Crossing the great abyss with prayer ( Fr. Dimitru Staniloae )

The virtue of prayer brings about the mystery of our union with God, because prayer is the tie of rational creatures with the Creator. - Saint Gregory Palamas



Pure Prayer is the bridge we seek to union with God and to be participants in His divine light. It is prayer that enables us to cross the great abyss when realize God is beyond all mental concepts and involves a higher knowledge. It is a step that is beyond apophaticism or negative theology.


Fr. Dimitru Staniloae writes,
Pure prayer is an ecstasy of interior quietness, a total cessation of thought in the face of divine mystery, before the divine light descends to the mind thus stopped by astonishment.
This pure prayer is only given to us once we have mastered our passions.


Fr. Dimitru says,
Pure prayer is made only after the mind has been raised from the contemplation of visible nature and from the world of concepts, when the mind doesn't have any image or form or concept.
It is called pure because it does not have and object and does not involve any words. This is also called by the Church Fathers as the Prayer of the mind, or noetic prayer, where the mind is free and we are face to face with God.


Fr. Dimitru gives us a couple of conditions for reaching this level of prayer:
1. The mind must withdraw from things outside and focus on what is within, to its heart. It is in this place called the heart, the center of our soul where we find God.
2. One should use only a few words addressed to Jesus to assure a remembrance of Him and to focus the mind on its goal. He says, "even the most pure prayer must keep the thought of the presence of Jesus." He advises us that the common prayer of this nature is the Jesus Prayer :Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner."


With the mind focused on the heart we will find that the mind no longer looks for external things. With its focus on the name of Jesus it is guarded by any sinful thoughts. But there is a struggle involved against evil forces.


Fr. Dimitru says,
It must struggle much with the thoughts around it, to make its way toward it (the heart) and to open it... The mind with difficulty regains the habit of looking toward God... Then it lives His presence directly, or feels itself in His presence.
This state of prayer involves the opening of the heart. We feel the pleasure of constantly remembering His name and being within with His love.


St. Diadochos writes,
Grace itself then thinks together with the soul and cries or together with it: "Lord Jesus Christ." [Because immediately]... we need His help to unite and gladden all our thoughts with His ineffable Sweetness, that we might be moved with all our heart to the remembrance and love of our God and Father.

Fr. Dimitru Staniloae

Facing Temptations ( Fr. Dimitru Staniloae )

We grow spiritually both from our temptations for pleasure and the trials we face from pain. We are either drawn to something based on our appetite for it or reject it by our refusal to accept it. The spiritual tests we receive are either attractive or repulsive. These tests are not merely for our self-knowing, but hey are aimed to correct ourselves; to help our soul regain control over the biological demands of our body. It is the way we master our passions.


Let's consider temptations. We may have a simple temptation for a second helping of ice cream which only brings to us later the feeling of being stuffed and then problems with being overweight. But our desire for more pleasure temps us to take more of what we know not to be in our best interests. By rejecting a temptation we strengthen our will, increasing our capacity to do God's will. This resistance demonstrates and fortifies our self-control. But resisting temptations may be easier to master than our capacity to reject dejection, anger and disgust. While pleasure is something we can anticipate, pain is something we must wait to address. It's easier to not be controlled by temptation for pleasure than to avoid pain because we never seek pain. It often appears due to our life experience and not necessarily something we can avoid, although much pain is the aftermath of pleasure. Dealing with our temptations is our first priority.


Fr. Dimitru says,

The primordial and direct cause of man's decadence isn't an avoidance of pain but a seeking of pleasure. The avoidance of pain comes later, because it is caused by pleasure. So first we must do battle with pleasure, principally and directly. Pleasure is often sought by our previous initiative, while pain is almost always avoided, by a reaction which is produced when it arises; likewise if we wish to escape the preliminary initiative which looks for pleasure, we must also do it with a previous, contrary initiative, and if we want to escape the reaction contrary to pain which is produced the moment of the appearance of pain, we must wait for that moment to stop the reaction.... I run for pleasure as a reaction to something I am waiting for. But I must wait for the moment of pain to stop the repulsive reaction to it.We can see this in the life of Jesus. First He was tested by pleasure in the wilderness and then faced the trial of suffering in His Passion and Crucifixion.


