St. John of Kronstadt · 15 of 49

Part I · Part 15

All present things are but a shadow of the future. The present light is a shadow of the future ineffable light. Earthly bliss is a faint shadow of future unspeakable, eternal bliss; fire a faint shadow of the fire of Gehenna, which will burn sinners unto ages of ages; pure earthly joy a shadow of unspeakable future joys; the magnificent royal palaces a faint shadow of the resplendent mansions of Paradise prepared for those who love God and fulfil His commandments. The glorious attire of the sons and daughters of men cannot be compared with that glorious garment with which the elect shall be clothed, for they will put on Christ. "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of the Father," according to the Saviour's sure promise.

As a child is indifferent to whatever clothes are put on it, so also the Christian, an infant in Christ, should be indifferent to the variety, richness, and beauty of his earthly garments, considering Christ, our God, his best and incorruptible garment; for an attachment to expensive, fine clothes is peculiar to the children of this world and to the heathen, as the Lord says, "For after all these things"—that is, food and fine raiment --"do the Gentiles seek"; for dress is the idol of the children of this world. O, how vain and frivolous are we, we who are called to communion with God, to whom is promised the inheritance of incorruptible and eternal blessings! How obscure is our understanding of corruptible and incorruptible blessings! How unwise we are in valuing worthless things and not prizing incorruptible blessings: our immortal soul, peace, joy, boldness before God, holiness, obedience, patience in general—all the qualities of a true Christian. "For as many of you as have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ." Therefore we must value spiritual blessings and valour, and despise material things as corruptible and worthless.

The sin of inattention is one to which we are, in a great degree subjected; we must not disregard it, but must repent of it; we give ourselves up to inattention, not only at home, but also in church. "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." The causes of inattention are—the Devil, and our manifold attachment to worldly, earthly things; its reason is—want of faith; the means to overcome it—fervent prayer.

There is no happiness for me on earth save the Lord Jesus Christ, with His Father and the Holy Ghost. He is my sole blessedness upon earth. After God, there is nothing on earth dearer to me (as it should be, than the human soul—it is dearer than anything else. Man is a precious being. God Himself came down from heaven upon earth for his salvation. To man He gives for food and drink His most pure Body and Blood (all Himself), only that he may become blessed, that he may not be lost. AH the fruits of the earth, the treasures of all the three kingdoms of the earth, He has given into the dominion for the use and pleasure of man. By all these immeasurable bounties the Lord has shown, and still shows, that He infinitely loves mankind, and every man separately. Let us, too, imitate God's love and bountifulness; let us be, as far as possible, merciful and bountiful, as our Heavenly Father is merciful.

Wherever I look with my spiritual vision, whether within me or upon me, or outside of me—everywhere, I see powerful reasons for thanking and praising the Lord. Especially when I look only within myself: then I see the strongest reason for doing so. The whole strength of my heart, all my spiritual light, comes from God; all my bodily strength, everything that serves to maintain my bodily life, comes from God. Everywhere I see the glory the sole glory, of my God, and see nothing in myself of which I could boast as of my own. Glory to Him Who gives me strength! Glory to Him Who works through me, and within me. As I have nothing of my own, and have everything from God, down to the smallest good inclination of my heart, down to every holy and bright thought, whilst without God I am nothing—worse than this, I am all evil; therefore I have the strongest reasons to have recourse to God in prayer for everything. I have especially powerful reasons to thank God for His most pure and life-giving Sacrament—His Body and Blood; it is everything to me. I fervently praise the Lord Jesus Christ, our God, for His unspeakable love to us mortals, revealed in the Holy Sacrament.

What an immeasurably great honour it is to mankind that they can open their lips before God; that they can converse with Him, and are able to make request to Him of their needs; to thank Him for His benefits, to praise His unspeakable magnificence, and to be assured that this sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise is agreeable to God; that our highest spiritual requests to Him relating to the salvation of our souls are always fulfilled! How immeasurably high is man exalted in this respect above all other sentient and animate creatures! No other creature has received such honour from God, though they, too, have tongues, expressing the needs of their nature; for it is said that young ravens call upon Him. Let us, therefore, make use of this great honour, in order to be worthy of a still higher honour from the Lord—of the heavenly calling. There, in heaven, shall be our full glory; whilst here its beginning only is revealed to true Christians.

