St. John of Kronstadt · 45 of 49

Part II · Part 21

I think how all-perfect the Godhead is—what an infinite fulness of life there is in It! God the Father begat from Himself the creative Word and sends down the creative Spirit, and they supremely fulfil the will of the Father, as a man's hands fulfil that which the head thinks and the heart desires. Wonderful art Thou, our God, creating all things by Thy personal Word, and accomplishing all things by Thy personal Spirit! What a fulness of life! Both the Son and the Spirit are equal to the Father—the Cause; both the Son and the Spirit are equally almighty, as the Father and the Son are one mercy and love, one will, one power, one Godhead and kingdom! What fulness of life! Both the Son is the Creator and the Spirit is the Creator. " Thy hands" (the Son and the Spirit) " have made me and fashioned me." What unity! Neither does the Son do anything without the Spirit, nor the Spirit without the Son, but together They accomplish the will of the Father, the Three forming one Being. Therefore, wherever you find the Son acting, there also the Spirit infallibly acts with the Son, also the Father, from Whom and to Whom They rise. " I glorify the might of the Father and the Son, and hymn the power of the Holy Ghost, the undivided, uncreated Godhead, the Consubstantial Trinity, reigning unto ages of ages."

Lord our Saviour, Thy Divine greatness consists in the fact that the life of every creature is in Thee, as in the hypostatic Life, " that all men should honour Thee, even as they honour the Father." Thy greatness, life-giving Holy Ghost, consists in the fact that Thou sanctifiest, strengthenest all, and livest together with the Father and the Son, that all men shall honour Thee, even as they honour the Father and the Son. Thy greatness, Holy Ghost, lies also in the fact that the only-begotten Son of God, being consubstantial with Thee, created powers and wonders by Thee, and, likewise through Thee, sanctifies, strengthens, and guides us to His Father. " Through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father."

"The blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men." He who denies the personal being of the Holy Ghost—especially he who was himself many times a receiver of the Holy Ghost—blasphemes against Him; and unless he amends, he shall not be forgiven either in this world or in the next. Life-giving Holy Ghost, Spirit of grace, have mercy upon us!

Those who pray little are weak in heart, and thus, when they wish to pray, their hearts become enfeebled, also their hands, body, and thoughts, and it is difficult for them to pray. It is necessary to overcome oneself, to strive to pray with the whole heart, for it is a good and happy thing to pray with the whole heart.

Trust in the intercession of the Mother of God, of the angels and saints, is a form of Christian hope. They are powerful in intercession for us, both by the grace of Christ and their own virtues. We do not pray to Them in vain; through their intercession we trust to obtain mercy, the forgiveness of sins, and salvation, as well as temporal blessings—such, for instance, as health, the salubrity of the air, deliverance from misfortunes and sorrows. By praying in the Spirit and by the Holy Spirit to the Saviour, to the Father, to the angels and all the saints, our prayer will become ardent, and tears will stream from our eyes— sweet and happy tears. Glory to the Holy Ghost the Comforter! And what a comfort He is to the soul!

The Saviour and the Comforter, two Persons of the Godhead: the One ever saves from sins, and the Other comforts him who is saved. Their very names are taken from Their deeds, and are always actually justified. He comforts! The Holy Ghost comforts the believing soul, as a mother comforts her child.

God sovereignly changes, by the Holy Ghost, ordinary bread and wine into the life-giving Body and Blood of His Son. From this we clearly see that He is also the Author and Nourisher of our bodily life, and that our bodily life is less important than the spiritual one; because the ordinary bread and wine, nourishing and strengthening our bodily nature, are changed into a better bread—the bread of spiritual life, and the wine into spiritual drink.

The Spirit of God is everywhere. Travel mentally throughout the whole world, everywhere you will see His deeds. By Him men are endued with a higher life. He also gives life to animals, birds, fishes, plants. Everywhere the Body and Blood of the Saviour equally work miracles; everywhere the sacraments have power, and their power is the Holy Ghost.

Concerning honouring and invoking the saints in prayer (on the day of St. Nicholas). What is it founded upon? They are in God; they are rich in spiritual gifts; they are in the land of the living, and in the land of abundance; whilst we are in the land of death and of spiritual hunger. God has taken them unto Himself to preserve our life. " God did send me before you to preserve life," said Joseph to his brethren. Abraham—Noah. The rich man in hell begged Abraham to send Lazarus. Noah, the deliverer from the deluge. "Blessed is he whose race is in Sion, and who hath kinsmen in Jerusalem."

