The Extraordinary Actions of Divine Grace in Awakening Sinners From the Sleep of Sin

It is beneficial for those living in grace-filled life to know these actions so that, seeing God’s great care for sinners, they may glorify the unspeakable Divine grace and be encouraged with good hope of help from above in every good deed. And for those seeking Divine goodness it is especially necessary to know them because in them more clearly than anywhere else are expressed the properties of grace-filled awakening which we must understand well and clarify so that we can determine whether what we experience is grace-filled awakening—and if we already act, whether we act by grace-filled awakening or by self-made enthusiasm. Truly Christian life is a life of grace. Self-made life, however beautiful it may appear and however it may maintain the forms of Christian life, will never be Christian. Its beginning is established in grace-filled awakening; whoever heeds this will not lack grace-filled guidance and communion for all the time he remains faithful to its promptings. This is why we must understand well whether or not we have had grace-filled awakening. To satisfy this requirement one can say: judge yourself by the properties of grace-filled awakening revealed in extraordinary cases, for they are the same both in extraordinary cases and in the ordinary order, only in the former they are revealed more vividly, more clearly, and more distinctly.

In grace-filled awakening, as has been indicated, there occurs instantaneously the destruction in consciousness of the entire established order of self-pleasing sinful life and the revelation before it of another, better, Divine order, the one and only true and blissful one. Briefly this order can be depicted thus: God, worshiped in the Holy Trinity, who created the world and cares for it, saves us who have fallen in the Lord Jesus Christ through the grace of the Holy Spirit, under the guidance and protection of the Holy Church, through the crucified, trials-bearing life here, bringing us to eternal, endless bliss in the future life. He embraces both persons and events, institutions and the very principles by which all moves. The whole of this order is vividly imprinted on the spirit of the sinful person by the action of grace and, striking representation of its opposition to him and his disposition and to all he formerly lived for and enjoyed, when he ought to be in complete harmony with it and like-minded—strikes him. Every feature of it utters rebuke and censure to the person for his former lack of understanding and dishonesty, and these are all the more deeply impressed when at the same time the spirit perceives the worthy-of-contempt worthlessness of the former sinful order. Under this action the heart is freed from former bonds and stands free, and therefore is free to choose a new kind of life. This is the limit of the action of grace-filled awakening. It destroys in consciousness and feeling all that was formerly—the worse—and vividly presents only the new better, leaving the person struck in this position, free to choose the new or return to the old. Notably, grace-filled awakening is always accompanied by being struck and a kind of fright; perhaps because it suddenly, as it were by surprise, seizes the sinner at the crossroads of life, like a criminal, and presents him to God’s inescapable judgment, or because the new order revealed in consciousness is completely new to him and strikingly opposed to the former—and not only new but perfect in all its parts and bliss-giving, while the first is nothing, with only a heavy heart and wreck of spirit.

Yet the starting point of all good actions of grace-filled awakening is this living consciousness of the new Divine order. Starting from this idea, let us recall all the actual cases of this grace-filled action. The consciousness of the new order of being and life is produced in two ways: aa) sometimes the order itself, whole or in parts, is visibly, tangibly, actually presented to the sought-out sinner; bb) sometimes the spirit of man is brought into it and experiences it inwardly. aa) The merciful Lord reveals His Divine world in various ways before the consciousness of the one being converted, in which it is determined that our spirit shall live.

Often for this He appears Himself, visibly, under some form, either in a person’s waking state or in sleep. Thus He appeared to the Apostle Paul on his way to Damascus, to Constantine the Great (May 21), to Eustathius the Placidas (September 20), to one who was going to torment Christians—this is Proclus the Great Martyr (July 8)—to Paternutius in sleep (July 9), and to many others.

Sometimes He is pleased to send from that world various persons, likewise in visible form or in visions, in their own appearance or in some other form. Thus the Mother of God appeared many times, alone or with the Eternal Child, or accompanied by saints—one, two, or many: the great martyr Catherine (November 24), for example, was converted by an appearance to her in sleep of the Mother of God with the Eternal Child, who betrothed her to Himself as His bride. Angels appeared many times, one and entire choirs: for example, to Saint Andrew the Fool-for-Christ (October 2) in sleep was presented the entire host of holy Angels in opposition to the multitude of dark forces; saints appeared many times: for example, the holy bishop Mitrophan—to a Lutheran doctor, to a sick maiden, and to many others.

