St. John of Kronstadt · 41 of 49

Part II · Part 17

I ought to rejoice in the fact that it very often happens to me to carry in my mind and heart, and to pronounce with my lips, the name of God, the name of Our Lady, the Mother of our God, those of the holy Angels and Saints, either of them, all by name during the year, or of the special ones daily mentioned in the church prayers, or in the office of the blessing of the water. For the name of God, as well as the name of the Mother of God; our all-powerful Mediatrix, remembered sincerely, from the whole heart, sanctifies, quickens, and comforts; and the Saints our intercessors before God, pray for us, when we call upon them in prayer, and enlighten us by their manifold virtues. It is good to have union with God and the heavenly dwellers.

By means of prayer we obtain remission of our sins. "I forgive thee all that debt, because thou desiredst Me." Experience proves the same.

" He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him." This we feel, and experience confirms it. Most blessed, most full of life is the man who communicates of the Holy Mysteries with faith and heartfelt repentance for his sins. This we truly feel, and the contrast is also manifest. If we approach the Holy Cup without sincere repentance for sin, and with doubt, then Satan enters into us, and dwells in us, destroying our soul, and this, too, is most perceptible.

"All things are near to God," says the Russian proverb. Truly everything is near: all spiritual and sentient creatures, the Angels, the souls of the departed, all living men, all animals, all material worlds. The Spirit of God passes through all things, a reasoning, pure, most refined Spirit, dwelling in every believing, pious soul. " The wild beasts of the field are in My sight," says He. " I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." As an infinite Spirit, to God nothing is far away, but all things are before Him, as upon the palm of the hand. He is wholly everywhere, and all things are in Him. All things live and exist by Him.

God and the created spirits, and the souls of the departed, as well as those of the living, are—thinking beings, and thought is rapid, and in some sort omnipresent. Think of them with your whole heart, and they will be present with you—God always and necessarily so, and others by the gift and power of God. " When I am in heaviness, I will think upon God." Why? Because He is with you and in you.

When our heart is enveloped in the darkness of Satan, the darkness of the passions, then it denies God, although it ought, in that case, to deny its very light; it has become darkened, and therefore its spiritual eyes are closed and do not see God, but this does not mean that there is no God. " The fool hath said in his heart: There is no God." Truly a fool.

To the name of Jesus Christ, or to the sincere thought of Jesus Christ, is united great power, able to drive away the passions and give peace to the heart. The same may be applied to the name of the holy Angels and Saints, beginning with the Mother of God, down to the holy and righteous men and "Urodivoi" for Christ's sake. Only call upon their names sincerely, and by the grace of God they, too, will help you.

The icons of the Saviour in every orthodox house show His omnipresence, His sovereignty in every place, whilst the images of the Saints—the presence with us or the nearness to us of the Saints, by the grace of God, as members of the one body of the Church, united under the one Head—Christ.

" As Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us." This is the reason why we must pray to the Saints: they are in God, and God is in them; and this is why they hear us, that is, owing to their being in the omnipresent God. " For holy art Thou, O our God, and Thou restest in the Saints."

For the sake of our faith alone, the spiritual mountains— that is, the heights and burdens of sins—are removed. This is why, when Christians release themselves from the burden of their sins by repentance and confession, they sometimes say, "Thank God, a mountain has fallen off my shoulders!"

During prayer a sincere seeking after amendment is indispensable.

As by means of the electric telegraph we speedily communicate with persons who are far away from us, so, likewise, by means of lively faith, as though through the telegraph wires, we speedily communicate with God, with the Angels and Saints. As we entirely trust to the speed of the electric current, and to its reaching its destination, so, likewise, we should completely trust to the speed of the prayer of faith and to its reaching its destination. Send your petition to God and the Saints by means of the telegraph of faith, and you will speedily obtain an answer. The answering signs of a telegraph are simple, but the experienced read them; the actions upon the heart of the God of all spirits, of all flesh and of the Saints, are likewise simple, but the experienced understand them.

O wonderful proof of the omnipresence of God! For instance, your heart is wounded by an attachment, even a momentary one, to silver, let us suppose, and it begins to ache; but as soon as you say to God from your whole heart, " Thou art my only treasure, Thou art my silver and gold, and food and raiment," you will immediately feel relieved.

