THE PATH TO HAPPINESS ~ St. Nectarios of Aegina

 

THE PATH TO HAPPINESS

St. Nectarios of Aegina

St. Nectarios of Aegina is one of the most well known Greek saints of modern times, glorified by many miracles. He was born in 1846, became a monk in his youth, and later became the bishop of Pentapolis in the Alexandrian Orthodox Church. Due to intrigues and false accusations from detractors the saint was sent into retirement and exiled. Moving to Greece, he labored as a simple preacher in province of Euboea, and later founded a woman’s monastery on the island of Aegina. The bishop and elder reposed in 1920 and was ranked among the saints of the Greek Orthodox Church in 1961. Below we publish extracts from the saint’s letters, compiled by the monastery of the Paraclete in Oropos (Attica).

The Path to Happiness

There is nothing greater than a pure heart, because such a heart becomes the throne of God. Is anything more glorious than the throne of God? Of course not. This is what the Lord says to those who have a pure heart: I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people (2 Cor. 6:16). Thus, who can be happier than these people? And what blessings could they lack? Aren’t there all blessings and all gifts of the Holy Spirit in their blessed souls? What else could they possibly lack? Nothing, verily nothing! Because they have the greatest goodness in their hearts—God Himself!

How those people err who seek happiness outside themselves—in foreign countries and travels, in riches and glory, in large properties and delights, in pleasures, abundance, and in empty things, which end in bitterness! Erecting a tower of happiness outside our own hearts is the same as building a house in a place that is constantly subjected to earthquakes. Such a building will soon collapse…

Brothers and sisters! Happiness is in us ourselves, and blessed is the one who has understood this. Search your hearts and be watchful of its spiritual state. Perhaps you have lost boldness before the Lord? Perhaps your conscience reproaches you for violating His commandments? Perhaps it reproaches you for injustice, for falsehood, for not fulfilling our obligations before God and neighbor? Search yourself; perhaps evil and passions have filled your heart; perhaps it has turned away to the crooked and impassible path…

Unfortunately, whoever has left his heart without attention has lost all blessings and fallen into a multitude of evils. He has cast out joy and been filled with bitterness, sorrow, and vexation of soul. He has cast out peace and gained depression, worry, and horror. He has cast out love and gained hatred. And finally, he has cast out all the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit that he received at his Baptism, and become kin to all evil-doing that makes a man pitiful and accursed.

Brothers and sisters! The All-Merciful God wants us all to have happiness in both this life and the next. For this He has founded His holy Church, so that it would cleanse us from sin, illumine us, make peace between us and God, and give us heavenly blessings.

The Church’s embrace is always open to us. Let those whose conscience is heavy hasten to this embrace. Let us hasten, and the Church will take up the weight of our burden, give us boldness before God, and fill our hearts with happiness and bliss.

***

Holy Baptism

As many of you who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ (Gal. 3:27).

What a great truth does the apostle Paul show us by these words!

Baptized Christians do not wear the old man with the passions and lusts, but have put on the new man, have put on Christ Himself, Who now lives in their hearts. And the words, “put on” do not refer to some simple and external garments, but to something deeper, something essential and inalienable.

Through our faith in Christ and through our Baptism we put on Christ Himself and become children of God, the habitation of the All-Holy Spirit, temples of God, holy and perfect, gods by grace. Thus have we thrown off corruption from ourselves and been clothed in incorruption. We have put off the man of sin and put on the man of righteousness and grace. We have cast out death and put on immortality…

But have we understood our great obligation, which through Baptism we have taken upon ourselves before God? Have we recognized that we should behave like children of God and brothers of our Lord, that we must make our own will the same as God’s will; that as children of God we must abide free from sin, that we must love Him with all our strength from the depths of our hearts and souls, that we must worship Him and impatiently await being united with Him forever? Have we thought about the fact that our hearts should be so filled with love that it will pour out upon our neighbors? Do we have the feeling that we are obligated to become saints and perfect, the image of God, children of God, and inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven?

For the sake of all this we must struggle, so that we will not turn out to be unworthy of God’s call and be rejected. Yes, brothers and sisters, let us struggle with zeal and self-denial, that we might be victorious. Let none of us lose his boldness, so that we might not neglect our duty, or be cowardly, not lose heart in the face of the difficulties of spiritual battle. Therefore do we have God as our helper, Who will strengthen us on the difficult path of the virtues.

