Steps to sin, Philokalia. Notes Holy Trinity faith study

 The Philokalia,  the spiritual  handbook of the Church, details for us  the path to temptation.  Below are the excerpts elucidating the steps to temptation  and predisposition to sin.

On a deeper level,  I invite the reader to analyze this from the standpoint of sexual infidelity.  These steps to temptation are analogous to  fornication.

1. We first see a person, then  perhaps the beauty captivates.  This is not guilty, it is a provocation.
2. There is a desire to go further,   imagining what could be.  This is a movement away from faithfulness to our spouse, and akin to flirting.
3.Then there is small talk,  homilia, a dallying with the idea.
4. There is consent to the act  of yielding to the other, what corresponds to consent in the steps to temptation. The actual act of union, communion in the steps, joining with the other,  is adultery.  Likewise, when we actually go ahead and enjoy this union with a forbidden  desire, we have separated ourselves from the Lord  and are joined in spirit not to Him, but have yielded to the wicked spirits.
5. Continual  exercise of our will this way  leads to a predisposition
6.  Ultimately, an almost automatic behavior,  a passion, results.

This analogy is one the Lord picks up, chiding Israel for being "a wicked and adulterous generation."  Not seeking her Lord, Israel  found herself  joined to idols. We may as well follow the same path  if we are not careful.

TEMPTATION (peirasmos):  a  suggestion from the devil, enticing man into sin. 

The Greek Fathers employ a series of technical terms to describe the process of  temptation. In detail, the chief terms employed are as follows: 

(1) Provocation (prosvoli): the initial incitement to evil. Mark the Ascetic defines this as an  'image -free stimulation in the heart'; so long as the provocation is not accompanied by images, it does not  involve man in any guilt. Such provocations, originating as they do from the devil, assail man from the outside  independently of his free will, and so he is not morally responsible for them. His liability to these provocations is  not a consequence of the fall: even in paradise, Mark maintains, Adam was assailed by the devil's provocations. 

Man cannot prevent provocations from assailing him; what does lie in his power, however, is to maintain  constant watchfulness (q.v.) and so to reject each provocation as soon as it emerges into his consciousness - that  is to say, at its first appearance as a thought in his mind or intellect (monologistos). If he does reject the provocation, the sequence is cut off and the process of temptation is terminated. 

(2) Momentary disturbance (pararripismos) of the intellect, occurring 'without any 

movement or working of bodily passion'  This seems to be more than the 'first appearance' of a provocation described in stage (1) above; for, at a  certain point of spiritual growth in this life, it is possible to be totally released from such 'momentary  disturbance, whereas no one can expect to be altogether free from demonic provocations. 

(3) Communion (homilia); coupling (syndyasmos). Without as yet entirely assenting  to the demonic provocation, a man may begin to 'entertain' it, to converse or parley with it, turning it over in his  mind pleasurably, yet still hesitating whether or not to act upon it. At this stage, which is indicated by the terms  'communion' or 'coupling', the provocation is no longer 'image-free' but has become a logismos or thought (q.v.);  and a person is morally responsible for having allowed this to happen. 

(4) Assent (synkatathesis). This signifies a step beyond mere 'communion' or 'coupling'. No 

longer merely 'playing' with the evil suggestion, a person now resolves to act upon it. There is now no doubt as to his moral culpability: even if  circumstances prevent him from sinning outwardly, he is judged by God according to the intention in his  heart. 

(5) Prepossession (prolipsis): defined by Mark- as 'the involuntary presence of former sins in the 

memory'. This state of 'prepossession' or prejudice results from repeated acts of sin which predispose a man to 

yield to particular temptations. In principle he retains his free choice and can reject demonic provocations; but  in practice the force of habit makes it more and more difficult for him to resist. 

(6) Passion (q.v.). If a man does not fight strenuously against a prepossession, it will develop into an evil 

Why St. Gregory Palamas is a Sabbath keeper

No, he didn't observe the Saturday  Judaic ordinance.  Rather,  in the biblical and patristic sense,  Christians observe the Sabbath.  Not just on  Sunday,  but every moment,  in fact,  every breath.  This is how  St.  Gregory interprets the Sabbath.  The excerpt is from  question 2,  his first Triad to a young monk beset with  bewilderment.

The Sabbath was a command to cease from work. So serious was it,  one could be stoned for violation, as did occur.  The Sabbath, doctrinally, for Christians is that Christ said "it is finished."  He has reconciled man to God  by changing human nature and deifying it. But we participate in the Sabbath  by ceasing from our own  works and thoughts.  And this makes sense.  If the last act we will ever do  is give up our breath, and enter eternity,  then  we should consciously lives reflecting this.

