St. John of Kronstadt · 46 of 49

Part II · Part 22

The Lord is so merciful that He never disdains our prayer, but mercifully accepts it and corrects its imperfection, provided only that we turn to Him sincerely and do not entirely forget Him.

We preachers have only to assist the action of God upon the hearts of men, to seize their inclination for repentance and to strengthen it.

The word of God is the same as God Himself; therefore undoubtingly believe every word of the Lord. The word of God is deed, and your own word should be deed; therefore, also, during prayer our words ought to be deed and truth, and not falsehood, hypocrisy, and flattery. Apply this to your whole life.

Great is the dignity of man as the image of God. Why is a man who possesses lively faith capable of working all kinds of miracles, and of being in some respects a god for nature? Because he is the image of God; because, through faith, he is one spirit with the Lord. Why did God send His Son to be the Saviour of the world, and deliver Him unto death for the sins of men? Because men are the image of God. Why are such unspeakable promises and blessings given unto men, that "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him" All because they are the image of God. What respect we ought to have for men! What hope Christians ought to have! Friends of my God! "Set your affection on things above"!

"The Lord turned and looked upon Peter . . . and Peter went out, and wept bitterly." And even now, when the Lord looks upon us we weep bitterly over our sins. Yes, our tears during prayer mean that the Lord has looked upon us with His gaze, that gives life to everything and trieth the hearts and reins. Ah! the soul is sometimes entangled and ensnared by sins, like a bird in the net! We do not sometimes see any outlet from our sins, and they torment us; the heart sometimes feels terribly anxious and sorrowful on account of them; but "Jesus looks upon us, and streams of tears flow from our eyes, and with the tears all the tissue of evil in our soul vanishes; we weep and rejoice that such mercy has been suddenly and unexpectedly sent to us; what warmth we then feel in our heart, and what lightness, as though we could fly up to the Lord God Himself! I thank the Lord with all my heart for freely forgiving all my sin!

Jesus Christ, when distributing food, first looked up to heaven, gave thanks, blessed it, and only afterwards broke the bread and distributed it. The Apostle Paul did the same on board ship. So ought we also to thank God for our food and drink, as well as for all material blessings, but especially for all spiritual ones.

The Holy Ghost is the Treasury of all blessings or of spiritual riches. Look, with what wonderful riches the souls in which the Holy Ghost dwelt were endowed, with what light of knowledge, with what fragrance of virtues! The soul of a righteous man is a most rich spiritual treasury; such were, for instance, the souls of the Apostles Paul, Peter, John; of the prelates St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the Theologian. "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good." This is where the true treasure is. It is not what the world values.

If you wish to contemplate Christian hope in all its grandeur, read the Church prayers, follow closely the Christian Divine services, especially the Sunday and festival ones. There you will find the infinite riches of blessings promised to believers.

The spiritual man is absorbed both with mind and heart in the contemplation of God, and finds in Him a treasure of knowledge and wisdom, of " righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost," whilst the carnal man is engrossed in the adulterous and sinful world, or in material nature, not seeing God in it, and seeking in it food for his earthly, short-sighted intellect, for his self-love and pride. But "Blessed are the pure in heart." Cleanse your heart, and hope for union with God in the life everlasting.

When praying, strive, above all things, after fervour of spirit, after fervent, sincere repentence for your sins.—Ananias, Azarias, and Mishael, the prophet Daniel (before the appearance of the Archangel), the wise thief.

A priest is the servant of God, invested with His authority and power (in the sacrament of penitence); the blessing of the priest is the power of the Cross.

With sincere Christians prayer is continual, because we continually sin; gratitude is perpetual, because every day, every moment we receive fresh mercies from God, besides the old mercies which are numberless. Praise is also perpetual, because we perpetually see the glory of our God's works in ourselves and in the world, especially the glory of His infinite love to us.

The Lord is with us in the most sorrowful, inconsolable moments ("I am with him in trouble"), whilst we think that it is not so, that God has forsaken us. O, what unspeakable power our God has over our hearts! Even our mothers cannot entirely draw our hearts to their love, but the Lord draws them to Him by means of the Holy Mysteries and prayer.

There is a hope of reward for good deeds: "Great is your reward in heaven. . . . Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap. . . . Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. . . . Let Thy merciful kindness, O Lord, be upon us; like as we do put our trust in Thee."

