St. John of Kronstadt · 13 of 49

Part I · Part 13

The carnal man's entire life and occupations have a carnal tendency and carnal aim; his prayer is carnal, his learning and his teaching of others are carnal, his writings are carnal; at every step, in nearly every word, the carnal life appears. The carnal life manifests itself especially in everything relating to the man's appetites: here is the very seat of the carnal man. In proportion as the man by God's grace lays aside the carnal life, he begins to trample his carnal appetites under foot--he alters his food, ceases to live for insatiable appetite; gradually in his heart, faith, hope, and love begin to reign. Instead of eating, drinking, dress, riches, God, the soul, eternal life, eternal torment, occupy his thoughts and imagination. Instead of the love of money, of food, drink, dress, the luxury of his house and surroundings, love for God, for men, a longing to dwell with the Angels and Saints; instead of food and drink, hunger and thirst, and the diligent reading and listening to the Word of God and Divine service. Previously his enemies were those who hindered his outward well-being, now he bears privations with equanimity; previously he slept much and found pleasure in sleep, now he sleeps little and intentionally deprives himself of sweet sleep; previously he gratified the flesh in every way, now he mortifies it so that it may not rebel against the spirit.

When you see that anyone, through the efforts of the Devil, is wholly possessed with one single vain, earthly subject (idee fixe), deeply grieves about it, constantly speaks of it, and thereby vexes you, do not become irritated about it, but be firmly assured that it is a spiritual malady coming from the enemy; be gentle and kind to the sick man, and immediately turn with calm, serene faith to God in. prayer, and say the following to the holy Icon not made with human hands: "To Thy most pure Icon we bow down, O Good One, praying for forgiveness of our sins, Christ our God; for of Thine own will Thou didst condescend to ascend the Cross in flesh, and thereby to deliver Thy creatures from the yoke of the enemy. Therefore, we thankfully cry unto Thee: Thou, Our Saviour, hast filled all things with joy, Thou Who earnest to save the world."

Consider thyself also: the enemy sometimes tempts your patience too; his triumph is double if he succeeds in irritating you too: understand his wiles, and mock at them. When he exerts his violence against a person who is especially near to your heart, then your heart aches to hear his foolish words expressing the attachment of his heart to earthly things. Do not be depressed, do not despair, do not grieve, do not give way to anger, "considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." Call upon the Saviour: "Saviour, save us!" Do not be false to Him in any spiritual affliction, nor in any violence of the Devil and the passions. Remember that He Himself said: " Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me." The infinite power of the Lord is ever ready to come to our help; it is pleasing to the Lord of power and mercy to manifest His saving power in us, and to save us from our visible and invisible enemies. The more trivial the cause of the sorrow of the man's soul is, the more pitiable and deserving of compassion he is, for then we clearly see that the cause of it is--the Devil.

It is never so difficult to say from the heart, "Thy Will be done, Father," as when we are in sore affliction or grievous sickness, and especially when we are subjected to the injustice of men, or the assaults and wiles of the enemy. It is also difficult to say from the heart "Thy Will be done" when we ourselves were the cause of some misfortune, for then we think that it is not God's Will, but our own will, that has placed us in such a position, although nothing can happen without the Will of God. In general, it is difficult to sincerely believe that it is the Will of God that we should suffer, when the heart knows both by faith and experience that God is our blessedness; and therefore it is difficult to say in misfortune, "Thy Will be done." We think, "Is it possible that this is the Will of God? Why does God torment us? Why are others quiet and happy? What have we done? Will there be an end to our torments? " And so on. But when it is difficult for our corrupt nature to acknowledge the Will of God over us, that Will of God without which nothing happens, and to humbly submit to it, then is the very time for us to humbly submit to this Will, and to offer to the Lord our most precious sacrifice--that is, heartfelt devotion to Him, not only in the time of ease and happiness, but also in suffering and misfortune; it is then that we must submit our vain erring wisdom to the perfect Wisdom of God, for our thoughts are as far from the thoughts of God "as the heavens are higher than the earth."

Let every man bring in sacrifice to God his Isaac, his only begotten, his beloved, his promised one (to whom peace and blessedness, not sufferings, are promised), and let him show God his faith and his obedience, so as to be worthy of God's gifts, which he already enjoys, or which he expects to enjoy.

