Author: prayerfullife7

True, one may know man’s final goal: communion with God; and one may describe the path to it: faith, and walking in the commandments, with the aid of Divine grace. One need only say in addition: here is the path–start walking! This is easily said; but how to do it?

For the most part the very desire to walk is lacking. The soul, attracted by some passion or other, stubbornly repulses every compelling force and every call; the eyes turn away from God and do not want to look at Him. The law of Christ is not to one’s liking; there is no disposition even to listen to it….

But suppose someone has turned toward God, suppose he has come to love His law…will [we] be successful merely because we desire it to be? No. Besides the desire one must also have the strength and knowledge to act…he who begins with the aid of grace to strive toward God on the path of Christ’s law, will inevitably be threatened by the danger of losing his way at the crossroads…of imagining himself saved. These crossroads are unavoidable because of the sinful inclination and disorder of one’s faculties, which are capable of presenting things in a false light–to deceive and destroy a man….

These general considerations which are unavoidable to all on the path of salvation render indispensable certain guiding rules of the Christian life by which it should be determined: how to attain to the saving desire for communion with God and the zeal to remain in it, and how to reach God without misfortune amidst all the crossroads…in other words, how to begin to live the Christian life and how, having begun, to perfect oneself in it.

~St Theophan the Recluse

 

 

You, of course, know how the spiritual life goes. When someone yields to passions then he doesn’t see them in himself, and he doesn’t restrain himself from them because he lives in them and with them. But when the grace of God moves him, he becomes aware of his passions and his sins, confesses them, repents, and makes the decision to abstain from them. The struggle begins.

At first a person wages war against deeds, but when he rids himself of these he starts the struggle against bad thoughts and feelings….although he doesn’t commit them any more, his soul still thinks of them with enjoyment….the attention which he pays to himself continuously reveals to him the whole tangled web of sinful thoughts which swarm in him. Discovering this disorder, he begins to drive away bad thoughts and to suppress passions. He learns to discern which thought is passionate, as well as how it begins, steals up, attracts and captivates the soul.

At the same time, he learns how to vanquish it, drive it away and extinguish it. The struggle continues–more and more passions get forced out of the heart….Forced out!

~St Theophan the Recluse

 

It is true that the world’s charms are close to you, but that does not mean that you should be captivated by them. When a temptation comes, must you necessarily succumb? When you meet an enemy, must you surrender to him just because you have met him? It is the same with you: Let the world display its charms before you; you should see in them only a reason for repulsing it, for fighting and overcoming, not for being captivated by it….

Every time you come across a temptation, overcome it; don’t indulge yourselves and succumb, and soon you will become experienced…how does a warrior acquire skill? By often engaging his enemies.

~St Theophan the Recluse

 

All distress begins from thoughts. Thoughts begin to wander; they arouse suspicion, mistrust, and condemnation, slacken the work, and produce discord and disobedience. Therefore one must keep watch and not allow them to wander at their own will. Those who control their thoughts have everything in order. The ascetic practice of keeping thoughts under control is called mental vigilance.

One cannot live without thinking, because the mind is given to us for this purpose. But we may have good, bad or idle thoughts. Keeping vigilance over our mind consists in casting away bad or idle thoughts and keeping only the good ones which are in accord with the will of God and His holy commandments, and doing this in every action or situation which may occur.

The measure of good thoughts is the word of God. In every case, keep your thoughts in accordance with Holy Scripture. If you do so, you will have order in your mind; and if your mind is in order, so will be your actions, and you will have harmony among yourselves.

~St Theophan the Recluse

Accustom yourself to the labor of prayer, drawing near to the House of God….prayer is the proof of accomplishment and the means of progress. The more intensive is your prayer, the more pure is your soul. A flaming prayerful spirit is the result of its communion with God, Who is Himself fire and kindles the spirit of everyone who comes in contact with Him…..

go from praying both day and night while standing or kneeling, to staying with all your heart before God in constant prayer.

~St Theophan the Recluse

 

Even if you had the wisdom of Solomon, the faith of Abraham, the patience of Job, the fiery spirit of David, it would still be little in comparison to what still must be acquired. Conscious of this, those great righteous men said of themselves: I am earth and ashes; not a man but a worm, a defamation of men and the humiliation of the people….

When you have this feeling, then you will have a feeling of need and crisis; and when you have that, you will have a need for prayer. If this need would remain permanently in your soul, it would teach you further through the very work of prayer. Necessity teaches everything.

The need for prayer teaches one to pray. Where can one get wisdom and quick understanding? Either in solitude or at common prayer, in the cell or on the road, in church, at the table or at your handiwork….

Just don’t think that the act of prayer is somehow complex and confusing. When a child wants to eat he comes to his mother and says, ‘Give me some bread.’…the same goes for prayer to God….

When you feel the need, come and tell the Lord about it with a simple heart.

~St Theophan the Recluse