St. John of Kronstadt · 22 of 49

Part I · Part 22

What greatness it is for a Christian, and above all for a Christian priest, that he becomes one with Christ and God the Saviour through the Holy Sacrament!

When communicating of the Holy Mysteries yourself, O priest, say in your heart: " Come unto me, Life-Giver, to rescue me from the jaws of the serpent of hell, to cleanse me from the impurity of passions, to appease my troubled heart, to give life to my deadened soul, to rejoice my sorrowful and despondent spirit. Come to feed me, starving from sinful hunger; to clothe me, naked of every virtue; to strengthen me, the infirm; to honour me, the dishonoured; to exalt me, the base; to ennoble me, the despised; to enlighten my darkened soul. Thou bestowest every blessing upon me. I thank thee, O Most Merciful One!"

Our heart is like the darkened earth; the Gospel is like the sun, enlightening and giving life to our hearts. May the true sun of Thy righteousness shine in our hearts, O Lord!

When I look more closely upon some of the poor, and talk with them, then I see how meek, lovable, humble, simple-hearted, truly kind, poor in body, but rich in spirit they are. They make me—I who am rough, proud, evil, scornful, irritable, crafty, cold towards God and men, envious and avaricious ashamed of myself. These are the true friends of God. And the enemy, being aware of their spiritual treasures, awakens in his servants—that is, in proud, rich men—contempt and ill-feeling towards them, and would like to wipe them off the face of the earth, as if they had no right to live and walk upon it. O, friends of my God, my poor brethren! It is you who are the truly rich in spirit, whilst I am the real beggar, accursed and poor! You are worthy of sincere respect from us, who possess the blessings of this world in abundance, but who are poor and needy in virtues: abstinence, meekness, humility, kindness sincerity, fervour, and warmth towards God and our neighbour. Lord! teach me to despise outward things, to turn my mental vision inwardly, and to value inward, and despise outward things. Grant that I may observe this in my relations towards the rich and powerful of this world!

A miser values things, and does not value the man who requires these things; he is sparing of the things and unsparing to the man, though the man is a priceless being. He does not grudge himself anything; but he grudges giving to others; he loves himself, and does not love others. But in general everything is dross and water. The inexhaustible Lord is everything to all. He has subdued the whole world like dust and hay under the feet of man.

" Charity suffereth long" —that is, it does not immediately punish the one who sins, but patiently endures his lapses, teaching and correcting him; whilst the nature of malice is to immediately strike an antagonist, or to make him unhappy, pushing him to extremes. It is amazing how evil and impatient we are! If our brother has sinned, we are not sorry that he sins, we do not weep from brotherly love at his wilful insanity, at his passion; but we bear malice against him, we despise him for his sins; whilst meanwhile, perhaps we ourselves are, or were, guilty of the same, and were indulgently forgiven our sins, and, only thanks to the indulgence of our superiors, have at last somehow corrected ourselves of these failings, passions, and. vices, and become good for anything. If we happen to be even now guilty of the same sins, only not so gravely as our erring brother, it signifies that we too are answerable for them. How, then, can we be otherwise than indulgent to our erring brethren? Thus, in punishing others for sins and crimes, we must also remember our own weaknesses, our vices and passions, past and present, and punish our subordinates lovingly, pityingly, and patiently, and not angrily, not pitilessly, impatiently, hastily. " In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil, who are taken captive by him at his will." It was not without reason that the Apostle placed long-suffering and mercy as the first signs of our love for our neighbour: " Charity suffereth long, and is kind": for every man is infirm, weak, rash, easily inclined to every sin, but at the same time he may also easily think better of it, rise up, and repent under favourable conditions; and therefore it is necessary to be patient to his infirmities and sins, as we ourselves would wish others to be indulgent to our infirmities, and, seeing them, be as though they did not see them and did not notice them. But in those cases, however, where the sin acts injuriously upon others, or when it is connected with the omission of the duties of our calling, or when it attains great dimensions, then an immediate strictness is necessary for restraining or putting a stop to it, or for removing the injurious person from the midst of well-intentioned people. " Put away from among yourselves that wicked person."

God did not spare for our sakes even His Only Begotten Son. How, then, after this can we grudge anything to our neighbour: either food, drink, clothing, or money for his various needs? The Lord gives much to some and little to others in order that we may provide for each other. The Lord has so ordered that if we willingly share the bountiful gifts of His mercy with others, then they serve to benefit our souls and bodies, by opening our hearts to the love of our neighbour, whilst our moderation in using them serves to benefit our body, which does not become satiated and overloaded by them. But if we use these gifts selfishly, avariciously, and greedily, for ourselves only, and grudge them to others, then they become injurious to our soul and body - injurious to the soul, because greediness and avarice close the heart to the love of God and our neighbour, and make us repulsive, self-lovers, increasing all our passions; and injurious to the body, because greediness produces satiety in us, and prematurely impairs our health.