On account of our corporeity and spirituality, the Lord unites His grace, even Himself, to everything visible and material, and works through everything: thus He transforms bread and wine into His own Body and Blood, or into His visible tabernacle. He changes the temple into His own house; upon the altar in the temple He invisibly sits, enthroned as a king; upon the cross He manifests Himself, as though in the same body in which He was crucified, and works miracles by means of the cross, showing His life-giving power through it. He is everywhere throughout the universe, as in a temple, and, at the same time being wholly everywhere, is not limited by any space, being always above every space and time. You marvel that He can unite His own self, or His power and His saving grace, to matter. Marvel, first of all, how He has united in man His Godly image with matter, with earth and dust; how this dust can think, speak, and diffuse around itself the fragrance of goodness, righteousness, truth, and love, and can accomplish in the common life so many wonderful, truly wonderful, deeds. Marvel also at how many various kinds of speechless souls are enclosed in the dust, gifted with some kind of sense, with a thirst after life and joy, with a feeling of self-protection, a capacity for finding themselves food, for constructing what is necessary for their safety, and for bringing their children into the world, and understanding how to defend themselves cleverly. Marvel how nearly all inanimate bodies are united with invisible, intangible powers, which sometimes move their enormous masses (as with the heavenly bodies), sometimes turn them into beautiful, and always identical, unchangeable forms (as in plants). Marvel that so many different powers are created by God; for all powers are derived from the one Single Power, and the Almighty Himself works through every power. Truly, everything appertaining to God the Creator, as to the God of wonders, is wonderful; likewise in faith—everything is wonderful, though invisible, but true and real! "The pure in heart shall see God." God is an all-seeing Eye, a spiritual Sun, standing above the world, penetrating with His spiritual eyes into the thoughts and hearts of men, enlightening every creature. Our soul is an eye from the Eye, sight from the Sight, light from the Light. But now, since our fall into sin, our eye, our soul, is diseased through sins. Take the cataract off your eye, and you will see the spiritual Sun, the everlasting Eye, ten thousand times brighter than the material sun.

How often it happens in life that a man has one thing in his heart and another upon his lips, and wears two faces at one and the same time! It is thus also during prayer, before God Himself, Who knows the secrets of the heart; a man also frequently wears two faces, saying one thing and having another in his heart and thoughts. If, which happens still oftener, when saying a prayer, although he understands it and thinks about it, he does not sympathise in his heart with that which he is saying—being dead, and thus throwing the words to the air—then he deceives himself if he believes that he can please God by such a prayer. This is strange, sinful duplicity! It is a bitter fruit and evidence of our fall into sin. It seems habitual to our heart to lie in prayer and in our intercourse with other men. The heart is a pillar of falsehood. "All men are liars." The Christian must make use of every means in order to eradicate every falsehood from his heart, and to implant pure truth within it. We must begin with prayer, as with a matter in which truth is indispensable before everything, in accordance with the Lord's own words: "Worship Him in spirit and in truth." Speak the truth from your heart. When we have learnt to speak the truth from our heart during prayer, we shall not allow ourselves to lie in our everyday life: sincere, true prayer, having cleansed our heart from falsehood, will protect it against falsehood in our relations with other men in worldly matters. How can we teach ourselves to speak the truth from our heart during prayer? We must bring every word of the prayer down to our heart, lay it to heart, feel its truth in our heart, be convinced of all our need of that for which we ask God in prayer, or of the need of hearty gratitude for His great and innumerable benefits to us, and of most heartfelt praise for His great, most wise works in His creation.

Everything that constitutes me man (the soul), lives solely by God, and only in union with Him, whilst when the soul separates itself from God, then it experiences extreme distress. But the life of my soul consists in the peace of my spiritual powers, and this peace proceeds exclusively from God. There is, it is true, carnal peace also, but it is a delusive one --the forerunner of spiritual storm—of which the Lord says: "When they shall say (to men), Peace and safety, then suddenly destruction cometh upon them "; but spiritual peace, which proceeds from the Spirit of God differs, as heaven from earth, from such carnal peace. It is heavenly blissgiving. "Peace I give you," often said the Lord to His disciples, giving them His peace, and the Apostles also gave "peace to believers," and wished them God's peace as the highest blessing, because God's peace constitutes the life of our soul, and witnesses to the union of our soul with God. The absence of peace in the soul—disturbance, by which all the passionate conditions of our soul are distinguished—is spiritual death and the sign of the action of the enemy of our salvation in our hearts.

Faith is the key of God's treasury. She dwells in simple, kind, loving hearts. "All things are possible to him that believeth." Faith is a spiritual mouth, the more freely it opens the greater the stream by which the Divine springs enter into it; let this mouth freely open, as your bodily one does; do not let your lips be compressed by doubt and unbelief: if you compress them by doubt and unbelief, the treasury of God's blessings will be closed to you. The more openly, the more heartily you believe in God's omnipotence, the more bountifully will God's heart be opened to you. "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them."

