St. John of Kronstadt · 11 of 49

Part I · Part 11

Sometimes the enemy uses his wiles against us in such a manner that when we see any sin or vice in our brother, or in society, he strikes our heart with indifference and coldness and reluctance, or rather with shameful cowardice, to say a firm, accusatory word against the iniquity, to break the horn of the sinner. Christ, my King! give me apostolic zeal and the fire of the Holy Ghost in my heart, so that I may ever boldly rise up against insolent vice, especially against the vice that corrupts many; and may I not spare anyone, both for the sake of their own salvation and that of the rest of Thy people, in order that they should not be seduced, seeing the overflow of vice, and that they should not themselves fall! "Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea," "For the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost."

When the foolish thought of counting up any of your good works enters into your head, immediately correct your fault and rather count up your sins, your continual and innumerable offences against the All-merciful and Righteous Master, and you will find that their number is as the sand of the sea, whilst your virtues in comparison with them are as nothing.

When your heart is struck by avarice, say to yourself: "My life is Christ, the Beloved of all. He is my inexhaustible wealth, my inexhaustible food, my inexhaustible drink. Our blind flesh dreams of finding life in food and in money, and bears ill-will against those who deprive it of these material means of life. But be firmly persuaded that your life is not money and food, but mutual love for the sake of love for God. Remember that God is Love, uniting all things animated by the laws of love, and bringing forth life from the union of love.

When praying, keep to the rule that it is better to say five words from the depth of your heart than ten thousand words with your tongue only. When you observe that your heart is cold and prays unwillingly, stop praying and warm your heart by vividly representing to yourself either your own wickedness, your spiritual poverty, misery, and blindness, or the great benefits which God bestows every moment upon you and all mankind, especially upon Christians, and then pray slowly and fervently. If you have not time to say all the prayers, it does not matter, and you will receive incomparably greater benefit from praying fervently and not hurriedly than if you had said all your prayers hurriedly and without feeling: "I had rather speak five words with my understanding than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue."But it would, of course, have been very well had we been able to say these ten thousand words in prayer with due understanding and feeling. The Lord does not forsake those who labour for Him and who stand long before Him; for with what measure they mete, He will measure to them again, and He will reward them for the abundance of the sincere words of their prayer by sending into their souls a corresponding abundance of spiritual light, warmth, peace, and joy. It is well to pray long and continually; but "All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given." It is better for those who are not capable of long prayers to say short prayers, but with a fervent spirit.

In the perpetual miracle of the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the true Body and Blood of Christ united with His Divinity and soul, I see the miracle of the perpetual quickening of man by the divine breathing, and of his creation into a living soul. It is written: "And man became a living soul," but upon the Holy Altar the bread and wine, after their transubstantiation become not only a living soul, but a quickening spirit.And this is all accomplished before my eyes; and I experience it both with my soul and my body, feeling it vividly. My God! How terrible are the mysteries which Thou createst! Of what unspeakable Mysteries hast Thou made me the witness and partaker! Glory to Thee, my Creator! Glory to Thee, Creator of the Body and Blood of Christ!

Even the saints of God were at times seized with diabolical despair and despondency. What, therefore, can we sinners expect? O, the enemy often wounds us by the wrath, humiliation, and cruel despondency of the heart! We must continually turn to God and be every moment with Him, in order that we may not be besieged with the wrath and despondency of the enemy. There are other means besides of escaping from them--the broad way of the world; only if you give yourself up to worldly pleasures, despondency will leave you for a time, at least while the pleasures last. But afterwards you will be captivated by these pleasures; they will become a necessity to you, and you will find comfort and joy in them, and in them alone; but may God preserve every Christian from finding his only way of escape from the despondency of the Devil through such means! It is better to walk in the narrow path, to patiently bear despondency, and to seek frequent help and deliverance from the Lord Jesus Christ, Who always rejoices those labouring for their salvation for His sake, than to enter on the broad and smooth way of the world and purchase there, by means of the pleasures of the flesh, freedom from the spirit of despondency. By means of this spirit of despondency the enemy has driven many from the narrow path of salvation on to the broad, smooth path which leads to destruction.

