The Journey towards Love
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Do not be surprised if you fall every day and do not surrender. Stand your ground bravely. And you may be sure that your guardian angel will respect your endurance. A fresh, warm wound is easier to heal than those that are old, neglected, and festering, and that need extensive treatment, surgery, bandaging, and cauterization. Long neglect can render many incurable. However, all things are possible with God.
- St. John Climacus
- St. John Climacus
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Ever let mercy outweigh all else in you. Let our compassion be a mirror where we may see in ourselves that likeness and that true image which belong to the Divine nature and Divine essence. A heart hard and unmerciful will never be pure.
- St. Isaac the Syrian
- St. Isaac the Syrian
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We know that the greater the love, the greater the sufferings of the soul. The fuller the love, the fuller the knowledge( of God ).
The more ardent the love, the more fervent the prayer. The more perfect the love, the holier the life.
- St. Silouan the Anthonite
The more ardent the love, the more fervent the prayer. The more perfect the love, the holier the life.
- St. Silouan the Anthonite
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One must behave affectionately toward one’s neighbors, not showing even a hint of offense. When we turn away from a person or offend him, it is as if a rock settles on our heart. One must try to cheer the spirit of an embarrassed or dejected person with words of love.
When you see a brother sinning, cover him, as counseled by St. Isaac the Syrian: "Stretch out your vestment over the sinner and cover him."
In our relations with our neighbors we must be equally pure towards everyone in word as well as in thought; otherwise we will make our life useless. We must love others no less than ourselves, in accordance with the law of the Lord: "Thou shalt love ... thy neighbour as thyself" (Lk. 10:27). But not so much that our love for others, by extending past the boundaries of moderation, diverts us from fulfilling the first and main law of love towards God, as our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught: "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me" (Mt. 10:37).
- St.Seraphim of Sarov
When you see a brother sinning, cover him, as counseled by St. Isaac the Syrian: "Stretch out your vestment over the sinner and cover him."
In our relations with our neighbors we must be equally pure towards everyone in word as well as in thought; otherwise we will make our life useless. We must love others no less than ourselves, in accordance with the law of the Lord: "Thou shalt love ... thy neighbour as thyself" (Lk. 10:27). But not so much that our love for others, by extending past the boundaries of moderation, diverts us from fulfilling the first and main law of love towards God, as our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught: "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me" (Mt. 10:37).
- St.Seraphim of Sarov
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As sins consist mostly of malice and pride, it is necessary to treat everyone who suffers from the malady of sin with kindness and love.
This is an important truth, which we often forget. Very often we act in the opposite manner, we add malice to malice by our anger, we oppose pride to pride.
Thus, evil grows within us, and does not decrease, it is not cured, rather it spreads....
- St. John of Kronstadt
This is an important truth, which we often forget. Very often we act in the opposite manner, we add malice to malice by our anger, we oppose pride to pride.
Thus, evil grows within us, and does not decrease, it is not cured, rather it spreads....
- St. John of Kronstadt
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Spiritual love is superior to the love between natural brothers and sisters because one relates to another through Christ and not a common mother. Those who possess this pure (noble) love are full of kindness, because they have Christ inside them and the Godhead is depicted on their faces. Naturally, it is impossible for Christ’s love to enter within us unless we separate our self from our love, offer it to God and His images, and give ourselves to others without wanting them to commit themselves to us.
Those who suffer deeply for the salvation of the whole world and help in their own way (as strugglers) and humbly entrust themselves to the hands of God, feel the greatest joy in the world. Their life is a constant doxology, for they flutter about internally like angels, glorifying God day and night. Those, however, who neglect the salvation of their souls and try to find joy and rest in this vain life, are continually tortured and entangled in endless worldly machinery and live in hell in this life.
Those who have philotimo, because they move within the heavenly sphere of doxology, joyfully accept their trials as well as their blessings, and glorify God for them. Thus, they are continuously receiving God’s blessing from everything and are melting internally out of gratitude towards God, which they express in every spiritual way possible, like children of God.
Although the Good God gives us abundant blessings, acts always for our own good and has made everything to be of service to us and to be sacrificed for us, from plants to animals and birds, whether big or small, and even though God Himself sacrificed His life to redeem man, many of us remain indifferent and wound Him with our great ingratitude and insensitivity. And, all of this even though He has given us our conscience as an inheritance together with all His other blessings.
Conscience is the first law of God, which He deeply carved in the hearts of the First Created, and consequently, each one of us takes it as a "photocopy" from his parents when he is born. Those who have managed to sensitize their consciences through the daily study of themselves feel themselves estranged from this world; and, as a result, worldly people are dumfounded by their discerning behavior. Those, however, who do not examine their consciences are neither benefited by spiritual study nor by the advice of the Elders, nor are they even able to keep God’s commandments, since they quickly become insensitive.
Those who are sensitive and have philotimo, and who observe everything with precision, are usually wronged by the insensitive ones due to the constant concessions they make for them out of love. However, God’s love is always on their side. Oftentimes, they wrong themselves due to their hypersensitivity, overemphasizing their minor sins or bearing the burden of others’ faults; but once again, God comforts them with His heavenly kindness and, at the same time, strengthens them spiritually.
Those who wrong or wound sensitive people inwardly are not human.
Those who claim they are sensitive, loving, and discreet and endure the injustices of others, but say, "Let them receive theirs from God," are fooled by the deceiver without realizing it, since this is a way to curse politely. In this life everyone takes exams in order to pass on to eternal life, Paradise. It is my feeling that this polite curse is below the spiritual passing mark.
Those who wrong others wrong themselves eternally; those who joyfully accept the injustice of others are entitled to an eternal reward with interest.
Naturally, every person will be paid by the boss for whom he worked. Those who work for Christ shall receive a hundredfold now in this time and, in the world to come, eternal life (Mark 10:30); and those who work for the dark boss will receive darkness even now.
Those who work for Christ but are prideful pollute their virtues, just as fried eggs are contaminated when bird’s droppings fall on them. They then can only be thrown in the trash along with the frying pan.
All those, however, who work humbly, acquire virtues and share their hidden experiences out of humility and love, are the greatest benefactors, because they give spiritual charity and positively help souls which are weak and unsound in the Faith. Those who throw even their own selves to the world, out of love, after having driven out the world from within them, fly into Heaven and are not caught by the world.
Love with external poverty greatly assists in acquiring the inner poverty of the passions. These two kinds of poverty make man rich in God’s kindness.
Good people do not keep evil in their hearts, but neither do they keep their kindness to themselves. For this reason, they do not possess elegant things and are not moved by the world’s beauties. In this, their fervent faith in God as well as their great love is made manifest.
There is no man more intelligent than the merciful one who gives away earthly, perishable things and buys imperishable, heavenly things. Likewise, there is no greater fool in the world than the greedy one who gathers things continually and yet is deprived continually, finally buying hell with his collected savings. Those, naturally, who are lost in material things are totally lost, for they have also lost Christ.
Sadness and stress always dominate the person who is dominated by material things, for sometimes he fears that people will take away his possessions, and other times he is afraid they will take away his soul. The miser, whose hand has become numb from squeezing it too hard, has also constricted his heart and turned it into stone. In order to be cured, he must visit destitute people and sympathize with them, so he will be forced to slowly open up his hand. Consequently, his stony heart will soften and become humane, and thus the gates of Paradise will also open for him.
Kindness softens and opens up the heart, as oil opens a rusty lock.
Those who come close to people in pain, naturally draw near to God, because God is always by the side of His children who are in pain.
God spiritually strengthens His children who have philotimo, who help their fellow men carry their crosses, and He relieves them from their own crosses (trials).
Those who think about the heavy crosses of the righteous, never worry about their own small trials, for, although they have made more mistakes in their life, they suffer less than the righteous.
Those who suffer trials unjustly imitate Christ; and those who face hardships due to their sins are blessed, because they are forgiven their sins in this life.
Those who do not co-suffer with those in pain, suffer from a fatal spiritual illness: mercilessness. Those who are annoyed by the moaning of sick people and react angrily because they cannot concentrate, suffer from many spiritual illnesses.
Those who truly love and struggle correctly, can also endure with love, sacrifice themselves, and give rest to their neighbor, who is Christ.
