A Homily on Prayer of the Mind, the Heart, and the Soul (Part 3)

Concerning the blessed union of man with himself from the action of the peace of Christ, the greatest teachers of monasticism bear witness. Holy John of the Ladder says: “I cried with all my heart”, that is, with body, soul, and spirit: “where two” of these latter are united, there also God is “in the midst of them” (Ps 118:145; Mt 18:20). The venerable Isaiah the Hermit: “If you, like the wise virgins, know that your vessel is filled with oil, and you can enter the bridal chamber, and not remain outside;[1] if you have felt that your spirit, soul, and body are united incorruptibly, and have risen undefiled on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, if conscience does not accuse and condemn you, if you have become as a child according to the word of the Saviour, who said: ‘Leave the children alone and do not forbid them to come to Me: for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these’ (Mt 19:14): then truly you have become the bride (of Christ); the Holy Spirit has rested upon you, though you still remain in the body”. The venerable Isaac the Syrian: “Do not compare those who work signs, wonders, and powers in the world with those who keep silence wisely. Love the leisure of silence more than the feeding of the hungry in the world and the conversion of many pagans to the worship of God.[2] Better for you to loose yourself from the bonds of sin than to free slaves from servitude. Better for you to reconcile your soul in unified thought with the trinity dwelling within you—I speak of: body, soul, and spirit—than with your teaching to settle those in discord”. Holy peace is that immobility of the mind, born from the fulfillment of the Gospel commandments, mentioned by the venerable Isaac the Syrian in his 55th homily, which was experienced by holy Gregory the Theologian and holy Basil the Great, and, having experienced it, they withdrew into the desert. There, having worked on their inner man and having finally formed him by the Gospel, they became spectators of the mysterious visions of the Spirit. It is evident that immobility of the mind, or non-wandering (the cessation of distraction) is gained by the mind through its union with the soul.[3] Without this it cannot restrain itself from wandering and roaming everywhere. When the mind, by the action of divine grace, is united with the heart, then it receives the prayer-power of which the venerable Gregory of Sinai speaks: “If Moses had not received from God the staff of power, God would not have smitten Pharaoh and Egypt with it: so also the mind, if you do not have in your hand the power of prayer, will not be able to crush sin and the opposing powers”. With extraordinary clarity and simplicity the teaching on the peace of Christ is depicted, the height and importance of this gift is shown in the spiritual teachings of the hieromonk Seraphim of Sarov, where everything is drawn directly from the heart’s holy experience: “When the mind and heart are united in prayer and the thoughts of the soul are not scattered, then the heart is warmed by spiritual warmth, in which the light of Christ shines, filling the entire inner man with peace and joy”. Nothing is better in Christ than peace, in it all warfare of the air and earthly spirits is destroyed.[4] The mark of a rational soul is when man immerses his mind within himself and has the work in his heart. Then the grace of God overshadows him, and he is in a peaceful arrangement, and through this also in a supernal one:[5] peaceful, that is, with a good conscience; supernal, because the mind contemplates in itself the grace of the Holy Spirit, according to God’s word: “in peace is His place” (Ps 75:3). When someone walks in a peaceful arrangement, he, as it were, draws up spiritual gifts with a ladle. When man enters into a peaceful arrangement, then he can from himself and upon others shed the light of reason. This peace, as some priceless treasure, our Lord Jesus Christ left to His disciples, before His death, saying: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you” (Jn 14:27). We must concentrate all our strength, desires, and actions toward obtaining the peace of God and with the Church always cry out: Lord our God! Give us peace (Is 26:12). By all means we must endeavor to preserve the peace of soul and not be troubled by insults from others: for this we must in every way try to restrain anger and guard through attentiveness the mind and heart from unseemly movements. Insults from others should be borne with indifference and we should become accustomed to such a disposition as if the insults were directed not toward us but toward some stranger. Such practice can give peace to the human heart and make it the dwelling-place of God Himself. How to overcome anger can be seen from the life of Paisius the Great. He asked the Lord Jesus Christ who appeared to him to free him from anger. And Christ said to him: If you wish to overcome anger and wrath together, desire nothing, hate no one, and despise no one. To preserve the peace of the soul, one must keep melancholy far from oneself and endeavor to have a joyful spirit rather than a sorrowful one, according to the word of Sirach: “Sorrow has killed many” and “there is no benefit in it” (Sir 30:25). To preserve the peace of the soul one must in every way avoid judging others. By non-judgment and silence is the peace of the soul preserved: when man is in such an arrangement, he receives divine revelations. “The kingdom of God is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. He who serves Christ in these things is pleasing to God”[6] (Rom 14:17–18).[7]

