Acquire a peaceful spirit - and people will be drawn to you
Igor Bekshaev, May 20, 2022, 11:15 — REGNUM
Grandfather Seraphim and the bear
Days.pravoslavie.ru
The term “acquisition” regarding various spiritual acquisitions in Orthodox theology has become firmly established relatively recently. It did not arise, of course, out of nowhere, just as it did not come into mass use out of nowhere. Although, it depends on what is considered the fullness of the “place”.
This term filled the Orthodox lexicon because it became fashionable and became fashionable. But before almost all Orthodox Christians became strong theologians, the verb “to acquire” was successfully used once after his death by the Orthodox ascetic Seraphim of Sarov, who was declared a saint. I remember his phrase: “Acquire a peaceful spirit and thousands around you will be saved.” The monk said it to one of his visitors, and it was written down, many liked it and gradually entered various collections of teachings, began to be used in sermons and in theological writings on the highest topics.
Of course, acquiring, that is, “acquiring” certain positive qualities for a Christian is very important. Metanoia or a change in the structure of thoughts can be expressed figuratively. People who are transformed according to the desire to fulfill the commandments not in the form of an ordinary order from above “do”, but according to the very will of nature. Calls to change and transform yourself are constantly heard in the Gospel. There is nothing wrong with figuratively expressing this call for change with a word that means acquisition. “It is great gain to be godly and contented” (1 Timothy 6:6), writes the Apostle Paul.
But you know how with us everything rational and useful turns into nothing, grinds into emptiness. Erect a monument, declare it a saint, and then pray, worship, or “deeply honor the memory.” Orthodox theology, which in a decadent era has largely lost its previous methods of reasoning about truth, is now particularly distinguished by the fact that it usually first inclines any thought in the right direction, and then brings it there to a complete dead end, from the depths of which all sorts of nonsense can be uttered. And there is no longer any thought, and no action either, all this is sawed into pieces, the pieces are cast into bronze, and the bronze is dumped into one heap, forming a dump of “enduring values.”
The same thing happened with “acquisition”. We have already written before how the rather simple thought of the saint was transformed: “And in the “Life” (of Seraphim of Sarov) the phrase sounded like this: “My joy, I pray you, acquire a peaceful spirit, and then a thousand souls will be saved around you.” Then this statement began to sound in two versions. The first is “acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands will be saved around you.” And the second: “Save yourself, and thousands around you will be saved.” These versions of one statement do not contradict each other in any way.”
Seraphim of Sarov
However, all this does not end with such “interpretations”; modern Orthodox theological thought is seething and in this seething is even capable of producing the following: “Reverend Seraphim of Sarov said: “Acquire the Holy Spirit and thousands around you will be saved.” This, on the other hand, means that if we do not have the Spirit of Peace in us, then thousands around us will perish. Thus, without acquiring the Spirit of Peace, that is, without becoming saints, we destroy thousands of souls around us, which means we are guilty of the commandment “thou shalt not kill.” That's it, no more, no less. And you can continue the “thought” further. There is no stop.
Church building by Christ was declared to be the leaven of this “peaceful spirit.” Placed in the dough of the world, the leaven will gradually take over everything. Kind, gentle people are attractive; other people gradually begin to gather around them, who so lack normal, healthy human relationships in this world. People are distrustful of each other not because they are like that by nature, but because they are accustomed to the fact that people constantly want to deceive and take advantage of them. The peaceful spirit of Christ is therefore extremely attractive. Sincere relationships evoke a response, people are drawn to them, and people rally around them. And not because here the “mysterious” is given away in exchange for a “frank confession”, but because it is natural for a person, organic.
The “hidden man” is hidden, hidden, concealed because there is too much evil, hypocrisy, and dishonesty around. However, he is responsive, and the “peaceful spirit” is able to call him and rescue him. For this reason, of course, thousands around will be stimulated to release. But such an algorithm of behavior is not written for our preachers. There is such a concept in theology - “consent of the holy fathers” (consensus patrum). According to him, everything said by one of the glorified saints not only “does not contradict” what other holy fathers said, but is usually just another form of expressing one thought. In practice, it turns out that now, when thoughts are no longer understandable, any of them can and should be adjusted to the generally accepted understanding. And since there are only one or two of these “generally accepted” ones, it all comes down to them.
And then how “lucky” the preacher will be, whether he will stop in his reasoning on the fact that “an effort must be made,” or he will take it to the limit, or even jump beyond all conceivable boundaries. It will also matter which theological movement is “in trend” at a given stage. Recently, the “trend” has been shabby Palamism, stripped down to the point of being “understandable” by any blogger, which arose in the decadent period of the Church, and in our days has blossomed with unprecedented new strength and new striking interpretations.
