St. John of Kronstadt · 34 of 49

Part II · Part 10

The Lord Jesus Christ, together with His Father and the Holy Ghost, is everywhere. The angels and saints are one spirit with the Lord. But if, by the action of the evil spirit, you have lost for a time hearty faith in the Holy Ghost, then during that time there is neither Son nor Father for you, for faith is given by the Holy Ghost, by the Spirit of Truth—that is, the Spirit of Christ, Who said of Himself: "l am the truth;" or by the Spirit of the Father: "The Spirit of your Father, Which speaketh in you;" or by the Spirit of the Son: "God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts."

Concerning the Word. In the word there is an image of the most Holy Trinity, for in the word there is both thought, and word, and spirit. When praying truly with the whole heart, we feel that we are praying by the Holy Ghost: the words are penetrated by such hearty warmth, whilst sometimes we feel that we are praying not by the Holy Ghost, but by the spirit of falsehood: the lips say one thing, and the heart feels another, sometimes quite the contrary; for instance, we say the words with doubt, in the spirit of impatience, of resentment against someone, or in the spirit of pride, of self-exaltation, not acknowledging ourselves to be that which we really are.

Concerning Malice. If you are angry with your brother on account of his sins, even supposing they are offensive ones, then recollect that you yourself are also not without sins which are also offensive, although they may perhaps be of a different sort. You yourself desire that your shameful sins should be covered by the indulgence, by the all-sheltering love of your neighbours; recollect how thankful you would be to them, how lovingly you would embrace them for their all-enduring love; how this indulgence would lighten your already grievous sorrow for your sins, and would strengthen your weakness in your struggle against them, would strengthen your spirit by trust in God's mercy! But that which you would desire for yourself in such cases you must also desire for and unto your brother: he is your member and a member of Christ's. "Thou shalt love thy neighbour," it is said, "as thyself." When judging your neighbour in the malice of your heart for his sins, always remember that you yourself are not without sin. "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye! Thou hypocrite "—truly a hypocrite—"first cast out the beam out of thine own eye: and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." Besides, your brother " standeth or falleth to his own Master," and not to you. And if your brother has sinned against you, then you must certainly forgive him his offence against you, or his transgressions against you. You yourself are daily greatly in need of your own sins being forgiven you by the Heavenly Father, and you pray: "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." And if you wish your sins to be forgiven you, you must forgive your brother's sins against you. " For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

Our soul is single, because it cannot at the same time love both God and, for instance, money, food, drink; or both its neighbour and at the same time money, food, and drink. Therefore it is said: " No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." This is why the Psalmist says by the Holy Ghost: "If riches increase, set not your heart upon them." Thus, Christian, be afraid, each one of you, of setting your heart upon money, food, drink, dress, luxurious rooms, books, or profane music; do not love, do not indulge the flesh by anything; either by pleasures, fine views, dainty food, and drink, or by sleep, idleness, and slothfulness, by shameful deeds, games, idle travelling, or frivolous books and sights. Love the one God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your thoughts, and your neighbour as yourself, and be indifferent to everything else in the world. Do not attach yourself to or be greedy after anything. Strive after singleness in everything, in order to be loved by the incomplex Being God. Drive away all craftiness, doubt, incredulity, and duplicity from your soul.

God is Life; He gave being and life to everything. He is That Which Is and Almighty, for everything proceeds from Him, and everything is supported by Him; let us therefore know Him Who alone Is. The Devil is death, because he voluntarily turned away from God the Life, and as God is That Which Is, so the Devil, by reason of his having completely fallen away from That Which Is, is the cause of that which is not, of imagination, enticement, for he cannot truly bring anything into being by the word; thus he is falsehood, as God is truth.

What air is to animal, bodies and vegetation the Holy Ghost is to spiritual beings, to angels and men. This is why the Lord said: " The Spirit bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof" (the breathing), "but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth." Believe, therefore, that your soul breathes by the Holy Ghost; know your Benefactor, your Life, reverence Him daily and honour Him by love and good works. Avoid the deadly breathing of the Devil, of the sins and passions, and especially enmity, discord, pride, and unbelief. Say to yourself oftener: My soul breathes by the Holy Ghost, may I ever glorify the Holy Ghost, together with the Father and the Son!