We seek pleasure for its own sake, but also because of our fear of pain.
Fr. Dimitru says,

The restraint from pleasure and the patient endurance of suffering, far from being something negative-passive and of a weak nature, instead strengthens it and this means a spiritualization, a putting the spirit in control... . By refraining from pleasure we have taken a big step toward the spiritual force of dispassion.... . Dispassion isn't a passivity, but a concentration of the spirit in the realm of the good and of the spiritual world.

The true joy we seek does not come from pleasure. When we are no longer automatically moved by an attraction to pleasure nor fear pain, we find a peace and stability in our life. We can see the divine providence of God at work. We understand how God uses our life's situation in the world as both grace and judgment. We appreciate how we grow through our self-control to avoid pleasure and exercise patience in our times of difficulty.


In suffering we are attracted to God and tested so we will be stronger to resist future sins. Our difficulties may not be due to our own sinfulness but due to that of others. In this fallen world stuff happens and we need to be prepared to respond to all kinds of difficulty with love and patience. Our ability to endure with patience is a sign of our recognition of God's power and wisdom. We thank God for all he sends to us along our path of life. It is through our avoidance of temptations and endurance of pain that we grow our faith in Him and find true joy.


As we say in the Lord's Pray, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."


Reference: Orthodox Spirituality, pp 170-176

What is a passion?

What is a passion? They are impulses that move us to action by overcoming our will. Because of this we say they enslave us. They are powerful because they are also desires which cannot be satisfied. They act as a force that goes against what we know to be the proper action and lead us to actions which are counter to the commandments of Christ. There is no single list of these passions, but the following is a common list used in early Christian literature: gluttony, unchastity, avarice, anger, dejection, listlessness, self-esteem and pride.


Their ultimate cause is the forgetting of God. Healing begins with faith.


Not all passions are bad. There are both natural and unnatural passions. Our natural passions are our appetite for food, enjoyment of food, fear and sadness. These are necessary for our the preservation of our nature. They are important animal aspect of our being given to by God. But we are more than animals as we are spiritual. Because of this we have an aspiration for the infinite. Often these natural passions which are intended for earthly preservation are transformed into unnatural passions. They are frequently transformed into a mistaken quest for the infinite in things of this material world. The soul loses control and the passions take over. Out task is to control them so they can be limited to their proper purpose. Then they can channeled to seek divine things.


Saint Maximus says,

The natural passions become good in those who struggle when, wisely unfastening them from the things of the flesh, use them to gain heavenly things. For example they can change appetite into the movement of a spiritual longing for divine things; pleasure into pure joy for the cooperation of the mind with divine gifts; fear into care to evade future misfortune due to sin and sadness into corrective repentance for present evil. So the natural passions are not necessarily bad. When we are thinking of God they are kept to their necessary biological functions. Our task is not to eradicate them but to control them, keeping them within the limits necessary for the preservation of the body. They must continually be watched and controlled. This is the basis of asceticism.


Thoughts from Fr. Dimitru Staniloae:

Asceticism means, in the spirit of Eastern thought, the restraint and discipline of the biological, not a battle for its extermination. On the contrary, asceticism means the sublimation of this element of bodily affectivity, not its abolition.... Natural passions can assume a spiritual character and give an increased accent to our love for God.... Now here is the most important point. By controlling them we increase our spiritual blessings.

Fr. Dimitru says,

By putting a bridle and a limit on the pleasure of material things, a transfer of this energy of our nature takes place, in favor of the spirit; pleasure in spiritual blessings grows. ... The challenge we face is not easy. Is difficulty is increased by our tendency to react in the wrong way. Once a pleasure leaves us we feel a loss. This can be painful. Pain or dissatisfaction always follows pleasure. This pain that follows does not lead us to take action to temper the pleasure, but does the opposite. We seek even more pleasure. The cycle continues without satisfaction.


Fr. Dimitru says,

The pain which follows pleasure, instead of making him avoid pleasure, as its source,...pushes his anew into pleasure as if to get rid of it, tangling him even more in this vicious chain. Asceticism is aimed at breaking this dysfunctional cycle of pleasure and pain, liberating us from the unnatural extension of passions that have a proper role in our bodily preservation. This bodily domination through uncontrolled passions is our main block to union with God.