Sometimes that world itself and especially its order and as it were its foundational principles are depicted before the unknowing consciousness in some striking image, as can be seen from the case of the Holy Andrew the Fool-for-Christ already cited and from many other examples in which either the blessed dwellings of the righteous were presented to those being converted, as to an Indian king and his brother after the holy Apostle Thomas (October 6) distributed to the poor the money given to him for building a house; or the terrible torments of sinners, as to Isychius the Horivite (October 3, Prologue); or the conducting of the post-mortem judgment, as to Peter the Baker who threw a bread roll in the face of a beggar; or a deep thought was impressed about death and one’s fate after it, as to Ioasaph the Prince (November 19), to Saint Clement (November 25), and to one wayward youth whose dying father charged him to visit without fail every evening the room where he was dying.

Sometimes one is given to feel tangibly the invisible force working in the midst of visible forces and phenomena, but strikingly different from them and proceeding from another world. Here belong all miracles in general by means of which conversions too numerous to count have taken place. And the Savior said that unbelievers will not believe unless they see signs. Most of them were shown after Christ the Savior in the first times of Christianity by the Apostles, and after them by the holy martyrs. The striking presence here of God’s invisible force often converted whole villages and cities, but was never wholly fruitless. The blood of the martyrs indeed lies at the foundation of the Church…

There were also such cases when God’s power showed itself without the mediation of a human person, as in the conversion of Mary of Egypt (April 1), or through the mediation of holy things, icons, relics, etc. Thus the conversion of the Jews in Beirut was accomplished through miraculous appearances on an icon of the Crucified Lord. In all such manifestations, consciousness entangled in various objects and deceptions of the world and held inescapably in the visible, sensible, external order is suddenly wrenched from its bonds by a striking, unexpected, instantaneous presentation to it of higher persons and forces from some invisible realm and is driven into another order of being and life, and struck, stands in it. Here occurs the same as when electricity is aroused in one body by electricity from another body. The latter wrenches it from the bonds of matter, and drawing it to the surface, holds it before itself. bb) Our spirit, as we have seen, is closed and silenced by many coverings. But by nature it is a beholder of Divine order. The capacity for this is ready to show and indeed shows its power as soon as the hindering obstacles are removed. Therefore, for awakening the dormant spirit in man and introducing it into contemplation of Divine order, Divine grace either a) directly acts on it and, filling it with power, gives it the ability to break the bonds holding it, or b) mediately, shakes off the coverings and nets and thereby gives freedom to be in its own order.

Directly the Divine, omnipresent, and all-penetrating grace overshadows the human spirit, imprinting in it thoughts and feelings that turn away from all finite things and turn toward another, better, though invisible and unknown, world. The general characteristic of these awakenings is dissatisfaction with oneself and all one’s own and sorrow about something. A person becomes unsatisfied with anything that surrounds him—neither his accomplishments nor what he possesses, even if those were countless treasures—and walks as though stricken by grief. Finding no comfort in anything visible, he turns to the invisible and receives it readily, and sincerely takes it for himself, and himself to it. Many, with the question of what all this will lead to, left everything and changed not only their feelings and behavior but their entire way of life. There were cases when such dissatisfaction was expressed chiefly in the intellectual part, as in Justin the Philosopher (June 1), who especially sought the light of knowledge of Divine Being; sometimes in the emotional part, as in Augustine, who especially sought peace for his troubled heart; and sometimes, more often—in the active part, in conscience, as in the robbers Moses and David. There were many cases when suddenly the inner room of the spirit was illuminated, an inclination was kindled and drew the spirit elsewhere. “You do not know whence it comes or where it goes”, said the Lord of this (Jn 3:8). Often the spirit is awakened by remembrance of the past. Thus Mary, the niece of the Father Abraham the Recluse (October 29), was converted; a brigand student of St. John the Theologian Theophilus, the church economist, was converted. From somewhere it enters within and to conscience speaks distinctly: “Remember from what height you have fallen!”—and powerfully strikes the one who has forgotten. This can include all conversions after youthful falls. There is no doubt that even such changes are prepared from afar by God’s providence through various circumstances that dispose one to receive grace-filled action; therefore here too immediacy is only relative. But on the other hand, one must know that every grace-filled awakening reveals itself in such impulses and spiritual awakenings. Grace, though through visible mediation, always nonetheless invisibly and immediately touches the spirit and draws it from the bonds tormenting it into God’s light, into the realm of Divine life.

