A Spiritual Psalter by Ephraim the Syrian

[Corydoras]

Have you never read of saints feeding the poor, or sheltering the homeless, or raising the orphans, or healing the sick? You think they did this without pleasure?

I have no evidence that they did any of their great spiritual feats with pleasure, and a great deal of evidence that the saints thought poorly of pleasure. It is nothing but your fantasy that they took pleasure in what they did. You have no evidence.

Do you have pleasure in doing such things?

Yes, because I defy all the Orthodox teachings I have ever heard about pleasure. It gave me a great deal of pleasure to take a clearly hungry homeless man into Wendy's and tell him to order the biggest dinner, and give him the change from the $20 to hurry him to his shelter before it shut for the night - and that wasn't the only time I have done something like that. I work in healthcare and I very hard full time to help fight diseases like cancer. I have a favorite special charity that is contributing to research that will benefit mankind and I love being in their top tier of donors. And yup, we are constantly taught that this attitude is PRIDE. Looky here! I'm boasting!

Can you provide any textual evidence of saints taking pleasure in anything? Don't assume they did something (pleasure) without evidence that they did.

 

[TER]

Can you provide any textual evidence of saints taking pleasure in anything? Don't assume they did something (pleasure) without evidence that they did.

If we cannot agree that love for God and love for one's neighbor is pleasure par excellence, the very pinnacle of joy and peace, then I fear this debate will not yield much.

I have obeyed your wishes and have added a warning to this thread. I now ask you as a Christian brother to obey my wish and start a new thread in which you can judge the saints of the Church and allow this thread to remain how it was, namely a reference to those who wish and can learn from it. I thank you for patience and your understanding.

 

[Corydoras]

I now ask you as a Christian brother to obey my wish and start a new thread in which you can judge the saints of the Church

Beware your passive aggression. Consider who has sent me to your threads, and when, and why.

I am not judging the saints. I am saying that YOU can find no evidence that they took pleasure in what they did. Do not hide your incapacity behind their greatness.

Joy and peace are NOT synonymous with pleasure and enjoyment! There is a reason that the words "pleasure" and "enjoyment" and "fun" are not used in regards to the deeds of the saints - it is because we aren't supposed to enjoy or take pleasure in anything. We are supposed to have apatheia.

I think you are fooling yourself when you imagine that the saints were having fun when they were doing what they did. Beware your imaginings.

There is nothing wrong with doing something without pleasure. If I am recovering from surgery and I need my wounds cleaned out, I sure don't want my nurse to enjoy rinsing out the clots with saline. I want her to do it right, not to have fun doing it.

I DO agree that layman and monk alike are enjoined to struggle against the passions. But I want parents to take pleasure in their children. I want spouses to take pleasure in each other's company. I do think people ought to enjoy their food instead of ingesting it like a machine taking in raw materials. But I am defying the Church in defending pleasure and fun and enjoyment. You are, too.

I also don't think that you should be publishing this material without this being approved and supervised by your spiritual father. He may be; but I suspect you are doing this cowboy-style. I am defying the Church in my defense of pleasure, but I don't pretend otherwise. I think you are a loose cannon in the Church and going above your station with what you are doing here.

One last thing. This is a forum, not your website, not your blog. If you don't want anybody posting responses to what you post, then you need to have your own website or blog; many are available for free, and doubtless will get more readers than here. I invite you to complain to the moderators; but I think they will agree that this is a forum for discussion, not your website, not your blog.

 

[TER]

I think you are a loose cannon in the Church and going above your station with what you are doing here.

Perhaps I am. Perhaps I am not. God will judge me. In the meanwhile, please pray for me, a sinner.

 

[TER]

71​

An Unstable And Indecisive Will​

Frightening and terrible is the day of Thy judgment, O our Savior, when secret sins will be revealed. Therefore I tremble, O Lord, and am embraced by terror, for my sins have exceeded all bounds. Be merciful to me according to Thy compassion, O good and kindhearted One!

I look, O Lord, at my sins and become agitated, seeing their multitude. Alas, how did it happen that such misery has befallen me? My tongue utters marvelous things, but my behavior is shameful and contemptible. Woe is me in that day when secrets will be revealed!

Others find my words immensely beautiful, but my deeds are repulsive. I teach others in the world how to order their lives; but I, who am an unfortunate one, myself indulge in the passions.

