Spiritual Battle

The Evergetinos - Vol. I, Hypothesis I, Part VIII

We continued with our reading of Hypothesis I on “repentance in the avoidance of despair.” After giving us a foundation of many stories of God‘s infinite and boundless mercy, the focus of attention this evening is on the human response to this mercy.  Repentance is not a static reality. Rather, it is a source of protection, a cloak that one wears. We are not meant to simply remain in the sadness of having committed sins, but rather we are to rise and engage in the spiritual warfare that God’s mercy and grace gives us the strength to enter. We are to be combatants. Our weapons are not worldly nor are they rooted in ourselves but rather arise first from the grace of God and manifest themselves in our hearts as humility, obedience, self-sacrificing love, contrition. We are also shown that the impact of repentance is not limited to one person. Repentance when it is deep and true brings about miracles not only in one’s own life but in the lives of those around us. God’s grace and mercy overflows in response to the abundance of tears that an individual sheds on behalf of his sins and the sins of the world. The presence of penitents in the Church strengthens it and gives others who have fallen into sin hope of salvation and conversion of life.
----
Text of chat during the group
00:31:48 Eric Williams: PEWSLAG
00:56:07 Eric Williams: The ass saved the ass from himself!
00:58:25 Eric Williams: “Finally, draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power. Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all [the] flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” - Ephesians 6:10-17
01:03:47 The Pittsburgh Oratory: Erick we lost you.
01:16:38 Eric Williams: “Say: woe is me, alas, O soul, and weep; for thou hast been left and orphan so young by the blameless fathers and righteous ascetics. Where are our fathers? Where are the saints? Where are the vigilant? Where are the sober? Where are the humble? Where are the meek? Where are those who vow silence? Where are the abstinent? Where are those who with a contrite heart stood before the Lord in perfect prayer, like angels of God? They have left here to join our holy God with their lamps brightly burning. Woe is us! What times are these in which we live? Into what sea of evil have we sailed? Our fathers have entered the harbor of life, that they might not see the sorrows and seductions that overcome us because of our sins. They are crowned, yet we slumber; we sleep and indulge in selfish pleasures.” - St Ephraim the Syrian

The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Sixty-nine Part II and Homily Seventy Part I

Tonight our discussion focused upon the conclusion of homily 69 and the beginning of homily 70. Both present us with an exquisite description of the nature and action of God‘s grace upon the soul; how we experience an alteration in the mind and indeed a struggle with our passions, with temptations and our falls only to be lifted up by the grace of God again. Isaac presents us with a vision of God who is intimately involved in our lives and seeks to draw us from glory to glory into the depths of his own life. He does that, however, within the context of our humanity and understanding that we must be drawn deeper through our struggles to see and comprehend the truth as he seeks to make known. God does not free us from the spiritual warfare and the struggle with temptation; rather He thrusts us into its depths to bring us to greater repentance and draw us back to himself and makes us steadfast in the faith, hope and love.  Our mind must die to the world and to the passions and be transformed by grace. The passions don’t die: we must die to self and sin and put on the mind of Christ. Grace, Isaac tells us, carries us in the palm of her hand. God will never abandon us in the struggle but is ever present to keep us from falling into despair.

The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Sixty-eight Part III and Homily Sixty-nine Part I

As Isaac guides us through the final part of homily 68, he reminds us that the heart must long for converse with God. In this is found the greatest joy of unbroken stillness. He also reminds us that purity of heart is more valuable than all things and that without it all effort is profitless. If we fall into sin through heedlessness, however, we are not abandoned and can return to this unbroken stillness through unremitting vigils with reading and frequent prostrations. We must let the Fathers renew our fervor and we must humble ourselves in mind and body in order that God might lift us up again. When one has obtained this stillness there is little need for persuasive argument for one has come to experience the Truth. 
 
