Category: Uncategorized

January 27

The goal of a physician is not to avenge himself but to draw us towards himself. A physician is neither offended nor upset by the insults of the sick who rave in delirium and leaves no stone unturned in his efforts to prevent them from demeaning themselves, considering not his personal gain, but theirs. If they regain but a bit of their good sense and their calm, his heart is filled with satisfaction and joy; he increases his care and remedies. Far from taking vengeance on their insults, he adds kindness to kindness until he succeeds in restoring them to health. So too, when we have fallen into utter madness, God–without thinking of avenging the past–says and does nothing that would not aim at healing us of our illness.

~St John Chrysostom

January 26

…if you do not keep an intelligent control over sensual pleasures and pains but, rather, allow yourself to be dominated by them through the misuse of your intelligence, you wrongly and profitlessly multiply them, even causing yourself great injury. For thereby you give sure and self-accusing evidence that you do not firmly adhere to God’s Gospel and to the prophets who preceded Him, and to those who came after Him and were His disciples and apostles. For these all teach that inexhaustible riches come through poverty, that ineffable glory comes through simplicity of life, that painless delight comes through self-control, and that through patiently enduring the trials and temptations that befall us we are delivered from the eternal tribulation and affliction held in store for those who choose an easy and soft life in this world instead of entering by the strait and narrow gate (cf. Matthew 7:14).

~St Gregory Palamas (Philokalia vol.4, p.319)

Therapy of Spiritual Illnesses: An Introduction to the Ascetic Tradition of the Orthodox Church: (Book Review)

Quite often, after I’ve completed reading a book, I’ll exclaim to my wife something to the effect that, “This is the best book ever!” To which she will roll her eyes and yawn. So it is understandable if she feels I am somewhat crying wolf here.
 
Nevertheless, I just completed volume one of a three volume set entitled, Therapy of Spiritual Illnesses: An Introduction to the Ascetic Tradition of the Orthodox Church, by Dr. Jean-Claude Larchet, and I have to exclaim that it is one of the very best books I have ever read!
 
It is riveting and compelling for anyone who has an interest in details about the original spiritual health of man in Paradise, the fall of man, and the details of how the fall manifests in our daily lives today. It offers a very clear summary of the thoughts of the Church Fathers on the topic of the primary passions (self-love, gluttony, lust, love of money and greed, sadness, acedia, anger, fear, vainglory and pride), how they came about, how they draw us away from God, the role of the devil and demons in the fall and how they incite our passions through deception and other activity.
 
The particular beauty of this book is how clearly it describes these things, and how succinctly it describes very difficult ideas and concepts, which led me to many ‘lightbulb’ or ‘ah-hah’ moments, in which complex ideas from Scripture, from the liturgy, and from the writings of the Church Fathers, suddenly made more sense and came clear, due to the clarity and simplicity of the authors writing.
 
In some respects it is a terrifying book to read because it brings to light, and describes so clearly, the overwhelmingly desperate plight of mankind, if he chooses not to turn to Christ for healing, or salvation. It doesn’t allow the reader to claim ignorance any longer, or to hide from the reality of life in a fallen world, and a fallen self. In many respects it is a startling book because of the way it brings these realities to light, which, at least for me, had previously remained somewhat obscured, due to the complexity of them, and my own dullness of mind.
 
Since it is the first book in a series of three, it only tells part of the story, by explaining the problem, and setting up the reader to learn about the solution in the following volumes.
 
Volume two focuses on Christ as our physician, the sacraments as therapy, the role of the individual through their faith, desire for healing, repentance, prayer, the following the commandments, and hope; and further discusses the role of ascetic disciplines and inner warfare in battling our thoughts.
Volume three finally describes spiritual therapies which address each of the passions specifically, as outlined in the first volume, and concludes with a discussion of our return to spiritual health—free of the passions, in love and knowledge of God.
 
~FS

January 24

There are, then, four types of spiritual poverty, and each gives birth to a corresponding kind of grief, as well as to a corresponding form of spiritual solace. In the first place, freely-embraced physical poverty and humility–and that means hunger, thirst, vigils and in general hardship and tribulation of body, as well as a reasonable restraint of the senses–begets not only grief, but also tears. For just as insensibility, callousness and hardness of heart develop as the result of ease, soft living and self-indulgence, so from a way of life marked by self-control and renunciation come contrition of heart and compunction, expelling all bitterness and generating a gentle gladness.

It is said that without contrition of heart it is impossible to be free from vice; and the heart is rendered contrite by a triple form of self-control, in sleep, food and bodily ease. When through such contrition the soul is freed from vice and bitterness, it will certainly receive spiritual delight in their place. This is the solace on account of which the Lord calls those who grieve blessed.

~St Gregory Palamas (Philokalia vol.4, p.313)

January 23

Unless we bear with patience the afflictions that come to us unsought, God will not bless those that we embrace deliberately. For our love for God is demonstrated above all by the way we endure trials and temptations.

First the soul has to surmount afflictions embraced willingly, thereby learning to spurn sensual pleasure and self-glory; and this in its turn will permit us readily to bear the afflictions that come unsought.

