In Patristic writings and especially in treatises
written by Saints Ammonas, Macarius of Egypt, Diadohos Fotikis, Isaac the
Syrian, Maximus the Confessor, John of Karpathos and Simon the New Theologian
we encounter the corresponding terms “desertion by Grace”, “loss of Grace”,
“diminishing or withdrawal of Grace” or “spiritual change” as indicative of
this second stage. It is a rare occasion when the Fathers use this single,
strong term: “God-forsakenness”. The first to use this term was Abba Kassianos
in the beginning of the 5th Century in his work “Conversations with the Fathers
of the desert”. The second one, as far
as we know, is Elder Sophrony sixteen centuries later; we believe that he did
this in order to stress the painfulness of this condition. In his writings
Elder Sophrony also uses the corresponding terms ‘departure’ or ‘loss’ of
Grace. We are not able to find any systematic teachings about this stage of
“the departure” of Grace in patristic writings. Elder Joseph the Hesychast, St
Silouan the Athonite and then Elder Sophrony were the first to extensively
describe it.
How one does experience this phase? The Elder writes
that the Lord, Who has initially wounded the heart with His love, recedes
afterwards. A long stage of struggle opens up in front of one, which lasts for
years, even decades (Above: We shall see Him as He is”). He says: “After the
first visitation by Grace, battles and wars begin. A long time needs to pass
before one assimilates the experience of the first visitation by Grace. The assimilation
is accomplished through fortitude and determination during the times when
divine Grace departs”. Grace revisits for a while, reinforces faith,
regenerates the inspiration to continue the struggle and departs again” (See
Elder Sophrony above). The times when divine Grace departs are moments of
self-emptying, of spiritual indigence and of experiencing the anguish of being God-forsaken which lead
us to some kind of despair. We feel as though we have fallen under some
terrible spell. It is possible that our entire being is in anguish; our mind,
our heart, our soul and our body. While in the beginning all the prayers
offered and all requests made were immediately and miraculously fulfilled by
the Lord, now everything has changed; the heavens seem to have closed off and
every supplication falls in the Lord’s deaf ears.
The blessed Elder gives a significant description of
this period of spiritual trials, which is a time for bearing one’s cross in all
aspects of a Christian’s life, both internally and externally. “To the zealous
Christian everything in his life becomes difficult. Other peoples’ behavior
deteriorates; people stop appreciating him; what is tolerated in others becomes
reprehensible for him; he gets paid almost always less than others; his body is
easily afflicted by illnesses. Nature, various circumstances, people,
everything turns against him. He cannot find favorable conditions to utilize
his natural qualities even though they are not inferior to others. In addition,
he suffers plenty of assaults by demonic powers and lastly he has to endure the
unbearable pain of being forsaken by the Lord. Then his torment is amplified,
since his entire being is afflicted in every way. The soul descends to Hades”
(Arch. Sophrony: St Silouan the Athonite).
The Elder confesses that God forsakenness creates the
impression of a paradox. When the Lord abandons us we feel a void in our entire
existence. The soul is distressed since it does not know whether and when “the
departed” Christ will return. The soul perceives this horrid void as death
(Arch. Sophrony: On prayer). It is possible that the Lord will appear merciless
to the soul. Not being able to find the Lord’s mercy despite the effort and
strive which is beyond his power and which he undertakes unto the end, man
suffers so profusely that if he could, he would have denied his existence” (
Arch. Sophrony: St Silouan the Athonite). This experience is so horrid and
occasionally so ferocious that this great and experienced ascetic reveals that
“the soul is afflicted by such thoughts and feelings that it is best to keep
silent about” (See St Silouan above).
What is really happening though? Does the Lord truly
abandon the faithful? Does the Lord withdraw his Grace from one’s soul and
leave him completely alone? St Diadohos Fotikis says that the devil is
precisely counting on this; namely to convince one believing that God’s Grace no longer resides
in his heart and not take up the arms against him with the memory of God ( Diadohos
Fotikis: Thirty Three chapters). Therefore, what is truly happening? The Elder
stresses that the Lord withdraws “the perception of Grace” but His ontological
communion with man is not severed. It is not a matter of an objective, total
withdrawal of Grace, but the soul subjectively experiences its shrinkage and
withdrawal as God-forsakenness (Above: On Prayer). During this period, the
energy of Grace remains secretly with the faithful and not perceptively. Thus,
God-forsakenness is noticeable. “Those belonging to Christ experience God-forsakenness
through their spiritual perception and not their faith. The spiritual
perception, which during the initial visitations by Grace has been developed to
offer the faithful experiences of Paradise, now becomes the carrier of
conditions from Hell”.