In Homily 69 Isaac makes it very clear that hourly we experience variations within our soul and repentance is a constant need. Downfalls will occur which are opposed even to the will aim. We must not let our soul become despondent or dejected for this is the very course of growth – spiritual warfare as a movement between the struggle with sin in our weakness and the consolation of God‘s grace. He who thinks that he can ever rise above this spiritual warfare becomes even more vulnerable prey for the wolf. As long as we are in this world we are to enter into the fray and fight the good fight of faith. We must not linger in consolation as if it were an end in itself but must remain humble before God 

The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Sixty-five Part III

Tonight we continued our reading of homily 65. Isaac begins to speak with us about the fruit of stillness. One of the primary gifts of stillness is the healing of memory and of predispositions over the course of time. The more that we are faithful to the grace that God extends to us, the greater the fruit that we experience as well as the desire for stillness. Isaac warns us that we must not concern ourselves with what is foreign to God. Our minds and our hearts must be set on freeing ourselves from the senses by being engaged in unceasing prayer. We must have a love in keeping night-vigil for the renewal of them mind that it creates. This is true of every aspect of the ascetical life. We must engage in it with an exactness. Our love for what the Lord has given us and our desire to protect what is precious should lead us with a manly courage to engage in the spiritual battle. Cowardice is often present in the spiritual life and we find many ways to rationalize our negligence and laziness for fear of giving ourselves over to God completely. This we must overcome and strive to enter the kingdom and be willing to sacrifice all to attain it.

The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Sixty-four Part V

We continued our journey with Isaac tonight discussing homily 64. While the subject matter seems varied, it is clearly connected in Isaac’s mind. All of these aspects of the spiritual and ascetical life must be understood in order that we might find “right order” in our lives that contributes to stillness and vigilance in the spiritual battle. 
 
This is exactly what Isaac is introducing us to - the reality of the spiritual battle that involves the whole person.  The mind and emotions must be engaged by the richness of the psalms to stir our zeal. Sorrow and compunction must constantly lead us back to God after we have fallen. Anger must be directed toward every temptation so as to strike it down before it takes hold of us. 
 
The cravings of the belly must be met with fasting and self restraint. Such restraint lays the foundation for the struggle with lust. Sleep must be moderated in order to foster a taste for the sweetness of prayer.

The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Fifty-four Part VI and Homily Fifty-five

Tonight we concluded homily 54 and began reading homily 55. Isaac finishes homily 54 by telling us of the intimate link between fasting and silence. To engage in meaningless conversation or distractions can make us dissipated and lose our attention and ability to remember God. It can also weaken us in our spiritual practices. By simplifying our lives and removing unnecessary busyness and by fostering solitude, our experience of prayer and intimacy with God can deepen. Likewise, the practice of praying at night and for extended periods of time can enrich our prayer on a daily basis. We must let go of the time constraints that we place upon ourselves and let God guide and direct us; let him determine how long and when he wants to draw us to himself. 
 
Homily 55 begins by focusing on zeal. Do we enter into the spiritual life and spiritual battle with a desire for God and for virtue? Do we engage in that spiritual battle as those who trust in the grace of God and the strength that he gives us? Or do we give way to a kind of unmanly fear or what Isaac calls set satanic fear that is rooted more in our sense of what the battle will cost us or things that we are unwilling to let go of for the sake of what is good.

The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Fifty-four Part V

We continued this evening with homily 54. Isaac confronts us with a simple question somewhat indirectly – how deep is our faith and confidence in God‘s providence and the power of his grace? Do we remain engaged in the spiritual battle with hope in Him and trust that we are surrounded by the Angels and the Saints? Do we remain joyful in tribulations knowing that God makes all things work for the good of those who love him?
 
In this world we will experience tribulation and hardship. We must prepare ourselves through prayer and our ascetical life to endure to the end.  Such endurance in the face of hardship and temptation often will require that we wait decades to experience the fruit and the joy of the kingdom.  Isaac tells us that when we embrace tribulation and affliction we participate in the redemptive love of Christ and begin to experience His own secret treasures.  
 
Isaac concludes by giving us a beautiful example of an elderly monk encouraging a novice to hold fast. He reveals to him how he began to taste the very sweetness of the kingdom and the unceasing worship of angelic beings. “Behold, the labor of many years, and what limitless rest it bore!”

