On RepentanceFather Kyrik was an experienced practitioner of the prayer of the heart and edified his spiritual children primarily through his own example.
“>Part 1
On ConfessionWe must firmly believe in our Lord Jesus Christ’s labor on the Cross before His Heavenly Father, and that He tore up our sins on the Cross and gave us great mercy—which we don’t deserve.”>Part 2On the Proper Approach to PrayerBefore prayer, we have to attune ourselves for piety, that is, to think about who we are and Who is He with Whom we want to talk?”>Part 3
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Thus, before prayer, we must lament our insignificance and sins. This is useful and salvific for the soul, which is an immortal thing. However, those who overly lament their wretchedness and therefore don’t hope in the mercy of God may be thrown by demons, under the guise of something good for him, into extreme sorrow and lack of faith in God, even to the point of suicide! Then, in order to drive away such demonic delusion, say to yourself: “For sinners like me, the Lord God came from Heaven to earth and died on the Cross for all, and in particular for me…” Then all thoughts and machinations of the enemy will disappear at that very moment, driven out by the power of the Cross and the riches of the grace of God given us in the Holy Sacraments of the Church. Thus, bitter consequences come from improper prayer and not keeping the mind in prayer, when a man uses the imagination of his mind during prayer to the point of arousing the blood, or indulges in feelings of self-satisfaction, self-valuation, and self-conceit, or enjoys tears, thinking that they are from the grace of God, which has actually withdrawn from him. Then the demons freely approach our soul and play with it, like children with a ball, because of the retreat of God’s grace.
We must pray with a contrite spirit and humble heart, conscious of our own weakness and powerlessness. The words of prayer should be pronounced in a plaintive tone, as beggars ask for alms. And do not seek the gift of prayer or spiritual sweetness with the words of prayer, but pronounce them that the Lord God Himself might drive away from you that passion or sinful habit with which you often struggle—be it anger, vindictiveness, vain thoughts, blasphemous thoughts, carnal desires, a scattered mind, hardness of heart, laziness, drowsiness, ignorance, forgetfulness, or some other sinful passion. You should also say the words of prayer that the Lord God might forgive your sins and save your soul, by whatever means He knows best. The end of everything in prayer is to surrender yourself to the “Just Stay, and Rely On the Will of God”And there I stood in the middle of the field, with an enraged bull rushing at me. And I had the thought: “How good it is that I managed to become a novice! That means I’ll die in obedience.”
“>will of God. God carries in His arms those who surrender to His will, and to those who ask God in prayer only for what is useful and salvific, God gives what he asks, but does not carry him in His arms.
It also happens that fervent men of prayer at the beginning of their spiritual life, and others even to the end of their lives, experience blasphemous thoughts that don’t allow them to pray, so they completely abandon prayer and the demons drive them to despair. But we need to know why God allows us to have such a difficult state of soul. It’s because without God’s allowance, the demons can’t touch us—therefore the reason is from our side. This happens because of a lack of fear of God. Then the grace of the Holy Spirit leaves us, and since it departs because of our spiritual pride, demons draw near to us, rejoicing in our destruction, and bring their thoughts into our mind so we might think that these evil thoughts are our own. With themwe blaspheme God of our own will.
And how can we fight against these “Evil Thoughts Are Like Airplanes Looking for Airports”We should be very attentive, because the devil attacks ascetics primarily via their thoughts. First, you have no idea in what direction one or another thought may lead you, and what temptation may be hidden within it.
“>evil thoughts? The main thing is not to think that these are our own thoughts, but understand that they’re from the demons and look at them as dogs barking, and say to ourselves: “These thoughts are from the demons and therefore I don’t want or desire them.” And then call out to the Lord: “Lord, forgive me and help me!” And that minute they will disappear, like smoke, driven out by God—not by our prayer, but rather for our humility.
We must pray with a definite purpose, and we must expect from God not what we desire, but what God will give; for He said with His most pure lips: Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you (Matt. 7:7); and He assures us that He will give us something better than what we ask of Him, confirming this with an example: Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? (Matt. 7:9–10)? That is, you ask for what seems like bread (in your view), but it’s a stone, or a fish, it’s a serpent—which you don’t even suspect, not knowing the future because you’re deceitful—that is, changeable and short-lived and not far-sighted. While I, says the Lord, know everything—both the present and the future. Pray then and don’t despair, that is, don’t torment yourselves with your own thoughts and the expectations of what you ask for; I know better than you and love you more than you love your children, so trust in Me, as children do their Father and Creator. The holy Apostle Paul said: Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks (1 Thess. 5:17–18), and do everything to the glory of God, for this is pleasing to God.