All means relating here are directed toward breaking the spirit’s bonds. Free the spirit, give it freedom, and it will flow by itself to where it came from—to God. The spirit’s bonds, as we have seen, are threefold, being composed of: aa) self-pleasure, bb) the world, cc) the devil. Against them are directed the destructive actions of the spirit-awakening grace.

aa) The closest bonds on the spirit are the bonds of all-embracing self-pleasure dwelling in our animal-soulish nature. They are the point of contact and of the other bonds, those coming from the world and the devil. Therefore breaking them is very important, though very difficult and complex. For since the unconverted lives entirely in his animal-soulish nature, the bonds from this side spread widely and become manifold in such a space as the animal-soulish life extends. To understand how these bonds are broken, one must consider that here that to which this life cleaves, on which it feeds, in which it is chiefly expressed, constitutes a firm support for it, on which established it stands and does not fear being struck, does not think of it and does not expect it. When someone, for instance, has become attached to artistry, or worldly success, or even learning, and lives wholly in one of them, then on it he relies and on it rests with all his thoughts, concerns, and hopes. Since from this proceeds all the subsequent self-pleasing life that binds the spirit, this support of self-pleasure naturally becomes the foundation of the strength and firmness of the bonds it imposes on the spirit, as the point to which these bonds are fastened. Therefore, conversely, to free the spirit from the bonds of self-pleasure, the awakening Divine grace ordinarily breaks the supports on which self-pleasing self rests. Shaking these supports in their foundation, it weakens the bonds and gives the tortured and exhausted spirit ability to lift its head.

The supports of our self-pleasure are many; they are both in our being—in body and soul—and in our external life and generally in our whole life order. Such are carnal pleasures in various forms—sensual gratification, luxury, lust, idleness, passion for diversion, worldly concern about many things, ambition, love of power, visible success in deeds, wealth, flattering external circumstances, value of connections, peace of external relations, attachment to artistry, learning, enterprises. All this, in the most varied forms, constitutes a firm support for our self-centered nature, which, confident in its reliability and strength, rests peacefully on it and, widely fed by it, grows day by day—in one person chiefly in one kind, in another in another.

Saving Divine grace for awakening the sinner from sleep, directing its force to breaking that support on which someone is established and rests with his self-centered nature, does the following.

Those bound by carnal pleasure it plunges into illnesses and, weakening the flesh, gives the spirit freedom and power to come to itself and become sober. Those deceived by their own beauty and strength it deprives of beauty and keeps in constant exhaustion. Those who find rest in their power and strength it subjects to slavery and humiliation. Those who place much faith in wealth, from them it takes it. Those who are conceited, are put to shame as ignorant. Those who rely on the durability of connections, from them they are torn apart. Those who relied on the permanence of the established order around them, it tears apart through the death of persons or the loss of necessary things. For those held in the bonds of carelessness by external happiness, by what else can they be made sober if not by sorrows and misfortunes? Is it not for this that our entire life is filled with calamities, so that it serves God’s intention to keep us in watchfulness?..

All such breakings of the supports of careless self-pleasure constitute the turns in life which, because they are always unexpected, act strikingly and salutarily. Most powerfully in this respect acts the sense of danger to life. This sense loosens all bonds and kills self-centered nature at its very root; a person does not know where to go. Of similar character is the tightness of circumstances or the sense of complete abandonment. Both leave a person alone with himself, and from himself, the most worthless, immediately he is led to God, or is turned around.