Those who wish others to provide for them but offer nothing in return, are constantly asking things from God without giving anything to Him, not even their sins (by repentance). Such people are completely estranged from God and deliver themselves of their own accord into the hands of the manslayer (the devil). Because they have only cultivated love for their own selves, it follows that great anguish will then develop in them and that they will suffer hell, in part, already in this life.
Those who do not put themselves in the place of their suffering fellow man are deserted by God, experience a terrible fall, and learn to feel pain. Those, on the other hand, who feel compassion, care for other people, and ignore their own selves, are protected by God and are looked after both by God and by men.
When someone gives his heart to God, then the mind of this man is also seized by the love of God. He is indifferent towards worldly things and continually thinks about the Heavenly Father, and being divinely in love, he glorifies his Creator day and night like an angel.
Merely the thought of God’s benevolent acts is enough to make the heart of a person who has philotimo break; yet even more so, when he thinks of his numerous sins and the great mercy of God.
Those who struggle and sense their sinfulness as well as God’s loving-kindness and who trust in His great mercy, elevate their souls to Paradise with great confidence and little physical effort, if they have good intentions.
People who struggle hard, with much devotion, and have reached the angelic state to a certain extent and are nurtured with celestial honey, nevertheless offer nothing significant to God compared with what He has offered us. For they eat honey while offering Him wax. They eat sweet fruits and offer God tree resin with the censer. Therefore, we do nothing and offer nothing to God, compared with His great loving-kindness. For, while the Good God produces beautiful fruit with our rubbish or even with manure, in order to feed us, we wretched people turn beautiful fruit into manure.
As the kindness of God renders everything useful for a good purpose, so too must we, His creatures, make good use of everything in order to be benefited and benefit others.
Kind people naturally derive benefit even from their fellow men’s failings, for they use them as a strong brake on themselves in order to take care not to be derailed. But those who are deceitful, unfortunately, are not benefited, not even by other people’s virtues, because they interpret them with their wily lexicon, being darkened by the gloom of the manslayer. They spiritually wrong themselves and others, and are always upset and continually upset others with their spiritual darkness; whereas, actual cloudy weather causes sadness only to people who suffer from grief.
Kindness is one of God’s many qualities; therefore, it always spreads joy, drives away the clouds, and opens up hearts like the spring sunshine which makes the earth blossom. It even warms up snakes and takes them out of their cold holes so they, too, can enjoy God’s kindness.
Ill-tempered people are always strangled by thoughts, and with their frozen hearts they freeze and choke afflicted people who have come to them for consolation. Good-tempered people, on the other hand, with their spiritual (noble) love, being contrite with pain, strangle demons, liberate souls, and spread divine consolation to their fellow men.
Fervent spiritual love renders sensitive people more sensitive, and makes insolent ones more insolent.
An orphan, especially if it has lost its mother, and even if it is a little porcupine, must be embraced with pain and fervent love, so as to first feel warmth, take courage, and open up its heart.
The fervent love of Christ nourishes more than any other material food and gives many calories to the soul and body. Oftentimes, it even cures incurable diseases without medication and brings rest to souls.
Those who do not sacrifice their physical health for the love of Christ, scorning their bodily rest, will not find spiritual rest, either in this life or in the next, eternal life.
Those who, out of pure love, sacrifice even their own lives to protect their fellow men, imitate Christ. These people are, of course, the greatest heroes, because even death trembles before them, since they defy death out of love. Thus, they triumph with immortality, and, taking the key to eternity out from beneath the gravestone, they proceed freely to eternal blessedness.
It is preferable for a sensitive person to be himself killed once, out of love, in order to protect his fellow man, than to cop out or back out and be constantly slaughtered by his conscience for the rest of his life.
Sacrifice for our fellow man conceals our great love for Christ. Those who have good intentions to give alms, but have nothing and on this account are afflicted, give charity with the blood of their hearts.
Those who want to be martyred for the love of Christ when martyrdom is not an option, can manifest this love that burns within them through bodily asceticism for the sake of the souls of the reposed which are burning, so that these souls will find a little rest.
Indifferent and merciless people, who think only of their own selves, insensitively satisfying themselves, simultaneously fill their hearts with much anguish. Within them works the little worm of a troubled conscience, and they are tormented already in this life. Merciful people, on the other hand, since they are always filling others with love, are always filled with the love of God and His abundant blessings…
- Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain
Those who suffer deeply for the salvation of the whole world and help in their own way (as strugglers) and humbly entrust themselves to the hands of God, feel the greatest joy in the world. Their life is a constant doxology, for they flutter about internally like angels, glorifying God day and night. Those, however, who neglect the salvation of their souls and try to find joy and rest in this vain life, are continually tortured and entangled in endless worldly machinery and live in hell in this life.
Those who have philotimo, because they move within the heavenly sphere of doxology, joyfully accept their trials as well as their blessings, and glorify God for them. Thus, they are continuously receiving God’s blessing from everything and are melting internally out of gratitude towards God, which they express in every spiritual way possible, like children of God.
Although the Good God gives us abundant blessings, acts always for our own good and has made everything to be of service to us and to be sacrificed for us, from plants to animals and birds, whether big or small, and even though God Himself sacrificed His life to redeem man, many of us remain indifferent and wound Him with our great ingratitude and insensitivity. And, all of this even though He has given us our conscience as an inheritance together with all His other blessings.
Conscience is the first law of God, which He deeply carved in the hearts of the First Created, and consequently, each one of us takes it as a "photocopy" from his parents when he is born. Those who have managed to sensitize their consciences through the daily study of themselves feel themselves estranged from this world; and, as a result, worldly people are dumfounded by their discerning behavior. Those, however, who do not examine their consciences are neither benefited by spiritual study nor by the advice of the Elders, nor are they even able to keep God’s commandments, since they quickly become insensitive.
Those who are sensitive and have philotimo, and who observe everything with precision, are usually wronged by the insensitive ones due to the constant concessions they make for them out of love. However, God’s love is always on their side. Oftentimes, they wrong themselves due to their hypersensitivity, overemphasizing their minor sins or bearing the burden of others’ faults; but once again, God comforts them with His heavenly kindness and, at the same time, strengthens them spiritually.
Those who wrong or wound sensitive people inwardly are not human.
Those who claim they are sensitive, loving, and discreet and endure the injustices of others, but say, "Let them receive theirs from God," are fooled by the deceiver without realizing it, since this is a way to curse politely. In this life everyone takes exams in order to pass on to eternal life, Paradise. It is my feeling that this polite curse is below the spiritual passing mark.
Those who wrong others wrong themselves eternally; those who joyfully accept the injustice of others are entitled to an eternal reward with interest.
Naturally, every person will be paid by the boss for whom he worked. Those who work for Christ shall receive a hundredfold now in this time and, in the world to come, eternal life (Mark 10:30); and those who work for the dark boss will receive darkness even now.
Those who work for Christ but are prideful pollute their virtues, just as fried eggs are contaminated when bird’s droppings fall on them. They then can only be thrown in the trash along with the frying pan.
All those, however, who work humbly, acquire virtues and share their hidden experiences out of humility and love, are the greatest benefactors, because they give spiritual charity and positively help souls which are weak and unsound in the Faith. Those who throw even their own selves to the world, out of love, after having driven out the world from within them, fly into Heaven and are not caught by the world.
Love with external poverty greatly assists in acquiring the inner poverty of the passions. These two kinds of poverty make man rich in God’s kindness.
Good people do not keep evil in their hearts, but neither do they keep their kindness to themselves. For this reason, they do not possess elegant things and are not moved by the world’s beauties. In this, their fervent faith in God as well as their great love is made manifest.
There is no man more intelligent than the merciful one who gives away earthly, perishable things and buys imperishable, heavenly things. Likewise, there is no greater fool in the world than the greedy one who gathers things continually and yet is deprived continually, finally buying hell with his collected savings. Those, naturally, who are lost in material things are totally lost, for they have also lost Christ.
Sadness and stress always dominate the person who is dominated by material things, for sometimes he fears that people will take away his possessions, and other times he is afraid they will take away his soul. The miser, whose hand has become numb from squeezing it too hard, has also constricted his heart and turned it into stone. In order to be cured, he must visit destitute people and sympathize with them, so he will be forced to slowly open up his hand. Consequently, his stony heart will soften and become humane, and thus the gates of Paradise will also open for him.