We must always remember that man is the breathing of God's mouth and the image of God—of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost—whilst the sins and infirmities in him are accidental, coming from without, foul stains which can easily be cleansed by grace. " Thou shalt purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." We must remember that "God so loved the world," though it is adulterous and sinful, " that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." And we must love with God (as God does) every man as ourselves. We love ourselves though we are great sinners; we must also love others, though they may be sinful too, for there is no one without sin.

False thoughts in the matter of faith immediately reveal themselves; they kill the life of the heart, which is a sign that they proceed from a liar, a visionary, having the power of death —the Devil. True thoughts show their truth by deeds; they give life to the heart, a sign that they proceed from the life-giving Spirit of God, the Life itself, Who proceedeth from the Life—theFather—and resteth in the Life—the Son. "By their fruits ye shall know them." Do not, therefore, be disturbed, and do not linger in trouble and doubt when deadly thoughts come crowding into your head and oppress your heart and your soul; they are false, they proceed from the Devil, the destroyer of men. Drive them away, and do not ask wherefrom they come, these uninvited guests: by their fruits you shall instantly know them. Do not enter into controversy with them, it will lead you into a labyrinth from which you will not be able to extricate yourself, in which you will become entangled and exhausted.

I love to gaze upon the image of the risen Life-giver with the banner in His hand, with that symbol of victory over death and Him who has the power of death: " O death, where is Thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" What a glorious Victor! What a cruel, most wicked enemy He has conquered! An enemy who gloried in his victories during thousands of years! "To Thee, Conqueror of death, we cry: Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord." "We glorify Thee, Life-giving Christ, Who descended into hell for our sakes, and didst raise all with Thyself." "In rising from the tomb, Christ, Thou didst raise all the race of Adam with Thyself."

"Every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment" From this you see that an answer and a punishment awaits you for every idle word, and not only for scandalous, shameful ones. It is because that with our Lord, the All-creating Word, there is not, and cannot be, any idle words: " The word of the Lord shall not return unto him void "—" for with God nothing shall be impossible." And as we are created after God's image, therefore our words too ought not to be pronounced idly, in vain, unmeaningly, but every word of ours ought to have spiritual, edifying power. " Let your speech be alway with grace." Therefore, be most watchful not to speak idly, unmeaningly, either in prayer or in conversation.

How can you worthily, with faith and love, receive the Body of Christ when you despise His members or have not compassion upon them? All Christians are members of Christ, and especially the poor. Love His members, have compassion upon them, and the Master will plentifully bestow His rich mercy upon you. And can any mercy be greater than that which our Saviour bestows upon us in the communion of His most pure body and of His most pure blood?

The words "For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever," signify Thou alone art everywhere and eternally reignest, Almighty and glorious King; or, the kingdom is the Father, the power the Spirit, and the glory the Son, for it is said, "I have glorified Thee on the earth."

Do not be dead at heart, do not let your heart incline to slothfulness, to spiritual sleep, and to hardened unfeelingness; otherwise woe to you, when its disposition is such during God's service, which requires labour both of heart and mind. Uproot from your heart, by every means, both bodily and spiritual pride, which resists the Holy Ghost; it lies imperceptibly hidden in your heart, and clearly shows itself in your intercourse with your fellow-men, or during prayer.

From the essence of the thinking spirit is born the word, inherent to it, which discloses the thought, and is equal to it. From the thought, and with the thought, proceeds the spirit, resting in the word and communicating in the word to those who listen; this spirit is fully equal to the thought and to the word, and is inherent to them. For instance, in the words "I love," one sees both the loving origin and the words born from it, and one feels a kind of pleasant breathing of love.

I render thanks to the Lord my God, to the God of my salvation! During Passion Week the enemy hindered me just before the time of confession by striking my heart with strait-ness, disturbance, and evil despondency. But I prayed with my whole heart, and with undoubting faith to Him, to the God of my salvation, and said: "O God, most merciful Father! Thou spakest through Thine Only begotten Son, our Lord Christ, saying: 'Ask, and it shall be given you.... for every one that asketh receiveth.... or what man is there of you whom, if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone. . . . how much more shall your Father, Which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask Him.' Embracing by faith these Thy words in my heart, I call upon Thee: Give unto me now Thy Holy Spirit that my heart may be strengthened in performing the work of confession in the wise remission or binding of the consciences of men, in patience and benignity, in kindly and edifying behaviour with my spiritual children." And what happened ? O God of mercy! I went through the whole time of confession exceedingly well; I was calm, kind, edifying, and did not experience any oppression or uneasy hurry. I glorify the merciful right hand of the most gracious Heavenly Father. Thus it is ever necessary to strengthen oneself by heartfelt prayer to the Heavenly Father before every spiritual work, as our Lord Jesus Christ Himself prayed before His manifestation to mankind before the choosing of the apostles before His sufferings.

