To The Venerable Nun Xenia, St. Gregory Palamas. Philokalia - Volume 4

"To the venerable nun Xenia"

 Saint Gregory Palamas 

Philokalia volume 4

 

 

For those who wish to truly live the monastic life, it is not only unpleasant to live together with the many, but also with those who live in the same way, because this interrupts the continuity of joyful communication with God and divides into two and sometimes into many. parts the unity of the νούς nous (spirit of the psyche), which constitutes the inner and true monk. 

Therefore, one of the Fathers, when asked why he avoided people, responded: "I cannot be with God when I interact with human beings." Another, speaking from his experience, considers that not only coexistence, but also the vision of people can disturb the stability of the spiritual and mental tranquility and serenity of the hermit hesychasts (or Orthodox Christians). If one examines it precisely, even just the thought of someone's arrival and the anticipation of the visit and conversation does not leave the noetic and mental part of the psyche-soul completely calm.

Now he, who writes logos, charges his nus and his intellect with an even more intense concern. And if they are one of those who have progressed in virtue and, due to psychic and mental health, have the unconditional love of God active when they write, they do not do so in a direct and authentic way. However, if you are one of those who fall into many diseases and troubles of the psyche-soul, as I truly am, and need to constantly cry out to God: “Heal me, for I have sinned against You” (Psalm 40:5), do not It is right that before your psychotherapy and healing you abandon prayer and engage in anything else voluntarily. 

 Furthermore, with his writings, one also converses with those who are absent and transmits the discourse over time to more people, sometimes even to those whom he would not like, since the texts remain until after the death of the person who wrote them. For this reason, many Fathers, eminent hermit hesychasts, did not want to write anything, although they could have exposed important and beneficial things.

I, although I am very far from the precision of those, used to write, but only when there was an urgent need. However, now I have become more cautious, and that especially those who with envious eyes saw some of my writings, looking for opportunities to harm me. These, according to Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, are hostilely affected by meaningless letters, numbers and lines, as well as by unknown syllables and words that do not reach the spiritual and mental part of their psyches-souls. 

In reality, it is illogical, bad and totally inappropriate for those who wish to understand divine realities and things not to pay attention to the meaning of the content, but to the words. I know well how I received their accusations fairly. It is not that he did not write in agreement with the Fathers. This with the χάρις haris (grace, uncreated energy) of Christ, I maintained in my writings. But I wrote about things for which I was not worthy and, similar to Oziah (2 Kings 6:6-7), I tried with the logos to maintain the vehicle of truth that was in danger of overturning.

Certainly, the punishment I received from God was not in the form of anger, but as measured pedagogy and correction. Therefore, those who rose up against me did not prevail. But this is more due to my unworthiness. It seems that I was neither worthy nor capable of suffering something for the truth and becoming a joyful companion in the afflictions and sufferings of the Saints. 

Was not also Saint John the Chrysostom, who throughout his life was united to the Church of the firstborn in heaven and wrote logos of piety with authority, clarity and sweetness like no one else, then was he not separated from the Church and was he not condemned to exile, banished because he supposedly promoted the heresy of Origen? And Peter, the mainstay of the dance of the Lord's disciples, says that at that time the ignorant twisted the difficult-to-understand passages of the epistles of the great Paul, with the result of being led to perdition (2 Peter 3: 16).

I, for the small annoyance caused to me by my opponents, although they were synodically condemned in a synod/council, intended to stop writing altogether if you, Saint Yerontisa, had not tirelessly urged me with letters and messages until you convinced me to deal with logos again as a consultation. Although you do not have a great need for advice, because you have, with the χάρης haris (grace, uncreated energy) of Christ, together with your advanced age and respect for wisdom, you have read and applied the law of divine commandments for many years, appropriately sharing your life in obedience and hesychia (inner and outer divine peace and serenity).

With these logos, you have softened the tablet of your psyche-soul and made it suitable so that the divine letters are engraved on it and not erased. But such is the psyche-soul that is totally dominated by the longing for spiritual teaching; never satiated. Therefore, the Sophia-Wisdom of God says of herself: “Those who eat me will hunger even more” (S Sirach 24:21). And the Lord, who places this longing within us, speaks of Mary, who chose the 'better part,' saying that it will not be taken away from her (Luke 10:42)." 

You also need this additional teaching, especially for the daughters of the Great King, that is, the nuns, who live under your spiritual direction and pedagogy, and especially for Synesi, whom you wish to present as a bride of your own lineage to the Christ, the Giver of incorruptibility and immortality. You have become his imitator; that is, just as He actually assumed our form for our sake and love, now you have assumed the role of beginners who need teaching.

Therefore, although I have no skills in logos, especially in such logos as these, with what I have now, I will fulfill the duty of love in Christ to demonstrate my good intention and obey and fulfill the commandment: “If anyone asks you for anything, give it to him.” (Matt 5:42). 

So you must know, Saint Yerontisa, or rather, listen to me to convey to the young women who have chosen life in God, that there is a death of the psyche-soul, which by nature is immortal. This is what the Theologian, Christ's most beloved disciple, states: “There is one sin that leads to death, and another that does not lead” (1 John 5:16-17), and in this case it undoubtedly refers to death. of the psyche-soul. 

And the great Paul says: “Pain or sadness, affliction according to the world, produces death” (2 Cor 7:10); It naturally refers to the death of the psyche-soul. In another place it says: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you” (Ephes 5:14). Whom does he order to rise from the dead? Certainly, of those who have died due to carnal desires, which fight against the psyche-soul (1 Pet 2:11). For this reason, Christ called “dead” those who live in the vain world. Why did he not allow the disciple to bury his father, but ordered him to follow him and let the dead bury their dead (Matt 8:22)? Here, the Lord called “dead” the living who are dead in the spyche-soul.

That is, just as the separation of the psyche-soul from the body is the death of the body, in the same way, the separation of God from the psyche-soul is its death. And the true meaning of death is this, the death of the psyche-soul. This is what God meant by His commandment in Paradise when He said to Adam: “On the day that you eat of the forbidden tree (of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil), you will surely die” (Gen 2:17).

Then, due to the transgression, Adam's psyche-soul died, being separated from God, while his body continued to live until he was nine hundred and thirty years old (Gen 5:5). But the death that prevailed and predominated in the psyche-soul due to transgression not only weakens the psyche-soul and makes man cursed, but also makes the body very laborious, long-suffering, corruptible, and finally gives it over to death.

Because then, after the necrosis mortification, that is, of the inner man due to the transgression, Adam, the earthly one, heard that “the earth will be cursed and will show you your works with difficulties; It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and in the sweat of your face you will eat your bread, until you return to the land from which you were formed; for dust you are, and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:17-19).

In our future new birth, in the resurrection of the righteous, the bodies of the wicked and sinners will also be resurrected, but to be delivered to the second death (Revelation 20:14), to eternal hell, to the immortal worm (Mark 9:44 ), to the gnashing of the teeth, to the external and palpable darkness (Matt 8:12), to the gloomy and unquenchable Gehenna of fire (Matt 5:22), according to the Prophet who says that the wicked and sinners will be thrown together into a fire that no one can quench (Isaiah 1:31). 

That is the second death, as John taught us in the book of Revelation. Listen to what the great Paul also says: “For if you live according to base animal instincts, eternal spiritual death awaits you; But yes, you live according to the spiritual principles and the dynamic energies and powers that the Spirit gives, you avoid and put to death carnal actions, and you will live eternally close and together with God (Rom 8:13). Here we talk about life and death in the future century; life refers to the enjoyment of the reign of eternal uncreated royalty, and death to eternal hell.

Therefore, the transgression of God's commandment becomes the cause of all death, both for the psyche-soul and for the body, both in the present life and in that eternal hell. This in itself is death, the separation of the psyche-soul from the Divine Haris, uncreated Grace, and union with sin. This death is truly shocking and disgusting for those who are sensible and coherent. For those who know how to appreciate things, it is more terrifying and more repugnant than the punishment in Gehenna or hell. 

