Sanctification of
the Soul
W
retched soul: know thyself. Realize how nobly you were created by God! Understand that you are eternal, that you will never die, that you have the privilege of immortality. You are not like the body, which will die some day. It willperish and become food for the worms; it will decay and rot. Of course, it will be resurrected during the Second Coming of Christ;
however, if the body has not received the grace of God during this life, its resurrection will be unto perdition.
My soul, you are something heavenly, something exquisite, and something noble. You have been created in a special way by God. You will leave this world, and you will return to Him, as Christ revealed: “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world.
Again I leave the world and go to the Father” ( Jn.
16:28). Your homeland is not down here. Your homeland, O soul, is in Heaven because you are imperishable. Everything up there is unchanging; it does not lose its magnificence, beauty, splendor, fragrance, and
divine grace.
In that homeland there reside angels, saints, all that is heavenly, and the finest that God has to offer. He has arranged everything there very nicely, just as everything here has its beauty. The sun, the moon, the stars, the seasons, the land and
sea animals, the birds, man, and so many other things all possess a distinct beauty and have been arrayed so wisely by God. Collectively, they are ordered in superb harmony and constitute a source of appreciable pleasure and delight for man as he admires them.
When a person travels into the country—
especially in the spring—
and sees the lush green forests, the colorful flowers, the astoundingly beautiful works of God, he can clearly envision how beautiful the imperishable, eternal, endless, and unchanging
things found in the Heavenly Kingdom will be. Man will become a citizen of and inherit this homeland above, the Kingdom on high—both with his soul and body, and with the nobility with which he is endowed—
only when he has sorted things out with God down
here, while still on the earth. Then he will have every right to acquire eternal life.
“Lay hold on eternal l i f e ” (1 Tim. 6:12), the Apostle Paul exhorted Timothy. That is, take a good hold of eternal life so that you do not lose it.
How does someone
hold on to eternal life?
When one constantly meditates on it! By contemplating heavenly life in our mind and heart, the desire for it is born, which in turn helps us lead a careful life here on earth, in order to acquire it. When someone watches his health, he
takes every precaution possible to ensure it is not compromised. When someone desires to acquire something, one struggles and makes every possible effort to attain it. Similarly, when we think of the other life and wholeheartedly believe in its existence,
we will undoubtedly desire to struggle in order to acquire it.
A certain hymn says,
“Be careful not to be pulled down by earthly and perishable things, lest you become attached to them and lose the eternal things.” The body, which is inferior,[9] should not
prevail over the soul, which is nobler and superior. On the contrary, the soul should govern and win over the body.
How does the soul win over the body? When man struggles to purify his inner being, he wins over the body, for through the soul’s effort, man’s body
is also purified and cleansed.
If the heart of man is pure, he will speak modestly, and his movements, his gestures, and all his bodily senses will function according to the degree of cleanliness and purity of his heart.
However, if the heart is
impure, all the sensory organs will generate sinful material—
something that will ultimately hinder man’s salvation. This is why Christ directs us, “See to it, O man, to clean the inside of your cup because when you clean it, the outside will also
become clean. If you leave the inside unclean, the outside will also be d i r t y ” (cf. Mt. 23:26).
Thus, when the body is purified, together with the soul it will achieve the incorruptible resurrection at the Second Coming.
When the voice of the Son and Word of God
gives the signal for the Resurrection, and when the angels’ trumpets sound, the dead will arise from the four corners of the earth. The land and the sea will give back the d e a d (vid. Rev. 20:13), and the souls will reunite with their bodies—not in a perishable and material
form, but henceforth in an incorrupt state, just as the body of Christ after His Resurrection.
The Resurrection of Christ heralds and confirms that all people will be resurrected during the Second Coming;
however, not as they were buried down here in the
grave, but “in incorruption and in spirituality” (cf. 1 Cor.
15:42). The clouds will gather the people who will be saved and will lift them to meet the descending Judge of the living and the dead.
“Then we who are alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And thus we shall be with the Lord forever” (1 Thess. 4:17).
In our prayer we should ask God to give us the proper enlightenment, self-knowledge, and awareness of our “divine
nobility,” as it is written in the Psalms (vid. Ps.
49:13). We should constantly ponder, “So I am a heavenly being? Do I have such an exalted relationship with God?”
Of course! We were created in God’s “image and likeness” (vid. Gen.
1:26). According to His
“image,” on account of our noetic [10] capacity, and “in His likeness”
because we are able to
“resemble God”—as much as is humanly possible—through virtue.