bb) The second bonds of the spirit are imposed by the world and lie more superficially than the first. The world, with its ideas, principles, rules, and generally with all its order raised to an unchangeable law, lays a heavy, ruling hand on all its children; as a result of which none of them dares even to think of rising against it or rejecting its power. Before it all stand in awe, with a kind of timidity they keep its rules, and they consider violation of them as a kind of criminal offense. The world is not a person, but its spirit is somehow held in the light, influences us and binds us as with bonds. Obviously, its power is mental, imaginary, not actual or physical. Consequently, one has only to dispel this imaginary power of the world—and the possibility of our becoming sober from its spell will be near. So Divine saving providence acts toward us. With this goal it:

Constantly holds before the face of the world and us two other worlds—holy, Divine—and through them and by means of them, giving attention and even causing to feel the better, persistently speaks of the emptiness of worldly life and worldly hopes. These Divine worlds are: visible nature and the Church of God. Experience shows how often a mind troubled by worldly concerns becomes sober from contemplating God’s creations or from entering the Church. One person, watching in winter a tree standing before his window, came to his senses; another, after noisy conversation, having felt the sweetness of soul’s peace in the temple, abandoned his former habits and devoted himself to God’s service. Visible nature and God’s temple not only have often enlightened and sobered careless and sinful Christians, but have even converted pagans to true knowledge of God and pleasing God. A word fell on one woman’s heart—hosanna—and made her a Christian. The conversion of our ancestors was finally established by its impact on them through the temple. The great martyr Barbara (December 6) was converted from idols to God by contemplating the beauties of visible divine creations. Their strength and influence depend on the fact that they vividly and tangibly present to the spirit wearied, exhausted, weakened, tortured by the world’s vanity a better, more blessed order of life and, momentarily pouring its joy into it, enlighten the person that in surrendering to the world’s dominion, he only torments and tortures himself, that happiness is hidden in a completely different world, and that if now communion with the world is so tormenting, what should be expected afterward? From this arises a call to God’s world and a tearing away from the vain world, which, sometimes as a powerful impulse and sometimes gradually, finally completely wrenches man’s spirit from the bonds of the world. Thus nature and the Church are drivers away, dispersers, wipers away of the enchantments of the vain and many-deceptive world. The Lord placed them in such connection with us precisely for this—so that they act more often and uninterruptedly upon us, more strikingly presenting the opposition of one life to another.

The second means of grace-filled deliverance from the bonds of the world consists in this: by the grace of God the All-Provider, another is shown in deed a life completely opposite to the one in which he moves. Here belong especially all conversions through martyrdom, and there were countless examples of this. Sometimes the martyrdom of one converted entire villages and cities. Here the presence of moral force from another, not our world is evident. Sometimes what seemed as though it ought to be defeat was not; the tortured one remains unconquered, is at peace, does not know why or how. The immediate reflection of this strikes the mind and dispels the spell of former life-orders in it. Here too belongs the conversion of the robber by King Mauritius, who instead of executing him treated him mercifully as a deserving man; the conversion of a harlot whom a mother asked to pray and return to life her only dead son; and again another harlot who came to repentance from simply watching monks humbly occupied in prayer and spiritual contemplation while she in that same house gave herself to luxury and depravity. And all conversions by the example of life belong here too. The power of their action lies in this: face to face are seen persons content and peaceful without the pleasures and comforting objects which another, abundantly possessing them, nonetheless finds neither contentment nor peace. From this comes disillusionment and change of life.

The third means of turning from the world is its shaming in the face of its own children. Julian raises himself above all, fiercely rises against Christians and threatens to destroy them by his might, but then suddenly falls. This not only established believers but converted many unbelievers to the true God. Against the holy Macarius, on false witness, a whole village rises, beats him, tears him apart, imposes punishment: the world has triumphed; but then the truth is revealed, shames all and returns all to reverence and fear of God. Here belong all instructions through the falls and unexpected deaths of the powerful and great of the world. The shaming of the world here humbles it before the face of its followers, exposes its powerlessness and thereby, on one hand, turns away from it, on the other—gives courage to resist it.