The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Fifty-four Part IV

Tonight we continued our discussion of homily 54. Isaac begins to explain to us the importance of tears in the spiritual life as a reflection of true repentance and as a fruit of repentance. Through rumination on our sin and through meditation upon the reality of the brevity of our life we come to mourn what has been lost through sin and begin to find that our only hope is in what Christ can offer. It is the vision of this that fills the soul with joy. 
 
Isaac then shows us that the solitary life and the vocation of the solitary reveals that we cannot neglect the interior life. We are not mere secular humanists, but our strength is in the Lord and our capacity to love comes only through his grace. 
 
Finally Isaac calls us to hold fast and to have courage in the spiritual battle, for God is our guardian and protector. Without his grace all things would be ravaged by the evils and consequences of sin. We must not let affliction strip us of hope but hold fast to our faith in what the cross shows us; that in self-emptying love we experience now our destiny and dignity in Christ. Even if we were to lose all sense of security in this world, our hope is invincible if we are immersed in the love of the Lord.

The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Forty Part III

Tonight we concluded Homily 40. Saint Isaac speaks to us of the tactics of the enemy to pull us away from unceasing prayer and to lead us into every form of negligence and laxity. The enemy watches for all the ways that we are slothful and inattentive to the small things of daily life that open us up to sin.   
 
Wisdom is found in the man who is ever watchful and who sees nothing of his day to day life as insignificant. He labors for God in every way, not preferring the comforts of this world but willing to sacrifice all to know the sweet repose of living in the Lord’s love.   With courage of heart he seeks to do the will of God with exactness so as to sharpen his conscience. In this he possesses confidence towards God and becomes bold in His ways.  True virtue is found in living in Christ and seeking the purity of heart that allows us to be free of the passions and filled with desire for the kingdom.

The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Thirty-nine Part II

St Isaac led us through a wonderful study of the methods the devil uses to war against those who seek to live for God and walk by the narrow way. 
 
The devil will wait patiently for some who begin the spiritual life zealously; not because he fears them but rather because he holds them in contempt. He waits until their zeal cools and they grow lax and overconfident. He allows them to dig their own pit of perdition for their souls through wandering thoughts. 
 
With the courageous and strong, the devil seeks to drive a wedge between them and their guardian angel. Craftily the devil convinces them that their victories come through their own strength and force. The devil imitates the guardian angel and convinces them to follow dreams as if true in order to lead them astray. 
 
Finally the devil will actively present the warrior with fantasies masking the truth and thus deluding their mind. He leads them to ponder shameful thoughts. He will even present them with actual physical temptations once thought to be overcome. 

The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Thirty-eight and Homily Thirty-nine Part I

Beginning with Homily 38 and moving into Homily 39, St. Isaac treats of the struggle with sin and temptation and the methods of the devil. The starting point is not to fear temptation. Such fear reveals an avoidance of hardship and lack of zeal for the Lord. We are not promised happiness or peace in this world but affliction. Thus we are to enter the spiritual battle with strong resolve - a willingness to sacrifice all for love of God and virtue. The devil will urge us to ease our labors but we are to be unrelenting in the fight. 
 
The devil begins by observing our weapons and watching for a weak and infirm will. He will the let loose with full force upon us in order to shake our resolve and to overcome us with fear. God often allows us to feel the full brunt of these temptations if only to reveal our doubt and coldness.  We must confront the devil with fearlessness and ardor.  Anything less makes us tempters and mockers of God. He did not create us simply to enter and leave this world but made us for eternity. This is the lens through which we must view our lives. 

The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Thirty-seven Part IV

We began our discussion of St Isaac’s 37th Homily with his teaching about the importance of separating ourselves from the things of the world so as to make the ascetical struggle easier.  The struggle is easier when the sources of temptation are at a distance. We must in fact flee from those things that cause warfare and not associate with that which fights against us. The stillness and purity that is gained through asceticism must not be thoughtlessly thrown away; For even the memory or imagination of certain things can bring us harm. Thus we must guard against becoming overconfident so as not to trample our consciences. Various examples of this were discussed. 
 
St. Isaac then moved on to consider what is the beginning of the spiritual war and where does one start the fight. Fasting and Vigils are the signs of our hatred for sin and desire for God. They are God’s holy pathway and the foundation of every virtue. Day and night they lead us to God - humbling the mind and body and making us ever watchful and discerning. Discussion ensued about what this means for those living in the world and how it they are to be fostered. 

