Foreword |
Foreword |
"A Night in the Desert of the Holy Mountain" is a book which brings to light the quintessence of Orthodox spiritual life: the Jesus prayer or prayer of the heart and how it can be practised by both monks / nuns and lay people.
The discussion flows in a spontaneous and immediate way with the dialogue form of the book contributing to this.
The reader enjoys the simple presentation of the teachings of the Church on the Jesus prayer, through the authentic experience of an Athonite hermit. And "when a hermit's mouth opens, it fills you with fragrance".
The Holy Mountain is a blessed place for the entire Church. There are monks there who practise without ceasing the Jesus prayer and who struggle to live the ascetic life, which is actually life according to the Gospel. Thus they become bearers of the Holy Tradition of the Church. It is with such a monk and ascetic that the author of this book enters into dialogue.
The book has been a classic of its kind in Greece where it is now in its ninth edition. It has also been translated into French, Arabic, Spanish, and Russian.
The translation into English was undertaken as a response to the requests of many English speaking friends who believe that the text has a lot to offer to all our brethren in Christ who thirst and seek for intimate communion with God; for the transformation and unification of their inner world through the energy of the grace of God; and who desire to become indwellings of the most Holy Spirit: The author of this book is himself an admirer of the neptic tradition of the Church, which he also presents in his other books.
His series of four books on "Orthodox psychotherapy" is of great interest since he believes that the neptic tradition of the Church has a therapeutic value. Archimandrite Hierotheos Vlachos believes that Christianity is not a philosophy or an ideology, but rather it is a therapeutic science and a therapeutic treatment which cures the innermost aspect of one's personality.
It is within this framework that the present book operates.
Many thanks are due to Mrs Rachel Hales (Essex, England) who kindly offered to examine the translation and make several needed corrections. Her zeal and personal interest in the text made possible the publication of this translation. Special mention should also be made of her excellent work on the passages and poems by St. Symeon the New Theologian as well as of other Fathers of the Church.
I am also indebted to sister Makrina of the "Birth of the Theotokos convent"(Thiva, Greece) for her valuable suggestions. The final version of the translation is, however, the sole responsibility of the translator.
Effie Mavromichali
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[ BACK ] Preface |
It is by inspiration of divine love that in our day there is a reawakening of the desire for mystical theology and the teaching of the Fathers, for asceticism, sobriety and unceasing noetic prayer of the heart.
How is it that in the high tide of man centered, materialistic, and this wordly understanding, there emerge souls desiring the true life in Christ –seeking perfection– union with God; who want to live according to the tradition of our Church and the holy Fathers? "The right hand of the Most High has changed". This is the work of the Holy Spirit, Who lives eternally, and Who sets apart and makes holy the souls in the Body of Christ, our holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
After the ordeal of much effort, it is becoming increasingly clear today that the Tradition of the Holy Fathers is not a luxury, but a prerequisite for a truly genuine Orthodox way of life. And it is a great blessing that the most merciful Lord planted in the midst of the Church the paradise of the garden of the Theotokos, –the Holy Mountain– to revive the Church through the gift of the grace of God, which comes down to us today through the living tradition of the Holy Fathers, uninterruptedly.
The author of this present book yearns for this Tradition. He lives and works in the world, but his abiding city "is in heaven", the heaven of the Holy Mountain, which is the foretaste of the Kingdom to come.
The Lord, Who loves mankind and Who gives us what our soul truly desires, has given to Archimandrite Hierotheos Vlachos the grace to love the spiritual atmosphere of the Holy Mountain and to hear within himself his own mystical heartbeat of the prayerful words "Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me, a sinner".
He has spoken with the Holy Fathers and has received their blessings. He has heard words spoken of eternal life and out of the fullness of his heart, he offers these conversations to his brethren.
It is a sign of the love of the Holy Fathers for us, that while they reveal to us the heights of the spiritual life, encouraging us not to be fainthearted in our spiritual efforts, they also show us at the same time, the first steps which we who are inexperienced must take. They show us the heights, but they take us by the hand in order for us to take the first steps.
