About Renunciation
In the beginning God created man and set him in paradise, as related to us in sacred Scripture. He was adorned with all the virtues, and he was told not to eat of the tree in the midst of paradise. Everything he could need was provided for him in paradise. He had prayer and contemplation amid honor and glory. He had healthy emotions and perceptions, and he was perfect in the way he was created, for he was made in the image of God, that is, he was immortal, and he had free-will and he was crowned with every virtue.
When he disobeyed the sole command of God and ate of the tree which God had ordered him not to partake of, he was cast out of Paradise and fell away from the state that was in agreement with this nature. He fell into a state against nature, being prey for sin, ambition, a love of the pleasures of this life and other passions, and he was governed by them, and became a slave to them by means of his transgression. Then slowly evil increased and death reigned. There was no more piety, and everywhere was ignorance of God.
Only a precious few, I say, of the Fathers guided by the law of nature recognized God. Such were Abraham and the other Patriarchs, along with Noah and Jacob. And to say simply, very few and unusual were those who knew of God. For at that time the foe used all his evil ways so that sin prevailed.
Then idolatry spread and the worship of numerous gods, divining, murders and the rest of the devil's wiles. God in His goodness, however, had compassion on his creation and gave Moses a written law which prohibited some things and permitted others, declaring, "This you will do, that you will not do." He provided the commandments, and stated, "The Lord your God, is one. He is the Lord." Also afterward to turn their minds from the worship of many gods, "You shall love the Lord your God, with all your soul and with all your mind." Here as everywhere declaring that the Lord God is one. So as well in the decalogue, "The Lord your God you will adore, Him only will you worship. You will cleave to Him and swear by his name." Then he subjoins, "you will have no other gods, nor any image of anything in heaven above or on earth beneath," for they used to bow down before all types of creatures. The good God, then, provided the law as an aid to their conversion, by establishing good from evil, but they did not change. He sent the prophets, but they could accomplish nothing, because evil prevailed, which Isaiah declared, "no injury, no hurt, no wound was stopped, no possibility of calming remedies, no oil, no bind for wounds." As much as to say that wickedness was not confined to one part, or in one spot, but in the entire body. It took in the entire soul and all of its powers. All things were a slave to sin; all things were under the sway of sin. As Jeremiah states, "We would heal Babylon and yet she would not be healed." This is to say, we have shown Your Name, we have declared Your Commandments, Your benefits and Your warnings. We have placed Babylon on guard against uprisings of the enemy. Still she is not cured. She has not changed. She has not feared, nor turned from her evil. In another spot he says, "they have not been subject to discipline," which is correction and instruction. And in the psalm it declares, "Their soul hates all nourishment and has come close to death's gates."
Then at long last the good God who loves mankind sent His only begotten Son. It was only for God to heal and overcome such misery, and the prophets were not ignorant concerning this. So David plainly stated, "O You, who are seated on the cherubim, reveal Yourself. Arouse Your power and come to help us." And also, "Lord, bend down the heavens and descend." And there was also more. The other prophets too, each in his own manner, announce many things about it. now beseeching Him to descend, now showing that He surely will come. So our Lord did come, by becoming man on account of us, so that, as Scripture states, "like should be healed by like, soul by soul, flesh by flesh, for he became fully man, but without sin." He took on our own substance and took his origin from our race and He became the new Adam, just like the Adam He had created. Because He restored man to His nature. He renewed the corrupt senses and sensibility of human nature to what it had previous been at the start. Having become man, He raised the fallen man again. He liberated him from slavery to sin which had lorded over him by compulsion. Because with force and tyranny the foe was guiding man to sin, reluctantly, without desiring to sin, as the Apostle states, "I do not the good which I want to do, but rather the evil which I do not want, this I do." So, having become man for us, God liberated man from the tyranny of the foe. He removed his power, broke his strength, took us away from his hand, and liberated us from slavery, except if we choose to obey him by sinning. Because the Lord granted us power, as He told us, to trample on serpents and scorpions and all the power of the enemy, because He purified us of all sin by baptism. Because Holy Baptism cleanses us of sin and wipes away all corruption. So again, seeing our weakness and knowing with certainty even after baptism we would fall yet again, as it is written, "For the heart of man is given to evil from his childhood." But God by His goodness provided us sacred ordinances which cleanse us, so if we truly wanted to, by observing these commandments we can be cleansed, not just from our sins but from those inborn inclinations which guide us to evil.