And we must also avoid this death with all our strength. We must discard and reject everything that, in our relationships, praxis, actions and desires, distances us and separates us from God and leads us to this death. For he who fears this death and has preserved himself from it will not fear the death of the body when it comes, since he will have true life as its tenant within him, which cannot be extinguished by bodily death.

Therefore, just as the death of the psyche-soul is the main death, so also the life of the psyche-soul is the main life. The life of the psyche-soul is the union with God, just as the life of the body is the union with the psyche-soul. And just as with the transgression of the commandments the psyche-soul was separated from God and led to death, so with obedience to the commandments it unites it again to God and gives it life. For this reason, the Lord says in the Gospels: “The logos that I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63). The apostle Peter also said the same thing to the Lord, who learned it by experience: “You have logos of eternal life” (Jn 6:68). But these words guide those who obey to eternal life, while for those who disobey, this commandment of life becomes a cause of death (Rom 7:10).

So also the Apostles, while they were 'fragrance of Christ', to some they were the odor of death that gives death, while to others they were the odor of life that gives life (2 Cor 2:15-16). This life, again, is not only the life of the psyche-soul, but also that of the body, since through the resurrection, the body also becomes immortal. It not only frees the body from mortality, but also from eternal death that never ends, that is, that future hell, also granting it eternal life in Christ, a life without pain, without illness, without sadness, truly immortal. 

Just as in the death of the psyche-soul, that is, in transgression and sin, followed the death of the body and its decomposition on earth, and in bodily death followed the damnation of the psyche-soul in Hades, Thus in the resurrection of the psyche-soul, which is the return to God through obedience to the divine commandments, the resurrection of the body will follow, which will be united again with the psyche-soul.

And in this same resurrection true incorruption and eternal life with God will follow for those who deserve it, since from carnal beings they will become spiritual beings and live in heaven as angels, as the Apostle says: “We will be caught up in the clouds to receive the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thes 4:17). In the same way that the Son of God, who became man out of philanthropic love for humanity or man, died physically and His psyche-soul was separated from His body, but his divinity was not separated from Him, so later of his resurrection, he took his glorified body to heaven, so did those who lived here according to the will of God. 

That is, just as, when they separate from their bodies, they do not separate themselves from God, in the resurrection they will also take their bodies together with God, entering with indescribable joy where Jesus entered as a precursor for us (Hebr 6:20), to enjoy together His uncreated doxa-glory that is about to be revealed (1 Pet 5:1). And they will not only participate in His resurrection, but also in His ascension and in all His beautiful divine life. However, the same will not happen with those who lived here carnally and who, at the hour of death, find themselves without any communion with God. Because although all will be resurrected, each one will do so in his own order, as the Apostle says (1 Cor 15:23).

He who here killed the praxis of the body by the power of the Spirit (Romans 8:13) will live divine and eternal life with Christ there. While he who here killed the spirit through carnal desires and passions, there, unfortunately, will be condemned along with the devil, the author and cause of evil, and will be delivered to an unbearable and endless hell that our soul with his mind or intellect cannot perceive and conceive, which is the second death (Revelation 20:14), the eternal and permanent. 

Where did the true death that caused both temporal and eternal death in the psyche-soul and body have its beginning? Not in the place of life? Therefore, man was immediately condemned and expelled from the Paradise of God, because he made his life mortal and inappropriate for the divine Paradise. Therefore, true life, which grants immortality to both the psyche-soul and the body, will begin here, in the place of death. And he who does not hasten to make it here the possession of his psyche-soul, let him not deceive himself with vain hopes that he will obtain it there. Nor hope that you will receive God's philanthropy and compassion at that time, for that will be the time of retribution and revenge, and not of sympathy, philanthropy and mercy (Jeremiah 28:6).

Then it will be time for the manifestation of God's wrath, anger and indignation (Rom 2, 5); a time in which the powerful divine hand will be seen moving to hell the disobedient. Woe to him who falls into the hands of the true God! (Hebr 10, 31). Woe to him who experiences the wrath of the Lord there and has not known from here, through divine fear, the power of His wrath, and has not secured with his works the mercy and philanthropy of God, appropriately using the present time! 

That is why God has really granted us this life as well, giving us a place for μετάνοια metania. Because if it were not so, man would have lost his own life with a single sin; What benefit would he have obtained from it? Therefore, despair has no place among men, even if the evil one presents it in various ways, not only to those who live indifferently, but sometimes also to fighters.

Because, in effect, the time of life is a time for μετάνοια metania, and this fact that the sinner continues to live is a guarantee for those who desire his return, that God accepts him. And this is because free will or independence always coexists with the present life. And it is the responsibility of free will or free will to choose or avoid the path of life and death, as we mentioned before; because you have the ability to acquire whatever you want. So where can despair find a place when everyone can, whenever they want, obtain eternal life? Don't you see the greatness of God's philanthropy and mercy? When we disobey, He does not immediately impose His just punishment on us, but is tolerant, magnanimous, and with the μετάνοια metania gives us time to return.

In this time of His magnanimity and patience, He grants us the power, if we wish, to become His children. What do I mean by becoming His children? Unite with Him and be one in spirit with Him. But even in this time of magnanimity and patience, if we follow the opposite path and love death more than true life, He does not take away the power He gave us. And not only does He not take it away from us, but He also calls us back to His side and seeks us everywhere to make us return to the works of life, as in the parable of the vineyard (Matt 20, 1-16), from morning until night of this life of ours.

But who is the one who calls and takes us as paid workers? He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God who provides us with all reinforcement and comfort (2 Cor 1:3). And what is the vineyard to which he calls us to work? It is the Son of God, who said: "I am the vine" (John 15:1). Because no one can come to Christ, as He Himself said in the Gospels, if the Father does not draw him (John 6:44). And who are the branches of the vine? We are. Listen again to what He says: "You are the branches of the vine and My Father is the husbandman" (John 15, 1 and 5). Then, the Father, reconciling us to Himself through the Son and not taking into account our past sins (2 Corinthians 5:19), calls us not as adherents to absurd and incorrect works, but as lazy. Although laziness is also a sin, since we will give account for even an idle word (Matt 12:36).

But as I said, God, overlooking our previous sins, calls us again and again. And what are you calling us for? So that we can work in the vineyard, which means the vines, that is, for ourselves. And then, oh, the incomprehensible philanthropy and mercy of God, he promises us a salary and gives it to us, even though we are working for ourselves. “Come,” he says, “take eternal life, which I abundantly provide for you. And as if I owed you something, I will pay you a salary for your work on the trip and for the fact that you only wanted to receive it from Me. Who should not rescue his Redeemer from death? Who should not be grateful to the Giver of life? However, the Lord also promises to advance a salary, and especially an ineffable salary. He says it Himself: "I have come so that they may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10). What is that abundance? Not only be with Him and live with Him, but He will also make you His brothers and joint heirs.

So this abundance, appropriately, is the reward given to those who ran eagerly into the life-giving Vineyard and became Its branches, worked for themselves and cultivated for themselves. And what did they do? First of all, they cut off everything superfluous that did not contribute to their purpose, but, on the contrary, constituted an obstacle to producing worthy fruits for the divine storehouse. What are these? Wealth, pleasure or hedonism, vain glory, everything that flows and passes, every peace of the psyche-soul and body, the abominable and evil, all the torrent of elevated thoughts of the διάνοια diania (intellect, mind) , every sound, hearing and sight, and every logo that can damage the psyche-soul. Because if someone does not take great care to cut and clean the shoots of his heart, he will never bear fruit for eternal life (Jn 4:36).

It is possible, of course, for even married people to pursue this purity, but with great difficulty. Therefore, all those who from their youth have been pitied and delivered by God and have turned the penetrating eyes of their diania (intellect, mind) towards eternal life and have become lovers of good things, avoid marriage, and They do well to do so, because when the dead are raised, as the Lord said, there will be no questions of marriage for them, but they will be like the angels of God (Matt 22:30). Therefore, whoever wants to be like an angel of God, must from here become superior to the carnal union, as will be the co-participants of the resurrection (Luke 20, 36). Furthermore, the reason for sin also found a foothold from the beginning in the wife.