In this sense, the verb “to acquire” came in very handy for end-time theology. In him one could hear the same selfishness that the Church has cherished in recent centuries. Why would someone give their care, kindness, attention? To acquire, to obtain, that is the main thing, and since this “receiving” of heavenly gifts, with the help of which one can then “save” others, must be achieved not from anyone, but from Himself, then God Himself forbid that we should be harmed from this matter someone was distracting. Although both the Apostle Paul and the Monk Seraphim himself spoke of “acquisition” as an image of something already stable, not susceptible to changeable moods. And that’s what happens with “prayer books”: today you’ve “acquired”, and tomorrow you’re suddenly in a bad mood in the morning.
To be sustainable and henceforth unchangeable, it is required not to whine to God for sending down gifts, without doing anything for this, but to be this gift for someone. This is how it is acquired. "Acquires."
How to save yourself?
Save yourself, and thousands around you will be saved.
© Seraphim Sarovsky
The words of St. Seraphim of Sarov can often be misinterpreted. Without delving into their meaning, many people believe that they mean - think only about yourself, let others think about themselves. But their true meaning is different - first save yourself, find yourself, and only then can you help others. Harmony and peace should dwell within us, humility - a state in which we are in flow with the world, accept all its gifts and feel a sense of gratitude for them. Being in this state, we enjoy life and are able to inspire people around us by our example.
We often underestimate our capabilities and believe that we are not doing anything for the good of this world. But in fact, many manifestations of kindness are invisible at first glance, and often we don’t even imagine how much our well-timed kind word can affect the life of another person. In general, the purer our consciousness, the higher vibrations we emit into the world, and the brighter the world around us becomes. This is something worth striving for. But you shouldn’t reproach yourself if something doesn’t work out and doesn’t work out. The growth process is always accompanied by crises and setbacks. Our world is dual, and any of its manifestations are quite natural. Therefore, it is very important to start with yourself. It's stupid to try to save a drowning person if you yourself don't know how to swim. But you can do everything in your power - for example, call for help.
This also raises the question: “How can you save yourself?” We are talking here about finding that same inner harmony and harmony with yourself and with the world. This is a long and laborious process of cleansing ourselves of negative beliefs and those adverse experiences that pull us down to the bottom. This is a life-long process, but it is very exciting and interesting. Many people are afraid to develop, because in the process they have to face all their old fears and grievances, raise all the negativity within themselves, everything that kills and destroys us from the inside, cuts down any endeavors at the root and breaks our whole life into small fragments. They are more accustomed to doing nothing for their development and sliding down into the abyss than to make a decision to change their life for the better, to make it happier. Each of us here makes our own choice, and there is no need to judge those who are not yet ready to take this path. But those who take the path of development, going through difficulties, cleanse their souls of accumulated negativity and gain invaluable experience. Life becomes more multifaceted and brighter. The path of development does not mean complete happiness and pleasure; negative emotions are inevitable along it. And you need to learn to express them harmoniously and live them in harmony with the world and with yourself.
There is a lot of information, and I will dwell on this topic in more detail in my future materials, but now I will give a brief answer to the question - “How to save yourself?” I would like to note that I do not claim to be the ultimate truth and am sharing the experience that I personally and many of the people around me have gone through. And I will only be glad if it helps someone else become happier!
Saving yourself begins with studying the laws of the universe and changing your thinking. It is necessary to understand the structure of the world, to know the laws that our Universe obeys, to be able to apply them in any situation, and also to introduce this knowledge into your daily life and live in accordance with it. This point is very important and serious. And here I recommend, without fanaticism, turning to various teachings that explain the structure of the world. About 70% of all teachings say the same thing, just in different words. The remaining 30% of differences in information arise as a result of our worldview. At the same time, the mentor also receives information through the prism of his mind and experience, which also affects some inaccuracies in the presentation of the material. In short, all these laws are available on the Internet, for example, the law of attraction, the law of cause and effect, and others. We will talk about them in more detail in other articles.
The second point is cleansing your life. A person needs to strive for goodness, for a pure way of life - both external and internal. Because if our environment is dirty, then we will not be able to get top management - all these impulses from above will be lost. Therefore, at the initial stages of personal growth, it is better to be guided by some principles. Many religions have this as commandments. Do not kill, do not steal, and so on... Therefore, a guide to the rules is given on how to act. It is important to cleanse your life gradually, without fanaticism, with a sincere desire to live differently. By getting rid of negative habits and ineffective beliefs, our consciousness is cleared, we begin to emit higher vibrations into the world, and the world reacts - it changes, transforms, and our life changes its quality - it becomes brighter and more harmonious.
