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Quotes from the Church Fathers on the Spiritual Life
"According to the teachings of the holy elders, are human beings equally accountable whether, let us say, they fervently wish to steal or when they actually steal?"
"No. You still have a ways to go from the stage of fervent desire to the actual commitment of the act," Father Maximos replied. As he thought of something he chuckled. "your question reminds me of an anecdote from the life of Saint John Chrysostom. During the time in the fourth century, some very austere Christian zealots, lacking any spiritual experience themselves, insisted that when human beings succumb to a 'logismos' [that is a desire laden thought] it is as if they had already committed the act. They misinterpreted, you see, Jesus' words about adultery. Saint John tried to no avail to convince them that this was not the case. Yes, sin is committed in one's mind through the logismos, but it occurs at a different stage of commitment. Therefore the accountability is of a less serious nature. “While he was patriarch of Constantinople," Father Maximos went on, "he invited these zealots to a lavish banquet. He instructed his cooks at the partiarchate to prepare the most sumptuous dishes. He also sent a message to his guests not to eat during the day because there would be plenty of good food at the table. They did as he instructed and arrived ravenous to the banquet. Then the cooks began bringing the warm and delicious food to the table. Before they began eating he asked them to rise for the customary prayer. Everybody stood up while his deacon recited the Psalms. It went on and on. Twenty minutes passed by and the deacon continued reading from the Psalms. His hungry guests, the food steaming in front of them, wondered whether that endless prayer would ever come to an end so they could sit down and eat. They were salivating with desire. Finally, the prayer was over.
Saint John then told his guests, 'You may now leave.'
They were shocked and confused.
'Why do you all look so puzzled?' he asked them. 'Didn't you see the food?' 'Yes, we did.'
'Didn't you desire the food?'
'Yes we did.'
'Hasn't all of your mind and body changed as a result of that desire?'
'Yes.'
'Well,' he said to them, 'then it was as if you ate the food!'
"So with this practical joke," Father Maximos went on, "Saint John Chrysostom was able to convince those austere but spiritually inexperienced Christians that there is a great distance between committing a sin in one's heart and actually committing it in action."
"He who is gloomy and does not believe in the mercy of God, but bases his spirituality on his own rotten ascetic achievements and seeming external improvements; he boasts in them and being overwhelmed with self-importance, measures his feelings as if with a thermometer --, the fruits of self love!" Holy New Hieromartyr Barlaam
"Like the sun which shines on all alike, vainglory beams on every occupation. What I mean is this. I fast, and turn vainglorious. I stop fasting so that I will draw no attention to myself, and I become vainglorious over my prudence. I dress well or badly, and am vainglorious in either case. I talk or I hold my peace, and each time I am defeated. No matter how I shed this prickly thing, a spike remains to stand up against
me." St. John Climacus
-- And here are the signs of those who are practising stillness in the wrong way: dearth of (spiritual) wealth, increase of anger, a hoard of resentment, diminution of love, growth of vanity; and I will be silent about all the rest which follow. St. John Climacus
Whoever guards his tongue, that one guards his soul from great sins and falls. The chief cause of criticism and slander is pride and egotism, for man thinks himself better [than others]. For this reason it is very beneficial for a person to think of himself as smaller than all, so that he sees the brother as better, in order that he may, with the help of God, be delivered from this evil. St. John Climacus
"Truly, it must be known that sins which imitate virtues in assumed guise are grave, because when openly recognized, these cast the soul into confusion and lead to penitence, while those not only do not humble to repentance, but even exalt the mind of the offender, since they are thought to be virtues." St Gregory the Great The Homilies of St Gregory the Great on the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel]
"It is no great thing not to judge, and to be sympathetic to someone who is in trouble and falls down before you, but it is a great thing not to judge or to strike back when someone, on account of his own passions, speaks against you and to disagree when someone else is honored more than you are." St. Dorotheos of Gaza.