The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Thirty-two Part III and Homily Thirty-three

Tonight‘s discussion of homilies 32 and 33 focused upon Saint Isaac’s teaching that we should not approach the life of faith as if it were simply self improvement. We must beware of seeking our joys in the things of this world or reducing God to something manageable and controllable rather than an all enveloping mystery. The poverty that we experience in our moral life and psychologically and emotionally simply at times has to be in endured. We are drawn in to the perfection of God by grace. We do not make ourselves perfect. More often than not we are humbled by our weaknesses until we rest solely upon the grace of God.
 
We continue to struggle of course,  but we must avoid extremes in behavior - excesses in satisfying our appetites or too great a rigor that leads to despondency.  Our life is Christ and often our greatest struggle as human beings is to let go of the illusion that lasting joy can be found in any other place.

The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Thirty Part II, Homily Thirty-one and Homily Thirty-two Part I

The group began by continuing to reflect upon the final paragraphs of Homily 30 wherein St Isaac emphasizes the uniqueness of man, in particular our corporeal nature and our reason and free will. It is this reality the shapes our spiritual struggle. We need to understand our strengths and limitations. 
 
In Homily 31 Isaac moves on to discuss the importance of vigilance in the moment - not looking to the past or to others but struggling today with what we are faced. We must valiantly engage in the battle and bear the recompense for our sin in a spirit of hope and joy. We are not to blame others for our sorrows but see them as rooted in our sin and as opportunities for virtue and healing. 
 
Finally at the beginning of Homily 32 Isaac introduces us to the fiercest of struggles - learning to abhor sin with our whole heart and the resistance that we face in this task. Only through this can we then develop a true love for virtue. This struggle is the unseen martyrdom of the spiritual life - the bloodless martyrdom that we experience daily.

The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Nine

Tonight's discussion was on Homily 9 and focused on the distinction between voluntary and involuntary sin, the effects of laxity and heedlessness in the spiritual life, the need to remain stalwart in spiritual warfare, courageously entering into the battle and understanding that it may leave us wounded and permanently scarred. We should fear only the devastation that comes from trampling on our own conscience, willingly reaching out our hand to the devil and so taking the path of perdition. 
 
The unfortunate focus in our culture and the culture of Church today is on pursuing individual freedom, fulfillment and satisfaction in this world over and above the pursuit of holiness of life and purity of heart. Our time in this world is short and we must lives as those who understand the urgency of conversion.

The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Eight

The foundation of all that is good, St Isaac the Syrian tells us in Homily 8, is the knowledge of one's own weakness, realizing the need for God's help.  It is the Mother of humility and the birthplace of deep and abiding prayer. 
From such prayer comes all good things to be found for the spiritual life. It is the refuge of help, light in darkness, a staff of the infirm, medicine in sickness and a sharpened arrow against spiritual enemies. 
 
The more one prays the more one comes to treasure the gift and to cease pondering vanities. One learns to crave God and to seek Him out constantly. 
 
In His compassion God allows us to be humbled - to correct and to heal. Temptations and afflictions become profitable because they purify the soul of pride and also teach the soul to fight and remain in the arena with fortitude and courage. 
 
Thus, in all things we are to be grateful and we must acknowledge that the trials we experience are the fruit of negligence and laxity. Trials come to awaken us to the urgency of the moment, to jolt us out of our complacency and to teach us that every moment is freighted with destiny. We are temples of God the Most High and we must not take such a reality lightly or hold the grace we receive as cheap.

The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - Homily Five Part II

St. Isaac once again teaches us that we must fully and wisely engage in the spiritual battle - fighting on the right battlefield and making use of the right remedies to heal wounds. He warns us never to treat any sin as slight; for ignoring any sin will eventually make it our master.
Above all we must not be overly confident in our own strength but rather trust in divine providence and the manifestation of that providence in God's angels. They are always there interceding for us, revealing our enemies and fortifying us in the struggle. They show us how close God is to us.