Then you need to gain trust in the world. We must understand that there are higher powers that are much wiser than us, that our soul knows the true picture of events and how it will be better for us. She seems to look down on everything that is happening, and sees the past, present and possible future. And it is she who can guide us, put us on the right path. Here it is important to open up to the world, trust it, take the position of a student - to allow higher forces to guide you, allow your soul to realize its purpose in this world, and gain the experience for which it came. The most favorable thing for a person is to accept this guidance from higher powers, the very ones who love us unconditionally, and everything happens only for our good. We must understand that we are not leaders, but followers. That the path we have chosen for ourselves is not always the best and therefore true, and we need to be able to read the signs of the world, hear ourselves, find contact with our soul - and accept this guidance. But the first step in this process is precisely acceptance - acceptance that there are higher powers, God, who loves us unconditionally and does everything for our good. You need to open up to the world, trust it. Only then will we be able to receive higher guidance - what to do, what not to do, learn to read the signs of peace and live in a state of happiness and ease.
The next point of saving yourself is the ability to listen to yourself, find contact with your soul. Here you will mainly have practical work in the form of meditations and queries to your mentality. It is also very important to learn to evaluate incoming information, think analytically and form your own opinion, as well as adapt it to yourself and your life - otherwise there is a high risk of fanatically following other people’s teachings and trying to copy someone else’s success. Isn't it better to create your own? And in order to determine your true path, on which success and complete self-realization are possible, you need to learn to listen to yourself and listen to yourself, consult your intuition. Moreover, there are two types of intuition - intuition at the level of the mind - false intuition, which is associated with our attachments to feelings, and true, at the level of the soul, when guidance is given from above on how to act in a given situation. To reveal true intuition, you need everything that we talked about above - pure life and the revelation of knowledge, namely, studying the laws of the universe, changing your thinking. And also - the ability to trust the world, to take the position of a student.
A small note about adapting the information to suit yourself: When performing some practices and exercises, first it is better to repeat everything exactly as the author advises, and when you have the appropriate experience, transform them in accordance with your life, in a way that is convenient for you personally and as you see fit. It’s similar to preparing a new dish - at first you try to do everything according to the recipe, and only later, when you already have sufficient experience, do you change the cooking process as you see fit.
And lastly, it is necessary to apply this knowledge in your life. Often we listen to some information, agree with it, but do not put it into practice. Therefore, there is a movement along a sine wave - we change our lives, meet the resistance of old habits, roll back - to the past. And then we start all over again. And this is quite natural and justified. Our psyche needs time to change and get used to a new way of life. And although personal growth is a lifelong process, implementing this knowledge helps make life easier and happier. After all, happiness is not the absence of problems. Happiness is when we have the ability to solve problems and overcome difficulties that come into our lives.
And remember - there are no those who are higher, there are no those who are lower. We are all different. And everyone is in the place where he should be, at the stage of development that his soul has chosen, and receives the experience that he needs for his own good. And each of us chooses for himself between development and degradation. Therefore, you should not save, force or persuade someone if they do not ask for it. It is enough to give them support and participation, support and encourage them, indicate the direction of movement, but do not try to drag them all the way on yourself. Save yourself, study knowledge, purify your life and your consciousness, trust the world, open up to higher leadership, listen to yourself, inspire others with your example. Save yourself, and thousands around you will be saved. And you and the whole world around you will become happier!
With love and wishes of peace and goodness, Natalia Romanova.
In continuation of the words of Seraphim of Sarov: “Save yourself, and thousands around you will be saved.”
A person knows a lot from birth, but does not remember, because the information is not contained in the brain, and the brain is not in contact with it. The soul is the bearer of knowledge and intelligence, and a person feels its prompts, but cannot always understand his feelings. Prompts of conscience - this is the soul, a child of the higher Mind and a resident of eternity, trying to prevent a person from doing things that lead to a bad result. But there are other forces of influence on a person, they are called unclean, dark forces, demons, and they persuade him to do things with a bad outcome. Their influence is also felt by a person when he feels irritation, anger, hatred, and all temptations.
Knowing these things, you realize, when you are drawn to a sinful deed, that it is an evil spirit that is trying to entice you, and if you succumb to it, the result will be disastrous for you. But in order to think about this and refrain from doing bad things, you need to load a restraining program into your brain. It was brought by Jesus Christ, and it can be loaded into the brain by simply reading the Gospels.