Sin is one matter, but innate reaction or passion is something else. These are our various reactions: pride, anger, sexual pleasure, enmity, greed, and so forth. The corresponding sins are the indulgence of these passions, that is when someone acts and brings them into reality, those works which were suggested to him by his instinctive desires. It is impossible to exist without innate desires rising up, but not to give into them is not impossible. So God gave us ordinances, as I mentioned, which cleanse our passions and those evil inclinations which come from our inner man. He puts into man's inner conscience the ability to judge good and evil. He aroused it from sleep. He demonstrated the causes from which sins arise and He said to us, "The Law says, "Do not commit adultery," but I tell you do not give way to desire. The Law proclaims, "Do not murder," but I tell you, do not give place to anger. If you give room to bodily desire, and today you do not commit adultery, it does not stop your inwardly turmoil until it brings you to action. If you are irritated and you stir up your wrath against your brother, then you hit, speak evil, plot against him, and so forth, so that bit by bit you come to kill him.
Again the Law tells us, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." But our Lord teaches us not only to endure patiently the blows of one who strikes us, but humbly to turn him the other cheek. Thus the point of the Law is to instruct us not to do to others what we do not wish to endure, and so it removes our wrong-doing by our fear of suffering.
Now the point must be, as I am regularly stating, to throw away our enmity, our love of pleasure, our vanity and the rest of our disobedient desires. I say again that the goal of Christ, our Master, is exactly to instruct us how we commit our sins, and how we fall into our vices. First he liberates us through Holy Baptism, as I have already stated, granting us forgiveness of our sins, and he has granted us the power to do good if we want to and to no longer be pulled down into sin, by compulsion. Because the one who has agreed to sin is loaded down and pulled away by it. As it was written, "On account of his sin everyone is placed in bondage." Then he instructs us through his sacred ordinances how to be purified from our own passions in order that we do not descend again into the same sins. Lastly he shows us how we come to detest and disobey the ordinances of God and he adds the treatment, that all can obey and be saved.
What is this treatment and what is the reason for our contempt? Hear what the Lord tells us, "Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls." There you have it summarized for you. He has instructed us what the root of all evils are and also He gives us the cure for it, leading to all goodness. He shows us that conceit from pride throws us down and that it is impossible to receive mercy except by the opposite, which is humility. Puffing oneself up leads to contempt and disobedience leads to ruin, while humility produces obedience and the salvation of souls. And I call that true humility which is not humble in word and outward form but is deeply rooted in the heart, because this is what he means when he said that, "I am meek and humble of heart." May all who want to find genuine humility and rest for their soul learn to have a humble mind and to perceive that in it is all joy and glory, and peace, and in the haughtiness of superiority, the opposite.
From where do all these agonies of the mind come from? Is it not from our haughtiness, and our thinking too much of ourselves? Is it not by elevating ourselves and our evil choices? Is it not the hardness of our nature that lords over us?
But how did this happen? Was not man formed in all comfort, all delight, in full peace and glory? Was he not placed in Paradise? He was removed. Why? God said you will not do this, and he did it. Do you see the arrogance, the stubbornness and the self-will? And thus God said, man is mad, he does not understand how to be happy, unless he suffers bad days he will depart and be brought to ruin. Unless he understands what strife is he will never understand what rest is. He then gave what he was due and cast him out of Paradise. Then he delivered him over to his own will and to his own lusts, so that he might grind down his bones and learn that he is unable to go straight by himself, but only through the command of God. So that he might learn the poverty of disobedience and that peace that comes from obedience. As the prophet declared, "Your rebellion will instruct you." Still, the virtue of God, as I have often stated, did not hate what He had made, but again urged him to be obedient. "Come to Me," He said, "all you that are heavy laden and I will refresh you." That is to say, "see how you must work. See the distress you have brought on your own head. See how you are tried by evil and your own disobedience.
