| About Pages Проекты «Правмира» Raising Orthodox Children to Orthodox Adulthood The Daily Website on How to be an Orthodox Christian Today Twitter Telegram Parler RSS Donate Navigation Holy Fathers The Living Reality of an Immortal Teacher: St. Theophan the Recluse 23 January 2015 Abbot Herman (Podmoshensky) He " prayed out " for us an answer to how the once-Christian soul of modern Western man could return to the essential, life-giving spiritual laws and live in full accord with them, just like ... Why Read the Church Fathers? 09 December 2014 Archpriest John Breck Why read the writings of the Holy Fathers? Because those venerable elders perceived what each of us needs and longs to perceive. How to Approach the Reading of the Holy Fathers 03 November 2014 St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) Make the thoughts and spirit of the Holy Fathers your own by reading their writings. The Holy Fathers attained the goal: salvation. And you will attain this goal in the natural course of events. As ... “Condemned” to Be Immortal 24 April 2014 St. Justin (Popovic) of Celije For without the Resurrection, there is nothing more senseless in the heavens or under the heavens than the present world; nor is there greater despair than this life without immortality On Confession 14 March 2014 St. John of Kronstadt A Model for Priests: St. John of Kronstadt 02 January 2014 Fr. Edward Pehanich A Cure for Depression from St. Silouan the Athonite 20 December 2013 Fr. Vasile Tudora The Trinity: Scripture and the Greek Fathers 25 June 2013 Archpriest John Behr The Holy Fathers on Prayer 26 February 2013 admin The Great Fathers of the Fourth Century and Their Significance for Us Today 23 January 2013 Fr. John Nankivell Previous 1 … 9 10 11 12 13 Next News 30 September His Holiness Patriarch Kirill Contracted the Coronavirus 4th Plenary Session between ROC and Coptic Church Held 29 September His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon Calls for Prayer for Those Facing Hurricanes Ian and Fiona 28 September Patriarch Kirill: The Church Prays for the Fraternal Strife to End as Soon as Possible Besides intellectual instruction, young people also need prayer, Patriarch Daniel says as new academic year begins 27 September The Synodal Residence in New York hosts the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia Voluntary Blood Donation Takes Place in Churches in Serbia 26 September The work of the Church in society is quiet, but full of hope and love, says the Director of Lumina Publications 25 September Epistle of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia 23 September “The models par excellence are the great hesychast saints,” says Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Oradea Commentary All commentary Other media The Word of the Day How to Deal with Sin |
| Sayings of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov St. Ignatius Brianchaninov (February 15, 1807-April 30 [May 13], 1867) stands out as one of the greatest patristic writers of the nineteenth century. This great Russian saint left to Orthodox Christians a compass by which we can check our direction as we traverse the complex path of spiritual life, to avoid the dark forests and pitfalls of spiritual delusion and pride. On this commemoration day of Holy Hierarch Ignatius Brianchaninov, we have translated some quotes from his ascetical writings. Salvation Salvation consists in the restoration of our communion with God. Unhappy is he who is satisfied with his own human righteousness, for he does not need Christ, Who says of Himself: I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Mt. 9:13). Faith and hope in God’s Providence There is no such thing as blind happenstance! God rules the world, and all that happens in heaven and under the heavens happens according to the wise and omnipotent God, unfathomable in His wisdom and omnipotence, and unfathomable in His governance. If there is not a single event that is secret from God, then we must glorify God for everything that happens. It is necessary to assure ourselves that God governs the fate of world and of each person. Life experiences are not long to prove and confirm this Gospel teaching. All things pass—both the bad and the good—and neither men, nor demons can do anything if God does not allow it. Why does our soul rebel against God’s will and allowances? Because we have not revered God as God… From living faith in God is born complete submission to God, and from submission to God is born peace in our thoughts and calm in our hearts. From seeing God’s Providence, in the soul develops profound meekness and unfailing love of neighbor, which no winds can disturb or agitate. God watches over the times, events in society, and personal fates. The vision of God’s Providence preserves and grows our faith in God. The Christian who keeps his gaze fixed upon God’s Providence preserves constant courage and unshakable steadfastness, even amidst terrible misfortunes. |
| “What brings sweetness is harder to perceive than that which brings bitterness” Abbess Arsenia I am reading a collection of letters by Abbess Arsenia, a nineteenth century Russian nun who acted as a spiritual mentor for Peter Brianchaninov, brother of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov. St. Ignatius Brianchaninov is perhaps most famous today for his book, The Arena, in which he lays out some very practical and insightful advice for monks and anyone zealous for God living in the modern world—a world largely devoid of God-bearing spiritual fathers and mothers such as we read about in ancient spiritual texts. For example, St. Ignatius writes about the necessity of freedom and discernment when seeking to acquire obedience—which is still possible—even without a god-bearing elder as one’s spiritual father or mother. The Arena, especially part one, “Counsels For The Spiritual Life of Monks,” should be