St. John of Kronstadt · 28 of 49

Part II · Part 4

You see very clearly that it is extremely difficult, and without God's grace and your own fervent prayer and abstinence, impossible, for you to change for the better. You feel within yourself the action of a multitude of passions: of pride, malice, envy, greediness, the love of money, despondency, slothfulness, fornication, impatience, and disobedience; and yet you remain in them, are often bound by them, whilst the long-suffering Lord bears with you, awaiting your return and amendment; and still bestows upon you all the gifts of His mercy. Be then indulgent, patient, and loving to those who live with you, and who also suffer from many passions; conquer every evil by good, and, above all, pray to God for them, that He may correct them—that He may turn their hearts to Himself, the source of holiness. Do not help the Devil to spread his kingdom. Hallow the name of your Heavenly Father by your actions; help Him to spread His Kingdom on earth. " For we are labourers together with God." Be zealous of the fulfilment of His will on earth, as it is in heaven. Forgive them that trespass against you with joy, as a good son rejoices when he has a chance of fulfilling the will of his beloved father.

What pleasure and joy you feel when you find some necessary and valuable object which was lost! You are ready to leap with joy. Picture to yourself how pleasing to the Heavenly Father is the sight of His lost child, the sinner who is found; the sight of His lost sheep brought to life again; the sight of His lost and found piece of silver—that is, of the living image of God—man. It is impossible to describe this joy. The joy of the Heavenly Father over His lost and found prodigal son is so great that the whole loving and kind heaven is moved to joy. " Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth." My lost brothers and sisters! return from the way of destruction to the Heavenly Father. " Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Everyone should know and remember the singleness of his soul, which is the breath of God. God is single, and the soul is single. And as the soul is single, it cannot love two opposite objects—God and anything worldly, man and anything material, very pleasing to our carnal man. In order to love God with all our heart we must absolutely count everything earthly as dross, and not be allured by anything; in order to love our neighbour as ourselves we must disdain money, must not be allured by any dainties, dress, distinctions, rank, praises, or human opinion. We must especially guard the singleness of the soul during public worship and prayer at home; during the reading of the Word of God and the writings of the Holy Fathers; and, in general, during every important matter. "No man can serve two masters."

A Christian ought to love God, and his neighbour, the image of God, so fervidly and deeply that he may always be able to say: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ [and of our neighbour]? Shall tribulation, or distress or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword," or money, or the sweetness of food and drink, or a luxurious dwelling, or cares about dress, or various worldly pleasures ? But I count all these earthly things as dross, and worldly pleasures as a dream. I ascribe the faults of my neighbours to the corruption of nature, to the action or wiles of evil spirits, to insufficient or bad education, to the unfavourable conditions of life, to the natures of parents and tutors. Knowing my own sinfulness, my own malice, avidity, impurity, my own infirmity, I cannot hate men like unto myself, having the same weakness and vices; for I should love my neighbour as myself, and I love myself, although I know myself to be guilty of innumerable sins; lastly, I ought to love them because we are all one body.

Bear in mind that for cleansing your heart from sins you will obtain an infinite reward—you will see God, your most gracious Creator, your Providence. The work of cleansing the heart is difficult, because it is connected with great privations and afflictions; and, therefore, the reward is great. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

People say that God is merciful; that He will have mercy upon us. Certainly, God is infinitely merciful. But if He is infinitely merciful and bountiful to us, then why do we voluntarily offend Him by our iniquities'! The more He loads us with benefits, the more we ought to love Him, to be grateful to Him, and obedient to His holy commandments or orders. But where is this love, this gratitude, this obedience?

A malicious, proud man is ready to see only malice and pride in others, and is glad when any of his acquaintances, especially those who live happily and richly, but are not dear to his soul, are badly spoken of by others; and the worse they are spoken of the more he rejoices that others are bad, while he himself is perfection in comparison to them; and he is ready to perceive only evil in them, and to compare them to demons. O, malice! O, pride! O, want of love! No, you must seek, even in the malicious man, something good, and rejoice at this good, and speak joyfully of his good qualities. There is nobody in whom there is not some good; cover the evil that is in him with good, and pray to God for him, that God may "make the evil be good in His benevolence." Do not be an abyss of evil yourself.