When it is loaded, a person still feels the influence of opposing forces, and if he is not given the instructions of Christ as a program of action, this is hindered by dark forces. No one will help against them except the will aimed at searching for the truth and the manifest work of the mind on the Word of God given by the lips of Jesus Christ. If there is such a will and a person tries to delve into the meaning of the Gospel Word, there will be finds for him that will arm him against demonic forces. They look like revelations in which important things are revealed unexpectedly and impressively. And when a person, reading the instructions of Christ, begins to believe them, it is his soul that tells him that what is being said here is correct.
It can be said that the Word of God causes the germ of faith to grow. Among the Soviet people, he was weakened and crushed to the limit, and the people only laughed cheerfully at conversations about God, as at stupid inventions. But it is simply impossible to completely kill the divine principle in a person. And when a person begins to read the Word of God, the germ of faith sprouts. Jesus described the growth of faith with the parable of the mustard seed - how a bush grows from a seed, in whose leaves birds can hide. And faith in a person grows, starting from a weak sprout, and not so that faith is a constant value. When faith grows, inner strength grows. It helps a person to hold on in difficult circumstances, helps to restrain indignation, helps to drive away vain fears and vain worries. And it turns out that it is much easier for a believer to live than for an unbeliever - having faith, a person has strength, and it is always easier for the strong to live than for the powerless.
With all this, we can suggest to people in distress that they can be filled with strength so that their lives can be easier. To do this, you need to think about the Word of God. Mental work on the Word brings good mental strength in the form of an understanding of the fundamentals of life. Mental work on the Word also brings good strength of spirit in the form of love and faith, as well as the inseparable hope of gaining eternal life. And most importantly, a person’s assimilation of the Word of God and then the faithful fulfillment of the commandments attracts God to him and leads to the Heavenly Father revealing himself to him, answering his requests and questions, as promised in the Word. And when this happened, he begins to live with God, as with the Father and the highest Teacher, which is the beginning of a completely different life - incomparably brighter and richer.
All these stories are written down in the hope that they will find a response in your soul, because every soul knows about God, and if you feel in your soul that the truth has been told to you about the possibility of receiving His responsiveness, then turn to the Word of God.
“Save yourself, and thousands around you will be saved,” said Seraphim of Sarov, and one can continue that when thousands are saved, millions around them will be saved. And when the Russian people begin to seek and find the saving responsiveness of God, this movement will lead to the fact that the entire Russian people, all of Rus', will live with God.
Orthodox Sarov
We talked with Hieromonk Pavel (Dudorov) on the day of remembrance of St. Seraphim of Sarov. He then came to the holiday from the Stavropol Territory, but I realized that his heart was firmly attached to his native Sarov. We had an important conversation that helps us better understand the words of the Reverend: “My joy, I pray you, acquire a peaceful spirit, and a thousand souls will be saved around you.”
Time for Spiritual Choice
Hieromonk Pavel spent his childhood in Sarov. Old parishioners of All Saints Church remember him as a teenager. The future monk loved to stand near the temple icon of St. Seraphim of Sarov and listen, delving into the prayer chants of the wonderful-sounding church choir. At religious processions around the city, he sang an akathist to Father Seraphim without a book in his hands... Years passed, and Father Pavel became a monk. 20 years ago he graduated from the Nizhny Novgorod Theological Seminary, then the Moscow Theological Academy. He lived in the Annunciation and Ascension Pechersk monasteries in Nizhny Novgorod, and now in a monastery in honor of Sts. Apostles Peter and Paul, Svetlograd, Stavropol and Nevinnomyssk diocese.
According to Father Pavel, in the Stavropol region the situation is completely different, the climate, the spirit - everything is different. There you can feel the influence of different nationalities and cultures, the proximity of the North Caucasus, where many Muslims live. At first I thought that a nun was walking, but this was a Muslim woman in a hijab, wrapped in black from head to toe. Orthodoxy here is firmly held by the prayer structure of Orthodox churches, monasteries and holy places; ancient traditions of the Orthodox clergy and Cossacks. After all, historically the Stavropol region is the land of Orthodox faith and culture.
Paul's first spiritual mentor was the ever-memorable Archpriest German Zdorov, whom he still prayerfully remembers as his spiritual father. The young man with his questions waited for the priest in the Church of All Saints, until he was free, and accompanied him home. I went to him for confession all the time. Helped sexton. He attended Orthodox conversations that took place in a wooden house below the Church of All Saints. Then the believers of Sarov had one temple, and they lived as one big family. In the 1990s, people came to the temple not just out of custom, but out of great passion for their souls.