Thus this present work not only presents prayer in its perfected state, but also introduces it in its initial stages for our brothers and sisters in the world to practise, so that they can be strengthened and made holy. I believe that through the blessing of our Lady, the Theotokos, who herself had received and lived this fullness of grace, this book will prove beneficial to the writer and the readers. It goes without saying that the more frequently people read books about the prayer of Jesus, the greater will their desire be to practise it.
To our God, from Whom we receive so much goodness and perfection, be glory throughout all the ages.
Archimandrite George,
Abbot of the monastery
of Saint Gregory of the Holy Mountain
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[ BACK ] Introduction |
In the following pages I present a discussion which I had with a staretz on Mt. Athos. I did not intend to record it. One day, however, just as I was getting ready to read one of the works of St. Maximos, I heard an inner voice urging me to write down the discussion I had with the wise Athonite monk. And I obeyed that voice which, I confess, I had not heard before. I started writing as it came to my mind. That is why what follows is the output of only a few hours work, and I apologize to the readers for this.
First of all, though, I would like to make a few comments:
Firstly, the book should not be read as a story or as a tale, but rather as a teaching sent by God to that wise Athonite who was a Godbearer "by grace". The reader should stop at times to think, but much more, however to pray. He might need to read over the discussion twice.
Secondly, the dialogue should be read keeping in mind the purpose for which it was written, i.e. the practice of the prayerful life. We should at once make the decision to enter into the divine darkness of the Jesus prayer, which is Mount Sinai and Mount Tabor, where we will meet God. "The invocation of the name of Jesus is accompanied by His immediate revelation, because the name evokes a form of His presence" (Evdokimof). This thought is in accordance with the Words of the Lord, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. 18. 20), as well as with the apostolic word, "Therefore I want you to understand that no one can say Jesus is the Lord except by the Holy Spirit". (1 Cor. 12. 3) When one is praying the "Jesus prayer", the Holy Spirit descends like the cloud on Mount Tabor.
Thirdly, the reader should not try to find out who the monk I spoked with is. He may not be successful and his judgements may be wrong. That holy staretz would not like this.
Fourthly, the reader may be impressed by the number of quotes coming from the Fathers of the Church. It must be emphasized, however, that the Holy Spirit, Who lived and acted within the Holy Fathers, also lives and acts in the ever vigilant Athonites. They have, in other words, the spirit of the Fathers and so can be ever mindful of their teachings, without much labour and special effort.
Apart from that, many times during the discussion, the wise hermit, who has seen God, would open his books (of St. Gregory Palamas, St. Symeon the New Theologian, the Philokalia etc.) which he kept near him, and would read and comment on many passages.
My ardent wish is that there be readers who are helped to experience the Jesus prayer, which has sanctified so many others, that they too be made holy.
I feel obliged to turn my thoughts also to the heroic and respected men, "the imitators of divine love", who live on Mt. Athos, who abandoned the world and live the real world not the improper world, but the transfigured world who experience the living God. They are the contemporary witnesses of Christ, "who have separated themselves from this world and who are in fact dead, so far as the world is concerned". These holy men have often supported and helped me many times, have fed me with their own bread; and I, who am poor, owe them so much. I am poor. But, if I had not taken even this little food, I would have died! I am hungry, yet I live through their grace, their blessings and their love.
The following lines are thus dedicated to those fathers who have known heaven on the Holy Mountain, in gratitude for their great love, "in return for their love", and who have passionately loved the threefold poverty, the material one (poverty), the spiritual one (humility and obedience) and that of the body (chastity); to those fathers who truly have lived the beatitudes of the Lord; for, by becoming poor in spirit they became rich and by becoming meek they inherited the earth; they mourned and were comforted; they hungered for righteousness and were satisfied; they were merciful and they obtained mercy; becoming pure in heart they saw God in His power; becoming peacemakers they were made worthy of becoming sons of God.
Oh Holy Fathers, blessed monks, hermits, we, who are sinners "declare you blessed, the younger to the elder the sons to the fathers, and the sinners to the holy ones" (St. Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain).