read by everyone who desires to attain to a spiritual life in the Church. However, today I want to think a little bit about St. Ignatius’ brother, Peter, and some of the advice given to him by his spiritual mentor, Abbess Arsenia. Peter was not a monk (not until the very end of his life), but he was a devout person who struggled for godliness in the world. Abbess Arsenia was a disciple of St. Ignatius, Peter’s brother, and in her letters she seems to interpret some of St. Ignatius’ insights in ways that his brother Peter can begin to accept and apply. One particular area where Abbess Arsenia advises Peter is on how to read, or rather, not read, spiritual books. When Peter tells Abbess Arsenia that he is reading Peter of Damascus (one of the authors in the Philokalia), she gives him the following rebuke and advice: “I question whether it will be of use for you to read him on your own. Were you to read it simply as though it were the word of God—inaccessible to our understanding, interpretation and assimilation—then any book would be harmless for you to read. But you want to assimilate it all and take it by force; therefore the most useful words become harmful…. One must know one’s limits and hold to that word that is commensurate to one’s limit, that of an unenlightened person.” |
| As far as spirit-bearing teachers are concerned, Bishop Ignatius gave that name to those who had achieved the unceasing God-given Jesus Prayer, reached dispassion and received from God the rare gift of seeing into the human soul. Such teachers could truly point out those hidden passions and their causes that people could not see in themselves. However, speaking of his own time, Bishop Ignatius said words that were extremely offensive to those who saw themselves as spiritual fathers, “We do not have any teachers who are inspired by God!” And he did not simply say that – he said that with an exclamation mark. And he knew the state of monasticism at his time pretty well. Still, in the absence of advisors inspired by God, Bishop Ignatius offers some very important advice to those seeking spiritual life. The first piece of advice is to be guided above all by the writings and experience of those ancient Fathers and Russian ascetics who gave advice to people of the same spiritual level as the modern Christian. Of course, to those writings one should add all the works by Bishop Ignatius himself, since he pursued his monastic calling and wrote in the period that was spiritually very much like the modern one – that is why he is the best spiritual advisor for our times. The second piece of advice is that we should consult those who are of the same spirit as we are, who sincerely seek spiritual life, study and know the writings of the Holy Fathers and, very importantly, have the gift of discernment. With respect to the last condition (discernment), Bishop Ignatius warns that there were even saints who had reached exalted spiritual states, but, not possessing the gift of discernment, sometimes offered advice that seriously damaged the soul. In this connection, Bishop Ignatius quotes the thoughts of Sts Macarius the Great and Isaac the Syrian, “St Macarius the Great used to say that . . . there are souls that, having become partakers of the Divine grace . . . at the same time abide as if in childhood, because of lack of actual experience . . . in a state that is very unsatisfactory for true ascetic struggle.” They have a saying about such elders in monasteries – “holy but not skilful” – and take care in consulting them . . . to avoid entrusting yourself hastily and thoughtlessly to such elders’ guidance. St Isaac the Syrian even says that such an elder “is not worthy of being called a saint.” It is with such care, it turns out, that we should approach the choice of those whom we can consult. |
| St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov): “Learn to Pray to God in the Right Way” Photo: http://foma.ru/ St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) As it is natural for the destitute to beg, it is natural for man, who has been reduced to poverty by the fall, to pray. Prayer is fallen and repentant man turning towards God. Prayer is the weeping of fallen and repentant man before God. Prayer is fallen man, slain by sin, pouring out the desires, supplications and laments of his heart before God. The first revelation, the first movement of repentance is the weeping of the heart. This is the heart’s voice of prayer, which comes before the prayer of the mind. For soon the mind, taken up by the prayer of the heart, begins to produce prayerful thoughts. God is the sole source of all true blessings. Prayer is the mother and the chief of all the virtues, as it is both the means and state of man’s communion with God. It derives virtues from the source of blessings, from God, and assimilates them to man when he tries to be in communion with God. The way to God is prayer. The measure of the way undertaken is the various prayerful states, into which the one who prays gradually enters, constantly and in the right way. Learn to pray to God in the right way. Having learned how to pray in the right way, pray constantly and you will duly inherit salvation. Salvation comes from God in its own time, as it irrefutably reveals itself in the heart to the one who prays constantly and in the right way. For prayer to be right, it must be brought forth from a heart filled with poverty of spirit, a heart which is broken and contrite. B before it is renewed by the Holy Spirit, all the other states of the heart- for you have to admit that this is exactly what they are-are not fitting for the repentant sinner who entreats God to forgive his sins and to free him from enslavement to the passions, as from a dungeon and chains. By the law of Moses, the Israelites were directed that only one place had been appointed by God for them to offer up all their sacrifices. And by the spiritual law, one spiritual place is appointed for Christians to offer up all of their sacrifices but most particularly the sacrifice of sacrifices- prayer. This place is humility. |