Kindness softens and opens up the heart, as oil opens a rusty lock.
Those who come close to people in pain, naturally draw near to God, because God is always by the side of His children who are in pain.
God spiritually strengthens His children who have philotimo, who help their fellow men carry their crosses, and He relieves them from their own crosses (trials).
Those who think about the heavy crosses of the righteous, never worry about their own small trials, for, although they have made more mistakes in their life, they suffer less than the righteous.
Those who suffer trials unjustly imitate Christ; and those who face hardships due to their sins are blessed, because they are forgiven their sins in this life.
Those who do not co-suffer with those in pain, suffer from a fatal spiritual illness: mercilessness. Those who are annoyed by the moaning of sick people and react angrily because they cannot concentrate, suffer from many spiritual illnesses.
Those who truly love and struggle correctly, can also endure with love, sacrifice themselves, and give rest to their neighbor, who is Christ.
Those who wish others to provide for them but offer nothing in return, are constantly asking things from God without giving anything to Him, not even their sins (by repentance). Such people are completely estranged from God and deliver themselves of their own accord into the hands of the manslayer (the devil). Because they have only cultivated love for their own selves, it follows that great anguish will then develop in them and that they will suffer hell, in part, already in this life.
Those who do not put themselves in the place of their suffering fellow man are deserted by God, experience a terrible fall, and learn to feel pain. Those, on the other hand, who feel compassion, care for other people, and ignore their own selves, are protected by God and are looked after both by God and by men.
When someone gives his heart to God, then the mind of this man is also seized by the love of God. He is indifferent towards worldly things and continually thinks about the Heavenly Father, and being divinely in love, he glorifies his Creator day and night like an angel.
Merely the thought of God’s benevolent acts is enough to make the heart of a person who has philotimo break; yet even more so, when he thinks of his numerous sins and the great mercy of God.
Those who struggle and sense their sinfulness as well as God’s loving-kindness and who trust in His great mercy, elevate their souls to Paradise with great confidence and little physical effort, if they have good intentions.
People who struggle hard, with much devotion, and have reached the angelic state to a certain extent and are nurtured with celestial honey, nevertheless offer nothing significant to God compared with what He has offered us. For they eat honey while offering Him wax. They eat sweet fruits and offer God tree resin with the censer. Therefore, we do nothing and offer nothing to God, compared with His great loving-kindness. For, while the Good God produces beautiful fruit with our rubbish or even with manure, in order to feed us, we wretched people turn beautiful fruit into manure.
As the kindness of God renders everything useful for a good purpose, so too must we, His creatures, make good use of everything in order to be benefited and benefit others.
Kind people naturally derive benefit even from their fellow men’s failings, for they use them as a strong brake on themselves in order to take care not to be derailed. But those who are deceitful, unfortunately, are not benefited, not even by other people’s virtues, because they interpret them with their wily lexicon, being darkened by the gloom of the manslayer. They spiritually wrong themselves and others, and are always upset and continually upset others with their spiritual darkness; whereas, actual cloudy weather causes sadness only to people who suffer from grief.
Kindness is one of God’s many qualities; therefore, it always spreads joy, drives away the clouds, and opens up hearts like the spring sunshine which makes the earth blossom. It even warms up snakes and takes them out of their cold holes so they, too, can enjoy God’s kindness.
Ill-tempered people are always strangled by thoughts, and with their frozen hearts they freeze and choke afflicted people who have come to them for consolation. Good-tempered people, on the other hand, with their spiritual (noble) love, being contrite with pain, strangle demons, liberate souls, and spread divine consolation to their fellow men.
Fervent spiritual love renders sensitive people more sensitive, and makes insolent ones more insolent.
An orphan, especially if it has lost its mother, and even if it is a little porcupine, must be embraced with pain and fervent love, so as to first feel warmth, take courage, and open up its heart.
The fervent love of Christ nourishes more than any other material food and gives many calories to the soul and body. Oftentimes, it even cures incurable diseases without medication and brings rest to souls.
Those who do not sacrifice their physical health for the love of Christ, scorning their bodily rest, will not find spiritual rest, either in this life or in the next, eternal life.
Those who, out of pure love, sacrifice even their own lives to protect their fellow men, imitate Christ. These people are, of course, the greatest heroes, because even death trembles before them, since they defy death out of love. Thus, they triumph with immortality, and, taking the key to eternity out from beneath the gravestone, they proceed freely to eternal blessedness.
It is preferable for a sensitive person to be himself killed once, out of love, in order to protect his fellow man, than to cop out or back out and be constantly slaughtered by his conscience for the rest of his life.
Sacrifice for our fellow man conceals our great love for Christ. Those who have good intentions to give alms, but have nothing and on this account are afflicted, give charity with the blood of their hearts.
Those who want to be martyred for the love of Christ when martyrdom is not an option, can manifest this love that burns within them through bodily asceticism for the sake of the souls of the reposed which are burning, so that these souls will find a little rest.
Indifferent and merciless people, who think only of their own selves, insensitively satisfying themselves, simultaneously fill their hearts with much anguish. Within them works the little worm of a troubled conscience, and they are tormented already in this life. Merciful people, on the other hand, since they are always filling others with love, are always filled with the love of God and His abundant blessings…
- Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain
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The Way of Love is the simplest and most direct way to join in union with Christ. Through our love of Him we are sanctified.
Elder Porphyrios says,
Whoever experiences Christ within himself, experiences ineffable things––holy and sacred things. He lives in exultation. With Christ as our lover there is no loneliness. We find peace and joy. The thought of Christ permeates everything. We find patience and have endurance of everything.
Elder Porphyrios says that with our love of Christ even our passions disappear. There is no longer possibility for hatred, dislikes, anxieties or depressions. Not even death concerns us. He says this longing we have for Christ makes even death seem like a bridge what we can cross in an instant to continue our life in Christ We find ourselves in Christ and Him in us.
With our Love of Him there is no longer pain or suffering. Our craving for God, our passionate love for Him, overcomes all pain.
He says
Divine craving defeats every pain, and so every pain is transformed and becomes love of Christ. Love Christ and He will love you All pains will pass away, they will be defeated and transformed. Everything is transformed by this love.
The love of God transforms everything; it sanctifies, amends and changes the nature of everything.
- teachings of St. Porphyrios
Elder Porphyrios says,
Whoever experiences Christ within himself, experiences ineffable things––holy and sacred things. He lives in exultation. With Christ as our lover there is no loneliness. We find peace and joy. The thought of Christ permeates everything. We find patience and have endurance of everything.
Elder Porphyrios says that with our love of Christ even our passions disappear. There is no longer possibility for hatred, dislikes, anxieties or depressions. Not even death concerns us. He says this longing we have for Christ makes even death seem like a bridge what we can cross in an instant to continue our life in Christ We find ourselves in Christ and Him in us.
With our Love of Him there is no longer pain or suffering. Our craving for God, our passionate love for Him, overcomes all pain.
He says
Divine craving defeats every pain, and so every pain is transformed and becomes love of Christ. Love Christ and He will love you All pains will pass away, they will be defeated and transformed. Everything is transformed by this love.
The love of God transforms everything; it sanctifies, amends and changes the nature of everything.
- teachings of St. Porphyrios
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Although it is natural and usual to love those who love us and to do good to those who do good to us (Mt 5:46-47; Lk 6:32-33), to love our enemies is distasteful to our nature. One can say that it isn't in our power but is an attitude that can only be the fruit of grace, given by the Holy Spirit. This is why St. Silouan the Athonite writes, "The soul that has not known the Holy Spirit does not understand how one can love one's enemies, and does not accept it."
The Staretz repeatedly says that love of enemies is impossible without grace: "Lord, You have given the commandment to love enemies, but this is difficult for us sinners if Your grace is not with us"; "Without God's grace we cannot love enemies"; "He who does not love his enemies, does not have God's grace"; "He who has not learned to love from the Holy Spirit, will certainly not pray for his enemies." On the contrary, St. Silouan always teaches that this attitude is a gift of the Holy Spirit: "The Lord has commanded us to love our enemies, and the Holy Spirit reveals this love to us"; "One can only love one's enemies through the grace of the Holy Spirit"; "When you will love your enemies, know that a great divine grace will be living in you."