I rejoice and delight in the infinite perfection of the Godhead; I rejoice and delight that the Godhead is in three Persons, and that each Person is self-hypostatic, and is all-perfect God— One in Three; that the Father is almighty, the Son is almighty, and the Holy Ghost is almighty; that the Father is omnipresent, likewise the Son, and likewise the Holy Ghost; that the Father is life, the Son is life, and the Holy Ghost is life; that the Father is love, the Son is love, and the Holy Ghost is love. I rejoice in God the Father, I rejoice in God the Son, and I rejoice in God the Holy Ghost—in one Godhead, the one nature and power, the one Saviour, God, Who loves us. I rejoice that to each of the three Persons of the Godhead, as God, special ruling actions are proper: to the Father, thought and benevolence; to the Son, the realisation of the Father's thought and benevolence; and to the Holy Ghost, accomplishment and quickening.

The Devil sometimes acts in the mind as a troublesome questioner concerning the incomprehensible, as an audacious infringer upon the unapproachable mysteries of the three Persons of the Godhead and their mutual relations. It is necessary to think reverently and most cautiously concerning the Trinity of the Godhead.

Prayer refreshes and enlivens the soul, like outer air refreshes the body. When praying we feel braver and brighter, similarly as we feel physically and spiritually braver and fresher while walking in the fresh air.

"All things that the Father hath are mine." All things that the Spirit hath are also His, excepting the proceeding from the father. Speak equally of the Father and the Son, only separating Their Personal nature. By reason of Their consubstantiality, there is a community of nature.

Learn to pray; force yourself to prayer. In the beginning it will be difficult; but afterwards the more you force yourself, the easier it will be for you to pray. But in the beginning it is always necessary to force oneself.

"O most holy Bishop, Father Nicholas, pray to God for us!" What is the reason that we ask the prayers of the Saints for ourselves? Do they really pray for us? and is their prayer effective? God Himself plainly declared His will to some persons not having nearness to Him, chiefly to sinful men, that they should ask God's people to pray for them. For instance, Abimelech, who took Abraham's wife, was commanded to ask Abraham to pray for him; Job prayed for his friends, in accordance with the evident revelation of God's will; Moses, Samuel, Elijah, and all the prophets prayed; the Lord Himself, in accordance with His human nature, prayed to the Heavenly Father for Peter and for all the disciples. The Saints are worthy of being intercessors for us before God, by their virtues, by their merits, and as those who pleased Him. If earthly justice requires that a certain man nearer to God (for instance, a priest) should pray to God for others, then why should it not be the same in heaven? All the Saints live in God and for us; in God they see our needs, they sympathise with us, they are ready, in accordance with our prayers, to help us. Why in accordance with our prayers, and not otherwise? In order to strengthen us in faith and prayerfulness. Besides, why do even living men wish that others who need their help should ask them for it ?

As the Devil wounds the soul in an instant by presenting some unlawful desire or some unrighteous idea to the heart, so God and His guardian angel vivify the soul by an instantaneous flow of holy desires and thoughts. We must be attentive and grateful to the Lord for His spiritual gifts of light.

What does the daily invocation of the Saints signify—of different ones each day, during the whole year and during our whole lifetime? It signifies that God's Saints, as our brethren, only perfect, live and are near us; that they hear us and are ever ready to help us, by the grace of God. We live together with them—in the one house of the Heavenly Father—only on its different halves. We live on the earthly, they on the heavenly half; but we both have a means of communication with each other: for us the prayer of faith and love, for them their spiritual nature, always ready for active help, owing to the love with which their souls are permeated.

"Faith is given to man by the Holy Ghost; therefore no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost." The Holy Ghost was revealed to us by Jesus Christ, Who was conceived and born by the Holy Ghost, Who grew and was strengthened by the Holy Ghost, Who cast out devils by the Holy Ghost, and Who rose from the dead by the Holy Ghost. The apostles, martyrs, the venerable men and prelates, preached concerning the Holy Ghost, and very many of them sealed their teaching concerning the Holy Trinity with their blood.

I myself am all infirmity, misery. God is my strength. This conviction is my highest wisdom, making me blessed.

When Christians come to church to pray to God, then it would seem that they have not one God, but many gods and many idols (and thus they sin against the first and second commandments). Some have themselves for idols of self-love: "Where their treasure is, there will their heart be also."

As you borrow your breath from the air and emit it into the air again—so that you are always surrounded by air, and it penetrates you—so also your soul comes from God and will return again to God, so that you are always in God, and are surrounded on all sides and inwardly filled with Him as with air. This is the meaning of the words " filled with the Spirit."

