St. John of Kronstadt · 38 of 49

Part II · Part 14

Our body consists of earthly elements: light, heat, air, water, and earth; it will be dissolved into these same elements after its death. The light and heat will be united to light and heat, the air to air, the water to water, the earth to earth. We are formed and dissolved again. Glory to Thy creative power, Lord! Let us know and remember our earthliness, the shortness of our time, and reverence the Creator. We are all the work of His hands, "the sheep of His pasture"

Our life is an uninterrupted stream of God's unspeakable mercies; therefore, it should be continual thankfulness and praise to God the Creator and Benefactor; our love for God and our neighbour, God's image and our fellow-member should especially be constant. By loving our neighbour we love God; by respecting every man, we respect the image of God and ourselves; for our brother is another fifth, tenth, hundredth, thousandth, millionth repetition of ourselves. There are many leaves on a tree, but all are one tree; they live the same life, have the same origin, the same appearance, the same beginning, and the same end.

If you doubt whether any particular icon of the Mother of God before which you pray has been sanctified or not, know that Our Lady, the Prototype of this image, was already sanctified nineteen hundred years ago, even in the bosom of Her parents, Joakim and Anna, afterwards at Her birth, and in the temple of Jerusalem, and finally by the indescribable Incarnation of God the Word of Her; She is ever holy and eternally, immovably, unchangeably, most holy; She is in every place, and present in every icon of Hers; by the delineation of Her face and name alone, and of the face and name of the Saviour, the material object is already sanctified by the delineation of Her face and name. Gaze, then, upon every icon in simplicity of heart, for any doubt proceeds from the Devil in order to divert you from heartfelt prayer. Say to him: the whole earth is holy; the power of my Lord, and of His most pure Mother—the Queen of the whole world—is in every place; I gaze upon Her, the most pure One, with my spiritual eyes, and I do not worship a board: Her representation is only made to help my infirmity.

The wonder-working icons of the Mother of God, and of other saints, teach us to look upon every icon as upon the saint himself or herself to whom we pray as living persons conversing with us, for they are as near, and still nearer to us than the icons, if only we pray to them with faith and sincerity. It is the same with the life-giving cross. Where the cross is, or the sign of the cross, there is Christ Himself, His power and His salvation only make the sign of the cross or worship the cross with faith.

When you pray to God by means of prayers that you know, to which you have grown accustomed, say in your heart: Lord! Thou art ever the same. My heart changes and grows cold to the words of the prayer, but yet their power remains the same, Thou, too, art eternally The Same.

When you pray to God—-you converse with Him face to face; therefore, converse with Him as with a king, face to face; likewise, converse with the heavenly Queen, and the angels and saints as though face to face, and do not, on any account, at that time, allow your heart to be occupied by and attached to anything irrelevant, for say: Would you, when speaking with a king or queen, be occupied at that time with anything irrelevant or unimportant; would you, for instance, at such a time, look out of the window and watch the passers-by, or would you look at the objects in the room, and so on? Would not this be the greatest offence to the royal majesty? How dare we, then, do so, and much worse when we converse with the Lord?

Afflictions are a great teacher; afflictions show us our weaknesses, passions, and the need of repentance; afflictions cleanse the soul, they make it sober, as from drunkenness, they bring down grace into the soul, they soften the heart, they inspire us with a loathing for sin, and strengthen us in faith, hope, and virtue.

The material objects to which we attach ourselves in our hearts, which we passionately desire or grudge others, kill the soul by withdrawing it from God, the Source of life. The heart ought to be always in God, Who is the inexhaustible Source of spiritual and material life: for who is the author of the existence of all creatures, and of organic, vegetable and animal life, of the existence, order and life of all worlds, both great and small ? The Lord God. We must look upon everything material as dross, as unimportant, as nothingness, as transitory, destructible, corruptible, and evanescent, and pay attention to the invisible, single, immortal soul which cannot be destroyed: "To despise the flesh, for it passeth away, and to take care for the soul, the thing immortal." Prove this by your deeds; fast, gladly bestow charity upon the poor, entertain guests heartily; do not grudge anything to those who belong to your household, zealously read the Word of God, pray, repent, lament your sins, strive with all your might after holiness, meekness, humility, patience, and obedience.

How do we maintain connection with the spiritual world, with the heavenly Church ? By calling upon them in prayer; by keeping the festivals instituted in their honour; and by the Church services. For the Church is one, under one Head— Christ How do we maintain connection with the departed? By means of prayers for them, especially when united with the offering of the bloodless sacrifice. How do we maintain union with living Christians and with all men? Again, by means of prayers for them all in God's temple and even at home. Thus we maintain connection with those in heaven, upon earth, and in hades. Great is the Christian faith!