During the first years it was very difficult for Pavel to study at the seminary, but he continued his studies out of obedience to Father Herman. Father supported him and wrote letters. And in his third year, Pavel took monastic vows. In those years, the rector of the Annunciation Monastery of Nizhny Novgorod and the rector of the Nizhny Novgorod Theological Seminary was Abbot Kirill (Pokrovsky), who since 2012 has been the head of the newly formed Stavropol Metropolis, where Hieromonk Pavel now carries out his labors and obedience.
A Christian is a person of quality
Orthodoxy in Russia has been revived for 30 years, and during these years a lot has changed. There is no longer such a mass coming to faith, such burning. However, Father Pavel noted that young people repent better, naming their sins in detail in confession, everything as it is. But people of the older generation, of the Soviet formation, are stingy with words, and confession must be pulled out of them with pincers. Therefore, he hopes that there will be an increase in quality in Christians. But how to determine this quality?
Hieromonk Pavel:
— Writer Boris Akunin in his novel “Aristonomia” introduces the concept of a human aristonomist. He has quality in various areas of life: in profession and in private life; distinguished by the quality of knowledge and skills, including the ability to maintain one’s health, responsibility and integrity; treats people with compassion and empathy. In my opinion, a monk is an Ariston. And, for example, Father Seraphim is even higher in quality, because he is a reverend, likened to God. God requires the quality from us: “Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). As we know from the Gospel parable, the tares will be burned, and only the wheat will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. To learn this quality, you need to read the Gospel, the holy fathers, and take their example.
And even greater quality is required from priests. “Be faithful in your speech, in your conduct, in your love, in your spirit, in your faith, in your purity” (1 Tim. 4:12). These words are engraved on Father Paul's pectoral wooden cross, which is a copy of Godin's cross, and at the same time very reminiscent of a monastic paraman cross.
Of course, all priests are different, and each of them has their own approach to people. Some are stricter about human sins and vices, and in some ways they are right, while others are more lenient towards the laity. It was the second path that St. adhered to. Seraphim. And this is closer to Hieromonk Paul. And why, he will tell you about it himself...
A peaceful soul attracts the action of the Holy Spirit
— There is an earthly spiritual father who helps with prayer and advice. And I, of course, have such mentors. But also St. Seraphim for me is not just a distant saint, but the spiritual father of the Heavenly Church. He is such not only for monastics, as a “mentor of monks,” but also for the laity, especially those who love him and constantly turn to him in prayer. From childhood I remember his saying: “My joy, I pray you, acquire a peaceful spirit, and then a thousand souls will be saved around you.” These words are very dear to me because they have a very deep meaning, spiritual content and significance.
Instructions of St. Seraphim was studied by St. Anthony (Medvedev) from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. He handed them over to St. Filaret (Drozdov), who processed them literary, naturally preserving the meaning. But for our contemporary they sound quite archaic, so they need explanation. Psychologists also wrote that a person has calm and anxious states. But what about St. Seraphim meant by peaceful spirit? What condition is this?
At St. ap. Paul mentions peace among the fruits of the Spirit: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control...” (Gal. 5:22-23). And then the apostle says: “Brothers! If a person falls into any sin, you who are spiritual, correct him in a spirit of meekness...” (Gal. 6:1). It seems to me that the spirit of peace and the spirit of meekness are the same concepts.
During a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, I came to the realization that peace is the fruit of virtue. When a person does an evil deed, he becomes embarrassed and falls into a spirit of despondency. And when he does good, he rejoices, he is peaceful and calm.
The spirit of peace is akin to such a concept as humility, i.e. “to be in peace.” The Optina elders have a saying that the spirit of peace or moderation is characteristic of humility, and the spirit of anger and quarrelsomeness is characteristic of pride. Therefore, in the well-known prayer of the Optina elders there is a request to God to “meet with peace of mind everything that the coming day will bring me.” Peace of mind is a peaceful spirit. As we read from the holy fathers, the elder advises the disciple: “do this and that, and you will be calm,” and therefore peaceful.
On the other hand, a strong liturgical justification can be made. The cry “Let us pray to the Lord in peace!” does not at all mean let’s pray as a whole society or people (as reflected in Leo Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”). In Greek, the word η ειρήνη means “inner peace” and is translated from modern Greek as “peace, tranquility, tranquility”, hence the name Irina. The “inner world” is different from the “outer world”, which is associated with society and with what God has created, in Greek ο κόσμος. Thus, in the church an instruction is given that you need to pray to the Lord in inner peace and tranquility. At the same time, some think that God sees us from above, but He sees us from the inside, from the very depths of the soul, as St. said. Ambrose of Milan.