| Just how necessary it is in spiritual life to strictly observe the law of consequentiality is shown by the following words of a most experienced instructor of spiritual life, Saint Isaac the Syrian (Homily 72), and cited by Saint Ignatius: “It is the good will of the most wise Lord that we reap our spiritual bread in the sweat of our brow. He established this law not out of spite, but rather so that we would not suffer from indigestion and die. Every virtue is the mother of the one following it. If you leave the mother who gives birth to the virtue and seek after her daughter, without having first acquired the mother, then these virtues become as vipers in the soul. If you do not turn them away, you will soon die” (2:57–58). Saint Ignatius warns sternly in connection with this, “Untimely dispassion is dangerous! It is dangerous to enjoy Divine grace before the time! Supernatural gifts can destroy the ascetic who has not learned of his own infirmity” (1:532). These are remarkable words! To someone who is spiritually inexperienced the very thought that a virtue can be untimely, never mind deadly to the soul, “like a viper,” would seem strange and almost blasphemous. But such is the very reality of spiritual life; such is one of its strictest laws, which was revealed by the vast experience of the saints. In the fifth volume of his Works, which Saint Ignatius called An Offering to Contemporary Monasticism, in the tenth chapter entitled, “On caution in the reading of books on monastic life,” he states openly, “The fallen angel strives to deceive monks and draw them to destruction, offering them not only sin in its various forms, but also lofty virtues that are not natural to them” (5:54). 6. Correct Prayer These thoughts have a direct relationship to understanding a very important Christian activity: prayer. Saying as do all the saints that “Prayer is the mother of the virtues and the door to all spiritual gifts” (2:228), Saint Ignatius emphatically points to the conditions that must be met in order to make prayer the mother of the virtues. Violating these conditions makes prayer fruitless at best; but more often, it makes it the instrument of the ascetic’s precipitous fall. Some of these conditions are well known. Whoever does not forgive others will not be forgiven himself. “Whoever prays with his lips but is careless about his heart prays to the air and not to God; he labors in vain, because God heeds the mind and heart, and not copious words,” says Hieromonk Dorotheus, a Russian ascetic for whom Saint Ignatius had great respect (2:266). |
| We find remarkable words about Bishop Ignatius in the writings of Abbess Arsenia (Sebryakova), “I read him with great pleasure, to my soul’s comfort and edification. The words of Vladyka himself are dear to me.” Schema-Abbot John of Valaam refers to Bishop Ignatius and offers the bishop’s advice to his own spiritual children as the most authoritative for our times. (In this connection, I would like to point out in parentheses that any Church preacher or writer who, speaking of spiritual life in his writings, does not turn to Bishop Ignatius’ writings, gives a clear testimony to “what manner of spirit he is of” [Lk 9:55 – A.Z.J.] However, turning to those works is not in itself an indicator of the writer’s spirituality). So taking into account this multitude of undoubted spiritual witnesses, I decided to compare the teaching on the Jesus Prayer in The Way of a Pilgrim with that of Bishop Ignatius. Hierom. Adrian: Guidance in practicing the Jesus Prayer is necessary; without it, as you write, we can fall into spiritual delusion (prelest). But what should we do today, when, in the words of Bishop Ignatius (and you agree with them), spiritual guidance and spiritual fatherhood have become so scarce? How then are we to learn how to pray correctly? A. I. Osipov: First of all, I would remind you once again that when it comes to my advice on the careful practice of the Jesus Prayer, I am not speaking from myself. It is well-known that the Optina Elders used to give this advice to those who had more zeal than sense because, as St Isaac of Syria wrote, «Everything is made beautiful by moderation. Even something considered beautiful will become harmful when done without moderation.” At this point people who don’t understand the conditions required to practice the Jesus Prayer and who have the wrong aim in practicing it, generally fall into self-importance, spiritual delusion and pride. Bishop Ignatius advances the same idea. What should our attitude toward the Jesus Prayer be nowadays? It depends on who practices it. It is one thing for those who have chosen the monastic way, but it is quite a different thing for those who live in the bustle of worldly life. |
| However, Saint Ignatius pays particular attention to the conditions for the Jesus Prayer. In light of its great significance for every Christian, we present a brief excerpt from the remarkable article by Saint Ignatius, “On the Jesus Prayer: A Talk with a Disciple.” In exercising the Jesus prayer there is its beginning, its gradual progression, and its endless end. It is necessary to start the exercise from the beginning, and not from the middle or the end.… Those who begin in the middle are the novices who have read the instructions … given by the hesychastic fathers … and accept this instruction as a guide in their activity, without thinking it through. They begin in the middle who, without any sort of preparation, try to force their minds into the temple of the heart and send up prayers from there. They begin from the end who seek to quickly unfold in themselves the grace-filled sweetness of prayer and its other grace-filled actions. One should begin at the beginning; that is, pray with attention and reverence, with the purpose of repentance, taking care only that these three qualities be continually present with the prayer.