4. Practice where the body is concerned consists of fasting and vigil; where the mouth is concerned it consists of psalmody. But prayer is better than psalmody, and silence is more valuable than speech. In the case of the hands, practice is what they do uncomplainingly; and of the feet, it is what they do as soon as they are urged to do it.
St. Ilias the Presbyter, Philokalia V3.34
73. When a person is in a state of natural well-being, he sings the psalms with a full voice and prefers to pray out loud. But when he is energized by the Holy Spirit, with gladness and completely at peace he sings and prays in the heart alone. The first condition is accompanied by a delusory joy, the second by spiritual tears and, thereafter, by a delight that loves stillness. For the remembrance of God, keeping its fervor because the voice is restrained, enables the heart to have thoughts that bring tears and are peaceful. In this way, with tears we sow seeds of prayer in the earth of the heart, hoping to reap the harvest in joy (cf. Ps. 126:5). But when we are weighed down by deep despondency, we should for a while sing psalms out loud, raising our voice with joyful expectation until the thick mist is dissolved by the warmth of song.
St Diadochos of Photiki On Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination One Hundred Texts, Philokalia [V1] 278
I grow weak, my Lord, before 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 away.
I regard myself as unworthy of heaven and earth, and as deserving every punishment, not simply because of the sins I have committed, but 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 knowledge is not mine, nor the endeavor, for it is Thy grace. Therefore I will lay my hand on my mouth, as Job once did (cf. Job 40:4), and will take refuge in Thy saints, for I am bewildered.
St. Peter of Damaskos, Philokalia V3.129
30. The fruits of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace, goodness, long-suffering, kindness, faith, gentleness, self control (cf. Gal. 5:22-23). The fruits of the spirit of evil are hatred, worldly despondency, restlessness of soul, a troubled heart, guile, inquisitive-ness, negligence, anger, lack of faith, envy, gluttony, drunkenness, abusiveness, censoriousness, the lust of the eyes (cf. 1 John 2:16), vanity and pretentiousness of soul.
By these fruits you may know the tree (cf. Matt. 12:33), and in this way you will certainly recognize what kind of spirit you have to deal with. An even clearer indication of these things is given by the Lord Himself when He says, ‘A good man out of the good treasury of his heart brings forth good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasury of his heart brings forth evil things’ (Matt. 12:35). For as the tree, so is the fruit.
Philokalia [V4] 115 Nikitas Stithatos On the Inner Nature of Things and on the Purification of the Intellect: One Hundred Texts
61. Among the things that lie within our power are the virtues of prayer and silence; among the things that depend for the most part not on us, but on the constitution of the body, are fasting and vigil. Hence the spiritual aspirant must try to attain whatever is more accessible to him.
Philokalia V3.40 Ilias the Presbyter
76. Those who indulge their passions, being materially-minded, are distracted during prayer by their thoughts as by frogs. Those who restrain their passions are gladdened during prayer by the changing forms of contemplation, which are like nightingales moving from one branch to another. But in the dispassionate there is silence and great quiescence of both thought and intellection during prayer.
Philokalia V3.57 Ilias the Presbyter
211. (Also in V.xii.1, V.iv.2, V.iii.1) Abba Daniel affirmed that the blessed Arsenius at vespers on Saturday used to turn his back on the setting sun, and lifting up his hands to heaven persevered in prayer till the rising sun came into view. He would keep vigil on other nights, but near dawn, when the weakness of his human nature demanded that he sleep a little, he would say, “Come on then, you unprofitable servant,” and shutting his eyes would take a little sleep sitting down before getting up again.
When sitting down to work he always had a little basin on his lap to catch the tears which continually flowed from his eyes because of the longing he had for the life eternal.
