On Progress in the Spiritual Life (Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent)

Bishop Vissarion (Nechaev) of Kostroma and Galich (+1905)

 

 

Until we attain to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. (Eph. 4:13).

 

On this present Sunday of Great Lent, the Church glorifies the Venerable John of the Ladder, so called because he wrote a book named The Ladder. It is called a ladder because it contains instructions that lead to heaven by a ladder of spiritual labors. Such instructions in The Ladder, or steps, are thirty in number, corresponding to the years of the Savior’s life before His entrance into public ministry. In those years Jesus Christ “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52). A similar progress in the spiritual life is also enjoined upon us, for we too are called to this: that, like Christ, we may attain to a perfect man, to the measure of the full stature of Christ—that is, to reach mature manhood in the spiritual life, to such perfection as would make us like Christ in a spiritual sense.

For success in this work, continuous efforts are required toward ever greater progress in the spiritual life. We must strive for spiritual perfection without weakening, without stopping on the path toward it, but stretching ever farther and farther, ascending ever higher, like the Apostle who says of himself that he presses toward the goal, toward the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, forgetting what is behind and reaching forward (Phil. 3:13–14). A ship sailing upstream on a river, if it does not advance upward, drifts downward: it cannot remain in one place. So also in the spiritual life—stagnation in it is death for the soul, which is created in the image of God and is capable of developing to infinity. He who does not go forward falls backward. If not sustained by zeal for further perfection, the spiritual life weakens. The lack of this zeal may arise either from moral fatigue, when a man feels that it is beyond his strength to keep himself in constant spiritual tension, or from self-satisfaction, when a man, looking back upon the course he has run, begins to admire his successes in spiritual labors and says to himself: “I have labored enough; now I may allow myself some relaxation; it is time to rest.” Self-satisfaction is especially destructive for a man: it is a thief of moral discipline and leads to the danger of losing the fruits of all previous labors.

In what, then, does progress in the spiritual life consist?

First, in this: to employ every possible effort toward liberation from sins, so that with each year the number of sins may decrease. It is not enough merely to recognize one’s sins, sincerely confess them, and humbly condemn oneself; there must also be a firm resolve not to return to former sins, but to live piously and righteously with the help of the grace of God. This help is always ready for us; but, unfortunately, the repentant sinner rarely makes use of it. Though he gives a promise to amend his life, he does not fulfill this promise and bears no fruits of repentance; having been cleansed from sins, he again defiles himself with them, and in this respect, according to the word of the Apostle Peter, he resembles that unclean animal which, having washed itself in clean water, hastens to soil itself again in the mire (2 Pet. 2:22). Thus, in such sinners everything is limited to the external fulfillment of the Christian duty of fasting and confession, without any concern for moral progress, so that each year the confessor must hear from his spiritual child that he has not only failed to abandon his former sins, but has even added new ones, thereby increasing the weight of his guilt before God. This is a most lamentable condition: a Christian in faith, but in life indistinguishable from a pagan, indeed from any unbeliever. From this is explained the slowness in the spread of the Christian faith. The success of missionary preaching is hindered by the fact that those who hear it are scandalized by the un-Christian life of those who believe in Christ.

Secondly, spiritual progress consists not only in freeing oneself from sins, but also in gradually advancing in the knowledge of the faith and in moral life. A Christian is required not only to know the rudiments of Christian teaching, but also to strive to increase his knowledge concerning the conditions of salvation. “Do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature” (1 Cor. 14:20). “Do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:17). From what do superstitions, heresies, and schisms arise? From negligence in understanding the will of God as expressed in the written Word of God and in the teaching of the Church. It is vain to say that for the salvation of the soul a thorough acquaintance with the doctrine of the faith is unnecessary, that a pious and virtuous life alone is sufficient. If this were so, why would Jesus Christ and His apostles have preached the highest truths of the faith? Why does the Apostle threaten with anathema those who differ in doctrine and depart from the apostolic teaching? (Gal. 1:8). It is likewise vain for those who do not value a thorough knowledge of Christ’s teaching to say that such knowledge bears no fruit in moral life. One man may know theology excellently, yet live a lawless and impious life. But from what does this lamentable phenomenon arise? Is it because theology itself is useless? By no means; rather, it is because it is studied out of mere curiosity and not with the desire for spiritual edification. He who studies theology for the salvation of his soul cannot fail to be pious. Theology reveals to him the depth of the riches of the wisdom and goodness of God in the works of creation, providence, and redemption. And the more vividly he receives this depth into his heart, the more strongly he is moved to honor and love God, to please Him with zeal in fulfilling His commandments. Even in ordinary life, we see that a man loves someone all the more the better he knows that person’s virtues. The same applies in our relationship with God: the more we know Him, the more deeply we love and honor Him, and, in general, the more we advance in zeal for the fulfillment of His commandments.

