St. John of Kronstadt · 40 of 49

Part II · Part 16

As in the material world God benefits us through the sun lighting and warming us and the earth with all its fulness, through air, water, plants, and animals; so also, in the spiritual world, the Lord directly benefits us, enlightening our minds and hearts, interceding for us, saving, forgiving, and protecting us by His grace (here also through His ministers); He benefits us still more through the medium of His servants the angels, called ministering spirits, through the medium of His saints, and especially through the medium of the most exalted of all creatures, His most pure Mother, through the patriarchs, the prophets, the apostles, hierarchs, martyrs, venerable and righteous men, and all the saints. These holy beings are the servants of God for our salvation. "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" They are the resplendent mental rays of the Eternal Sun of righteousness, God. How then shall we not call upon them to help and intercede for us, these blessed beings who have received from the Lord Himself grace, to serve for our salvation? How shall we not render them due reverence and gratitude? Would it be in conformity with the laws of even human social life and propriety?

Lutherans say: "Why should we ask the prayers of the saints for ourselves? We pray to God Himself." But they contradict themselves, for why do they ask a pastor to pray for them? They might as well pray without a pastor if everyone has an equal access to God and we have no need of any sanctified suppliants. What blindness! They say that by praying to the saints we worship idols. This is untrue. We do not pray to any saint as we pray to God, we only ask his prayers for ourselves. Is there a shadow of idolatry in this? In the same manner as we ask God's living ministers and suppliants to pray to Him for us, so likewise we ask the heavenly suppliants, who, from their love to God, have great boldness before Him; besides this, very many of them, even when they lived here on earth, were already suppliants and intercessors before God for the world; there, in heaven, this activity of theirs is only continued, has attained greater dimensions, and is especially powerful, because it is no longer hindered by the heavy and inert flesh. All the saints, though they have finished their earthly course, yet live: "For He is not a God of the dead, but of the living; for all live unto Him."

"Hail, Thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with Thee!" Thus does the holy Church invoke the most holy Virgin, the Mother of God. But the Lord is also with every pious soul that believes in Him. The Lord's abiding with the Virgin Mary before she conceived the Saviour is not a particularity proper to the most pure Virgin alone. The Lord is with every believing soul: "The Lord is with thee." These words may be said to everyone who keeps the Lord's commandments. And the Lord is near unto all, only men themselves are far from Him by their hearts, by their thoughts, their intentions, and the inclinations of their hearts, as well as by their words and deeds, which are contrary to the law of God. " Lo, I am with you alway," says our Lord, Who was born of the most holy Virgin, " even unto the end of the world"; that is, with every one of us, at every time, throughout all generations, all ages, upon the whole space of the earth, unto the end of the world.

I am in God, with God, before God, under God. He is my life. For my bodily life He has diffused air and water; He provides food; while for my soul He Himself " is everywhere present and filleth all things"; He Himself is air, and meat, and drink. I continually stand, and walk, and sit, and sleep, and eat, and wherever I may be I am always and in every place in God. The first is an image of the second. In order to breathe it is necessary to keep the mouth and nostrils open; for the life of the spirit prayer is necessary. In order that the prayer should be sincere, should wholly embrace the soul and be concentrated, it is necessary to watch the heart, to gather together or fix the mind and heart upon God alone; to entirely renounce every falsehood, double-mindedness, and all earthly attachments.

The greatest continual error of our heart against which we ought unceasingly to struggle during our whole lifetime—at night, in the morning, and during the day—is the secret thought that we can be anywhere and at any time without God and outside Him even for a single moment. We must unceasingly strengthen our heart in God, from Whom it continually mentally turns away; and great progress in the Christian life would be attained by him who could sincerely exclaim with Hannah, the mother of Samuel, " My heart is strengthened [rejoiceth] in the Lord; mine horn is exalted in the Lord; my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in Thy salvation."

It is necessary to remember that God is the living God, giving life to all; that the Mother of the Lord also lives; that the angels and saints likewise live, and that they hear us in God.

"Praying in the Holy Ghost." The Holy Ghost is air to the soul, and Christ is life-giving food. They are inseparable, the Spirit and the Son. As air and food are equally necessary and inseparable from each other, so likewise the Holy Ghost and the Son are inseparable in Themselves and in Their actions in us; whilst God the Father acts primarily and beneficently through the Son and the Holy Ghost, as their Origin and Cause.