Christian! remember that Christ, the Founder of your faith, was crucified on the cross, and left you the cross. Why, then, do you live in luxury, in spaciousness, in indulgence, in idleness! He suffered dishonour, and commanded you not to shun dishonour for His name; but you seek honour. Gaze more often upon the Crucified and learn your duties. "And they that are Christ's have crucified their flesh with the affections and lusts."

"There shall not a hair of your head perish;" that is, not a single holy thought of your intellect shall be lost, not only for God, but also for men. For we see that the holy thoughts and feelings of God's saints have been preserved to us in their entirety, having been written on parchment.

In Whom is the cause of everything visible and invisible? In God. And God is invisible. Therefore, reverence the invisible God. Yearn after the invisible God. God is an eternal, All Holy, Most Gracious, Omniscient, Almighty, All Righteous, Omnipresent, Unchangeable, All Satisfied, Most Blessed Spirit. And you are the image of God. Therefore, be spiritual, despising the flesh, which is only your temporal home; be holy, kind, wise, just, watchful, and courageous, unchangeable in good, and satisfied with everything.

He who has built himself a house, he, by every right, ought to live in it. We are the houses of our Creator; He has created us for Himself, for He "has done all things for His own sake;" and it is He Who should dwell in us, and not the Devil—this murderer, thief, ravisher, this deceiver. " Come and make Thine abode in us." "We will come unto him, and make our abode with him." "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"

Reverence every word, every thought of the Word of God, of the writings of the Holy Fathers, and, amongst them, the various prayers and hymns which we hear in church or which we read at home, because they are all the breathing and words of the Holy Ghost. It is, so to say, the " Holy Ghost Himself," Who " maketh intercession" for us, and through us, " with groanings which cannot be uttered."

The great litany daily said in the Orthodox Church is the most wise litany, the litany of love; in it both living Christians and the saints are represented as fellow members of the Body of Jesus Christ. It finishes most beautifully with the following exclamation: " Commemorating our most holy, most pure, most blessed, glorious Lady, the Mother of God and Ever Virgin Mary, together with all the saints, let us commend ourselves and one another and all our life to Christ our God." The redoubled and supplicatory litanies are also beautiful. We have grown accustomed to them, but let us imagine that we hear them for the first time: let us put ourselves in the position of foreigners.

When praying to God, we must always represent to our- selves His infinite greatness, His worship by thousands of thousands and millions of millions of the angels of Heaven and the saints; also His omnipresence and omniscience, His infinite mercy, righteousness and holiness. When in prayer you call the most holy Virgin Mother of God, most holy, most pure, most spotless, most blessed--represent to yourself that Her very being is holiness eternal, immovable, unchangeable, unimaginable, "impenetrable, even to angelic eyes."Think the same of all the angels and saints--that is, that their being is holiness and goodness, by the grace of Jesus Christ. Always consider as a great happiness for you to be able to converse in prayer with the Lord, or with His most pure Mother, or with the angels and saints, and pray to them with joy and trembling reverence, remembering with Whom you are conversing, you an impure and insignificant worm.

"For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory," not ours. We ourselves should like to reign with our passions--that is, to order everything as we like, to trust to our own power, and not to Thine, to seek our own glory, and not Thine; but this is the Devil's wish in us. We ought to submit everything to Thy will, seek in all matters Thy power, and do everything for Thy glory. "Do all to the glory of God."