To see more clearly wherein this progress consists, let us point to its higher and lower degrees in the moral life. Let us take, for example, chastity. At the lower degree it consists in abstaining from gross carnal sins; yet even with such abstinence one may still have unchaste thoughts and desires, which Christ calls adultery (Matt. 5:28). The worth of chastity consists in efforts to overcome these thoughts and desires. For this, struggle against them is required. This struggle is difficult and, though not immediately crowned with success, is nevertheless pleasing to God. But chastity reaches its highest degree when this struggle is crowned with complete success and is accompanied by dispassion, which makes a man like the angels. Let us take next the virtue of humility. At its lower degree it is manifested in this, that a sinner strictly condemns himself for transgressing the commandments of the Lord, confesses himself answerless before the judgment of God, and expects salvation for himself solely from the mercy of God. But humility attains the highest degree of perfection in one whose conscience is pure, not burdened by the awareness of grave sins, and who nevertheless confesses himself before God to be a great sinner, following the example of the Apostle Paul, who, though a great righteous man, said of himself that he was the chief of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). Humility is manifested not only in relation to God, but also toward men. It is good if the lower humble themselves before the higher, the poor before the rich, feeling their need for their help, the unrenowned before the renowned. In our time, when pride and self-love consider it humiliating to behave modestly and respectfully toward those above them, such humility on the part of the lower is a virtue that brings them honor. Yet it is not at all surprising, even if it be sincere. But what is truly remarkable and worthy of special praise is when those in higher positions humble themselves before those lower, following the example of Jesus Christ, who showed the deepest humility by washing the feet of His disciples. It is known of one of the Russian tsars (Alexei Mikhailovich) that on the great feasts of the Nativity of Christ and Pascha he visited hospitals and there bowed down to the ground before the sick, did not disdain the disfigurement and foul odor of some of them, and kissed them in the name of Christ, remembering the words of Christ: “I was sick and you visited Me.” This is already the highest degree of humility.

Finally, progress in the spiritual life is expressed in the motives that incite zeal for the fulfillment of the commandments of the Lord. There are lower motives and there are higher ones. When a Christian is zealous to please the Lord by works of piety and virtue only out of hope for a reward for this zeal, or out of fear of punishment in the future age for its absence, then clearly, he is guided by lower motives. When a man strives to live in a God-pleasing manner because he has been endowed by the Lord with earthly blessings, then again in this case he follows lower motives. It is very possible that such a man will remain faithful to God only so long as he enjoys the gifts of His goodness; but when he loses them, he will weaken in his service to God and begin to murmur against Him. Then it will become evident that he served God from self-interested motives, not out of pure love for Him, but out of a sense of obligation for His benefactions. Yet even such an attitude toward God is better than ingratitude, which is characteristic of many who forget God in times of prosperity. He who truly loves God preserves his faithfulness to Him in all circumstances of life, both happy and sorrowful, for he loves Him because God Himself is the highest good, worthy of love, regardless of whether He bestows benefactions upon someone or deprives him of them. In the latter case, he easily reconciles himself to his condition, consoling himself with the thought that no deprivation can take from him the good of communion with God. Among the motives for faithfulness to God are also the hope and desire to receive a reward from God in the future age, and the fear of eternal torments. Even the great saints sought by the fear of God’s judgment to restrain themselves from sinful temptations and by hope of eternal recompense to encourage themselves to struggles of a God-pleasing life. Care for eternal salvation was their chief concern. Yet among those zealous for salvation, preference must be given to those who, in order to attain salvation, strive to please the Lord by works of piety and virtue solely out of pure love for Him, without any self-interested motive, more or less characteristic of those who serve the Lord in order not to be deprived of a reward from Him.

Such are the degrees of progress in the spiritual life. Let each remember this and strive to ascend, in the work of pleasing God, from the lower degree of perfection to the higher, so that by this ascent he may make easier for himself the ascent into the Kingdom of Heaven.

 

Source: Душеполезное Чтеніе [Soul-Profiting Reading], March 1897, pp. 483-488.