All my days have passed and vanished in sin. I have not served truth for even one day. As soon as I began to repent with the intent to sin no more, the evil one always came and trapped me through his hatred. Woe is me, for involuntarily do I land in his snare.

If I go out for a walk, I step out like a righteous man, like a sage. If is see another sinning, I mock and deride him. Alas, my transgressions will likewise be exposed and I will be ashamed!

O, better it were for me not to have been born into this world! Then this transient life would not have corrupted me. If I had not seen it, I would have no guilt, I would not have defiled myself with sins and would not have to fear interrogation, the judgment and torment.

As soon as I vow to repent, I return again and fall into the very same sins. The time I spend in sin gladdens me; I even think that I am doing something praiseworthy. Woe is me! Until now I never considered that gehenna awaits me.

An evil will leads me into sin, and when I sin I lay the blame on Satan. But woe is me, for I bring about my sins myself. The Evil One does not use force to make me sin; I sin according to mine own will.

Be kind to me, O Thou Who art kindhearted to the penitent! Forgive me my transgressions according to the magnitude of Thy goodness. Accept, O Lord, the tears I bring to Thee, and cleanse me from sin, as Thou didst cleanse the harlot. I realize, O Lord, that I have sinned. Spare me according to Thy compassion.

 

[TER]

72​

I Am Exceedingly Vile, But, According To Thy Mercy, Grant That I May Repent, And Deliver Me From Condemnation​

Unto Thee do I cry, O Lord; despise not my pitiful supplication. Unto Thee do I stretch forth my defiled hands. Cast not away me who repent, but regard me with Thy love for men and accept me with Thine ardent kindness.

I have defiled myself with the sensuality of sin, disgraced the beauty of my soul, enslaved myself to carnal desires, destroyed the former dominion by heeding the libelous enemy, darkened that radiance of my nature; and, though I was honored to be counted as a son of God, I have made myself like unto the unreasoning beasts.

Terror, fear and trembling embrace me when I imagine the harvest of death that imperceptibly approaches us all; yet I remain incorrigible.

Be merciful to me, O Lover of men! In Thee alone do I lay all my hope. Grant that I might repent and be corrected and bring forth the fruits of repentance, that when the end comes I may not be cut down like a fruitless tree, or thrown into the fire like weeds; but like what may I be gathered into Thy storehouse.

I bow my knee and heart, and dare not look upon heaven. Accept the supplication of unclean lips, O my only Sinless Creator! Thou, O King of all, Who hast overthrown mutinous Belial, deliver me from all manner of iniquity. When they behold my conversion, angels and morals will celebrate Thy glory.

I have scorned Thy life-giving commandments and been seduced by shameful deeds; but, Good Master, disdain not to deliver me from the Evil One's slavery.

I have made myself wholly a slave of the sins of sensuality; I have defiled body and soul. Daily do I cry: I have sinned, yet I cease not to engage in vile acts. And now I stand before Thee as one condemned.

Grant me, O Good One, forgiveness of my wicked deeds, for Thou are a kindhearted and man-befriending God.

 

[TER]

The Third Stasis​

74​

By My Tears cleanse My Sins And Give Me Strength, That The Enemy Might Be Ashamed​

Who will cure my soul if not Thou, O Christ, the only Physician of souls! Where will I find a remedy for the diseases of my soul, if not with Thee, O fountain of healing!... Thou Who didst cure the ailing woman, cure also my soul from the ruin of sin.

May Thy compassion descend on me and help me to overthrow my enemy. Fortify me who am infirm by the strength of Thine arm, and the Evil One will be ashamed when he sees that I am prepared for battle. Animate me and the Evil One will be humiliated. In shame will he be turned back, and I will glorify Thy name.

Accept the tears of my wretchedness and blot out the record of my deeds, and again will the enemy be ashamed, seeing that Thy loving-kindness has destroyed the fruit of his wicked deeds and that I will not be punished.

May Thy compassion come to mine aid, that I might pass safely through the realm of temptations, and that I might thereafter be close to Thee, with Thee always.

My sinful soul will glorify Thee and Thy Father and the Holy spirit, for she has wept and been heard, and, washed with tears of repentance, she has been made a temple inhabited by the Divinity Which has created the world.

 

[TER]

76​

A Complaint Against The World And A Prayer To Be Removed From It​

No advantage do you offer those who love you, O world, you dwelling-place of sorrows. All who draw near to you do you seduce with your treasures and with all your delights, but in the day of death both the fair countenance of the beautiful and the might of the strong will be cast down into the grave. Woe to him who loves you and is loved by you, for his joy will be transformed into cries.