God possesses the virtues by nature, whereas we acquire them with His
help and grace when we struggle. We have them through God’s blessing because we have been created at a certain point
“in time,” whereas God is timeless. Therefore, we should make good use of our “divine nobility” and divine origin, and try to fill our soul (which has
been exceptionally graced and blessed by God) with as many virtues as possible. We should nourish it, water it, clothe it, and embellish it, so that our soul becomes beautiful in the eyes of God.
Prayer, hymnology, attending church, making
prostrations, primarily going to Holy Confession and receiving Holy Communion, helping others in any way possible (especially through acts of love that stem from our heart and not from pride and egotism), are all good steps toward beautifying
our soul.
But above all, we should maintain a humble mindset. We must believe that everything we accomplish is due to God’s help. “What do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had
not received it?” (1 Cor.
4:7). Whatever we have, we have received it all from God. You assisted someone with your own hands? Very well. Didn’t God give you your hands?
Did you say a good word with your mouth? Did you save someone with your good advice? Do not
boast! God gave you both your mouth and the ability to speak. Did you use your feet to run and serve others? Well, they also belong to God. Did you praise God with your heart, with your inner voice,[11] and with your inherent logic? Did you have good thoughts about
God and your neighbor?
Again, the heart and mind are also God’s. Did you even desire to be born?
No! It was God Who brought you into existence. Since everything is a gift from God and all things must serve Him, then what can you possibly offer to
God?
This is why Christ said to His disciples,
“When you have done all that you were ordered to do, you must know that you are simple and worthless slaves” (cf. Lk.
17:10). “I give to you, and then you give to others. If I had not given to you,
you would have nothing to give. You did not conceal the gift, but you transmitted it and multiplied it.” Hence, what is rewarded is the desire to perform virtue, as in the parable of the talents (vid. Mt. 25:15-28).
To one person He
gave one talent, to the other He gave two, and to another He gave five. He then demanded a twofold return from all three: the first person had to make them two, the second four, and the third ten.
The last two servants, of course, doubled the talents, while the first one
hid it. “My master is strict,” he said, “so I’d better hide it; and when he comes I will give it back to him.” He was condemned as lazy and indolent because he buried his talent, whereas the others increased their talents and received God’s blessing.
We should do the same. We should multiply every talent God has given us.
Has he given us the ability to speak? We should say a few consoling words.
Has he given us physical strength? We should serve someone
who is weak.
To someone else He has given the gift to visit the sick, in order to help and serve in this manner.
Another person He called to work within marriage, in order to help her husband or his wife and the children.
Another He called to
be a monk and to serve Him with ascesis.[12]
Another He blessed with economic prosperity in order to help others financially. One must use the wealth for life’s necessities alone and not be engrossed by it. Man must use the blessings
that God has given him to take care not only of himself but also other people in need.
To each person He has given a certain gift and calling, through which man is invited to serve God, in order to express his gratitude through his actions. For his
gratefulness toward God, man is saved by His goodness. God accepts man’s gratitude as service to Him, and He responds by granting His own gifts
—primarily the gift of His Kingdom and the Homeland above.
It is necessary for us to receive enlightenment.
We should not be deluded by the world. We should not be drawn and attached to earthly things. We should not be weighed down by matters of the present age and this current life. Rather, we should be affixed to the things above, to the Kingdom of God.
Down here on earth, as man advances through the many years of life, he changes due to illness and aging. He is born as a small infant. He then develops into a child, and later an adolescent. He grows old, and finally he returns to God. These progressive stages in age
alter man, until he finally matures fully like a well-ripened fruit.
As he changes physically, his soul is also changing. If he draws near to God, he receives the things that come from God. We touch an object, for example, and feel if it is warm or cold. We
touch a piece of clothing and say it is soft. When we touch wooden furniture we say it is hard.
As soon as we touch something, we sense its specific properties. The same takes place with the soul. When we approach God correctly, we feel and taste His energies.
For instance, when we pray, we feel the love of God, the joy of God, the peace of God, the wisdom of God, the compassion of God. Thus, we also become compassionate and loving; we also are enlightened and purified.
Just as God is pure, man also becomes pure
because he receives the power from God to purify himself. Thus, slowly but surely, his soul is embellished in the eyes of God.
Conversely, when a person falls into sin and wallows in the mire of iniquity, his soul becomes disfigured and filthy, it
begins to emit a foul odor, and the angels distance themselves, unable to tolerate the soul’s stench.
Saint Andrew the Fool for Christ was holy and free of passions, yet he pretended to be a lunatic and would roam around to different places. His
biography states that he once entered a residence of sinful women, where he sensed a tremendously offensive odor. He immediately felt distressed, for he was pure and thus could not bear the stench. In following, the saint revealed to these ladies
that they emitted a terribly foul odor on account of the sins of their soul and body. The angels—and especially our guardian angels—
distance themselves and flee from man when he is not careful!