Thus, praying incessantly doesn’t mean standing before the holy icons and praying all day. It’s necessary to pray at certain times, but this doesn’t constitute the incessant prayer that is characteristic of those who have devoted themselves to God and especially to the monastic order. For all other people of God, as St. John Chrysostom says, can and should pray during any activity—even sitting at a spinning wheel, raising their minds to God during any task. Thus, while engaged in the everyday handiwork that no man can avoid, we can and should pray: that is, move from the visible object (that we’re currently holding) to the invisible Divine name. For example, if you look at fire—whether in a stove, lampada, or anywhere else—say to yourself mentally: “Lord, deliver me from the eternal fire!” And by doing so, you humble your thoughts and unconsciously sigh, drawing to yourself the grace of the Holy Spirit, Who at that moment is imperceptibly working our salvation within our soul. “Every soul is enlivened by the Holy Spirit and is exalted in purity,” the holy Church sings.
Then, in a similar way move from visible objects to invisible ones. In all situations and activities, such as washing or cleaning any object, say to yourself: “Lord, cleanse the filth of my soul!” Also, when you begin eating or drinking water, or tea, or whatever else is necessary, think about how the Lord God tasted gall and vinegar for the sake of our salvation, yet offers us all good things. When lying down on your bed or cot, say to yourself: “Our Lord God had nowhere to lay His head, yet He has given me every comfort.” When awakening from sleep, cross yourself, and when you arise from your bed, say mentally: “Glory to Thee Who hast shown us the light!” When you go to put your shoes on, say: “Lord, bless!” When putting on clothes that are appropriate and proper for you, say with your mind to God: “Lord, enlighten the garment of my soul!” And when you begin to tidy the hair on your head, remember how the Roman soldiers tore at our God and Savior’s most pure hair when they dragged Him to crucifixion—and then say: “Glory to Thy Passion, O Lord!” When you begin to wash yourself, be sure to cross yourself to drive away the enemy’s temptations through the nature of the water. When leaving a room and when returning to it, mentally recite “It is truly meet.” When grasping a door handle, say to yourself mentally: “Open unto us the doors of mercy, O Blessed Theotokos…” When going to sleep, remember eternity and say to yourself mentally: “What if this night proves to be my last?” And then comes eternity, which, according to St. John Chrysostom, is more terrible than hell itself! St. Dimitry, Metropolitan of Rostov says: “Whoever does not remember torment will not avoid torment.”
The holy monastic fathers teach that the memory of death is equivalent to prayer itself, or that it gives birth to prayer. Thus, when Venerable and God-bearing Father Anthony the GreatSaint Anthony the Great is known as the Father of monasticism.
“>St. Anthony the Great, the first of the monastic fathers, was dying, he called all his disciples to himself and gave them his final word, as a testament: “My children, don’t forget about your departure from this temporal life to eternal life.” Saying this, he found that there was no virtue more powerful than this for saving the soul and pleasing God. It is not without reason that the Holy Scripture says, Remember thy end and thou shalt never sin (Sir. 7:36)!
Thus, always and in all your deeds and undertakings, train yourself, with the help of God, to move from visible objects to the invisible—the Divine, which unites us with the Divine and saving name of Christ, Who bestows grace-filled help upon us for the work of saving our souls in all our deeds and undertakings! In doing so, you will do everything to the glory of God, according to the holy Apostle Paul. And St. Basil the Great says that precisely this movement of the soul to God—whether in gratitude or glorifying His majesty, or self-abasement and contrition of heart, and so on—is already prayer, towards which every object we see pushes us, so to speak, and constitutes a cause as it were for the arousal of such prayer. But when despondency and hardness of heart attack us and prevent prayer, we must say inwardly: “Lord, I have neither the compunction, the zeal, nor the contrition to pray to You worthily!” With such contrition of heart, by God’s mercy, a God-pleasing prayer will appear; for God does not despise a contrite and humble heart—He won’t leave it helpless.
With such concern for God’s glory and with a feeling or heartfelt awareness of the weakness of our nature, the grace of the Holy Spirit or God’s saving power will dwell in you, and you will be numbered among those of whom the Holy Apostle said: My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you… (Gal. 4:19). The Kingdom of God doesn’t open for those in whom Christ has not come to dwell here on this earth. And wherever there is Christ, the never-setting Light, there is no satanic darkness, and therefore you will have neither tedium, nor despondency, nor hardness of heart, but quiet joy in the Holy Spirit and divine reverence and humility of heart in your soul. And where there is humility, there is salvation. May our Lord God Jesus Christ grant all of us this through the prayers of His Most Pure Mother and all the saints.
Amen.
Read and approved by Metropolitan ANTHONY, November 1, 1932
Source: Orthodox Christianity
