Father Thou Art Gone to Rest We Will Not Weep for Thee for Thou Longed to Be

The fourth stage of contemplation consists in the understanding of our Lord's incarnation and His manner of life in this world, to the point that we practically forget fifty-fifty to eat, every bit St Basil the Dandy writes. This, co-ordinate to St John Klimakos, is what happened to King David (cf. Ps. 102:4) when his listen was rapt in ecstasy at God's marvels.' As St Basil says, he was at a loss equally to what to exercise in return: 'What shall I requite to the Lord in return for all His benefits towards me?" (Ps. 116:12). For our sakes God lived among men; because of our corrupted nature the Logos became flesh and dwelt among united states of america. The Source of Blessing visited the ungrateful, the Liberator the captives, the Sunday of Righteousness those sitting in darkness. The Human being of Dispassion came to the Cross, Low-cal to Hades, Life to death. Resurrection to the fallen. To Him allow us cry: "Our God, glory to Thee!' St John of Damaskos says: 'Heaven was amazed, and the earth'due south ends were astounded, that God should appear in bodily form to men and that your womb, Mother of God, became capable of containing the heavens; because of this the orders of angels and of men magnify y'all." And again: "All who heard shuddered at the ineffable condescension of God; how the Most High of His own will descended even to the body, born homo from a virgin womb. Considering of this we the true-blue magnify the pure Female parent of our God."

"Come, all peoples, and believe. Let u.s. climb the holy and heavenly mountain; free from materiality, let u.s. stand up in the city of the living God and behold with our intellect the immaterial godhead of the Father and the Spirit blazing forth in the Only-begotten Son. Thousand hast enraptured me with longing for Thee, Christ, and hast transformed me with the intensity of Thy divine love; with immaterial fire consume my sins and make full me with delight in Thee, so that in my joy, Lord, I may praise Thy first and 2nd coming. Thou art all tenderness, Savior, all my desire, truly the goal of my insatiable longing; Thou art all dazzler irresistible.'

If anyone through the virtues of body and soul has received knowledge of these things, and of the mysteries hidden in the words of the holy fathers, of the divine Scriptures, and particularly of the Holy Gospels, he will never lose his longing or cease from shedding the tears that come up to him unbidden. And we, too, who do no more than than heed to the Scriptures, should devote ourselves to them and meditate on them then constantly that through our persistence a longing for God is impressed upon our hearts, equally St Maximos says. For this is what the holy fathers did earlier they caused direct spiritual knowledge. All the longing of the martyrs was directed solely toward God. They were united to Him through beloved and sang His praises, as St John of Damaskos says of the 3 holy children: 'These most blest children, risking their lives in Babylon for their ancestral laws, disdained the foolish commandment of their king; bandage into the flames yet not consumed, they sang a hymn worthy of the One who kept them safe.' This is quite natural; for when a person truly perceives God's marvels he is wholly beside himself and is oblivious of this transient life because he has understood the divine Scriptures, as St Isaac puts it.

Such a homo is not similar us: for though we may for a while be slightly stirred by the Scriptures, we are over again plunged into darkness by laziness, forgetfulness and ignorance, and become obdurate because of our passions. Simply he who has been purified of the passions through inwards grief perceives the hidden mysteries in all the Scriptures and is astonished by them all, especially by the words and actions recorded in the Holy Gospels. He is amazed to see how the wisdom of God renders what is difficult piece of cake, and then that gradually it deifies human. He is filled with goodness, and then that he lows his enemies; he is merciful, as his Begetter is merciful (cf Luke 6:36); he is dispassionate, as God is dispassionate; he is endowed with every virtue and is perfect, every bit the Begetter is perfect (cf Matt. 5:48). In short, the Holy Bible teaches us that what befits God befits man also, so that he becomes god by divine adoption.

