March 5

Having lost the true knowledge of reality that he possessed in the Spirit, but nonetheless needing knowledge, fallen man ends up replacing this knowledge not by another single knowledge, but by a multitude of forms of knowledge of all sorts, corresponding to the multitude of appearances among which he henceforth moves. St Mark the Ascetic thus notes that its ignorance and forgetfulness of God “cast a pall of terrible and unstable curiosity over the soul.”

But the types of knowledge resulting from this loss are partial, shifting, differing, even opposed to one another–just like the phenomenal realities to which they apply. Man, in his substitutive forms of knowledge, is limited to classifying the appearances of things–these appearances that per se have no objectivity–since they are defined by the deformed and fallen intellect of their observer.

…Fallen man’s various forms of knowledge are thus nothing more than illusory projections of his fallen consciousness, and even where an objectivity or truth seems to have been attained (such as in scientific knowledge), this objectivity and truth can be reduced as a matter of fact to the temporary agreement of states of consciousness producing the same type of projection and being in accordance with one another in some way in their common state of decline.

~Dr Jean-Claude Larchet (Therapy of Spiritual Illnesses vol.1, pp.61-62)

March 4

Thus, fallen man replaces the worship of the Creator with the worship of creatures. Idolatry exists not only in the oft-taken forms of organized religion, in which creatures are explicitly defined as gods, but also in all man’s attitude vis-a-vis being, when this being is taken as an end and is endowed with a sense and value per se, instead of these latter being recognized in God. Idolatry also exists in every activity and effort consecrated upon a being per se, instead of being consecrated to God through it. One holds an idolatrous attitude towards a being whenever this being stops being transparent to God, stops revealing Him–in other words, whenever man stops perceiving its spiritual ‘reasons’ and ‘perceiving’ in them the divine energies present in them that define its true nature.

Thus this being hides God instead of manifesting Him; it is closed in on itself in a way instead of serving as a stepping stone for man, that he might be raised up to his Creator.

~Dr Jean-Claude Larchet (Therapy of Spiritual Illnesses vol.1, pp.58-59)

March 2

[One] should always act as if [they] were going to die tomorrow; yet [they] should treat [their] body as if it was going to live for many years. The first cuts off the inclination to listlessness, and makes [one] more diligent; the second keeps [one’s] body sound and [their] self-control well balanced.

~Evagrios Pontikos (Philokalia, vol. 1, p. 53)

 

With our being focused on God, we can more easily entertain the inevitability of our mortality, and by allowing this to shape our actions and our thoughts every day it can stimulate us to take our lives more seriously—considering how we spend our time, what we think about, how we react to others, and whether we are living to make our home and build our treasures here in this life, or preparing for our heavenly home and placing our treasures with God.

Acknowledging that our death is imminent can bring us into much greater intimacy with our Creator; it acknowledges the truth that this life, no matter how many years we are given, is just a shadow and we don’t have the luxury of putting off the things that truly matter. The day of our death, whether it is literally tomorrow or fifty years from now, will be upon us and we should be prepared.

As for our bodies, the Lord is greatly concerned with these as well as our souls, otherwise the Apostle never would have said, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) or, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

Therefore, if God cares for it, and He has plans for it even into eternity, then we must also care for it. However, not as the world cares for it, enslaved to our body’s appetites or lost in devotion to it, but rather caring for it in a spiritual manner, bringing it under the direction and control of our intellect, so that it is given what it needs for its ongoing health and vitality.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

~FS

March 1

In the whole range of evil thoughts, none is richer in resources than self-esteem; for it is to be found almost everywhere, and like some cunning traitor in a city it opens the gates to all the demons. So it greatly debases the intellect of the solitary, filling it with many words and notions, and polluting the prayers through which he is trying to heal all the wounds of his soul. All the other demons, when defeated, combine to increase the strength of this evil thought; and through the gateway of self-esteem they all gain entry into the soul, thus making a man’s last state worse than his first (cf. Matthew 12:45). Self-esteem gives rise in turn to pride, which cast down from heaven to earth the highest of the angels, the seal of God’s likeness and the crown of all beauty. So turn quickly away from pride and do not dally with it, in case you surrender your life to others and your substance to the merciless (cf. Proverbs 5:9). This demon is driven away by intense prayer and by not doing or saying anything that contributes to the sense of your own importance.

~Evagrios Pontikos (Philokalia, vol. 1, pp. 46-47)

 

Self-esteem, or vain-glory, is subtle and devious in the way that it turns the mind of its victim away from God, and towards him or herself. It can use nearly every aspect of one’s life as its raw materials for elevating the self, making it glory in itself apart from God, and even in place of God. Like the Pharisee it makes one proud of their accomplishments, or the gifts given them by God, and unlike the Publican it prevents one from humbling themselves and repenting before God, which is a necessary prerequisite for coming into genuine relationship with Christ, and for being healed of our spiritual diseases and attaining salvation.