By the Cross, as well as by the sign of the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ is ever with us, living and life-giving, and ever acts by means of various powers for our salvation, through our faith in Him, our God and Saviour. Glory for this to our Lord, who is ever present with us! "I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

Communicants of the Divine Mysteries! know how most truly you become united to the Lord if you communicate worthily. What boldness you have towards the Lord and towards the Mother of God! What purity you ought to have! what meekness, humility, gentleness! what detachment from everything earthly! what a burning desire for heavenly, most pure, eternal joys!

In making the sign of the cross, believe and constantly remember that your sins are nailed to the cross. When you fall into sin, immediately judge yourself sincerely, and make the sign of the cross over yourself, saying: "Lord, Thou Who nailest our sins to the cross, nail also my present sin to Thy cross, and ' have mercy upon me after Thy great goodness;'" and you will be cleansed from your sin. Amen.

All possible sins and passions are ready to break into the soul, and strive to do so at every moment. But fight against them valiantly and vigilantly unto your last breath, looking upon them as dreams of your imagination, as illusions of the spirits of evil.

Be so sure of the Lord's nearness to you that you may feel when praying to God that you touch Him not only with your thought and heart, but also with your mouth and tongue. " The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart;" that is God.

Let the following conviction be inherent in your heart: all we men are one (brethren), and God, the Most merciful, Almighty, Inexhaustible Source of all things, is everything to us all. But in all of us the Devil also can and does act, the enemy of mankind, whose wickedness, worked in men, must be conquered by good, patience, meekness, indulgence.

Do not confound man—that image of God—with the wickedness that is in him, because the wickedness is only accidental, his misfortune, sickness, an illusion of the Devil; but his being—the image of God—still remains in him.

If you sin in any way before God (and we sin every day greatly), immediately say in your heart, with faith in the Lord, who hears the sobs of your heart, with the humble acknowledgment and feeling of your sins, the Psalm: " Have mercy upon me, O God, after Thy great goodness;" and say the whole Psalm heartily. If it does not take effect the first time, try again, only say it still more heartily, still more feelingly, and then salvation and peace of soul shall speedily shine upon you from the Lord. Thus be always contrite; this is the true proved remedy against sins. If still you do not obtain relief, blame yourself. It shows that you have prayed without contrition, without humility of heart, without a strong desire to obtain forgiveness of sins from God; it shows that you are not deeply grieved at your sin.

If I have sinned, the Lord is my cleansing; if I am despondent or gloomy after sin, from the offences of the enemy, the Lord does away with my despondency and revives my boldness. The Lord is everything to me. O Lord, Which truly is (Which is—that is, Who exists), glory to Thee!

The Holy Ghost, like air, fills everything and penetrates everything: " Who art everywhere present and fillest all things." Those who pray fervently attract the Holy Ghost to them, and pray through the Holy Ghost.

" For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them." Why is the Lord's presence pre-eminently promised to two or three? Because there, where two or three are gathered in the name of Christ, is the Church, the union of faith and love; there is mutual love. " By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another."

The Spirit of truth—that is, of everything true that is thought of—all true thoughts, are the breathing of the Holy Ghost. Truth is as simple, easy, and life-giving for man as thought, as breath.

Believe and trust that as it is easy for you to breathe the air and live by it, or to eat and drink, so it is easy and even still easier for your faith to receive all spiritual gifts from the Lord. Prayer is the breathing of the soul; prayer is our spiritual food and drink.

To you, a pastor of men, the Lord has given to see how cruel the mental wolf is, in order, among other reasons, that you should strenuously endeavour to save both yourself from his claws and jaws and also the flock intrusted to you by God. Begin, therefore, from now to teach them with especial power, in the like manner as the Lord Himself taught, and show them how unceasingly this wolf hunts them, and through what he catches them: how he flatters their sensuality so that they may sin more easily and willingly; how many do not understand his flattery, how many serve him willingly—for instance, by gluttony, drunkenness, fornication, and adultery; covetousness, pride, vanity, malice, envy, scoffing at sacred things, slothfulness, bad language, idle speaking, mocking, a passion for dress, for dancing, a passion for theatres, cards, etc.