De Vitis Patrum Book III, Text 211
For the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but to us which are saved it is de power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and be prudence of de prudent will I reject. Where is the Wise? Where is the Scribe? Where is the Disputer of the World? (1 Corinthians 1:18-24)
TO the sick and gasping even wholesome meats are unpleasant, friends and relations burdensome; who are often times not even recognized, but are rather accounted intruders. Much like this often is the case of those who are perishing in their souls. For the things which tend to salvation they know not; and those who are careful about them they consider to be troublesome. Now this ensues not from the nature of the thing, but from their disease. And just what the insane do, hating those who take care of them, and besides reviling them, the same is the case with unbelievers also…. This is the nature of the thing, that its power is not recognized by them that perish. For they are beside themselves, and behave as madmen; and so they rail and are disgusted at the medicines which bring health….For suppose a man, wishing to make out all things by reasoning; and let him try by thy discourse to convince himself how we see the light; and do thou try to convince him by reasoning, Nay, thou canst not ….Wherefore, leaving this unto God’s power and boundless wisdom, let us be silent.
Just so with regard to the things of God; should we desire to explain them by the wisdom which is from without, great derision will ensue, not from their infirmity, but from the folly of men. For the great things of all no language can explain…. Say not then, “why did He not help Himself on the Cross?” for he was hastening on to close conflict with death himself. He descended not from the Cross, not because He could not, but because He would not. For Him Whom the tyranny of death restrained not, how could the nails of the Cross restrain?….
For what sort of philosopher, which among those who have studied logic, which of those knowing in Jewish matters, hath saved us and made known the truth? Not one. It was the fisherman’s work, the whole of it…. But how did He” destroy wisdom?” Being made known to us by Paul and others like him, He shewed it to be unprofitable… For he means to say how by contraries God hath overcome, and how the Gospel is not of man.
St. John Chrysostom, HOMILY 4 on I Corintians, NPNF2 12.16
48. A certain learned man put a serious question to me, saying: ‘What is the gravest sin, apart from murder and denial of God?’ And when I said: ‘To fall into heresy,’ he asked: ‘Then why does the Catholic Church receive heretics who have sincerely anathematized their heresy, and consider them worthy to partake in the Mysteries; while on the other hand when a man who has committed fornication is received, even though he confesses and forsakes his sin, the Apostolic Constitutions order him to be excluded from the immaculate Mysteries for a number of years?’ I was struck with bewilderment, and what perplexed me then has remained unsolved 1.
1. 1Cf. P.G., 88; col. 912, Scholion 26: ‘Heresy is a deviation of the mind from the truth and a sin of the mouth or tongue, whereas fornication is a sin of the whole body, which damages and depraves all the feelings and powers of body and soul, darkens the image and likeness of God in man, and is therefore called a fall. Heresy comes from presumption, while fornication comes from bodily comfort. Therefore heretics are corrected by humiliation, and sensualists by suffering.’
We add the gist of a Greek note in K. A. Vretos’s edition of the Ladder (Constantinople, 1883, p. 91): ‘Obviously heresy is the greatest of sins. But since the passion of fornication has a tyrannical power due to pleasure and attracts attention, it often causes men to fall after repentance. Therefore, the fornicator is debarred for periods from the Holy Mysteries, that he may not return to his vomit and jeopardize his salvation. It also serves to put fear in all, and make them struggle against their passions and use the grace of the Holy Spirit. Heresy is a mental passion that springs from error and ignorance, or from ambition and vainglory. But when the evil is removed, it no longer causes conflict or trouble. Further, spiritual education aims at cutting out evil by the root. By the practice of a strict life, fornicators are trained to forget the pleasure of lust. For whereas the evil of heresy lies only in the mind, the passion of fornication also affects the body with corruption. The man who repents of heresy is at once cleansed by turning to God with his whole personality. But one who returns to God from fornication usually needs time and tears and fasting to get rid of the pleasure and heal the wound in his flesh and stabilize his mind. If, however, both remain unrepentant, they will certainly have the same condemnation.’
St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 15
35. An intelligent person is not merely someone who has the power of speech, for this is common to all men. On the contrary, he is someone who seeks for God with his intelligence. But he will never find the ‘essence of Him who transcends all being, for this is beyond the scope of all created nature. But in much the same way as a builder is to be seen in his work, so the sovereign artificer is to be found and as it were perceived in the creative wisdom inherent in living things, and in His providential care, governance, unification, guidance and conservation of them.
Philokalia Volume 2. 367, St Theognostos On the Practice of the Virtues, Contemplation and the Priesthood