Often, finally, the world itself presses and drives out from itself as though by itself, namely in that it does not satisfy or shames expectation. We seek happiness; in the world there are indeed only glory, honor, power, wealth, delights—but nothing of the sort satisfies the seeker. A thoughtful person quickly notices the deception and takes to reason. In God’s holy ones we see that many of them, having examined the vanity and unrest of the world, withdrew from it and decisively dedicated themselves to God. The prodigal son in the parable said: “I perish here with hunger” (Lk 15:17). cc) The third bonds of the spirit come from Satan and his spirits. They are invisible and mostly coincide with the bonds of self-pleasure and the world, which Satan strengthens by his influence and through which keeps the mind in darkness. But there is also something proceeding directly from Satan. From him comes a certain indefinite fear and dread disturbing the sinner’s soul at all times, and especially when he thinks to do good. This is almost as when a master threatens a servant when the latter begins to do something not according to his will and plans. From him come various spiritual deceptions, such as: in some excessive hope in God’s mercy without true foundations, not sobering but deepening them more and more in sin-loving; in others, on the contrary, despair; in one—doubt and unbelief; in another—self-confidence and self-justification, silencing every feeling of repentance. Yes, much, very much depends directly on Satan, though it is difficult to determine. But all sin should be referred to him as to its source, for he is the king of the sinful world. One of his cunning tricks is to hide himself, that is, to convince sinners that he does not exist, as a result of which he seizes control with ferocity in the sinful soul, attributing to nature the sinful strivings he suggests and disposing to murmur against God, who forbids the natural and commands what their strength is insufficient to endure. The enlightening Divine grace often rescued sinners from the jaws of hell through the shaming of Satan. It brought him to shame and exposed him to mockery, laying bare his powerlessness and craft. Thus he was put to shame in the face of Simon Magus, in the face of Cyprian of Antioch, and in the faces of many others. All such cases were accompanied by the conversion and enlightenment of a considerable number of the blinded. In the days of the Lord on earth, demons, the source of unbelief and doubt, became preachers of faith. And the holy martyrs, by the power of the Almighty God, often forced both father and children of lies to speak truth through idols in their temples. Such revelation of the cunning of the crafty one brings the sinner to the conviction that he is in evil and hostile hands, that he is being fooled to his own harm, that he is being deceptively led along a dark path to destruction and one wants to rejoice over it. This inevitably generates a sense of fear for his own good, caution, suspicion, aversion both to the schemer and to his inventions—vices and passions—and to the whole former life. From this it is not far to a transition to the source of truth, good, and bliss—God.

Behold the paths and means by which Divine grace acts on man’s spirit, wrenches it from the bonds of a life unsuited to it, and face to face shows another, better one, the one in which his joy and peace lie. But it is evident that all of them, by themselves, are incomplete, as though they do not tell the whole thing. For example, a thirst for something better is born: but what is this better and how to attain it? Or the fear of death and judgment shakes one—what then to do to escape the misfortune? So in all other cases. They are mute: to all of them must be added still a supplementary and completing means. This is the word, or preaching. God’s Word, in its various forms, indeed accompanies all the shown means, clarifying them and pointing to their ultimate goal. Without it, it leaves a person still in a certain undefined state and, consequently, does not produce all that should. Thus the Apostle Paul was enlightened by a heavenly appearance. But the Lord did not accomplish everything in him here; He said: “Go to Ananias and he will tell you what to do” (see: Acts 9:6). Justin the Philosopher, Barbara the great martyr, Prince Ioasaph saw falsehood, but to know truth they needed special guides and interpreters. Therefore the Lord the Provider has established as law: “to preach to all” everywhere “that they may repent” (cf.: Acts 17:30). Faith comes from hearing, consequently “by the Word of God” (Rom 10:17). And this word from the Apostles through their successors is proclaimed now in all corners of the earth. And here lies the essential need of proclamation—the telling of the general, saving order of God, the necessity of the general knowledge of the persons and place to which the awakened one should turn for interpretation so as not to lose his awakening in vain or to avoid wandering with it at crossroads, exhausting his strength and time fruitlessly. Catechetical teaching must be constantly heard (and indeed is heard) in the Church. The faithful standing will be built up more and more thereby; and the fallen and awakened will immediately have a reliable guide. How precious is the duty of priests to proclaim in season and out of season the saving paths of God, not relying on general knowledge, mostly presumed!..