In the actual world there appears on one side an infinity of material things, of animate and inanimate material creatures; on the other side, an infinite world of thought and feeling, or of the sinful foolishness and unfeelingness, or of sinful and passionate thought and feeling. But all materiality is nothing, whilst one single gracious thought in a man, one single feeling of holy love, is infinitely more precious than all materiality.

As soon as you have told the Lord your sins with a contrite heart, they melt away: as soon as you have sighed and sorrowed for your sins, they are no more. "Tell thine iniquities, that thou mayest be justified." As they came, so they go away. They are an illusion. As soon as you have recognised that they are an illusion, an absurdity, a madness; as soon as you have formed the resolution to do righteously in the future, God cleanses you of them, through His minister and the Holy Mysteries.

Christ, as the Life-giver, as the All-perfect God, as the Creator, as the Provider, Guardian, and Saviour, is wholly sufficient for me, for the fulness of my life, and no material things are needful for my immaterial heart; they are only needful for the perishable and transitory body, but by the grace of God, and thanks to His bounties, even the body has what is daily and habitually necessary for it. The lusts and whims of the flesh, of the old man, are innumerable, but they are illusions, vanity, phantoms, nothing; they are darkness, giddiness, and the shipwreck of the soul. My peace and my life are in God alone.

What a close connection there is between the Church in heaven and the Church upon earth! What love the Church has! See: she unceasingly remembers, calls upon in prayer, and glorifies the Church in heaven for the great deeds accomplished on earth for God's sake; she unceasingly prays for the Church upon earth, and intercedes for the departed, in the hope of the resurrection, of the life eternal, and of union with God and the Saints. Her love is immense, grand, divine! Let us enter into the spirit of this love of our Mother, the orthodox Church, and let us be penetrated with the spirit of this love. Let us look upon all our brethren as our own members, upon ourselves and them as members of the one body of the Church, and let us love them actively, as ourselves; then we ourselves shall be living members of the Church in heaven, and she will be our active and speedy helper and intercessor.

As long as we lead a carnal life and do not heartily draw near to God, so long will the demons hide themselves within us, concealing themselves under the form of various passions: greediness after food and drink, adulterous passion, pride, and arrogant free thought concerning religion, concerning the Church, and the dogmas of faith, malice, envy, avarice, covetousness, so that we live in accordance with their will; but as soon as we begin to truly serve the Lord, and thus provoke and strike home at the demons of our passions nestling in us, then they take up arms against us with all their infernal malice, with all their fiery inflammability and manifold violent, burning attachments to earthly things, until we drive them out of us by fervent prayer or by the Communion of the Holy Sacrament. Thus, it sometimes happens that those who are possessed with evil spirits remain tranquil until they are brought near something holy, but as soon as they approach it they are overtaken by an extraordinary power, by a repulsion for the holy thing, by blasphemy, by spitting at the holy thing, by piercing screams. This is the explanation of the fact why those possessed with evil spirits scream in church during Divine service or when they approach the relics of saints; it is because the demons are met by the blessed power, which is hateful to them and stronger than them, which burns, oppresses, strikes them righteously, and drives them out of their beloved dwellings.

Every Christian house in itself represents an infinitely large house—the universe, heaven and earth, in which the Lord dwells. It is for this reason that one sees in every Christian house representations of the Saviour and of the Mother of God, listening to the prayers of those who live in the house and who call upon Them.

Man! recognise your spiritual misfortune, and steadfastly, continually pray to the Saviour of men, that He may save you from it. Do not say to yourself, " I am not in danger; I am not in misery; I do not require to pray much and often to be saved from a misfortune which I do not even understand and know." This is the very misfortune, that you, being in the greatest misery, do not know your misfortune; this misfortune is your sins.

If it falls to you to have to bear great misfortunes, sorrows, and sicknesses, do not grow faint-hearted or despondent; do not murmur; do not desire death for yourself; and do not speak audaciously before the all-seeing God—as, for instance: "O, what a cruel affliction! " "O, what an unbearable misfortune; let me rather die!" or "I would rather kill myself!" God save you from such faint-heartedness, murmuring, and audacity! But endure all this courageously, as having been sent to you from God for your sins; repeat with the wise malefactor, " We receive the due reward of our deeds," and contemplate with your mental eyes the Saviour suffering on the cross.