Who would not curiosity at the didactics of the Holy Gospel? For, just on condition that we choose rightly, God grants us consummate rest in both this earth and the next, and confers on us slap-up honours. It is as the Lord said: 'He who humbles himself volition be exalted' (Luke eighteen:xiv). St Peter bears this out when he leaves his nets and receives the keys of sky (cf. Matt. 16:19); and each of the other disciples, leaving behind what little he had, received into his charge the whole world in this historic period and in the age to come. The eye has not seen, and the ear has not heard, and human'south heart has not grasped the things that God has prepared for those who dear Him' (i Cor. ii:nine). This is true not simply of the apostles, merely also of all those who up to the nowadays fourth dimension have elected to pursue the spiritual life. As ane of the fathers says: 'Even though they struggled in the desert they had much repose.' He said this with reference to the life that is tranquil and problem-gratuitous.

Who has greater tranquillity and award, the person who devotes himself to God and acts accordingly, or the person involved in hustle, law courts and worldly cares? The person who e'er converses with God through meditation on the Holy Scriptures and undistracted prayer and tears, or the person who is always on the go, who devotes himself to fraud and lawless deportment which, when they come to nothing, get out him just with his burnout and perhaps twofold decease? Consider how some of us endure even painful and dishonourable death all for nothing. Indeed, some for purely destructive ends have inflicted the greatest injury on their own souls. I accept in mind robbers, pirates, fornicators, instigators of quarrels - all of them people who refused conservancy and the repose, honour and rewards that go with information technology. How bullheaded we are! We endure death for the sake of devastation, just do not dear life for the sake of conservancy. And if we prefer death to the kingdom of heaven, in what do nosotros differ from the thief or grave-robber or soldier? These, simply for the sake of nutrient, have ofttimes endured the decease that is to come up as well as decease in this present life.

We must make Christ our main goal; for on those who cull Him He confers the kingdom of heaven. This means that in this present life we must rise spiritually to a higher place all things, subjecting them all to Him. We must rule non only: over external things but as well over the trunk, through our non-attachment to information technology, and over death, through the backbone of our faith; then in the life to come we shall reign in our bodies eternally with Christ through the grace of the general resurrection. Death comes both to the righteous and to the sinner, simply at that place is a peachy difference. As mortals both dice, and there is nothing boggling in that But the one dies without advantage and possibly condemned; the other is blessed in this earth and in the next.

What is the point of amassing riches? Despite his unwillingness, the seeming possessor will accept to surrender them, non merely at the moment of his death, simply often earlier this, with much shame, tribulation and pain. Wealth breeds innumerable trials - fright, feet, constant worry and troubles sought and unsought - and nonetheless many have endured fifty-fifty death for its sake. Only God'due south holy commandment saves every man from all this and gives him complete freedom from feet and fear; ofttimes, indeed, it confers inexpressible please on those who deliberately choose to rid themselves of possessions. For what brings more please than to achieve dispassion, and no longer to be under the sway of anger or the want for worldly things? Regarding as nothing the things that most people value and rising higher up them, we alive as in paradise, or rather every bit in heaven, set costless from all constraints through our untroubled devotion to God.

Because a person in such a state, joyfully accepts all that happens to him, all things bring him placidity; because he loves everyone, anybody loves him; because he is detached from all things, he rises above them all. Moreover, he has no wish for the things that other people fight most and which cause them distress when they fail to acquire them, even though they would only exist condemned if they did larn them. This detachment frees an acquisitive person from ail sufferings in this present life and in the life to come up. Considering he does not want anything that he does not possess, he is to a higher place and beyond all comfort and wealth; while to want what ane lacks is the greatest torment a human being tin can endure prior to age long torment. A person in this condition is a slave, even though he may appear to be a rich man or a king. The commandments of the Lord are not crushing (cf 1 John 5:3). Yet, apple-polishing as we are, we do not carry them out with any eagerness unless we are rewarded for it.