In the world - that sea of sin- all my days have passed in vain. My life has gone by without bringing me any profit. I have even forgotten about the day of death. I have whirled about and gathered a burden of sins, whole sheaves of tares destined to be consumed by fire. And behold - lamentation and sighs await me in that land full of horrors.

Because I have loved you, O cunning world, from my youth through my old age, the time of my life has passed without notice; and lo, in sin will death steal me away. O, if only I had never set foot in you, O world that deceives all who enter! Those who love you enjoy no pleasures, and those who hate you weep not. Blessed is he who has torn your snares asunder - he shall inherit the habitation of joy.

This world deceives even the wise with its appearance, for at times it appears desirable. It even offers benefits and treasures for loan, but in the day of death it will take them back and give in return torment incomparably greater than our sins. For a short while will it let us sin, but as a reward it will give us eternal darkness.

Righteous art Thou, O Lord, and righteous is Thy judgment that condemns the world and those who love it! Therefore do I pray Thee that Thy right hand which pulled Simon out of the sea might also pull me out of the waves and the tumult of this world that rise up against me. I have become mired in filth; the waters of the world are drowning me, they do not let me break loose to catch my breath. May Thy Cross, O Lord, be my staff and my support on the path along which I walk.

 

[TER]

76​

The Impermanence Of The World's Benefits
An Exhortation To Estrange Oneself From Them​

How beautiful the world is, but it is full of death! It is like unto a flower which opens in the spring. It blooms while dew and rain support its life; when the hot weather comes, the flower wilts. Likewise does death cause the cheeks to fade, and in the grace does it destroy the members of the body so beautifully arranged... Grant us, O Lord, a refuge and defense in the land where the righteous dwell.

The world has made fools of its offspring. They sin, become distressed, and are convulsed by their own anxieties. How many of them whirl about, giving themselves no peace; yet they only gather thorns for the fire! Deceit arrogantly opens its mouth, but fidelity remains silent and does not speak. Iniquity gives eloquent speeches, but truth hides itself. Only death will silence all who have set foot on earth. Blessed is he who has completed his path in the world untainted.

The world is much stormier than the surging waves, and sin agitates it more than wind does the sea. There are times when the waters of the sea are calm, when the winds are concealed in their hiding places; but in the world waves of desire are ceaselessly whipped up, and the winds of deceit blows against the doors of the world's vessels. Yet the day when it will abate is at hand... Blessed is he who has completed his path in the world without falling into its snares.

Iniquity committed in the world upsets and distresses; burning lust takes on ferocity of a magnitude much greater than that of waves. The snares and traps of the world entangle those who serve it - their evil cargoes are sins and iniquities. But for the virtuous the time will come when their boat shall rest at harbor.

Your times and years are pleasant, O world, but they are like smoke. You are like unto a fleeting dream, and your days are just like shadows. Your evening passes quickly and your morning does not linger. Your hours fly, racing toward the end... Hasten, O sinner, to receive forgiveness while the light of day still shines on you.

Righteous is the judge, and righteous is the judgment of truth - then shall every man's deeds be weighted and rewarded according to his merits. In that day, those who worked iniquity will be tormented by regret, and those who labored virtuously will partake of joy in that land.... O Lord, grant that I who am inspired by Thy mercy may be freed from the snares of the world so that I might safely enter the harbor of life.

 

[dreamzilver]

Hello TER
Is these quotes from the book “A Spiritual Psalter or Reflections on God by St. Ephraim the Syrian excerpted by St. Theophan the Recluse”?

 

[TER]

Hello TER
Is these quotes from the book “A Spiritual Psalter or Reflections on God by St. Ephraim the Syrian excerpted by St. Theophan the Recluse”?

Hello dreamzilver! That is exactly where I quoted them.

Here is the book for the remaining prayers. http://bookstore.jordanville.org/9780912927404

 

[dreamzilver]

Hello dreamzilver! That is exactly where I quoted them.

Here is the book for the remaining prayers. http://bookstore.jordanville.org/9780912927404

Hmm.. not in stock everywhere.. Can we talk private?

 

[TER]

Hmm.. not in stock everywhere.. Can we talk private?

Of course!

Amazon has it, but it is costly. It looks like it is coming time for a reprint...