As you breathe every minute by means of air, so every minute you are mentally either with God or with the Devil, according to your inward disposition. What air is to the body, the spirit of God is to the soul. As you breathe from the air the elements required to nourish your body, so likewise you breathe into yourself from the Spirit of God good inclinations and thoughts.

When I read the Gospel, then it is not I that speak, but the Lord Himself; He Himself is in these words. For He is the Spirit, the Wisdom, or the infinite personal Thought; it is He Himself Who is in these wonderful thoughts and words of the Gospel. Only the word is ours, human; or, rather, even the word is also His; whilst the thought, its essence, truth, is the Lord Himself. I see the same, for instance, in the image of the Saviour or His cross. Again, He Himself is there—my omnipresent Lord is in them, in this image or in that cross, as in the word of the Gospel. His image on the icon or on the cross is only an outward appearance, whilst the essence is He Himself —manifesting Himself everywhere, in everything and through everything, and especially through the images and signs upon which His justly-worshipped Name is inscribed or His representation is drawn. So also He is in the priest's blessing by the sign of the cross, in which He Himself appears, and as though Himself blesses. Hence the importance of a priest's blessing. And even our customary making of the sign of the cross has also God's power, if only we make it with faith. Thus everywhere we may find and feel the Lord.

"If he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him." As the Searcher of hearts, the Lord knows that men are liable to very frequently trespass, and that, having fallen, they often rise up again; therefore He has given us the commandment to frequently forgive trespasses, and He Himself is the first to fulfil His holy word. As soon as you say from your whole heart, "I repent," you will be immediately forgiven.

The whole Gospel is the gospel of the kingdom to which Christians are predestined, and forms as though one single promise (all the parables, all the prophecies and miracles); the epistles of the Apostles reveal in greater detail the promises of Christian hope.

"Thy kingdom come"—that is, Thy perfect reign in our hearts!

By my body I am merely earth and ashes, whilst my soul lives and finds its rest in God alone. He is both the clearness of my thought and the strength of my heart; I myself am nothing.

The saints fulfilled the word of the Lord; the Lord fulfils their word; they worked for Him—He does so for them. The Lord Himself said: " With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." This is why the Lord speedily fulfils the prayers of the Saints for us.

When praying, we must truly sorrow for our sins, and truly repent of them. When enumerating the sins specified in the prayers, we must say them feeling them in our heart as if they were our own. Also we must have an ardent desire not to sin in future by the same sins.

Having the intention of speaking concerning Christian hope, I should reveal to you the promises given by God to us, and the wiles and snares in which the enemy entangles Christians, in order to divert their gaze and trust from priceless hope; they are—the flattery of riches, of earthly pleasures, and of honours. In speaking of Christian hope I should reveal to you the treasury of the blessings promised to us in Christ, to show you the incomprehensible, infinite mercy and the innumerable bounties of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; of the Father—our trust; of the Son—our refuge; of the Holy Ghost— our protection. My God! the infinity of blessings promised to Christians presents itself to my gaze, and at the fame time the infinite carelessness of Christians towards these promised blessings, their little faith, and, finally, their unbelief and coldness, trampling under foot the Blood of the Testament and neglecting the mystery of salvation. But may the Lord give me a mouth and wisdom, that I may speak with fiery tongues, that with His help I may light the fire of trust in hearts that are cold! Book of the immutable Covenants! tell us of God's promises to the righteous and to the sinful.

Concerning hope in God after having committed sins, whatever they may be—that is, hope of being reconciled to Him after we have given way to anger, or have fallen into despondency, anguish of heart; or have sinned through the passions. It would seem that the hope of the sinner in the forgiveness of his sins and in salvation is nowhere so clearly and powerfully expressed as in the prayers before Holy Communion, in the canons to the Sweetest Lord Jesus, to the Mother of God, to the Guardian Angel, and in the canons to the Saints of the day.

Hope also requires a life corresponding to the hope. Those who hope must not live "as others who have no hope." "Having therefore these promises ... let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit." "Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you"—this is what I ask of God.

"Where I am, there shall also My servant be "—"with Me in My Throne;" "shall be caught up together with them in the clouds ... so shall we ever be with the Lord"—such is our hope!