Therefore, those who wish to give way to cunning evil must renounce marriage. If even the very body we have is rebellious and difficult to discipline in virtue, or rather, has innate contrary tendencies, what will happen then and how much will we increase our difficulty for virtue when we connect with many and diverse bodies? How will she obtain the freedom she fights for, the one that has bound herself with natural ties to a husband, children and all relatives? How will she who assumed so many responsibilities pray to the Lord without worries? How will one who is among so many crowds escape from the noise? 

Therefore, the true virgin who resembles the Virgin Son of the Virgin, the Bridegroom of psyche-souls who have lived as they should in purity, not only in carnal marriage, but also in secular or worldly company, avoids to all the relatives, so that he can speak frankly, as Peter says to Christ: “We have left everything and followed you.”

When the earthly bride leaves father and mother for the sake of the corruptible earthly bridegroom, and is united to him, according to Scripture (Gen 2:24), what paradox does the virgin face if she leaves her parents and is united to the heavenly Bridegroom? And at His wedding? How is she allowed to have relatives on earth, she who has her citizenship in heaven (Phil 3:20)? How will she who is not a daughter of the flesh, but of the Spirit, have carnal fathers or mothers or blood relatives? How will she who has renounced her body and always denies it as much as possible, after having rejected carnal life, have any relationship with foreign bodies? If likeness, as they say, engenders and creates love, and each person is attracted to his fellow man, will not the virgin resemble the loved ones and fall again into the disease of love for the world? Friendship with the world is enmity with God (Rom 8:7; James 4:4), as Paul says, the groom that leads to spiritual courtship. So the virgin runs the risk not only of divorcing the supernatural and supra-celestial Bridegroom, but also of making enemies with Him.

And you will certainly not be surprised or saddened to see that no complaint is made in Scripture against married women who worry about worldly affairs instead of what concerns the Lord (1 Cor 7:34); while for those who have pledged virginity to God, they are prohibited from even approaching the things of the world and are not allowed to live in comfort. 

 Although the apostle Paul also says to married people: “The time left is short, so that those who have wives live as if they had none, and those who mourn, as if they did not cry, and those who rejoice, as if They will not rejoice, and those who buy, as if they had no possessions” (1 Cor 7, 29 and 31). What I consider more difficult to achieve than the fight for virginity. Because experience shows that fasting is easier than continence or self-control of food and drink. And one could fairly and truly say: if someone does not care about his own salvation, we have nothing to say to him. However, if your concern is salvation, you should know that the virginal life is much more beneficial and less laborious than the married life. But let's leave this aside. You now, virgin, bride of Christ, branch of the vine of life, consider what I said above. The Lord says: “'I am the vine and you are the branches. My Father is the vinedresser, who cuts off every branch that does not bear fruit, so that it may bear more fruit” (Jn 15, 1-2 and 5). Therefore, consider God's care for you as a demonstration of the fruitfulness of your virginity and the Bridegroom's agapi-love for you. And rejoice even more and strive to offer him your obedience. After all, even gold that has some copper in its mass is called fake, while copper, when bathed with a small amount of gold, becomes brighter and more precious than it is.

So, virgin, the desire of married women for you and your life is an honor for them, while it breeds dishonor in you to long for what they have. Because that longing takes you back to the world, on the one hand, because you will have relationships and live with those who live in the world, you who have died to the world. On the other hand, by staying close to them, you will also desire what they desire for themselves and their relatives, that is, the abundance of all material goods, wealth, hedonism, social prominence, glory and joy for all those things.

Thus you will come to fall from the desire and will of the Bridegroom, since He reproves and condemns all those things to a great extent in the Gospels, saying: “Woe to you who are rich! Woe to you who laugh! Woe to you, those who are satisfied! Oh when all men speak well of you!' (Luke 6, 24-26). Why, then, do you condemn them? Is it not because they are dead in the psyche-soul? What relationship, then, does the bride of life have with the dead? What relationship can it have with those who follow the opposite path? Because the path they follow is wide and spacious (Matt 7:13); and if they do not contain themselves, mixing something of your life into theirs, they will come to perfect perdition. While you enter through the narrow and full of difficulties door and path to eternal life. And from the narrow gate and path, no one can pass carrying a load of worldly doxa-glory, a mountain of pleasures and bundles of hedonism, a load of money, riches and possessions.

However, hearing that this path of life is wide, do not consider it without difficulties and sadness; In reality, it is full of many heavy afflictions and calamities. But the Lord calls it wide and spacious because many pass through it (Matt 7:13) and each one carries a great load of corruptible matter. While your path, virgin, is narrow and does not allow two to pass together. 

For this reason, many women who were first married, when they became widows, rejected the world, loving and desiring your supernatural and heavenly life, and chose to follow your path to also participate in the crowns. The apostle Paul orders us to honor these widows, because they persevere in prayers and supplications, with hope in God (1 Tim 5, 5). 

Although there is also something painful and sad in the virginal life, even that attracts divine consolation and grants us the uncreated royalty of heaven and brings about our salvation. While worldly life, with its pleasures and sorrows, leads to death. As the Apostle says: “For Godly willed sadness produces spiritual benefit and a healthy and salvific metania, which there is no reason to regret; while worldly sadness engenders depression and leads to spiritual death” (2 Corinthians 7:10).

For this reason, the Lord blesses what is contrary to the good things of the world, saying: “Blessed and happy will be the poor in spirit because theirs is and will be the reign of the uncreated royalty of heaven; (blessed and happy are and will be those who are poor from evils and sins in the spirit of their heart of the psyche and humbly feel their spiritual poverty and their dependence integrates with faith and humility to God, because theirs is and will be the uncreated royalty from heaven" (Matthew 5, 3). Why, when saying "blessed are the poor", did he add "in spirit"? To show that he also blesses and accepts the humility and temperance of the psyche-soul. 

 And why didn't he say 'blessed are the poor in spirit' - since this is how humility would be manifested - but instead said 'blessed are the poor in spirit'? To show us that even physical poverty is worthy of blessing and bliss and brings uncreated heavenly royalty, but only when practiced with humility of the psyche-soul and united with it from the beginning. That is, by blessing the “poor in spirit,” he marvelously indicated the way, what we would say as the root, that produces the poverty observed in the Saints, that is, what is their spirit. 

When, in fact, one has incorporated the Charis Divine Grace of the evangelical kerygma, a source of poverty emanates from within him that waters the entire face of our earth (Gen 2, 6), that is, the external man, and converts him in a paradise of virtues. This type of poverty is blessed by God.

Therefore, the Lord, by giving people this concise logos according to the prophet (Hosea 10, 23), revealed the cause of voluntary poverty and its variety, and after showing it and blessing it, included in it its many results, talking about everything in a few words. One can, in fact, be without possessions, live an austere life, be self-disciplined, continent and even voluntarily poor, but to be praised by people. This type of person is not "poor in spirit." Because hypocrisy is born of presumption or boasting, and boasting is opposite to 'poverty in spirit'. 

While he who has a broken, measured and humble spirit, it is impossible not to rejoice and be glad even in his external poverty and humility. This is because he considers himself unworthy of doxa-glory, prosperity, abundance, comfort and all those things. And he is the poor one who is blessed by God, that is, the one who really considers himself unworthy of those blessings. And this is the true poor, the one who does not experience even half of the content of the word 'poor'.

For this reason, the divine Luke said "Blessed are the poor" (Luke 6:20), without adding "in spirit." And they are those who have listened and followed and become like the Son of God, who says: “learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find psychotherapy and healing, relief and rest, peace and serenity in your psyches-souls,” (Matt 11, 29), therefore, the reign of the uncreated Royalty of God belongs to them. Because they are joint heirs of Christ (Rom8, 17). 