Respect yourself as the image of God; remember that this image is a spiritual one, and be zealous after the fulfilment of God's commandments, which re-establish God's likeness in you. Be most careful not to break the least of God's commandments; such a violation would destroy your likeness to God, and would bring you near to the likeness of the Devil. The more you transgress God's commandments, the more you will grow like unto the Devil.

Learn to subdue your heart, to stifle your passions, by the power of the name of the Lord, and by your own will, at the time when you chiefly suffer from the outburst of self-love, when you feel ready to strike everyone and break everything.

I have a Teacher, Who gives me life; every word of His is the word of life, and is, therefore, truth. I believe Him in everything, and all that is contrary to His word—either in my thoughts and heart, or in what I hear from other people—I do not believe, and look upon as falsehood and death to my soul.

The most holy Spirit, by the grace of the Father, gives life to the entire and earthly creation.

We see that everything material perishes, beginning with food and clothing; we also notice that sins corrupt both the soul and body. This ought to revive in us the hope of the incorruptible and unchangeable. You who feed yourself on dainties; you who are vain of dress, houses, riches—what are you doing ? You are playing with soap-bubbles.

Everything that breathes, breathes by air and cannot live without air; similarly all reasonable free creatures live by the Holy Ghost, as though by air, and cannot live without Him. "Every soul is quickened by the Holy Ghost." Recognise that the Holy Ghost stands in the same relation to your soul as air stands in relation to your body.

During the night our soul is free from worldly vanities, and therefore the spiritual world can act upon it more freely, and it-is free to receive spiritual impressions; so that if the man is a righteous one, his thoughts and the inclinations of his heart are the thoughts and inclinations of the Lord Himself, or of the Angels and Saints; whilst if he is an unrepentant sinner, they are the thoughts and inclinations of the Devil himself.

The wonder-working image of the Saviour is the Lord Himself depicted upon it. I weep bitterly, and as though involuntarily, by the grace abundantly poured upon me from it; I shed streams of tears, which cleanse my soul from sins, and bring peace and joy into my heart.

The Devil is in the habit of attacking us when we are in straitened circumstances.

If any thought is life to the heart, then it is truth; if, on the contrary, it is anguish and death to the heart, then it is a lie. Our Lord is peace and life, and He dwells in our hearts by peace and life.

Ought not the Christian who looks for eternal peace and joy in heaven to courageously and joyfully bear all sorrows, labour, sicknesses and injustices, all sufferings, all unpleasantnesses? In truth he ought. Otherwise, what would be the meaning of future rest and peace? What peace and rest shall there be for him who has already had peace and rest here, without enduring anything? Where would God's justice be? " We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God."

The character of our earthly life is constant expectation of God's call from this life to the other. We are not our own; we are the servants of God, as the Church so rightly calls us; and servants ought to hourly await their Lord's call. He will knock, and you must go; "that they may open unto him immediately." But meanwhile how do we live! We have entirely forgotten that we are the servants of God; we think that we belong to ourselves, and order our lives not in accordance with God's commandments, but in accordance with our own will; we live as we like. And it is owing to this that our life is full of numberless sins. Look upon human life, and you will see that it is full of "vanity of vanities; all is vanity:" fashions, theatres, card-playing, dancing parties, masquerades, luxurious furniture, pictures, and so on. Everything for ourselves and nothing for our neighbour; he may go naked, or die from hunger and cold.

Contempt for creation touches the Creator; therefore do not dare to speak the following words or any similar to them, "I dislike that man's face, though he may, perhaps, be a good man;" for this is diabolical hatred of God's creature and odiousness. Remember that every man is an image of God, and that all his glory is within him, in his heart. Man looks upon the face, whilst God looks upon the heart.

Call to remembrance oftener that the evil lies in yourself and not in other people. By such a conviction, which is a perfectly true one, you will protect yourself from many sins and passions. Our greatest misfortune lies in the fact that we ascribe our own evil to another.

God's saints are great merchants, who have enriched themselves with all spiritual treasures, with all virtues: meekness, humility, abstinence, patience, great faith, hope, and love. This is why we ask their holy prayers, as poor men of rich, that they may help us in our spiritual poverty; that they may teach us how to pray and to progress in all Christian virtues; that they, having boldness before God, may pray for the remission of our past sins and protect us from fresh ones. We go to earthly merchants in their shops to buy their merchandise: shall we not have recourse to the heavenly merchants with fervent prayer, as though with silver and gold? Shall we not purchase of them their intercession for us before God for the forgiveness of sins and the bestowal of various Christian virtues? It seems very natural to do so.