Reference: Orthodox Spirituality, pp77 - 89

The Ego ( how to overcome it )

"Repentance is the fire which gradually burns up the egotism in us."


When we adopt a repentant attitude we accept that we are aways imperfect and in need of continual perfection. It is this attitude that kills our ego based pride. We recognize our limitations and our lack of perfection and have a feeling of compunction.


Fr. Dimitru Staniloae points out that this egoism is our largest obstacle.

So the greatest and continuous obstacle in the way of our progress to love is egoism. Until egoism completely dies, you can't have true love.... He who loves himself, who is full of self-admiration, who considers himself as the most important of all, can't love others. To love others means to forget yourself, to always go beyond yourself, to consider yourself as nothing. The love of others is consolidated in us by uninterrupted repentance and humility. ...
It is clear that no one can approach or enter this kingdom, this paradise, unless he leaves behind the ocean of numberless sirens of egotism...The attitude of repentance carries with it an awareness of our ego-centeredness coupled with an understanding that this needs to be destroyed for us if we are to be united with God in love and to be able to truly love others. Egoism is the clear enemy which our continual repentance attacks. Repentance is what allows us to make gradual and continual progress against an enemy we all face.


Ref: Orthodox Spirituality, pp 141-144

Major Steps of the Spiritual LIfe

 



There are two basic phases in our path of spiritual growth described by Fr. Dimitru Staniloae.

The first is the practical phase of doing things.
The practicle phase, that of doing things, is intended to raise the beiever's nature from the state subject to the passions and to elevate it to and by, the steps of virtues, until it reaches love.... The purpose of this phase is the liberation of man from the passions.The scond is the contemplative phase.
The contemplative pahase represents it reintegration, unity and simplicity, and its exclusive focus on God, the One and Infinite. ...
Only he who has cleansed the mind through dispassion can go on to knowledge or contemplation.... Only a clean soul is a shinny mirror, unspotted by passionate attachment to the things of the world, capable of receiving divine knowledge. We can identify a third phase of mystical knowledge.
The holy Fathers strictly distinguish this gnosis or contemplation, from the spiritual knowledge of the world aided by divine grace, which itself is distinguished from profane knowledge.Saint Maximus the Confessor described these phases in this way:
Of the three steps, the first is that of beginners, who must strive to become proficient in the virtues. The virtues are seven in number*. At the beginning stands faith; at the end love, immediately preceded by dispassion. Love concentrates all the virtues in it and carries man to the knowledge or contemplation. The final step is mystical knowledge, no longer concerned with the reasons of things but with God Himself... this knowledge of God is an ecstasy of love, which persists unmoved in a concentration on God. It is reached in the state of the deification of man, or of his union with God.


Dionysius the Areopagite described the phases as Purification, Illumination and Perfection. For most of us we are most concerned about the first stage of purification. It's important to recognize our level in our spiritual development. Many writings are aimed at aspirants at the highest levels of spirtual development. Following advice intended for one at a higher level can be detrimental to your progress. It is essential to have a spiritual Father to guide you.

* Faith, fear of God, self-restraint, patience, hope, dispassion, and love.
Reference: Orthodox Spirituality pp 69 - 73.


 Fr. Dimitru Staniloae

Illumination - Gifts of the Holy Spirit

At our Baptism and Chrismation we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit.    But as long as we are dominated by the passions these gifts are not fully active. They are hidden or covered. Once we remove the passions then these gifts work in our consciousness.
Fr. Dimitru Staniloae says,

Only after the termination of the work of purification, driven especially by the powers of Baptism and of repentance, does the work of the gifts of the Holy Spirit appear first and foremost.It is during the stage of Purification where we work to overcome the work of the passions where we begin to feel increasingly the power of the Holy Spirit. He then works later to bring to our consciousness full illumination of the truths.


There are said to be seven gifts of the Holy Spirit:
Fear of God to help overcome sinfulness.
Spirit of strength to live by the virtues.
Spirit of counsel to give us the skill of discernment.
Spirit of understanding to realize how blessings have been revealed to us to gain virtues.
Spirit of knowledge to know the deeper motivation of each command and virtue.
Spirit of comprehension to know the meaning of things by identification with them.
Spirit of wisdom which is the simple contemplation of truth of all things.