The peace of Christ is the source of unceasing mental, heart, soul, gracious, spiritual prayer, prayer brought forth from all of man’s being, by the action of the Holy Spirit; the peace of Christ is the constant source of gracious, surpassing human understanding, humility of Christ. He will not err who says that gracious prayer is gracious humility, and gracious humility is unceasing prayer. We recognize it as necessary to set forth here the closest union of prayer with humility. What is humility? “Humility”, the Fathers said, “is divine and incomprehensible”.[8] Is this not the same as what the Apostle said: “the peace of God, exceeding all understanding”? (Phil 4:7). We will define humility without error if we say: Humility is the incomprehensible action of incomprehensible divine peace, incomprehensibly grasped by blessed experience alone. To the composition of such a definition of humility we have as our guide the Lord Himself. “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden”, said the Lord, “and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart: and you will find rest for your souls” (Mt 11:28–29). The venerable John of the Ladder, explaining these words of the Saviour, says: “Learn” not from an angel, not from man, not from a book, but “from Me”, that is, from My indwelling in you, illumination, and action, “for I am gentle and humble in heart”, and in mind, and in the manner of thought you have acquired, and you will find rest from conflicts and relief from passionate thoughts “for your souls”. This teaching is active, experiential, gracious! Further, in his discourse on humility, holy John of the Ladder, having enumerated various signs of humility which may be known and comprehended not only by the possessor of this spiritual treasure but also by his close friends and companions in the Lord, adds:[9] “There are signs for the possessor of this great wealth (humility) in his soul (by which he can know that he has become a possessor of humility), exceeding all the aforementioned. For all of those, with the exception of this, can be observed by outside witnesses. You will understand and not be deceived, that in you this venerable (humility) is present, by the multitude of inexpressible light and by the inexpressible zeal for prayer”. The venerable Isaac the Syrian, when asked: “What are the distinctive signs of humility?” answered: “As the exaltation of the soul is its dissipation, compelling it to soar (by means of the fantasies it produces) and not preventing it from being borne aloft on the clouds of its thoughts, on which it flies around all creation, so (in opposition to exaltation) humility gathers the soul into silence; by means of humility the soul concentrates within itself. As the soul is unknown and unseen by bodily eyes, so the humble-minded is not known, existing among men. As the soul is hidden within the body from the sight of men and from communion with them, so truly the humble-minded not only does not wish to be seen and understood by men because of his withdrawal and renunciation of all things, but he even desires to be submerged within himself from himself, to live and remain in silence, having completely forgotten his former thoughts and affections, to become as something non-existent and never having begun to exist, even unknown to his own soul. As much as such a one is hidden, concealed, and separated from the world, so much is he entirely in his Master”. What is this state but the state produced by gracious mental, heart, and soul prayer? Can one remain in the Lord otherwise than by being united with Him in pure prayer? In this same discourse is found the answer of holy Isaac to the question:[10] “What is prayer?” The Saint said: “Prayer is the emptying and idleness of thought from all things of this world and the heart completely turned with its gaze toward the hoped-for future”. Thus is it not the same, in action and consequence, true prayer and true humility? Prayer is the mother of virtues and the door to all spiritual gifts. By prayer practiced with care, patience, and effort, in attentiveness, both gracious prayer and gracious humility are acquired. The giver of them is the Holy Spirit, the giver of them is Christ: how should they not be so similar to each other when their source is one? How should not all virtues in general appear from such a source, in marvelous harmony and relationship with one another? They appear suddenly in that Christian into whose inner chamber Christ has entered to attend to the weeping of him shut in the chamber and to remove the causes of weeping. “Prayer is the mother of virtues”, said the venerable Mark the Ascetic, “it gives birth to them from union with Christ”. Holy John of the Ladder called prayer the matter of virtues, and humility the destroyer of passions.[11][12]

We must explain and make somewhat intelligible the union of mind, soul, and body to those who have not experienced it, so that they may know it when, by God’s mercy, it begins to manifest itself in them. This union is fully evident, fully sensible, not some fanciful matter or one assumed by deceptive opinion. It can be explained somewhat from the opposite state, in which ordinarily we all find ourselves. The opposite state—the division of mind, soul, and body, their discordant action, often turning into opposition of one to another—is the sorrowful consequence of our fall in our forefathers.[13] Who does not see in himself this discordant action? Who does not feel the inner struggle and the torment it produces? Who does not acknowledge this struggle, this torment—often unbearable—as our malady, a sign, convincing proof of the fall? Our mind prays or is in devout reflection and intention, and in the heart and body move various base desires, various passionate longings that pull with force the mind from its exercise and for the most part carry it away! Even the bodily senses themselves, especially sight and hearing, oppose the mind: by constantly delivering to it impressions of the material world, they lead it into distraction and scattering. But when, by God’s inexpressible mercy, the mind begins to unite in prayer with the heart and soul, then the soul, at first gradually, and then entirely, begins to strive together with the mind toward prayer. Finally the very mortal body of ours, created with longing for God, but infected by the fall with beastly longing, will strive toward prayer. Then the bodily senses remain inactive: the eyes see and do not see, the ears hear and at the same time do not hear.