The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian - End of Homily Four and Homily Five Part I

In the final paragraph of Homily Four, St. Isaac exhorts us to die to all things and the doings of the world that give rise to the passions.  He acknowledges that there is a a kind of madness to this as seen from a worldly perspective and that reality gets turned on its head.  But it is only when we trust to the Lord by embracing this path fully that we will experience the sweetness of spiritual inebriation.  Though difficult, he encourages us not to lose hope for the mere movement of toward God and the mere expression of desire for holiness brings with it a flood of grace and mercy.
Homily Five begins by reminding us that we have received all that we need through the revelation of nature and the scriptures to guide and direct us in the spiritual life; especially the reality of our own mortality.  Death gives rise to the question of the meaning of our lives and what path we are going to pursue.  We cannot, however, approach these realities and think that we can stand still or refrain from offering any response.  "Whoever does not voluntarily withdraw himself from the passions is involuntarily drawn away by sin."  There is no static position for us as human beings.  We must withdraw from the causes of the passions and set ourselves toward the good; realizing that God honors not wealth but rather poverty of spirit, not pride but humility.
In the spiritual battle, we must engage "manfully", that is, with courage.  We must not doubt God is our Helper in the good work otherwise we will be scared of our own shadow.  If we hope in Him, however, we will experience Him as one who manages our "household", that is, our heart and sends His angels to strengthen and encourage us.
Never hold any sin to be slight.  To love God is to hate evil and our sin, no matter how grave or small in our eyes. And having made any strides in the spiritual life, it must be seen as mere fidelity and obedience to what is commanded of us.  Pride must have no place within us.
Sin must be fought and healed with the right remedies.  Lack of chastity cannot be healed by giving great alms and fasting does not overcome avarice.  In place of the loss of sanctity God requires sanctification.  Lack of chastity must be restored to purity.
 