But come change your behavior, admit your own impotence so that you may come to be at peace and true glory. Live with a humble mind rather than giving in to your grave by pretentious pride. Learn from me, because I am meek and humble of heart and you will discover rest for your souls. See brothers, what pride does? See what humility can do. What was all this turmoil for? If from the start man had humbled himself and hearkened to God and fulfilled his commandments, there would have been no fall.
Again, after Adam had done evil, God gave him an opportunity to repent and be forgiven, and yet he continued to be stiff-necked and would not repent. Because God came to him and said, "Adam where are you?" And rather than saying, "From what honor have you descended? Are you not put to shame? Why have you sinned? Why did you err? As if encouraging him simply to say, "Forgive me." But there was no mark of humility. There was no change in his heart but instead the opposite. He answered, "The wife that you have provided me," note, not "my wife tricked me," but "the wife which You provided me," as if saying, "this calamity, you put on me."
So it is, my brothers, that when a man does not have the wherewithal to accuse himself, he has no qualms about accusing God. Then God came to Eve and said to her, "Why did you not abide by the command I gave you?" as if stating, "If you would only say, "Forgive me," humbling your soul and then you would be forgiven." And yet again, not a single word. No "forgive me," but rather she answered, "The Serpent tricked me." That is to say, the serpent did evil, what is that to me? What you doing, you scoundrels? Kneel down in repentance, admit your wrongdoing, have mercy on your nakedness. But neither of them brought themselves down to the level of self-indictment. There was no trace of humility in either of them. Now look and ponder how this was an anticipation of our own current state. See how many and powerful evils it has brought to us, this self-vindication, this holding tight to our will, this stubbornness in being our own leader. All this was the result of that detestable insolence against God. While the products of humility are blaming oneself, mistrust of our own feelings, having enmity toward self-will. But this one is made worthy of being redeemed, of having his nature renewed to a better state, though the purifying operation of Christ's holy ordinances. Lacking humility it is impossible to follow the commandments or to move toward anything worthwhile. As Abba Mark declared, "without a contrite heart it is impossible to be at liberty from evil or to obtain virtue." So, by compunction you take hold of the commandments, are liberated from vice, acquire virtue and, even more important, a peaceful mind returns to you. The saints of old understood this well, and by all their training and leadership in what it is to have a humble nature, they were zealous in joining themselves to God. And thus they became friends of God. They were able, after Holy Baptism, not only to wash away their sins from evil passions, but also to overcome the passions, and to obtain full control of them. Such were St. Anthony, St. Pachómios and the other God-bearing fathers. Their goal was to cleanse themselves, as the Apostle states, "from every stain of the flesh and spirit." They understood that by honoring the commandments the soul is cleansed and the mind is enlightened, and they saw that it begins functioning as it was made to. The commands of the Lord provide light and enlighten the eyes. Being in the world they understood that it was impossible without turmoil to advance in virtue, and they worked out an odd form of life, an unusual means of passing their time. By this I mean the solitary life. They started by fleeing the world and living in the desert. Then with watching, fasting and sleeping on the bare ground, along with other forms of mortification. Having abandon their homeland and their relatives, wealth, and goods, they crucified themselves to the world. And not merely did they obey the commandments, but made a gift for God. The commandments were provided to all Christians and it is understood that all Christians should keep them. This is, as it were, the tribute which must be paid to the King. All who declare, "I will not pay the tribute," will they escape the punishment? There are, though in the world, great and renowned men who do not merely pay the allocated tribute, but also provide gifts and are deemed worthy of great honor, benefits and respect. So, as well, with the holy fathers. Not only have they observed the commandments but have also provided gifts to God. These gifts are chastity and poverty. These are not required but are freely offered. Nowhere is it recorded, you should not have a wife or children. Christ did not give a commandment such as, "Sell your assets." He did not choose to do so when the lawyer drew near to him saying, "God Master, what will I do to inherit eternal life?" He answered, "You