Since the psyche-soul is divided into three faculties or dynamis (powers) and consists of three parts, the logistic or rational, the irascible and the longing, and is sick in all three, the Christ, desiring to psychotherapy and heal it, wisely began the treatment from the last, the longing part (desire). The material that excites the irascible part is the dissatisfaction of longing, desire, and the dispersion of diania (intellect, mind) comes from the fact that both are sick. And neither the irascible nor the irascible can ever be psychotherapy and cured if longing, desire, nor the logistical (rational, intellectual) have not been psychotherapy and healed first if the other two are not psychotherapy and healed first.

The first evil spawn or fruit of the longing part, if you examine it, you will find to be greed for possessions. The desires that contribute to the life of the human being are not the cause, which is why they accompany us from a very early age. On the other hand, avarice/greed (love of wealth) develops later, when we are still children. From this it follows that greed/avarice does not have its origin in nature, but in choice or preference. That is why the venerable Paul called it the root of all evil (1 Tim 6:10). 

Covetousness breeds and produces many evils, such as lack of compassion, deceit, theft, robbery, plunder, and in general, all kinds of covetousness, which Paul himself called idolatry (Col 3, 5 ). Even with regard to the evils that do not arise from it, it practically provides the means and materials for its existence. And these are the peaces that are born from the fondness and love for the matter of the psyche-soul that has no disposition to do good.

It is easier to free ourselves from the passions that come from our free choice or preference than from those that originate in nature. The pangs of greed (love of money and wealth) are difficult to eliminate due to lack of faith in God's providence. Because he who does not believe in it relies on money. And although I heard the Lord say that "it is easier to pass a thick rope of those that tie the camel or the ship through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter the reign of the uncreated royalty of God (or kamilon they were called and were the thick ropes that the Hellenes-Greeks tied the ships in the port), (Matthew 19, 24), he does not consider at all the uncreated heavenly and eternal royalty, but longs for earthly and temporal wealth. He longs for wealth, which, even when not acquired, just by desiring it causes great harm. Because, as Paul says, those who want to get rich fall into temptations and traps of the devil (1Tim 6, 9).

But even when wealth comes, it shows that it is nothing, for the owners continue to crave it as if they had not received it and have learned nothing from their experience. And mad love or burning and fatal desire does not come from necessity; rather, the need comes from him, and he comes from madness, foolishness, to which the Lord justly called him a fool who demolished his stores to build greater ones (Luke 12:18). 

So how would he not be a fool who, for things that cannot benefit anything, betrays what is most beneficial - since his possessions do not give life to anyone, no matter how abundant they may be (Luke 12:15)? And there is a wise merchant who has the means to invest in what is necessary to increase the capital of a truly lucrative spiritual business and a very productive spiritual agriculture.

This agriculture, even before the time of harvest, multiplies a hundredfold the seed that has been spent, as if predicting the future profit and harvest when the time comes, which will be ineffable, unimaginable and incomprehensible. And the surprising thing is that this is more true the poorer the store from which the seed comes. Therefore, there is no excuse left for people to crave wealth even to do good. 

In reality, they fear poverty, not believing in Him who promised to give all necessary things to those who seek the uncreated kingship of God (Matt 6:33). And just because of that thought, even if they have everything, they never free themselves from that unhealthy and destructive desire, but, by constantly accumulating, they carry a useless burden, or rather, they build for themselves a paradoxical tomb, while they are still alive.

For the dead are buried in common earth, while the νοῦς nous (spirit of the psyche) of the living miser is buried in gold, which is also earth. And this tomb is dirtier than the other, for those who have healthy spiritual senses. And it is even dirtier, the more gold has covered it. Because the bad smell of the wound of the buried wretches penetrates the density of this tomb and reaches heaven, the angels of God and God himself. They become repulsive and truly worthy of rejection, because, according to David, they stank because of their foolishness (Psalm 37:6). 

Voluntary and selfless austerity or poverty, which is identified with the “poverty in spirit” blessed by the Lord, frees human beings from this repugnant, destructive and deadly peace. The monk or Orthodox Christian who has this peace is incapable of living in obedience or subordination. And if you continue to cultivate it as much as possible, there is a great fear of suffering irreparable bodily harm. Gezi, from the Old Testament, and Judas, from the New Testament, are characteristic examples. The first contracted leprosy (2 Kings 5:27) as a sign of his incurable psyche-soul, while the second hanged himself in a field of blood, and after falling from the gallows, his abdomen opened and his insides spilled out ( Acts 1:18).

Now, if renunciation of worldly things precedes obedience, how will the second be accomplished before the first is accomplished? And if the fundamental principle of the monastic and Orthodox Christian life is the renunciation of the worldly, how can someone effectively carry out the monastic and Christian struggle if they have not first renounced wealth, money? Some might say: if such a monk is not suitable for obedience, let him retire to a cell by himself and devote his time to study and prayer. 

But the Lord says: "for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also, your treasure is in heaven, your heart also in heaven" (Matt 6:21). How then can you direct your mind toward Him who sits at the right hand of the Divine Majesty high in the heavens (Heb 1:3), who treasures on earth below? Or how will he inherit the reign of uncreated Royalty, which the desire of avarice/greed does not even allow to enter his nus (spirit of the psyche)? Therefore, blessed are the “poor in spirit,” for theirs is the reign of the uncreated Kingship of heaven (Matthew 5:3).

Do you see how many wounds the Lord has cut with a single beatitude? But it is not only that, for greedy possession is only the first fruit of evil desire. There is a second, which we should avoid even more, and a third, no less bad. What is the second? The love of glory, the ambition. 

As we progress from childhood, before sensuality or love of the body appears, we find this pasion when we are still young, as a bad introduction to sensuality or love of the flesh. I am referring to the type of ambition that focuses on body decoration and luxurious clothing, which the Fathers also call worldly vainglory. Because the other type of vainglory attacks those who have excelled in virtue and carries with it presumption, vanity and hypocrisy. Through these pazos, the enemy plans to plunder and disperse spiritual wealth.

All of these pazos are “psychotherapy” and completely healed with the awareness and longing for the uncreated heavenly doxa-glory, along with a sense of unworthiness for it on the part of those who desire it. Furthermore, be constant in humility before others, along with the conviction that it is unworthy for her. Furthermore, and considering the glory of God better than his own, according to him who said: “Not to us, Lord, not to us, but give glory to Your name” (Ps 113:9). 

And if he sees that he has done something praiseworthy, he should attribute the cause of the achievement to God and consider that he should also praise God with gratitude, not himself. Thus, she will rejoice because she received virtue as a gift, but she will not be proud, since she will have nothing of her own, and she will humble herself and have her eyes fixed day and night towards God, - to express myself in psalmodic terms -, a servant or slave. who has his eyes on the hands of his mistress (Psalm 122:2).

And along with this, he will perhaps fear separating himself from God, the only one who gives good and keeps us in it, and falling into the abyss of evil. Because this happens to those who become slaves to vanity, presumption and ambition. In the psychotherapy and healing of these bad times, withdrawal and life in solitude and permanence in the cell are especially helpful, as long as someone recognizes the weakness of their own will and considers themselves unworthy of relating to other people. What else are all these things but “poverty of spirit,” which the Lord has blessed? 

If anyone reflects on the shames and abominations that come from this peace, he will avoid vainglory with all his strength. In other words, he who desires the glory of men falls into disgrace only because of the works he performs to achieve it. Because by worrying about looking beautiful and boasting about the glory of your ancestors and taking pride in luxurious clothing and the like, you reveal that you still have childish behaviors. All these things together are like the earth.

And what is more despicable than the earth? The nun who does not use clothes only to cover and shelter herself, but delights in soft and luxurious garments, not only clearly shows the sterility of her psyche-soul to those who see her, but also surrounds herself with the ugliness of the common women. First of all, listen to the Lord who says: “What did you go out to see? A luxuriously dressed man? For it is known that those who wear luxurious clothing are in the palaces of kings” (Matt 11:8). But according to the divine Paul: “Our government policy and our country are in heaven, and our behavior is like the angels of heaven, from where we longingly wait for our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ,” (Philipp 3, 20), 

Therefore, let us not be thrown from heaven by the madness of garments, into the camps of the ruler of the darkness of this world (Eph 6:12).