But God’s Word not only completes all the shown means but replaces them. It awakens more fully and more clearly. By its kinship with our spirit, likewise proceeding from God, it enters within, to the division of soul and spirit, vivifies the latter and sows it for the bearing of fruit of spiritual life (whence the word is called seed). The awakening power of the word is all the more significant in that it acts at once on all of man, on his whole makeup—body, soul, and spirit. The sound or articulation of the word strikes the ear, thought occupies the soul, and the invisible, hidden energy in it touches the spirit, which, if it heeds, after the word has happily passed through both body and soul—these crude barriers—awakens and, coming into tension, breaks the bonds holding it.

God’s Word awakens by the very means shown; namely: either by the most vivid presentation to consciousness of Divine order, or by the introduction into it of our spirit through the breaking of the barriers holding it. For example, an old servant said in simplicity to his sick master: “However much you struggle, master, you will have to die,” and thereby awakened him to repentance. Another read under an image of the crucified Lord: “Behold what I did for you; what do you do for Me?” and awoke from sleep. Holy Pelagia heard about death, judgment, and the bitter fate of sinners and abandoned sinful life. Prince Vladimir Equal-to-the-Apostles was converted by a description of the entire Divine order, from the creation of the world to the end of all things, the Dread Judgment and the eternal fate of the good and evil. And generally the preaching of the holy Apostles and all the preachers of the Gospel after them consisted in the simple, without speculations, presentation of truth. The holy Apostle Paul says of himself that his word and preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom but in simple telling of the work of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, crucified on the cross (see: 1 Cor 2:2–4). And this, one might say, is the most natural means of action through the word—to depict truth as it is, not blocking it with mental reasoning and especially with suppositions about probability. Truth is akin to the spirit. Simply and sincerely told, it will find it; surrounded by images, figuratively expressed and adorned, it will remain in fantasy; clogged with reasonings and proofs, it will be held back in the intellect or soul, not reaching the spirit and leaving it idle. One might say that all the fruitlessness of preaching depends on the mental speculations with which it is stuffed. But explain truth simply, reveal what it consists in—and the spirit will be overcome. A Jew read the Gospel—and was converted, for he saw truth in the simple Gospel narrative. Generally, many free-thinkers were converted by living consciousness of Divine things, according to the indication of God’s word—living or written. Truth scatters the darkness of vain thoughts, refreshes the soul, illuminates the spirit. It would be very beneficial to often use in general conversation a brief review of how everything began, how it will end, and why.

On the other hand, by the power of the word, often the barriers of the spirit are broken and freedom is given to it. Thus Saint Anthony the Great heard the word about the worthlessness of earthly goods—and abandoned everything. One youth heard a sermon about the prodigal son—and repented. By depicting the vanity of life and worldly things, many saints even on the marriage bed persuaded their spouses to a chaste, pure life. Generally, the presentation of Divine order—on one hand, and the revealing of various enchantments—on the other, fill the soul with fullness of saving knowledge, or clear and convincing knowledge of the path of salvation, against which the stubbornness of the heart rarely can stand. Very many, if they do not act as they should with effort but remain in sleep and carelessness, do so because they do not know saving truths or know them incompletely. Fullness of knowledge is victorious, for then there is nowhere for the deceitful heart to hide.

By virtue of this all-embracing universal suitability for awakening sinners, God’s Word travels on earth and reaches our ears in manifold ways. It is heard unceasing in temples at all services and outside temples in every church order; it is in the songs and hymns of the church; it is in patristic homilies and in every soul-beneficial book; it is in soul-saving conversations and in common edifying sayings; it is in schools, pictures, and every visible object representing spiritual truths. Judging by this, we are surrounded by God’s Word, proclaimed to us from all sides. From everywhere come to us trumpet voices for the destruction of the strongholds of sin, like the walls of Jericho. In all these forms of itself, God’s Word has already shown and constantly shows its victorious power over the human heart. One should only care that the paths through which God’s Word travels be guarded and not cut off—that sincere preaching not be silenced, that services be conducted according to order and for edification, that iconography be sound and holy, singing sober, simple and reverent. The fulfillment of this lies on the servants of the altar. They are therefore in the hands of God’s Providence the most necessary and most powerful instruments for the conversion of sinners. They must understand this and not be silent not only in temples but in homes, using every opportunity—now to depict in the word God’s world, now to reveal the deceptions of our spirit through the phantoms of animal-soulish nature.