You are praying, your prayer is successfully accomplished, and you have inward proof that the Lord hears it and deigns to receive it favourably; your thoughts are at peace, you feel lightness and sweetness in your heart; but at the end of your prayer, through some slight infirmity of your heart and thoughts, a heavy burden falls on your heart, a weakening fire, and you feel an extreme difficulty in praying, and even an aversion to it, instead of the former lightness and inclination to prayer. Do not despair, friend; these are only the snares of the enemy, who loves to mock at us, especially at the end of our pious employment, so that we may fall into despondency and consider all our previous labours in the holy work lost. Learn from this in future not to extinguish your spirit even for a moment during your prayer; pray in spirit and truth, unremittingly, and not flattering the Lord during prayer by one single word--that is, not pronouncing a single word feignedly, hypocritically; let your prayer be only the expression of truth, the mouthpiece of the Holy Ghost, and do not let it serve by a single word the enemy's lie, nor be in any way the organ of the Devil. And to release your soul from his heavy load and to extinguish his fire, pray fervently to God, heartily confessing your fault before Him--your hypocrisy during prayer--and you will obtain relief and peace. Do not hurry; say and do everything calmly. You will succeed. It is the enemy who hurries and disturbs us, for there is no sense in confused hurry.

"Our Father! Thy kingdom come." The Lord reigns everywhere, in the whole visible world (being in every place) and in all the angelic hosts. He also reigns by his infinite Power and Truth over the spirits of evil, and over evil and unrighteous men. Some of them He has bound in everlasting chains of darkness for judgment at the great day, and others he punishes in various ways in this life, and will punish in the future life with inextinguishable fire. But He, the Truth, does not reign in demons and in unrighteous men by His truth, because falsehood is in them; He does not reign in them by His love, because malice is in them; He does not reign in the unrighteous by faith, neither by hope, but He reigns in them by the strict fulfilment of His laws. "Why call ye Me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" "Keep My commandments." He reigns in every action of my body and soul, even in the smallest (for instance, in speech), for my body obeys His laws in feeding, repose, sleep, growth, and walking, and both thought and word are formed and move in accordance with His laws; but He does not always reign in my heart, in the inclinations of my heart and in my free-will. I frequently incline to evil and do evil, instead of the good offered to me. I often oppose Him and His laws. I am often incredulous, unbelieving, selfish, proud; I often despise others, envy others, am avaricious, covetous, sensual, gratifying my sinful flesh in every way; ambitious, impatient, irritable, slothful, doing few or no good works at all, and if any, more from a concurrence of favourable circumstances than from the free inclination and tendency of my heart; do not pity those who suffer, as members of the one body of the Church--in a word, the Lord does not always reign in me by thoughts, feelings, and acts of faith, hope, and love.

We must pray that we may be constantly and firmly assured in our hearts that everything we have--both of soul and body, in prosperity and adversity, and all our possessions as well as all the circumstances of our life--come from God, from His Power, and not from nature, or chance, or from ourselves. If you cease praying to God, you will soon forget your Benefactor, Creator, and Lord, and in forgetting Him you will fall into every evil. Therefore, you see that prayer always brings you real benefit.

Both the spiritual and bodily powers of a man increase and become perfected and strengthened by their exercise. By exercising your hand in writing, sewing or knitting, you will accustom it to such work; by frequently exercising yourself in composition you will learn to write easily and well; by exercising yourself in doing good works or in conquering your passions and temptations, you will in time learn to do good works easily and with delight; and with the help of God's all-active grace you will easily learn to conquer your passions. But if you cease writing, sewing, knitting, or if you only do so seldom, you will write, sew, and knit badly. If you do not exercise yourself in composition, or do so very seldom, if you live in the material cares of life only, it will probably become difficult for you to connect a few words together, especially upon spiritual subjects: the work set you will seem to you like an Egyptian labour, if you cease praying, or pray seldom; prayer will be oppressive to you. If you do not fight against your passions, or only do so seldom and feebly, you will find it very difficult to fight against them, you will often be conquered by them; they will give you no rest, and your life will be poisoned by them, if you do not learn how to conquer these evil, inward enemies, that settle in your heart. Therefore labour and activity are indispensable for all. Life without activity is not life, but something monstrous—a sort of phantom of life. This is why it is the duty of every man to fight continually and persistently against the slothfulness of the flesh. God preserve every Christian from indulging it! "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." "Unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath."

A man who is wrathful with us is a sick man; we must apply a plaster to his heart—love; we must treat him kindly, speak to him gently, lovingly. And if there is not deeply-rooted malice against us within him, but only a temporary fit of anger, you will see how his heart, or his malice, will melt away through your kindness and love—how good will conquer evil. A Christian must always be kind, gracious, and wise in order to conquer evil by good.