The same thing happens to those who practice virtue in order to be glorified by men. That is, while it is up to them to have their citizenship in heaven, they cover their glory with earth, bringing upon themselves the Davidic curse (Psalm 7:6). Because not even their prayers ascend to heaven, and all their efforts fall to the earth, since they do not have the wings of divine love, which make our praxis, earthly actions reach heaven. So they get tired working and get no reward. And what do I say, they don't get a reward? What they gain is shame, the confusion of loyismí (simple thoughts or thoughts united with fantasy), the captivity of the διάνοια diania (intellect, mind) and disturbance. For the Lord, according to the Psalm, “has scattered the bones of those who are pleasing to men; They have been put to shame, because God has made them void” (Psalm 52:6).

These pazos of pleasing and pleasing men is the most difficult to discern among all the passions. Therefore, he who fights against it must not only examine the combination or avoid consent, but also consider the simple provocation of peace as consent and be attentive and vigilant. Only in this way can you avoid defeat faster. If you act in this way and are careful and attentive, the provocation or stimulus becomes an agent of humility and dilation of the heart, compunction; Otherwise, it sets the stage for arrogance and pride. Whoever now acquires arrogance and pride is difficult, or rather impossible, to “psychotherapy” and heal, because this fall is similar to that of the devil.

But even before this, the pazos of pleasing oneself and pleasing men causes such great harm to those who have it that it makes them shipwreck even in their faith, according to the words of the Lord: “How are you?” to believe in the truth, since you seek and receive doxa-glory and honors from one another and do not seek the true doxa-glory (uncreated light) and the logos that comes from the one and only God? (John 5:44). What relation have you, O man, to the glory of men, or rather to the empty name of glory? This is not only lack of glory, but it also deprives us of true glory. And not only that, but along with others it also engenders envy. And envy is in itself a potential murder, and it itself caused the first murder and then the fratricide.

So how does glory help human nature? Does it control or preserve it, or does it correct it when it fails and heal it? Nobody could say something like that. Nobody could say something like that. And I think this debunks the excuses as baseless. If anyone wishes to examine closely, they will find that human glory is what insidiously causes most shame and brings it to light, shamelessly throwing its face, often embarrassing even its lovers. Even the teachers of Greek doctrines have the opinion that without it, no success in life is achieved. Oh and pity for their deception! They are not even ashamed to say it. However, we have not been taught in this way, we who bear the name of Him who has lovingly anointed our human nature with His own Being, and who also have Him as Overseer of our works.

To Him, to whom they look and through Him they achieve the best, doing everything for the glory (uncreated light) of God (1 Cor 10:31) and they do not even want to please men, or rather, they are not even pleasing to men. men, as the apostle Paul says, our lawgiver and the highest of those initiated into the Lawgiver of the law. “Who do I seek to please by the Gospel that I have preached to you, men, myself or God? Of course not. If I tried to please men, I would not be a dulos-slave or servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10). 

Now, let us see if poverty, which the Lord praises, also eliminates the third birth of evil desires. The third child of the psyche-soul that is sick in desire is gluttony or gluttony, from which all impurity and carnal dirt is born. 

But why do we mention it as the third and last in the series, if it is congenital from our birth? Because not only gluttony, gluttony but also the natural movements for procreation are pointed out to children from an early age. So why do we place the disease of carnal desire last? For these things are inherent in us by nature, and what is natural is blameless, made by the good God for us to use in good works. Therefore, these are not signs of a sick psyche-soul; However, they become such when misused and abused.

Therefore, when we care for the flesh to satisfy its desires (Rom 13:14), then desire becomes an evil passion, and φιληδονία philidony (love of pleasure, hedonism) becomes the beginning of carnal passions and the disease of the psyche-soul. 

Therefore, in such cases, first the νοῦς nous (spirit of the psyche) is the one who tests the pazos. And since evil thoughts and desires initially begin from the διάνοια diania (mind, intellect, brain), that is why the Lord says that “evil thoughts come from the heart, and these are the ones that defile a man” (Matt 15:19). . But even the Old Testament Law warns: “Take care of yourself, lest you secretly entertain a sinful thought in your heart” (Deu15:9). 

The one who first disposes himself passionately and indecently is certainly the nous (spirit of the psyche), but he also, after initially gathering through the senses the fantasy of the sensitive bodies, then treats them badly with passion. Mainly, through the eyes, which can first attract the infection from afar, the nus with the mind creeps into misuse. Clear proof of this is our mother Eve; He first saw that the forbidden tree was beautiful and pleasing to the eye, and then he consented in his heart and took and ate its fruit (Gen 3:6).

Therefore, we correctly said that defeat before the beauty of bodies precedes and is a prelude to shameful and indecent trials. Therefore, it is a parental mandate that no one be interested in the beauty of foreign bodies (Sirach 9:8) and not be narcissistic about their own. Before the diania (mind) becomes passionate and evil, although the pazos exist in children by nature, they do not collaborate in sin; They are only there to preserve nature. 

Therefore, they are not evil in themselves. But since carnal passions have their origin in the nus (spirit of the psyche) and the passionate heart, psychotherapy and healing must begin from there. In the case of fire, if someone tries to put it out by limiting the flame from above, they achieve nothing; but if you remove the materials that feed the fire from below, it will immediately be extinguished. 

The same thing happens with lustful, sexual affairs. If you do not dry up the source of thoughts from within with prayer and humility, but fight against them only with fasting and self-discipline, you will be fighting in vain, you will fail. But if you sanctify the root with humility and prayer, as we said, you will also acquire external holiness. This is what I believe the Apostle advises when he says that we should gird ourselves with the truth (Ephes 6:14).

This logos was interpreted very eloquently by one of the Fathers, who said that the intellect of the nus (spirit of the psyche) surrounds and squeezes the yearning part of the psyche-soul and compresses the lower spaces that are below the waist and the belly. However, the body also needs self-discipline and moderation in eating so as not to be insubordinate and stronger than thought. 

Therefore, also carnal passions cannot be “psychotherapy” and healed by anything other than the mortification of the body and the prayer that comes from a humble heart, which is the “poverty in spirit”, which the Lord blessed. So, if anyone desires the riches of holiness, without which no one will see the Lord (Hebr 12:14), let him remain in his cell disciplined, suffering and praying with humility. 

The cell of the good monk is a haven of temperance and self-control. And everything that is outside the cell, especially what is found in the squares and meetings, constitutes a maelstrom of lust and immorality that is formed by scandalous hearings and visions, and sinks the miserable psyche-soul of the monk who is there. in them.

But you can even call the world of evil fire, which burns those who approach it and consumes all their virtues. While the fire that does not burn was found in the desert (Ex 3:2). You, instead of being in the desert, should remain in your cell and isolate yourself a little, until the winter of the fury of the passion of the pazos (Isaiah 26:20). 

When that happens, staying outdoors will not harm you. Then, indeed, you will be truly "poor in spirit," and you will obtain dominion over the pazos, and you will be blessed with the splendor of the Lord who said: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the reign of the uncreated Kingship of heaven" (Matthew 5:3). And how will those who do not have their hopes in wealth, but in Him, not be blessed justly? Those who do not wish to please others, but Him? Those who live humbly before Him? So let us, too, become "poor in spirit," after humiliating ourselves, disciplining ourselves, and suffering in the flesh, and become without possessions, so that the uncreated kingship of God may be ours and we may attain the blessed hopes, inheriting the reign of God. uncreated royalty of heaven.

Our Lord gave us some synoptic or concise logos that summarize the Gospel of our salvation, one of which is the beatitude that we have analyzed. In it, as we have seen, he included many virtues and excluded many evils, blessing those who, based on it, adequately cut off the passive or emotional part of their psyche-souls with metania. But it's not just that. 