There are many people who pray in such a manner that they seem to worship God in vain. There are also some persons who pray, and they are so slothful and evil that when they feel an influx of impure and evil thoughts in their heart and head, they immediately leave off praying and flee from the church or from before the icon in their home.

If you wish to pray with a life-giving prayer, first of all strengthen your heart in the Lord. "My heart is strengthened (rejoiceth) in the Lord, mine horn is exalted in the Lord."

From the time since the first man sinned, men became so darkened by sin in the very centre of their being (in their hearts), that they very often have not any consciousness and feeling of the omnipresence of God, and think that four walls and a ceiling can conceal them from Him, Who fills all things, Who sees even those who hide themselves in secret places. " Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him ? Do not I fill heaven and earth?" "I was naked, and I hid myself." But it did not avail!

My soul is in God, as a fish in water or a bird in the air, surrounded by Him upon all sides, at every time; it lives in Him, it moves in Him, it rests in Him, and finds freedom in Him.

My thought, either bright or dark; my conscience, either accusing or excusing; my heart, either tranquil and joyful, or sorrowful and oppressed; the organisation of my body, the organisation of the worlds and of the earth, which we inhabit, with all that is in it and around it, incessantly testify to the continual presence in me, with me, and everywhere, of mine and your Creator. May the dark and foolish thought that I am forsaken by my God, that He is not ever with me—ever flee far away from me!

May my soul always remember that God the Word, together with the Father and the Holy Ghost, at every moment upholdeth all the worlds " by the word of His power;" and amongst them my small world, too—the soul and body, and that He, at every moment, knows not only the number of the hairs of my head, but also the number and quality of my thoughts and the movements of my heart, for everything exists, and is accomplished before His clearest eyes.

May my soul understand that as everything proceeded from God and exists in God, therefore the Lord God in the most perfect manner knows at every moment of the existence and of the nature of every being, and that He supports its existence, at every moment, by the laws of nature given by Him. If we, ourselves, having written a book, know all about its disposition and contents, about all the ideas to be found in it, so that when other people explain us the idea, and especially the plan of our book, we say that it is our plan, our idea; then why should we take from the Lord His omniscience of all worlds, of all creatures, of all things contained in the world, with all their qualities and conditions? Are they not, so to say, the book of God? And thus, my soul, reverence thy Creator every moment of thy life, and know that at every moment He knows thee wholly, that He supports and gives thee life and everything necessary for thy existence and welfare. "How could anything have endured if it had not been Thy will?"

Men are ashamed to acknowledge that they do not believe in their high calling and destiny, in the fact of their being the priceless image of God, most dear to God, for whom has been prepared and promised infinitely great bliss in heaven—in union with God.

As a poor man does not believe that he may in future become a rich and very distinguished person, so many Christians do not believe that they shall possess a wealth of future blessings, -and shall freely be made to " sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." We may well wonder how, without any special merits on our part, we can expect such high honour and glory, such riches. We are self-loving, covetous, avaricious, and therefore we are unable to understand how such infinite love, such a wise and disinterested Father can exist; it is as though we still cannot believe that " God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Men are perplexed, and, to tell the truth, many do not believe in the honour which is promised to the righteous in the future life, because Satan has lowered mankind in its own eyes. But this honour shall truly be, and we should hope to attain it; for man is the image of God, and it is for this that the Son of God was incarnate, in order to re-establish his image. This idea is developed in Holy Scripture.

If at any time you doubt in God, or in the dogma of the most Holy Trinity, remember the short doxology, "Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, both now and ever, and to ages of ages," and think what little importance you yourself have in comparison with the men of all ages, of whom there were an infinite number of great and divinely bright intellects, and who all heartily, unanimously ascribed glory to the one God in three persons.

As our Creator and God is one, therefore He brings together and unites all things, and, for a believing soul, there is nothing far away that He cannot bring near by means of faith. Do you wish to converse with—-not to speak of God, Who is everywhere, but with the high and heavenly powers, principalities, archangels and angels? You can do so. In accordance with your prayer they will instruct, enlighten, strengthen you in your faith. Or do you wish to converse with the departed Saints? You can do so. They will be with you at your first heartfelt call— especially the most Holy Virgin, Mother of God, our most speedy Mediatrix. " We unceasingly glorify Thee, O Christ, Who hast indescribably joined the earthly to the heavenly, and hast established one Church for the angels and men." Christ is the head both of angels and men. With such a Head, what then cannot be near to us? And how near to us must the Head Himself be in order to hear us! Experience convinces us that He hears us, as the saints also hear us.

