27. On Saints Who Lived in the Wilderness and Loved the Solitary Life

Many of the saints loved the solitary life. Some of them wandered in mountains, caves, and clefts of the earth (Heb. 11:38); others made their dwelling on islands in the sea; and still others, like swallows or doves nesting near human habitations, settled in the forests near the monasteries where they had taken monastic vows. What does this mean? By law, solitary confinement is considered one of the severest punishments; some have even gone mad from it. Yet here are people who go into the wilderness, live there, and do not wish to leave it. Could they really have derived benefit even from the wilderness?

Could they really have found joy and peace even in the wilderness?

What answer can be given to this?

The answer we find in the life of the venerable Seraphim of Sarov, where the following words of Saint Basil the Great are cited: “O solitary life,” says the universal teacher, “house of heavenly learning and school of divine understanding, in which God is all that we learn. The wilderness is a paradise of sweetness, where fragrant flowers of love both blaze with a fiery color and shine with the pure whiteness of snow, and with them dwell peace and stillness. Growing in lowly places, they remain unmoved by the wind. There is the incense of the perfect mortification not only of the flesh but, more gloriously, of one’s very will; and the censer of constant prayer, sweetly consuming, ceaselessly blazes with the fire of divine love. There the various flowers of the virtues, gleaming with various adornments, bloom with the grace of unfading beauty. O wilderness, delight of holy souls, paradise of inexhaustible sweetness! You are the furnace in which the holy youths cooled the force of the burning flame by prayer and by the ardor of faith quenched the fire burning around them—in which both arrows and chains burned, yet those in chains did not burn. Only the bonds of sin are loosened, and the soul is raised up to the singing of divine praises, crying: You have opened my mouth wide! To You I will offer a sacrifice of praise” (“Life of the Venerable Seraphim,” p. 58).

Yes, truly even in the wilderness the saints received benefit, and in it they found joy and peace. They received benefit, for there the bonds of sin were loosened for them and their souls were raised to the singing of divine praises. They found joy and peace, for there the fire of divine love blazed ceaselessly within them, peace and stillness dwelt in their souls, and grace flourished. Yes, the wilderness was for the saints a paradise of sweetness. What then follows from all this? Should we, brothers, go off to the wilderness? No, there is no need, for not everyone is called to this high service to the Lord. From all that has been said, we should only conclude that we can find a wilderness for ourselves right in our own home. As one church preacher says: “Every Christian has an essential need for his soul to devote several hours each day to solitary prayer and meditation on God, so as not to be entirely scattered in the vanities of this world. Our soul has the same need for daily renewal of its powers through prayer and meditation on God as the body has for sustaining itself with food. There is no labor so heavy, no service so complex and important, from which one should not and cannot set aside some time to nourish it with this bread of life. For the salvation of our soul is, of all our works, our most important work” (Sunday Reading, 1842, No. 6, pp. 45-46).

And so, brothers, if you have come to love the wilderness life, you can always find it at home as well, for God is everywhere. And with God it is good everywhere: in darkness there is light, and in solitude there is joy. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me (Ps. 22:4). Amen.