In this logos, the Lord included many other things similar to the action not with circumcision, but with extreme cold and freezing, snow, frost and strong winds, and in general, with the affliction suffered by plants both in winter as in summer, exposed to cold and heat, without which no plant can ripen its fruit. What are these things? The various challenges and temptations that come and that need to be endured with gratitude are those that are destined to bear fruit to the Farmer of spirits. The various temptations that come and that it is necessary for one to endure with gratitude, the one who is destined to bear fruit to the Farmer of spirits.

That is to say, when someone feels sorry for the plants of the earth that are suffering and protects them, building a roof over them and not allowing them to suffer the adversities of climate changes, they do not collect fruit even if they are pruned, cleaned and cared for. You must allow them to bear everything; because thus, after the hardship of winter has passed and spring has arrived, they sprout, bloom, fill with leaves and develop together with the beautiful leafy shoots and the unripe fruits, which under the burning rays of the sun grow slowly and gradually ripen, becoming suitable for feeding and gathering. 

 Thus, he who does not bravely endure the heavy burden of temptations and trials, even if he does not lack any of the other virtues, will never produce fruit worthy of the divine winepress and the divine storehouse. Because every fighter is perfected with the patience of voluntary and involuntary efforts, for which some have external causes and others are undertaken by ourselves.

Everything that happens in the plants of the earth due to nature and agricultural inventions and the changes of the seasons, that same thing happens by our choice also in us, the logical branches of Christ, when we obey Him, the Cultivator of our psyches-souls, as long as we are self-disciplined. Without patience in those things that encounter us involuntarily, neither will the efforts we make according to our will be blessed by God. Because the love of God is tested especially with the affliction and sadness of temptations and trials. 

Therefore, the psyche-soul must first achieve voluntary things, and after we have become accustomed to despising glory and pleasure, then we will easily endure involuntary temptations as well.

He who, for 'spiritual poverty', despises glory and pleasure, and considers himself worthy of receiving the most drastic remedies of metania, always expects any affliction and sadness and gratefully receives every temptation as if it were necessary. . And he rejoices in it, because he sees it as a purgative catharsis for his psyche-soul. And he turns the occasion of temptation into an intense and very effective supplication to God, believing that God himself provides and preserves the health of his psyche-soul. And he not only gratefully forgives those who afflict him, but also thanks them and prays for them as if they had benefited him. Therefore, he not only receives forgiveness of his sins, according to the Lord's promise, but also attains the reign of the uncreated royalty of heaven and divine blessing, and is blessed and blessed by the Lord for his patience and forbearance until the end, with a spirit of humility.

Having briefly touched on some aspects of spiritual circumcision, I will now add something about the abundant harvest that results from 'spiritual poverty'. Therefore, in those who have acquired inalienable wealth through “poverty in spirit,” the Lord, the only blessed one, makes those who mourn and cry partakers of His blessedness, saying: “Blessed and happy are those who are in mourning, afflicted by their sins and the evil that dominates the world, because they will be comforted by God” (Matthew 5, 4). Why has Christ linked mourning and crying with poverty? Because they always coexist together.

Πένθος (penzos) mourning: in the patristic texts, it is “lipi sadness or mourning according to God, it is suffering from which metania is born.” 

“Mourning according to God” is not identified with mundane cosmic mourning, which men feel when, for example, they lose loved ones, but is the result of their awareness of sin and the creation of healthy experiences through metania and return to the Lord. It is a mourning with its own originality, which with the uncreated divine energy Jaris, combines the joy and sadness of mourning (“happy mourning, joyful sorrow”). It does not cause conflicts or psychic disturbances, on the contrary it brings peace and serenity in the psyche and a willingness to fulfill the divine commandments, logos and hope in God.)

However, sadness due to material poverty causes the death of the psyche-soul, as the Apostle says (2 Cor 7, 10), while sadness due to spiritual poverty according to God leads to metania and repentance for salvation. of the psyche-soul, for which no one regrets. 

 In the first poverty, which is involuntary, involuntary mourning or mourning follows, while in voluntary poverty voluntary mourning follows by necessity. And since the mourning that is considered blessed here is linked to poverty according to God and necessarily accompanies it, and depends completely on it as a cause, it also receives from it what is spiritual and voluntary. 

But let us see how blessed poverty engenders blessed penzos mourning or mourning.

There are four forms of spiritual poverty, as shown in the previous logos. They are poverty in morals, in the body, in material wealth and in the temptations that come from outside. However, anyone who sees that I mention them separately should not think that the energy and operation of each of them is separate. Because each of them operates together with the others. Therefore, they are included in a beatitude that at the same time wonderfully indicates what is the root and cause of all this, that is, what is our spirit. 

Because this, when the grace of the gospel is installed, as we said, a source of poverty springs from the depths of itself that waters the entire face of our earth (Gen 2, 6), that is, to the external human being. , and turns it into a paradise of virtues. So, there are four types of spiritual poverty, and from each one comes the corresponding penzos mourning or mourning, along with the corresponding consolation.

From voluntary bodily poverty and humility (which includes hunger, thirst, wakefulness and in general all the afflictions and sufferings of the body, along with them the mortification of the senses), not only penzos mourning is born, but also tears. . That is, just as indifference, insensitivity and hardness of heart are born from comfort, pleasure and well-being, in the same way, from self-discipline or self-control and a controlled diet, contrition or brokenness of the heart and katánixis (dilation of the heart, compunction), which avoid all bitterness and bring sweet joy. 

For it is certainly impossible, as they say, to be freed from wickedness without contrition or brokenness of heart. Contrition in the heart is also brought by the triple self-discipline: of sleep, of food and of bodily rest. And once through this same contrition the psyche-soul is freed from evil and bitterness, it gives way to spiritual joy. This is the consolation by which the Lord blesses those who are in deep mourning or mourning. John the Sinai, who wrote the Spiritual Scale for us, also says: 'Thirst and wakefulness crush the heart. And when this happens, tears flow. He says that whoever experiences it will laugh comforted because of them, with the blessed laughter that the Lord promised (Luke 6:21). Thus is born from divine poverty the mourning or mourning that consoles and makes blessed those who obtain it.

Now let's see how the penzos mourning or mourning is born from the other type of poverty, that is, the fearful morality and the divine humility of the psyche-soul. Self-accusation or self-criticism always accompanies the humility of the psyche-soul and, at first, adds extreme intensity to the fear of hell, presenting before the eyes the horrifying combination of various opposite tortures into one, further increasing the fear of hell. I remember that hell is ineffable, since it is worse than what has been said about it. But how much added value does the endless duration of evils have! Heat and cold, darkness and fire, agitation and stillness, bonds, fears and the bites of immortal beasts, all these things come together in that condemnation, but not even all these things represent that evil, which, according to Scripture: beware can see, ear cannot hear and no human intelligence and mind can conceive and imagine (1 Corinthians 2:9).

But what is this penzos mourning or inconsolable and endless mourning? For those who have sinned against God, mourning is born from the recognition of their sins. 

Therefore, after all hope has been examined and removed from them and they have despaired of salvation, the involuntary examination (remorse) of conscience multiplies in each the impending pain or affliction through mourning or mourning. And this penzos mourning once again and always, since it will never end, becomes the reason for another penzos mourning and another terrible darkness and unbearable heat and an abyss of affliction, unspeakable sorrow. However, this penzos mourning in itself is very beneficial in this life.

For God obeys with compassion and mercy, since He came down to visit us, and promised comfort, help and relief to those who are in deep mourning or mourning in this way, since He Himself is called Paraclete/Comforter (John 14:16). Therefore, have you seen the penzos luto, mourning of the humble psyche-soul and the consolation that follows? But even self-accusation or self-criticism alone, when placed as a mental burden on the logical part of the psyche-soul and persists for a long time, breaks it and presses it, and produces the saving wine that gladdens the heart of man, that is, our inner man. And such wine is katanixis compunction, dilation of the heart. Because through mourning, mourning, self-accusation or self-criticism it crushes even the peace and fills the heart with a blessed and blessed joy, after freeing it from the tremendous burden. Therefore, those who are in mourning, afflicted by their sins and the evil that dominates the world, are blessed and happy, because they will be comforted by God (Matt 5:4).