Spiritual warfare

The goal of our life consists in becoming perfect and holy, to be shown to be God’s children and heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven. Let us be vigilant, that for the sake of this life we might not lose the future life; that in our daily cares and fuss we might not neglect the goal of our life.

Fasting, vigil, and prayer do not by themselves bring the desired fruits, because these are not the goal of our life but the means for achieving the goal.

Adorn your lamps with virtues. Struggle to cut off emotional passions. Purify your heart of all defilement and preserve it in purity, so that the Lord would come down and abide in you; so that He would fill you with the Holy Spirit and divine gifts.

My beloved children, all your zeal and efforts should be aimed at this. This should ceaselessly be your goal and striving. Pray for this to God.

Ask the Lord every day, but within your heart and not outside of it. And when you find Him, stand in fear and trembling like the cherubim and seraphim, because your heart has become God’s throne. But in order to find the Lord, humble yourself to the ground, because the Lord hates the proud, but loves and visits the humble of heart.

If you struggle in the good fight, God will strengthen you. In struggles we discover our weaknesses, our inadequacies, and our defects. It is the mirror of our spiritual state. Whoever does not struggle will not come to know himself.

Be attentive also to your insignificant falls. If from inattentiveness some sin happens with you, do not despair but immediately take yourself in hand and fall down before God, Who has the power to raise you up.

In excessive regret pride is hidden. Therefore it is harmful and dangerous, and is often made even worse by the devil, in order to stop the progression of the struggler.

The path that leads to perfection is long. Pray to God that He would strengthen you. Patiently accept your falls, and having immediately arisen, run [to God], do not stop like children who sit in the place where they’ve fallen, crying and sobbing inconsolably.

Be vigilant and pray, so that you would not fall into temptation. Do not despair if you continually fall into old sins. Many of them are strong in essence, and come from acquired habit. Nevertheless, they are conquered with time and zeal. Let no one deprive you of your hope.

Temptation

Temptations are sent to us in order to reveal our hidden passions and so that we would struggle against them, and in this way heal our souls. They are also a sign of God’s mercy; therefore, give yourself into God’s hands and ask His help, that He would strengthen you in your struggle. Hope in God never leads to despair. Temptations bring humble-mindedness. God knows how much each of us can bear and allows us temptations according to the measure of our strength. But we must also take care to be vigilant and attentive, and not lead our own selves into temptation.

Trust in God Who is Good, Strong, and Living, and He will lead you to a place of rest. Remember, that after temptations come spiritual joy, and that the Lord watches after those who endure temptations and suffering for the sake of His love. Thus, do not be fainthearted or afraid.

I do not want you to suffer and be confused by all that is happening against your will, no matter how just it might be. Such suffering testifies to the existence of egoism. Watch out for egoism, which hides under the façade of correctness. Watch out also for inappropriate regret, which springs up after deserved rebukes. Excessive distress [over this] is a temptation. The only true [proper] distress is what we feel when we are well aware of how wretched the state of our soul is. All other distress has no relation whatsoever to God’s grace.

Take care to preserve the heart, in order to guard the joy of the Holy Spirit and not allow the evil one to pour his poison into us. Be attentive, so that paradise, which is within us, would not turn into hell.

Prayer

Man’s most important labor is prayer. Man was created to glorify God. This is the labor worthy of him. Only this is capable of revealing his spiritual essence. Only this justifies his extraordinary status in all the created world. Man was created in order to honor God and to be a participant in His divine goodness and blessedness.

As the image of God, man desires God, fervently strives for Him and thirsts to be raised up to Him. Through prayer and hymns, he exalts. His spirit rejoices, his heart leaps, and the more he prays, the more his soul casts off worldly lusts and is filled with heavenly blessings. And the more he separates himself from the earthly and delights of this life, the more he delights in heavenly exaltation. Our experience proves to us that this is the truth.

God accepts those prayers raised up in the proper manner; that is, with a feeling of our imperfection and unworthiness. But in order for this feeling to exist, there must be complete self-renunciation of our low selfishness, and submission to God’s commandments; there must be humility and ceaseless spiritual labor.