This grace does not suddenly erupt in the soul, but rather shows itself in a divine pedagogy, where taking into account the weakness and the difficulties of man, the Holy Spirit progressively teaches him to love and teaches him all the attitudes and ways which will allow him to do so. "The Holy Spirit teaches us to love even our enemies"; "The Holy Spirit teaches the soul a profound love for man and compassion for the lost. The Lord had pity for those who were lost. . . . The Holy Spirit teaches this same compassion for those who go to hell"; "I could not speak about it if the Holy Spirit had not taught me this love"; "The Lord taught me love of enemies. . . . The Holy Spirit taught [me] to love."
The grace of the Holy Spirit shows to him who possesses it the way to love his enemies. But it also reveals to him the foundation of this love: the love of God for all people and His will to save them: "No man can know by himself what divine love is if the Holy Spirit does not instruct him; but in our Church divine love is known through the Holy Spirit, and that is why we speak about it." Grace also "gives man the capacity and the strength to love his enemies, and the Spirit of God gives us the strength to love them."
Staretz Silouan insists that because love of enemies is a fruit of grace, it is essentially through prayer that it can be obtained. Several times he urges us to "ask the Lord with our whole being to give us the strength to love all men." He also advises to pray to the Mother of God and the Saints: "If we are incapable [of loving our enemies] and if we are without love, let us turn with ardent prayers to the Lord, to His Most Pure Mother, and to all the Saints, and the Lord will help us with everything, He whose love for us knows no bounds." The Staretz confesses that he himself constantly prays God for this: "I continuously beg the Lord to give me the love of enemies. . . . Day and night I ask the Lord for this love. The Lord gives me tears and I weep for the whole world." Wishing in his universal love for all men to receive such a gift, he links them to himself in his prayer: "Lord, teach us through Your Holy Spirit to love our enemies and to pray for them with tears . . . Lord, as you prayed for your enemies, so teach us also, through the Holy Spirit, to love our enemies."
Yet obtaining the grace to love one's enemies presupposes other conditions.
The love of enemies is completely bound to the love of God: we have seen that the principal foundation for the love of enemies is the love that God shows to all His creatures equally and His will that all people should be saved, and Christ gave us a perfect example of such love throughout his earthly life. The love of God leads man to accomplish His will and to imitate Him as much as possible, and so also to love his enemies. The Staretz also notes that he who does not love his enemies shows that he has not learned from the Holy Spirit to love God.
To love one's enemies is also tightly bound to humility. The Staretz often associate these two virtues. Almost all the difficulties we encounter in loving our enemies are linked with pride: it is from pride that flows the affliction that follows upon insults, hated, bad temper, spite, the desire for revenge, contempt for one's neighbor, refusing to forgive him and to be reconciled with him.
Pride excludes the love of enemies and love of enemies excludes pride: "If we love our enemies, pride will have no place in our soul." The fact that humility goes hand in hand with love of enemies proves the presence of grace and the authenticity of love: "If you have compassion for all creatures and love your enemies, and if, at the same time, you judge yourself the worst of all people, this shows that the great grace of the Lord is in you."
Indeed humility is the indispensable condition to receive and keep the grace that teaches us to love our enemies and gives us the strength to do so. The Staretz advises: "Humiliate yourself, then grace will teach you." On the other hand, "pride makes us lose grace. . . . The soul is then tormented by bad thoughts and does not understand that one must humiliate oneself and love one's enemies, for without that one cannot please God."
The Staretz sometimes also stresses the role played by penitence in connection with humility. "Regard yourself the worst of men," he advises. This is an attitude of great humility that of its nature implies penitence. He who counts himself the worst of men necessarily thinks others better than himself; he will judge and blame himself, and not judge and criticize his enemies, for he tends to estimate them better than himself.
The Staretz also gives us the example of another penitential attitude -- asking God's forgiveness each time one has not loved one's enemy: "If I judge someone or look at him angrily, my tears dry up and I fall into despondency; and again I start asking the Lord to forgive me, and the merciful Lord forgives me, a sinner. "Through such an attitude, by which the soul humbly recognizes before God its faults and shortcomings and obtains from Him forgiveness, an opening can be made that becomes bigger and bigger for grace and unceasing progress in love. As to a total absence of compassion for enemies, it shows the presence and the action of an evil spirit; sincere repentance is the only way to be freed from it."
The insistence on prayer, humility and penitence shows that, although St. Silouan recognizes a determining role to the action of grace in acquiring love of enemies, he does not neglect the role played by the efforts that man makes. The Staretz is very conscious of the importance of the initial action; this is why he says, "I beg you, try," and states, "In the beginning, force your heart to love your enemies." The efforts one makes must manifest themselves in a general way in a straight intention and constant good will, stretched toward the realization of God's command. God will not fail to respond.
For the person who feels discouraged by such a demanding task, St. Silouan reassures him: "Seeing your good intention, the Lord will help you in everything." The Staretz who felt in himself so acutely human powerlessness and weakness seems to think constantly of these words of the Apostle: "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" (Phil 4:13) and witnesses in his own experience the mighty help that everyone can receive from God.
For Christ there are no enemies: The Staretz would say that for Christ there are no enemies -- there are those who accept "the words of eternal life," there are those who reject and even crucify; but for the Creator of every living thing, there can be no enemy. So it should be for the Christian, too, who "in pity for all must strive for the salvation of all."
Wherein, then, lies the force of the commandment, "Love your enemies"? Why did the Lord say that those who keep His commandments would know from very experience whence the doctrine?
. . . . God is love, in superabundance embracing all creatures. By allowing man to actually know this love the Holy Spirit reveals to him the path of fullness of being. To say "enemy" implies rejection. By such rejection a man falls from the plenitude of God. . . ."The whole paradise of Saints lives by the Holy Spirit, and from the Holy Spirit nothing in creation is hid," writes the Staretz. "God is love and in the Saints the Holy Spirit is love. Dwelling in the Holy Spirit, the saints behold love and embrace it, too, in their love."
. . . .[It] is possible to judge whether a given state of contemplation was a reality or an illusion only after the soul had returned to consciousness of the world; for then, as the Staretz pointed out, if there were no love for enemies and so for all creatures, it would be a true indication that the supposed contemplation had not been a real communion with God.
- teachings of St. Silouan
The Staretz repeatedly says that love of enemies is impossible without grace: "Lord, You have given the commandment to love enemies, but this is difficult for us sinners if Your grace is not with us"; "Without God's grace we cannot love enemies"; "He who does not love his enemies, does not have God's grace"; "He who has not learned to love from the Holy Spirit, will certainly not pray for his enemies." On the contrary, St. Silouan always teaches that this attitude is a gift of the Holy Spirit: "The Lord has commanded us to love our enemies, and the Holy Spirit reveals this love to us"; "One can only love one's enemies through the grace of the Holy Spirit"; "When you will love your enemies, know that a great divine grace will be living in you."
This grace does not suddenly erupt in the soul, but rather shows itself in a divine pedagogy, where taking into account the weakness and the difficulties of man, the Holy Spirit progressively teaches him to love and teaches him all the attitudes and ways which will allow him to do so. "The Holy Spirit teaches us to love even our enemies"; "The Holy Spirit teaches the soul a profound love for man and compassion for the lost. The Lord had pity for those who were lost. . . . The Holy Spirit teaches this same compassion for those who go to hell"; "I could not speak about it if the Holy Spirit had not taught me this love"; "The Lord taught me love of enemies. . . . The Holy Spirit taught [me] to love."
The grace of the Holy Spirit shows to him who possesses it the way to love his enemies. But it also reveals to him the foundation of this love: the love of God for all people and His will to save them: "No man can know by himself what divine love is if the Holy Spirit does not instruct him; but in our Church divine love is known through the Holy Spirit, and that is why we speak about it." Grace also "gives man the capacity and the strength to love his enemies, and the Spirit of God gives us the strength to love them."
