GOD'S WISDOM IN SINAI
Saint Gregory of Sinai on the True Life in Christ
"To be on the spiritual path means seeking the Lord in your heart through fulfilling the commandments. For when you listen to John the Baptist crying in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight' (Matt. 3:3), you must understand that he is referring to the commandments and their fulfillment both in the heart and in actions. It is impossible to 'make straight' the path of the commandments and to act rightly unless your heart too is straight and upright."
"The essence of the commandments is always to give precedence to the one that embraces them all: mindfulness of God, as stipulated in the phrase, 'Always be mindful of the Lord your God' (Deut. 8:18). Our failure or success in keeping the commandments depends on such mindfulness, for it is this that forgetfulness first destroys when it shrouds the commandments in darkness and strips us of every blessing."
"According to St Paul, it is characteristic of the Spirit of life to act and speak in the heart, while a literal, outwardly correct observance of things characterizes the fallen unregenerate person (Rom. 8:2; 2 Cor. 3:6). The Spirit of life frees the intellect from sin and death, whereas a literal, outwardly correct observance imperceptibly turns us into Pharisees, since we then act only in an external bodily sense and practice the commandments merely in order to be seen doing so (Matt. 23:5)."
"The whole complex of the commandments united and knit together in the Spirit (Eph. 4:16) has its analogue in man, whether his state is perfect or imperfect. The commandments are the body. The virtues - established inner qualities - are the bones. Grace is the soul that lives and vivifies, energizing the vital power of the commandments, just as the soul animates the body. The degree of negligence or diligence with which a man tries to attain to Christ's stature reveals what stage he has reached. Alike in this world and in the next, it indicates whether he is in his spiritual infancy or has achieved maturity."
"If you want the body of the commandments to flourish, you must zealously desire the pure spiritual milk of maternal grace (I Pet. 2:2); for it is on this milk of grace that you must suckle yourself if you wish to increase your stature in Christ. Wisdom yields fervor from her breasts as milk that helps you to grow; but to nourish the perfect she gives them the honey of her purifying joy. 'Honey and milk are under your tongue' (Song of Songs 4:11): by 'milk' Solomon means the Spirit's nurturing and maturing power, while by 'honey' he means the Spirit's purificatory power. St Paul likewise refers to the differing functions of these powers when he says, 'I have fed you as little children with milk, and not with meat' (I Cor. 3:2)."
"To try to discover the meaning of the commandments through study and reading without actually living in accordance with them is like mistaking the shadow of something for its reality. It is only by participating in the truth that you can share in the meaning of truth. If you search for the meaning without participating in the truth and without having been initiated into it, you will find only a besotted kind of wisdom (I Cor. 1:20). You will be among those whom St Jude categorized as 'psychic' or worldly because they lack the Spirit (Jude I 9), boast as they may of their knowledge of the truth."
"The efficacy of the commandments depends on faith working directly in the heart. Through faith each commandment kindles and activates the soul's illumination. The fruits of a true and effective faith are self-control and love, its consummation God-given humility, the source and support of love."
From St. Gregory of Sinai, Philokalia.
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