Everyone busies himself about elegant and clean clothing for the body, everyone tries to dress with taste and elegance, but who thinks of the incorruptible raiment, which is all defiled with sins, and in which we all shall have to appear before God the Judge? Who washes it with tears of repentance, with works of mercy, adorns it by fasting, prayer, watchfulness, and pious meditation?

"Make us glad according to the days wherein Thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil." The merciful Lord, having punished us, forgives us afterwards by His temporal and eternal mercy. Sometimes a sick person suffers a long while from his malady, as from a wicked tyrant; but during this malady his soul is purified like gold; he obtains the freedom of God's children, and is deemed worthy of eternal peace and blessedness.

Without trial, even common iron appears to be steel; tin appears to be silver, or an alloy of silver appears to be real silver; bronze appears to be gold, gold mixed with earth pure gold, and common glass a diamond. Only testing proves the real worth of these materials. So it is also with men. By their appearance many seem meek and humble, merciful, kind, simple, chaste, believing, etc., but trial often proves that they are evil, proud, bard-hearted, impure, avaricious, greedy, envious, rancorous, lazy, etc. Men are tried through privations and losses, sorrows, sicknesses, dishonour; and those who stand the trial are fit for the kingdom of God; whilst those who do not stand the trial are unfit, because a great admixture of evil remains in them.

Live as members of one body, as children of God, in love and harmony, in peace and tranquillity, esteeming one another, being indulgent to one another, as the Lord is indulgent to us. Do not be proud, do not envy, do not bear ill-will; subdue all carnal desires; preserve chastity; abstain from every superfluity; do not be slothful in prayer; begin every worldly work or undertaking with a short prayer; begin and end the day with fervent prayer to God, to our heavenly Lady, and to your Guardian Angel; pray for all as for yourself; wish well to all as to yourself, and do not wish or do evil to anyone.

When you see men fall into various sins against yourself, against the Lord, against their neighbours, and against themselves, do not be angry with them— for there is much anger and malice in the world without your anger—but pity them from all your soul and excuse them when they offend against you, saying to yourself: " Father! forgive them," for sin perplexes them; " they know not what they do."

Everything earthly, material, when the heart clings to it, is disturbance* affliction, straitness, and death to our soul; and by itself and in itself our body itself is corruption, dust, and smoke. The only requirements of our soul are righteousness, holiness, truth, love, mercy, meekness, kindness, peace, spiritual freedom, or the grace of God in the heart. These treasures give life to our whole being, and are eternal. Let us strive with all our might to acquire them, and, having acquired them, to preserve, increase, and strengthen them in ourselves; for through our sinfulness every good soon evaporates.

O Lord! ever give me a meek heart, a bright, straightforward, and kind look. Grant it, Lord! Glory to Thee for the change accomplished in me by Thy right hand. I thank Thee for having taken away from me the burning thorns of my passions, my straitness, my shame, and mine infirmities, and for having bestowed upon me peace, tranquillity, freedom, power, and boldness. Strengthen, then, in me that which Thou hast accomplished in me. Glory to the power of faith, to the power of prayer; for everything that I ask of Thee believing in prayer I receive in accordance with Thy word. I thank Thee for raising me from the dead so many times, and for destroying the kingdom of death and sin within me.

A Christian ought to meditate upon things above, upon heaven, where Christ is, and not to cling to the corruptible blessings of the world: this is the concern of the heathen. But meanwhile we attach ourselves passionately to all earthly pleasures and things. We have perverted our life by withdrawing ourselves from the example set us by the Lord, the apostles, martyrs, reverend fathers, the unmercenary, and all the saints. They were not of this world, but we are of this world; we lead a life according to our own conception, but not a Christian life. Envy, pride, condemnation of others, enmity, hatred, malice, iniquities, carnal impurity, are not banished from our hearts, but are firmly and widely implanted in them.