All men are the breath and the creation of the One God—from God they have come forth, and to God, as to their origin, they will return: "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." "That by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." As the breath of the One God, and as having proceeded from one man, men ought, naturally, to live in mutual love, mutually caring for one another, and ought not to be divided from each other by selfishness, pride, malice, envy, avarice, or unsociability of character, "that they may be one." Look at the ants, how friendly they are; look at the bees, how friendly they are; look at the flights of pigeons, daws, rooks, crows, geese, ducks, swans, sparrows, how friendly they all are; look at a flock of sheep, and in general at any horned cattle, how friendly they all are. Think of the innumerable shoals of some sorts of fishes in the seas and rivers, which always like to move in shoals, how friendly they are. Think also how zealously they all take care of each other, help each other, love each other—and be shamed by the dumb creatures, you who do not live in love with others and flee from the obligation of bearing one another's burdens.

God is long-suffering and merciful to you: this you experience many times every day. Be long-suffering and merciful to your brethren, also fulfilling the words of the Apostle, who thus speaks of charity before everything: "Charity suffereth long, and is kind." You desire that the Lord should rejoice you by His love, rejoice on your part the hearts of others by your tender love and kindness.

God is love, a most-gracious, all-wise and omnipotent Being. Therefore, those who pray must believe that the Lord will give all things needful, bountifully, as He is loving, and bountiful wisely, as He is All-wise; and as He is omnipotent, there and then, when we do not expect.

During Divine service, during the celebration of all the sacraments and prayers, be trustful, as a child in relation to his parents. Remember what great Fathers of the Church, what inspired luminaries, enlightened by the Holy Ghost, are guiding you! Be simple, trustful, undoubting as a child in godly matters. Cast all your care upon the Lord, and be entirely free from sorrow. "Take no thought how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father, which speaketh in you." The Lord has long ago freed us from this care, this sorrow, having taught our God-fearing Fathers by His Spirit, what to say and how to pray to the Lord at Divine service, at the celebration of the sacraments and upon various other occasions and circumstances of human life, requiring prayer to bring down a blessing from above. It ought to be easy for us to pray. Only the enemy troubles us. But what matters his troubling if our heart is firmly established in the Lord! It is only a misfortune if we do not rest in God; if there is no firm faith in us, if we have bound ourselves by worldly attachments, if our intellect is proud and presumptuous, then, even in the most holy, most pure matter of service, at the celebration and communion of the Holy Mysteries, the enemy will greatly hinder us.

Be as kind, meek, humble, and simple as possible in your intercourse with all, considering yourself not hypocritically inferior to all in respect to your spiritual condition; that is, more sinful and weaker than all. Say to yourself, "Of all sinners I am the first." From pride proceeds self-sufficiency, coldness, and insincerity in our behaviour to our inferiors, or to those from whom we do not expect to obtain any advantage.

How quick we are to evil and how slow to good! Now I desire to do good to my enemy, and to really show him kindness, but before I succeed in becoming kind in my heart, I am already evil, a fiery arrow of evil already inwardly burns one; I wish to be patient, but before I have strengthened my heart in patience, I become irritable, impatient; I wish to be humble, but Satan's pride has already found ample room in my heart; I wish to be gracious, meanwhile, when it is necessary to show graciousness, I show myself rough; I wish to be unmercenary and generous, but cupidity and avarice, upon the least occasion, like hungry and roaring lions, require to be fed; I wish to be simple, trustful, but cunning and doubt already gnaw at my heart; I wish to be grave, concentrated, and reverent in my service to the Almighty, but light-mindedness and inattention of the heart prevent my becoming so; I wish to detach myself from earthly things, to be abstinent in food and drink, but when I see pleasant food and drink and sit down to table, I, like a slave, am taken a willing captive by my belly, I easily allow myself to eat and drink more than my nature requires, greediness and intemperance again prevent and get the better of my desire to be indifferent to food and drink, thus I am like that impotent man who lay for thirty-eight years upon his bed, and came many times to the pool of Bethesda, which made whole whosoever first stepped in after the troubling of the water by an Angel, "but always another stepped down before him."And when I, having become impotent through my sins, make an effort and come to myself, with the intention of immersing myself in God and of changing for the better, another steppeth into my heart before me, sin and the Devil forestal me in my own house, in my own pool of Bethesda, and do not allow me to reach the Source of living waters, the Lord—do not allow me to immerse myself in the cleansing pool of faith, humility, heart-felt contrition and tears. Who will heal me then? Jesus Christ alone. When He sees my sincere and firm desire to be healed of my spiritual infirmity, when He hears my fervent prayer, then He will say to me: " Take up thy bed and walk," and I shall rise from the bed of spiritual infirmity and walk; that is, by His grace I shall easily vanquish all my passions and fulfil every virtue.