know the commandments. Do not kill, steal, commit adultery, bear false witness, etc." When he replied, "All of these things I have observed from my youth," then He enjoined, "If you desire to be perfect, sell your possessions and give the money to the poor..." See he did not say, "Sell your possessions" as a command, but as advise. This is plain from the condition given, "IF you desire to be perfect." So as we said, the fathers presented to God besides all the other virtues, their chastity and poverty as gifts. They crucified the world to themselves, and fought to crucify themselves to this world. As the Apostle states, "The world is crucified to me and I to the world." What is the distinction? The world is crucified to a man when a man gives up the world to become a hermit and leaves his parents, goods, riches, and business matters. Then he is crucifying this world to himself, because he has forsaken himself, and this is what the Apostle meant when he said, "the world is crucified to me." But then he continues, "and I to the world." How can one be crucified to the world, when after being liberated from external worldly goods he starts to fight against pleasure, against the lust of possessing, against his own will, and he kills his wicked passions. Then he is crucified to the world and is worthy to declare with the Apostle, "The world is crucified to me, and I to the world." As I said, our fathers, who crucified this world to themselves, were eager in their battle to crucify themselves to this world. We thought that we were crucifying the world to ourselves when we came to the monastery, but now we have no interest in crucifying ourselves to the world. We still have a taste for it. We are still earnestly joined to its glories, to tasty food and clothing. Consider a useful tool, which we have become attached to. We permit that wretched tool to have the identical effect on us, as Abba Zosimos tells us, as if it were a hundred gold pieces. We suppose that we leave the world and the dealings of it, and yet even though we enter the monastery, by small things we show that we give in to our desires for the things of this world, and we suffer from this by our own foolishness by forsaking such great and honorable things, gratifying our unreasonable passions with trivial items. Each of us has forsaken something, maybe great wealth, or maybe something small, yet each has forsaken what he had. We arrive at the monastery and as I said, we gratify our own lusts by small things which are worth nothing. We should not do this, because as we are separated from the world and its dealing, so we should be set apart from the desire for material items. We should know what renunciation is and why we entered the monastery, and what the reason is we have set for ourselves, so that we might change our conduct to match it. We should also throw ourselves into the fight as our Fathers did. Our habit is made up of a tunic with short sleeves, a belt of leather, a garment and head covering. Each of these is a symbol and we should understand what they mean. Why do we put on a tunic with short sleeves when there are others who wear them long? Long sleeves are a symbol of hands. Hands are given to us to labor. When the thought comes into our mind to do anything belonging to the old man, i.e. stealing, hitting someone, it is in fact to do something sinful with our hands. We should give heed to our habit and take note that we do not have longs sleeves. Thus we have no hands for doing the work of unredeemed men. There is another symbol involved in the tunic. It has a purple mark and what is this mark a symbol of? Anyone who fights for a king has a purple on his clothing. This is because a king is robed with purple and all those who battle on his side put purple on their clothing. This is the regal uniform which displays our commitment to fight for Christ, our King, and that we want to suffer for him all the tribulations he endured for us. Because when Our Master was suffering on account of us, he wore a purple robe, primarily as a king, because he is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. But then also because he was mocked by ungodly soldiers. So also having purple for a sign, we promise, as I stated before, to endure all that he suffered. A soldier does not forsake his service and leave secretly to become a farmer or a businessman, because that would make him dishonorable. As the apostle stated, "No one fighting for God entangles himself with worldly business," so that he is able to satisfy the One who he has committed himself to. So also we should struggle, leaving aside world matters, and to be engaged with God only, and as it says, to be like "A maiden who is both dedicated and without distraction." In addition we have a belt, but why do we use it? The belt we wear is a symbol foremost that we are prepared for our labor. Everyone who desires to work first girds himself so that he is not impeded by his garment. As the apostle says, "They