Beware, lest the floods of inward sorrows and afflictions should draw you away from the Lord Jesus Christ, for the enemy endeavours by every means to turn us aside from the Lord: both by the enticement of pleasures and by the weight of misfortunes, like Job, and especially by inward distresses and afflictions. Endure everything, thanking God, for '' all things work together for good to them that love God." Remember that you yourself daily confess in prayer to God that, by your sins, by which you continually anger the Lord and His Most-pure Mother and all the heavenly Powers and your holy Guardian Angel, you are not worthy of His love and compassion, but deserve every condemnation and punishment, and thus the Lord only shows His justice upon you as well as His love by visiting you with sorrows and distresses, humiliation and shame, in order to cleanse your heart, to soften and refine it, to humble it and make it His worthy temple. " For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. Now, no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceful fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."

The sin, to which you do not consent, is not "imputed" to you, as, for instance: involuntary distraction during prayer, impure and blasphemous thoughts, involuntary malice, against which we zealously struggle, avarice, which we resist—all such are attacks of the spirit of evil. Our duty is to endure, to pray, to humble ourselves, and to love.

O, sweetest name, holiest name, almighty name of our Lord Jesus Christ! My victory, Lord, glory to Thee! Lord, we are Thy members, we are one body, Thou art our Head! Lord, grant that all passions, all demons may flee from us! Lord, bestow upon us the grace of never failing love! Lord, grant that we may show respect and love to each other, as to Thyself, for we are made godly by Thee.

What blessings Thy chosen ones will enjoy in heaven with Thee, O Lord! How wearisome to the heart are all earthly delights! How destructive to the heart is even a momentary attachment to anything earthly! And what peace, what freedom, what width, what light, what joy is to be found in Thee!

Glory to the never failing power of Thy cross, O Lord! When the enemy oppresses me by sinful thoughts and feelings, and I, having no freedom in my heart, make the sign of the cross several times with faith, then my sin suddenly passes away from me, the straitness vanishes, and I obtain freedom. Glory to Thee, Lord! Lord, let nothing, nothing carnal, material, turn me away from Thee! Let me always be with Thee! How good it is to be with Thee!

O Lord! Deprive me not of Thy heavenly gifts, for Thou art the Lord and canst do so if Thou wiliest; O Lord, save me from eternal torments, for Thou art the Lord and canst also easily do so if Thou wiliest; O Lord, be it in mind, or thought, in word or deed that I have sinned, forgive me, seeing the infirmity of my soul. Thus, Lord, Thou canst do all things for me, repentant and asking Thy blessings. And Thou, Queen of all the angels and men, all-merciful and all-succouring as the terrible Sovereign, the disperse? and flame of all resisting powers, who canst so easily destroy, with the speed of lightning, all the manifold snares of the evil spirits,—save us from every sin and strengthen us by Thy power in every virtue; make us conformable to Thy Hon and our God, and to Thyself, Most holy Virgin, Mother of our Lord, for we bear the name of Christ, Thy Son, as His members. Let not our name of "Christians" be an empty sound, void of power; but may we all be imitators of Christ, the "Author ... of our faith," and of Thee, the "First Origin of spiritual renovation." May we all be as "lively stones, . . . built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God." O Sovereign Lady!—may we not call Thee by that name in vain: manifest upon us, now and for ever, Thy holy, living, active sovereignty. Do so, for the all-merciful Mother of the all-merciful King; Thou canst do all that is good; drive away the darkness from our hearts, repel the arrows of the evil spirits, cunningly directed against us. Let the peace of Thy Son, Thy peace reign in our hearts, so that all may joyfully exclaim: Who, after the Lord, is like unto Our Lady, our all-merciful, all-succouring, and most speedy Mediatrix? Therefore, Thou art highly exalted, our Lady; therefore, an unspeakable abundance of grace is given unto Thee, unutterable boldness and power before the throne of God, and the gift of almighty prayer; therefore, Thou art adorned with ineffable holiness and purity; therefore, the Lord has given unto Thee unprecedented power, in order that Thou mightest guard, defend, intercede for, cleanse, and save us, the inheritance of Thy Son and God and Thine own. Save us, then, O Most-pure, the Most-merciful, Most-wise and the Most-helpful! Thou art the Mother of our Saviour, Who, of all names, was above all pleased to be called the Saviour, and Whose very name is Jesus, or Saviour. To us, journeying through this life, it is natural to fall, for we are clothed with the flesh, with its manifold passions; are surrounded by the subcelestial evil spirits, tempting us to sin, and we live in an adulterous and sinful world, tempting us to sin; whilst Thou art above every sin, Thou art the brightest Sun, Thou art Most-pure, Most-merciful, and speedy to succour; it is natural to Thee to cleanse us, defiled by sins, as a mother cleanses her children, if we call upon Thee humbly for help; it is natural for Thee to raise us, who continually fall, to intercede for us, to guard and save us, who are subjected to the calumnies of the evil spirits, and to direct us into the path leading to salvation.