Do not be offended if anyone speaks or behaves insincerely to you, for do you yourself always speak and behave sincerely with others ? Are you not often hypocritical ? Do you always converse sincerely, not hypocritically, with God in prayer! Do not your lips often pronounce words of truth, while your heart lies ? Do you walk before God in sincerity, in simplicity ? If you yourself are not right before God and men, if you are often false, hypocritical, then do not be angry if others behave insincerely, hypocritically towards you. "Wherewithal a man sinneth, by the same also shall he be punished." Be indulgent to others in that in which you yourself sin.

Believe firmly that the wickedness of the Devil in you and your own wickedness will never conquer the unspeakable, infinite mercy of God. Great is the wickedness of the Devil in you, but the mercy of God is infinitely greater. Therefore, in times of doubt, incredulity, blasphemy, malice, envy, avarice, covetous-ness, involuntary hypocrisy, entreat the Lord with hope, and be sure that His infinite goodness will incline Him to have mercy upon you, if you turn from your wickedness.

Be charitable to the poor, willingly, without suspiciousness, doubt, and minute investigation, remembering that in the person of the poor you do good to Christ Himself, as it is written: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, My brethren, ye have done it unto Me." Know that your charity is always nothing in comparison with man, that child of God; know that your alms are but earth and dust; know that any material charity must absolutely be accompanied by spiritual charity: kind, brotherly, open-hearted, loving behaviour towards your neighbour; do not let him notice that you are doing him a favour, do not appear proud. " He that giveth," it is said, "let him do it with simplicity.... he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness." See, then, that you do not take away the value from your material charity through not showing spiritual charity. Know that on the day of judgment the Master will test your good works too. Remember that both heaven and earth are given to man, for to him "is reserved in heaven an inheritance incorruptible;" for man, God the Father did not spare His Only Begotten Son, but delivered Him unto death. The Devil hinders us in our good works through our subtilty.

The words of a prayer are like. rain or snow if they are pronounced with faith and feeling: each of them contains its power and its fruit. The rain-drops or snowflakes falling in a continuous stream, or in isolated flakes water the ground, and it germinates and brings forth fruit. Likewise, the words of a prayer—this spiritual rain—each separately, water the soul, it germinates and brings forth the fruits of the virtues co-operating with the Holy Ghost, especially if there is a rain of tears besides.

Human charity is suspicious: it fears lest it may somehow give to a person who already has something, or lest it may give too much. But the Lord's charity is not like this: " The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works." "Unto everyone that hath," says the Lord, "shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath."

Do not indulge your slothful flesh during prayer; do not hurry. The flesh, growing weary and oppressed by the holy work, hastens to finish praying, in order to rest or to occupy itself with worldly or carnal matters.

Let simplicity accompany you everywhere. Be especially simple in your faith, hope, and love, for God is an incomplex Being, the eternally-worshipped Unity, and our soul is also simple. The flesh hinders the simplicity of our soul when we gratify it—for instance, when we eat daintily, and, in general, when we eat and drink pleasantly and much, when we smoke, and in general do what pleases it, for then it preponderates over the spirit.

How sharply are distinguished in us, on one side, the good spirit, the spirit of peace, of tranquillity, joy, light, the life-giving spirit; and, on the other side, the evil spirit, the spirit of strait-ness, weariness, despondency, darkness, the spirit that destroys our soul. The first is the Spirit of God, by which we live, spiritually breathe, move, and exist; the second is the evil spirit, Satan.

The God of Love is unchangeable, and we ought to be unchangeable and constant in our love. " Charity never faileth," whilst dislike, hatred, or indifference and neglect proceed from the Devil.

Every word of the Master is spiritual or material being, because He is That Which Is and the Creator. The Master, the Lord God, is almighty, because He is an infinite Spirit, unlimited power and wisdom j and every thought of His immediately is or may be in accordance with His will, deed, life.