Take away from each one the visible thing which he loves above all; ask or take away money from the covetous, dainty food from the glutton, his prerogatives from the ambitious and proud man, call him by an evil name, and you will see what constitutes the hope of each one, what treasure, what passion is his! O, what shameful passions one sometimes meets with! Sometimes a man attaches himself with an impure love to a person of the opposite sex, breathes by it—so to say, feeds on it. O shameful hope! O unclean heart, withdrawn from the Lord! O man, setting his carnal, weak trust in an insignificant creature like unto himself, I will show you Whom you must love! You who burden your hearts by surfeiting and drunkenness, I will show you Who ought to fill your hearts! Money-lover, I will show you of Whom you ought to buy silver tried in the fire! You who seek after pleasures and honours, seek the honour of the heavenly calling. You who love fine raiment, buy of Him " white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed with righteousness." Despair, despondency, and presumption are sins against hope.

The punishment for sin, and the peace of the conscience after repenting of it, visibly prove that there is one Judge, the Life-giver and our God, Who can save or destroy us, Who has given us life and the laws of life, and chastises us for their violation, and that He is unchangeable.

The holy prophet David calls the soul an eye ("Mine eye is consumed because of my grief"), hearing, a tongue, a hand, a foot or steps ("Thou shalt make me hear of joy and gladness; that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice .... my tongue shall sing of Thy righteousness." "He will not suffer thy foot to be moved"). The eye of the soul is not closed even at night.

Take me captive, Lord, in the sweet captivity of Thy Holy Ghost, so that my words may flow "as the rivers in the south" to Thy glory and to the salvation of Thy people! Grant me this sweet and powerful inward impulse to set down upon parchment the fulness of spiritual visions and feelings! Let "my tongue [be] the pen of a ready writer"—of the All-Holy Spirit!

A deep feeling of spiritual poverty, a lamentation at the existence of evil, a thirst after salvation, are to be found in every straightforward and humble soul.

The ringing of bells is a call to converse with God, of children with their Father—a call to appear before Him.

What do we love most in the world? Life and health. Who is our life and health? Jesus Christ. Therefore, if you wish to live, and to eternally live and be blessed, believe in Jesus Christ, and please Him by living in accordance with His Gospel.

Love is God. If you love God, God dwelleth in you, and you in God. Malice is the Devil. The instant you begin to feel malice against your neighbour, the Devil is in you, entering into you like a needle, and endeavouring to become a mountain within you, so greatly does he spread, and so heavy is he! And therefore continually love God and your neighbour. Do not admit malice into your heart, even for a single moment j consider it as an illusion of the Devil. Amen.

"Charity suffereth long, and is kind;" whilst malice is impatient, quick to anger, and exacting. Malice is quick to punish, whilst love is quick to indulgence and forgiveness. Charity looks at its own defects, and is reluctant to notice them in others; whilst malice is sharp-sighted to notice the smallest defects of others, and is blind to its own great defects. We see the mote in our brother's eye, and not the beam in our own; this happens often, and most often, notwithstanding God's inward teaching.

Fear malice as you fear the fire; do not admit it into your heart, even upon any plausible pretence, and still less by reason of anything disagreeable to you; malice is always an evil, a child of hell. Sometimes malice enters the heart under the pretence of zeal for the glory of God or the good of our neighbour. Do not believe in your zeal in this case; it is false and unwise; rather be zealous that there should not be any malice in you. God is glorified by nothing so much as by the" charity that beareth all things," and is dishonoured and offended by nothing so much as by malice, under whatever fair appearance it may hide itself. It was under the mask of caring for the poor that Judas, hiding his malice against his Lord, sold Him for thirty pieces of silver. Remember that the enemy unwearyingly seeks your destruction, and attacks you at the time when you least expect it. His malice is infinite. Do not bind yourself by self-love and sensuality, lest they take you an easy prisoner.

God is inexhaustible in his gifts to men. During already 7403 years He abundantly feeds all creatures. Everywhere we see plenty and joy; only the greedy rich lay their hands on and keep in their treasuries too many of God's gifts, which might plentifully nourish hundreds and thousands of poor. Man! believe firmly in God's inexhaustibility in His gifts, and willingly "deal thy bread to the hungry;" the more you give, the more shall God send you. Such is God's law: "with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."

Learn always to remember and to pronounce the name of God with great faith, reverence, love, and a grateful heart. Never pronounce it heedlessly.

Speak and do everything right undoubtingly, boldly, firmly, and decidedly. Avoid doubts, timidity, languor, and indecision. "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love." Our Lord is the Lord of powers.