If anyone has offended you, do not bear malice, and when he who has offended you looks kindly upon you and turns to speak to you, do not let your heart incline to evil, but talk pleasantly and good-humouredly to him, as if nothing had happened between you; learn to conquer evil by good, malice by kindness, meekness, and humility. Do not say in your heart to him who has offended you: "What! he speaks to me, after having offended me, counting his offence against me as nothing! I do not consider him worthy of speaking to me; I reject, despise him; let him learn what it is to offend me." Do not be proud and bear malice. Do not say thus, lest the Lord be angered by your hard-heartedness.

All the material world is as nothing before God; only spiritual beings—that is, angels and men—are something. Only those creatures have a lasting existence who are near to God, and have His image and likeness; the remainder pass away like shadows—"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away."

We must always remember that the Devil is continually trying to choke our soul with the dust of hell, of which there is already too much within us, and which is small and various; and thus, whether your heart be obscured by animosity, or impatience, or irritability, or by grudging your material possessions to your brother or yourself--that is, avarice- -or by love of gain, or love of money, or by the quarrelsome and offensive words of others, or by despondency and despair, or by envy, doubt, or incredulity, or by open unbelief, or by vanity, or by slothfulness in prayer or in any good work, and in general in the performance of your duty, say to yourself with firm assurance: "This is the dust of the Devil; this is the darkness of hell." By faith and hope in the Lord, by continual watchfulness over yourself, you will be able, with God's help, to escape from this dust and darkness. "He that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not."

All my happiness and unhappiness are contained in the thoughts and inclinations of my heart. If the thoughts and inclinations of my heart are in accord with God's truth or with the will of my God, then I am at rest, filled with divine light, joy, and blessedness; if not, I am uneasy, filled with spiritual, soul-corrupting darkness, heaviness, and despondency. If I completely change the false, impious thoughts and inclinations of my heart into true ones, pleasing to God, then I again obtain rest and blessedness.

My neighbour is a being with equal rights as myself, a man, like me also made after the image of God; and as he is the same as I am I must love him as I love myself. "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," --therefore I must watch over him as over my own flesh and blood, behave lovingly, gently, and kindly to him, forgiving him his thoughts as I should willingly forgive myself my own, as I long for forgiveness or indulgence from others towards my own weaknesses--that is, that other people should not even notice them, as though they did not exist, or that they should notice them gently, kindly, pleasantly, and benevolently.

In order to communicate of the life-giving Sacrament with undoubting faith and to vanquish all the wiles, all the calumnies of the enemy, represent to yourself that that which is received by you from the Cup is "He Which is"--that is, alone existing. If the disposition of your thoughts and of heart is such, then by receiving the Holy Mysteries you will obtain peace, joy, and new life, and will recognise in your heart that the Lord truly and essentially dwells within you, and you in the Lord. This is from experience.

In praying to Our Lady, you call Her an abyss of mercies and bounties. Try yourself to be like Her, as far as lies in your power, in mercy and bountifulness in regard to those who have need of your mercy and bounties. Do not be angry with them, do not despise them, but love them the more they require your help. Consider their position clearly and soberly according to the teaching of the Gospel, often putting yourself in their place--and our Lady will multiply Her mercies upon you.

Your words are unequal: some vivify, and others slay your soul, or, perhaps, that of your neighbour. Therefore, it is said: "Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt." "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers."

The incorporeal enemy enters the heart of man through satiety and drunkenness--this can be felt by anyone who is observant. This is the reason why, with the growth of drunkenness, the inclination to drunkenness increases so terribly (because the power of the enemy over the man increases)--this is why you notice in drunkards a power involuntarily drawing them to satisfy their passion or their inward craving for wine. The enemy is in the hearts of these unhappy people. How can the demon of drunkenness be driven out? By prayer and fasting. The enemy enters the hearts of men because they have given themselves up to a carnal mode of life--to gluttony, and because they do not pray. It is, therefore, natural that he can be driven out from them by opposite means--that is, by prayer and fasting.