St. Maximus the Confessor describes wisdom as follows:

By this we know as far as is humanly possible, in an unknown way, the simple logoi of things found in God; we take out the truth from everything, as from a gushing spring of the heart, and we also share it in different ways with others.It is the gifts of the Holy Spirit that guide us in the knowledge of God. Again Fr. Dimitru cautions,

Only after the mind is cleansed not only from the passions but also from simple images and representations of things, will the direct knowledge of God be produced... The work of the Holy Spirit is like a light shining into a dark room. As the light increases, the contents of the room become known. Through illumination the Spirit will illumine our consciousness so that we are filled with divine light. With this light all things become transparent and their meaning and relationship with God become very clear. We are enabled to penetrate beneath the surface of things.


Fr. Dimitru says

Only in the measure in which someone becomes transparent to himself, are things made transparent to him, because this power which works in him later reaches the exterior... for the eyes of our soul to see the light of intelligible and divine realities, that is the depths of things, they must first be filled with the light which radiates from these depths. In him who sees must be found something of what is seen.Through the contemplation of things of the created world and the words of Scripture, we are led to a deeper illumined knowledge.


Reference: Orthodox Spirituality, pp 195 - 202

Illumination: How to Discern the Truth (logoi) in Things

After a prolonged period of purification with much spiritual exercise to subdue the passions, we can focus our mind on the contemplation of God's creation to discern the truth that lies in them, the logoi.
This truth is not grasped by our reason alone.  
Fr. Dimitru Staniloae writes,

It is reason which is exercised by the choice of rational things required by divine commands and by gradual rationalization of man gained by virtue."

This is a reason purified from the influence of all our passions and self-centeredness and informed by a selfless virtuous life.  This provides the basis for an act of "intuitive knowledge" in which reason is implicated through exercise over prolonged periods of time.  We must be aware that we can make personal judgments about things, their logoi, their purpose.  In our normal state these judgments vary from time to time but this does not change the truth about them.  It only reflects our imperfect judgment about them.  Once we realize, based on humility, that all that happens takes place by God's will, we can begin to have revealed to us the "true line" of His development of creation.


This truth of things is not something obtained with intellectual dialogue.  This is not necessary to extract their truth. We must prepare ourselves so it is revealed to us.  


There exists an objective logos––pure reason.
Fr. Dimitru says,

It imposes itself by its fully convincing and evident rationality and at the same time by its supra-rationality as a reflex of a harmonious and immutable order of the existence of a thing of fact with the framework of the whole of reality.

We can arrive at these truths only after proper preparation and the development of a high moral character.  Only then is the truth revealed to us uncluttered by our personal opinions.

Role of Temptations - ( Fr. Dimitru Staniloae )

We grow spiritually both from our temptations for pleasure and the trials we face from pain.  We are either drawn to something based on our appetite for it or reject it by our refusal to accept it. The spiritual tests we receive are either attractive or repulsive. These tests are not merely for our self-knowing, but hey are aimed to correct ourselves; to help our soul regain control over the biological demands of our body. It is the way we master our passions.

Let's consider temptations. We may have a simple temptation for a second helping of ice cream which only brings to us later the feeling of being stuffed and then problems with being overweight. But our desire for more pleasure temps us to take more of what we know not to be in our best interests. By rejecting a temptation we strengthen our will, increasing our capacity to do God's will. This resistance demonstrates and fortifies our self-control. But resisting temptations may be easier to master than our capacity to reject dejection, anger and disgust. While pleasure is something we can anticipate, pain is something we must wait to address. It's easier to not be controlled by temptation for pleasure than to avoid pain because we never seek pain. It often appears due to our life experience and not necessarily something we can avoid, although much pain is the aftermath of pleasure. Dealing with our temptations is our first priority.