[14] Then the entire man is seized by prayer: even his very hands, feet, and fingers, inexpressibly, but fully evident and sensibly, participate in prayer and are filled with an indescribable power. The man, being in the state of peace in Christ and of prayer, is not open to any sinful thoughts—that very man for whom before all struggle with sin was certain victory. The soul feels that an enemy approaches it; but the prayer-power filling it does not permit the enemy to draw near and defile the temple of God. He who prays knows that the enemy came to him, but does not know with what thought, with what form of sin. The holy John of the Ladder said: “I did not know the evil one turning away from Me” (Ps 100:4), neither how he came, nor why he came, nor how he departed, but in such cases I remain without any feeling, being united with God now and always. When the mind is united with the soul, it is most convenient to occupy oneself with the remembrance of God, especially the Jesus Prayer:[15] by means of it the bodily senses can remain inactive, and such inactivity of them greatly promotes the deepest attentiveness and its consequences. The prayerful reading of Psalms and other prayers can and should be done in union, as being especially conducive to attentiveness. But as during psalmody various thoughts present themselves to the mind, so during psalmody it cannot be so pure from distraction as during brief, uniform prayer. In reading Holy Scripture and the books of the Fathers also one should unite the mind with the soul—reading will be far more fruitful. “There is required of the mind”, says holy John of the Ladder, “in each of his prayers (and therefore also in reading, by which prayer is nourished and which constitutes a branch of prayer and the mental work) the manifestation of that power which has been given to him by God—therefore one must be attentive”.[16]

Brother! If you have not yet felt the union of mind, soul, and body, then occupy yourself with attentive prayer, uniting the spoken and at times vocal prayer with the mind. Abide in the Gospel commandments, struggling with patience and longsuffering against the passions, not falling into despair and hopelessness when you are overcome by sinful thoughts and sensations, yet also not permitting yourself to be willingly overcome. When you fall, rise; having fallen again, rise again, until you learn to walk without stumbling. The cup of weakness has its usefulness: for a certain time it is permitted by God’s providence to the ascetic for purification from pride, anger, rancor, judgment, presumption, and vainglory. It is especially important to perceive the action of vainglory in yourself and to bridle it. As long as it acts, so long man is not capable of entering the country of spiritual life, into which the entrance is dispassion, granted by the coming of the peace of Christ. But if you have felt that your mind is united with your soul and body, that you are no longer divided by sin into parts, but constitute something one and whole, that the holy peace of Christ has breathed upon you, then guard with all possible care the gift of God. Let prayer and the reading of holy books be your primary work; give secondary importance to other works, and be cold, if possible estranged, toward earthly works. Sacred peace, as the breathing of the Holy Spirit, is subtle and readily departs from the soul that conducts itself carelessly in its presence, violating reverence, violating fidelity by indulgence in sin, permitting itself negligence. Together with the peace of Christ there departs from the unworthy soul gracious prayer, and passions burst into the soul like hungry beasts and begin to tear the self-surrendering victim, abandoned to itself by God withdrawing from it (Ps 103:20–21). If you become satiated, especially if you become intoxicated, the holy peace will cease to act in you. If you become angry, its action will be interrupted for a long time. If you allow yourself boldness, it will cease to act. If you love anything earthly, if you become infected with attachment to a thing, to some handiwork or a particular disposition toward a person, the holy peace will surely depart from you. If you permit yourself to delight in lustful thoughts, it will abandon you for a long time, a very long time, as not tolerating any stench of sin, especially of lust and vainglory. You will seek it and not find it. You will weep for its loss, but it will pay no heed to your weeping, so that you may learn to give the gift of God its proper value and keep it with fitting care and reverence. Hate all that draws you down, into distraction, into sin. Crucify yourself on the cross of the Gospel commandments, constantly hold yourself nailed to it. Manfully and vigorously reject all sinful thoughts and desires, cut off earthly cares, concern yourself with quickening in yourself the Gospel by zealous fulfillment of all its commandments. During prayer crucify yourself again, crucify yourself on the cross of prayer. Turn away from yourself all memories, even the most important, that come to you during prayer, neglect them. Do not theologize, do not be carried away in contemplation of thoughts brilliant, new, and powerful, if they begin suddenly to multiply in you. Sacred silence, brought upon the mind during prayer by the sense of God’s majesty, speaks of God more loftily and powerfully than any word.[17] “If you pray truly”, the Fathers said, “then you are a theologian”. You have a treasure![18] The invisible thieves see this, they guess at it from the loss of their influence over you (Ps 125:1–2). In the Psalter, the word “nations” everywhere means, in its mysterious significance, demons. Then the ascetic perceives his deliverance from bondage to demons, when his mind ceases to be carried away by the thoughts and fantasies brought by them, when he begins to pray with pure prayer, always united with spiritual consolation. This deliverance is intelligible also to the demons: “Then they will say among the nations: The Lord has done great things for them”. They hunger to rob you of God’s gift! They are skilled, rich both in experience and in the inventiveness of evil. Be attentive and cautious. Guard in yourself and cultivate the feeling of repentance, do not admire your state, regard it as a means to acquiring true repentance. Spiritual poverty will preserve in you the gift of grace and will shield you from all the enemy’s deceits and deceptions: “A broken and humbled heart God will not despise” (Ps 50:19) by delivering it into the power of the enemy and depriving it of salvation and grace. Amen.