He who can partially understand the grace of the Holy Gospel and the things that are in it -that is to say, the actions and teachings of the Lord, His commandments and His doctrines. His threats and His promises-knows what inexhaustible treasure he has found, even if he cannot speak about such things as he should, since what is heavenly is inexpressible. For Christ is hidden in the Gospel, and he who wishes to notice Him must showtime sell all that he has and buy the Gospel (cf. Matt. 13:44). It is not enough merely to find Christ through one's reading, simply one should as well receive Him in oneself by imitating His way of life in the world. For he who seeks Christ, says St Maximos, should seek him not outside simply inside himself Similar Christ he should become sinless in torso and soul, in so far as a human being can practise this; and he should guard the testimony of his conscience (cf. 2 Cor. 1:12) with all his strength. In this way, fifty-fifty though in the eyes of the globe he is poor and of no outcome, he will rule as a male monarch over his will at all times, rising higher up information technology and rejecting information technology. For what is the employ of appearing to exist a male monarch if you lot are a slave to anger and desire in this world, while in the side by side you will receive age-long punishment because yous would non keep the commandments?

How witless nosotros are when, for the sake of things that are paltry and transient, we practise not aspire to receive bang-up and eternal blessings. We pass up what is good and pursue the opposite. What can be simpler than giving a glass of cold water or a piece of bread, or than refraining from ane's own desires and footling thoughts? Yet through such things the kingdom of heaven is offered to us, by the grace of Him who Said: 'Behold, the kingdom of heaven is within you' (Luke 17:21). For, as St John of Damaskos says, the kingdom of heaven is not far abroad, non outside united states, but within the states. Just choose to overcome the passions, and you will possess it within you because you lot live in accordance with God's volition. But if you practice non choose to do this, you volition terminate upwardly with nothing. For the kingdom of God, say the fathers, is to alive in conformity to God; and this is also the meaning of Christ'southward first and second coming.

We spoke of the 2nd coming when dealing with inward grief. Every bit for the commencement coming, he who through grace and with full consciousness of soul grasps the significance of the incarnation should in his astonishment exclaim: Great art Thousand, Lord, and marvellous are Thy works; and no give-and-take suffices to hymn Thy wonders. Behold, honey Lord, I Thy servant stand before Thee, speechless, motionless, pending the light of spiritual knowledge that comes from Thee. For Yard hast said. Lord, 'Without Me y'all can do aught' (John 15:5). Teach me, therefore, almost Thyself. For this reason I accept dared, similar the sister of Thy friend Lazarus (cf. Luke 10:39), to sit at Thy most pure feet, so that I besides may hear through my intellect, if not about Thy incomprehensible divinity, then at least about the fashion of Thy incarnate life in the globe. In this way I shall gain some slight awareness of the pregnant of what in Thy grace Thou hast said in the Holy Gospel; and of how Thou hast dwelt among us, 'gentle and humble in heart' (Matt. 11 :29), as G Thyself hast said, so that we might acquire from Thee to be the same. M hast lived in poverty, though Thou art rich in mercy; by Thy own complimentary option Thou hast endured toil and thirst, though Thou hast offered to the Samaritan woman living water (cf. John four:ten), and hast said: "If any homo thirst, permit him come to Me and drink" (John 7:37). For Thou fine art the source of healing, and who can hymn Thy manner of life in this world?

I am earth, ashes, dust, a transgressor, a suicide, who take sinned many times confronting Thee and keep to exercise so; even so Thou hast enabled me to grasp something of Thy actions and words; and I dare to inquire Thee about them, hoping to see Thee by faith, although Thou art invisible to the whole of creation. Forgive me my boldness. For Thou knowest, Lord, Searcher of hearts, that I do not ask out of idle curiosity, but seek to acquire, I believe that if I am found worthy of Thy spiritual knowledge, and so in Thy compassion Thou wilt grant to me, as Thou dost to all who long for Thee, the strength to imitate Thy life in the flesh; for it is by virtue of Thy incarnation that I by grace am chosen a Christian. Although, unlike Thy disciples, none of us is capable of enduring death for the sake of his enemies, or of acquiring the poverty and virtue which Thou and they possessed,, yet each of us does what he can according to the force of his resolve. For even if we were to die for Thy sake daily, still nosotros could not repay Thee what we owe. For Thou, Lord, existence perfect God and perfect man, hast lived in this world without sin and endured all things on our behalf; while we, fifty-fifty if we do endure something, suffer on our ain account and for our ain sins. Who' is not amazed when he thinks of Thy inexpressible self-abasement? For being God, inscrutable, anointed and ruling all things, enthroned higher up the cherubim - who are figures of wisdom in its multiplicity - on account of united states, who have provoked Thy anger from the beginning. K hast humbled Thyself, accepting to exist born and brought up amid united states. Thou hast endured persecution, stoning, mocking, insults, cuffs and blows, ridicule and spitting, so the Cross and the nails, the sponge and reed, vinegar and gall, and all the rest that I am unworthy to hear about. Then a spear pierced Thy most pure side, and from this wound Thou hast poured forth for us eternal life: Thy precious blood and water.