Consequently then, for those recently stripped down  for this contest and gathered in their mind, they continually start off for this race,  but they also need continually again to return to this practice,  as the mind eludes those who are unexercized, since it is the hardest thing to look at and moves more than anything.  Because of this, they  encourage to pay attention to the frequent scattering of the mind and  return again to oneself in inhalation and to hold it back for a little, keeping that guardedly in this (breathing) until by God’s help progressing to the better, and without much toil, having made his  own mind  unable to approach to things about him, he may be able to exactly gather into “a singular form collected.” ....this automatically occurs following the attention of the mind. For there is quietude by this entering in and going out -the spirit upon every ingoing thought, but especially in the case of those who practice stillness in body and reasoning. For those who spiritually sabbatize are these who also  rest from all their works, because it is actually easy. Everything discursive and produced by discursive reasoning and which has been elaborately reasoned about knowledge of the powers of the soul  they completely strip away, namely the work and all the aids for aiding bodily feelings, helps and quite simply every bodily activity,  which is in our power, but not in our power, even the end, exactly as respiration, so long as it is in our power. All these identical things  follow painlessly and without much care for those who make progress hesychastically. And of necessity, perfectly automatically all things occur for by same entrance of the soul to itself. 

displacing the seven wicked spirits

St.  Gregory places hesychasm  as absolutely necessary to  progress in the spiritual life.  Seven  spirits,  commonly represented as the seven wicked spirits of Mt.12,  which were also cast out of Mary Magdalene,  dwell in us. In baptism,  the wicked one is displaced.  But we forfeit the grace of the Spirit  and so need to recover it by repentance.  Since the law of sin,  as manifested by the presence of the seven  spirits,  dwells in the belly,  we are to direct our attention there, invoking the Name of God  and driving out the heathen  from the promised land.  When  they  are  displaced and the mind-nous-  presides- then the Seven Spirits of God (Is.11)  can reside in us.  Gregory's point is that if we judge ourselves,  then  we are not judged by God.  Return  to the interior then is repentance.  We are searching  the inward parts of the belly,  for David said,
"the spirit of man  is the candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly"  This descent into the heart then is actually an ascent, an ascent to God.

One last note on the excerpt.  Gregory says we are to  preside and watch over ourselves,  i.e.  the mind is like a proistamenos or episkopos,  overseeing the interior.  Each is called to  govern in their heart.  For as David again said, "he that has no rule over his spirit is like a broken  wall."

From St. Gregory, question 2 Triad 1. (posted 1-28-13)

“Take heed to yourself” Moses clearly says to all, not to certain of you, not to a particular one.  Of whom?  Of the mind. For it is not possible for anyone to take heed to everyone’s own self.  He knows then this identical keeping guard of the soul and body, for through this he easily remedies both bodily and soulish evil passions. 

Rule over yourself then,

prepare yourself,  

oversee yourself, 

better yet, preside and oversee and prove yourself. 

And to add, in this way the flesh resists subordination of the spirit,  

“the word hidden in your heart won’t ever happen.” If a  spirit of one reigns, namely, of the seven spirits and passions, “Ascend to yourself”  the Preacher says “Do not leave your place,” that is, the portion of the soul,  neither let a member of the body  be unsupervised (lit. not overseen ἀνεπίσκοπον trans.) for in this way also,  when the seven spirits from below test, he may pass through higher on to Him Who tries the hearts and reins (lit. kidneys trans.)” “when He tries the hearts and reins ” as he himself has tested them previously,   he may stand with boldness not tested (by God trans.).” “For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.” He who says this is Paul.

And here is this saying from David experiencing- undergoing- that blessed passion,

even he himself says to God that  “darkness shall be be darkened from you, and night as day shall enlighten  me because  You shall possess my reins. ”

For Clean Monday, a Clean Heart. The Philokalia on seeing God.

BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD

When  Purify our heart of love for this world,  we  are promised to see,  experience the Love of God, ultimately Christ Himself.

What follows are quotes from the Philokalia on a pure heart.







This truth  of seeing God is better experienced  than  expressed.  We live in a world  that craves to see if God is real.  Thinking materially,  they cannot accept His existence.
As Jesus  said, “the world cannot receive the Spirit because it sees Him  not nor knows Him.”  Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom  of God.  It cannot be seen with human  eyes, at least in our present state.
The source of our blindness to God  are the passions.  The passions cover the eye  like  dirt on a mirror, so it can no longer reflect the light of God.  When the heart is cleansed by  turning away from  material  love it is able to receive the divine light.
To go further,  the source of the passions is self  love. We want to please ourselves instead of God or our neighbor  and so  find out ways to gratify ourselves,  beginning with fairly inocuous things to  truly debased desires.