Staretz Silouan insists that because love of enemies is a fruit of grace, it is essentially through prayer that it can be obtained. Several times he urges us to "ask the Lord with our whole being to give us the strength to love all men." He also advises to pray to the Mother of God and the Saints: "If we are incapable [of loving our enemies] and if we are without love, let us turn with ardent prayers to the Lord, to His Most Pure Mother, and to all the Saints, and the Lord will help us with everything, He whose love for us knows no bounds." The Staretz confesses that he himself constantly prays God for this: "I continuously beg the Lord to give me the love of enemies. . . . Day and night I ask the Lord for this love. The Lord gives me tears and I weep for the whole world." Wishing in his universal love for all men to receive such a gift, he links them to himself in his prayer: "Lord, teach us through Your Holy Spirit to love our enemies and to pray for them with tears . . . Lord, as you prayed for your enemies, so teach us also, through the Holy Spirit, to love our enemies."
Yet obtaining the grace to love one's enemies presupposes other conditions.
The love of enemies is completely bound to the love of God: we have seen that the principal foundation for the love of enemies is the love that God shows to all His creatures equally and His will that all people should be saved, and Christ gave us a perfect example of such love throughout his earthly life. The love of God leads man to accomplish His will and to imitate Him as much as possible, and so also to love his enemies. The Staretz also notes that he who does not love his enemies shows that he has not learned from the Holy Spirit to love God.
To love one's enemies is also tightly bound to humility. The Staretz often associate these two virtues. Almost all the difficulties we encounter in loving our enemies are linked with pride: it is from pride that flows the affliction that follows upon insults, hated, bad temper, spite, the desire for revenge, contempt for one's neighbor, refusing to forgive him and to be reconciled with him.
Pride excludes the love of enemies and love of enemies excludes pride: "If we love our enemies, pride will have no place in our soul." The fact that humility goes hand in hand with love of enemies proves the presence of grace and the authenticity of love: "If you have compassion for all creatures and love your enemies, and if, at the same time, you judge yourself the worst of all people, this shows that the great grace of the Lord is in you."
Indeed humility is the indispensable condition to receive and keep the grace that teaches us to love our enemies and gives us the strength to do so. The Staretz advises: "Humiliate yourself, then grace will teach you." On the other hand, "pride makes us lose grace. . . . The soul is then tormented by bad thoughts and does not understand that one must humiliate oneself and love one's enemies, for without that one cannot please God."
The Staretz sometimes also stresses the role played by penitence in connection with humility. "Regard yourself the worst of men," he advises. This is an attitude of great humility that of its nature implies penitence. He who counts himself the worst of men necessarily thinks others better than himself; he will judge and blame himself, and not judge and criticize his enemies, for he tends to estimate them better than himself.
The Staretz also gives us the example of another penitential attitude -- asking God's forgiveness each time one has not loved one's enemy: "If I judge someone or look at him angrily, my tears dry up and I fall into despondency; and again I start asking the Lord to forgive me, and the merciful Lord forgives me, a sinner. "Through such an attitude, by which the soul humbly recognizes before God its faults and shortcomings and obtains from Him forgiveness, an opening can be made that becomes bigger and bigger for grace and unceasing progress in love. As to a total absence of compassion for enemies, it shows the presence and the action of an evil spirit; sincere repentance is the only way to be freed from it."
The insistence on prayer, humility and penitence shows that, although St. Silouan recognizes a determining role to the action of grace in acquiring love of enemies, he does not neglect the role played by the efforts that man makes. The Staretz is very conscious of the importance of the initial action; this is why he says, "I beg you, try," and states, "In the beginning, force your heart to love your enemies." The efforts one makes must manifest themselves in a general way in a straight intention and constant good will, stretched toward the realization of God's command. God will not fail to respond.
For the person who feels discouraged by such a demanding task, St. Silouan reassures him: "Seeing your good intention, the Lord will help you in everything." The Staretz who felt in himself so acutely human powerlessness and weakness seems to think constantly of these words of the Apostle: "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" (Phil 4:13) and witnesses in his own experience the mighty help that everyone can receive from God.
For Christ there are no enemies: The Staretz would say that for Christ there are no enemies -- there are those who accept "the words of eternal life," there are those who reject and even crucify; but for the Creator of every living thing, there can be no enemy. So it should be for the Christian, too, who "in pity for all must strive for the salvation of all."
Wherein, then, lies the force of the commandment, "Love your enemies"? Why did the Lord say that those who keep His commandments would know from very experience whence the doctrine?
. . . . God is love, in superabundance embracing all creatures. By allowing man to actually know this love the Holy Spirit reveals to him the path of fullness of being. To say "enemy" implies rejection. By such rejection a man falls from the plenitude of God. . . ."The whole paradise of Saints lives by the Holy Spirit, and from the Holy Spirit nothing in creation is hid," writes the Staretz. "God is love and in the Saints the Holy Spirit is love. Dwelling in the Holy Spirit, the saints behold love and embrace it, too, in their love."
. . . .[It] is possible to judge whether a given state of contemplation was a reality or an illusion only after the soul had returned to consciousness of the world; for then, as the Staretz pointed out, if there were no love for enemies and so for all creatures, it would be a true indication that the supposed contemplation had not been a real communion with God.
- teachings of St. Silouan
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How can we love our neighbor?
This question troubles many people, myself included. Before responding to it, we need to understand who our neighbor is. The Lord explains in the Gospel that our neighbor is anyone who stands in need of our help – even if he’s a complete stranger to us, of a different nationality, or a member of another religion. This person might be unpleasant in appearance and we might not feel anything positive towards him, but anyone who needs help is our neighbor. It’s this very person that the Lord commands us to love.
There’s another commandment in the Gospel: to love our enemies. Wise people have said that this commandment is not about the enemies of our country, but about personal enemies. If we are to love our enemies, then shouldn’t it be easier to love our neighbor? But in actual fact, even this is very difficult for us – to say nothing of loving our enemies, which strikes us as impossible.
But if the Lord has given us this commandment, it means that He’s placed the ability to love in us. We probably find it difficult to love not because it’s beyond our strength, but because we’ve been corrupted by sin and because we love ourselves too much. In order to love our neighbor, we need to do something. But before we begin to do anything, we need to understand why we don’t have the love that should be in us.
God placed loved in our nature. But why doesn’t a husband love his wife, or parents love their children? Why don’t children love their parents? Why do infidelity and betrayal take place? Why has natural love for others become unnatural? If it’s difficult for us to love our own families, then what can be said about people who are different from us: the homeless, whom we contemptuously call bums, or guest workers and migrants?
Love has been placed in our nature; we were created by God for love. But for some reason this love isn’t in me! We might say that human nature, having been corrupted by sin, has lost this ability. This is in fact the case. We have been created in God’s likeness. God, in His essence, is Love. We were created by God in His image and likeness, with the ability to love placed in us. This is our nature, too. Just as the divine nature is love, so too is human nature love.
Therefore it isn’t strange that we should love our neighbors, but rather that we don’t love them. How has this happened? It’s because our nature has been corrupted by sin and our love has turned into self-love. We’ve turned in on ourselves, and therefore we’re unable to love.
But this raises another problem. The site “Orthodox and the World” is addressed to Orthodox readers. But Orthodox people, apart from having natural love, also have the gift of supernatural love. Every Orthodox Christian has been baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit – in the name of the Trinity, Which in essence is love. And every baptized person has been anointed with holy myrrh, and the gift of the Holy Spirit – the gift of love, the gift of knowing the will of God, of participating in the sacred rites – has been given to him in this anointing. Why hasn’t this gift been realized in us?
Why do we think it’s difficult to love our neighbor? After all, this should be natural and joyful for us. I think the answer is clear: it’s because we’re sinful and because sin is active in us. Because we’ve trampled on the gifts given to us in Baptism and Chrismation and are unable to stir up this love in ourselves. We don’t live the way we should, instead we live like everyone around us.
Christians are part a certain twenty-first century arrangement in which there’s no room for love. In our lives we have career, money, pleasure, certain contractual relationships, politics, art, psychology (when things get bad, we can go to a psychologist), medicine to live longer, and entertainment – but there’s no room for love. For us, love comes in second place – or third, or fourth, or tenth. There’s no room for God in this arrangement, either.
Therefore, in order to learn to love our neighbor, we need to leave this world. This is what the Lord calls us to do: to leave this downward course that can ultimately carry us to the depths of hell; to get off this track upon which people are moving, people who look more like streetcars than people.