If for the sake of poverty of spirit you spurn such pleasure and self-glory, and also regard yourself as deserving the more drastic remedy of repentance, you will be ready to bear any affliction and will accept any temptation as your due, and you will rejoice when it comes, for you will see it as a cleansing-agent for your soul.

In addition, it will spur you to ardent and most efficacious prayer to God, and you will regard it as the source and protector of the soul’s health. Not only will you forgive those who afflict you, but you will be grateful to them and will pray for them as for your benefactors.

Thus you will not only receive forgiveness for your sins, as the Lord has promised (cf. Matthew 6:14), but you will also attain the kingdom of heaven and God’s benediction, for you will be blessed by the Lord for enduring with patience and a spirit of humility till the end.

~St Gregory Palamas (Philokalia vol.4, p.312)

 

 

January 22

If you do not cut off the inner flow of evil thoughts by means of prayer and humility, but fight against them merely with the weapons of fasting and bodily hardship, you will labor in vain. But if through prayer and humility you sanctify the root, as we said, you will attain outward sanctity as well. This it seems to me is what St Paul counsels when he exhorts us to gird our loins with truth (cf. Ephesians 6:14).

One of the fathers has excellently interpreted this as signifying that when the contemplative faculty of the soul tightly girds the appetitive faculty it also girds the passions manifested through the loins and genitals. The body, nevertheless, is in need of hardship and moderate abstention from food, lest it become unruly and more powerful than the intelligence. Thus all the passions of the flesh are healed solely by bodily hardship and prayer issuing from a humble heart, which indeed is the poverty in spirit that the Lord called blessed.

~St Gregory Palamas (Philokalia vol.4, p.310)

January 21

This same thing happens to those who practice virtue in order to be praised by others. While they are called to be citizens of heaven, they “degrade their glory to the dust” (Psalm 7:5), and make their dwelling there, thus drawing upon themselves the curse of the Psalmist. For their prayer does not rise to heaven, and their every endeavor falls to earth, since it is not supported by the wings of divine love that raise aloft the works we do upon the earth….

This passion is the subtlest of all the passions, and for this reason the person who fights against it must not merely be on guard against coupling with it or avoid assenting to it, but he must regard the very provocation as assent and must shield himself from it….

Yet even before this the passion for popularity brings such injury upon those it masters that it shipwrecks faith itself (cf. 1 Timothy 1:19). Our Lord confirms this when He says, “How can you have faith in Me when you receive honor from one another and do not seek for the honor that comes from the only God?” (cf. John 5:44).

~St Gregory Palamas (Philokalia vol.4, p.308)

January 20

It is disbelief in God’s providence that makes it difficult for us to eradicate the passions that arise from our love of possessions, for such disbelief leads us to put our trust in material riches. “It is easier”, said the Lord, “for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24). But if we trust in material riches, this means nothing to us; we long for worldly, perishable wealth, not for a kingdom that is heavenly and eternal.

And even when we fail to acquire that wealth, the mere desire for it is extremely pernicious….Yet when wealth comes, it proves itself to be nothing, since its possessors, unless they are brought to their senses by experience, still thirst after it as though they lacked it. This love that is no love does not come from need; rather the need arises from the love. The love itself arises from folly, the same folly that led Christ, the Master of all, justly to describe as foolish the man who pulled down his barns and built greater ones (cf. Luke 12:18-20).

~St Gregory Palamas (Philokalia vol.4, p.305)

January 19

…the Lord blesses the opposite of what the world calls blessed, saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens” (Matthew 5:3). In saying “Blessed are the poor”, why did He add “in spirit”? So as to show that He blesses and commends humility of soul. And why did He not say, “Blessed are those whose spirit is poor”, thus indicating the modesty of their manner of thinking, but “Blessed are the poor in spirit”? So as to teach us that poverty of body is also blessed and fosters the kingdom of heaven, but only when it is accomplished in accordance with the soul’s humility, when it is united to it and originates from it. By calling the poor in spirit blessed He wonderfully demonstrated what is the root, as it were, and mainspring of the outward poverty of the saints, namely, their humility of spirit. For from our spirit, once it has embraced the grace of the gospel teaching, flows a wellspring of poverty that ‘waters the whole face of the ground’ (cf. Genesis 2:6), I mean our outward self, transforming us into a paradise of virtues. Such, then, is the poverty that is called blessed by God.

~St Gregory Palamas (Philokalia vol.4, p.303)

January 18

The Father, therefore, through the Son reconciles us to Himself, not taking into account our offenses (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:19); and He calls us, not in so far as we are engaged in unseemly works, but in so far as we are idle; although idleness is also a sin, since we shall give an account even for an idle word (cf. Matthew 12:36). But, as I said, God overlooks former sins and calls us again and again. And what does He call us to do? To work in the vineyard, that is, to work on behalf of the branches, on behalf of ourselves. And afterwards–O the incomparable grandeur of His compassion!–He promises and gives us a reward for toiling on our own behalf. “Come”, He says,”receive eternal life, which I bestow abundantly; and as though in your debt I reward you in full for the labor of your journey and even for your very desire to receive eternal life from Me.”

~St Gregory Palamas (Philokalia vol.4, pp.299-300)