Entrust the Lord with all your cares—He provides for you. Do not be fainthearted and do not fret. He Who searches the hidden depths of the human soul also knows about your desires, and He has the power to fulfill them as [only] He knows how. But you must ask God and not lose boldness. Do not think that because your striving is holy you have a right to complain when your prayers are not heard. God fulfills your desires in ways that you do not know about. And so, be at peace and call out to God.

Our prayers and requests do not lead us to perfection by themselves. The Lord Who comes and abides in us leads us to perfection when we fulfill His commandments. And one of the first commandments is that in our lives, not our will but God’s be done; and that it be done exactly, as in heaven with the angels. So that we too could say, “O Lord, not as I wish, but as Thou willest, may Thy will be done on earth and it is in the heavens.” Thus, without Christ in us, prayer and requests lead us to prelest [spiritual delusion].

Love

Acquire love. Ask God every day for love. Along with love comes a whole multitude of blessings and virtues. Love, so that you also might be loved. Give God your heart, so that you would abide in love. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him (1 Jn. 4:16).

You must maintain great caution in your relationships with others and respect each other as sacred images. Never look at his body or beauty, but watch after his soul. Be attentive to the feeling of love, because if the heart is not warmed by pure prayer, love risks being fleshly and unnatural; it risks darkening the mind and scorching the heart.

It is necessary to confess every day—perhaps our love [for another] does not proceed from our bond with Christ, does not flow from our complete and total love for the Lord. Whoever is attentive and preserves love in purity is protected from the snares of the evil one who tries to gradually turn our Christian love into general love and sensual love.

Good Christian manners

Christians, according to God’s commandments, should become saints and perfect. Perfection and sanctity are first engraved deep in the soul of the Christian, and only later are they also imprinted in his desires, speech, and deeds. In this manner, God’s grace, which exists in the soul, is poured out upon his entire outward personality.

A Christian must be polite with everyone. His words and deeds should breathe the grace of the Holy Spirit, which abides in his soul; so that in this way his Christian life would be witnessed and the name of God be glorified.

He who tests every word also tests every deed. He who searches the words he is about to speak searches also the deeds he intends to commit, and he never oversteps the boundaries of good and virtuous behavior.

A Christian’s grace-filled speech is characterized by sensitivity and politeness. This is what gives birth to love, and brings peace and joy. On the contrary, rudeness gives birth to hatred, enmity, grief, the desire to win [arguments], disorder, and wars.

Thus, let us always be polite. May no base words proceed from our lips—words that are not filled with the salt of God’s grace—but may our speech be always filled with grace, with goodness; speech that witnesses to politeness in Christ and a developed soul.

St. Nectarios of Aegina
Translation from the Russian version by OrthoChristian.com

Pravoslavie.ru

11/22/2023

thanks to:

https://orthochristian.com/157455.html

St. Porphyrios and the man from America

 

St. Porphyrios and the man from America.

One day a man from America visited St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia and told him that he had arrived at the conclusion that there is no God.
St. Porphyrios did not react, but only told him:

“-You recently bought a field in California. Now that you are going back home go to the left side of the field, where there is a faucet, dig to a depth of 1-1,5 meters and you will find Spanish gold coins and an amphora! Go, do what I told you and then come back and let’s talk on whether there is a God.”

The man from America did not believe the elder’s sayings, however, when he returned back home and went to his field, he thought of digging just out of curiosity. Indeed, he dug at that place and found the exact number of the coins, their chronology and the amphora just as the Saint had told him!

The man from America was shocked. Next summer he visited again Saint Porphyrios and told him what had happened. The elder listened to him carefully and at the end, he told him:

“-My child, you do not know what exists in your own field, how can you know what exists in Heaven?

“WILL CHRIST FORGIVE ME?” “WHAT DO YOU THINK HE CAME FOR?” ~ Peter Davydov

 

“WILL CHRIST FORGIVE ME?” “WHAT DO YOU THINK HE CAME FOR?”

The Story of a Christian Death

Peter Davydov

Artist: Emzar Khabuliani    

It is just an hour’s drive from Tbilisi to Samtavro Convent. Vakhtang, my good friend who took upon himself the work of Georgian hospitality, proclaimed: “To be in Georgia and not to visit St. Gabriel (Urgebadze) does not befit a Russian. Get in the car quickly!”

