The
Key to Spiritual Life
Archbishop Nikon (Rklitsky)
"Blessed
art thou, O Lord, Master Almighty, who hast illumined the day with the
light of the sun, and hast made bright the night with the brilliant
flashes of fire…" "Remember us humble and condemned as we
are, and turn back the captivity of our souls"...
- From the prayers on Holy Pentecost
"Godliness with contentment is great gain" (1
Timothy 6:6).
Many times over the
course of our lives, each of us has seen how nature is bound and
shackled by winter. We possess no power by which we might, through our
own desire or will, free it from this imprisonment which binds it, as
though with steel shackles. But then the winter months pass, spring
approaches, and the sun begins to shine brighter, sending from the
reaches of heaven far out of our grasp its vivifying rays, and the
shackles of bondage begin steadily to fall away and life triumphs once
more.
Each of us has also
seen and experienced the bondage of our own soul, enslaved and enchained
by a manner of steel ties and frozen over, when all of its strength is
committed solely to supporting and preserving the physical life of the
body, and when it cannot soar to the supernatural realms and experience
those feelings of bliss and spiritual delight to which it is
called by its very nature, instead being crushed by the oppression of
earthly cares and despondency.
There is, however,
an area of our lives in which our soul, not unlike nature (the only
difference being that the soul must desire this with its own will), can
be freed from its shackles and step into the world of light, warmth, and
life. In the hymns of the divine services dedicated to the three great
hierarchs of our Church – Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and
John Chrysostom, who are called, alongside the Apostles, pillars of the
Church (their memory is celebrated on January 30) – we hear the
following exhortation: "Come ye who desire to escape death, and
find ye delight!" And on the day of Holy Pascha, the Church sings
this triumphal hymn: "We celebrate the death of death, the
destruction of Hades, the beginning of an everlasting life." On the
feast of Holy Pentecost we read these words of prayer: "For there
is no death, O Lord, to Thy departing servants who cast off their bodies
and come unto Thee, O God, but a transition from sorrowful things to
pleasant and benign, to repose and joy…"
Moreover, the words
of these prayers mentioned here are not only pearls of liturgical
poetry, but are a description of the experiences of the "servants
of God," which so-called "church people" know well from
their personal, although minor, spiritual experience, and know even
better from the descriptions of the lives of the saints, whose spiritual
experience was advanced to such a degree that physical death ceased for
them to be death at all, and they continuously exulted and rejoiced,
living true life.
To live such a life
is the greatest blessing man can obtain on this earth. And everyone who
1) believes on God, 2) loves man, and 3) lives a life in the Church, can
obtain this precious spiritual wealth. The entire order of church life,
with its many prayers, Church rules and traditions, has as its practical
goal the healing of our soul, the freeing of it from bondage, the
granting to it of spiritual wings, the returning to it of its true
nature, and its liberation, inspiration, and adornment. An especially
favorable time for this is Great Lent, which the Church calls the
"spiritual spring," that is, a period of growth for our
spiritual strengths.
If one were to pay
careful attention to that order of church life established during this
time, he would be struck by its depth, variety, beauty, and expediency.
It is truly like unto a miraculous spring, when the first warm rays of
sunlight shine forth, steadily strengthening and calling to life
deadened nature until the sun finally reaches its zenith.
The first law of
spiritual life is gradual spiritual growth. No one living on earth can
suddenly become holy, nor can one suddenly be dashed down into the
abyss. Both of these takes place only in a slow, gradual ascent or
descent. The key that opens the way to this ascent is that special
internal spiritual virtue that the Savior Christ confirmed on earth and
which is the basis of spiritual life – humility. Humility should not be confused with humbleness, which is a characteristic of one’s outward
personality. Humility is an inward characteristic of the soul. In the
majority of cases, inward humility is accompanied by outward humbleness.
But this is not always the case. Sometimes a person is terribly proud
inwardly and has absolutely no humility. In literature, we know of Leo
Tolstoy’s Father Sergius, who during his time in the monastery joined
within himself obedience and humbleness with terrible pride, which was
what led to his downfall. We know not only from the stories of a
brilliant writer, but also from the lives of the saints, instances such
as these, when people were able to attain outward humbleness, yet never
being able to attain humility.
The first hint and
sign of humility is a sincere inward belief that I
am the worst among sinners. The holy Apostle Paul expressed this
thought in his epistle to his beloved disciple, the holy Apostle
Timothy, to whom he wrote: "This is a faithful saying, and worthy
of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners, of whom I am chief" (1Timothy 1:15). St. John Chrysostom, who very
zealously honored the holy Apostle Paul and is called the "mouth of
Paul," conveyed this thought in his prayer, always read by us
before communing of the Holy Mysteries: "I believe, O Lord, and I
confess that Thou art truly the Christ, the Son of the living God, Who
came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." It is, of
course, doubtless that the author of this prayer, being a man of the
utmost righteousness and genuineness, composed this prayer not only for
us, but prayed it himself, as well, sincerely considering himself the
greatest sinner among all sinners, although he became one of the
greatest among the saints. This is that first and principal sign of
humility. Everyone the Church counts among the saints over the course of
Her two thousand-year history has been possessed of this trait.
The second sign of
humility is a calm acceptance of even undeserved and unfair wrongs done
to oneself. According to the teachings of the holy fathers, praying for
humility means asking God that, should anyone unfairly insult us, we
might have the strength to answer such an insult with kindness and
preserve spiritual calm. By this trial, humility is fortified in the
soul and becomes its inseparable characteristic; the soul obtains such
great strength as to overcome destruction by any earthly sorrow, and
which cannot be touched by the spirit of despondency, and which becomes
capable of consuming the heavenly food, that is, of experiencing
spiritual delights. And the Kingdom of God, according to the Gospel, is
gradually established within it. For the Lord says, "Unto what is
the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it? It is like a
grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and
it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the
branches of it" (Luke 13:18-19).
Obtained these
characteristics of the soul is very difficult. Obtaining them through
one’s own human strengths isn’t possible at all, because every
feeling man senses in the outward world runs counter to these spiritual
characteristics. They are obtained only with the help of God, which is
shown to us through the grace that works in the true Church and is
manifested in the holy sacraments, church rites, prayers, and the order
of life established by the Church.
Having opened the
door to spiritual life through humility, the Holy Church gradually
introduces our soul to a marvelous array of spiritual experiences, not
unlike the panoply of spring flowers, united by love for God and people,
and comprising one wondrous harmony.
Before Great Lent,
the Church has established three preparatory Sundays: of the Publican
and the Pharisee, of the Prodigal Son, and of the Last Judgment. On the
first Sunday we are reminded of humility, as the key by which we open
spiritual life; on the second, the Church calls the people to
"return to themselves," remember the Heavenly Father and the
true nature of our soul; and on the third, She reminds us of our
inescapable responsibility for our life. If we ascend these three steps,
then unto our spiritual sight will be opened the boundless sea of
spiritual life, which we call ourselves to cross during Great Lent and,
if we successfully cross it, then on the luminous and mysterious night
of Holy Pascha, we will truly partake of the Paschal Lamb, will delight
in eternal joy, and together with the Holy Church will sing the hymn
with knowledge and conviction: "We celebrate the death of death,
the destruction of Hades, the beginning of an everlasting life."
Miami,
Florida 1949