Those who touched the Saviour's garment were made whole. Why is it that those who employ holy water with faith are even now healed? Because the Cross, immersed in water, with the prayer of faith, is as though the life-giving Lord Himself. As the Saviour's garments were penetrated with His life, so also the water, in which the life-giving Cross is immersed, is itself penetrated with life, and thus becomes healing.

Nothing is nearer to us than God. He is the God of hearts, of the very hearts, and the heart, in its turn, is nearer than anything to us. It is the whole man, " the hidden man of the heart," as the Apostle says.

I was on my way to matins. The sun was in the east, and was reflected in a lantern hanging on a post. The reflection was so full and bright that it was impossible to look at it, as it is impossible to look at the sun itself. I thought to myself, "If the material-created sun is reflected with such a fulness of radiance in the transparent glass, then is not the mental, uncreated Sun, God, reflected in the human heart pure from sin (proceeding from its dark origin)? Is He not resplendently reflected in His saints, who, for the sake of union with Him, out of love for Him, cleansed themselves, or cleanse themselves, here 'from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God'?" Yes, He is resplendently reflected in the souls of His chosen ones, and these pure souls, these images of God, like the transparent glass, shine forth like gold in the sun, like diamonds of the purest water, but they shine for God and the angels, not revealing their brightness to men, although at times, by God's ordering, they do shine even for them, by the light of their faith, their virtues, when necessary, similar to a candle put on a candlestick in a room, and lighting the room with all those who are in it. Also, if the created sun is reflected in the glass of a lantern, then is not the uncreated mental Sun wholly and essentially reflected in His most pure Flesh and Blood on the altar of the Lord by the action of the life-giving Holy Ghost? Yes, It is reflected with all Its light and all Its love, so that "he that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood dwelleth in Me and I in him." The body and blood are most wholly Christ Himself.

In prayer there are petitions in opposition to our proud flesh, which ascribes everything to itself; thanksgiving in opposition to the insensibility of our flesh to God's innumerable benefits; praise in opposition to the carnal man, seeking praise for himself alone.

Prayer is the proof of my reasonable personality, of my likeness to God, the pledge of my future godliness and blessedness. I was created from nothing, I am nothing before God, as having nothing of my own; but, by the mercy of God, I am a being endued with reason, with a heart, with free will, and by my reason and freedom I can, by turning with my heart to Him, continually increase in myself His infinite kingdom, increase more and more His gifts in me, draw from Him, as from an ever-flowing, inexhaustible source, every blessing, both spiritual and material, especially spiritual ones. Prayer instils in me that I am the image of God, that by the humble and thankful disposition of my soul before God, and by my free will, I infinitely increase in myself the spiritual gifts of God, that I can thus infinitely improve myself and can increase to infinity my likeness to God, my heavenly blessedness to which I am predestined. O! prayer is the sign of the great dignity with which the Creator has honoured me. But at the same time it reminds me of my nothingness (I am of nothing, and have nothing of my own; therefore, I ask God for everything) and of my most high dignity (I am an image of God; I am made godly; I may be called the friend of God, like Abraham, the father of believers, if only I believe undoubtingly in the existence, mercy, and omnipotence of my God, and strive to become like unto Him during this life by works of love and mercy).

Constant fervent prayer brings us the most sincere and firm conviction of the immortality of our soul, and of the bliss of the future immaterial world; for we derive all the delights of prayer from the God the Spirit. We borrow all the power of prayer from Him, and also by His grace from the Mother of God (it is She who saves our souls from misfortunes, who gives us peace, joy, and new life), and from the angels and saints.

"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" " If the Spirit of Him that raised up Christ from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you." Brethren, be attentive to and reverence the Holy Ghost, ever dwelling in you, and remember that the mystery and wonder of your resurrection from the dead shall be accomplished by the same Spirit who now dwelleth in you by the grace and gift of Christ, through baptism by water and the Spirit, through repentance, and especially through the communion of His life-giving Mysteries.

God is Truth, and my prayer should be truth as well as life; God is Light, and my prayer should be offered in the light of the mind and the heart; God is Fire, and my prayer as well as life should be ardent; God is perfectly free, and my prayer should be the free outpouring of the heart. What riches there are in the human spirit! I have only to think of God, only to desire a hearty union with God, and He is immediately with me; neither the walls of a house, nor the bars of a prison, nor mountains, nor gulfs shall hinder this union. God is immediately with me, likewise the angels and saints; with God they are all before my eyes, close to my heart, as the nearest of friends, as those who are akin to me. O the riches of the human spirit!