The Lord has full respect for nature, which He has created, and for her laws, as the production of His own infinite, most perfect wisdom; this is why He usually accomplishes His will through the medium of nature and her laws; for instance, when He punishes men or blesses them. Therefore, do not require miracles of Him without extreme necessity.

The Lord especially highly esteems the works of His hands, gifted with reason and free will, that is, the angels and saints, and works through them for our sanctification and salvation. Therefore do not say: I always have recourse straight to God alone with my needs, with my prayer. It is sometimes also necessary for you to have recourse to the saints as His instruments and organs. God Himself does not wish that these holy temples of His grace, of His Divine Spirit, should remain inactive in the work of our salvation.

Like young birds under the wing of the hen, so the whole universe, all the assemblies of angels, all men, all senseless animals, all material worlds, are under the Lord's wing. He enlightens all and everything—some with mental light, and others with material light. He warms all—some with spiritual warmth and others with material warmth; and as the hen hears the cries and the sighs of the young birds under it, so the Lord hears even our secret sighs, our prayers, our praises, and sees all our needs. "My trust shall be under the covering of Thy wings."

It is good for me to pray for men when I partake worthily, that is consciously, of the Holy Communion: then the Father and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, my God, is within me, and I feel great boldness before Him. Then the King is within me, as in His abode: I may ask what I will. " We will come unto Him, and make our abode with Him." "Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."

During prayer it is necessary to have such faith, that there should not even for a single moment be any secret doubt, or any secret thought in the heart, that God does not hear us, and it is necessary, furthermore, that our soul should represent God before itself during the whole time of our prayer and converse with Him, as with a King.

If we sinners pray and make supplications to the Lord for ourselves and others; if, when living upon earth, the saints pray for others and ask God for what is needful for them, then much more will they do so when they are transplanted to eternity and are face to face with God. By virtue of the great mediatory sacrifice of the Son of God, the prayers of the saints, especially those of His most pure Mother, possess, by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the power of mediation. This is the Lord's recompense for the merits of the saints.

The foundation of prayer is the yearning of the image towards its prototype, as of like to like. During prayer, have the thought that you are a steward of the most precious prayerful inheritance of the Church, that you are an impure, unworthy steward, and that your work consists in reverently opening your heart and watering it with these pure streams of the words of prayer, but not in reasoning about them at your own free will.

It is remarkable: to-day I felt a doubt—of course suggested by the evil one—on the subject of the turn of a phrase in a prayer, namely: "Thou, Who alone hast power to forgive sins by the prayers of Thy most holy Mother and of all the saints," and I was covered with shame in my reasoning: the enemy struck me, hindered me, disturbed me during public prayer. But in what respect was my thought false? I thought thus: how God has power to forgive sins by the prayers of His most pure Mother and those of the saints, and not independently of Himself? Of course He has the power without the prayers of others. He alone has the power, but in order to honour the exalted virtues of the saints, and especially those of His Mother, the saints, who are His friends, who pleased Him with all their might during their earthly life—He accepts their prayerful intercession for us, unworthy ones, for us who must often stop their mouths on account of our great and frequent transgressions. Remember Moses, who interceded for the Hebrew people and obtained life for them from God whom they had angered. Some may say that God might have spared His people even without Moses' prayers; but, then, God would have been, so to say, unjust in bestowing life upon those who were not worthy of life, after He Himself had decreed that they should die; but when Moses—a righteous, meek, and humble man—began to intercede for them, then the most just God was appeased at the sight of the righteous man, at his love for God and his people, and for the sake of Moses' merits, the Lord forgave the unworthy, that is, the unrighteous, for the sake of the righteous. So likewise now, at the prayers of His most pure Mother, He forgives us, who, of ourselves, through our great and frequent sins and iniquities, are unworthy of His mercy. "Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, yet my mind could not be toward this people," said the Lord to Jeremiah of the Jews. From this it is evident that the Lord accepts the intercession of the saints for the evil-doers when the sins of these last do not exceed the measure of God's forbearance.