And the priest proclaims before reading the Gospel: “Peace to all.” That is, calm down, come to a peaceful state, reconcile, forgive offenses, let go and forget everything bad and evil - now we will hear the word of Life.
Acquire a peaceful spirit... When a person is in a peaceful spirit, he can be compared to a flower that emits a fragrance. A bee flies to the scent, pollinates the flower, and it bears fruit. And if there is no aroma, the bee will not come. Here the bee is an image of the Holy Spirit, who himself finds a peaceful soul and through this union the soul bears the fruit of virtue.
One account of the lives of the Egyptian Desert Fathers tells of two monks who went out into the world, both sinned, and then, realizing their mistake, came to repent. Both of them sat in their cells on bread and water. The elders and all the brethren prayed for them. After a long time, one of them came out sad, crying and exhausted, and the other joyful and cheerful, because he thanked God all the time, hoping for His mercy. This greatly puzzled the brethren. The fathers prayed, and the Lord revealed to them that the repentance of both was equal. And just like that, St. Seraphim followed the path of the second monk. The monk taught: “Whether you have consumed a lot of food or done something else similar to this, akin to human weakness, do not be indignant at this, do not add harm to harm, but courageously moving yourself to correction, try to maintain peace of mind, according to the word of the Apostle: Blessed is not you who condemn yourself , because of him he is tempted (Rom. 14:22).”
Why was Father so joyful? Of course, the Spirit of God was working on him! But He found him like a bee found a flower, because the old man maintained spiritual peace. In the Sarov monastery at St. Seraphim had many temptations. Hegumen Nifont told him: “What are you doing? Why are you violating the Charter? They are tempted by you!” And he maintained a peaceful spirit through prayer for Christ’s sake and prayed for the brethren. He was in such fullness of the Spirit that, according to his internal structure, he was unharmed from what the monastic Rule protected the weak brethren from.
On the one hand, it was spiritual peace with Divine help that judiciously protected him from the traps and temptations that no one can do without while living on earth. On the other hand, the elder’s calm and gentle behavior towards the abbot and brethren testified to the height of his spiritual work; about the correctness of the chosen path in obedience to the Most Holy Theotokos and the previous builders of the God-saved monastery. Having gone through a difficult monastic path, the Reverend saw from experience that the main internal work of a monk in a monastery is to maintain spiritual peace with all the brethren. So that without being tempted or seduced by anything, it is correct to overcome only your temptations and really learn spiritual work, the internal “construction” of the soul through forcing yourself to fulfill the Divine commandments, through repentant unceasing prayer.
Again, peace of the soul should be, like any virtue, according to the thought of St. Seraphim, for the sake of Christ. This is what distinguishes Orthodox spiritual work from Eastern meditation, which directs a person to peace not for the sake of Christ, but in order for the body to function correctly, self-esteem increases, and from here comes an incorrect self-esteem.
Some Christians read the repentant lament of St. Ephraim the Syrian and become despondent, fall into the same sins and passions and “slip” in place, abandoning prayers and fasting. They cannot bear the negative side of Orthodox asceticism - the difficulty of fighting temptations and sins. They do not find a positive side in asceticism, so they leave it. And positivity lies in peace of heart, calmness, forgiveness of insults to neighbors and inner reconciliation with them, and finally, constant gratitude to God for everything (as they say, both for sorrow and for joy). This positive side of asceticism really builds the soul, gives strength to live and enjoy every day, and not to be embittered by our own passions and mistakes of the people around us, taking away our strength just to endure and hold out until the next confession or St. Participles.
Just as priests are different, so holy fathers are not alike. Some say: “Fight passions, watch for temptations, impose strict fasting, cry and reproach yourself.” And others: “Do not pay all your attention to temptations; repent, but do not get hung up on the tricks of the enemy of salvation, humble yourself and thank God for everything, ask the Lord to meet with peace of mind everything that the coming day will bring...” We see here such a theological concept as antinomy - a contradiction between two opposing opinions, each which, considered individually, are true. There is also an ascetic antinomy here. On the one hand, vision of sins and repentance, and on the other, calmness, peace of mind and peace with gratitude and trust in God. Both are necessary, important and true. And one cannot exist without the other.
When people begin to live the Christian life, many people like asceticism. And then the struggle with sin leads them to despondency: “I confess to the same sins! Where is my change? I do not see. Nothing happens. God doesn’t hear me...” St. Peter of Damascus writes: “The first sign of the beginning health of the soul is the vision of one’s sins, countless as the sand of the sea.” Fine. Let's say I see my sins every day, but for some reason this does not console me. What's next? How can I not fall into despondency and despair?