Breathe by faith (by certitude in God's truth), by trust in God, and by love for God and your neighbour. And how can you help yourself in this? By unbelief in the durability of everything earthly; by not putting your trust in earthly blessings, such as food, drink, money, riches, and earthly ties; by not caring for, by being indifferent to everything earthly and perishable. Do not let your heart cling to anything, do not attach yourself to anything. "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth."

God is love, and I am an image of God; therefore I ought to be all love. God is the most perfect good, free from the least shadow of evil; I am an image of God; therefore I ought also to be perfectly good, without even a shadow of evil. If the enemy will tempt you by food or drink, say to him, "My food and drink are the Body and Blood of my Lord; they cannot be taken from me. As long as I am a priest, I can communicate of them every week and for the greater part several times a week. Besides this, if I seek in myself the kingdom of God, by putting my trust in Him, my Lord, then everything earthly that is needful for me shall be added to me, in accordance with the Scripture." "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." My God is faithful. Inculcate these words into your heart deeply, by meditation.

Do not let yourself be angered by anything; conquer everything by love—all caprices and offences, all kinds of family unpleasantnesses. Know nothing but love. Always sincerely blame yourself, acknowledge yourself as the cause of any unpleasantness. Say, "It is my fault; I am the sinner." remember, that as you are infirm, so also is your neighbour, and one infirmity is annulled by the other; therefore it is useless to blame the infirm and sinful, if they acknowledge their infirmity. We must blame the Devil, who is so powerful in evil.

The heavenly Father so greatly cares for me, for my life, my salvation, that He did not spare even His only-begotten Son, but sent Him into the world to suffer and die, and feeds me with His Body and Blood. Is it possible, then, that He should not care for me in less important things, and should deprive me and mine of sufficient means of subsistence? This has not happened until now, and shall not be. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." "The very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore."

My life is the infinite Lord, Which Is, the Almighty; I am wholly absorbed in this life. " Who is above all, and through all, and in you all." I am ever before the face of God; I am ever in God, and He in me. Shall I put my trust in food, drink, or money, or in any man? Should I not then be blind? In truth, God is my hope. He is everything to me.

We must strive to remember oftener the words of the Saviour, "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven" and the words of the Apostle. "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby " (by it) to salvation (not flattering, not deceitful, unfeigned, true).

Be especially meek and patient in sickness and in other various unfavourable circumstances; for, spoiled by health, plenty, happiness, and peace, we are then particularly apt to become irritable. Happy are those of us who do not passionately attach themselves to anything, for they are not bound by avarice.

When praying, always remember that you are conversing with God, the Father of bounties and of every consolation, unchangeable, never wearied by our requests; with the Father Who is ever infinitely merciful, wise, all-powerful; for Whom, by His infinite mercy, wisdom, and omnipotence, it is as easy always to fulfil your requests as it is for you to think of them, to desire them; as easy as it is for you to pronounce the words of these requests, and even infinitely easier. Remember this, and never despond during prayer.

"My servant Job shall pray for you; Abraham shall pray for thee . . . Moses. . . Samuel . . . Elijah." The prayers of the Saints for us are pleasing unto the Lord, as coming from His faithful servants. The Devil continually lies against God in our hearts, especially in respect to God's omnipresence, saying, "God hath forgotten: He hideth away His face;" also, in respect to His justice, "God careth not for it;" also even, in respect to His existence, "There is no God."

God desires us that we should continually turn to Him in prayer, in order to draw to Himself His children, who have become hardened by sin and have withdrawn themselves from Him, in order to cleanse us and enfold us in the embrace of His love, in order to show us that He always has some blessing for us. Thus also do good parents act towards their evil-natured children.

When you hear that God speaks, then represent to yourself His word as deed, either already accomplished, or being accomplished, or about to be accomplished.

Prayer is the living water, by means of which the soul quenches its thirst. When you pray, represent to yourself as though God alone were before you, God in three Persons, and besides Him no one else. Represent to yourself that God is in the world as the soul is in the body, though He is infinitely higher than the world, and is not limited by it. Your body is small, and it is wholly penetrated by your small soul; the world is large, but God is infinitely great, and fills everything throughout the whole of creation—"Who is everywhere present, and filleth all things."

What is the meaning of the appearance of the three strangers to Abraham? It means that the Lord, in three Persons, as though continually, travels over the earth, and watches over everything that is done on it; and that He Himself comes to those of His servants who are watchful and attentive to themselves and their salvation, and who seek Him, staying with them and conversing with them as with His friends ("We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him"); whilst He sends fire upon the ungodly, as He did upon Sodom and Gomorrah.