Introduction to the Life, Times and Writings of St. John Cassian Part II

II. Conquest of Sin:Both eastern and western spirituality as a whole conceives of the ascetic life as a slow progress upward toward God, a climb of the hill by spiritual exercise - - prayer, mortification of the carnal lusts, growth in the knowledge of God - until the soul has become Christ like, God-like.This being true, there developed early on principles upon which asceticism might be conducted. Cassian does not develop a system to be followed, but establishes certain principles to be followed in one's spiritual life. As always he makes these principles understandable to the western mind.A. Flesh and Spirit:1. basic antagonism between the two - a war in which neither ceases to attack or defend does not mean the material substance of the body but the carnal desires, the passions. 2. The essence of the Christian life is seen as a war within the personality.3. Cassian experience was that the body was not evil in essence, but is inclined to andencourages evil, though its union with and war against the spirit is nevertheless for thebenefit of the spiritual life.4. the Christian way is not quiet or gentle or pleasant; it is a battle fought in the soul. This battle is the condition of spiritual progress.5. Apart from this violence of warring, there is nothing but indifference, lukewarmness. Advance to attack expresses Cassian's outlook; for the lustful will is the chief adversary of man.B. The Goal:1. the ultimate goal is the kingdom of heaven, but the aim(skopos) of the purgativeprocess is purity of heart. The purgative process must place a person in a state offreedom from the passions, to produce in the mind a concentration of thought upon God,in the soul an indifference to all apart from the Creator. To this goal the monk mustmarch along the royal road unswervingly, must close his eyes like the competitor in ashooting contest to all but the bullseye. Asceticism is a means toward the skopos2. Behind this theory lay the ideal of the angelic life.This was the notion that man must aim at contemplating and worshipping and praising God like the angels and at doing his will on earth as the angels in heaven. But according to Cassian sinlessness is impossible, temptations never cease in this life and there is always the need to fight.3. Perfection in this life is relative perfection, not to be identified with sinlessness butrather with the completion of the purgative process, which can be described as the stateof purity of heart. It is possible to achieve freedom from the grosser passions, but this does not mean immunity from temptation. Purity of heart is but the moral platform from whence God can be seen.C. The Principal Sins:1. Cassian list contained eight principal sins: gluttony, fornication, avarice, anger, dejection, accidie, vainglory, pride. Cassian treated them as sin produced bycorresponding temptations.2. The order is not random. They are linked together as cars in a railroad train. Becausethey are so intimately coupled an attack upon one is an attack upon all and conversely asurrender to one is a surrender to all, and because gluttony acquires its capital place inthe list as the root instigator of the corrupting series, fasting and abstinence must becomethe first and most valuable element in all ascetic practice.3. Cassian writing is intended to drive the mind to seek the reason for sin, not in superficial symptoms but in the latent evil in the human heart. Fight, strive, press on, struggle, resist, conquer - - are all key words. Cassian can only repeat, "here is the evil - fight against it.4. In all of this grace is presupposed: God is both the goal and the means by which thegoal is attained. Grace is what leads us to embrace methods of spiritual progress.D. The Motive of the Life of Virtue:1. Three things enable men to control and remedy their faults: a) the Fear of hell, or the penalties of earthly laws, b) the thought of and desire for the kingdom of heaven and c) a love of goodness and virtue in itself.2. These three motives are not equally excellent, but correspond to different grades in thespiritual life, in which the third, the selfless motive must be the highest aim of all who seek after God. The Christian is seeking to be united with God.3. The soul must love and follow God for his own sake and not in the hope of personaladvantage or enjoyment. Ethics are the instrument to the love of God.E. The Virtues:1. virtue for Cassian consists in not committing sin. Where he thinks of virtue, henormally treats it as the opposite of vice: chastity means not fornicating, patience notbeing angry, humility not being proud, temperance not being gluttonous. 2. Charity, or love of God, was the transcendent virtue in which all individual virtues were absorbed. For this reason he was uninterested in the discussion of the specific virtues andthe distinctions of later moralists.3. morality acts as an instrument to the contemplation of God, and so Cassian invariably treats good deeds not as the flowing outcome of the love of God but as a useful aid in thestruggle for personal perfection. Good works and acts of virtue will even disappear inheaven where all is caught up in the contemplation of God.4. He normally conceived the fight as a battle against the pressing, insidious powers ofevil, rarely as a battle for the good. The assaulting sins are much more numerous thanthe defending virtues.III. Grace:A. The Doctrine of Cassian:1. His thought centers upon the strife between flesh and spirit. The carnality of manwhich is the result of the Fall, has not made man incapable of doing good: it has ratherproduced a tension in human nature whereby sinful desires pull against the spiritualdesires. In the middle of the strife, between the flesh on the one side and the spirit on theother, the free will is set maintaining the tension. He calls the free will the balance in thescales of the body.2. Cassian's view stirred him to emphasize the powers of the human will - - even if it isweakened. The whole weight of his thought is thrown upon the necessity for exertion. The monk must fight to achieve purity of heart, he must work to eject the seeds of vices,he must fast and watch and labor with his hands, he must direct his mental process andward off temptations. In all of this grace is not discarded but thoroughly assumed, onaccount of the enormous importance he attaches to prayer.3. Cassian never suggests that sin can be