Now we are going to talk about “insolvency, without possession”, that is, poverty in terms of wealth, possessions and fortunes, linked, of course, to spiritual poverty, as we mentioned before. Because only when all types of poverty are practiced together are they perfect and pleasing to God. So, listen carefully and with an open mind to learn how the pain of mourning, grief, and the corresponding consolation comes from this type of poverty. 

When a person renounces everything and gets rid of money and possessions, abandoning them or sharing them with the poor according to the command, and distances his psyche-soul from worrying about these things, then he turns his attention towards self-examination, now liberated. from external distractions.

And when the nous (spirit of the psyche) distances itself from all the senses and rises above the tumult that floods it and observes the inner man, it first sees the horrendous image or mask that it acquired during its pilgrimage on earth, and is hurry to clean it with the penzos mourning, mourning. Then, after removing that unpleasant covering and when the psyche-soul is no longer indecently dispersed in various preoccupations, the nus enters into the true “treasures” (Matt 6:6) – that is, into the deep, inner places of the soul. psyche-soul – and there he prays to the invisible Father.

And He primarily grants him the gift that is a vessel of the divine charisms, that is, peace of thoughts, after which he perfects the humility that engenders, generates and sustains all virtue. Not, of course, the humility that consists of words and forms that anyone can easily find, but that which is confirmed by the good and divine Spirit, which the Spirit itself builds when it settles in the depths of the psyche-soul. So, in the midst of peace and humility, as within a secure fortress of the paradise of the nus (spirit of the psyche), all kinds of trees of genuine and real virtue sprout. In the center of them stand the sacred palaces of agapi unconditional divine love, at whose doors blooms, as a prelude to the future life, ineffable and inalienable joy.

“Insolvency, without possessions” is the mother of carelessness. Carelessness, attention and prayer. They are the mothers of painful mourning, mourning and tears. These eliminate harmful habits. When they have been eliminated, the path to virtue becomes easier, because the obstacles in the way disappear and the conscience no longer accuses. From here comes the joy and blessed laughter of the psyche-soul. Then, even painful tears are transformed into sweet ones, and the words of God become sweet in the throat, sweeter than honey in the mouth (Ps 118:103), and from supplication, prayer becomes action of thank you, and the study of the divine commandments is the joy and joy of the psyche-soul, with an infallible hope that, like a foretaste of heaven, approaches the psyche-soul through the experience of this taste and teaches it in part the immense wealth of God's goodness, according to the words of David: 'Taste and see that the Lord is good' (Psalm 33:9). He is the joy of the just, the joy of the upright, the happiness of the humble, the consolation of those who are in deep mourning or mourning for Him.

What happens then? Does consolation only go this far? Are these alone the gifts of the sacred union? Beyond them, does not the Bridegroom of psyches-souls clearly reveal Himself to those who have experienced the blessed penzos mourning, mourning (affliction), have been “psychotherapy” and purified and are adorned with bride-like virtues? Of course not. Because of what we are going to say now, some out of envy will be ready to accuse us, saying something like this: 'You should not speak in the name of the Lord; Otherwise, we will defame your name, spread slander and false accusations against you.' But let's ignore them and continue with our written logos, believing and saying the words of our Holy Fathers and trusting them to convince others. Because the Scripture says: “I believed, therefore I spoke” (Ps115:1; 2Cor 4:13), so we also believe, therefore we speak.

Therefore, when all the sinful, vicious and insidious thoughts that reside in us and the nus (spirit of the psyche) are expelled, as we mentioned, turning completely into itself and the other faculties and forces of the psyche-soul, and beautifies the psyche-soul by cultivating the virtues, advancing towards the most perfect and longing for new practical ascensions, and by purging, purifying itself more and more with the help of God, it not only eliminates all the marks of evil, but also removes throw away any acquired item, no matter how good it may seem. 

And after having risen above the intelligences and the notions related to them, -those that are not free from fantasies-, and having discarded them all to please and love God, and having remained before God mute and voiceless, then the nus (spirit of the psyche) becomes matter in the hands of God and receives the divine remodeling without obstacles, because nothing from the outside world bothers it anymore. And the inner χάρις haris (grace, uncreated energy) changes it for the better and, more surprisingly, illuminates internally with an ineffable, uncreated light and perfects the inner man. 

So, when the day illuminates in our hearts, according to the words of the Apostles' prop (2 Peter 1:19), and the dawn dawns in them, the true man really comes out, - the νούς nous (spirit of the psyche). )- embarks on his main work, according to the prophetic logos (Ps 103:23), and advances along the path with uncreated light and climbs eternal mountains (Ps 75:5).

And, oh what wonder!, within this uncreated light it contemplates supernatural realities, without separating itself from the material body with which it was formed from the beginning, or separating itself from it according to the degree of ascension. It does not ascend with the fantastic wings of the διάνοια diania (mind, intellect) that prowls around like blind, without having a precise and sure understanding of either the perceptible absent realities or the high intellectual realities inaccessible by the mind. 

But he actually ascends with the ineffable power and energy of the Spirit, and, with ineffable spiritual perception, hears the 'ineffable logos (2Cor 12:4) and sees the invisible realities. And he is completely filled with wonder and admiration, even though he is absent from there, and competes with the tireless hymn-singers, the angels, as if he were another earthly angel of God. And through himself, he offers all creation to God, because he himself participates in all things, and now participates even in that which is above all, to demonstrate that he bears the divine image with precision.

St. Nile says about this: 'The good state of the nus (spirit of the psyche) is an intellectual elevation, similar to the heavenly color, where, at the moment of prayer, the uncreated light of the Holy Trinity descends.' And again: 'Whoever wishes to see the state of his nus must deprive himself of all notions, and then he will see his nus similar to an emerald or a celestial color.' This is impossible to do without ἀπάθεια apázia (without peace or impassibility), since it requires the collaboration of God and that He provides it with His corresponding light. 

And St. Diadochus says: «Uncreated grace gives us two things through baptism, one of which is infinitely superior to the other. First, it renews us in the water and makes the image of God shine in us, cleansing all the stain of sin. But for the other, expect our cooperation.

Therefore, when the soul with deep sense begins to experience and taste the goodness of the Holy Spirit, then we must know that the uncreated grace in the “likeness” begins to engrave and paint the “likeness” in our psyche-soul. However, we will understand the perfection of similarity, similarity through illumination.” And again: “Agapi, spiritual love, no one can possess if he is not illuminated by the Holy Spirit with all internal information. 

For if the nous (spirit of the psyche) does not completely receive the “as likeness” through the uncreated divine light, it may possess all the other virtues, but it will still lack perfect agapi.” 

Also, we learn from Saint Isaac that, in the time of prayer, the graceful and enlightened nus sees its own purity and lucidity, similar to a heavenly color; This state is called the 'place of God' by the elders of Israel when he was revealed to them on Mount Sinai (Ex 24:9-10). It also says: 'The purity of the nus is the condition in which it radiates, at the moment of prayer, the uncreated light of the Holy Trinity.' 

The νοῦς nous (spirit of the psyche) who has been worthy of receiving this uncreated light, transmits many signs and signs of divine beauty to the body united with it, acting as an intermediary between the Divine Grace charis and the density of the flesh, providing strength even for the impossible. From this emanates the divine and incomparable form of virtue and imperturbability or perfect immobility towards evil.

From this also comes the Logos, which clarifies in the nus (spirit of the psyche) the logos (causes or reasons) of things and apocalypt reveals, by its purity, the mysteries of nature. Through this, the διάνοια diania (mind, intellect) of those who receive the logos with faith is proportionally elevated towards the understanding of what is beyond nature, which the Father of the Logos realizes through immaterial contacts. 