In order to love our neighbor, we need first of all to fulfill the first commandment. We need to love God with our whole heart, with our whole soul, and with all our thoughts and feelings. Without this, we can’t learn to love our neighbor, we can’t fix our nature that’s been corrupted by sin, we can’t be transformed, and we can’t accept God’s gifts in all their fullness.
A small seed of eternal life and heavenly joy has been planted in us, but it hasn’t flowered or grown. But this very seed can become a tree in which the birds of the air can lodge. But our lives get in the way of this.
We need to remember God, to remember Him always. We need to seek God, to seek unity with Christ. Through heartfelt and constant prayer, through reading our prayer rules, but not limiting ourselves to them. We need to seek Him by participating in the Mysteries of the Church, repenting of our sins, and participating in the Mystery of Holy Communion. Without this it’s impossible to learn to love God and neighbor. We need to read the Gospel not just like an ordinary book, but with faith that the Lord, through these words, can reveal His will to us, letting each person know what he should be doing. Because love is joy. If we don’t learn this joy, we’ll go through life for nothing.
After all, we can only fulfill the commandment to love our neighbor here on earth. In the Heavenly Kingdom love will be granted to all. There one won’t have to exert oneself or make an effort to love those whom one finds unpleasant. This can only be done only here on earth. It’s only here that we can deprive ourselves of something in order to show love to another by giving it to him. In the Heavenly Kingdom everybody will have enough of everything. There one won’t need to care for the sick, look after the homeless, or give part of our money to a widow with child – there the Lord will fill everything.
We can love our neighbor only here on earth. If we don’t do this, it means that we’re not alive, because we’re not fulfilling the purpose that God has placed before us; it means that we’ve deviated from the right path. I think that by thinking about all this, we can learn how to love.
- Bishop Panteleimon of Smolensk
This question troubles many people, myself included. Before responding to it, we need to understand who our neighbor is. The Lord explains in the Gospel that our neighbor is anyone who stands in need of our help – even if he’s a complete stranger to us, of a different nationality, or a member of another religion. This person might be unpleasant in appearance and we might not feel anything positive towards him, but anyone who needs help is our neighbor. It’s this very person that the Lord commands us to love.
There’s another commandment in the Gospel: to love our enemies. Wise people have said that this commandment is not about the enemies of our country, but about personal enemies. If we are to love our enemies, then shouldn’t it be easier to love our neighbor? But in actual fact, even this is very difficult for us – to say nothing of loving our enemies, which strikes us as impossible.
But if the Lord has given us this commandment, it means that He’s placed the ability to love in us. We probably find it difficult to love not because it’s beyond our strength, but because we’ve been corrupted by sin and because we love ourselves too much. In order to love our neighbor, we need to do something. But before we begin to do anything, we need to understand why we don’t have the love that should be in us.
God placed loved in our nature. But why doesn’t a husband love his wife, or parents love their children? Why don’t children love their parents? Why do infidelity and betrayal take place? Why has natural love for others become unnatural? If it’s difficult for us to love our own families, then what can be said about people who are different from us: the homeless, whom we contemptuously call bums, or guest workers and migrants?
Love has been placed in our nature; we were created by God for love. But for some reason this love isn’t in me! We might say that human nature, having been corrupted by sin, has lost this ability. This is in fact the case. We have been created in God’s likeness. God, in His essence, is Love. We were created by God in His image and likeness, with the ability to love placed in us. This is our nature, too. Just as the divine nature is love, so too is human nature love.
Therefore it isn’t strange that we should love our neighbors, but rather that we don’t love them. How has this happened? It’s because our nature has been corrupted by sin and our love has turned into self-love. We’ve turned in on ourselves, and therefore we’re unable to love.
But this raises another problem. The site “Orthodox and the World” is addressed to Orthodox readers. But Orthodox people, apart from having natural love, also have the gift of supernatural love. Every Orthodox Christian has been baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit – in the name of the Trinity, Which in essence is love. And every baptized person has been anointed with holy myrrh, and the gift of the Holy Spirit – the gift of love, the gift of knowing the will of God, of participating in the sacred rites – has been given to him in this anointing. Why hasn’t this gift been realized in us?
Why do we think it’s difficult to love our neighbor? After all, this should be natural and joyful for us. I think the answer is clear: it’s because we’re sinful and because sin is active in us. Because we’ve trampled on the gifts given to us in Baptism and Chrismation and are unable to stir up this love in ourselves. We don’t live the way we should, instead we live like everyone around us.
Christians are part a certain twenty-first century arrangement in which there’s no room for love. In our lives we have career, money, pleasure, certain contractual relationships, politics, art, psychology (when things get bad, we can go to a psychologist), medicine to live longer, and entertainment – but there’s no room for love. For us, love comes in second place – or third, or fourth, or tenth. There’s no room for God in this arrangement, either.
Therefore, in order to learn to love our neighbor, we need to leave this world. This is what the Lord calls us to do: to leave this downward course that can ultimately carry us to the depths of hell; to get off this track upon which people are moving, people who look more like streetcars than people.
In order to love our neighbor, we need first of all to fulfill the first commandment. We need to love God with our whole heart, with our whole soul, and with all our thoughts and feelings. Without this, we can’t learn to love our neighbor, we can’t fix our nature that’s been corrupted by sin, we can’t be transformed, and we can’t accept God’s gifts in all their fullness.
A small seed of eternal life and heavenly joy has been planted in us, but it hasn’t flowered or grown. But this very seed can become a tree in which the birds of the air can lodge. But our lives get in the way of this.
We need to remember God, to remember Him always. We need to seek God, to seek unity with Christ. Through heartfelt and constant prayer, through reading our prayer rules, but not limiting ourselves to them. We need to seek Him by participating in the Mysteries of the Church, repenting of our sins, and participating in the Mystery of Holy Communion. Without this it’s impossible to learn to love God and neighbor. We need to read the Gospel not just like an ordinary book, but with faith that the Lord, through these words, can reveal His will to us, letting each person know what he should be doing. Because love is joy. If we don’t learn this joy, we’ll go through life for nothing.
After all, we can only fulfill the commandment to love our neighbor here on earth. In the Heavenly Kingdom love will be granted to all. There one won’t have to exert oneself or make an effort to love those whom one finds unpleasant. This can only be done only here on earth. It’s only here that we can deprive ourselves of something in order to show love to another by giving it to him. In the Heavenly Kingdom everybody will have enough of everything. There one won’t need to care for the sick, look after the homeless, or give part of our money to a widow with child – there the Lord will fill everything.
We can love our neighbor only here on earth. If we don’t do this, it means that we’re not alive, because we’re not fulfilling the purpose that God has placed before us; it means that we’ve deviated from the right path. I think that by thinking about all this, we can learn how to love.
- Bishop Panteleimon of Smolensk
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- Joined
- Jan 11, 2008
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Excerpts from the diary of St. John of Kronstadt on Love
Be zealous after love: all things shall pass away, but love shall eternally remain, as God Himself, who is Love.
Love calms and agreeably expands the heart and vivifies it, whilst hatred painfully contracts and disturbs it. Those who hate others torture and tyrannise themselves
What is sweeter than love? And yet there is not much love in us! Wherefore? We love our flesh exceedingly, and with it everything carnal, material and earthly! Let us, therefore, despise the flesh and walk by the spirit, mortifying the works of the flesh by the spirit.
Lord! Thou, Whose love to us infinitely surpasses the love of every father, of every mother, of the tenderest wife, have mercy upon us!
Looking upon the Saviour's cross, contemplate Love, crucified upon it for our salvation; and think, for what blessedness He has saved us, and from what torments He has redeemed us! He has snatched us from the jaws of the beast and has brought us to the Father! O love! O redemption! O terrors of everlasting torments! O indescribable, endless blessedness!
The most abominable enemy [the devil] endeavours to destroy love by love itself: love for God and our neighbour — by love for the world, for its fleeting blessings and its corrupt, impious habits, by carnal love, by the love of riches, of honours, of pleasure, of various amusements. Therefore let us extinguish every love for this world in ourselves, and let us kindle in ourselves, by self-denial, love for God and our neighbour. Every beauty in this world (personal beauty) is only a faint, insignificant shadow of the uncreated beauty, of the unspeakable goodness of God's face; every earthly enjoyment is nothing in comparison to future delights. I pray, Lord, that the faith of Christ may penetrate into the depths of my heart, that Christ's Gospel may penetrate all my thoughts, feelings, words, and deeds, into all my bones and my brains, and not me only, but all men, as the universal truth, the highest wisdom, and the life eternal. " And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent."[806]
The heart that loves carnal delights is unfaithful to the Lord. "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon."[509]
What is mercy? Mercy is to love our enemies, to bless those who curse us, to do good to those who hate us, who do us harm, who drive us away, to defend those who are persecuted, and so on.