Fr. Dimitru says,

The primordial and direct cause of man's decadence isn't an avoidance of pain but a seeking of pleasure. The avoidance of pain comes later, because it is caused by pleasure. So first we must do battle with pleasure, principally and directly. Pleasure is often sought by our previous  initiative, while pain is almost always avoided, by a reaction which is produced when it arises; likewise if we wish to escape the preliminary initiative which looks for pleasure, we must also do it with a previous, contrary initiative, and if we want to escape the reaction contrary to pain which is produced the moment of the appearance of pain, we must wait for that moment to stop the reaction.... I run for pleasure as a reaction to something I am waiting for. But I must wait for the moment of pain to stop the repulsive reaction to it.

We can see this in the life of Jesus. First He was tested by pleasure in the wilderness and then faced the trial of suffering in His Passion and Crucifixion.


We seek pleasure for its own sake, but also because of our fear of pain. 
Fr. Dimitru says,

The restraint from pleasure and the patient endurance of suffering, far from being something negative-passive and of a weak nature, instead strengthens it and this means a spiritualization, a putting the spirit in control... . By refraining from pleasure we have taken a big step toward the spiritual force of dispassion.... . Dispasion isn't a passivity, but a concentration of the spirit in the realm of the good and of the spiritual world.

The true joy we seek does not come from pleasure.  When we are no longer automatically moved by an attraction to pleasure nor fear pain, we find a peace and stability in our life. We can see the divine providence of God at work.  We understand how God uses our life's situation in the world as both grace and judgment.  We appreciate how we grow through our self-control to avoid pleasure and exercise patience in our times of difficulty. 


In suffering we are attracted to God and tested so we will be stronger to resist future sins.  Our difficulties may not be due to our own sinfulness but due to that of others. In this fallen world stuff happens and we need to be prepared to respond to all kinds of difficulty with love and patience. Our ability to endure with patience is a sign of our recognition of God's power and wisdom.  We thank God for all he sends to us along our path of life.  It is through our avoidance of temptations and endurance of pain that we grow our faith in Him and find true joy.


As we say in the Lord's Pray, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."


Reference: Orthodox Spirituality, pp 170-176

Are Passions Natural? ( Fr. Dimitru Staniloae )

What is a passion? They are impulses that move us to action by overcoming our will.  Because of this we say they enslave us. They are powerful because they are also desires which cannot be satisfied. They act as a force that goes against what we know to be the proper action and lead us to actions which are counter to the commandments of Christ. There is no single list of these passions, but the following is a common list used in early Christian literature: gluttony, unchastity, avarice, anger, dejection, listlessness, self-esteem and pride. 


Their ultimate cause is the forgetting of God. Healing begins with faith.


Not all passions are bad. There are both natural and unnatural passions. Our natural passions are our appetite for food, enjoyment of food, fear and sadness. These are necessary for our the preservation of our nature. They are important animal aspect of our being given to by God.  But we are more than animals as we are spiritual. Because of this we have an aspiration for the infinite. Often these natural passions which are intended for earthly preservation are transformed into unnatural passions. They are frequently transformed into a mistaken quest for the infinite in things of this material world. The soul loses control and the passions take over. Out task is to control them so they can be limited to their proper purpose. Then  they can channeled to seek divine things.


Saint Maximus says,

The natural passions become good in those who struggle when, wisely unfastening them from the things of the flesh, use them to gain heavenly things. For example they can change appetite into the movement of a spiritual longing for divine things; pleasure into pure joy for the cooperation of the mind with divine gifts; fear into care to evade future misfortune due to sin and sadness into corrective repentance for present evil.

So the natural passions are not necessarily bad. When we are thinking of God they are kept to their necessary biological functions. Our task is not to eradicate them but to control them, keeping them within the limits necessary for the preservation of the body. They must continually be watched and controlled. This is the basis of asceticism.


Thoughts from Fr. Dimitru Staniloae:

Asceticism means, in the spirit of Eastern thought, the restraint and discipline of the biological, not a battle for its extermination. On the contrary, asceticism means the sublimation of this element of bodily affectivity, not its abolition.... Natural passions can assume a spiritual character and give an increased accent to our love for God....

Now here is the most important point. By controlling them we increase our spiritual blessings.
Fr. Dimitru says,

By putting a bridle and a limit on the pleasure of material things, a transfer of this energy of our nature takes place, in favor of the spirit; pleasure in spiritual blessings grows. ...