Vakhtang wisely managed to avoid communication in the style of enthusiastic portrayal of various miracles, i.e., “I can tell you about a miracle—it’s terrific! And there was an even more interesting one—you’ll be blown away!” But there was no unhealthy rush for unverified miracles. My hospitable friend told me about a peculiar miracle of the demon of drink.

“We are going to St. Gabriel now—let’s recall one of his brightest and most formidable instructions: ‘Even if you see a murderer, a harlot or a drunkard lying on the ground, do not judge anyone. God has given them the reins, but He is still holding yours. If he gives you the reins too, you may find yourself in a worse situation by committing the sins you are judging them for, and perish.’

“Tbilisi is a relatively small city where almost everyone knows each other and treats one another as their kin. In the 1990s, a man named George lived in a district of Tbilisi. He was homeless and drank heavily. He would spend nights on a cardboard box between the garages, and when it rained—under a wooden table in the area where old people played chess or drank wine in the evenings. No one tried to drive him away—they either pitied him or condescendingly despised him, not allowing themselves to descend to swearing. The market women from the crossroads who sold some pigswill had known him for a long time, and sometimes they gave him alcohol on credit until he brought alms he’d collected somewhere.

“Few knew the story of how he became a desperate vagabond. A few years earlier, his wife brought into the house another man who ‘knew how to earn money’ and kicked George out of his own home. He could not cope with the shock and betrayal. The inoffensive, quiet wino, embarrassed and ashamed of himself, became a familiar part of the city landscape.

“Once I happened to pass by the courtyard where George lived. Our eyes met. He asked me, a stranger, ‘Rogorohar, bijo?’ (‘How are things, ol’ fellow?’). I replied, ‘Kargat, madlob’ (‘Fine, thanks’). I looked closer at him, and there was so much pain in his eyes—you woudn’t believe it! I decided to put aside all my affairs for the day and spend the day with this sufferer, finding out more about him. I felt that he wanted to talk about his life and get rid of his suffering, and that he was tormented by shame. You will ask how I was going to talk to him. Of course, in Georgian: I went to the saleswomen at the crossroads, took their drink, returned to the courtyard, seated George at ‘his’ dinner table, and we began a long conversation.

“That conversation turned into the real confession of a suffering man. He told me not only the terrible story of betrayal, but also other, no less terrible stories. There was also his brother—a murderer whom George had to hide, and much more. As it turned out, George had not known anything about Christ; he might have heard of Him, but he believed references to Jesus to be no more than folklore. However, he did feel an interest—not even interest, but an inquisitive question, ‘What if all this is true? What if Christ not only exists, but also really loves me?’ When George heard that I took God seriously, he laughed with relief, ‘Then everything is not so bad, is it? It turns out that Christ exists?’ Then he began to tell me about his sins. I got agitated:

‘Don’t tell me about your sins—I have enough of my own! Tell them to God in front of the priest, ask Christ’s forgiveness.’

‘Will He forgive me?’

‘What do you think He came for?’

‘Yes, it means that He really exists. You know, I want to go to Him. Never mind that I stink—I want to talk to Him.’

“Christ did not always speak, in His own words, with people that smelled like Chanel perfume. I called my childhood friend, Fr. David Kvlividze, ‘Fr. David, I’m sorry about calling you so late. George would like to get baptized.’ ‘Which George? Ah, that very George! Wonderful. Let him come to our church in a couple of days. But Vakhtang… Make sure that…’ ‘I’ll make sure that He doesn’t drink. He will come sober.’ So we agreed with George that for several days he would not drink and would think carefully about what he wanted to say to God.

“During the following days, my new friend was unrecognizable—looking solemn, mysterious and inspired, he approached the old men at the table in the courtyard, the saleswomen in the market and, like a herald, reported that ‘Soon, very soon I am going to God—I’ll be baptized!’ The old men shook his hand, and the saleswomen, seeing that their former ‘customer’ was busy with completely different things, were amazed. Someone even wiped away a tear, gazing after George as he was moving away with an unusually firm gait, ‘Miracles do happen in this world. Thank God.’

“His Baptism took place. The next day I decided to visit George. But I found him neither in the courtyard nor beside the garages—I saw only the old men discussing something at their table. They beckoned me to them, saying,

“‘Our George died this morning. The ambulance took him away. Yesterday he came from church, went to sleep, and the next morning he was dead.’

