Prayerful Life

After our forefather’s transgression in paradise through the tree, we suffered the death of our soul–which is the separation of the soul from God–prior to our bodily death; yet although we cast away our divine likeness, we did not lose our divine image.

Thus when the soul renounces its attachment to inferior things and cleaves through love to God and submits itself to Him through acts and modes of virtue, it is illuminated and made beautiful by God and is raised to a higher level, obeying His counsels and exhortations; and by these means it regains the truly eternal life.

Through this life it makes the body conjoined to it immortal, so that in due time the body attains the promised resurrection and participates in eternal glory. But if the soul does not repudiate its attachment and submission to inferior things whereby it shamefully dishonors God’s image, it alienates itself from God and is estranged from the true and truly blessed life of God; for as it has first abandoned God, it is justly abandoned by Him.

~St Gregory Palamas (Philokalia vol.4, p.363)

What organs…does the power of the soul that we call ‘intellect’ make use of when it is active?…some locate it in the head, as though in a sort of acropolis…but it is located in the heart as in its own organ. And we know this because we are taught it not by men but by the Creator of man Himself when He says, “It is not that which goes into man’s mouth that defiles him, but what comes out of it” (Matthew 15:11), adding, “for thoughts come out of the heart” (Matthew 15:19).

St Makarios the Great says the same: “The heart rules over the whole human organism, and when grace takes possession of the pastures of the heart, it reigns over all a man’s thoughts  and members. For the intellect and all the thoughts of the soul are located there.”

Our heart is, therefore, the shrine of the intelligence and the chief intellectual organ of the body. When, therefore, we strive to scrutinize and to amend our intelligence through rigorous watchfulness, how could we do this if we did not collect our intellect, outwardly dispersed through the senses, and bring it back within ourselves–back to the heart itself, the shrine of the thoughts?

It is for this reason that St Makarios–rightly called blessed–directly after what he says above, adds: “So it is there that we must look to see whether grace has inscribed the laws of the Spirit.” Where? In the ruling organ, in the throne of grace, where the intellect and all the thoughts of the soul reside, that is to say, in the heart. Do you see, then, how greatly necessary it is for those who have chosen a life of self-attentiveness and stillness to bring their intellect back and to enclose it within their body, and particularly within that innermost body within the body that we call the heart?

~St Gregory Palamas (Philokalia vol.4, p.334)

…do not leave any part of your soul or body unwatched. In this way you will master the evil spirits that assail you and you will boldly present yourself to Him who examines hearts and minds (cf. Psalms 7:9); and He will not scrutinize you, for you will have already scrutinized yourself. As St Paul says, “If we judged ourselves we would not be judged” (1 Corinthians 11:31).

Then you will experience the blessing that David experienced, and you will say to God, “Darkness will not be darkness with Thee and night shall be bright as day for me, for Thou hast taken possession of my mind” (cf. Psalms 139:12-13). It is as if David were saying that not only has God become the sole object of his soul’s desire, but also that any spark of this desire in his body has returned to the soul that produced it, and through the soul has risen to God, hangs upon Him and cleaves to Him. For just as those who cleave to the perishable pleasures of the senses expend all the soul’s desire in satisfying their fleshly proclivities and become so entirely materialistic that the Spirit of God cannot abide in them (cf. Genesis 6:3), so in the case of those who have elevated their intellect to God, and who through divine longing have attached their soul to Him, the flesh is also transformed, is exalted with the soul, communes together with the soul in the Divine, and itself likewise becomes the possession and dwelling-place of God, no longer harboring any enmity towards Him or any desires that are contrary to the Spirit (cf. Galatians 5:17).

~St Gregory Palamas (Philokalia vol.4, p.339)

“Be attentive to yourself,” says Moses (Deuteronomy 15:9 LXX)–that is, to the whole of yourself, not to a few things that pertain to you, neglecting the rest. By what means? With the intellect assuredly, for nothing else can pay attention to the whole of yourself. Set this guard, therefore, over your soul and body, for thereby you will readily free yourself from the evil passions of body and soul. Take yourself in hand, then, be attentive to yourself, scrutinize yourself; or rather, guard, watch over the test yourself, for in this manner you will subdue your rebellious unregenerate self to the Spirit and there will never again be “some secret iniquity in your heart” (Deuteronomy 15:9).