The Elder stresses: “The stronger the joy experienced
from his union with the Lord, the more painful is the suffering from the
separation from Him” (Above: “We shall see Him as He is”). The faith in the
Lord’s providence, namely the faith of contemplation, cannot vanish. This does
not mean that the experience of God-forsakenness is not real; but in spite of
this, the Christian has faith that God is with him and hopes that he will
experience the perception of His Grace once more. This is the meaning of the words
uttered by Christ to St Silouan: “keep your thoughts in Hades but do not
despair” (Above: St Silouan the Athonite). The faithful spiritually experiences
and shows fortitude in the face of the horrid Hades of God-forsakenness, but
does not despair because he is being supported by the faith of contemplation.
St Paul refers to this kind of faith when he writes: “We walk by faith not by
sight (i.e. not by our feelings) (B Corinthians 5, 7). “Elder Sophrony believes
that the stations of God-forsakenness are necessary for ascetic progress; in
reality they are paradoxical expressions of divine love. “The experience of
God-forsakenness contains the life-giving power of the Lord” (Fr Nicholas
Zakharov: I love therefore I am).
Immersed in great sorrow, the struggler tries with all
his might to discover the reasons for the withdrawal and loss of Grace and
looks for ways to enable it to return and be recaptured. Some possible reasons
for the withdrawal are some slack in the spiritual effort, negligence and even
acquiescence to an evil thought” (See above: St Silouan).
Elder Sophrony does not particularly refer to these
causes nor does he talk about the kinds of God-forsakenness. However he
concentrates on pride, as the root of all evil and the main cause for the loss of
divine Grace. He stresses that “when we succumb to the spirit of pride or
self-satisfaction—we fall pray to God-forsakenness. According to his spiritual
father, St Silouan, this imperceptible passion of pride “drains the soul from
Grace”.
Nevertheless, Elder Sophrony insists that when we
undergo the withdrawal or reduction of Grace after its first visitation, this
is in accordance with the providence of the Lord; God-forsakenness is
inevitable even for the most disciplined ascetics. “God-forsakenness is not
just one way to perceive the presence of the Lord but also a gift from
God”. “It is a gift of God’s love” (See
N. Sakharov: I love therefore I am). The main reason why God-forsakenness takes
place has nothing to do with man, but occurs in accordance with God’s wisdom
and his disciplinary providence. It is what Elder Joseph the Hesychast was
describing as “the law of the Lord”. Elder Sophrony says: “Initially one
receives the Lord’s Grace, then Grace recedes and man goes through the Lord’s
discipline. Everyone must go through
this discipline. Otherwise if he receives Grace without the necessary
discipline, he may be harmed and may be eternally condemned. One must go by
humility”.
Elder Sophrony compares the stage of God-forsakenness
with the biblical times when the Jews had to wander in the desert before they
were given the Promised Land. This course is painful but also astonishing. Its
deeper meaning will be revealed to the one who will endure unto the end. Elder
Sophrony goes on: “The essence of God-forsakenness is to prove that we are
still immature; that we have not yet reached the end of the road; that we
must drink from the cup He has drunk
unto the end” ( See above: We shall see Him as He is).
“The Lord abandons us so that our free will is expressed”.
At this stage “man is given the opportunity to exercise his free will and his
faith in the Lord”. Through our self-emptying and our self-degradation to
nothing, “we are cleansed from the cursed ‘inheritance’ of pride”. Through the
tribulations during this stage, the Lord wishes “to establish the ascetic as
His image- as lord and king- and convey to him sanctification and the fullness
of divine existence” (Above: St Silouan the Athonite).
The reason for the protracted God-forsakenness is for
the faithful to receive the genuine wealth of Grace as his indefeasible and
eternal possession at the end of hard and long trials. Namely, to unify Grace
with man’s created nature so that they become one; to deify man and convey to
him the divine, uncreated form of existence (Arch. Sophrony: On prayer).
Elder Sophrony establishes God-forsakenness
theologically in the face of Christ. “Jesus Christ as man” lived though the
absolute God-forsakenness at Gethsemane but mostly on the cross when “Jesus
cried with a loud voice … my God why have you forsaken me?”(Matthew 27, 46) The
faithful must taste this same kind of God-forsakenness to some degree, as the
image of Christ, in order to receive his deliverance (See above: We shall see
Him as He is).
Usually after long periods of God-forsakenness, the
Lord abundantly consoles man, as in the case of St Silouan, when he had been
overcome by the dark spirit of despair. Indeed, having accepted the thought
that it is “impossible to plead fervently with the Lord” he saw Man-God Christ
alive. For this reason Elder Joseph, the Hesychast, stressed that “the Lord’s
Grace reveals itself perceptively to man at the end of exhausting fortitude”.