“I stood stock-still. Such a righteous death. Yesterday this man consciously came to God, Christ forgave him all his sins, and today he, clean, sober and in bright robes, has departed to Him. And who am I to judge George, calling him a ‘dissolute, homeless drunkard?’ True, if even a tiny bit of the trials that he endured were to befall me, what would I become? St. (Urgebadze) was right to say, ‘The Lord shows us someone else’s misfortune in order to soften our hearts.’ By the way, here is Samtavro. We have arrived at the destination.

“There was something to be silent about when visiting St. Gabriel. And there was something to meditate on.”

thanks to:

https://orthochristian.com/152465.html

Peter Davydov
Translation by Dmitry Lapa

Pravoslavie.ru

3/16/2023

thanks to:

https://orthochristian.com/152465.html

Human and animal ~ Marina Biryukova

 

THE BLESSED AND DUMB

Marina Biryukova

St. Gerasimus of the Jordan. By Oleg Shurkus / Shurkus.ru    

An acquaintance of mine, an elderly woman with a pure heart, decided to pray for her sick cat. But how was she supposed to do it? We pray for people this way: “Lord, have mercy on Thy servant so-and-so.” However, you can’t refer to a cat as a “servant of God.” In the end she said the following prayer: “Lord, have mercy on Thy cat, Vasily.”

And the pet recovered! Perhaps it is not a matter of the cat’s nine lives. Perhaps the Creator of the universe simply answered the prayer of the woman who had unconsciously obeyed the following commandment: Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven (Mt. 18:3). Indeed it is not a matter of the cat: it is a matter of that woman. Or the cat, too? What is the place of the animals in God’s universe? How are we supposed to perceive them? Are Christians expected to love and have pity on them? Can we pray for them, and, if so, how?

Let them have dominion…

In chapter 1 of Genesis we read about the creation of the universe:

And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth… And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth (Gen. 1:20-23, 26).

And in chapter 2 we read how God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof (Gen. 2:19).

Thus the dumb creatures were blessed by the Creator Who saw that they were good, and the earth became beautiful and glorious as they filled it; and He ordained man to be the master of them all. What kind of master? Of course, a good and responsible one. After all, this is what the world before the fall was like. There was no evil yet. Evil entered the world later. The whole creation fell victim to the fall of man, as the Apostle Paul writes: For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God… The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now (Rom. 8:20-22). We hear the following words in the canon during the Matins of the feast of Theophany:

“Let the whole of earthly creation be clothed in white, for this day it is raised up from its fall to heaven; and, washed and most splendidly cleansed in the flowing waters by the Word, by Whom all things are preserved, it has escaped from its former sins.”

Since the moment of the fall, the relationship between man, who still considers himself to be “the king of nature”, and nature has been anything but idyllic. As for the animals, not only does man eat them and wear clothing made from their skins, fur, etc.; he also treats them with the unthinkable cruelty, finds pleasure in exterminating and tormenting them, destroying their natural habitats and dooming many species to death. It was only in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, very late from a historical perspective, that humanity (first in the person of some individuals and then in the person of particular countries) began to take care of, save and love wildlife. And today we are no longer surprised when we see rescuers evacuating koala bears from Australian forest fires, putting their own lives at risk. But the problem is not solved at all; so, on the first Sunday of September our Church sings the hymn for the preservation of God’s creation. This service is called to remind us that we are still answerable to the Creator for this earth, including “the dumb beasts”—the animals.

Saints and wild animals

“Lifting up his eyes, Abba Zosimas saw a big lion standing close to the saint’s body and licking her feet. At the sight of the lion he trembled with fear…, but guarding himself with the sign of the cross, the thought came to him that the power of the one lying there would protect him and keep him unharmed. The lion drew nearer to him, expressing affection by every movement. Zosimas said to the lion: ‘The Great One ordered that her body was to be buried. But I am old and have not the strength to dig the grave…, so can you carry out the work with your claws?’ The lion with his front paws began to dig a hole deep enough to bury the body. The elder covered the body with earth in the presence of the lion. Then both departed. The lion went off into the depth of the desert like a lamb, while Zosimas returned to the monastery, glorifying and blessing Christ¹.”