In order to rightly understand the words of the Lord's prayer, "Lead us not into temptation," we must remember that this prayer was given to the Apostles, who asked the Lord to teach them how to pray; that it was given to them before the descent of the Holy Ghost upon them, when Satan asked them of the Lord, that he might sift them as wheat.At that time the Apostles were still weak, and might have fallen under temptation (like Peter); this is why the Saviour puts in their mouths the words, " Lead us not into temptation." But it is impossible to live without temptations of our faith, hope, and love: it is indispensable for the man himself that the secrets of his heart should be tested, so that he may himself see what he is and amend himself. Yes, temptations are necessary in order "that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed," that our firmness or weakness in faith may be revealed, as well as the knowledge or ignorance, the depravity or purity of our heart, its hope and trust in God or in earthly things; also whether we love ourselves and corruptible things, or God above all.

When I call to mind the Son of God, Who received human nature into union with His Godhead, and also the lives those live who call themselves Christians, then I am seized with fear and pity: fear because I anticipate the great wrath of God upon the careless, ungrateful, and evil-natured; pity because I see a great multitude of Christians voluntarily depriving themselves of the indescribable bliss of the future life, and casting themselves into eternal fire--into eternal torments.

Render all honour to every man, especially to the Christian, because of the fact that God deigned to receive human nature into the closest union with His Divinity, so that He became God-man. Therefore, looking upon any man, think, "The Lord Himself was in every respect similar to this man, excepting sin;" and if you know, or see, that he does not know this truth of the incarnation of the Son of God, and is leading an unworthy life, then teach and guide him. Also love every man as you love yourself, because he is another you, and is therefore called your neighbour in God's commandments: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."

The carnal man considers the Christian's freedom as slavery; for instance, attending Divine service, fasting, preparation for the Sacrament, confession, communion, all the Sacraments, and does not know that all this is a requirement of his nature, a necessity for his spirit.

A proud man, at the time when other people are speaking of any other person's virtues, is wickedly afraid lest this person should be superior to him in virtues, and should eclipse him, for the proud man considers himself above all, and does not think it possible to find similar or higher virtues in others. The rivalry of others is a great misfortune to him.

When you are saying a prayer for all men, and not praying from your heart for all men, then your soul is oppressed, for God does not favour such prayer; but as soon as you begin to pray for all men from your heart, then you will immediately feel relieved, for the Lord listens mercifully to such prayers.

The Devil often seizes hold of our heart with his teeth. With what teeth? Incredulity, doubt, oppression, and every passion. Sometimes the enemy troubles us by the suspicion of the fidelity of our servants in relation to our property and this especially happens when our hearts should be occupied exclusively with thoughts of God and the contemplation of heavenly things. In order to deliver yourself from such anxieties and afflictions, which proceed from the Devil, remember the words of the Holy Scripture: "The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing." Do not be uselessly anxious. The Lord takes care of your property; you are not at home, but He is there for you, for He is everywhere present and fills all things: He speaks in the conscience of your servants and the members of your household. He tries the thoughts of their hearts at every time and every hour; He says to them inwardly, " Thou shalt not steal;" and He disturbs their hearts by fear and apprehension when they conceive the sinful intention of stealing anything. He will manifest His miraculous power over them, and will not allow them to steal. But besides this, you must learn to regard all earthly things as dross, and disdain them.

The Word is our Creator and our God. Every word of His is truth and deed. Such also should our own word be, for we are created after the image of God; likewise the word of all speaking creatures should be truth and deed (such was the word of good tidings of the Archangel to Zacharias, to the Virgin Mary); and thus it is also with the angels and Saints; but in the Devil, who fell away from God, only a shadow of thought remains, and his word is without truth, without the reality of the deed—a lie, a phantom; and as a truthful word, being an image of the God the Word, and being derived from Him, is life, so the lying word of the Devil, being his image, is death. Falsehood is necessarily death, for the death of the soul is naturally caused by that which has itself fallen from life into death.

One cannot eat and drink and smoke continually. One cannot turn human life into constant eating, drinking, and smoking (although there are men who do eat, drink, and smoke almost uninterruptedly); and thus the spirit of evil has turned life into smoking, and made the mouth, which ought to be employed in thanking and praising the Lord, into a smoking furnace. The less and lighter the food and drink you take, the lighter and more refined your spirit will become.

O ye of little faith! do not doubt in Mine omnipotence. I have created every soul and all flesh, and I am the God of spirits and of all flesh. "For the spirit shall come forth from Me, and every breath which I have created.""I have made the earth, and created man upon it; I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded." This is the exact translation of the Slavonic version. The English is as follows: "For the spirit should fail before Me, and the souls which I have made."

" Thou shalt do no murder." Amongst others, doctors murder by their ignorance of the sick man's illness when they prescribe him injurious medicines. Those also commit murder who will not have a doctor to attend them or another person who is ill and requires the doctor's help. Those commit murder who irritate a sick man to whom any irritation may be fatal—for instance, a consumptive person—and thus hasten his death. Those commit murder who, through avarice or any other bad reason, delay in affording the doctor's help to a sick person, or in giving bread to the hungry.