overcome, that the Christian road can betravelled, unless God grant his grace. Rather his teaching emphasizes two truths of theChristian faith - - that man depends absolutely upon God, and that his will has fullresponsibility for choice between good and evil. 4. Cassian is the teacher, emphasizing opposite sides of the same question for practicalreasons. Grace is not set in antithesis to freedom of the will, but to laziness.B. Grace in the Conferences:1. In Cassian, as opposed to Augustine, the human will is not portrayed so darkly. Afterthe Fall, while having a bias toward and desire for evil, man still has knowledge of the good; and since the human race has this knowledge of the good, it can sometimesperform it naturally, of its own free will unaided by grace except in so far as God isregarded as granting his grace when he originally created man capable of doing good. InAugustine the will to good is dead: in Cassian it is not dead, but neither is it healthy. Rather he conceives the human will as sick, needing constant attention from healinggrace, but like a sick man still capable occasionally - if revived by medicine - of healthyacts.2. In a more subtle argument, Cassian teaches that grace is sometimes removed for the benefit of the soul. To prevent the will becoming slothful and idle, grace may wait for some move on the part of the will. We see here again the connection in his mind betweengrace and laziness. IV. The Life of Contemplation:A. Sinlessness:1. although some ascetics considered sinlessness to be within the power of human nature,Cassian denied the possibility. The soul is bound to leave the divine vision because ofthat law in human nature resulting from the Fall. The word saint is not a synonym of theword immaculate for Cassian.2. Cassian will allow that an ascetic may achieve the destruction of all his faults. Yet this is not sinlessness, since the mind cannot maintain it hold upon the contemplation of God; and in the eyes of the saint even momentary departure from contemplation is the vilest of sin. Full possession of the virtues may be attained, but not the possibility of keeping the mind concentrated on God.3. The principal barrier for the monk lies not so much in the commission of external sin,but in the slippery thought of his own mind. Thus there can be perfection attain in theactive life, but not in the contemplative life.B. The Mind1. Cassian regards contemplation as the mind seeing God; union as the linking of the mind to God. Since the mind through the Fall is so unstable and wandering that it can never be still, the problem of contemplation consists in fixing the mind to a single point - God. Cassian reverts to the difficulty of the mobile mind perhaps more frequently than to any other subject dealt with in the Conferences.2. Swarms of thoughts enter the mind, whether suggested by devils or by earthlydistractions. Yet, Cassian did not seek the stripping naked of the mind, but rather the mind must attempt to control the ascending and descending of thoughts, until the formerpredominate over the latter.3. In later stages, there is progressive simplification until the state of pure prayer isreached where the prayer is so concentrated upon God alone that the mind has come tounity from diversity and holds one prayer, one thought.C. Prayer and Contemplation1. Cassian's teaching on prayer is not unlike the consensus of Egyptian monastic thoughtupon the beginnings of contemplation: from the discursive use of the mind in meditation,the soul passes by a gradual simplification of thought to a condition where it does notneed mental variety in order to pray, but can rest "satisfied, and more deeply satisfied,with a simple look at God than it was at first with much thinking. In the early stages thesoul is frequently filled with sensible sweetness, with spiritual delight in God. Thissweetness vanishes as advance is made upon the contemplative way, until the soulconfronts God in a cloud of unknowing, dimly and ignorantly, while the intellect withoutconcepts and without images, is not only at rest but cannot think discursively at all. Inpure contemplation all the faculties of the intellect and the heart are silenced in face of the simple longing for God.2. For Cassian, the supreme goal of life, the kingdom of God itself, is to be found, in thedirect perception of God. He is at one with Egyptian tradition in believing that none mayenter upon this way who has not first undertaken the practical training of the active life. The monk cannot contemplate if he is proud, unchaste or dejected, if he is not seekingdetachment from created things.3. As prayer is reduced from a multiplicity of thoughts to simplicity, the object ofcontemplation, which began by being complex, becomes little by little a unity. The ladder of contemplation has three rungs: the contemplation of many things, the contemplation of a few, the contemplation of one alone.4. Cassian only mentions the effects of contemplation occasionally. It brings union with, by union of wills though not in essence. The soul comes to the image and likeness of God feeds on the beauty and knowledge of God, it receives the indwelling Christ the Holy Spirit, it is illumined attains to the adopted Sonship and possesses all that belongs to the Father. The soul is so filled that it begins to share in the love of the Blessed Trinity. For John, contemplation is a formless thoughtless, vacuity. Rather it is a unity wherein fullness is found: where God shall be all our love, and every desire and wish and effort, every thought of ours, and all our life and words and breath, and that unity whichalready exist between the Father and the Son, and the Son and the Father, hasbeen shed abroad in our hearts and minds.V. Conclusions:Cassian bequeathed to Western Christianity the idea that the spiritual life was a science in which prayer reigned:that is possible to analyze temptation and the nature of sin: that methods of prayer and mortification are neither haphazard nor individual, but order according to established experience. All the guides to spirituality in which western Europe later abounded are his direct descendants.

Nous Part Nine - Nous in Temptation and Battle

Stages of Temptation; Inventiveness of the Demons and their strategies; Examining one's falls, their causes and committing them to memory; knowing one's weak spots; Ignorance and Captivity; Cures; Spiritual work and the beauty achieved through humility, silence and prayer.