Unfortunate is he who immoderately loves the comforts of life, and has surrounded himself with all possible comforts. He will shun every discomfort; he will become effeminate and unaccustomed to patience; whilst the life of the Christian is all discomfort, narrow, rough way, a cross, requiring discomfort and great patience. And therefore, Christian wrestler, do not seek for all comforts in your dwelling and surroundings; do not love the comforts of this world, but love Christ, the cross-bearer. Endure discomfort, accustom yourself to discomforts: "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content," says the Apostle. Unfortunate is he who loves adornment and seeks the adornment of his body; he will not strive as he ought for the adornment of his soul by faith, love, meekness, humility, righteousness, patience. Especially unfortunate is he who seeks to be adorned with honours; he will make a shameful idol of himself, like Nebuchadnezzar; will become proud in his demeanour towards those who have not such honours, and will exact reverence " not with costly array." Even we men, like women, seek after adornment and adorn ourselves like idols, while we think but little of inward beauty, and even entirely forget the inward temple, or the tabernacle, of our soul. Unfortunate is he who loves haste: he will meet with a multitude of obstacles, with thousands of unpleasantnesses and inward straitness, through his haste, and will have many occasions for irritation. Unfortunate is he who is passionately fond of eating and drinking, cares for surfeiting and enjoyments: he will indeed find, when he begins to labour for the Lord, that food and drink, if we set our heart upon them, are a heavy burden for the body, affliction and destruction for the spirit, and that man can be really satisfied with very, very little and simple food.

The human soul is single, like the spirit; therefore it ought also to be single in love; that is, it ought to love God as its Author, from Whom it came forth, and man as itself—like unto like; it ought not to attach itself for an instant in any way to the things of this world, for these are not akin to it, and it is because of their not being of the same nature as our soul that the soul feels itself so ill at ease when it cleaves to them.

Every word of Holy Writ, every word of the Divine liturgy, of the morning and evening services, every word of the Sacramental prayers and of the other prayers, has in itself the power corresponding to it and contained in it, like the sign of the honourable and life-giving cross. Such grace is present in every word of the Church, on account of the Personal Incarnate Word of God, Who is the Head of the Church, dwelling in the Church. Besides this, every truly good word has in itself the power corresponding to it, owing to the all-filling simple Word of God. With what attention and reverence, with what faith, must we therefore pronounce each word! For the Word is the Creator Himself, God, and through the Word all things were brought into existence from non-existence.

The Holy Mysteries are called the Divine gifts, because they are given to us by the Lord quite freely, for nothing, undeservedly on our part. Instead of punishing us for our daily numberless transgressions and giving us over to spiritual death, the Lord, in the Holy Mysteries, grants us forgiveness and cleansing from our sins, sanctification, peace of our spiritual powers, healing and health of soul and body, and every blessing solely in accordance with our faith. If, then, the Lord daily gives us Himself, His Divine Mysteries, to partake of, ought we not therefore absolutely to give freely, for nothing, perishable goods such as money, food, drink, clothes, to those who ask us for them? And how can we be angered with those who eat our bread for nothing when we ourselves partake freely of the priceless and immortal food of the Body and Blood of the Lord? "Of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again."

You live in God's house—in this beautiful world—and enjoy all the gifts of God's goodness and bountifulness freely given through nature. You live in God's house — in the Church, or in the company of the saved, and you enjoy all the gifts of grace for your salvation; also freely therefore you trust unhesitatingly and freely do good to your brethren, as far as lies in your power. Do good even to those who are unthankful and evil, that you may be the child of the Highest. Receive all willingly in your house, knowing that you yourself live freely in the house of God, in the universe, and in the spiritual house of God—the Church, which prepares you for the life eternal. Give joyfully, and let others partake freely at your table, remembering that you, too, freely daily partake at the Lord's table of His most pure Body and Blood (16th April, 1862).

You say: "What can I do with my heart? It sets itself in opposition to everything true and holy; it becomes weakened by unbelief there where strong faith is required; it fails when faithfulness unto death is necessary; it does not tremble, and is even ready to mock when it should tremble and fear. What can I do! What shall I do," you say, " with my heart?" Recognise firmly, once for ail as an irrevocable truth, that your heart is falsehood and a pillar of falsehood. "All men are liars," whilst everything that is in the Church, beginning with the Word of God down to the shortest prayer, is truth; that "the Church" of God "is the pillar and ground of the truth," for it is founded upon the corner-stone—Christ, Who is the Truth, and is animated and eternally guided by the Holy Ghost, Who is the Spirit of truth.