A man should know that a devil's sickness is on him if he is seized by the urge in conversation to assert his opinion, however correct it may be. If he behaves this way while talking to his equals, then a rebuke
from his elders may heal him. But if he carries on in this way with those who are greater and wiser than he, his sickness cannot be cured by human means. St. John Climacus
Some labor and struggle hard to earn forgiveness, but better than these is the man who forgets the wrongs done to him. Forgive quickly and you will be abundantly forgiven. To forget wrongs is to prove
oneself truly repentant, but to brood on them and at the same time to imagine one is practicing repentance is to act like the man who is convinced he is running when in fact he is fast asleep. St. John Climacus
"Freedom from anger is an endless wish for dishonor, whereas among the vainglorious there is a limitless thirst for praise. Freedom from anger is a triumph over one's nature. It is the ability to be impervious to insults, and comes by hard work and the sweat of one's brow." St. John Climacus.
"Even in His agony on the Cross the Lord Jesus did not condemn sinners, but held up before His Father forgiveness for their sins, saying: 'they know not what they do!' Let us judge no man, that we be not condemned. For no-one is certain that he will not, before his death, commit that very sin for which he has condemned his brother. St Anastasius of Sinai teaches: 'If you see someone sinning, do not condemn
him, for you do not know how he will finish his life. That thief crucified with Christ was a murderer, and Judas was an apostle of Christ's, but the thief entered Paradise and Judas went to perdition. If you see someone sin, you do not know his good works. For many sin in public and repent in private, and we see their sin but do not know of their repentance. Therefore, my brethren, let us condemn no man,
that we be not condemned'. The Prologue from Ochrid", from March 22nd.
"My child, if you want to live amongst people, you must watch the following: Do not criticize anyone at all; do not ridicule anyone; do not become angry; do not despise anyone. Be very careful not to say
'so-and-so lives virtuously,' or 'so-and-so lives immorally,' because this is exactly what 'judge not' means. Look at everyone in the same way, with the same disposition, the same thought, with a simple heart.
Accept them as you would accept Christ. Don't open your ears to a person who judges."--Stories, Sermons and Prayers of St. Nephon: An Ascetic Bishop.
"When we die, we will not be criticized for having failed to work miracles. We will not be accused of having failed to be theologians or contemplatives. But we will certainly have some explanation to offer to God for not having mourned unceasingly." St. John Climacus.
"If a man commits a sin before you at the very moment of his death, pass no judgment, because the judgment of God is hidden from men. It has happened that men have sinned greatly in the open but have done greater good deeds in secret." St. John Climacus.
"Abba Xanthios said, "A dog is better than I am, for he has love and he does not judge." "
Amma Syncletica said, "Just as a treasure that is exposed tarnishes and loses its value, so a virtue which is known vanishes; just as wax melts when it is near fire, so the soul is destroyed by praise and loses
all the results of its labor."
+++The sin of pride+++
A secret pride often comes to those who are starting out on the spiritual path. They become satisfied with themselves and what they are doing. They begin to think of themselves as rich, because of their spiritual fervour and their exertions in godliness. (Even so, it is still the true nature of holiness to produce humility.) Because of the imperfection in these spiritual beginners, they feel a need to speak about spiritual things in the presence of others, and even to teach where they ought to be learning. This is owing to their
conceit. They condemn in their hearts those who do not have the spiritual devotion which they themselves are aspiring to. Sometimes they even speak like the pharisee who praised God for his good works
and scorned the tax collector. The devil often works in such people to get them to behave in these
ways more and more, so that their pride and arrogance grow. For the devil knows that spiritual activities carried out in this spirit are not only worthless but a breeding ground for sins. These people can
sink into such evil that they think no one else except themselves is good! So whenever the opportunity arises they condemn and denigrate others by word and by deed, seeing the speck of sawdust in their
brother's eye but ignoring the plank sticking out of their own eye. They strain out someone else's gnat and swallow their own camel. Sometimes, when their spiritual overseers - perhaps their monastic superiors, or their priestly confessors - do not approve of their attitude or conduct, they assume it is because they are
being misunderstood. Their only concern is to win applause and be highly regarded. Because their overseers don't approve or don't agree with them, they conclude that the overseers themselves must be unspiritual. So they crave and seek another, one who better suits their taste. Their aim is to speak about spiritual things with someone who will praise them. They shun like death those who point out their errors and try to guide them to a safer path. Indeed, they may even feel a rankling resentment against such people.