The Spirit is so simple that it passes through every spiritual and material being; through all reasonable beings and through all creatures not endued with reason, through the heavenly bodies, the earth and all its organic and inorganic bodies, and is not in the least limited by them, being always higher than them and quickening them as the Spirit of God, or it easily passes through every kind of matter without quickening it, such as mountains, stones, walls of buildings, as if there was no matter whatever there. God is such, as though there were no other spiritual or material being at all; and therefore I can always truly say that I am always with God, or as though there were only God and myself. " Thou art with me," says the psalmsinger. "I am with thee," says the Lord to the Apostle Paul.

When praying fervently, either standing or sitting, or lying down or walking, and being sometimes suddenly visited by the Spirit of God and hearing His voice, we notice that He penetrates into the soul, not through the mouth, not through the nose, neither through the ears (although the Saviour bestowed the Spirit through the word and breathing, and although "faith cometh by hearing"), but straight through the body into the heart, in the same manner as the Lord passed through the walls of the house when He came to the Apostles after the Resurrection, and acts suddenly, like electricity, and more rapidly than any electric current; then we feel unusually light, because we are suddenly freed from our burden of sins, the spirit of contrition for sins, the spirit of devotion, peace, and joy visits us. Remember how the angel appeared in the shut-up prison in order to deliver the Apostle Peter; the doors were shut, the keepers standing before the doors, but the angel suddenly came upon him, and at the same moment a light shined in the prison. Thus the Spirit of God suddenly visits the chamber of our soul, the body, and the light shines in it.

How do the saints hear us? They hear us as being one in the Holy Ghost with us—" that they also may be one in us," as members of the one Church of God, having for her head the one Christ, and animated by the one Spirit of God. The saints see and hear us in the Holy Ghost in the same manner as we see and hear with our bodily eyes and ears by means of light and air; but our bodily sight and hearing are very imperfect in comparison to spiritual sight and hearing. At a great distance we cannot see many objects and cannot hear many sounds, but spiritual sight and hearing are perfect; not a single movement of the heart, not a single thought, not a single word, intention, or desire escapes them, because the Spirit of God—in Whom the saints dwell, see, and hear us—is all-perfect, omniscient, all-seeing, and all-hearing, for He is omnipresent.

The power of prayer is sufficient, for instance, to open and shut heaven, to turn fire into dew. Whose prayer is specially powerful ] The prayer of the Mother of God (" by Thy holy and all-powerful supplications ") and that of the saints in heaven; on earth the prayers of God's priests, as of those placed by God Himself at His very throne, to pray for themselves and for His people, " for Himself and for the errors of the people"; and the prayers of venerable men, of hermits, "for him will I accept." Christians are slothful in prayer, from this arise want of faith, hope, and love, sins and iniquities, spiritual and bodily misfortunes.

Priest of God! believe with your whole heart, believe always in the grace given to you from God, to pray for God's people. Let not this gift of God be in vain in you, for by it you can save many souls. The Lord speedily hears your heartfelt prayer for His people, and is easily inclined to have mercy upon them, as He had at Moses', Aaron's, Samuel's, and the Apostles' prayers. Avail yourself of every opportunity for prayer— in church, when you celebrate Divine service or a sacrament, in private houses, at the ministering of the sacraments, during prayers and thanksgivings; everywhere and at all times think of the salvation of God's people, and you shall also obtain great grace of God for yourself.

Be always as convinced that you live every moment by the life-giving Trinity as that you are lighted by the material light, are fed by meat and drink, and breathe by means of air—by these three things united in one for you.

The substance of the world is as nothing; everywhere and in all things is the life-giving Spirit of God higher than anything. When you pray to God, represent to yourself that matter is as though non-existent, and that all creatures are as though non-existent; but that God alone is omnipresent and one, having no determined place and limits, and tilling, embracing, creating, and keeping all things. If you yourself are free from attachments to material things, and give yourself to prayer and fasting, then even in you the spirit will as though swallow up the flesh, and you will become spiritual and will contemplate God the Spirit everywhere in nature; whilst, on the contrary, those who are attached to earthly things, especially to food and drink, to money, become " sensual, having not the Spirit." And in everything they only see the flesh, not contemplating the spirit, and even rejecting the spiritual side of things.

Where there is the constructing material, there the Constructor must absolutely be supposed, because matter, not having in itself either sense or power, cannot organise itself, cannot grow and bring forth fruits: it is evident that at every moment it must be governed by an infinite Mind, by an All-powerful Hand.

