“My child, if you want to live amongst people, you must watch the following: Do not criticize anyone at all; do not ridicule anyone; do not become angry; do not despise anyone. Be very careful not to say ’so-and-so lives virtuously,’ or ’so-and-so lives immorally,’ because this is exactly what ‘judge not’ means. Look at everyone in the same way, with the same disposition, the same thought, with a simple heart. Accept them as you would accept Christ. Don’t open your ears to a person who judges.”
Know two thoughts and fear them. One says: you are a saint; the other: you will not be saved. Both these thoughts are from the enemy, and there is no truth in them. You must think: I am a great sinner, but the Lord is merciful, He loves His children greatly, and will forgive my sins. But don’t depend on your deeds, though you may have worked much. One ascetic said to me, “I must surely be forgiven, for I bow so many times per day,” but when death came, he tore at his shirt. So, not for our labors, but in His grace the Lord dispenses mercy. The Lord wishes our souls to be humble, absent of hate and willing to forgive all, then the Lord shall forgive us with joy.
Judging by what is written in the Scriptures and by the character of the people surrounding us, we are living in the final days. However, as that great holy man of Russia, Saint Serafim of Sarov, said, we must seek to keep safe our inner peace, because without this salvation is impossible. During Serafim’s life, in response to his prayers, the Lord kept Russia safe; after him came another pillar stretching from earth to the heavens, Father John of Kronstadt. He loved the people and prayed continuously for them: “Lord, I wish that Your world would be in all Your people, whom You love so boundlessly that You gave Your Only Son to save the world.”
Praying thus without respite for the people, he retained his inner peace. But we are losing ours because we do not love people. The Holy Apostles and all the saints desired salvation for all people and, remaining among people, prayed for them energetically. The Holy Spirit gave them the strength to love all people. If we do not love our brothers, then we cannot have peace. Everyone should think this over.
This is interesting because I must admit that it is the people that I love the most in my life that often make it hard for me to have inner peace. Not because they are not wonderful or that I don’t find solace in their love, but because I am afraid of losing them whether by my death or theirs. But, St. Silouan has taught my soul something here.
God wants us to set our minds on things above and not earthly and corruptible things, he desires that we set our minds on His kingdom. Fear of death and love of neighbor go hand in hand because God is the God of the living and not of the dead. Thus, I can love my family all the more because they will eternally be with me. Death cannot destroy the bond of our love, for love never fails. Death, where is thy sting?
Now, how do I love my enemies with such fervent love?
I caught a video Sunday morning on Youtube by Elder Cleopa where he explained that what keeps a person on the narrow path of salvation is fear of God on one side and fear of death on the other. My experience shows it to be so. My fear of death is growing more and more as I grow equally more aware that in my life the presence of God, while bringing a certain peace, likewise brings me great discomfort.
I feel like I should just lie prostrate on the ground and plead for forgiveness. This body of death must die! But, first I must work with the Holy Spirit and by the power of the Holy Spirit to put these passions to death in my soul. When I die I will go to be with the Lord, as do all who die (Ecc. 12:7), but will that be a pleasant moment for a sinner like myself? One who entertains sin, crosses the line with one toe, then one foot, then an arm and soon the whole fo my being only to be tormented by my deceitfulness.
“When I feed my hungry brother, this is a Christian act and a preaching of the Kingdom that needs no words; it is done for the personal reason that my brother—he who stands before me at this moment—is hungry, and it is a Christian act because my brother is, in some sense, Christ.”
What struck me here is that Fr. Seraphim views his act as Christian, not because he told the receiver a Christian message, but because the person for whom he did it is, in some sense, Christ. How profound
The brothers also asked Abba Agathon, “Amongst all good works, which is the virtue which requires the greatest effort?” He answered, “Forgive me, but I think there is no labor greater than that of prayer to God. For every time a man wants to pray, his enemies, the demons, want to prevent him, for they know that it is only by turning him from prayer that they can hinder his journey. Whatever good work a man undertakes, if he preserves in it, he will attain rest. But prayer is warfare to the last breath.”
Thou, Oh Christ, art the Kingdom of Heaven; Thou, Oh Christ, art the kingdom of Heaven; Thou, the land promised to the meek; Thou, the meadowland of paradise; Thou, the hall of the celestial banquet; Thou, the ineffable bridal chamber; Thou, the table set for all, Thou, the bread of life; Thou, the unheard of drink; Thou, both the urn for the water and the life-giving water; Thou, moreover, the inextinguishable lamp for each one of the saints; Thou, the garment and the crown and the One Who bestoweth the crowns; Thou, the joy and rest; Thou, the delight and glory; Thou, the gladness and mirth; And Thy grace, the grace of the Spirit of all sanctity, will shine like the sun in all the saints; And Thou, the unapproachable Sun, wilt shine in their midst; and all will shine brightly, according to the measure of their faith, their asceticism, their hope and their love, their purification, and their illumination by Thy Spirit.
“When the Word of God becomes bright and shining in us, and His face is dazzling as the sun, then also will His clothes be radiant, that is, the clear and distinct words of the Holy Scripture of the Gospels now no longer veiled. Then Moses and Elias will stand beside Him, that is, the more spiritual meanings of the Law and the Prophets.”
“With great zeal and closest attention, therefore, I frequently inquired of many men, eminent for their holiness and doctrine, how I might, in a concise and, so to speak, general and ordinary way, distinguish the truth of the Catholic faith from the falsehood of heretical depravity.
“I received almost always the same answer from all of them—that if I or anyone else wanted to expose the frauds and escape the snares of the heretics who rise up, and to remain intact and in sound faith, it would be necessary, with the help of the Lord, to fortify that faith in a twofold manner: first, of course, by the authority of divine law [Scripture] and then by the tradition of the Catholic Church.
“Here, perhaps, someone may ask: ‘If the canon of the scriptures be perfect and in itself more than suffices for everything, why is it necessary that the authority of ecclesiastical interpretation be joined to it?’ Because, quite plainly, sacred Scripture, by reason of its own depth, is not accepted by everyone as having one and the same meaning. . . .
“Thus, because of so many distortions of such various errors, it is highly necessary that the line of prophetic and apostolic interpretation be directed in accord with the norm of the ecclesiastical and Catholic meaning” (The Notebooks [A.D. 434]).
Of the dogmas and messages preserved in the Church, some we possess from written teaching and others we receive from the Tradition of the Apostles, handed on to us in mystery. In respect to piety both are of the same force. No one will contradict any of these, no one, at any rate, who is even moderately versed in matters ecclesiastical. Indeed, were we to try to reject unwritten customs as having no great authority, we would unwittingly injure the gospel in its vitals; or rather, we would reduce [Christian] message to a mere term.
"No one on this earth can avoid affliction; and although the afflictions which the Lord sends are not great men imagine them beyond their strength and are crushed by them. This is because they will not humble their souls and commit themselves to the will of God. But the Lord Himself guides with His grace those who are given over to God's will, and they bear all things with fortitude for the sake of God Whom they have so loved and with Whom they are glorified for ever. It is impossible to escape tribulation in this world but the man who is giver over to the will of God bears tribulation easily, seeing it but putting his trust in the Lord, and so his tribulations pass."