I hymn Thy birth and her who gave Thee nascency: she whom Yard didst preserve a virgin after she gave birth as she was before she gave birth. I worship Thee in the cave, swaddled in the manger. I glorify Thee, who hast gone downwards into Egypt with Thy virginal and most pure Mother; who hast lived in Nazareth in obedience to Thy mortal parents. Thy putative male parent and Thy true mother. I hymn Thee, baptized in Jordan by John the Forerunner- Thee, Lord, and Thy Father who bore witness to Thee, and Thy Holy Spirit who manifested Thee. I hymn Thy baptism and Thy baptizer John, Thy prophet and Thy retainer. I glorify Thee who didst fast for us, who hast voluntarily accepted temptation and triumphed over the enemy in the trunk which Yard didst accept from the states, giving usa victory over him in Thy inexpressible wisdom. I glorify Thee every bit Thou hast lived together with Thy disciples, cleansed lepers, made cripples stand erect, given lite to the blind, spoken language and hearing to the dumb and the deaf; as Thou hast blessed the loaves and walked upon the sea as upon dry land, taught the crowds about the practice of the virtues and about contemplation, proclaimed the Male parent and the Holy Spirit, foretold the threats and promises to come, and spoken of all that brings us to conservancy. I praise Thee who hast already vanquished the enemy; who dost pull upwardly the passions by their roots with Thy wise teaching; who dost make fools wise and dost overthrow crafty idiots by thy dizzying wisdom; who dost enhance the dead with Thy inexpressible might and dost cast out demons with Thy authorization as God of all. And not only dost M practise these things in Thy ain person, just Thou givest Thy servants the power to exercise fifty-fifty greater things (cf. John 14:12), so that nosotros may be still more than astonished, equally Thou Thyself hast said. Peachy is Thy Name, for through Thee Thy saints perform all their miracles.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son and Logos of God, the most tender name of our salvation, great is Thy glory, bully are Thy works, marvellous are Thy words, 'sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb' (Ps. xix:10). Glory to Thee, Lord, glory to Thee. Who can glorify and hymn Thy coming in the flesh. Thy goodness, power, wisdom. Thy life in this earth and Thy didactics? And how is information technology that Thy holy commandments teach us the life of virtue then naturally and and then hands? As Thousand didst say. Lord: 'Forgive, and you volition exist forgiven" (cf. Matt. half dozen:14); and once more: 'Seek and you volition discover, knock and it volition be opened to you' (Matt. seven:7); and: "Whatsoever you would that men should do to you, practice as well to them' (Matt. 7:12). Who, having understood Thy commandments and other, sayings, will not be astonished when he perceives Thy boundless wisdom? For Thou fine art the wisdom of God, the life of all, the joy of angels, the ineffable light, the resurrection of the expressionless, the proficient shepherd 'who gives His life for the sheep' (John 10: 11)I hymn Thy transfiguration, crucifixion, burial, resurrection, ascension. Thy enthronement at the correct manus of God the Father, the descent of the Holy Spirit and Thy future appearance, when Thou wilt come with ability and dandy, incomprehensible glory.