Do not for one moment fulfil your own will, but fulfil the will of God, which is love for all, even for our enemies, and our holiness; whilst our will is sin of various kinds: self-love (and not the love of God), malice, hatred, pride, envy, sensuality, gluttony, drunkenness, theft, covetousness, fornication, craftiness, slothful-ness, hardness of heart, and insensibility to our neighbours' sufferings, rejoicing in their misfortunes; rancour, murmuring, blasphemy, scoffing at sacred things.

Great are the following words: " Grant us with one heart and one mouth to glorify and celebrate Thy glorious and majestic name, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." O, that it were ever so, and that our hearts were not apart, not even from those of other men, but even from our own selves!

If I despise, hate anybody, it signifies that I unlawfully exalt, unlawfully love myself—that is, my flesh. Our heart continually flatters us, secretly exalting ourselves and depreciating others. But we must constantly see our innumerable sins in order to judge ourselves, to weep over ourselves, as for the spiritually dead. Then we shall not have time to notice the faults of others, and to condemn our neighbours for them, or to despise them; but we shall esteem them, for we shall find that they are incomparably better than us in many things.

Truly, the temple is heaven upon earth; for where the throne of God is, where the terrible mysteries are celebrated, where the angels serve together with men, where the Almighty is unceasingly glorified, there is truly heaven, and the heaven of heavens. And thus let us enter into the temple of God, and above all, into the Holy of Holies, with the fear of God, with a pure heart, laying aside all passions and every worldly care, and let us stand in it with faith and reverence, with understanding attention, with love and peace in our hearts, so that we may come away renewed, as though made heavenly j so that we may live in the holiness natural to heaven, not binding ourselves by worldly desires and pleasures.

Fasting is a good teacher: (1) It soon makes everybody who fasts understand that a man requires very little food and drink, and that in general we are greedy and eat a great deal more than is necessary—that is, than our nature requires. (2) Fasting clearly shows or discloses all the infirmities of our soul, all its weaknesses, deficiencies, sins, and passions; just as when muddy, standing water is beginning to be cleaned it shows what reptiles and what sort of dirt it contains. (3) It shows us all the necessity of turning to God with the whole heart, and of seeking His mercy, help, and salvation. (4) Fasting shows all the craftiness, cunning, and malice of the bodiless spirits, whom we have hitherto unwittingly served, and whose cunning, now that we are enlightened by the light of God's grace, becomes clear, and who now maliciously persecute us for having left their ways.

All natural bodies gravitate towards the centre of the earth, and all human souls naturally yearn after their spiritual Centre or Prototype—God; only sin has perverted, and still perverts this natural tendency. Fire and smoke gravitate towards the elements akin to them.

Your soul seeks true life and its natural food. Food for the mind is truth; food for the heart is peace and blessedness; food for the will is normal direction or lawfulness. Go to the Church; she will give you all this in plenteousness; she possesses all this in superabundance; she is " the pillar and ground of the truth," because in her is the Word of God, showing the origin of all things—the origin of the human race, the creation of man after the image and likeness of God, his fall, his restoration through the Saviour of men, the means of salvation, faith, hope and love. She affords us peace and blessedness through her Divine service, and especially through the sacraments. She calls us: " Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." She teaches us the true way, which our will ought undeviatingly to follow, and which will lead us to eternal life—that is, the way of God's commandments.

The Lord has given me the greatest inalienable riches—His image and likeness. He has given me Himself. As it is said: " Thou, O Lord, . . . hast given an heritage unto those that fear Thy name! " What earthly riches do I want after this? What honour? There is no higher honour than to be a Christian and a member of the body of Christ, a child of God in Christ. There is no one richer than the man who always bears Christ and His grace in his heart. " Whom have I in heaven but Thee ? and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of Thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever." And yet we are greedy, covetous, avaricious, proud, envious. What delusion, what foolishness! Man! be rich through God; everything comes to you from God.