However, when man prays, he receives
fragrance and grace from God, and his guardian angel also prays by his side and petitions, “My God, hear this person’s prayer. Give him what he is asking.” When prayer is further accompanied by tears and offered with true repentance, the guardian angel rejoices
because he is accompanying and watching over such a beautiful soul, and he has boldness before God.
Conversely, when he has been assigned to a soul who is utterly filthy and dressed in torn rags, he stays afar while the devil draws near. Pigs
like to rummage through the mud with their face and snout, and they enjoy eating rotten food. We, however, feel disgusted at this sight. This is how a person is seen in the eyes of God—like swine—
when he does not live carefully.
The angels have
tremendous love for man’s soul because they are our big brothers, and they know what Paradise and Hell are. They celebrate when it is time to accompany a saved soul to the heavens. “Why should this soul, which God appointed me to look after, be condemned?”
they ponder. “Why should the devil take it instead of Christ? Why should the dark one win? Why should the thief take it?
Why shouldn’t I win it over, by the grace of God, and carry it on my wings into Heaven? Since it is God’s breath, it should return to its Father!” Thus
our angel tries to help us.
He advises us to avoid certain things, and instructs us to be cautious of other things.
However, it is not long before the miserable and filthy desire of sin and the world reappear, enticing us with many appealing things, and
attracting us like a powerful magnet. We also have the other passionate world within us, the old man[13] who has his own desires. These internal desires merge with the external ones and, together, they pressure the soul into submission.
And every submission
results in a corresponding sin, which is added to man’s criminal record.
Later, when the time comes for man to die physically, he takes this record with him and proceeds with it through the toll-houses.[14]
If, however, a person
has confessed down here on earth beforehand, God (through the spiritual guide) will have erased the sins from his file.
When such a person encounters the toll-houses, and the demons accuse him, “Look at the sins you committed here,”
the angel will reply,
“Take a look at the next column. They have been erased. Everything has been cleared up on earth.
You can say nothing about these sins because they have all been confessed and erased.
Tears fell on them and wiped them away. What you have recorded in your
paperwork is no longer valid. God is just and wrongs no one.”
For this reason our Church continuously advises us, “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Remove your iniquities from your hearts” (Isa. 1:16). Wash and clean yourselves, She
proclaims. Cast evil away from your hearts, draw near to God, and restore your severed relationship with Him because you don’t know what tomorrow will bring.
After Saint Anthony the Great fell asleep in the Lord and was ascending toward Heaven,
the demons stopped him and asked, “Where do you think you’re going?”
“I am headed for God,” replied the saint.
“But you have sins,”
they objected.
Then the Archangel and his guardian angel stepped forward and asked the demons, “When
were the things you are accusing this soul of done? Before or after he received the angelic schema?”[15]
“Before the schema,”
they responded.
“Well,” said the angels, “everything that was done before was erased when he became a
monk and received the angelic schema, this second baptism. Do you have anything to present after he was tonsured?”
They examined their papers, but the saint led such a clean and pure life that they had nothing on him. Consequently, Saint Anthony’s soul continued
its ascent freely—albeit, the demons had delayed him for an hour.
Abba Paul, “the Simple,” was a very
elderly man.
Nevertheless, he was a sanctified soul who decided to become a monk in his old age. One day, when he was still in
the world, he went to work in his field. When he returned home, he found his wife with another man.
He said to them, “You two can stay together and look after each other. I am leaving to become a monk.”
He left immediately
and went to Saint Anthony the Great. He knocked on the door, and Saint Anthony opened.
“What do you want here grandpa?” he asked.
“I came to be a monk.”
“You came to be a monk at this age, and you came to me? It’s better
for you to go to a monastery where there are young people who can take care of you. I’m an old man; you’re an old man … . How are we going to look after each other?”
“I’m not leaving. I will stay here.”
“Don’t stay here.
Leave, because I will not keep you.”
“No, I’m not
leaving!”
Saint Anthony went back into his cell and closed the door. He remained inside for the next three days. At some point it was necessary for him to exit his cell. When
he opened the door, he found the venerable Paul still waiting outside.
“Grandpa, you’re still here?” he asked.
“Yes I am. I will die here and I will accuse you of being merciless,” he responded playfully.
“Why don’t you take me in and make me a monk?”
“But,” he objected,
“you can’t become a monk at this age.”
“Sure I can. Why not?”
“Okay, come inside.
You will have to start struggling now! You know, we monks read …”
You will have to start struggling now! You know, we monks read …”