This is the Life of St. Mary of Egypt. St. Seraphim of Sarov is often depicted with a bear. Some 500 years before, another bear had been on friendly terms with St. Sergius of Radonezh. Earlier still, St. Gerasimus of the Jordan (the fifth century) had healed an injured lion, and this event was reflected in his iconography. We can also recall the beasts of prey in the Roman circuses that would unexpectedly refuse to maul and eat Christians…

Why are animals drawn to saints? Why is it that they are not afraid of ascetics in forests and deserts, don’t show aggression to them and refuse to kill them? To be a saint means to be filled with grace; it is someone’s transformation and drawing closer to the state in which man (the divinely-ordained good master of the unharmed harmonious world) was before his fall. The irrational creatures sense the fragrance of Paradise and feel drawn to holy people. When all of us—humans, beasts and birds—see a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21:1), we will recall the Prophet Isaiah who in the sixth century B.C. foresaw the restored harmony of the creation, the overcoming of antagonism and the struggle for life in the Kingdom of the Messiah, a branch out of the roots of Jesse (cf. Is. 11:1):

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them (Is. 11:6).

In his commentaries to the Book of Isaiah, the great Russian Bible commentator Alexander Lopukhin (1852—1904) wrote:

“The animals will meet the new man after being renewed just as they once met the primordial Adam. And the prophet portrays this world in regard to the relations between animals in full agreement with Genesis narration of the state of the primordial world.”

The Spirit of God teaches us to love all living creatures

From the notes of St. Silouan of Mt. Athos:

“Once I needlessly killed a fly. The poor thing crawled on the ground, hurt and mangled, and for three whole days I wept over my cruelty to a living creature, and to this day the incident remains in my memory.

“One day, going from the monastery to Old (Nagorny) Rusik, I saw a dead snake on my path which had been chopped into pieces, and each piece writhed convulsively, and I was filled with pity for every living creature, every suffering thing in creation, and I wept bitterly before God².

“Once bats infested the balcony of my shop, and I threw hot water on them to get rid of them, and again shed many tears because of that; and I have not offended any living creatures ever since.

“The Spirit of God teaches the soul to love every living thing, so it does not want to do any harm to even a green leaf on a tree, or trample underfoot a flower of the field. Thus the Spirit of God teaches love towards all, and the soul feels compassion for every being, loves even enemies and pities even the demons because they have fallen away from good.”

The above-mentioned progress in the way people treat animals took place largely under the influence of Christianity; the soul enlightened and warmed up by the rays of Christ’s love (even if not as much as the soul of the Athonite ascetic Silouan was) cannot but suffer seeing other creatures’ suffering. The acuteness of this pain (sympathy for tormented animals) is probably explained by the fact that the animals are irrational beings, and, as such, they don’t understand what is happening to them and are helpless before humans. By tormenting an animal someone tortures both his “little brother” and the one he is responsible for—that is why it’s a sin, and deliberately inflicting pain on animals for entertainment is a sign of a serious mental disease.

On folly for the soul

However, some may be confused after reading the following citation from St. Silouan the Athonite:

“There are people who grow attached to animals, stroke, caress them and talk with them; and they have abandoned the love of God, and thus the love between brothers, for which Christ died in terrible agony, is lost. It is foolish to do so. Feed animals and cattle, and do not beat them—in this consists man’s duty of kindness towards them; but to become attached, to love, caress and talk to them—that is folly for the soul.

“The soul that has gotten to know the Lord always stands before Him in love and awe; how can it be possible to love, stroke and talk with cattle, cats and dogs at the same time? This means that someone has forgotten the commandment of Christ to love God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind (Mt. 22:37)...”

True, it is hard for us to accept these words: is there anyone among us who has never patted a dog, or stroked a cat or talked to them, thus expressing their love for them? Moreover, they too need our love: just feeding them is not sufficient. They are emotional creatures: dogs, for instance, experience a whole gamut of emotions. Though instead of arguing with the holy Athonite we now should comprehend something useful for us in these strict (maybe even too strict) words.