One meets with distorted hearts in some men. At the celebration of the sacraments they breathe unbelief and insensibility, moral impotency or mockery, disturbance, and diabolical fear! During the illness of those near to them one is also struck by their insensibility and even diabolical malignancy. They consider their sick brother as superfluous in the world, and inwardly think "There will be more room for me if he dies," not reflecting that every man—and they themselves—may perhaps die to-morrow, and not pitying the sufferer in their hearts as their own member.

An irritable and foolish man adapting any object to any particular use, and not being capable of assisting the matter by the sagacity of his mind, and seeing that the object does not serve him as he would wish it to, often grows angry, loses his temper, throws aside and sometimes breaks this object, as though it were an animate, intelligent being intentionally resisting his wishes. It may happen that something falls down; it catches in something else, which tears; the object does not move in the manner he desired; it does not fit into its right place; everything seems to take up arms against him, and he is ready to weep from vexation. But had a master-hand taken up the matter, then everything would have gone right. Why so? Because then a man possessing intelligence, judgment, and sagacity would have set to the work with all his soul. To what does the observation of our ordinary worldly behaviour with different objects lead me? To what thoughts? I see that the intellect, or the intelligent human spirit, reigns everywhere over matter, and that without the intellect nothing can be done by itself—for instance, not even normal motion. Equally, without the intellect, nothing can adapt itself to any particular purpose, or attain any particular purpose, for every purpose is attained by means of certain determined laws, and the laws proceed from the intellect. Now turn to the universe. From whence comes this wonderful order in soulless matter and in unintelligent animals? From whence this beauty, this miraculous transformation of formless and lifeless matter into beautiful living things? From whence this adaptation to thousands of different purposes and such wise attainment, by simple means, of their purposes by things which of themselves cannot have any known purpose nor attain it? "Who is this invisible Sovereign over matter? Who is this Mind, revealing His most wonderful wisdom in matter and in various animate creatures? Who is this eternal Artist and Architect invisibly producing His art before our eyes? He Who alone is the Creator of all--the Lord! I contemplate Thee with the eyes of my heart in every minute particle of space; Thou until now with Thy Son and Thy Holy Spirit invisibly workest all things. I embrace Thee, present in every place, with my heart; I worship Thee, glorify Thee, and praise Thee!

Those who give bread or money to the hungry regretfully, with an evil eye and dissatisfied heart, act in the same manner as if they were putting poison into their bread or their alms, though this poison is a spiritual, invisible one. We must give lovingly, with a respect for the person of our neighbour, willingly, gladly; for it is natural that love should rejoice when affording help to the beloved.

God preserve you from grudging the sacrifice of your material possessions to the Lord Himself, to His Most-pure Mother, or to any other of God's Saints, thus preferring matter to the spirit. Beware lest your property lead to your destruction. You ought to firmly believe that instead of corruptible blessings, the Lord or His Saints will bestow incorruptible ones upon you; instead of temporal blessings, eternal ones; for instance: spiritual light, the forgiveness of sins, the gifts of living faith, of firm hope and love unfeigned, of peace and joy in the Holy Ghost--which are infinitely above any material gifts. Lavish joyfully your possessions in sacrifice to the Lord and His Saints. If you send money for this purpose through anyone else's hands, be sure that it will reach its destination; and if people embezzle your sacrifice to the Lord, then the Lord your God will call such people to account, and not a single mite will be lost, but it will bring you a gift--proportionate to your faith and heart's disposition--from the Lord, who is the God of all gifts, especially to those who offer Him their heart's sacrifices.

God's Saints are represented in their inward actions as listening to the inward Guest, Who works within them--the Lord--venerating Him, smiling from inward sweetness and tenderness, and enjoying heavenly rest. "Ye are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls."

God created matter in order that it should change and be transformed in innumerable ways in accordance with the Creator's thought. The purpose of matter is to manifest diversely to creatures and in creatures His Omnipotence and mercy, that He may act beneficially through it upon animate creatures, and especially upon those who are reasonable and clothed with flesh.

Worthless is the charity of the man who bestows it unwillingly, because material charity is not his, but God's gift, whilst only the disposition of the heart belongs to him. This is why many charities prove almost worthless, for they were bestowed unwillingly, grudgingly, without respect for the person of our neighbour. So also the hospitality of many persons proves worthless because of their hypocritical vain-glorious behaviour to their guests. Let us offer our sacrifices upon the altar of love to our neighbour, with heart-felt affection: "for God loveth a cheerful giver."