"I am the vine," says the Lord, "ye are the branches," that is the one Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. Therefore, as the Lord is holy, so also the Church is holy; as the Lord "is the way, the truth, and the life," so also is the Church, because the Church is one and the same with the Lord, "His body, of His flesh, and of His bones," or His "branches," rooted in Him— the living vine, and nourished by Him and growing in Him. Never represent the Church apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, from the father and the Holy Ghost.

When the enemy strikes your heart with doubt in any word of the Saviour and wounds you, say to yourself inwardly: every word of my God Jesus Christ is life to me, and the poison of doubt shall be cast out from your heart, and your soul will be tranquil and at ease. When you are troubled by doubt in any word or sentence, action, or rite of the Church, again inwardly say to the enemy the words of the Saviour concerning the Church: "When He, the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you" (that is the Church, implanted and spread by the apostles, and especially the pastors and teachers) "into all truth;" and steadfastly believe that according to the Saviour's promise the Holy Ghost shall eternally dwell in her and guide "her into all truth." This signifies that everything in her is truthful and salutary; and, therefore, the Church is called "the pillar and ground of the truth." In the church books, in the words of the Holy Fathers and teachers of the Church, everywhere breathes the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of truth, love, and salvation.

Prayer is the constant feeling of our own spiritual poverty and infirmity, the contemplation in ourselves, in others, and in nature of the works of the great wisdom, mercy, and almighty power of God; prayer is—a continually grateful frame of mind.

Sometimes people call prayer that which is not prayer at all; for instance: a man goes to church, stands there for a time, looks at the icons or at other people, their faces and dress, and says that he has prayed to God; or else he stands before an icon at home, bows his head, says some words he has learnt by heart, without understanding and without feeling, and says that he has prayed, although with his thoughts and heart he has not prayed at all, but was elsewhere with other people and things, and not with God.

"Prayer is the lifting up of the mind and heart to God," the contemplation of God, the daring converse of the creature with the Creator, the soul reverently standing before Him, as before the King and the Life Itself, giving life to all; the oblivion of everything that surrounds us, the food of the soul; its air and light, its life-giving warmth, its cleansing from sin; the easy yoke of Christ, His light burden. Prayer is the constant feeling (the recognition) of our infirmity or spiritual poverty, the sanctification of the soul, the foretaste of future blessedness, angelic bliss, the heavenly rain, refreshing, watering, and fertilising the ground of the soul, the power and strength of the soul and body, the purifying and freshening of the mental air, the enlightenment of the countenance, the joy of the spirit, the golden link, uniting the creature to the Creator, courage and valour in all the afflictions and temptations of life, the lamp of life, success in all undertakings, dignity equal with the angels, the strengthening of faith, hope and love. Prayer is intercourse with the holy angels and saints, who pleased God since the beginning of the world. Prayer is the amendment of life, the mother of heartfelt contrition and tears; a powerful motive for works of mercy; security of life; the destruction of the fear of death; the disdain of earthly treasures; the desire for heavenly blessings; the expectation of the universal Judge, of the common resurrection and of the life of the world to come; a strenuous effort to save ourselves from eternal torments; unceasing seeking for mercy (forgiveness) of the Sovereign; walking before God; the blissful vanishing of self before the all-creating and all-filling Creator; the living water of the soul. Prayer is holding all men in our hearts through love; the descent of heaven into the soul; the abiding of the Most-holy Trinity in the soul, in accordance with that which has been said: "We will come unto him and make Our abode with him."

As your thought is near to you, as your faith is near to you, so near is God to you, and the more lively and steadfast is your thought about God, the more lively your faith, and the recognition of your infirmity and nothingness, and the feeling of your need of God, the nearer will God be to you. Or, as air is near to your body, so near is God to you. For God is, so to say, the mental air, by means of which breathe all the angels, the souls of the saints and of living men, especially of pious ones. You cannot live for a single moment without God, and you actually live each moment in Him: "For in Him we live, and move and have our being."

Your doubt in the presence of God in any place, and at any time, and the trouble of the soul arising from it, prove that we cannot be in any place without God, and that we live every moment and in every place by Him alone; doubt only confirms in a negative manner the truth of God's omnipresence, and the impossibility for us, as well as for any creature, to be anywhere without Him. And, indeed, wherever you are, if you doubt in the presence of God, and feel straitness and fire in your heart, do not succumb to doubt; consider it as an enticement, an illusion of the Devil, and you will immediately feel at rest. We must always remember that God, like our soul, is a spiritual Being, and that, by our thoughts and hearts, we either draw near to God, and become one spirit with Him, or withdraw ourselves from Him, and become one spirit with the Devil and his assisting power.