stood with their loins girded." Also the belt is made from deer hide, which is a sign of our body being put to death, and so we should also mortify our carnal lusts. The belt is girded around the loins, from where carnal pleasures are said to proceed. This is what the apostle declares, "Put to death your members on the earth against fornication and defilement." We also put on a scapular, which is put around our shoulders, this is a sign of a cross on our shoulders. As he said, "Take up your cross and follow me." What is the cross, but the complete mortification erected by our faith in Christ. Because faith, as the teaching of the fathers says, "always moves past hindrances and liberates us from the work which leads us to this perfect mortification." That is, that a man put to death in himself the love of the things of this world. He has forsaken parents, goods, riches, all that a man can renounce to take up the struggle. May he also forsake his will and the lust for these things. This is what we mean by our perfect renunciation. We also put on a cowl or hood. This is a sign of humiliation. Small ones, not mature men, wear the cowl without enmity. We don the cowl for this cause, that we might be children in hostility. As the apostle states, "Do not be children in understanding, but be children in malice." What does it mean to be children in malice? A babe has no ill-will. If he is not treated with dignity he does not get angry. If he is honored, he does not become arrogant. If he is deprived of his goods he is not disturbed. To be a child in enmity implies having no interest in revenge or glory. Again the hood is a mark of God's grace, for as the cowl covers and warms the head of a child, so also the grace of God blankets the mind, as the book of the fathers, states, "that the cowl is a symbol of the grace of God our Savior, our guide, our youth in Christ, because of the devil's regular attempts to strike and wound us. And thus we have girded about us the belt which is the mortification of senseless passions. On our shoulders is the scapular which is our cross, and there is the hood which is the mark of purity and youth in Christ. May we lead a life in accord with our image, as the fathers have said, for fear we take on a character at odds with it. But since we have forsaken great things let us forsake the little ones as well. As we have forsaken the world, let us renounce our passionate attachment to it. Because by certain small and useless things our untimely desires join us again to the world without our perceiving it. If then we desire to be liberated and to enjoy complete liberty, may we learn to remove our desires and so by the help of God, in a little bit, we will advance and come to a state of peace. Because nothing helps men so much as to remove their self-will, because thereby a man readies the way for almost all the virtues. If one, who is on journey, finds a staff and uses it, he is rid of much of the the labor of the trip. So also with cutting off sensual desires. From this cutting away of self-will a man acquires peace and from peace he comes, with aid from God, to a peaceful indifference. In a short period of time a man can remove ten such desires. He takes a short walk and sees something. His mind says to him, "Go wander over there and take a look," and he says to his mind, "No. I will not." And so he cuts away his will. Again he discovers somebody gossiping, and his mind says to him, "Go and speak with them." But he removes his desire and does not talk. Or again his mind says to him, "Go and inquire of the cook what is cooking." But he does not go, but forsakes his will. Then he observes something else, and his mind says to him, "Descend there and inquire, who brought it." But he does not ask. A man who denies himself in this manner comes bit by bit to form a practice of it, so that by denying himself in small things, he might start to deny himself in great things without any trouble. Lastly he starts not having any of these extra desires, but whatever happens, he is happy with it, as if it were the thing he wanted. And thus, not desiring to fulfill his own desires, he discovers himself regularly doing what he wants to. Because not having his own particular desires, he desires everything that happens. So he is found, as we have related, to be without any particular attachments, and from his peacefully state he comes to be in a state of holy dispassion. Observe how great a benefit it provides for us to remove, bit by bit our will. This is what St. Dosithy did, a man who forsook a life of pleasure and laziness, who had never heard a single word concerning God. You have heard what lofty heights he achieved in a short time. How he mastered himself through obedience, and cut away his will. Also how God glorified him and did not permit such virtue to fade away from the memory of man, but displayed it to one of the saintly elders who observed him in the crowd of all the saints delighting in their happiness.