The enemy acts destructively upon men's hearts, amongst other ways, through outward nature, as upon Job--by means of winds, water, and fire. Houses are sometimes burnt down through the wiles of the enemy; houses are submerged and vessels sunk; winds blow down and destroy buildings; or else in wet weather, through damp and gases, the enemy uses his craft upon our inward parts, oppressing us with heaviness, and striking us with an apathetic coldness to everything true and holy. O, how many and diverse are the wiles of the prince of the powers of the air, and how difficult it is sometimes to distinguish them!

The corrupted man continually wishes to eat and drink, to continually satisfy his sight, hearing, smell, and feeling; carnal men satisfy themselves with dainty food and drink, fine sights, music, smoking, magnificent edifices, and outward splendour. But the adornment of holy objects raises our souls to God, and is therefore not only sinless, but holy and edifying, as also sacred singing, the fragrance of incense, the magnificence and splendour of the ornaments of the temple and all its vessels. All these, being destined to serve to the glory of God and to arouse pious feelings, are not sinful, but holy. But there, in the world, everything ministers to the carnal, corrupted man, and estranges from God. The corrupt heart seeks impure carnal sensations, and everything there satisfies it. The corrupt mind seeks knowledge corresponding to its corruption, and is there satisfied. The corrupt imagination and memory also seek images corre- sponding to them, and are there satisfied. But we Christians are "new creatures," or " a chosen generation," a new people, "created in righteousness and true holiness" after God. We must divest ourselves of the old man and his works, and must fight against his desires and lusts.

When you are reading a long form of prayer aloud in the presence of a large concourse of people, then the enemy tries to disconcert your heart and to quench the words on your lips by the thought, that the people do not understand many words, and that it is a useless waste of time to read such prayers. This is evidently foolishness. For what of the Holy Ghost, the Instructor in all truth? Does He remain inactive, does He not enlighten all human hearts ? Have you not yourself experienced the enlightenment of your heart by the Holy Ghost ? Formerly you did not understand some of the words and expressions, and then suddenly the Holy Ghost opened your mind so that you might understand these hitherto incomprehensible words and expressions, and such a light suddenly enlightens your heart; be assured that the same also happens with others. Read with a steadfast heart, without any hurtful suspiciousness. Sow the seed—God will give the growth.

Many and various are the obstacles upon the narrow way: you wish to pray—the enemy oppresses you both spiritually and physically; you feel it your duty to write a sermon; you are oppressed by slothfulness; oppression is everywhere. The smoke of hell endeavours to darken and straiten your soul even when the Most Holy and terrible Sacrifice lies before you, when you communicate of It, and also at the time of the celebration of all the sacraments. The greater the Holy Office, the more violently and furiously the enemy attacks you.

God is goodness, He is like inexhaustible chrism; the spiritual world is the development of this goodness, like an ocean of fragrant chrism, the material world also. How can we not hope to obtain all good things from such goodness? The Lord in His goodness has diffused Himself into all creatures, like chrism, without having in any wise exhausted Himself.

At the approach of the great festivals you must be especially watchful over yourself. The enemy endeavours beforehand to chill the heart towards the subject of the event celebrated, so that the Christian should not honour it by the heartfelt consideration of its reality. He acts upon us either through the atmosphere, or through the food and drink we have taken, or through his fiery arrows, plentifully darted at the heart and violently inflaming the entire man, at which time evil, impure and blasphemous thoughts occur to us, and we feel a hearty aversion to the subject of the solemnity. We must overcome the enemy by forcing ourselves to devout meditation and prayer.

When during prayer the enemy suggests within you a craving for food, despise this material, nervous irritation, strengthen your heart more powerfully by prayer, inflame it by faith and love, and say to the tempter the following words of the Lord: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Prayer is my best food, fortifying and enlightening both the soul and the body.

Sometimes the enemy acts through evilly-disposed persons; through proud ones—by humiliation and contempt; through fanatics—by unbelief, free-thought, and scoffing at sacred things; through cruel masters—by tyranny and torments; through gluttons—by the allurement of dainties, of over-eating and drunkenness (to which, however, our flesh inclines); through the profligate—by the inclination to depravity or loss of chastity; through thieves—by the theft of our property; he afflicts us also through those that hate and envy us, he deprives us of food, clothes, and dwellings through hard-hearted people; through all and everything earthly, by God's permission, he, as " the prince of this world," as prince of the powers of the air, as " the ruler of the darkness of this world," acts upon mankind to exasperate them and attract them to his side, making use of various seductions and oppression for this purpose. If the All-wise, All-merciful and Almighty Heavenly Father did not watch unwearyingly over us and turn to good the innumerable wiles of the tempter, if we ourselves were not watchful, the bodiless evil-doer would have long ago subdued the world to himself, and on the earth no holy seed would have remained which constitutes the substance thereof.

