Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov). "Saint Silouan, the Athonite".
In our desire to learn from the Elder if there is a criterion that allows to distinguish in a certain way between the true spiritual path and ‘illusions of truth’ that are found when we turn away from the path, we talked to him about this issue. His words were precious. He said:
"When the Holy Spirit fills the whole man with the sweetness of his love, the world is completely forgotten and the soul contemplates God with unspeakable joy. But when the soul remembers the world again, it cries then, full of love for God and compassion for men and prays for the whole universe.
Given over to tears and prayer for the world that love inspires in her, the soul, full of the sweetness of the Holy Spirit, can forget the world again and rest in God. And when the memory of the world returns, she prays anew, shedding tears, imploring, submerged in affliction, the salvation of all men.
This is the true way that the Holy Spirit teaches.
The Holy Spirit is love, peace and sweetness. The Holy Spirit teaches to love God and neighbour. But the spirit of delusion is a spirit of pride; it forgives neither man nor other creatures, for it has created nothing. He acts as a thief and predator; his path is strewn with ruins.
The spirit of delusion cannot procure true sweetness, it brings only the anxious enjoyment of vanity; there is neither humility, nor peace, nor love in it; but it leads to the glacial indifference of pride.
The Holy Spirit teaches the love of God; the soul desires the Lord and seeks him day and night, full of sweetness and tears, while the Enemy exhales his overwhelming and dark anguish, which destroys the soul.
These are the indications that allow clearly telling apart the divine grace from the delusion of the Enemy.”
We told the Elder that there are people who regard impassiveness not as love of God, but as contemplation situated beyond good and evil, and who consider such contemplation superior to Christian love. The Elder replied, ‘This doctrine comes from the Enemy, the Holy Spirit does not teach so’.
Listening to the Elder, we could not but remember the sinister images of those “supermen” who go "beyond good and evil.”
The Elder said, “The Holy Spirit is Love and gives the strength to love even the enemies to the soul. He who does not possess this love has not yet known God.”
In the eyes of the Elder, this criterion of love for enemies was of a decisive importance. He said, “The Lord is a merciful Creator and has compassion of everybody. The Lord has mercy to all sinners as a mother does to her children, even if they go astray. Where there is no love for enemies and sinners, the Spirit of the Lord is absent.”
No comments:
Post a Comment