We ought to confess our sins more frequently, in order to strike and scourge the sins by the open avowal of them, and in order to feel a greater loathing for them. Think, man, into what misery audacious sin has cast you, and what has been done for your salvation by our Master, Christ, the Son of God; remember His Incarnation, His voluntary self-extinction, His intercourse with men, His words, His miracles, how He was mocked, reviled, spat upon, scourged, buffeted, and, lastly, remember His most shameful crucifixion upon the cross, His death and burial, and His resurrection from the dead. Think what he bore to save us from everlasting torments, and what he requires from you in return: that you should give yourself up wholly to Him; that you should live, not for yourself, but for him, fulfilling His commandments. Shun, therefore, everything that draws you into sin: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; crucify your flesh, with its passions and lusts; save your soul by patience; love God, and your neighbour as yourself.

What has the Lord of our life done for us insignificant, ungrateful, and evil-natured creatures? He came down from heaven, He assumed our flesh, worked many and various miracles; He suffered, shed all His blood, died, descended into hell, bound Satan, destroyed hell, freed the prisoners bound in hell, and brought them up to heaven. He rose from the dead in order to raise us also with Him. Let us fulfil His last will and testament; let us love one another; let us be diligent in fulfilling His other commandments, and let us cease offending Him by our self-will and resistance. Lord, help us!

We ought to be one spirit with the Lord - the spirit of holiness, the spirit of love, of goodness, meekness, long-suffering, mercy. He that has not this spirit in him is not of God. Thus I ought to be love, solely love, counting all as one "That they all may be one." May it be so! Lord, help me!

How will it be with us in the future life, when everything that has gratified us in this world: riches, honours, food and drink, dress, beautifully furnished dwellings, and all attractive objects---how will it be, I say, when all these things leave us---when they will all seem to us a dream, and when works of faith and virtue, of abstinence, purity, meekness, humility, mercy, patience, obedience, and others will be required of us?

We ought to have the most lively spiritual union with the heavenly inhabitants, with all the saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs, prelates, venerable and righteous men, as they are all members of one single body, the Church of Christ, to which we sinners also belong, and the living Head of which is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. This is why we call upon them in prayer, converse with them, thank and praise them. It is urgently necessary for all Christians to be in union with them if they desire to make Christian progress; for the saints are our friends, our guides to salvation, who pray and intercede for us.

Trample the flesh under foot---that is, its passions. Put it and everything carnal on a level with the dirt, and do not care for it. Lord, Thine is the power; help us! When we count everything carnal and sinful as nothing, then the Lord will be everything to us. The Lord shall then reign in our hearts, upon the ruins of our earthly attachments.

Through our attachment to the flesh, its lusts, or through excessive estimation of the flesh and of everything carnal, the Devil reigns in our hearts, fulfilling his impious will, driving God's kingdom from our hearts, and destroying the work of Jesus Christ, our elevation into heaven. This is true! "Despise the flesh, for it passeth away." But in the present time men of this world set all value upon the flesh and carnal things, and none on the spirit and spiritual things, such as faith and virtue.

The Lord does not dwell in the heart in which reign greediness and attachment to earthly blessings, to earthly pleasures, money, etc. This is daily proved by experience. In such a heart dwell cruelty, pride, presumption, scornfulness, malice, vengeance, envy, avarice, vanity, and boastfulness; theft, deceitfulness, hypocrisy, and dissimulation; craftiness, flattery, cringing, fornication, profane speaking, violence, treachery, and perjury.

We are all one through unanimity and love, and through spiritual regeneration, and the heavenly Father is everything to all of us. "Our Father, Which art in heaven." We are one brotherhood, with one spirit. "Now, if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of His." Let us understand this. We are the Church of Christ, of which the Head is Christ Himself, Who is meek and humble, inexhaustible in His mercies to us, if only we live in mutual love. We are the flock; He is the Shepherd. We are the members; He is the Head. How can the members be proud of anything, when they receive everything from the Head?

If we are in lively, active union with the members of Christ here, if we love them in deed and in truth, then God's saints will be in lively, active union with us, and whatever we ask them they will obtain for us from Christ our God, for Whose sake they sacrificed all that was dear to them.