 The challenge we face is not easy. Is difficulty is increased by our tendency to react in the wrong way. Once a pleasure leaves us we feel a loss. This can be painful. Pain or dissatisfaction always follows pleasure. This pain that follows does not lead us to take action to temper the pleasure, but does the opposite. We seek even more pleasure.  The cycle continues without satisfaction.


Fr. Dimitru says,

The pain which follows pleasure, instead of making him avoid pleasure, as its source,...pushes his anew into pleasure as if to get rid of it, tangling him even more in this vicious chain.

Asceticism is aimed at breaking this dysfunctional cycle of pleasure and pain, liberating us from the unnatural extension of passions that have a proper role in our bodily preservation. This bodily domination through uncontrolled passions is our main block to union with God.

Reference: Orthodox Spirituality, pp77 - 89

Illumination: Knock and the Inner Door Will Be Opened (Fr. Dimitru Staniloae)

It is only though much effort that we become capable to lift ourselves above the realm of reason and concepts.  Transcending reason is essential to know God, because God does not resemble things or concepts.


Fr. Dimitru Staniloae writes,

Our thinking subject (our mind) is the highest sovereign which we encounter in the world; it raises itself over all the order of objects and avoids being grasped in any way.  So it is the only entity which is like God.  Therefore to raise ourselves in some way to an understanding of God, we must somehow understand the thinking subject in the created world.

Here is a passage from Evagrius that many Fathers quote,

When the mind, unclothing itself of the old man, puts on that of grace, it sees in the time of prayer its state like that of a sapphire or of the heavenly color.  This state Scripture calls the place of God, seen by the elders of Israel on Mt. Sinai.

Fr. Dimitru tells us about the view of Saint Gregory of Nyssa

According to him, the cleansed heart sees God, not as a person apart, but he sees Him mirrored in himself.  The heart or "the man within which the heart calls Lord" reflects God by its nature.  But sin, covering it, has also covered the One mirrored in it.  As soon as we cleanse it and it sees itself, it also sees God as some see the sun in a mirror, without turning to Him in order to see Him in His hypostasis.

It is when the mind, purified, enters into this inner part of our being called the heart that it meets Christ.  It here in this inner most chamber of our being that we experience an unlimitedness that cannot be captured by concepts and used by reason.


Fr, Dimitru says that in face of this new experience we are dumbfounded.

First, this dizziness or astonishment in the face of an abyss means a paralysis of the powers of the mind, to the extent that it can no longer move forward.  The abyss in front of it is a great darkness. Secondly, it realizes that this abyss isn't entirely a region of our being, neither a void in the sense of an absence or a reality whatsoever.  It isn't darkness strictly speaking.  Rather it represents in continuity or by contact with the unlimitedness of our subject, the infinite depths.  For us, it also represents the unlighted depths of divinity.

When are able to enter into this abyss, where our mind seems to lose its boundaries, we, instead of feeling a void, begin to recognize the divinity in it.  It is the condition of total apophaticism where we have abandoned not just the contents of our mind but also all of its content.  This is the point where the Fathers tell us that we receive as a gift from God the vision of the divine light.


Fr. Dimitru tells us,

Arriving at our pure intimacy, we experience the infinite but personal presence of God hidden under the veil of the most complete darkness, just as many times we feel that somebody is near us, because we feel it, but we can't see anybody.

This is the condition of pure prayer. With mental prayer we try to find, by using the name of Jesus, the place in our heart, or that center within us that is beyond reason.  Our prayer seeks to find Jesus in this most inner place.  Gradually, it becomes to know with certainty that it has met Jesus. (Don't be mistaken, this is not an image like we see on an icon, not an object of any kind, but is indescribable.) It is then, only through our inner prayer, that we experience God as subject and do not limit Him by any mental concepts.  We become aware of our own nothingness and our dependence on God for our existence.


Fr. Dimitru says,

He penetrates into the content of our subject; He fills it and overwhelms us so much so that we forget ourselves.

It up to us to continually knock at the door our the heart.  We must continually try and open it.  We have to make the knocking heard.  This is the place were Christ dwells within each of us.  He will open the door because we have purified ourselves and call out His name and show our need for Him.

Reference: Orthodox Spirituality, pp 286 -293