsakenness is to prove that we are still immature; that we have not yet reached the end of the road; that we must drink from the cup He has drunk unto the end” ( See above: We shall see Him as He is).
“The Lord abandons us so that our free will is expressed”. At this stage “man is given the opportunity to exercise his free will and his faith in the Lord”. Through our self-emptying and our self-degradation to nothing, “we are cleansed from the cursed ‘inheritance’ of pride”. Through the tribulations during this stage, the Lord wishes “to establish the ascetic as His image- as lord and king- and convey to him sanctification and the fullness of divine existence” (Above: St Silouan the Athonite).
Elder Sophrony establishes God-forsakenness theologically in the face of Christ. “Jesus Christ as man” lived though the absolute God-forsakenness at Gethsemane but mostly on the cross when “Jesus cried with a loud voice … my God why have you forsaken me?”(Matthew 27, 46) The faithful must taste this same kind of God-forsakenness to some degree, as the image of Christ, in order to receive his deliverance (See above: We shall see Him as He is).
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| Icons of Sts. Sophrony and Silouan venerating Crucified Christ in the crypt of St. Sophrony Saint John The Baptist Monastery - Essex - England |
The person who experiences God-forsakenness must be aware of this route- i.e. God’s discipline-and not give up, hesitate or retreat.
If the faithful is to win over this stage of God-forsakenness he must practice self-condemnation; he must ask for Lord’s mercy with genuine heartache and a humiliated heart and realize with all his might that the Lord’s words: “‘Without Me you can do nothing’ are true”.
He, who is being tested during God-forsakenness, must not deviate from his commitment to the commandments and to obedience; he must have the faith of contemplation, not subdue his conscience and show endless fortitude. He, who shows absolute obedience to his spiritual father, walks along the path of God-forsakenness with fewer hardships and more protection. The Elder underlines that eventually despair does not prevail over the ascetic. Even though the soul is hanging over the abyss of Hades and shudders, “nevertheless hope nests deeply inside. The cloud of God-forsakenness clears and the sun rises again” (Above: On prayer).
According to the Elder, the faithful must behave as though Grace is still with him during the times of God-forsakenness. “He must do whatever Grace had taught him whenever it had visited him” (Above: We shall see Him as He is).
Those who experience Christianity as a moral or intellectual philosophical or theological system do not experience God-forsakenness. Such people have no empirical communion with the Lord. They are ignorant of the existence of and the participation in divine Grace, its advent and its departure. They may believe in the existence of God but they do not possess the living faith, the faith of contemplation. Such faith is missing from the moralists and the intellectuals. This is what the Elder means when he writes that “those who do not believe in God have not been acquainted with God-forsakenness” (Above: We shall see Him as He is).
I humbly pray that we all manage to keep our good and steadfast confession towards Christ when we arrive in the desert of God-forsakenness, so that we will finally reach the Promised Land, the final stage. This is the stage where as blessed Elder Sophrony says, the depressing exchange of conditions will cease and Grace will love us and will not desert us anymore.
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| Icon of Resurrection - The NEW Promised Land. |
Excerpts from the original article:
Translated by Olga Konari Kokkinou from the Greek edition: Αρχιμ. Εφραίμ Βατοπαιδινού Καθηγουμένου Ι. Μ. Μ. Βατοπαιδίου, Αθωνικός Λόγος, Ιερά Μεγίστη Μονή Βατοπαιδίου, Άγιον Όρος 2010.