Let's try to figure out why we attract sinful thoughts to ourselves. Let us understand the mechanism of sin, the patterns of sinful habits and our own mistakes.
If you look closely, the internal background of our sins is the lack of peace. We react very sharply to our own mistakes and to the misconceptions of those around us. We need to constantly denounce someone, react to someone else’s behavior, and insert our word. Orthodox Christians love to emotionally repeat: “Here is a temptation!” If we observe ourselves, we will see that we are always dissatisfied with something.
We remember what they did to us, what they said to us, what they might have thought about us. All this accumulates in memory and keeps you in constant tension. A person wastes his energy, but thinks that he is engaged in useful activities. And the most plausible motives can justify this internal activity: I care; but I love you; I want to be understood; I want to do something, etc. In fact, this unpeaceful, memory-evil state takes a person away from the main and saving thing and dooms him to constantly repeating mistakes.
“Acquire a peaceful spirit” - the correct understanding of these words introduces a person into his inner world, filling his memory with good, good memories and experiences. Gradually, a person transforms inside, begins to be kind-hearted towards the mistakes of the people around him, and even towards his enemies. Peacefulness clearly shows him how to practice virtues, how to pray correctly. It should be noted that this is not self-suggested dispassion. No – a Christian can show positive ambition and perseverance. But with a peaceful dispensation, it is easy to see and admit a mistake, ask for forgiveness, etc. Gradually, a believer who is attentive to himself understands that the peaceful state is hated by the evil one. It becomes more difficult for him to control the soul through its passions. After all, to do this, the devil first needs to put us into irritability, into an unpeaceful state, after which he does what he wants. That is why it is so important to keep your mind and heart at peace.
Most passions and sins begin to work from stress, neurosis, and restlessness. Due to lack of reasoning, many mistakes are also made. A person often fusses and overworks a lot, and the holy fathers write that extremes are a demonic thing.
At the same time, one should not confuse peace with relaxation and indifference. It's not the same thing. Being in a peaceful spirit, a person actively does a good deed and rejoices in it for the sake of Christ. And when there is no peace in the soul, he will soon give up doing good deeds, Christian or monastic deeds. If he is peaceful, then he does not need to relax and rest from good deeds. But, if rest is really needed, then the strength quickly returns to the person.
Not only to gain, but also to keep the spirit peaceful
But it is not enough to acquire a peaceful spirit, you still need to preserve it.
The Lord calls: “Be like children (Matthew 18:3).” Children immediately forget that their parents scolded them and do not hold a grudge against them. And when our neighbors scold us, we remember everything. All memory cells are filled with evil, perhaps that is why we have no memory of God. Memory malice prevents us from living with a light and joyful heart, and all the people around us seem bad. Each person will confirm from his own experience how difficult it is to practice virtues when you are restless, how difficult it is to fulfill the commandment “love.” When we are irritated, we want to reproach someone, and because of this we ourselves suffer. Why does a person feel bad in a state of anger and irritation? Because kindness has been given to us since childhood as a gift from God. But we become embittered and forget about it over time. Because of this contradiction, we develop diseases. The fact is that the human body was created by God, who is Peace and Love. Our body works properly only in a peaceful state.
Remember the Old Testament, where the Lord appeared to Elijah the Prophet not in a storm, earthquake and fire, but in a “subtle voice of coldness” - a breath of a light breeze (1 Kings 19, 11-12). And in the Canon of the Most Holy Theotokos there are these words: “Thou hast given birth to the Lord of the silence of Christ.” Silence is a true understanding of the same peaceful state. This is an essential part of the internal spiritual achievement necessary for salvation.
An analogy can be made in physics. If oscillations with a large amplitude occur inside a closed system, and even small oscillations come from outside, they can cause a phenomenon such as resonance. A person is the same closed system, and sometimes, because of a trifling word from the outside, he loses his temper, loses control, explodes, not understanding what is happening. When there is silence inside a person, he sees the essence of the problem and how to solve it. Therefore, the first thing you need to do is calm down, come to a peaceful state of mind.
Peacefulness of the heart and soul is directly related to memory. When the memory is filled with peace, we thank God for everything. A person with a peaceful spirit cannot be ungrateful to God and people.
Negativity, stress and anger harm us in prayer. A person cannot pray with concentration; all his thoughts revolve around the events of the day: what was said or done to him, how he reacted. This is where condemnation comes from. But it is said: hate sin, but love your neighbor. This is how important it is to have peace in your soul. Then, even if you see that something is wrong, you will first of all understand yourself.