Let every Christian understand the devilish flattery that lies in everything worldly and perishable, and turns us away, under various plausible pretexts, from loving our neighbour as ourselves.

Icons are a requirement of our nature. Can our nature do without an image? Can we recall to mind an absent person without representing or imagining him to ourselves] Has not God Himself given us the capacity of representation and imagination] Icons are the Church's answer to a crying necessity of our nature.

You who pray! let the name of the Lord, or that of the Mother of God, or that of an angel, or of a saint, be unto you in the place of the Lord Himself, the Mother of God Herself, of the angel or saint himself; let the nearness of your word to your heart be the pledge and testimony of the nearness to your heart of the Lord Himself, of the Most Pure Virgin, of the angel or saint. The name of the Lord is the Lord Himself; the Spirit is everywhere present, and filleth all things; the name of the Mother of God is the Mother of God Herself; and the name of an angel is an angel, or the name of a saint a saint. How can this be? Do you not understand ? It is thus:—Suppose, for instance, that your name is John Hitch. If you are called by these names, then you would acknowledge yourself wholly in them, and would answer to them, meaning that you agree, that your name is you, yourself, together with your soul and body;— it is likewise with the saints: when you call upon their names, you call upon them themselves. But, you would say, they have no body. What does that signify? The body is only the material covering of the soul, its house,—whilst the man himself, the essence of the man, is his soul. When people call you by your name, it is not your body that replies, but your soul, by means of a bodily organ. And thus the name of God and that of a saint are—God Himself and His saint. But as God is the Most-incomplex and omnipresent Spirit, and all the saints rest in God, therefore our intercourse with all the saints by the prayer of faith is a very easy matter—easier than intercourse with the persons who live with us, as, to communicate with men, we are sometimes in want of a corresponding language, or we hesitate how to express ourselves, lest we should be blamed for our speech; whilst there even the simple, artless voice of a believing, loving heart is heard, there even the language of the dumb is understood, there the soul and its conditions and desires are seen even without words.

Icons in churches and houses are necessary, amongst other reasons, because they remind us of the immortality of the saints; "that they live unto Him," as the Lord said that in God they see, hear, and help us.

What is the name of our God? Love, Mercy, Compassion, Bountifulness. When you pray, contemplate with the eyes of your heart Love and Mercy standing before you,—the Lover of men listening to you.

When you pray to the heavenly Powers, do not represent them to yourself as very terrible, inaccessible, or unmerciful: no, they are the gentlest, humblest, most loving, accessible, friendly beings, ever ready to hear, and very near to those who call upon them in prayer with faith and love. Their attribute is love of union with all Christians, through the prayer of faith. Also, when you pray to the heavenly Powers, despise everything earthly as perishable, and love with all your heart the heavenly, spiritual life, and aspire to it. It is most pleasing to them to see our sincere love of wisdom, our desire to become their fellow-citizens, which we are indeed called to be by the grace of Jesus Christ and the Most-Divine Trinity.

Shall I forget Thee, Lord, the invisible, incomprehensible Lord, ever filling my heart with life, light, peace, joy, power, and endurance, Thou Who art every good in my life, and Who alone constitutest my life! O! do not let me forget Thee!

Lord! Thy name is Love: do not cast me away, erring as I am! Thy name is Power: strengthen me, who so often grow weak and fall! Thy name is Light: enlighten my soul, darkened by earthly passions! Thy name is Peace: appease my troubled soul! Thy name is Mercy: do not cease to forgive me!

I sometimes pray in church for God's people thus: Here, Lord, many of these who are standing in Thy temple, stand before Thee with their souls idle, like empty vessels, and "know not what to pray for as they ought;" fill Thou their hearts now at this favourable time for them, in this day of salvation, by the grace of Thine All-holy Spirit, and give them to me at my prayer, to my love, filled with the knowledge of Thy goodness, and with heartfelt contrition and devotion, as full vessels; give to them Thy Holy Ghost, that "Maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." I myself, their pastor, am sinful and impure above all men, but do not consider my sins, Lord, despise them according to Thy great mercy, and hear my prayer at this hour, for the sake of the grace of the priesthood resting on me and dwelling in me. Grant, Lord, that this grace may not be idle in me, but that it may ever burn in me with faith, hope, love, and son-like boldness in prayer for Thy people!