Archimandrite Hierotheos Vlachos
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[ BACK ] Silence, Speech and the Life of the Monks |
The Holy Mountain is a place of mystery where silence, which is eternity itself, speaks intensely, since silence is the language of the age to come. As the holy angels have a noetic power inconceivable to us through which they transmit divine thoughts to each other (St. Basil the Great), in the same way the earthly angels –who live on the Holy Mountain– and compete with the heavenly and bodiless one in life and prayer have another power in order to transmit what they experience. And this power is that of silence which, especially on the Holy Mountain, is the most eloquent of sermons; a "silent exhortation". The monks there do not speak much; they live the mysteries of God "in silence;" they experience Orthodox theology in an apophatic way. They listen to the voice of God through silence and acquire virtue. According to St. Symeon the New Theologian, "the silence of the lips, the closing of the eyes, and the deafness of the ears are for beginners in spiritual life the quick way to acquire virtue".
The silence of the monks is edifying. In the Sayings of the Desert Fathers we read the following: The Archbishop Theophilos visited a skete one day, where the brethren were exhorting Abba Pambo to say something edifying to the Archbishop. The former responded, "if he is not edified by my silence, he will not be edified by my speech".
One should go to the Holy Mountain with the intention of being edified through silence. For the visitor who knows how to be taught in this way, everything will speak to him. The silent figures of the monks, the caves of the hermits, the monasteries permeated with an atmosphere of compunction, nature itself and inanimate objects as well, will tell many stories and transmit wonderful teachings. It is in this way that the Holy Mountain speaks "in silence".
Sometimes, however, they speak, and then they edify because they set a good example by how they live". A good life without words edifies more than words without the example of a good life; in fact the others may disturb when they speak. If life and speech coexist they manifest an example of holiness" (Isidore of Pelouse). As the Holy Fathers live a holy life and have become instruments of the Holy Spirit, "mystical trumpets" of the Holy Trinity, of Love, of the Word and of Wisdom in whatever words they utter elevate. They have "words" to speak, because their acts are abundant. And they say the "words" when they are asked.
From the sayings of the Fathers the following request is familiar: "Father, tell me a word so that I may be saved". A "word" spoken from the heart of the hermit as from the Holy Spirit, in the language of the desert, is considered revealed and authentic; ... and the one who requests it, receives it as the fruit of grace, without elaborating on it in his mind. This "word" from the spiritual father is absolutely necessary for the one who asks. The "word" comes from a soul which is the friend of God, wounded by the love of God and is spoken in accordance with the measure of "thirst" of the one who asks. As the Holy Mother of God conceived the Word of God and gave birth to the Theanthropos Christ, becoming therefore "the joy of all creation", in the same way do the Fathers, because of their purity, conceived the word and transmit it to those who thirst for it, becoming for them their joy...
"A few brothers who had lay persons with them, approached Abba Felix and begged him to say a word to them. But the old man kept silent. After they had asked for a long time he said to them, "You wish to hear a word", they said, "Yes Abba". Then the old man said to them, "There are no words nowadays. When the brothers used to consult their elders, and when they did what was asked of them, God would show them how to speak. However now, because they ask without doing that which they hear, God has withdrawn the grace of His Word from the elders, and they do not find anything to say, because there is no longer anyone who carries out their words".
Hearing this, the brothers groaned, saying, "Pray for us, Abba". (Sayings of the Desert Fathers).
Through this example it is obvious that the word is the illumination of grace. Grace illumines pure and holy people and "incarnates" life into words. It is obvious also that the word is expressed according to the degree of thirst of him who asks and that the monks know how "to break" even the coldest heart and make it turn to God, even if they use a discreet reproach.
So when you ask them with simplicity, humility and willingness to practise it, you will hear, then, the "glowings" of grace. They are words simple, humble, yet full of wisdom and grace. Words which are filled with grace.