Another important point is self-respect and respect for others. What is it? In the realization that the image of God is in me. I know the value of my actions, I am responsible for them and I work on my quality. Of course, compared to angels or saints, this is negligible. This means I still have to work and work. Hence humility. And the other person is created in the image of God, so I should at least respect him. Respect without causing pain with your actions, compassion and valuing human life. We must always remember that for him, this particular person, Christ suffered and died on the cross.
They may say to me: “Do you really think it is possible to constantly maintain peace in your heart?” Of course not. This is what we should reflect on, what we should strive for. How can we maintain peace in our hearts if we are sometimes surrounded by people filled with anger and enmity? The question is serious. After all, the anger and negativity of another person also affects me, as a living being who cannot help but feel pain from the evil deeds of other people.
I think the following spiritual rule of thumb is needed here. When I reacted and received anger from another person (even if I did not say anything in response), I must do alone with God, as the prophet David did: “Lord! Hear my prayer, and let my cry come to You” (Ps. 101). That is, literally mentally scream to God about your grief, if you want, complain to God about the situation that happened, so that He would accept our pain and Himself help us figure out the problem.
After we have sent this grief of ours to the Lord as a parcel, we need to pray: “Lord, help me forget what I need to forget, and remember what I need to remember!” And continue to live, maintaining peace for the sake of Christ towards the person who caused us pain. Pray for his admonition and salvation, at the same time forgetting the pain he caused. This is very important for our salvation, because forgetting the sins of our neighbors will mean for us “forgiving the sins of our debtors,” and God Himself will forgive us our mistakes before Him (Our Father Prayer).
By doing this, we will develop the habit of relying more on God and His strength and help than on our own capabilities. Then a small miracle will happen: faith and trust in God will create everything for the benefit of both others and ourselves. The point is only up to us: start doing a small good deed: every day for the sake of Christ, maintain peace of mind in relation to everything that happens to us in this life given to us by God. Of course, there are more difficult life situations, and conditions unbearable for the soul and body, but this is a different question that requires a slightly different reasoning, a different approach...
Once again I would like to repeat: spiritual peace is not dispassion. The fight against sin continues. And even if sin overcomes, we must remain calm.
And another very important point: anger and irritation are never justified before God (except for anger at the devil). It's always bad, always evil. The devil tries to spin a person so that his mind is overwhelmed with anger, and he can no longer control himself. An irritable, angry person behaves incorrectly. But we will be answerable to God for how we treated other people. If we treat them incorrectly, then we waste all the good in ourselves, and even blame other people for it. Sometimes a person thinks that with the help of anger he can restore order and control everyone in the family or at work. But does the Lord control us?
Unpeacefulness is akin to a person’s self-poisoning; he constantly remembers who did something bad to him. This poison is processed by the mind, accumulates in our heart, and it begins to hurt, and other health problems arise. In light of the above, you begin to better understand the great benefit of the commandment “love your enemies.” A peaceful soul teaches non-judgment, because each person has his own choice. It is better to exercise, no matter how difficult it may be, your own choice in relation to kindness, peace, reconciliation for the sake of Christ. Then you really begin to value health, value your life and that of others.
Condemnation is like a web that we throw over each other. And we, like spiders, sit on a stretched web and watch where the thread will twitch in order to react. But a person who is in a peaceful state has completely different thoughts. He can work in prayer and see that the devil does not disturb his inner peace through another person. He believes that the Lord is nearby, this gives him stability: “I am with him in sorrow” (Ps. 90:15) And when the principle of peace operates in the family, everything is fine there. The Lord Himself will make you wise. Will open your eyes to see reality as it is.
When a person is in a peaceful dispensation, prayer becomes a source of strength and support. And when a person is angry, he cannot pray, and this is terrible. Anger and prayer are incompatible things, because in prayer we turn to the “chief of silence” God, who gives us His peace. The prophet David said about an evil man: “Let his prayer become sin” (Ps. 108:7). For such a person, prayer brings pain, fatigue, and suffering.
So, the goal of Christian life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God. But in order to approach this otherworldly work, you need to work hard to acquire calmness, that is, a peaceful spirit. God does not save us without us. Let our work be in acquiring peace and tranquility when we see all our mistakes and sins and truly forgive offenses with sincere gratitude to God for our entire lives. Then Divine grace will enter our mind and heart and will truly heal us and change us for the better, directing us to union with God, which is salvation. This will happen through church sacraments, prayer and good deeds for Christ's sake. This path is easier, although it requires work from us. As the Venerable himself understood from his own experience. Seraphim, addressing both his contemporaries and us, their descendants: “My joy, I pray you, acquire a peaceful spirit, and a thousand souls will be saved around you.”