The Lord knowing the infirmity of our nature, darkened and weighed down by sin, and rising with difficulty to God through faith, has pleased to condescend to us unto the likeness of our being, unto taking upon Himself the form of a servant in human flesh; such is His love. But as it was impossible for Him to eternally remain in the human body on earth, whilst it was necessary in accordance with the plans of God's ordering to ascend up with it into heaven, therefore for the infirmity of all future generations of men and in remembrance of His eternal love for them, of His sufferings and death, He changes, by the Holy Ghost, ordinary bread into His own Body and ordinary wine into His own Blood, and by His Spirit dwells wholly in this bread and wine; so that under the form of bread and wine, Christ the Life-giver, the Lord Himself, is wholly there. O unspeakable love, truly divine! The Lord has wholly used His infinitely great wisdom, His infinite power, for our salvation! Our infirmity is thus made, not only to see the Lord by means of faith, but even to taste Him with our tongue, and especially with our heart and with our whole soul. Glory to the Lord for having so loved us!

God grant that even after death our brotherly union with our departed relatives, and those whom we knew in this life, may not be broken off, that our love may not be extinguished, but may burn with a bright flame, and that constant true remembrance of those at rest may ever remain with us until our death. "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you."

In receiving the Holy Sacrament be as undoubtingly sure that you communicate of the Body and Blood of Christ, as you are sure that every moment you breathe air. Say to yourself, "As surely as I constantly breathe the air, so surely do I now receive into myself, together with the air, my Lord Jesus Christ Himself, my breathing, my life, my joy, my salvation. He is my breath, before air, at every moment of my life; He is my word, before any other word; He is my thought, before any other thought; He is my light, before any other light; He is my meat and drink, before any other meat and drink; He is my raiment, before any other raiment; He is my fragrance, before any other fragrance; He is my sweetness, before any other sweetness; He is my father and mother, before any other father and mother; before the earth, He is the firmest ground, that nothing can ever shake and that bears me. As we, earthly creatures, forget that at all times we breathe, live, move, and exist in Him and have "hewed out cisterns, broken cisterns," for ourselves, He has opened unto us, in His Holy Mysteries, in His Blood, the source of living water, flowing into life eternal, and gives Himself to us as food and drink, in order "that we might live through Him."

As the evil spirits are always near to us, and act upon us very rapidly and easily, so near to us and even incomparably nearer are the Lord God, the Most-pure Mother of God, the holy angels, and God's saints, and they act upon us still more rapidly and easily; for the evil spirits can only act upon us by God's permission, whilst the Lord God acts independently with the most entire freedom, and as being " everywhere present and filling all things," the Most-pure Mother of God, the holy angels and saints act upon us, as being one with Him through His grace.

"Thou, O Lord . . . hast given an heritage unto those that fear Thy name." God has given Himself as an heritage, a possession to those who fear Him. What a great gift!

Prayer is founded upon faith. I believe that there is a God, before whom I lay my prayer; that there is an Almighty, holding all creatures in the palm of His hand, and giving various kinds of voices to His creatures, for inward intercourse amongst themselves, but not needing any voice Himself. I trust that my prayer will reach Him, or, to speak more exactly, will go direct from my heart to His ears. Similarly, the correspondence of a son with his father or mother, or between brothers and sisters, or that of a father with his children, or between friends at a distance from each other, is also founded on faith. They are sure when writing letters that the persons to whom they write are alive; they trust that their written conversation will reach them, will produce certain impressions, ideas, and feelings, corresponding to those expressed in the letter, and that they will answer the letter in accordance with its contents. As in life we are guided in many things by faith and hope, so much more in relation to the spiritual world should we "walk by faith, not by sight."

When in any place—either in a house, or on a vessel at sea, or under the open sky—you doubt in the presence of God, then present to your heart the following proofs of the sure presence of God in that place: God keeps all things in His power, amongst them myself, with my soul and body, and every hard substance, and every liquid and transparent substance; thus He also keeps the very air in which I stand and by which I breathe, keeps every particle of it, and therefore He is called the Upholder of all things, for He holds in the palm of His hand all creatures, down to the very smallest. How then is it possible that He should not be anywhere, in any place? How is it possible that the "Truth of things," the Origin of their being, should not be anywhere? If you say these words to yourself inwardly, your heart struck by doubt shall immediately revive and be at rest, which also serves as the strongest proof of the omnipresence of God, especially in our souls. Glory to Thee, all-powerful King, for not having left me in the darkness of hell, but for continually sending me Thy light in my darkness! "Thou also shalt light my candle; the Lord my God shall make my darkness to be light."