Have you conquered gluttony, are you no longer attached to possessions, have you attained peace and freedom from disputes and confrontations with others, do you follow Christ’s commands—if you have achieved any of these and yet believe that you have done something yourself, you are in danger of self-esteem and losing the victory in Christ. Vain-glory works along with pride to delude the mind of those who trust in its lies, tricking the mind into believing in its own powers, and divorcing the soul from its marriage with God.  Constant prayer, determined prayer, prayer with attention and effort reunite the soul with God, restore the proper humility within the soul, turning it away from itself, and reorienting it towards the Lord.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

 

~FS

February 28

Man cannot drive away impassioned thoughts unless he watches over his desire and incensive power. He destroys desire through fasting, vigils and sleeping on the ground, and he tames his incensive power through long-suffering, forbearance, forgiveness and acts of compassion. For with these two passions are connected almost all the demonic thoughts which lead the intellect to disaster and perdition. It is impossible to overcome these passions unless we can rise above attachment to food and possessions, to self-esteem and even to our very body, because it is through the body that the demons often attempt to attack us. It is essential then, to imitate people who are in danger at sea and throw things overboard because of the violence of the winds and the threatening waves. But here we must be very careful in case we cast things overboard just to be seen doing so by men. For then we shall get the reward we want; but we shall suffer another shipwreck, worse than the first, blown off our course by the contrary wind of the demon of self-esteem.

~Evagrios Pontikos (Philokalia, vol. 1, p. 39)

 

*Incensive Power-one of three aspects of the soul (along with the intelligent aspect and the appetitive aspect), the force that provokes strong feelings such as anger, all three aspects of the soul can be used positively in accordance with God’s will or negatively, against nature, sinfully.

 

Impassioned thoughts are the myriad of thoughts that draw us away from God and draw us into every sort of trouble, difficulty and destruction. Evagrios shines light here on the fact that most of this sort of thinking derives from a misuse of the faculties of the soul connected to our desire and our anger. Desire should be directed towards God and not towards food and things; and anger should be directed against anything that comes between our relationship with God and in defense of virtuous conduct, not against other people or in defense of our selfishness.

In order to drive away sinful thinking, and destroy wrongly directed desire and anger, we have practical steps of ascetic practice that can help us, by loosening our attachment to the thoughts within us, and things outside of us, that keep us disoriented; rather helping us to focus in the proper spiritual direction aimed toward God.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

 

~FS

February 27

…the grace of deification is entirely unconditional, and there is no faculty whatever in nature capable of achieving it since, if there were, this grace would no longer be grace but merely the manifestation of the operation of a natural capacity. Nor, if deification were in accord with a natural capacity, would there be anything miraculous in it; for then deification would truly be the work of nature, not the gift of God, and a man would be able to be and to be called a God by nature in the full sense of the words.

For the natural capacity of every being is nothing other than the undeviating and natural disposition for active accomplishment. It is, indeed, incomprehensible how deification can raise the person deified outside or beyond himself if it is encompassed within the bounds of nature.

~St Gregory Palamas (Philokalia vol.4, pp.420-421)

February 26

…not all things said of God betoken His essence. For what belongs to the category of relation is also predicated of Him, and this is relative and refers to relationship with something else, and does not signify essence. Such is the divine energy in God. For it is not essence, nor an accident, even though it is called a kind of accident by some theologians, who mean to say simply this, that it is in God and that it is not essence.

~St Gregory Palamas (Philokalia vol.4, p.406)

February 25

The intellect perceives one light, and the senses another. The senses perceive sensible light, which manifests sensory things as sensory. The light of the intellect is the spiritual knowledge inherent in intellection. Thus sight and intellect do not perceive the same light, but each operates to the limit of its nature in what is natural to it.

When saintly people become the happy possessors of spiritual and supranatural grace and power, they see both with the sense of sight and with the intellect that which surpasses both sense and intellect in the manner that–to use the expression of St Gregory of Nazianzos–“God alone knows and those in whom these things are brought to pass”.

~St Gregory Palamas (Philokalia vol.4, p.424)

February 24

…if in the age to come the body is to share with the soul in ineffable blessings, then it is evident that in this world as well it will also share according to its capacity in the grace mystically and ineffably bestowed by God upon the purified intellect, and it will experience the divine in conformity with its nature.

…as St Diadachos states, in the case of those who have abandoned the delights of this age in the hope of enjoying the blessings of eternity, the intellect, because of its freedom from worldly cares, is able to act with its full vigor and becomes capable of perceiving the ineffable goodness of God.

Then according to the measure of its own progress it communicates its joy to the body too, and this joy which then fills both soul and body is a true recalling of incorruptible life.

~St Gregory Palamas (Philokalia vol.4, pp.423-424)

February 23

The grace of deification is, therefore, above nature, virtue and knowledge and, according to St Maximos, all such things infinitely fall short of it. For all the virtue we can attain and such imitation of God as lies in our power does no more than fit us for union with the Deity, but it is through grace that this ineffable union is actually accomplished. Through grace God in His entirety penetrates the saints in their entirety, and the saints in their entirety penetrate God entirely, exchanging the whole of Him for themselves, and acquiring Him alone as the reward of their ascent towards Him; for He embraces them as the soul embraces the body, enabling them to be in Him as His own members.

~St Gregory Palamas (Philokalia vol.4, p.421)