Why should we thank God and good, charitable persons for everything ? Chiefly for our own profit, in order that the feelings of our soul should be more tender and finer; to cultivate the feeling of our dependence in all things from God and good men, and of grateful love towards them, as well as the feeling of our own nothingness without God and of our own impotency to live without the help of kind people.

When reprimanding your subordinates for their faults, care fully restrain yourself from anger, irritation, and disturbance, and be gentle, full of love, dignified and quiet. If the subordinate you have to correct takes offence, gently observe to him that you have no intention of offending and irritating him, that you sincerely wish him well, and that he should be orderly in his work, and that it is not him that you are annoyed with, but the disorder that he occasions. Do not offend his pride and dignity by exalting yourself in his eyes and lowering him. If you have this weakness (pride) yourself, better leave the correction of another and first cure yourself: "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." In the opposite case you will only irritate your brother, and not do him any moral good. Be gentle and indulgent to others when you hear of their faults, remembering that you, too, have similar or greater faults. You reprove another, for instance, for drunkenness; but if you drink yourself, or even if you do not drink, but indulge yourself with dainties, are given to gluttony, surfeiting, then you sin as much as he does. Correct yourself of your gluttony, and then you will be able to speak strongly against drunkenness in others. You accuse another of negligence in his service, but perhaps you yourself are also negligent. " Physician, heal thyself."

Do not bear malice in your heart against anyone on account of anything; do not despise anyone for any reason. " Have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins."

If you meet with inattention or even disdain from strangers, do not be hurt or take offence at it, but say to yourself: "I am worthy of this. Glory to Thee, my Lord, that Thou hast granted unto me, an unworthy one, to receive dishonour from men like unto myself!" On your part always show love to all, especially to your relations, sincerely, zealously, heartily, loudly; not coldly and languidly, hypocritically, reluctantly, as if in a whisper.

Do not eat to satiety, do not sleep to excess; labour zealously, pray with your whole heart; be entirely obedient to your parents and superiors; wish everyone well, be satisfied with all, and you will be satisfied with yourself, healthy and happy.

The life of a Christian should be continual watchfulness over himself—that is, over his heart, because the invisible enemies are ready to devour us at every moment; every moment they boil with rage against us.

You who during this present life so avoid sufferings for your body and sorrows for your soul; you who so cherish your flesh and make happy your soul—why do you not strive to avoid the eternal fire that is a thousand times more terrible than the earthly element of fire? Why do you not strive to avoid eternal sorrows? Poor creatures, turn and be converted. Truly, that fire will be unbearable.

Is it only for the adornment of your dwelling, as a beautiful piece of furniture, as an ornament, that you hang up richly-painted icons in your house, without turning to them with the hearty faith, love, and reverence due to holy things? Ask your heart if it is so. Icons in houses or in the temple are not intended for show, but for prayer before them, for reverence, for instruction. The images of the saints ought to be our home and Church teachers. Read their lives, and engrave them upon your heart, and endeavour to bring your life into conformity with theirs.

"Thou shalt love Thy neighbour as thyself." We ought to have all things in common. As the sun, the air, fire, water and earth are common to us all, so ought also (in part) food and drink, money, books, and (in general) all the Lord's gifts to be shared in common; for they are given in common to all, and yet are easily divisible for distribution amongst many. For we have nothing of our own, but everything belongs to God. And it is not just for the rich to keep their superfluity in their treasuries when there are so many poor people in need of the means of existence, of necessary clothing and dwellings. However, it is just that the laborious should enjoy abundance, and that the idle should endure poverty and misery. Therefore, if we know that some are poor only through their own idleness and laziness, with such we are not obliged to share the abundance earned by our labour. "If any would not work," says the Apostle Paul, "neither should he eat." But the crying poverty arising from old age, exhaustion, from sickness, from fruitless and badly-paid labour, from really difficult conditions of life, from a numerous family, from bad harvests, we must always hasten to help, especially those of us who are rich. We must be guided by the history of the times of the Apostles, by the example of the early Church.

With the words in your heart "All things are possible to him that believeth," strive after everything good and praiseworthy. Whatever good work you have the intention of doing, always have faith. Preserve by every means simplicity of heart, simplicity of faith, hope and love, of meekness, humility and gentleness. Every good comes from God, and God is every good for us. This is the simplicity of faith, hope, and love.