I abound weak, my Lord, earlier Thy wonders and, at a loss, I long to take refuge in silence. Yet I do not know what to do. For if I keep silence, amazement overwhelms me; but if I dare to say something, I am struck dumb and rapt abroad. I regard myself every bit unworthy of sky and earth, and equally deserving every penalisation, not simply because of the sins I have committed, only much more because of the blessings I have received without my showing any gratitude, contemptible as I am. For Thou, Lord, who dost transcend all goodness, hast filled my soul with every blessing. I dimly perceive Thy works and my mind is amazed. Merely to look on what is Thine reduces me to nothing. Yet the noesis is non mine, nor the endeavor, for it is Thy grace. Therefore I will lay my hand on my mouth, as Job in one case did (cf. Chore 40:4), and volition take refuge in Thy saints, for I am bewildered.

Blessed Queen of the universe, you know that we sinners' have no intimacy with the God whom yous have borne. Merely, putting our trust in you lot, through your mediation nosotros your servants prostrate ourselves before the Lord: for you can freely approach Him since He is your son and our God. Thus I, too, unworthy believer that I am, entreat you, holy Queen, that I may be allowed to perceive the gifts of grace bestowed on you and on the other saints, and to understand how you brandish so many virtues. Just your giving nascency to the Son of God shows that you excel all other beings. For He who, as creator of all, knows all things before they come into existence, found your womb worthy of His indwelling. No one tin question yous about your mysteries, for they transcend nature, thought and intellect. Rightly do we, who accept been saved through you, pure Virgin, confess that you are the Mother of God, extolling you with the angelic choirs. ' For God, whom men cannot run across, on whom the ranks of angels practice not dare to look, has through you become visible to men equally the Logos fabricated flesh. Glorifying Him with the heavenly hosts we proclaim you blessed. And what shall we call you, who are full of grace? Sky, for you have made the Sun of Righteousness shine along? Paradise, for you lot have put forth the blossom of immortality? Virgin, for you accept remained inviolate? Pure mother, for you have held in your holy cover the God of all? Mother of God, you are the true vine, for you take borne the fruit of life. Nosotros entreat you, intercede in your celebrity with the apostles and all the saints, that God may accept mercy on our souls. For with the true organized religion we confess that you are the Female parent of God and we bless y'all, the ever-blest. All generations proclaim you blessed equally the but Mother of God, more honoured than the cherubim and decidedly more glorious than the seraphim.

Unable to grasp the mysteries of the Mother of God, I marvel at the lives of the other saints, and enquire; How did y'all dwell. Baptist and Precursor of the Lord, in the desert? What shall nosotros telephone call yous, prophet: angel, campaigner, martyr? Affections, because you lot lived as though bodiless; apostle, because you caught the nations in your net; martyr, because you were beheaded for Christ's sake. Pray to Him or the salvation of our souls. 'The memory of the only is praised", Solomon says (cf. Prov. ten:7. LXX); but the Lord'due south testimony suffices you lot. Precursor: truly you were proclaimed greater in honour than the prophets, for you were found worthy to baptize Him whom they prophesied.

Holy apostles and disciples of the Savior, eyewitnesses of His mysteries, yous accept proclaimed Him whom none can contemplate and who has no origin, saying, 'In the first was the Logos' (John 1:1). You lot were not created earlier the angels, nor did you learn this from men, merely from the wisdom that is from to a higher place. We beseech you, and then, since yous have communion with God, intercede for our souls. I curiosity at your dearest of God. It is every bit the ancient troparia say: 'Lord, considering the apostles truly longed for Thee on earth, they considered all things to exist dung, so that they might proceeds Thee lonely (cf. Phil. 3:viii). For Thee they gave their bodies over to torture and, glorified because of this, they intercede for our souls. ' How is it that, being men, as we are, and wearing flesh of clay, you displayed such virtues, so that you even endured expiry for the sake of those who slew you? How, few though y'all were, did you conquer the whole world? How, though unproblematic and unlettered, did y'all overcome kings and rulers? How, though unarmed, naked and poor, enclosed in weak flesh, did you lot defeat the invisible demons? And what was the great strength, or rather faith, which enabled you to receive the power of the Holy Spirit -you and the holy martyrs who fought the good fight and received their crowns? Apostles, martyrs, prophets, hierarchs, holy men, we beseech you lot to intercede with Christ and then that in His goodness He will save our souls.