… In particular, most scrupulous care should be taken to establish morals in accordance with the teachings of the Gospels.… Only upon morality brought into good accord with the Gospel commandments … can the immaterial temple of God-pleasing prayer be built. A house built upon sand is labor in vain—sand is easy morality that can be shaken (1:225–226). From this citation it can be seen how attentive and reverently careful one must be with respect to the Jesus prayer. It should be prayed not just any way, but correctly. Otherwise, its practice will not only cease to be prayer, it can even destroy the one practicing it. In one of his letters, Saint Ignatius talks about how the soul should be disposed during prayer: “Today I read the saying of Saint Sisoes the Great which I have always especially liked; a saying which has always been according to my heart. A certain monk said to him, ‘I abide in ceaseless remembrance of God.’ Saint Sisoes replied to him, “That is not great; it will be great when you consider yourself worse than all creatures.’ The ceaseless remembrance of God is a great thing!” Saint Ignatius continues. “But this is a very dangerous height when the ladder that leads to it is not founded upon the sturdy rock of humility” (4:497). |
| It is well known to Orthodox Christians that man can in fact be raised above the limitations of his bodily nature and journey to invisible realms. The exact nature of this journey will not concern us here. The Apostle Paul himself did not know whether he was “in the body or out of the body” when he was caught up to the third heaven ( II Cor. 12:2 ), and there is no need for us to speculame as to how the body can become refined enough to enter heaven (if his experience was actually “in the body”), or what kind of “subtle body” the soul may be clothed in during an “out-of-body” experience – if indeed such things can be known in this life. It is enough for us to know that the soul (in whatever kind of “body”) can indeed be raised up by God’s grace and behold paradise, as well as the aerial realm of spirits under heaven. Often in Orthodox literature such experiences are described as being “out of the body,” as was St. Anthony’s experience of the “toll-houses” while standing at prayer, described above. Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov mentions two ascetics in the 19th century whose souls likewise left their bodies while they were at prayer – Elder Basilisk of Siberia, whose disciple was the famous Zosima, and Schema-Elder Ignatius (Isaiah), a personal friend of Bishop Ignatius (Bishop Ignatius, Collected Works, vol. III, p. 75). The most striking “out-of-body” experience in the Orthodox Lives of Saints is probably that of St. Andrew the Fool for Christ of Constantinople (10th century), who, while his body evidently lay in the snow of the city streets, was raised up in spirit to behold paradise and the third heaven, a part of which he described to his disciple who recorded the experience (Lives of Saints, Oct. 2). Such experiences occur only by the grace of God and quite apart from the will or desire of men. But “astral projection” is an “out-of-body” experience that can be sought and initiated by means of certain techniques. This experience is a special form of what Bishop Ignatius describes as the “opening of the senses,” and it is clear that – since contact with spirits is forbidden to men except by God’s direct action – the realm that can be reached by this means is not heaven, but only the aerial realm of the under-heaven, the realm inhabited by the fallen spirits. |
| That is why in our time people who want to learn how to pray and live aright, without spiritual delusion, have to study Bishop Ignatius’ writings most meticulously, for he knew the teaching of the Fathers very well and followed the way of prayer experientially. But, of course, if we manage to find a knowledgeable, understanding and reasonable person, we should seek his advice as well. However, we should consult him as we would consult friends – not as a leader of an absolutist “Orthodox” sect who demands unquestioning obedience. In view of the absence of teachers who are inspired by God nowadays, we can hardly speak of complete obedience even in monasteries; and as for life in the world, such obedience never existed, except maybe in the relationship between false spiritual fathers and false spiritual children, especially false spiritual daughters. It is true, though, that we should distinguish between obedience in administrative issues (according to rank), which is useful for spiritual life and spiritual obedience, which Bishop Ignatius calls a great monastic deed. He wrote, “In vain do you desire to be completely obedient to an experienced teacher. This kind of ascetic struggle has not been granted in our times. It is absent not only amidst Christians living in the world, but in monasteries as well.” “And many thought that they were working in obedience, but in reality it turned out that they had been obliging their own whims and had been carried away by their zeal. Happy is the man who in his old age will have time to shed a repentant tear over the passions of his youth. The Lord said about the blind leaders and those lead by them, “And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Mt 15:14). Hierom. Adrian: However, some may object to you that in Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov’s) time there were the Optina Elders and now there are quite a few spiritual fathers and elders who are esteemed among the people. Many seek their spiritual guidance and are willing to completely surrender their wills into their hands. Can’t simple people do the same now? |
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