We ought to lay down our lives for the Lord and our neighbour, and not spare them; but meanwhile we grudge even food, drink, clothing, dwelling, money, books, and other things —this earthly dross. Our crafty and evil flesh seeks after the smallest pretext for self-love, greediness, and even grasping.

What a beautiful, tranquillising, and safe thing it is to forgive the sins of those who trespass against us or offend us! As soon as we forgive we feel at peace. You were offended? What of it? It is right that your old carnal man should be afflicted—he who is self-loving, proud, irritable, envious, lazy, avaricious, and who so greatly offends God. It is well that it should be measured to him, even a little, as he measures unto God.

It is not the sun that shines, it is the Lord Who shines, by His incomparable goodness, His unspeakable light. If He has given so much light to the sun, then certainly He Himself has infinitely more; if He has given so much light to the sun, then in the life to come He will certainly give incomparably more light to the righteous, and this sun is nothing in comparison to the reasonable human soul. Thus, if the material, created light shines so dazzlingly, then how will the primary, true, uncreated Light—God Himself—shine? There is an analogy between the material world (beginning with the sun, down to the smallest blade of grass) and the spiritual world.

When your brother sins against you in any way—for instance, if he speaks ill of you, or transmits with an evil intention your words in a perverted form to another, or calumniates you—do not be angered against him, but seek to find in him those good qualities which undoubtedly exist in every man, and dwell lovingly on them, despising his evil calumnies concerning you as dross, not worth attention, as an illusion of the Devil. The gold-diggers do not pay attention to the quantity of sand and dirt in the gold-dust, but only look for the grains of gold; and though they are but few, they value this small quantity, and wash it out of heaps of • useless sand. God acts in a like manner with us, cleansing us with great and long forbearance.

"He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin," is said of Christ, "that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." Will you be ashamed after this to acknowledge any of your sins, whatever they may be, or to take upon yourself the blame for sin which you have not committed? If the Son of God Himself was made guilty of sin, though He was sinless, then you, too, must accept blame for all sins with meekness and love (for you are really sinful of all sins), and accept blame humbly and submissively, even for those sins of which you are not guilty.

Be bold, resolute in every good work, be especially generous in words of kindness, tenderness, sympathy, and still more so in works of compassion and mutual help. Consider despondency, despair in any good work, as an illusion. Say: " I can do all things through Christ Which strengtheneth me," though indeed I am the greatest of sinners. " All things are possible to him that believeth."

It is necessary that the following words should be indelibly engraved upon our hearts, " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," and that these words should guide our heart upon meeting ■with anyone, at any time, whether he comes to us or we go to him; whether we have to do some work for him, or to give him anything, or simply to converse with him. Thus bear in your heart the words "love him as thyself," and carry on a perpetual mental war for the observance of these living words of our Lord. Force yourself to mutual love; intentionally trouble and disturb the worm of self-love and evil concealed within you; crucify it, and conquer it " by the power of the might" of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When you pray for the repose of the soul of the departed, force yourself to pray with your whole heart, remembering that to do so is your essential duty, mid not only that of a priest or ecclesiastic. Represent to yourself how necessary repose is to the departed one, and how greatly he (or she) needs the prayers for him (or her) of the living, being a member of the one body of the Church; how the demons are contesting his (or her) soul from the angels, and how it trembles, not knowing what its eternal destiny will be. Our prayer of faith and love for the departed means much in the Lord's sight. Represent to yourself, further, how necessary rest is for you when you are bound by the fetters of sin, and how fervently, with what sincerity, ardour, and power you then pray to the Lord and to the Most-pure Mother of the Lord, and how you rejoice and triumph when, after your fervent prayer, you obtain the remission of your sins and peace of heart. Apply all this to the soul of the departed. His (or her) soul also needs prayer—your prayer now—because it cannot pray fruitfully any longer itself; the soul of the departed also requires the rest which you can implore for it by means of your ardent prayer, joined to works of charity for the benefit of that soul, and especially by the offering of the bloodless sacrifice on its behalf.

Drunkards, adulterers, gluttons, thieves, disturbers, idlers, card-players, theatre-goers, dancers, idle speakers, scoffers! tell me: for what purpose was it that the Son of God came down from heaven, preached the Gospel of the kingdom, worked innumerable miracles, suffered on the cross, died and rose from the dead, and sent the Apostles into the world to preach the kingdom? Tell me, for what purpose was all this done? Was it that you should satiate yourself, get drunk, commit adultery, thieve, bear false witness, spend your time in idleness, in idle speaking, card-playing, in theatres, dancing, and gossip ? O, how dearly will you pay for your unevangelical life if you do not repent and amend!