If, says the Preacher, the spirit that rules over the evil demons and passions rises up against you, do not desert your place (cf. Ecclesiastes 10:4)–that is to say, do not leave any part of your soul or body unwatched. In this way you will master the evil spirits that assail you and you will boldly present yourself to Him who examines hearts and minds (cf. Psalms 7:9); and He will not scrutinize you, for you will have already scrutinized yourself. As St Paul says, “If we judged ourselves we would not be judged” (1 Corinthians 11:31).

~St Gregory Palamas (Philokalia, vol.4, pp.338-339)

Patient endurance is the fruit of love, for “love patiently accepts all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7)….

A great teacher has said that after the fall our inner being naturally adapts itself to outward forms. When, then, someone is striving to concentrate his intellect in himself so that it functions, not according to the direct form of movement but according to the circular, delusion-free form, how could he not gain immensely if, instead of letting his gaze flit hither and thither, he fixes it upon his chest or his navel as upon a point of support? Outwardly curling himself–so far as is possible–into the form of a circle, in conformity with the mode of action that he tries to establish in his intellect, he also, through this same position of his body, sends into his heart the power of the intellect that is dispersed outwardly when his gaze is turned outward.

~St Gregory Palamas (Philokalia, vol.4, p.338)

“A hesychast is one who tries to enshrine what is bodiless within his body.”…Do you see how St John [Klimakos] has shown, not simply from the spiritual but even from a human point of view, how vital it is for those who seek to be true masters of themselves, and to be monks according to their inner self, to install or possess the intellect within the body?

Nor is it out of place to teach beginners in particular to look within themselves and to bring their intellect within themselves by means of their breathing….Since the intellect of those recently embarked on the spiritual path continually darts away again as soon as it has been concentrated, they must continually bring it back once more; for in their inexperience they are unaware that of all things it is the most difficult to observe and the most mobile. That is why some teachers recommend them to pay attention to the exhalation and inhalation of their breath, and to restrain it a little, so that while they are watching it the intellect too may be held in check.

This they should do until they advance with God’s help to a higher stage and are able to prevent their intellect from going out to external things, to keep it uncompounded, and to gather it into what St Dionysios calls a state of “unified concentration”.

This control of the breathing may, indeed, be regarded as a spontaneous consequence of paying attention to the intellect; for the breath is always quietly inhaled and exhaled at moments of intense concentration, especially in the case of those who practice stillness both bodily and mentally.

Such people keep the Sabbath in a spiritual fashion and, so far as is possible, they rest from all personal activities; they strip their soul’s powers free from every transient, fleeting and compound form of knowledge, from every type of sense-perception and, in general, from every bodily act that is under our sway, and so far as they can, even from those not entirely under our sway, such as breathing.

~St Gregory Palamas (Philokalia vol.4, pp.336-337)

Thirdly, grief also arises from the shedding of possessions…this, we said, is to be conjoined with poverty of spirit, for it is only when all types of poverty are practiced together that they are perfected and pleasing to God….when a person bids farewell to all things, to both money and possessions, either casting them away or distributing them to the poor according to the commandment (cf. Luke 14:33), and weans his soul from anxiety about such things, he enables it to turn inwards to self-scrutiny, free now from all external attachments….

and whenever the intellect withdraws itself from all material things, emerges from the turbulence they generate, and becomes aware of our inner self, then first of all it sees the ugly mask it has wrought for itself…then the intellect withdraws untroubled into its true treasure-house and prays to the Father “in secret” (Matthew 6:6). And the Father bestows upon it peace of thoughts…then He makes it perfect in humility, which is the begetter and sustainer of every virtue…

The shedding of possessions gives birth to freedom from anxiety, this freedom to attentiveness and prayer, while attentiveness and prayer induce grief and tears. Grief and tears expunge passion-imbued predispositions. When these are expunged the path of virtue is made smooth, since the obstacles are removed, and the conscience is no longer full of reproach. As a consequence joy and the soul’s blessed laughter break through.

~St. Gregory Palamas (Philokalia vol.4, pp.314-315)

…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)