Whether you are praying or sitting, or walking or lying down, or thinking, or rejoicing or sorrowing, whether you are well or ill, at home or out, on land or at sea, be continually and fully assured that God sees you clearly, most clearly—in all perfection, with all your thoughts, desires, works; in every condition, at every moment of your existence. That He hears more perfectly than the finest hearing, all your inward movements, all your words, though He Himself has neither sight nor hearing, these separate and complex, and, therefore, imperfect organs of recognition (though they are perfect for us), being Himself all the sight in His Being, wherefore the Greeks called Him ?_?, and all hearing, or, to speak more exactly, all light and vision.

Remember constantly that the light of your soul, of your thoughts, and of your heart, comes from Jesus Christ. He is the "Light of the eye" of our heart—not like the light that comes from the sun, that appears and disappears, and does not penetrate through an opaque substance, but leaves many things in darkness, and cannot enlighten one single soul in the darkness of sin, but He is the " true Light, which lighteth every man" (that is, the principal part of his being, the soul) "that cometh into the world." Yes, the light of Christ enlightens all, even the heathens. " A light to lighten the Gentiles." It shines even in the darkness of sin, but sinful human darkness, or, rather, the men living in the darkness of sin, do not understand It, "comprehend It not;" they do not guess that the light which is in their souls is from Christ, and think that it is their own natural light; that they themselves, by means of their natural intellect, their own sagacity and judgment, have attained to a certain truth, have accomplished certain work; they do not think that it is only by " the light of Christ that they see every light," the light of every noble science, of every noble art, and of every thing.

We have within us a spiritual eye, with which we see a million times more than we are able to by means of our bodily sight, which is merely an instrument of our spiritual eye; a conductor through which the soul either thinks or recognises all things visible. What are the objects of contemplation for this spiritual eye? The phenomena of the spiritual world. Besides the visible world, there is God, an infinite Spirit, an infinite Mind, Who has created and creates all things in the material world, which is the realisation of His thoughts (ideas), and there is a spiritual world, angelic, innumerable, living in constant contemplation of the Godhead and of all the works of His omnipotence and great wisdom. Our spiritual eye relates above all to the Lord, and in this case its functions are called contemplation and meditation on God; this contemplation and meditation on God can extend unto infinity, as God Himself is infinite, and have the property of cleansing the soul from sin, of perfecting it, and bringing it nearer and nearer to God, the Source of our light, or of our thought and life. After this we contemplate the angelic orders according to the measure of God's revelation, and their spiritual, light-bearing nature, their spiritual goodness, their love for God, for each other, and for mankind, their guarding actions in relation to our earth, to its elements, to human communities, to holy and other places, and especially to every Christian. Besides this, the spiritual eye turns within to the man himself, and then its function is called self-examination, self-knowledge, self-introspection, spiritual watchfulness over our own thoughts and desires.

As the Spirit of God dwells in a multitude of Christians, and wholly in all, together with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, and at the same time is wholly everywhere—in heaven and on earth—so likewise Jesus Christ is in every particle of His Body and Blood, wholly in all Christian churches, and at the same time He is wholly everywhere, in heaven and on earth; as God, He is omnipresent, and there is no place where He is not wholly present. I take one particle of the Eucharist, He is wholly there; I take another, He is wholly there; a third, and so on, but in all of them there is the one and same Christ.

The mental denial of any of the three unoriginate Lights is equally death to the soul; in this manner God truly shows us that each of the three Persons of the Godhead is our life, "the life and lives." We easily recognise the enemy by the denial of the Persons of the Godhead, by the burning of his falsehood in our heart, by the darkness and oppression arising from this in our soul.

As by the light of the sun we see the air, earth, water, and everything found in them, so by the light of the mental sun in our heart we see the world of spirits, the angels and God's saints, the Mother of God, the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, hierarchs, venerable men, and all the saints. We see them with our spiritual sight (by faith) in the same manner as with our bodily eyesight we see the objects of the material world. Thus a simple, pure heart sees, for instance, the Mother of God with the inward eyes in the same manner as the natural sight sees Her image or any other visible object.