When you look at the candles and lamps burning in church, rise in thought from the material fire to the immaterial fire of the Holy Ghost, " for our God is a consuming fire." When you see and smell the fragrant incense, rise in thought to the spiritual fragrance of the Holy Ghost, " for we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ." Also, in contrast, think of the spiritual stench, which is sin, and endeavour to be filled with the fire of the Holy Ghost. Drive away every coldness of heart, which proceeds from the Devil, the flesh, and the world, and be yourself a sweet savour before God, by the fragrance of the virtues of meekness, gentleness, humility, obedience, abstinence, chastity, patience, and others. Flee from the stench of the passions; from malice, envy, pride, disobedience, intemperance, fornication, etc.

The voice of the readings in church, the hymns, prayers, and supplications, is the voice of our own souls pouring forth from the acknowledgment and feeling of our spiritual needs and requirements; it is the voice of all mankind acknowledging and feeling its poverty, its accursedness, its sinfulness, the necessity of a Saviour, the necessity of gratitude and praise for the innumerable benefits and the infinite perfections of God. Wonderfully beautiful are these prayers and hymns; they are the breathing of the Holy Ghost!

The sign of the cross as a blessing from a priest or a bishop is an expression of the blessing or of the favour of God to a man in Christ and for Christ's sake. What a joyful, significative, and precious ceremony this is! Blessed are all who receive such a blessing with faith! How attentive should the priests themselves be in bestowing their blessing upon the faithful! " And they shall put My name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them."

Is it in vain that we say several times a day the thrice holy " Our Father" and other morning and evening prayers? Are we not cleansed by them from our sins and impurities? Are we not delivered from temptations, misfortunes, and unfavourable circumstances? Is it in vain that we sign ourselves with the sign of the cross? O, no; it continually acts beneficially upon us and upon those who make it with faith, especially when it is the blessing of a priest. Therefore let us continually praise the mercy and power of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hears and saves us, unworthy ones, by His mercy, for His holy name's sake

All the words of the Church prayers and praises are great words, but these words, "For Thou art the resurrection and the life, and the repose," which afford such great consolation to our mortal race and constitute the hope of the Christian, are especially great. Therefore they must be pronounced with special power, with special emphasis.

O holy faith! by what words, by what hymns can I sufficiently praise thee for the innumerable blessings for my soul and body which thou hast bestowed upon me? for all the powers which thou hast accomplished and yet accomplishest in me? for the blessings of peace and the withdrawal of disturbance? for the blessings of freedom with the withdrawal of bitter oppression? for the blessings of spiritual light and the dispersal of the darkness of the passions? for the blessing of boldness, with the withdrawal of faint-heartedness and fear? for the blessing of spiritual power and spiritual greatness with the withdrawal of spiritual slavery and mean-spiritedness? for the blessing of holiness, with the withdrawal of sinful impurity? for deliverance from malice, envy, self-will and obstinacy, cupidity, fornication, and every spiritual corruption? Glory to Thee, my Lord God, my Benefactor, unto ages of ages! May Thou be known, Lord, in Thy faith by all Thy people and by all races of the earth, so that they all may glorify Thee with one heart and one mouth, from east to west! So be it! So be it!

Doctors who have much practice, and receive much money from sick people, ought, for their soul's sake, to give alms generously, if they believe that they have an immortal soul. Rich priests who are generously rewarded for their prayers and spiritual labours ought also to give alms freely, so as not to be condemned with Judas the betrayer, who sold the Lord of Glory for pieces of silver. Merchants who make large profits ought absolutely to practise almsgiving, and be generous in adorning God's temples. Officials who receive large salaries ought not to consider the rich recompense given them in return for their labours as their exclusive property, but should remember their poorer brethren, so that they may obtain a reward from God and purify their souls. All should provide themselves with the holy oil of charity and good works, so that they may not appear empty-handed before the Judge on the day of the terrible trial; that they may not appear naked and bare of virtue on the day when all hearts shall be scrutinised.