What is wrong is when affection (or, rather, attachment for a pet) replaces our love for people and God, making up for a lack or a complete absence of the latter. Adolf Hitler adored his German Shepherd Blondi! That is an extreme example. But I have seen quite a few instances when people easily combined (almost hysterical) compassion for homeless puppies with coldness and cruelty towards fellow humans, often towards those closest to them. You can hear from these people that “in general, animals are better than human beings…” In fact, the truth is that it is easier to love animals than to love people; it doesn’t require any moral and spiritual labor, self-criticism, patience, and humility… That’s why they cunningly make a substitution. Someone who has not learned to love his neighbors is lonely—by close bonds with animals he tries to find a way out of his loneliness or quench his emotional hunger. And he doesn’t notice that his dog, cat or Guinea pig has become closer to him than his fellow-humans, which is indeed folly for the soul and a violation against the hierarchy—the Creator’s plan for creation.

Love between people is a complex thing as well. There is our love for someone, and there is a desire to be loved by someone—that is, to use the person whose love we seek. But people often have trouble distinguishing between these things. “I don’t so much love him (her) as I want his (her) love”; and many families have been destroyed because of the failure to discern the difference. The same thing can often be seen in relations between human beings and animals: what is usually hidden behind the words of “love for pets” is the desire to use them for entertainment or gratify their ego. People pay a lot of money for a pedigree cat and at the same time indifferently step over an abandoned kitten near their own homes. I am not against pure-bred animals, particularly dogs—the synergy between man and nature give birth to some breeds that are true masterpieces. But in order to keep a dog of one or another type you need to know its special traits, find a way to deal with it, and ensure that it feels comfortable. I used to run a column about dogs and cats in a town newspaper and remember how many tragedies were connected with pedigree dogs whose owners simply understood nothing about them and had no idea how to handle them. From husky dogs, who, unable to live in a cramped and confined space, escape and run away heaven knows where, to American Staffordshire terriers who mutilate children under their parents’ very eyes… And the same question arises over and over again: why did they buy these dogs in the first place? “We just wanted this particular breed of dog!” But what has this to do with love?

And, reverting to the main question: Are we allowed to pray for cats?

True, the idea that human beings and animals are equal is sinful and it’s a serious delusion. Intuitively, we really shudder when we hear that some Christian denominations have celebrated church services for pets and even offered “Communion” for dogs…

Nevertheless, they live near us, they are part of our lives, they need our care… and sometimes even our prayers. Priests are very frequently asked whether or not it is allowed to pray for domestic animals—and that is not a coincidence. Did the above-mentioned woman commit a sin by praying for the health of “cat of God Vasily”? Certainly not. But still, I struggle and hesitate whenever I have an urge to pray for my own cat when he has a terrible boil on his side or a bad fever… The following thought (partly influenced by the notes of Elder Silouan) crosses my mind: “How dare I pray to the Master of the universe for some cat?” I am afraid to slide and replace prayer by some sort of an infantile, sentimental outburst.

    

Of course, we cure them—these poor things. That is, we act. And every action and good work should be preceded by prayer. This way, quietly, without affectedness, hysterics, or sentimentality: “Lord, please help. St. Gerasimus, who bandages the lion’s paw on icons, please intercede. No one but us will care for them. We, humans, once domesticated them and took them into our homes, and, therefore, we are responsible for them.” Thus, a reasonable and necessary action helps me maintain a mental and spiritual level most favorable both for myself and my sick cat.

Undoubtedly, we are called to love animals and admire them as God’s beautiful creatures. Look how many times beasts and birds are mentioned in the Bible, and how rich its cosmos is: Here we find the hart that panteth after the water brooks (Ps. 41:2); yelling lion’s cubs (cf. Jer. 51:38); the stork, whose house is the fir trees (cf. Ps. 103:17); the hawk that stretches its wings towards the south (Job 39:26); hedgehogs, bats; the conies whose refuge is the rocks (cf. Ps. 103:18); and, of course, the fowls of the air, that sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them (Mt. 6:26).

However, there is the continuation in the same verse: Are ye not much better than they? And it reminds us, rational and talking creatures, about our special place in the universe and our responsibility towards it.

Marina Biryukova
Translated by Dmitry Lapa

Pravoslavie.ru

2/28/2020

1 The citation source: https://stmaryofegypt.org/files/library/life.htm

2 The citation source: http://saintandrewgoc.org/home/2015/8/28/love-for-all-creation

thanks to

https://orthochristian.com/128796.html