During prayer, intentional, deliberate, extreme humility is indispensable. We must remember, who speaks and what he says, this is especially necessary during the Lord's Prayer: "Our Father ..." Humility destroys all the snares of the enemy. Ah! how much secret pride there is in us. This, we say, I know; this I do not need; this is not for me; this is superfluous; in that I am not a sinner. How much sophistry of our own!

When you pray, say in your heart, against the various thoughts and provocations that come from the enemy: " The Lord is everything to me." Likewise, during all your life, when passions attack you, and during every oppression of the enemy, and during sickness, afflictions, misfortunes, and disasters, say: "The Lord is everything to me; I myself can do nothing—cannot bear anything, cannot surmount, conquer anything—He is my strength."

Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed." O contemptible shame! O devilish shame! O stink of Satan's ascending from the well of the abyss! How many are diseased with it? How many do not recognise its enticement and become enslaved by it, to the ruin of their souls? Look at worldly writers, journalists --writers of feuilletons. They write, write, write. ... of what will they not write during their literary career? But of God, of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, of the Church, of Divine service, of the Christian festivals, of the resurrection of our body, of the judgment, of the life beyond the grave—they do not even make mention. They say it is not their province, not their business. We are of the world, we speak of worldly matters, and therefore the world listens to us; but if we were to speak of God, perhaps nobody would read what we write. Thus worldly literature is completely foreign to the spirit of Christianity, it even seems to be ashamed of the spirit of Christ.

The Devil cunningly induces us—instead of irritating us against himself—to notice our neighbours' sins, to make us spiteful and angry with others, and to awaken our contempt towards them, thus keeping us in enmity with our neighbours, and with the Lord God Himself. Therefore, we must despise the sins, the faults themselves, and not our brother who commits them at the Devil's instigation, through infirmity and habit; we must pity him, and gently and lovingly instruct him, as one who forgets himself, or who is sick, as a prisoner and the slave of his sin. But our animosity, our anger towards the sinner only increases his sickness, oblivion, and spiritual bondage, instead of lessening them; besides this, it makes us ourselves like madmen, or sick men, the prisoners of our own passions, and of the Devil, who is the author of them.

Every sin proceeds from the spirit of evil; he who sins is the slave of sin, is tortured by sin; therefore, do not be too severe, but be gentle with him who sins, knowing our common infirmity. Pity the sinner, as one who is sick, or who has lost his way, and is walking in darkness, or as one who is bound with iron fetters, as one whose mind is deranged; for all these qualities may be attributed to a sinner, or to one who is under the dominion of some passion. It is necessary to watch over such a man in every way, so that the fire of sin should not burn him, should not darken him, should not bind him, should not plunge him into sickness, should not destroy him.

We are accustomed to the works of God, and therefore value them but little; we do not, for instance, value even man as we ought to—that greatest work and miracle of God's omnipotence and grace. Look upon every man, whether he is one of your household, or a stranger to you, as upon something perpetually new in God's world, as upon the greatest miracle of God's omnipotence and grace, and do not let the fact of your being accustomed to him serve as a reason for you to neglect him. Esteem and love him, as your own self, constantly, and unchangeably.

Sometimes in nature a warm, healthful wind blows, pleasantly and lightly, permeating and coming in contact with the body, and the sky is serene; whilst at other times a cold wind blows, one feels, somehow, distressed and feverish, the wind pierces to the very bones and affects the body unpleasantly, the earth and sky are darkened; or else sometimes the state of the atmosphere is warm and warmth-giving, and at other times cold, benumbing. It is likewise in the spiritual life: sometimes our soul is surrounded and penetrated by a light, pleasant, warmth-giving, vivifying breath, we feel ourselves happy and tranquil; whilst at others our heart is touched by a heavy, deathly breath, accompanied by complete spiritual darkness. The first state proceeds from the Spirit of God, the second from the Devil. It is necessary to accustom ourselves to everything: as in the first case, not to grow self-conceited, so in the last, not to fall into despondency, into despair, but to fervently have recourse to God.