What is the name of our God? Love, Mercy, Compassion, Bountifulness. When you pray, contemplate with the eyes of your heart Love and Mercy standing before you — the Lover of men listening to you.
God is love, and I am an image of God; therefore I ought to be all love. God is the most perfect good, free from the least shadow of evil; I am an image of God; therefore I ought also to be perfectly good, without even a shadow of evil.
Love does not suffer self-justification, does not exalt itself, is not puffed up.
In order to test yourself, whether you love your neighbour in accordance with the Gospel, pay attention to yourself at the time when others offend you, abuse you, mock at you, or do not render you the respect due to you, and which is customary in social intercourse, or when your subordinates err against the rules of the service, and are negligent. If you remain calm on such occasions, are not filled with the spirit of enmity, hatred, impatience — if you continue to love these persons as much as previously, before their offences or negligence, then you do love your neighbour in accordance with the Gospel; but if you become irritable, angry, agitated, then you do not do so. "If ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others?"[792]
The purer the heart is, the larger it is, and the more able it is to find room within it for a greater number of beloved ones; whilst the more sinful it is, the more contracted it becomes, and the less number of beloved can it find room for, because it is limited by self-love, and that love is a false one; we love ourselves in objects unworthy of the immortal soul — in silver and gold, in adultery, in drunkenness, and such like.
We stand before the altar of love in the presence of Incarnate Love Itself, but we have no love to each other. How strange it is! And we do not even care about this. But love will not come of itself without our zeal, efforts and activity.
Up till now you have not learned to love your neighbour. You answer men's dislike towards you by dislike on your part. But do the contrary; answer others' dislike by heartfelt goodwill and love; the more dislike you see towards you, the more you should love. Dislike is a malady, and a sick person should be more pitied, should be shown greater care and greater love, exactly because he is ill. Do you not know that the bodiless enemy uses his craftiness against all, infects all with the poison of his hatred? And you, too, are not exempt from his craftiness. Do not serve him, then, the spirit of enmity, but serve the God of love with the utmost zeal. Remember that God the Word died for your brethren.
The Lord is my life, my breath, my strength, my light, peace and joy, my food and drink; what shall I bring to such a Benefactor, or what shall I render unto Him? I will render unto Him, with His help, obedience to His Will, the fulfilment of His commandments. "If ye love Me," says He Himself, "keep My commandments."[1227] I will endeavour to please Him by seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and by counting earthly blessings as naught in comparison to heavenly ones; I will not let my heart cleave to anything earthly. O, Lord! grant me strength to accomplish this. Strengthen me Thyself by Thy right hand. My Strength, do not forsake me! Grant that I may put my trust in Thee alone, my Nourisher — in Thee, Who hast never forsaken me!
- St. John of Kronstadt
Be zealous after love: all things shall pass away, but love shall eternally remain, as God Himself, who is Love.
Love calms and agreeably expands the heart and vivifies it, whilst hatred painfully contracts and disturbs it. Those who hate others torture and tyrannise themselves
What is sweeter than love? And yet there is not much love in us! Wherefore? We love our flesh exceedingly, and with it everything carnal, material and earthly! Let us, therefore, despise the flesh and walk by the spirit, mortifying the works of the flesh by the spirit.
Lord! Thou, Whose love to us infinitely surpasses the love of every father, of every mother, of the tenderest wife, have mercy upon us!
Looking upon the Saviour's cross, contemplate Love, crucified upon it for our salvation; and think, for what blessedness He has saved us, and from what torments He has redeemed us! He has snatched us from the jaws of the beast and has brought us to the Father! O love! O redemption! O terrors of everlasting torments! O indescribable, endless blessedness!
The most abominable enemy [the devil] endeavours to destroy love by love itself: love for God and our neighbour — by love for the world, for its fleeting blessings and its corrupt, impious habits, by carnal love, by the love of riches, of honours, of pleasure, of various amusements. Therefore let us extinguish every love for this world in ourselves, and let us kindle in ourselves, by self-denial, love for God and our neighbour. Every beauty in this world (personal beauty) is only a faint, insignificant shadow of the uncreated beauty, of the unspeakable goodness of God's face; every earthly enjoyment is nothing in comparison to future delights. I pray, Lord, that the faith of Christ may penetrate into the depths of my heart, that Christ's Gospel may penetrate all my thoughts, feelings, words, and deeds, into all my bones and my brains, and not me only, but all men, as the universal truth, the highest wisdom, and the life eternal. " And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent."[806]
The heart that loves carnal delights is unfaithful to the Lord. "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon."[509]
What is mercy? Mercy is to love our enemies, to bless those who curse us, to do good to those who hate us, who do us harm, who drive us away, to defend those who are persecuted, and so on.
What is the name of our God? Love, Mercy, Compassion, Bountifulness. When you pray, contemplate with the eyes of your heart Love and Mercy standing before you — the Lover of men listening to you.
God is love, and I am an image of God; therefore I ought to be all love. God is the most perfect good, free from the least shadow of evil; I am an image of God; therefore I ought also to be perfectly good, without even a shadow of evil.
Love does not suffer self-justification, does not exalt itself, is not puffed up.
In order to test yourself, whether you love your neighbour in accordance with the Gospel, pay attention to yourself at the time when others offend you, abuse you, mock at you, or do not render you the respect due to you, and which is customary in social intercourse, or when your subordinates err against the rules of the service, and are negligent. If you remain calm on such occasions, are not filled with the spirit of enmity, hatred, impatience — if you continue to love these persons as much as previously, before their offences or negligence, then you do love your neighbour in accordance with the Gospel; but if you become irritable, angry, agitated, then you do not do so. "If ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others?"[792]
The purer the heart is, the larger it is, and the more able it is to find room within it for a greater number of beloved ones; whilst the more sinful it is, the more contracted it becomes, and the less number of beloved can it find room for, because it is limited by self-love, and that love is a false one; we love ourselves in objects unworthy of the immortal soul — in silver and gold, in adultery, in drunkenness, and such like.
We stand before the altar of love in the presence of Incarnate Love Itself, but we have no love to each other. How strange it is! And we do not even care about this. But love will not come of itself without our zeal, efforts and activity.
Up till now you have not learned to love your neighbour. You answer men's dislike towards you by dislike on your part. But do the contrary; answer others' dislike by heartfelt goodwill and love; the more dislike you see towards you, the more you should love. Dislike is a malady, and a sick person should be more pitied, should be shown greater care and greater love, exactly because he is ill. Do you not know that the bodiless enemy uses his craftiness against all, infects all with the poison of his hatred? And you, too, are not exempt from his craftiness. Do not serve him, then, the spirit of enmity, but serve the God of love with the utmost zeal. Remember that God the Word died for your brethren.
The Lord is my life, my breath, my strength, my light, peace and joy, my food and drink; what shall I bring to such a Benefactor, or what shall I render unto Him? I will render unto Him, with His help, obedience to His Will, the fulfilment of His commandments. "If ye love Me," says He Himself, "keep My commandments."[1227] I will endeavour to please Him by seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and by counting earthly blessings as naught in comparison to heavenly ones; I will not let my heart cleave to anything earthly. O, Lord! grant me strength to accomplish this. Strengthen me Thyself by Thy right hand. My Strength, do not forsake me! Grant that I may put my trust in Thee alone, my Nourisher — in Thee, Who hast never forsaken me!
- St. John of Kronstadt
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Once the Elder was invited on board a frigate that had come from St. Petersburg. The captain of the frigate was a man quite learned, highly educated; he had been sent to America by Imperial command to inspect all the colonies. With the captain were some 25 officers, likewise educated men. In this company there sat a desert-dwelling monk of small stature, in an old garment, who by his wise conversation brought all his listeners to such a state that they did not know how to answer him. The captain himself related: "We were speechless fools before him!"