Furthermore, various miraculous wonders emanate from this, as well as clairvoyance, insight, foresight and narration of things that happen in some distant place, as if they were present. The most important thing is that these are not the goal of blessed soul-psyches. Just as when someone looks at a ray of sunlight and distinguishes the particles of dust suspended in the air, although that is not their objective, in the same way, those who receive the divine radiations in purity and lucidity, which by their nature apocalypse reveal everything, they inevitably acquire, as a side effect, gnosis (uncreated knowledge) not only of what existed or exists, but also of what is to come, according to its purity and lucidity.

However, its primary quest is the return and concentration of the nus (spirit of the psyche) in itself, or rather, the return of all the faculties and forces of the psyche-soul towards the nous, - although this logos seems paradoxical - through the energy and operation of the nus according to God, they are corrected so that they resemble the Prototype, God himself, and reach a healthy spiritual state, since the jaris (grace, uncreated energy) returns them to primordial beauty and ineffable. To such a height the blessed penzos mourning or mourning elevates those who are “humble in heart and poor in spirit” (Matt 5:3). 

Since these things, due to the negligence that resides in us, are above us, let us return to their foundations and add a little more to mourning or mourning (according to God). This applies to all types of involuntary poverty worldwide. That is, how can someone not be sad if they lack money, go hungry without wanting it, and work hard and are looked down upon? However, this painful mourning has no consolation, especially as poverty deepens, or rather, as the poor person himself does not have true knowledge gnosis.

Because, in fact, he does not subordinate the pleasant and painful perceptions or sensations to the logical part of the psyche-soul, but rather submits to them through an erroneous use of his logic, increases them without any benefit, as he should not. be, or even with great harm to himself. Because he gives clear signs and proofs that he has not unwaveringly believed in the Gospel preached by Christ and in the teaching of the prophets who preceded Him and the disciples and apostles after Him. 

Because, in fact, poverty is what grants and gives inexhaustible wealth, simplicity grants an ineffable doxa-glory, temperance grants pleasure without pain, and patience in trials grants liberation from the eternal anguish and affliction that threatens those who loved life paralyzed here and did not choose to pass through the narrow gate and the road (Matt 7:14). Therefore, the Apostle Paul correctly said that worldly sadness produces death (2 Cor 7:10), because, with what we mentioned above, it was demonstrated that it is sin that leads to death.

If the true life of the psyche-soul is the divine light that comes from the penzos mourning or mourning according to God, according to the Fathers, then the death of the psyche-soul is the demonic darkness that occurs from worldly and earthly sadness in the psyche-soul. It is that darkness of which Saint Basil the Great says that sin has its existence due to the absence of good and takes the form of spiritual and mental darkness with unjust actions.

But Saint Mark also says: “He who is surrounded by evil loyismí (simple thoughts or thoughts united with fantasy), how can he see the real sin that covers him? This is darkness and fog of the psyche-soul that has fallen into it due to bad ideas, indecent words, actions and cunning praxis. He who has not seen this concise sin, when will he beg to be “psychotherapy”, purged and purified of it? And he who does not do catharsis, does not purge himself, does not purify himself, how will he find the place of his pure nature? And he who has not found that place, how will he see the deepest interior of the house or dwelling place of Christ? Therefore, we must knock on the door of His house with persistent prayer and seek not only to acquire it, but also to preserve it. Because there are people who have lost it after having obtained it. A superficial and subtle knowledge, or casual experiences of these things, may be known, even by newcomers and young people. However, patient and persevering work is only mastered by pious and very experienced elders.”

According to these two, it is also affirmed by Saint Macarius, the celestial in gnosis (uncreated knowledge), and the entire assembly of Saints. But, just as this darkness takes its existence from sins, so if you examine sadness according to the world, you will also find that it is born and strengthened from all sorrows. 

Therefore, it is an image/icon and in some way a beginning and a premonition of the penzos or eternal mourning in which those who have not preferred the penzos mourning that the Lord blessed and blessed, the (divine) mourning that Not only does it entail divine consolation, fructifying taste in advance, but it also ensures virtue, making the psyche-soul immutable and immovable towards the worst things. 

Because if someone becomes poor and humble and seeks divine humility according to God, but does not obtain the penzos mourning or mourning, moving towards the best, he can easily be transformed and return with his thoughts to what he had abandoned, longing again for what he had left. back, becoming a transgressor. On the other hand, if you remain and strive to maintain the blessed and blessed poverty, then you will create within yourself the penzos mourning and you will no longer have the tendency to go back and retreat to where you once did well to escape. Because affliction or sadness according to God, as the Apostle says, produces metania that leads to salvation. “For Godly willed sadness produces spiritual benefit and a healthy and salvific goal, which there is no reason to regret; while worldly sadness breeds depression and leads to spiritual death” (2Cor 7:10).

For this reason, someone from the Fathers said that mourning works and protects (Gen 2, 15). And this is not the only gain of mourning, that man becomes almost immune to evil and does not return to his previous sins, but also that these sins are considered as if they had not occurred. That is, as man first grieves for them, God takes them into account as involuntary. And there is no responsibility for the involuntary. 

He who is in deep mourning or mourning for his poverty, thereby demonstrates that his poverty is not voluntary, therefore, he will fall into the devil's traps along with the rich or those who wish to become rich (1Tim 6, 9). And if he does not change and run to escape these traps, he will be sent to eternal hell along with the devil. So he who has sinned against God, if he continues to be in constant mourning or mourning, his sins will not be considered voluntary and he will advance without obstacles on the path of eternal life, together with those who have not sinned. 

So this is the gain of the beginning of penzos mourning or mourning, which is full of great pain, because it is united with the fear of God. However, when the penzos mourning progresses, it joins the agapi unconditional love of God in a wonderful way and reaps the sweet and holy consolation, since the person who has penzos mourning, as a quality, savors the goodness of the Paraclete or Comforter.

This consolation is inaudible to those who have not experienced it, because it is ineffable, indescribable. If no one can report the sweetness of honey to those who have never tasted it, how can anyone describe the pleasure and joy of holy joy and χάρης charis (grace, uncreated energy) of God to those who have not experienced it? ? And, of course, the beginning of penzos mourning is similar to the request for a commitment and union with God, which seems almost impossible. 

For this reason, those who long for the Bridegroom are saddened and in deep mourning when they see that he is not pleased, and they address him some words like those that precede the request for marriage. Weeping with lamentations, because He is not near them and may never come. But the end of mourning or mourning is the pure and perfect nuptial union. 

For this reason, Paul also, after calling the union of spouses in one flesh a great mystery, added: “I speak, of course, of Christ and the Church” (Ephes 5:32). For just as husbands are one flesh, so men of God are one spirit with God. The same thing is stated clearly elsewhere: “But he who is united to the Lord in a mysterious way becomes one spirit with him, and is sanctified by him” (1Cor 6:17).

So where are those who say that the uncreated grace that dwells in the Saints of God is created? They must know that they are blaspheming against the same Spirit, who, by transmitting the χάρις charis (grace, uncreated energy), has united with the Saints. However, let me give a clearer example on our topic. The beginning of penzos mourning or mourning is similar to the return of the prodigal son. Therefore, it fills with consternation and sadness the one who is in deep mourning and makes him utter those words: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son” (Luke 15:21).

The end of penzos mourning, mourning, once again, resembles the anticipation and embrace of the heavenly Father, when the son, contemplating the richness of the Father's infinite mercy and dying of joy and boldness, accepted His kisses and I returned them. And upon entering his father's house, he sat at the table and together with the Father enjoyed heavenly joy and happiness. 

Come, and let us also fall down in blessed and blessed poverty, and weep before the Lord and our God (Ps 94:6), to erase our former sins, to make us immobile before evil and to reach the Paraclete, Comforter, who He will grant His consolation, and we will glorify Him, together with the beginningless Father and the Only Begotten Son, now and ever and forever and ever. Amen.

+++