And so, having too high a view of themselves, they naturally expect almost everything and accomplish almost nothing. They wish sometimes to show others how great their own spirituality and godliness are, to
demonstrate it to the eyes and ears of others with gestures and sighs and so on. Sometimes they experience spiritual ecstasies in public instead of in solitude. The devil gives them a helping hand in these
experiences. They are so delighted to get noticed, and they yearn for this recognition more and more.
"Pride is denial of God, and invention of the devil, the despising of men, the mother of condemnation, the offspring of praise, a sign of sterility, flight from Divine assistance, the precursor of madness, the cause of falls, a foothold for satanic possession, a source of anger, a door of hypocrisy, the support of demons, the guardian of sins, the patron of pitilessness, the rejection of compassion, a bitter inquisitor, and inhuman judge, an opponent of God, a root of blasphemy." St. John Climacus.
There are three kinds of liars: those who lie with their thoughts, those who lie with words and those who lie with their very lives. The liar of thought, for example, is the individual who is suspicious. If he sees two people talking, he immediately imagines they are talking about him. If they break off their conversation, he is convinced they are doing so because they have seen him coming. Whatever other people may say he interprets as an attack on himself. Such a person does not look for the truth but feeds on conjecture. Hence indiscreet curiousity, scandalmongering, the habit of evesdropping, of picking quarrels, of making rash judgments. The liar of the tongue, for example, is the lazy person who gets up late in the morning and instead of saying, "I'm sorry, I've been a fool," spins a yarn about having been ill and unable to stand up properly. Or else it is the person who wants something but instead of saying "I want one of those," cajoles others with the words, "I am feeling ill, I need this, or that..." Lastly, there are the liars with their lives: a profligate who pretends to be chaste, a miser who praises love for the poor, (and others of a similar sort). They are two-faced people, their outward appearance quite different from the inward reality. Their whole existence is duplicity, a kind of acting. St. Dorotheus of Gaza
"Like the sun which shines on all alike, vainglory beams on every occupation. What I mean is this. I fast, and turn vainglorious. I stop fasting so that I will draw no attention to myself, and I become vainglorious over my prudence. I dress well or badly, and am vainglorious in either case. I talk or I hold my peace, and each time I am defeated. No matter how I shed this prickly thing, a spike remains to stand up against me." St. John Climacus
"Someone asked an old man, 'How is it that some say, 'We see visions of angels'?' - and he replied, 'Happy is he who always sees his sins." Apophthegmata Patrum
A man who takes pride in natural abilities -- I mean cleverness, the ability to learn, skill in reading, good diction, quick grasp, and all such skills as we possess without having to work for them -- this man, I
say, will never receive the blessings of heaven, since the man who is unfaithful in little is unfaithful and vainglorious in much. And there are men who wear our their bodies to no purpose in the pursuit of total
dispassion, heavenly treasures, miracle working, and prophetic ability, and the poor fools do not realize that humility, not hard work, is the mother of such things. The man who seeks a quid pro quo from God builds on uncertainty, whereas the man who considers himself a debtor will receive sudden and unexpected riches. St. John Climacus
"Novices should not read many books, especially the advanced books on the monastic life, because novices can never adapt books (on monasticism and ascetical practices) to their own situations. The beginner
invariably gets drawn into ...pursuing an impossible dream of a perfect spiritual life vividly and alluringly in his own imagination. If a book speaks of unconditional obedience the beginner will inevitably develop a
desire for the strictest life in complete submission to a clarivoyant elder. St. John Climacus says, "Scan the mind of the inexperienced novice and you will find the desire for solitude, the strictest fasts, uninterrupted prayer, absolute freedom from vanity, continual compunction, perfect passionlessness, and virtue. Satan decieves the novice not only through sin, but also through the most exalted virtues unsuited to their
spiritual condition and experience. Do not trust your own thoughts, opinions, dreams, self-assessments, or inclinations even if they put before you an exalted holy life." Ignatius Brianchaninov
A brother went to see Abba Silvanus on the mountain of Sinai. When he saw the brothers working
hard, he said to the old man, "Do not labor for the food which perishes (John 6:27). Mary has
chosen the good portion (Luke 10:42)."