I will relate to you another matter which also occurred during my time, so that you learn how obedience, and not to follow after your own will, so that you might be pulled back from death. When I was with a disciple of Abba Seridos, a disciple came from a great old monk, who was from Ascalon, about some issue regarding his abbot. He had an order from his senior to return after vespers to his cell. When he left, a terrible thunderstorm arose, with heavy rain which caused flooding, and yet he departed as the senior had told him. We entreated him to stay, observing that it was impossible to safely get across the river. He would not be persuaded to stay with us. So we told him, "Let us go with him at least until the river. When he sees the river he will want to return." So we departed with him and when we came to the river he removed his cloak and wrapped it round his head, tied up his scapular and leaped into the violent water of the river. We could only stand there amazed being afraid that he would drowned, but he stayed afloat, and in a short time he was on the other side. He donned his mantle, made a deep bow, and then accepted ours in return and ran off. But we remained there in wonder, amazed at the power of virtue. We came close with fear, but he went straight through without harm on account of his obedience. Another brother was sent by his Abba on important business to someone in the country. When he saw that he was been entreated by the man's daughter to commit a disgraceful act and that he was falling into danger he merely cried out, "O God of my Father, save me," and immediately he was found on the way to Skete, fleeing to his spiritual father. See the power of virtue. See the power of prayer and how much help he received who cried out for the prayers of his spiritual father. It was as if he were saying, "O God, through the prayers of my father, save me." And then he was immediately on his way back home. See the humility and prudence of both. They were in a bind, the old man wanted to send the brother to their friend in the world and he did not tell him, "Go," but instead, "Would you like to go?" And the brother did not answer, "Yes, I'll go," but "I will do what you want me to do." He was afraid that he might descend into sin and he was fearful of being disobedient. Then since they were in a terrible bind the old man said to him, "Arise and go." He did not tell him, "I trust in my God that He will guard you," but rather he said, "I trust in the prayers of my spiritual father that they will preserve you." So also the brother did not declare, when he was tempted, "O God, save me," but rather, "O God, through the prayers of my spiritual father, save me." Both of them were relying on the prayers of their father. See how they joined obedience to humility. Just as horses are yoked together with a chariot so that they remain in step with each other, so also obedience must have humility yoked with it. How can one be worthy of this grace, except, as I said, he is harsh with himself cutting off his desires and giving himself over, after God, to his spiritual father, without delay, doing all things in the complete confidence that he is obeying God. Such a one is worthy of finding mercy, and finding salvation. There is also a story of St. Basil, who, while visiting the monasteries, asked one of the leaders, "Do you have any saints here?" The Abba said, "Through your prayers, my lord, we all would like to become saints." But again, St. Basil asked him, "No, I meant to say, do you have any saints here?" And the Abba hesitated (for he also had spiritual insight). "Yes," he said, and he summoned one of the brothers. When he arrived, the saint ordered him, "Wash my feet," and he went and retrieved what was required. After his feet were washed, Basil man said, "Wait here until I wash your feet." And without grumbling he permitted himself to be washed by the saint. After testing the brother in this manner, he said, "When I enter into the sanctuary, you enter as well. And remind me to ordain you." Again without grumbling the brother was obedient, and when he observed St. Basil in the inner sanctuary he went up and reminded him, and he was ordained by St. Basil and he took him with him, for who else save this blessed brother was worthy to be with this holy God-bearing father? If you have no experience of this unwavering obedience, then you do not know what true inner peace is. Once, before I understood the power of this virtue, humility, hearing that by much tribulation we must enter the Kingdom of Heaven, I started to be concerned because I had no turmoil in my life, and when such thoughts came to me I used to take up a pen and write to one of the elders. When this happened I wrote to Abba John, the disciple of Abba Barsanufius, and as I was writing, before finishing, I felt relief, and this alone increased my freedom from concern and my sense of peace of mind. And this is what I said, "Lord, since the Scriptures say that by much tribulation we should enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and I do not seem to have even one affliction, what will I do? Will I not lose my soul if I don't have any afflictions or concerns?" When I had described my thought to him in this manner, he wrote back to me saying, "Be not afraid, because all who cast themselves upon the full obedience of the fathers will certainly obtain this liberty from concern and have tranquility in their soul."
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