Father Herman gave them all one common question: "What do you, gentlemen, love above all, and what would each of you wish for his happiness?" Diverse answers followed. One desired wealth, one glory, one a beautiful wife, one a fine ship which he should command, and so on in this fashion. "Is it not true," said Father Herman at this, "that all your various desires can be reduced to one - that each of you desires that which, in his understanding, he considers best and most worthy of love?" "Yes, it is so," they all replied. "Well, then, tell me," he continued, "can there be anything better, higher above everything, more surpassing everything and in general more worthy of love, than our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who created us, perfectly adorned us, gave life to all, supports all, nourishes and loves all, who Himself is love and more excellent than all men? Should not a person then love God high above all and desire and seek Him more than all else?" All began to say: "Well, yes! That is understood! That speaks for itself!"
"And do you love God?" the Elder then asked. All replied: "Of course, we love God. How can one not love God?" "And I, sinful one, for more than forty years have been striving to love God, and cannot say that I perfectly love Him," answered Father Herman; then he began to show how a person should love God. "If we love someone," he said, "we always think of him, strive to please him, day and night our heart is occupied with this subject. Is it thus that you, gentlemen, love God? Do you often turn to Him, do you always think of Him, do you always pray to Him, and fulfill His holy commandments?" It had to be acknowledged that they did not! "For our good, for our happiness," concluded the Elder, "at least let us make a promise to ourselves, that from this day, from this hour, from this very moment we shall strive to love God above all, and fulfill His holy will!"
Behold what an intelligent, superb conversation Father Herman conducted in society; without doubt this conversation must have imprinted itself on the hearts of his listeners for their whole life!
- teachings of St. Herman
Father Herman gave them all one common question: "What do you, gentlemen, love above all, and what would each of you wish for his happiness?" Diverse answers followed. One desired wealth, one glory, one a beautiful wife, one a fine ship which he should command, and so on in this fashion. "Is it not true," said Father Herman at this, "that all your various desires can be reduced to one - that each of you desires that which, in his understanding, he considers best and most worthy of love?" "Yes, it is so," they all replied. "Well, then, tell me," he continued, "can there be anything better, higher above everything, more surpassing everything and in general more worthy of love, than our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who created us, perfectly adorned us, gave life to all, supports all, nourishes and loves all, who Himself is love and more excellent than all men? Should not a person then love God high above all and desire and seek Him more than all else?" All began to say: "Well, yes! That is understood! That speaks for itself!"
"And do you love God?" the Elder then asked. All replied: "Of course, we love God. How can one not love God?" "And I, sinful one, for more than forty years have been striving to love God, and cannot say that I perfectly love Him," answered Father Herman; then he began to show how a person should love God. "If we love someone," he said, "we always think of him, strive to please him, day and night our heart is occupied with this subject. Is it thus that you, gentlemen, love God? Do you often turn to Him, do you always think of Him, do you always pray to Him, and fulfill His holy commandments?" It had to be acknowledged that they did not! "For our good, for our happiness," concluded the Elder, "at least let us make a promise to ourselves, that from this day, from this hour, from this very moment we shall strive to love God above all, and fulfill His holy will!"
Behold what an intelligent, superb conversation Father Herman conducted in society; without doubt this conversation must have imprinted itself on the hearts of his listeners for their whole life!
- teachings of St. Herman
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When grace is operative in the soul of someone who is praying, then he is flooded with the love of God, so that he can no longer bear what he experiences.
Afterwards, this love turns towards the world and man, whom he comes to love so much that he seeks to take upon himself the whole of human pain and misfortune so that everyone else might be freed from it. In general he suffers with every grief and misery, and even for animals, so that he weeps when he thinks they are suffering.
These are the properties of love, but it is prayer that activates them and calls them forth.
This is why those who are advanced in prayer do not cease to pray for the world. To them belongs even the continuation of life, however audacious and strange this may seem. And you should know that, if such people disappear, then the end of this world will come.
- Elder Joseph the Hesychast
Afterwards, this love turns towards the world and man, whom he comes to love so much that he seeks to take upon himself the whole of human pain and misfortune so that everyone else might be freed from it. In general he suffers with every grief and misery, and even for animals, so that he weeps when he thinks they are suffering.
These are the properties of love, but it is prayer that activates them and calls them forth.
This is why those who are advanced in prayer do not cease to pray for the world. To them belongs even the continuation of life, however audacious and strange this may seem. And you should know that, if such people disappear, then the end of this world will come.
- Elder Joseph the Hesychast
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Five Languages of Love
The First is a smile.
The Second is tears.
The Third is a gentle touch.
The Fourth is prayer.
The Fifth is love.
With these five languages you can travel the entire earth and the whole world will be yours.
- Elderess Gabriela
The First is a smile.
The Second is tears.
The Third is a gentle touch.
The Fourth is prayer.
The Fifth is love.
With these five languages you can travel the entire earth and the whole world will be yours.
- Elderess Gabriela
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Man seeks joy and happiness in heaven. He seeks what is eternal, far from everyone and everything. He seeks to find joy in God. God is a mystery. He is silence. He is infinite. He is everything. Everyone possesses this inclination of the soul for heaven. All people seek something heavenly. All beings turn towards Him, albeit unconsciously.
Turn your mind towards Him continually. Learn to love prayer, familiar converse with the Lord. What counts above all is love, passionate love for the Lord, for Christ the Bridegroom. Become worthy of Christ’s love. In order not to live in darkness, turn on the switch of prayer so that divine light may flood your soul. Christ will appear in the depths of your being. There, in the deepest and most inward part, is the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is within you [Luke 17:21].
– St. Porphyrios
Turn your mind towards Him continually. Learn to love prayer, familiar converse with the Lord. What counts above all is love, passionate love for the Lord, for Christ the Bridegroom. Become worthy of Christ’s love. In order not to live in darkness, turn on the switch of prayer so that divine light may flood your soul. Christ will appear in the depths of your being. There, in the deepest and most inward part, is the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is within you [Luke 17:21].
– St. Porphyrios
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You cannot be too gentle, too kind. Shun even to appear harsh in your treatment of each other. Joy, radiant joy, streams from the face of one who gives and kindles joy in the heart of one who receives. All condemnation is from the devil. Never condemn each other, not even those whom you catch committing an evil deed. We condemn others only because we shun knowing ourselves. When we gaze at our own failings, we see such a morass of filth that nothing in another can equal it. That is why we turn away, and make much of the faults of others. Keep away from the spilling of speech. Instead of condemning others, strive to reach inner peace. Keep silent, refrain from judgement. This will raise you above the deadly arrows of slander, insult, outrage, and will shield your glowing hearts against the evil that creeps around.
– St. Seraphim of Sarov
– St. Seraphim of Sarov
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You see very clearly that it is extremely difficult, and without God’s grace and your own fervent prayer and abstinence, impossible, for you to change for the better. You feel within yourself the action of a multitude of passions: of pride, malice, envy, greediness, the love of money, despondency, slothfulness, fornication, impatience, and disobedience; and yet you remain in them, are often bound by them, whilst the long-suffering Lord bears with you, awaiting your return and amendment; and still bestows upon you all the gifts of His mercy.
Be then indulgent, patient, and loving to those who live with you, and who also suffer from many passions; conquer every evil by good, and, above all, pray to God for them, that He may correct them—that He may turn their hearts to Himself, the source of holiness.
Do not help the Devil to spread his kingdom. Hallow the name of your Heavenly Father by your actions; help Him to spread His Kingdom on earth. ‘For we are laborers together with God.’
Be zealous of the fulfillment of His will on earth, as it is in heaven. Forgive them that trespass against you with joy, as a good son rejoices when he has a chance of fulfilling the will of his beloved father.
- St. John of Kronstadt
Be then indulgent, patient, and loving to those who live with you, and who also suffer from many passions; conquer every evil by good, and, above all, pray to God for them, that He may correct them—that He may turn their hearts to Himself, the source of holiness.
Do not help the Devil to spread his kingdom. Hallow the name of your Heavenly Father by your actions; help Him to spread His Kingdom on earth. ‘For we are laborers together with God.’
Be zealous of the fulfillment of His will on earth, as it is in heaven. Forgive them that trespass against you with joy, as a good son rejoices when he has a chance of fulfilling the will of his beloved father.
- St. John of Kronstadt
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