The old man said to his disciple, "Zacharias, give the brother a book and put him in a cell without
anything else." So, when the ninth hour came the visitor watched the door expecting someone
would be sent to call him to the meal.
When no one called him he got up, went to find the old man and said to him, "Have the brothers
not eaten today?" The old man replied that they had. Then he said, "Why did you not call me?"
The old man said to him, "Because you are a spiritual man and do not need that kind of food. We,
being carnal, want to eat, and that is why we work. But you have chosen the good portion and
read the whole day long and you do not want to eat carnal food."
When he heard these words the brother made a prostration saying, "Forgive me, Abba." The old
man said to him, "Mary needs Martha. It is really thanks to Martha that Mary is praised."
"The Desert Christian," by Benedicta Ward, (New York: MacMillan, 1975), p. 223
It was said about John the Little that one day he said to his older brother: I want to be free from
care and not to work but to worship God without interruption. And he took his robe off, and went
into the desert. After staying there one week, he returned to his brother. And when he knocked at
the door, his brother asked without opening it: Who is it? He replied: It's John, your brother. The
brother said: John has become an angel and is not among people anymore. Then he begged and
said: It's me! But his brother did not open the door and left him there in distress until the next
morning. And he finally opened the door and said: If you are a human being, you have to work
again in order to live. Then John repented, saying: Forgive me, brother, for I was wrong.
A holy man who had seen someone in the act of committing a sin wept bitterly and said, 'He
today, and I tomorrow. In truth, even if someone commits sin in your presence, do not judge him,
but consider yourself a worse sinner than he.'
It was said of an old man that for seventy years he ate only once a week. He asked God about the
interpretation of a saying of Scripture, and God did not reveal it to him. He said to himself, 'I have
given myself so much affliction without obtaining anything, so I will go to see my brother and ask
him.' But while he was closing the door behind him to go to see his brother, an angel of the Lord
was sent to him who said, 'These seventy years you have fasted have not brought you near to
God, but when you humiliated yourself by going to see your brother, I was sent to tell you the
meaning of this saying.' When he had fully replied to his search into the Scriptures he withdrew
from him.
When Abba Agathon went down to the city to sell some of his baskets and to procure a little
bread, he found near the market place an old, poor cripple.
"For the love of God, Abba," the cripple began to plead on seeing the Saint, "don't you, too, leave
this poor wretch unaided. Bring me near to you."
Abba Agathon picked the man up and sat him next to him in the place where he had set up his
baskets to sell them.
'How much money did you make, Abba?' the cripple would ask each time that the Elder sold a
basket.
"Such and such," the Elder would tell him.
"That's good enough," the cripple finally said. "Won't you buy me a little pie, Abba? That would be
good of you, since I have not eaten since last evening."
"With pleasure," the Saint told him, immediately fulfilling the cripple's request.
Shortly thereafter, the cripple requested some fruit. And then some sweet. Thus, for each basket
that was sold, the Saint spent the proceeds, until, thanks to his patronage, all of the baskets and
money were gone, without his having kept even two pennies for himself. More importantly, he did
this all with great eagerness, even though he knew that he would thus go perhaps two weeks
without any bread for himself.
Since he had sold his last basket, the Saint got ready to leave the marketplace.
"So you're going?" the cripple asked him.
"Yes, I have completed all of my work."
"Uh, do me the favor of taking me as far as the crossroads, and you can leave for the desert from
there," the strange old man again pleadingly said.
The good Agathon took the cripple on his back and carried him to the place where he wanted to
go, though with great difficulty, since he was exhausted from his day's work.
As soon as he reached the crossroads and started to put down his living burden, he heard a sweet
voice say to him:
"May you be blessed, Agathon, by God, both on earth and in Heaven."
The Saint raised up his eyes to see who it was who had spoken with him. The would-be old man
had completely disappeared, since he was an Angel sent by God to test the Saint's love.