What would it have been if God's preventive grace had not been bestowed upon us; if it did not unexpectedly, suddenly embrace all our being after we have sinned, and incline our hearts to repentance and tears? What if it had been left to us to obtain it by our own efforts only? How accursed would we men then have been! Few, very few, could have been delivered from the burden of their sins, for our nature is slothful in exerting itself to effort, especially in the spiritual life; and without help, without powerful facility and the delights of spiritual labours, it would have abandoned them, and would have thrown aside the work of its salvation. But now God, the Most Wise and Merciful Father, sometimes lightens and sweetens our spiritual burden, sometimes makes it heavier for our trial, to teach us patience, and to weaken our crafty, destructive flesh, wisely changing the one by the other; and the work of our salvation, thank God, is thus always made possible--not too difficult, and very often pleasant to us.

How inexpressibly sad it is to see that on the Lord's festivals the enemy collects his tax--and an exceedingly great one it is--from Christians! And the greater the festival the heavier the tax that Christians pay the enemy; for what do we see on the festivals? Perfect idleness, unbridled passions, brawls, profligacy, thefts, amusements. My God! What gratification of the flesh! What zealous service to the Devil! Are these people really Christians, redeemed by the precious Blood of the Son of God? Are we living in Christian times and not in Pagan ones? Are these men communicants of the life-giving Sacrament? Are these the same people who frequent God's temple and pray to the Lord together with us? If they are, then for what purpose do they go to church? Evidently only from habit, and not from any attachment of a thankful heart to Christ the Saviour. Evidently they have not prayed to God; they have not drawn near to Him with their heart, but only with their lips--if they have done so at all--and thus have not entered into the spirit of the festival; in general, they do not understand the nature and the object of Christian festivals, and do not participate in them as children participate in the family festivals of their parents. How wicked are the children of that loving, good, and holy Mother, the Church! The Mother is holy--the children are sinful; the Mother is spiritual--the children are carnal; the Mother is heavenly--the children are earthly; the Mother desires to give her children eternal, spiritual blessings, instead of corruptible and transitory ones; and the children reject them and choose for themselves earthly, sinful, passing pleasures. However, besides drunkards and men given over to various vices on festivals, we meet oftener still people who have not been to church (and do not even know that it is a festival, because they have never thought about it). For such people there is only one festival--the festival of the flesh. Ah! how long will it be before we priests rise up against all the disorders that take place on the Lord's festivals? Which of God's priests will have the zeal of Elias, Phinehas, Isaiah, or Jeremiah, in order to rise up in the power of the Holy Ghost against all these disorders on the Lord's festivals in the new Israel, in order to use all their powers, all their life for the glory of God--to uproot such laxity of morals amongst Christians? Lord! When shall we duly keep holy Thy festivals? When shall we comfort our holy Mother the Church by obedience to her ordinances? When shall we be imbued with her spirit? How long shall we begin the celebration of the great saving events of the Orthodox faith with the spirit and end them with the flesh? How long shall the enemy mock at the members of Christ, which Christians are? How long shall men of other faiths and religions point at us and say: "Look, these are the Christians who call themselves Orthodox. Look how they live! What sort of faith can they have in their hearts? What knowledge of their religion can they have? What kind of priests must they have? How badly they must teach the people religion! How little can they explain to them the meaning of the festivals, their object, and the purpose for which they were instituted! How little can they teach them to live according to the faith! My God! What a reproach to our Orthodox faith and to us pastors! And yet, perhaps, is not what they say of us pastors just? It is a great deal our fault that Christians do not spend the festivals as they ought. We do not unmask them, do not forbid them; we do not implore them with all forbearance and instruction to spend the festivals, and in general to live in a more Christian-like manner. We do not speak strongly enough against idleness, drunkenness, profligacy; we do not thunder in God's Church, in God's words, against these vices, which have taken such a terrible hold of Christians. We do not always exclude from the Holy Cup, as an example to others, those persons who are known for their drunkenness and adultery, and we thus allow these contagious and abominable vices to spread further and further; or at confession we impose too light penances upon those who deserve the severe punishment of the Church, and we do not watch as we should the fulfilment of even those penances which we lay upon them. Then, Righteous God! neither the pastors nor the flock can justify themselves before Thee. "They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." What will it come to at last with the existing disorder of our life? Iniquity spreads over the earth; the kingdom of the enemy grows wider. Thy Kingdom diminishes; there are but few of Thy chosen in whose hearts Thou resteth. Many are the slaves of the Devil, in whose hearts the destroyer from time immemorial dwells like a thief. What wilt Thou do unto us, Lord? The blood of Thy testament cries out from the earth, but the voice of Thy Gospel does not penetrate into the hearts of Christians. Thy commandments are neglected, the Church's ordinances are trampled under foot. What wilt Thou do unto us, O Lord? Lord! send zealous workers into Thy vineyard, who "seek not their own," but who seek Thee, Christ. Give them the zeal of the prophets, the power and wisdom of the Apostles, so that they may day and night unwearyingly labour in the fields of the hearts of men.