God's priests ought to be especially skilful in the art of overcoming evil with good, for they rest in the law of God and are acquainted with numberless examples of the goodness of God's saints—of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, David, Moses, Samuel, and especially of the God-man, Jesus Christ Himself, Who is our purest image; the Apostles Peter, Paul, James, John, and others; the proto-martyr and first deacon Stephen, and others; besides which, they are often strengthened in the Sacrament of Holy Communion by the very Source of goodness, our Lord Jesus Christ—and teach others how "to overcome evil with good." From a priest, if he has not learned to be meek, humble, and kind, and to overcome evil with good, a stricter account will be required than from a layman; for the priest is raised up to heaven by God's sacraments, and has received great powers for piety. If, under these circumstances, he does not live piously, he dooms himself to eternal fire through his impenitence, negligence, and incorrigibleness. My Lord, forgive me my sins, and teach me to do Thy will. Priests ought not to be over-indulgent to sins and passions where it is necessary to uproot passions and bad habits. They must act boldly and firmly, without fearing the malice of others, and entirely despising it; although even on such occasions their actions should bear the character of gentleness and love, and of a sincere desire for their brother's amendment. If nothing takes effect upon him, then they must not heed his anger and ill-humour, but do their duty with firmness, without being disturbed by outbursts of malice. Peace is evil with sinners who put a bad construction upon every kind observation, every request, who only wish to see an aggression of malice in everything. Not being able to see the light themselves, they think others are blind too; being evil themselves, they do not wish to see any good in others.

When anyone, out of kindness, praises you to others, and they transmit these praises to you, do not consider them as a just tribute of esteem really due to you, but ascribe them solely to the kindness of heart of the person who thus spoke of you, and pray to God for him, that God may strengthen him in his kindness of heart and in every virtue; but acknowledge yourself to be the greatest of sinners, not out of humility, but truthfully, actually, knowing as you do your evil deeds.

May the infinite love and mercy of the Lord triumph, in consequence of our sincere recognition and confession of our sins; and may the sinful flattery of the Devil, teaching us to conceal our sins and not to acknowledge them, be covered with shame! May all the snares and bonds of the Devil be torn asunder by our repentance, like a cobweb! The Devil seeks that we should conceal our sins, and thus give ourselves up to them in secret still more and more easily; but let us even here destroy his snares and wiles; let us confess our sins, in order that we ourselves and all others may see to what abomination we are giving ourselves up or have given ourselves up, and that thus, by recognising this abomination, we may more easily amend. " Tell," it is said, " all thine iniquities," and do not be silent about them, "that thou mayest be justified."

Say: "I have nothing of my own; all is God's." "Your own " is an illusion of your sinful flesh. "All things are common." Such ought to be the words of the regenerate man. "Neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common." My Lord! it belongs to Thee to give me this also.

Brethren! prepare yourselves for union with God. Give up earthly vanity. Apply yourselves to the great work of self-purification and self-improvement. Love to progress in faith and virtue, and not to progress in the things of this world. Even here on earth we prepare ourselves to see there in eternity the Maker of every visible and invisible creature, the Beauty of all.

To my pupils. You are my children, for I have begotten you through the Gospel in Jesus Christ, my spiritual blood, for my teaching flows in your veins. I have given and give you to drink of the milk of the Word, as a mother from her breast. You are my children, and therefore you are ever in my heart, and I pray for you. You are my children because you are my spiritual children. You are my children because, as a priest, I am truly a father, and you yourselves call me father. " My children!" This word is very displeasing to the Devil, -who is the cause of dislike, malice, and hypocrisy; but I, God helping me, will not even for a moment obey him, and will not call you otherwise than my children; for you are my children by faith, by the Church of God, and by the instruction and fatherly guidance you receive from me. One can only truly call others' children " my children" by the Holy Spirit, by the Spirit of truth and love.

When you are expecting powerful temptations from the enemy, arm yourself with all the armour of God, with faith, hope, and love. Keep in your heart the words " All things are possible to him that believeth," and "abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." Say: " I do not doubt in, and do not despair of, anything good, although you, mine enemy, endeavour to sow both doubt and despair in me in regard to everything good, and especially in regard to the highest good, love. The God of Love Himself is with me, the God Whose children we all are. 1, unworthy as I am, bear the image of this very Father." "Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me."