As the material sun is reflected with its whole circle and with all its radiance in the innumerable transparent objects upon earth, so likewise the spiritual Sun, God, is pleased to reflect Himself in innumerable beings, both in heaven and upon earth—there in the angels, here in men; and as the light even of the material sun is not restricted by dense though transparent bodies, but, passing through them unimpeded, shines even in the rooms of a house closed upon all sides to the outside air, or in transparent objects turned towards it, so likewise the spiritual light is not restricted for spiritual beings by any material obstacles, neither by the walls of a house, nor by the dark walls and vaults of prisons, nor by huge mountains, in the caverns of which the servants of God were concealed, nor in the abysses of the earth. He penetrates everything, and shines forth everywhere in every soul capable of receiving the light of the heavenly truth into itself. "Paul and Silas prayed in their prison and sang praises unto God, and the Lord heard their prayer."

When we pray, then the ears of the Lord are inclined to our prayer. He is then, as in general He always is, as near to us as the icon, before which we stand, and even much nearer: He is close to our very heart. His presence near us is as manifest as the visible icon, and therefore the icon is only a visible representation of how near the Lord is to us, how He looks upon us and hears us. And God's saints, in the Holy Ghost, are also as near to us as the Holy Ghost is near to us, Who is everywhere present and filleth all things, "Whose temple we are," and in the Holy Ghost they see and hear us in the same way as we see and hear people speaking to us. For the Holy Ghost is the medium, by which we see and hear even ordinary things.

You have seen that on the icons of the saints, the Lord Jesus Christ is represented above, with the imperial globe in one hand and with the other extended in blessing. This is taken from reality. From heaven the Lord ever watches over those who combat for His sake upon earth, He helps them actively, as the almighty King, in their struggle with the enemies of salvation, blesses His wrestlers with "peace and joy in the Holy Ghost," and bestows the crown of life upon them after they have finished their earthly exploits. Thus, Christians, all of you strengthen yourselves in faith and hope, looking unto Jesus, '' the author and finisher of our faith," Who ever watches over you and sees all your acts from the heavenly heights, as He looked down upon the proto-martyr, Stephen, opening unto him heaven and His glory; as He looked upon Saul, afterwards Paul, and also revealed Himself to him in the heavens, enlightening him with His light, and calling him with His voice.

The object of our life is union with God: in this life by faith, hope and love, and in the future one by all-perfect love. But see how the enemy and we ourselves here distort this object. We unite ourselves in our hearts with various things, in accordance with the diversity of our passionate attachments. Sometimes, O horror! our love is fixed upon silver, upon food, drink, dress, dwelling, furniture, upon men like unto ourselves, until we forget God. Sometimes we are proud, we envy, hate, lie, and then we unite ourselves directly with the Devil himself, who is malice, falsehood, pride, envy personified—and how we thus insult our Master, Who created us after His image and likeness; how we distort this divinely drawn image, drawn from God Himself! But we think of this too little, are too ignorant of that which is the most essential matter to us—our union with God.

He who knows the constancy and malice of the bodiless spirits against himself, will not greatly despond, although they may use every means to plunge his heart into despondency, he will not grow irritated at everything, knowing that they (the enemies) strive in every way to incite us to irritation, to make us malicious, envious, to attach us to money and material gain. But there is one condition necessary for this, we must watch over ourselves, for the enemy not unfrequently disguises himself under the form of our self-love and ambition, and, as though he defends our welfare, whilst in reality he is absolutely destroying us. Christian hope! how many are deprived of thee through the snares of invincible enemies! How many fall into despair and take away their own lives! Think of those who of their own free will have laid hands on themselves by hanging, by drowning themselves, or in other ways; also drunkards and others.

The Lord spoke the word of promise, and His word shall be fulfilled. He speaks, and shall it not be? The Lord points to the laws of nature, to their constancy and firmness, as a proof of the faithfulness of His promises.

You have felt in your heart during prayer, or during the reading of the Word of God and other holy books (and sometimes even during the reading of worldly ones of well-intentioned contents, in which, for instance, some event representing the action of God's Providence upon men is described), or during edifying conversation, "a still small voice," as though a current of electricity was passing through your body. It is the Lord visiting you. "A still small voice"—and the Lord is in it.