If men had not been created according to the image of God, the Lord would not have been incarnate of the most holy Virgin. O how our nature is raised, both in its creation and in its redemption! Through the incarnation of the Son of God from the most holy Virgin Mary, God has most truly united Himself with men. "O Thou, by Thy glorious birth-giving hast united God-the-Word with men, and linked our apostate nature with heavenly things." Glory to Thee, Who art meetly praised by every reasonable creature, for Thou hast obtained from God such grace and purity that Thou wert able, through favour of God the Father, by the operation of the Holy Ghost, to give flesh to the Son of God! Make us also worthy, O Lord, to attain purity of spirit and body through the communion of the Divine Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Thy Son.

Through His incarnation the Lord has entered into the closest relation with man. It is marvellous! God Himself is united in one person with man. God became flesh—"the Word was made flesh." God Himself partook of our carnal food and drink, was laid in a manger, lived in a house. He Who cannot be contained by the heavens walked upon the earth, upon the waters, upon the air. 'He went up," it is said, "toward heaven." He was nailed to the tree, "He Who hangeth the earth upon nothing by His command." The whole earth, the waters, and the air—all are sanctified by the incarnate Son of God; therefore the earth is dear to Him—this temporary abode of men, this inn of the human race, this place of His habitation amongst men. But especially dear to Him are men themselves, whose souls and bodies He has received into unity with His own Person, and especially with true Christians. He is in them, and they in Him.

What is above all desirable for man? The avoidance of sin, the remission and forgiveness of sins and the attainment of holiness. Wherefore? Because sins, such as, for instance, pride, evil behaviour towards our neighbours, wicked suspiciousness, covetousness, avarice, envy, etc., separate us from God, the Source of life, withdraw us from fellowship with other men, and plunge us into spiritual death; whilst gentle, humble, and kind behaviour to all, even to our enemies, simplicity, disinterestedness, contentedness with little and with the indispensable, generosity to everyone, goodwill and all other virtuous qualities, unite us to God, the Source of life, and to other men by endearing us to them. Grant then, Lord, that we may entirely flee from sin; that we may accustom ourselves to every virtue, through Thy grace. Yea, Master, Lord, without Thee we, " being evil," can do no good thing.

We must not be exasperated, angry, and proud, as is habitual to our corrupt nature, against those who are angry, envious, or proud towards us, but we must pity them as overcome by the flames of hell, and by spiritual death; we must pray to God for them from the depths of our hearts, that the Lord may take away the darkness from their souls and enlighten their hearts by the light of His grace. We are darkened by our own passions, and do not see the foolishness, the monstrousness of them, and of our conduct; but when the Lord enlightens us by the light of His grace, then we, awaking as from a sleep, clearly perceive the monstrousness, the foolishness of our thoughts, feelings, words, and actions; our heart, which was hardened until then, softens; the evil passes away and is replaced by mercy, kindness, and indulgence. Therefore, in accordance with our Saviour's words, we must also love our enemies: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you," for they, our brethren are also blind, have also gone astray.

This present life is a life of exile: "The Lord God," it is said, "sent him forth from the garden of Eden;" and we, all of us, must earnestly strive to regain our country through repentance and works meet for repentance. Lord, "the desired fatherland give Thou to me, a citizen of Paradise me making once again." The present life is the narrow way, the way of afflictions, privations, and maladies. The narrower the way, the more convincing, the surer it is, that we are going the right, true way; the wider, the more certain it is that we are nigh to destruction. The present life is a daily, cruel, most bitter struggle against the enemies of our salvation, especially against the invisible, sub-celestial spirits of evil, who do not leave us in peace for a single day, but constantly make use of their craft and subtlety against us, kindling various passions within us, and wounding us in the most acute manner by their shafts. Remember, therefore, that an incessant war is waged against us; that there is not time to rest, to enjoy, and amuse ourselves in this life, which is given us for our preparation for the future one; neither when we are tried by misfortunes; nor even then, when it seems to us we are perfectly easy and happy, as, for instance, when we give ourselves to pleasure at theatres or soirée’s, when we display ourselves in festive attire and ornaments, when we give ourselves up to the pleasures of the table, when we turn round in the gay dance, drive in fine equipages, etc. Amidst all your worldly pleasures, man, the greatest misfortune hangs over you. You are a sinner; you are God's enemy; you are in great danger of losing eternal life, especially if you live negligently, if you do not do works meet for repentance. The wrath of God hangs over you, especially if you do not appease the God Whom you have offended by your prayers, penitence, and amendment. Thus, this is no time for you for pleasures, but rather for tears; your pleasures should be rare, and principally such as are afforded you by faith - in spiritual festivals.