When a man is about to pray, he must humble his proud heart, must cast away earthly vanity from it, and must bring into it living and undoubting faith.

If the carnal man is at ease and happy, the spiritual one feels oppressed; if the outward man flourishes, the inward one perishes. So opposite in us are the old, sinful, carnal man and the man renewed by Christ's grace; this is why the Apostle said, "Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." And we often experience this ourselves. Therefore the true Christian ought to long for outward, carnal, worldly sufferings, for they strengthen his spirit. He must not even think of murmuring. How can he murmur at that which is profitable to his immortal soul, although the means by which this is attained are very repugnant to his carnal man? Illnesses, fires, robbery, poverty, misfortunes, wars, famine, often act beneficially upon the soul.

As God is Life, and diseases and maladies are a deviation from life, therefore the touch alone of the first Source of Life cures us of them. This is why the Saviour, Who is the Life of all, cured and still cures men by His touch alone. The same may be said of the change in any contagious objects—at a single sign or single word of the Creator and Founder of everything, they become harmless (air, water, plants and animals).

Fresh temptation sometimes arises with affliction and oppression—a hardness, numbness, and insensibility of the heart to everything true, good, and holy; we feel like a stone or a block, without faith, without the capability of praying, without hope in God's mercy, without love. How sad it is to feel like a stone or a log, without faith and love, when we were created to believe, feel, hope, and love! And we must bear this patiently, and pray to God to roll away the stone of insensibility from the doors of the tomb of our heart, that He may take away from us a heart of stone and give us one of flesh. But what does this hardness or numbness in us signify? It shows the presence in our heart of the Devil, who, having forcibly taken possession of our heart through our incredulity, thrusts out from it every good thought, not allowing it to rest there, and destroys all faith and every good feeling, making the man a burden even to himself. This really does happen to men. Let them learn what it signifies.

Our various earthly service to our king and country is an image to our principal service to our King of Heaven, which must continue eternally. It is Him that we must truly serve before all, as His faithful servants through creation, redemption and His providence. Do the servants of the earthly country think of this? But we must think of it. Earthly service is a test, a preparatory service for the heavenly one: "Thou hast been faithful over a few things: I will make thee ruler over many things."

Do not be unsparing judges of those who labour unto God and who fall in life, into contradiction to themselves—that is to their piety; they are placed in contradiction to themselves by the Devil, their wicked adversary: he catches at their heart with his teeth, forcing them to do contrary things.

Do not only do your work when you wish to, but do it especially then, when you do not wish to. Understand that this applies to every ordinary worldly matter, as likewise, and especially, to the work of the salvation of your soul—to prayer, to reading God's word and other salutary books, to attending Divine service, to doing good works, whatever they may be, to preaching God's word. Do not obey the slothful, deceitful, and most sinful flesh; it is eternally ready to rest and lead us into everlasting destruction through temporal tranquillity and enjoyment. "In the sweat of thy face," it is said, " shalt thou eat bread." O miserable soul, " carefully cultivate the talent granted unto thee," sings the Church. "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force," says our Lord and Saviour.

When your heart is disturbed in spirit by any passion, and you are deprived of peace, and are filled with agitation, and words of displeasure and animosity to your neighbour fall from your tongue, do not linger in this condition, so destructive to you, but immediately bend your knees and confess your sin before the Holy Ghost, saying from the depths of your heart: "I have offended Thee, Holy Ghost, by the spirit of my passion, by the spirit of evil and disobedience to Thee;" and afterwards say, from your whole heart and with the feeling of the omnipresence of the Spirit of God, the prayer to the Holy Ghost: " O Heavenly King, the Comforter, Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere present and fillest all things, Treasury of blessings and Giver of life, come and make Thine abode in me and cleanse me from all impurity, and save, O Blessed One, my passionate and sensual soul"—and your heart will be filled with humility, peace, and devotion. Remember, that by every sin, by every attachment to anything earthly, by every displeasure and animosity towards your neighbour, by anything carnal, you offend the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of peace and love, the Spirit Who draws us from the earthly to heavenly things, from the visible to the invisible, from the corruptible to the incorruptible, from the temporal to the eternal, from sin to holiness, from vice to virtue. O All Holy Spirit, our Ruler, our Instructor, our Comforter! keep us through Thy power. Holiness of the Father, Spirit of our Heavenly father, implant in us, nurture in us, the Spirit of the Father, so that we may be His true children in Jesus Christ our Lord.