And at this point they imitate Christ who is the almighty Logos of the Father but also the embodiment of deep silence. He spoke, yet He also kept silence. The movement of God towards man is precisely not only a "revelation of the Word" but also an "expression of silence". The movement, therefore, of man towards God as well as towards his fellowman should be distinguished by these two elements. You visit the Holy Mountain with the intention of being taught more through silence and less through the word.
The monks of the Holy Mountain, the hermits, these songbirds of the desert, live life to its fullest. They are emmersed in Paradise. They are truly "Godbearers". They live the life of Christ "in earthen vessels", e.g. in bodies which have been exhausted by ascetic practice and the serving of others. In these monks, one can see divinization* in action, so to speak and not divinization as taught theoretically by the inexperienced in theology. They live both faith and works. For without doubt, faith without works is an illusion, and works without faith is idolatry. The grace of God, the image of Christ, are inscribed on their weatherbeaten faces. The "dance" of the holy ascetics "flees from what is contrary to nature, salvages what is according to nature and becomes worthy of the gifts which are beyond nature" (St. Nicodemos).
When you look at them you think that they are unhappy and sad, yet when their inner calmness overflows how it inundates you! These holy ascetics are likened to the big dams which retain abundant still waters, but, when the dams break, the force of the water reveals itself as it floods the surrounding area. When the hermit's mouth opens it will "flood" you with fragrance! The mouths of the holy monks are "springs from which flow honey and pure living water". You may think that their lives are of no value, but you will realise very soon that these hermits are "trees reaching high into the sky", well equipped with leaves affording shade, giving you shelter and refreshing you. You picture them as dressed in rags, as unapproachable, and as not having bathed thoroughly, because of their abstinence from washing (alousia), yet very soon you see them as "undying plants producing splendid fruit", "lilies, evergreen and always fragrant", whose fragrance satisfies you! And all this because Christ, the true life, lives in them". Their life is hid with Christ in God" (Col. 3. 3).
In every Athonite monk who follows in the footsteps of the Holy Fathers and lives according to their teachings, you can discern, if you have within you the spirit of God, the coexistence of two seemingly opposite states: that of death and of life. Life springs from a daily death and death becomes more dead from the enjoyment of life. The more the death of death (sin) extends, the greater the life of Life (of Christ) is experienced; and the more "Life" is experienced, the more death is put to death to the point that one experiences within oneself the resurrection and the ascension of Christ. Sin is destroyed and life comes forth. So, it can be said that monks put on death and enjoy Life. St. Paul writes to the Romans: "For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. The death He died He died to sin, once and for all, but the life He lives He lives in God" (Rom. 6, 9). St. Nikitas Stethatos writes that the same happens to the saintly man who has become like Christ since he lives the life of Christ, having become dead to the world: "The one who has been raised from death was raised together with Christ. If he was raised with Christ through knowledge of Him and death no longer having dominion over Christ the death of ignorance has no dominion over Him. Thus he no longer lives for the flesh and the world, having been dead to the members of his body and to the material things of life, but Christ lives within him, having yielded to the grace of the Holy Spirit and not to the law of his flesh; that is to say he has offered his members to God the Father like weapons of righteousness".
Even in deified monks are found the coinherence of rest and motion. According to St. Maximos they live an "evermoving rest" as well as a "restful motion". They remain "in Christ" and move unceasingly towards the more perfect delight of Him, because Christ is the pearl of great price. St. Gregory of Nyssa clarifies this point in a vivid manner, "The strangest thing of all is how rest and motion can coexist simultaneously, since he who ascends in no way stands still, and he who stands does not ascend; but here the ascending is accomplished by standing still, which means that the more one remains firm and steadfast in the good, the more he advances in the way of virtue". He abides, that is, in the while continually in motion. He is constantly moving and he remains in Christ. It is the incessant thirst for Christ but at the same time the divine satiation. A monk once said: "Something strange is happening to me. I am hungry, yet I feel full"! This is not at all strange, however, for the man of God. This is what is referred to as the "perfect but still unfinished perfection of the perfect" (St. John Climacos).