It is said that we soon grow weary of praying. Wherefore? Because we do not vividly represent to ourselves the Lord, Who is at our right hand. Look upon Him unceasingly with the eyes of your heart, and then, even if you stand praying all night, you will not grow weary. What do I say--all night? You will be able to stand thus praying two and three nights without growing weary. Remember the Stylites. They stood for many years in a prayerful disposition of soul on pillars or columns, and mastered their flesh, which was the same as yours, and which was also inclined to slothfulness. And you feel oppressed by a few hours' public prayers, even by one hour's prayers.

"Charity thinketh no evil." To think evil is the work of the Devil: it is the Devil in the man who makes him think evil. Therefore, do not have any ill-feeling in your heart against your friend, and do not think evil, lest you become united to the Devil. "Overcome evil with good"—that is, the evil which you see or suspect. Your spiritual wisdom and your exploit of Christian love consist in this.

"Our Father which art in heaven!" What an elevating, touching, soul-stirring spectacle it is when these words are pronounced from the depths of the soul, truthfully, with one heart and mouth, either by a numerous congregation in church, or in the family circle, or in an assembly of school children, or in a company of soldiers! What an elevating spectacle it is when one sees that these words are realised in the people's very lives, when all of them have a feeling of brotherly love towards each other, and live peaceably, the younger obeying the elder, the less wise the wiser, rendering each other their due, esteeming each other, "in honour preferring one another." What a truly heavenly sight it is when, before sitting down to table, the numerous and various members of a family with one heart and mouth say: "Our Father," acknowledging the one Heavenly Father as the All-Holy King, desiring the fulfilment of His will alone upon earth, recognising Him alone as the Nourisher of all! What an elevating sight it is when the master of the household ascribes the blessings of food and drink, not to himself, but to God, esteeming His gifts as common to all; when he makes himself equal with all the others, as though he himself were being regaled, and not regaling others! But what a striking and comforting spectacle it would be if the whole earth, all peoples, "with one heart and mouth," were to exclaim: "Our Father which art in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name"—in us all! "Thy Kingdom come"—as it was in the beginning, before the Fall. "Thy Will be done"—Thy merciful and perfect Will, as it is in heaven—eternally so on the earth, and may no self-will reign! "Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses," and so on. What would it be if all had such a mode of thought and desire! But some day this will be, for the time will come when all those living upon the earth shall be one fold and have one Shepherd.

The minds of the angels cannot grasp and cannot sufficiently marvel at the wisdom, mercy, and omnipotence which the Lord has manifested to us in His Incarnation from the Most Holy Virgin Mary. "All angelic nature wonders at this great act of Thine Incarnation, beholding the unapproachable God in approachable man." Glory to Thy mercy! Glory to Thy bountifulness! Glory to Thy wisdom! Glory to Thy power! Through His Incarnation the Lord has clearly taught us all the mysteries of faith, which were not known, or but little known, in the Old Testament. Through His Incarnation we, accursed sinners, have been deemed worthy of the Communion of His Most Pure Body and Blood, and are thus united to Him in the closest manner; we dwell in Him and He in us. Through His Incarnation the Most Holy Virgin has become our All-Powerful Intercessor and our protection from sins, disasters, and misfortunes, praying for us day and night, our Queen and Lady, Whose power no visible and invisible enemies can withstand, and our very Mother by grace, in accordance with the words of Christ on the Cross to His disciple St. John: "Behold thy Mother!"—and to Her: "Behold Thy son!"Glory to Thy bountifulness, Lord!

How we debase our God-like immortal soul by attaching ourselves to the perishable, tarnishable, fleeting glitter of gold and silver, and by averting our gaze from the higher eternal, all-rejoicing light, or by attaching ourselves to corruptible sweetness that soon passes away, and is harmful and weakening both to soul and body, and turning away our gaze from the eternal, spiritual sweetness; from the sweetness of the intuition of God, or to vain earthly glory, turning away our eyes from the glory of the higher heavenly calling: from the glory of God's children, the heirs of the eternal Kingdom of God. O, earthly vanity! O, attachment to worldly things! Look upwards, Christian!