Who is not astounded when he sees, holy martyrs, the skillful fight that yous fought? Being in the body you conquered the bodiless enemy, confessing Christ and armed with the Cross. In this way justly you were revealed to be expellers of demons and enemies of barbaric powers. Intercede unceasingly for the salvation of our souls. For, similar the three children in the peppery furnace, y'all did not endure your trials in the hope of a advantage, just out of love for God, equally you yourselves have alleged: "For even if He does not deliver us, yet we will not for that reason deny Him as one who does not save" (cf. Dan. 3:17-18). I marvel at your farthermost humility, holy children, for even though you were surrounded by flames, you declared that y'all did not know how to give thanks to God. There is at this time no prince, prophet, leader or burnt offering", you lot said,"... only because nosotros come up with a contrite eye and humble spirit, accept us" (Song of the Three Children, verses 15-16). I marvel at the power of God that has filled you, and that also filled Elijah the prophet: as St John of Damaskos has said: 'Out of the Same hast Thou fabricated dew autumn upon Thy saints (cf . Song of the Iii Children, verse 27), and hast burnt up with water the cede of the Righteous One (cf . 1 Kgs. 18:58). For 1000 doest all things, Christ, merely past Thy will alone/ Yet which shall I contemplate beginning? The testimonies found in the Gospel, or the Acts of the Apostles? The contests of the martyrs, or the struggles of the holy fathers, or of the saints ancient and recent, both men and women? Their lives and sayings, or their power of estimation and discernment? I am at a loss and stand amazed.

But I pray Thee, compassionate Lord, do non allow me to be condemned because of the unworthy and ungrateful manner in which I contemplate the great mysteries that 1000 hast revealed to Thy saints and through them to me, a sinner and Thy unworthy servant. For run into. Lord, Thy retainer stands before Thee, idle in everything, speechless, as one who is dead; and I practice not dare to say anything more than or presumptuously to contemplate farther. But equally ever I autumn down before Thee, crying from the depths of my soul and maxim, 'Principal, rich in mercy. Lord Jesus Christ...' and the residual of the prayer. (Here you should meditate on the second prayer and the psalms, watching over the deport of your soul and torso, and so that y'all develop a disposition receptive to divine thoughts. Then you will exist able with full consciousness to sympathize all the mysteries and miracles hidden inside the Holy Scriptures. Astounded in this style at God's gifts, you will come up to dear Him lonely and to suffer for His sake with joy, every bit all the saints take done. For the Holy Scriptures are full of astonishing things, every bit Solomon says.)

Forth with the other marvels, I wonder at God'due south power as information technology was manifest in the manna. For the manna did not preserve the aforementioned grade until the following solar day, simply dissolved and was institute to be total of worms (cf. Exod. 16:20). This was to forestall those who lacked faith from concerning themselves about the side by side day. Merely in the pitcher that was in the tabernacle it remained unchanged (cf. Exod. 16:32-34). Again, when cooked with fire the manna was not burnt; yet information technology dissolved at the faintest ray of sunlight, so that the greedy should non collect more than than they needed to keep alive. How marvellously God works everywhere for the salvation of men, as the Lord says with regard to divine providence: "My Father goes on working and I piece of work as well' (John 5:17). He who reverently meditates on this is outwardly taught by the Holy Scriptures, and inwardly by divine providence. He begins to see things as they are in their true nature, every bit St Gregory of Nyssa and St John of Damaskos say. He is no longer deceived by the exterior attractiveness of the things of this world, such as physical beauty, wealth, transient glory and then on; nor is he seduced by the shadows they cast, as are those notwithstanding subject area to the passions.

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