When you pray to Our Lady, or to any Saint, steadfastly represent to yourself that you are a member of the Church, in which Our Lady is—the chief stone of the edifice, "the First Origin of spiritual renovation," and know that you are closely, inwardly united with all the heavenly dwellers, as one of the stones of the edifice, though not a firm, strong one. Thus, by understanding yourself, you will understand why prayers so easily reach the Saints; for we are all under one Head —Christ, and are all animated by the same Spirit of God.

The Lord is—the Cause and constant Support (power) of my organic bodily life, through the action of the lungs, the stomach, the heart, the veins and muscles; and of my spiritually organic life, through the mind and thought, through the enlightenment of my heart by His Light.

Wonderful is the power of faith! Only the lively thought of God—only heartfelt faith in Him—is required, and He is with me; only hearty repentance for sins, with faith in Him, is required, and—He is with me; one good thought, and—He is with me; a pious feeling, and—He is with me. But the Devil enters into me through impure, evil, blasphemous thoughts, through doubt, fear, pride, irritability, malice, avarice, envy; therefore his power over me entirely depends upon myself; if only I keep watch over myself, and continually preserve in my mind the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, with faith and love, he will be powerless to do me any harm.

Strive to do everything in opposition to that which the bodiless enemy wishes you to do. He incites you to pride, to self-glorification, and to judging your brother — you must humble yourself to the ground and ashes, judge yourself as severely as possible, and praise your brother in your heart. Should your brother, through the action of the enemy, behave proudly and maliciously to you—you must behave humbly and lovingly to him. If the enemy incites you to avarice—be generous with goodwill. Act thus in all similar circumstances, and you will obtain great grace from God, and will see this yourself with your spiritual eyes. If you have not inward strength to do so, the enemy being, as you say, very powerful, then ask it in prayer, at every time and every hour, of the Almighty, and He will help you.

According to the measure of the " spirit and truth" with which you begin to pray before the holy icon, for instance, of the Saviour, in the same measure the Spirit of Him Who is represented upon the icon is attracted to the icon. So that if your faith, in the presence of the Person, represented upon the icon, attains such a height that you see that Person living before you, then by grace He is actually there. The wonder-working images which speak, from which flow tears, blood, etc., are examples of this, and this is why such images all look extraordinarily living and expressive. What can be impossible to God, Who is able to give life to stone and form man out of it? He can miraculously accomplish the same with a painted image. "All things are possible to him that believeth"; and the Highest miraculously comes down from heaven to him that believeth. He is similarly united with, and works miracles by, the sign of the life-giving cross.

What is man, if he is not the image of God, enshrined in earth, because the human body is nothing but—earth? Therefore do not wonder at God appearing in material images, and even speaking by the mouth of an image, for " with God all things are possible." When it was required, He even spoke with a human voice by the mouth of an ass.

So living and true, is sometimes said of a portrait, that only speech is wanting; if man is capable, by his art, of giving life to a canvas, or a board, or paper—then what can be impossible to God? Why cannot He breathe life into an image, and give it the capability of speaking, if it pleases Him? Only speech is wanting—you have done everything, artist, on your part; now let the Lord complete your work, and He will make the image speak.

There is a spiritual world: there is a communion of souls with those at a distance, and with the departed; they see and hear us, and here is an evident proof of this: a woman, whose husband was ill and was lying in a room—at a distance of some four hundred miles from her, and who afterwards died—saw one evening the people who came to him, what he was doing, and heard the words that he spoke. Do not the Saints see us in the same manner ? Do not they hear our prayers in the same manner?

In looking upon the faces of others, I see my own face, for we are all as one, created by God, from one single man, from the same blood, and all equally after the image of God—and therefore we must look upon all purely, unsuspiciously, not inimically, not cunningly, not avariciously, but with pure godly love. Also, when looking upon icons, upon the faces of the Saints, the image of the Mother of God, and that of the God-Man Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, I see myself in them, for they are also men, and through His incarnation and humanisation, Jesus Christ, our God, has wholly clothed Himself in me, having thus honoured mankind with an immeasurable honour, driving away the stench of sin from those who believe and are baptised in Him, and making them fragrant with the holiness of the Holy Ghost dwelling in them through faith, baptism, and the Communion of His Divine Body and Blood. Thus see yourself in others, that others may see themselves in you, love all as yourself; also see yourself and mankind in Christ, in His Most Pure Mother, and in the images of the Saints, and assimilate yourself to God and the saints by imitating their holiness—that they, too, may see themselves in you, in proportion as you become like unto God and them by virtue, and that they may recognise in you their member when you appear at the universal judgment, and may receive you into their midst as one of themselves.