Do we who have received life from God, the Life of all, bring to Him as an offering our life, the fruits of our life, as did our forefathers, the prophets, apostles, martyrs, prelates, venerable and righteous men, and all the saints? Do we even think of this daily? Do we not only live for ourselves? Do we live in accordance with the commandments and ordinances of the Life-Giver? If not, what prevents our doing so! The love of ourselves, self-love. Let us offer our self-love as a sacrifice of love to the Lord, for what are we of ourselves? Sin, corruption.

You are daily asked for alms, and you ought daily to give willingly, without anger, harshness, and murmuring. You do not give your own, but you give that which belongs to God, to God's children, who bear the cross, and have scarcely where to lay their heads. You are only a steward of God's property; you are the daily servant of the least of Christ's brethren; and therefore you must fulfil your duty meekly, humbly, and unwearyingly. You will thus be serving Christ, the Judge and Recompenser---a great honour, a high dignity! Do good work with gladness. Money comes to you easily, without great labour; and you should distribute it easily, without thinking much about it. Your labours are generously rewarded; be generous to others. They are not rewarded in accordance with their merit; do not give to others in accordance with their merits, but for their need's sake.

As a passionate man is one spirit with the Devil---and this I and many others feel and experience---so a virtuous man is and remains one spirit with the Lord, and this he feels and experiences, saying: "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me"; or, as it has been said by the Lord himself: "He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood dwelleth in me, and I in him"; or, again, as the Apostle said: " Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you?" Thus God's saints are one spirit with the Lord; likewise all those who live piously upon earth. This is a great mystery and a great honour for earthborn creatures. But, also, what shame and destruction it is to the sophistical and disobedient! They are one spirit with the Devil, from whom, Christ our God, deliver us all!

If the truth of something has been revealed in the Word of God, has been investigated and explained to us by the Divinely enlightened mind of the saints, whom God has glorified, and has been recognised by the heart in its light and life-giving effect, then it is a great sin and diabolical pride of the intellect and heart to doubt it and to be perplexed about it.

I myself am every moment a debtor to the Lord, both spiritually and bodily: spiritually through my sins, and bodily through freely receiving His material gifts: food, drink, money, clothing, air, warmth, light, and in general the various comforts of life. How, then, can it be otherwise than a happiness to me to forgive the debts of my neighbour, both spiritual and material, when the Lord forgives me the innumerable multitude of my own debts? How can I do otherwise than freely give the gifts that belong to the Lord when the Lord freely bestows upon me innumerable spiritual and material blessings---the light of the intellect and heart, peace and joy to the heart, a variety of knowledge, and everything else, down to the currents of air? It would be monstrous to do otherwise. We are all one body and members one of another, and are absolutely mutually indebted for something; as in the social body it is impossible to avoid others being indebted to us, or our being indebted to others. And it is impossible for us not to forgive each others debts; as in the body some members naturally often live at the expense of the others---for instance, the stomach at the expense of the head, or of the hands and feet---so it is also amongst men. But the chief thing is to remember that we receive everything freely from God, that we are indebted to Him infinitely much, and that He lovingly forgives us our trespasses, on condition that we forgive them that trespass against us. Let us, therefore, willingly and heartily forgive our neighbours their trespasses against us; let us daily offer this sacrifice unto God and live in love. Let us renounce self-will and the tumult of passions, and entirely submit to the will of God. We are the image of God, and " God is love." Let us, therefore, live in love; let us strive for love with all our might. Lord help us! But let us count everything earthly---food, dress, money---as dross, and do not let us anger God through this dross, by bearing ill-will or enmity against each other. Is it possible that we should sell our Lord for food, for money? One thing only: either God or the flesh. We cannot acknowledge two gods, we cannot serve two. The flesh dictates its own laws to us entirely opposite to the laws of God: gluttony, intemperance, trust in food, drink, money, avarice, or grudging God's gifts to our neighbour; ill will to our neighbour, through food, drink, money; contempt for him through the same hard-heartedness towards his misfortunes, and so on. What must we do, then, in order not to serve God hypocritically? We must crucify the flesh, with its passions and lusts, counting it as nothing, and everything that it values much, that it loves---pleasures, dress, money, houses, carriages---likewise as nothing, as dross, corruption, earth, as indeed they really are; but count love as the most precious thing in life, sacrificing everything to it, submitting everything to it, and neglecting everything for it.