During the times of God-forsakenness the afflictions
injure the heart with a kind of metaphysical pain, which according to Elder
Sophrony, was “the refrain of his life in Christ”( Above: We shall see Him as
He is). Through the experience of such personal afflictions man is able to
comprehend the suffering of the entire human race and feel the misery of every
single person. “Through such afflictions man’s existence expands” and thus he
is able to pray for the entire human race. Also with this kind of prayer which
is beyond nature and takes place face to face with the Lord, the hypostatic
principle is revealed. The purpose of the life of the orthodox Christian is to
acquire the Grace of the Holy Spirit. Man assimilates divine Grace after many
years of ascetic struggles, having experienced her presence and withdrawal many
times. This kind of assimilation takes the form of spiritual comprehension,
which the elder calls ‘dogmatic conscience’ (Above: St Silouan the Athonite).
Therefore, the authentic authority of the orthodox dogma does not hail from
academic circles but from such places where empirical theology is cultivated
and developed, in accordance with Patristic Tradition. Monasteries are mostly
such places.
The person who experiences God-forsakenness must be
aware of this route- i.e. God’s discipline-and not give up, hesitate or
retreat. The Elder stresses that many people had experienced the first
visitation by Grace, but because they were not aware of the path to spiritual
growth, they stopped striving and fell from the eyes of the Lord, when Grace
withdrew. They also regarded the first visitation by Grace as “a temporary
spiritual excitement” and not as an ontological experience (Above: We shall see
Him as He is).
If the faithful is to win over this stage of
God-forsakenness he must practice self-condemnation; he must ask for Lord’s
mercy with genuine heartache and a humiliated heart and realize with all his
might that the Lord’s words: “‘Without Me you can do nothing’ are true”.
Self-condemnation leads to self-perception and to the recognition that we have
an internal ailing condition which is the abode we have personally prepared for
eternity. It also leads us to experience the personal torment which is taking
place in the realm of the inner places of our heart. Thus, finally we acquire
an internal hatred for ourselves- ‘the self-hatred’ as the Elder used to say-
which abolishes all passions”.
He, who is being tested during God-forsakenness, must
not deviate from his commitment to the commandments and to obedience; he must
have the faith of contemplation, not subdue his conscience and show endless
fortitude. He, who shows absolute obedience to his spiritual father, walks
along the path of God-forsakenness with fewer hardships and more protection.
The Elder underlines that eventually despair does not prevail over the ascetic.
Even though the soul is hanging over the abyss of Hades and shudders, “nevertheless
hope nests deeply inside. The cloud of God-forsakenness clears and the sun
rises again” (Above: On prayer).
According to the Elder, the faithful must behave as
though Grace is still with him during the times of God-forsakenness, even if he
fills empty inside. “He must do whatever Grace had taught him whenever it had
visited him” (Above: We shall see Him as He is). That is, the Elder assimilates
the teachings by St Macarius the Egyptian, who prompts whoever experiences such
conditions “to force himself to do good even when his heart is objecting,
forever expecting the Lord’s mercy without any doubt” (St Macarius the
Egyptian: Homilies). “It is natural and pleasant to love God when Grace dwells
perceptively inside someone. However, if
one is entrusting himself to the same kind of love when he is being crucified
during the second stage of God-forsakenness, means that his love approaches the
fullness of perfection and becomes stronger than the death he experiences by
the withdrawal of Grace and by his self-emptying”( Arch. Zachary: A reference
to Elder Sophrony’s Theology).
Those who experience Christianity as a moral or
intellectual philosophical or theological system do not experience
God-forsakenness. Such people have no empirical communion with the Lord. They
are ignorant of the existence of and the participation in divine Grace, its
advent and its departure. They may believe in the existence of God but they do
not possess the living faith, the faith of contemplation. Such faith is missing
from the moralists and the intellectuals. This is what the Elder means when he
writes that “those who do not believe in God have not been acquainted with
God-forsakenness” (Above: We shall see Him as He is).
I humbly pray that we all manage to keep our good and
steadfast confession towards Christ when we arrive in the desert of
God-forsakenness, so that we will finally reach the Promised Land, the final
stage. This is the stage where as blessed Elder Sophrony says, the depressing
exchange of conditions will cease and Grace will love us and will not desert us
anymore.
source: Translated by Olga Konari Kokkinou from the
Greek edition: Αρχιμ. Εφραίμ
Βατοπαιδινού Καθηγουμένου Ι. Μ. Μ. Βατοπαιδίου, Αθωνικός Λόγος, Ιερά Μεγίστη
Μονή Βατοπαιδίου, Άγιον Όρος 2010.
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