The life of the monk becomes continually the life of the Word of God, the life of Christ. Through "violence", the monk experiences all the "ages" of Christ. Christ is incarnate within him, performs miracles, suffers the passion, he is resurrected and he ascends. Living, therefore, in Christ he attains not only the unification of his whole inner world but also of the world around him. He overcomes all the divisions and he ascends to an even higher level than the one before the Fall; he becomes like the first Adam. St. Maximos refers to the five divisions which Adam failed to overcome, whereas man succeeds in this now through the help of the new Adam, that is to say of Christ. He can overcome the divisions between created and uncreated, between intelligible and sensible, heaven and earth, paradise and the universe, between man and woman. By overcoming the last division he goes on to overcome the first that of created and uncreated. A holy man of God brings his whole self as well as the entire world to God; that is why the saint is the greatest benefactor of humanity.
On the Holy Mountain I once approached such a gerondas* a gerondas who enjoys the never-ending fulness of divine mercy. Living in an opening in the earth, he has overcome all the conventions of this world. There are no words to describe him. If you characterize him as wise, you fall short. If you call him mad you do not convey the greatness of his spiritual folly! you do not know how to describe him. As he has escaped the categories of this world, he goes on towards the depths of eternity. He touches the divine fire and he is literally aflame. He is on fire now with the uncreated Light. For hours at a time while you are talking with him you think that he will be ignited and be completely consumed in flames. You think that he will vanish bodily in front of you like the Prophet Elijah on the fiery chariot. At the very moment when he speaks to you, you think that he will ascend into Heaven like the Lord who "while he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up to heaven" (Lk. 24. 51). Yet what you think will happen does not, because something else is happening. The compunction that is created while he is talking to you about matters of the spiritual life is similar to the "wonder" that took hold of the disciples on Mount Tabor. "A bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him. When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces, and were filled with awe". (Matt. 17. 56) While he is speaking, the Holy Spirit descends suddenly, encompassing you, capturing you. Fear seizes you, but also the desire to remain there. When the holy ascetic is telling you his simple, unaffected words, you remember Christ talking to his disciples on the top of a mountain or on a boat in the sea. The holy ascetic indeed, is talking to you from the "mountain" of theoria* (of vision of God) and from the sea of eternity, beyond the mundane and trivial matters, beyond what you are.
I approached this Gerondas one day. I knew he was a true theologian*. He did not have knowledge about God, but the "knowledge of God", which is inaccessible to the majority of people! "The knowledge of God is a mountain steep indeed, and difficult to climb –the majority of people scarcely reach its base"3. Only Moses was able to ascend the mountain of the vision of God and see God. I knew then that this gerondas was a Moses, a man who had seen God. At the beginning I felt awkward. What could one talk about with him! What had we in common? Were we on the same wavelength? We are at the first stage of "practical philosophy" (purification*), whereas he has already passed from "natural contemplation" (illumination of nous*) to "mystical theology" (knowledge of God*), that is, to everlasting knowledge. We are full of passions,* whereas he is the royal golden throne of the King. We personify hell, he is Paradise.
However during our discussion the ascetic came down from his height and raised me higher. He emptied himself and enriched me! "Although he was once rich, he became poor, so that I could be rich through his poverty". For unity always demands a movement out of one's self on both sides, which is also what happens in the union with God. A movement from God out of Himself as well as a movement from man out of himself occurs. This is the distinctive trait of divine love. "Theologians at times call the divine an erotic force, sometimes love, and at other times that which is intensely longed for and loved. Consequently, as an erotic force and as love, the divine itself is subject to movement; and being that which is intensely longed for and loved, it attracts to itself everything that is receptive of this force and love". (St. Maximos the confessor). The same Father states further: "The divine erotic force also produces ecstasy, compelling those who love to belong not to themselves but to those whom they love. This is shown by superior beings through the care of inferiors, by those of equal stature who support each other and by those of inferior status who strive passionately and are converted to the divine".
I always keep in my memory, and even more so in my heart, every single minute of that conversation. What follows is how I met him and what we talked about.
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