Everyone must know and believe that there is a spiritual, deadly serpent, called the Devil, or Satan, condemned by the Creator to everlasting torments, that can lead away into everlasting torment those who do not believe, are unrighteous and impenitent. Everyone must know and believe that the Saviour was sent from God into the world in order to save men from the deadly shafts of this serpent---that is, from sin and everlasting death; and that this Saviour bestows upon all His saving, healing remedies against the bites of this serpent: faith, penitence, and the Holy Mysteries of His Body and Blood.

There are many drops of rain, but all proceed from a single cloud; there are many rays of the sun, but all proceed from one sun; there are many leaves on a tree, but all are produced by a single tree; there are many grains of sand upon the earth, but they are all from the one same earth. There are also many men, but they all of them derive their origin from the one same Adam, and before all, from God.

For what purpose does the Lord add day after day, year after year, to our existence ] In order that we may gradually put away, cast aside, evil from our souls, each one his own, and acquire blessed simplicity; in order that we may become, for instance, gentle as lambs, simple as infants; in order that we may learn not to have the least attachment to earthly things, but like loving, simple children, may cling with all our hearts to God alone, and love Him with, all our hearts, all our souls, all our strength, and all our thoughts, and our neighbour as ourselves. Let us hasten; therefore, to pray to the Lord, fervently and tearfully, to grant us simplicity of heart, and let us strive by every means to cast out the evil from our souls— for instance, evil suspiciousness, malevolence, malignity, malice, pride, arrogance, boastfulness, scornfulness, impatience, despondency, despair, irascibility and irritability, tearfulness and faintheartedness, envy, avarice, gluttony, and satiety; fornication, mental and of the heart, and actual fornication; the love of money, and in general the passion for acquisition; slothful-ness, disobedience, and all the dark horde of sins. Lord, without Thee we can do nothing! Bless us Thyself in this work, and give us the victory over our enemies and our passions. So be it!

Let us put away from us our spiritual short-sightedness, and let us cease concentrating all our attention upon temporal, earthly things; let us foresee with our mental vision the future, everlasting life, and rise in our hearts to our heavenly country. Indeed, it is wonderful short-sightedness for the immortal soul only to look upon the present, visible things, generally relating to the senses, and flattering our carnal nature, and not contemplate the life of the world to come—the blessings which "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man," but which the Most Merciful and the Most Wise " God hath prepared for them that love Him." Of what do we not deprive ourselves through this voluntary short-sightedness! Like flies we adhere to earthly sweets, and do not wish to rise up, to tear ourselves away from them. Blessed is he who despises the joys of this world; there shall be no end to his bliss.

As in the earthly life there are poor and rich, so also in the spiritual life", in the spiritual order, there are also poor and rich. As the poor ask charity of the rich and well-to-do, and cannot live without their help, so also in the spiritual order the poor must have recourse to the spiritually rich. We are the spiritually poor, whilst the saints, or those who shine even in this present life by their faith and piety, are the spiritually rich. It is to them that we needy ones must have recourse. We must beg for their prayers that they may help us to become simple as infants; that they may teach us spiritual wisdom, how to conquer sins, how to love God and our neighbour. And therefore pray for me, saints of God—prophets, apostles, martyrs, prelates, venerable and righteous men—that I may become like unto you!

When you pray to the Lord, represent to yourself vividly to whom you are praying. You are praying to the unoriginated, endless King of all creatures, to the All-holy, All-merciful, Almighty, Most-wise, Omnipreseat, All-righteous God, Whom millions of millions of angels of various orders revere, Whom the armies of martyrs, the companies of prophets and apostles, the assemblies of prelates, venerable and righteous men praise. When you pray to the Holy Virgin, Our Lady, also represent to yourself Her unprecedented holiness, Her greatness, mercy, wisdom, Her helpfulness to all, and the humble worship rendered unto Her by the assemblies of angels and men.

We must constantly bear in remembrance and strive to live in accordance with the mystery of our redemption by Christ, His sufferings, His death on the cross, and His resurrection and ascension, and His second coming; we must honour above all the holiness of the Mother of God as the living ark and temple of the Godhead, and ask Her, after the Lord Himself, for cleansing and holiness, and steadfastness in faith and love.

Avoid flattery, audacity, and taking the law into your own hands. Our soul has a passion for doing this when others do something differently to what we would like them to, or do not do what we would like them to. Bear with this; think how it would be if others revenged themselves upon you immediately after you had done something not in accordance with their will, or after you had not fulfilled that which you might and ought to have done. " As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise;" or keep to the rule: "We forgive them that trespass against us." Man is duty personified. We must here remember that our heart is extremely capricious, evil, and foolish. Sometimes we take a violent dislike to a person without any cause or reason, and nourish malice in our heart against him, and are ready to offend him without any cause. We must despise the natural and unjust malice of the heart, and pray to God to drive away from our heart this stench of the abyss of hell. Let us remember what we were commanded: " These things I command you that ye love one another."