The Church is the sure way to the life eternal; walk in it undeviatingly, hold fast to it, and you will gain the kingdom of heaven; but if you turn aside at the crossways of your own sophistry and unbelief, then you have only yourself to blame, you will go astray and be lost. "I am the way, the truth, and the life."

There is no doubt that in the hearts of many people the presence of the Devil manifests itself by a kind of spiritual languor, prostration, and slothfulness for every good and useful work, especially for works of faith and piety requiring attention and soberness of heart, and for spiritual work in general. Thus he strikes the heart with languor and the intellect with dulness during prayer, with coldness and indolence when it is necessary for us to do good—for instance, to have compassion upon those who suffer, to help those who are in need, to comfort those who are in sorrow, to teach the ignorant, to guide the erring and vicious into the way of truth. We must constantly watch our heart, drive away from it the mists of slothfulness and hardened unfeelingness, and see that it should always burn with faith and love for God and our neighbour, and ever be ready for every kind of labour and self-sacrifice for the glory of God and the salvation of our neighbour. "Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit: serving the Lord." The Devil also manifests his presence in our hearts by unusually violent irritation. We sometimes become so sick with our own self-love that we cannot even endure the slightest contradiction, any spiritual or material obstacles; cannot bear a single, rough, harsh word. But then is the very time for endurance when the waters of malice and impatience reach the depths of our souls. "In your patience possess ye your souls." "The rain descended, and the floods came . . . upon that house." What will become of it? What will become of the man himself when the Devil lets in upon him the floods of his temptations and blows upon him with the wind of his snares? If the Christian stands firmly upon the rock, Christ, then he will not fall; but if he stands upon the sand of his own sophistry and passions, then great will be his fall.

Am I not everything to you, My worm, adorned with Mine image? To what, then, do you cleave ? In what else do you trust? Do not leave Me, the Source of living water (of life); I am the very Life. Our Life—the Lord—is single. If He is in the heart, it is enough. He alone supports our life. Therefore it is said: " Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

Do not be slothful in praying fervently for others at their request, or of yourself, and together with them; you will thus obtain a recompense from God—the grace of God in your heart, which shall rejoice you and strengthen you in faith and love for God and your neighbour. These words are true; they are taken from experience. In general, we do not pray very willingly for others, but more out of obligation and habit, and without our heart fully participating in the prayer; we must force ourselves to pray from the whole heart, with great faith, with great boldness, in order that we may obtain great and rich mercy from the bountiful and greatly-endowing God! " Let him ask," it is said, " in faith, nothing wavering: for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed." It pleases the Lord, the common Father of all, when we pray for each other willingly with faith and love, for He is Love, ready to forgive all for their mutual love. The Holy Ghost said: "Pray one for another, that ye may be healed.'' You see how pleasing to God, and how efficacious, is the prayer of one for another.

When you are praying to God, then do not represent to yourself His nearness otherwise than that you breathe every moment in Him, that you are enlightened, sanctified, rest, are comforted, and strengthened by Him—that, in a word, you live in Him, in accordance with the Scripture: " For in Him we live, and move, and have our being: He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things." "God [the Word] is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thine heart . . . that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

A Christian ought to pray for all Christians, as for himself, that God may prosper them in life, in faith, and in spiritual wisdom, and may free them from sins and passions. Why? In accordance with Christian love, which sees in all Christians, its own members and members of God the Christ, the common Saviour of all, desires for them the same as for itself, and strives by every means to do unto them as unto itself.

We have icons in our houses, and venerate them, in order to show, amongst other things, that the eyes of God and of all the heavenly dwellers are constantly fixed upon us, and see not only all our acts, but also our words, thoughts and desires.

I thank my mother Church, for having shown me in the litanies what to pray for—"For we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit Itself maketh intercession for us," in the litanies, " with groanings which cannot be uttered." Glory to the grace of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter! I believe, that in accordance with the Saviour's promise, He will dwell with us for ever, and will guide us into all truth, and will not allow those to err who seek God's truth zealously and humbly. Why do we begin our prayers by the prayer to the Heavenly King—the Spirit of truth? Because He is the Teacher and the Giver of prayer, because He dwells with us for ever, and works in the world. We thank Thee, Lord Jesus, that for Thy sake the Holy Ghost also came down from heaven into the world!