The life of the heart is love, whilst malice and enmity against our brother are its death. The Lord keeps us on the earth in order that love for God and our neighbour may wholly penetrate our heart. This is what He expects from us all. This is, indeed, the purpose of the world's standing.

My daily greatest misfortune is my sins, wounding and gnawing at my heart. But against this misfortune there is also a daily greatest Deliverer and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He daily benefits me, invisibly, bountifully. Poor sinners! Learn to know this Saviour as I know Him, by His grace, by His gifts.

You are angry with your neighbour, your brother, and say of him: " He is such and such—a miser, malicious, proud," or that he has done this and that, and so on. What is that to you? He sins against God, and not against you. God is his Judge, not you: unto God he shall answer for himself, not to you. Know yourself, how sinful you are yourself, what a beam you have in your own eye; how difficult it is for you to master and get the better of your own sins; how afflicted you yourself are by them; how they have ensnared you—how you wish for indulgence from others towards your own infirmities. And your brother is a man like you; therefore you must be indulgent to him as to a sinful man, similar in everything to yourself, as infirm as you; love him, then, as yourself, listening to the Lord saying: "These things I command you, that ye love one another"; and as you pray for yourself, that the Lord may help you to root out your own cruel and incurable passions, so pray also for your brother, that the Lord may free him from the flattery and corruption of his passions, from their darkness and oppression. We must remember that we are one sinful body, more or less infected in our members by the breathing of the " common enemy—the Devil"; and that of ourselves, without God's grace, we are powerless to free ourselves from this deadly and darkening breathing: only the Holy Ghost by His breathing can drive away this demoniacal darkness of the passions, through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ's sufferings upon the cross. We must therefore humbly pray to the Lord, in the spirit of brotherly love, for all our brethren and for all people, that they may escape from the darkness of the passions and their great attractiveness, in which they delight, not knowing their destructiveness; for instance: the rich man rejoices in his wealth; the ambitious one—in his distinctions; the glutton—in his food, drink, and dainties; the malicious—in his malice; the envious—in the sufferings of the victim of his envy; and so on.

As the Lord hears every word of the prayer, " God, have mercy upon me," and fulfils every word (this is from experience), if only we speak from the depths of our heart; so, likewise, He hears and fulfils all the words of other prayers, even our own particular sincere prayers. O, Lord, Who so graciously heareth us, glory to Thee! " Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for "every one that asketh receiveth" Only pray in the simplicity of your heart, and without doubting.

By striking our bodily structure with sickness, the Lord crushes the old, sinful, carnal man, in order to give strength to the new man, whom we have weakened by the works of the flesh: gluttony, slothfulness, amusements, and manifold sinful attachments and passions. "For when I am weak, then am I strong." Therefore, we must accept every malady with gratitude.

God's Saints are great through their spiritual disposition, through their faith, their firm trust in God, and their burning love to God, for Whose sake they despised all earthly things. O, how null we are, compared to them; how unlike unto them! They are great by their great deeds of abstinence, vigilance, fasting, unceasing prayers, their diligence in studying the Word of God, and in pious meditation. O, how unlike we are to them! How deeply we must venerate them! With what reverence we must ask for their prayers for us! But in no case must we regard them lightly, irreverently, remembering their godliness and their union with the Godhead.

I thank Thee, my Lord, my Master, and my Judge, for teaching me how to pray simply to Thee, for hearing my calling upon Thee, for saving me from my sins and sorrows, and for rightly directing my ways. I called upon Thee (in the sin of my wickedness) in the words of the church prayer: " O, Lord, our God, Who grantest forgiveness unto men through repentance ....." And as soon as I finished this prayer, peace and lightness established themselves in my soul (29th June, 1864).

Do not listen to the calumnies of the enemy against your neighbour, his abominations, his various wickednesses, and his pride. Look upon everybody simply, respectfully, as upon the image of God; and do not think any evil of him without reason.

When you are praying either inwardly only, or both inwardly and outwardly, be firmly convinced that the Lord is there, by you and within you, and hears every word, even if only said to yourself, even when you only pray mentally; speak from your whole heart, sincerely, judge yourself likewise sincerely, without in the least justifying yourself; have faith that the Lord will have mercy upon you—and you will not remain unforgiven. This is true. It is taken from experience.