The spiritual warfare then  is a return to our original state of pure love for God without any motive but to please God.  It is not even motivated by a love for God’s presence.  This itself can be an addiction, and we end up serving Him  for His gifts.


The Philokalia on  seeing God.  The Orthodox  Church  has a spiritual  treasury called the Philokalia,  the love  of the beautiful.  It  is an  assorted collection  of monastic texts describing the inner life,  and how we can attain  to  divine dispassion and unity with  the Lord.  I chose to use this collection of texts for our study on the Lord’s beatitude, “blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,” because it has  some pithy ways of expressing this truth.  Afterward I will look at this text from the scriptural standpoint.

The references are to  volume number and page number in the faber  collection.

[VI] 162

St Hesychios the Priest
On Watchfulness and HoHness
Written for Theodoulos

1. Watchfulness is a spiritual method which, if sedulously practiced over a long period, completely frees us: with
God's help from impassioned thoughts, impassioned words and evil actions. It leads, in so far as this is possible, to a
sure knowledge of the inapprehensible God, and helps us to penetrate the divine and hidden mysteries. It enables us
to fulfill every divine commandment in the Old and New Testaments and bestows upon us every blessing of the age
to come. It is, in the true sense, purity of heart, a state blessed by Christ when He says: 'Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God' (Matt. 5:8); and one which, because of its spiritual nobility and beauty - or, rather, because of
our negligence - is now extremely rare among monks. Because this is its nature, watchfulness is to be bought only at
a great price. But once established in us, it guides us to a true and holy way of life. It teaches us how to activate the
three aspects of our soul correctly, and how to keep a firm guard over the senses.

[VI] 174
St Hesychios the Priest

67. Dispassion and humility lead to spiritual knowledge. Without them, no one can see God.

{VI}  175

75. Humility and ascetic hardship free a man from all sin, for the one cuts out the passions of the soul, the other
those of the body. It is for this reason that the Lord says: 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God' (Matt.
5:8). They shall see God and the riches that are in Him when they have purified themselves through love and self-
control; and the greater their purity, the more they will see.

[V2] 30

St Theodoros the Great Ascetic
A Century of Spiritual Texts

82. Love has fittingly been called the citadel of the virtues, the sum of the Law and the prophets (cf. Matt.22:40: Rom. 13:10). So let us make every effort until we attain it. Through love we shall shake off the tyranny of the passions and rise to heaven, lifted up on the wings of the virtues; and we shall see God, so far as this is possible for human nature.

[V2] 33
St Theodoros the Great Ascetic
A Century of Spiritual Texts
86. If a man"s heart does not condemn him (cf 1 John 3 :21) for having rejected a commandment of God, or for
negligence, or for accepting a hostile thought, then he is pure in heart and worthy to hear Christ say to him: 'Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they shall see God' (Matt. 5:8).


[V2] 109
St Maximos the Confessor
Four Hundred Texts on Love

72. It is for this reason that the Savior says, 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matt. 5:8) for He
is hidden in the hearts of those who believe in Him. They shall see Him and the riches that are in Him when
they have purified themselves through love and self-control; and the greater their purity, the more they will see.

[V2] 157

St Maximos the Confessor
Two Hundred Texts on Theology
and the
Incarnate Dispensation of the Son of God
Written for Thalassios


Second Century
72. It is for this reason that the Savior says, 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matt. 5:8) for He
is hidden in the hearts of those who believe in Him. They shall see Him and the riches that are in Him when
they have purified themselves through love and self-control; and the greater their purity, the more they will see.

[V2] 199
St Maximos the Confessor
Various Texts on Theology, the Divine Economy, and Virtue and Vice

Second Century
58. When through self-control you have straightened the crooked paths of the passions in which you deliberately
indulged - that is to say, the impulses of sensual pleasure - and when, by enduring patiently the harsh and
painful afflictions produced by trials and temptations suffered against your will, you have made the rough ways
smooth and even, then you may expect to see God's salvation, for you will have become pure in heart. In this
state of purity, through the virtues and through holy contemplation, you will at the end of your contest behold
God, in accordance with Christ's words: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God' (Matt. 5:8). And
because of the sufferings you have endured for the sake of virtue you will receive the gift of dispassion. To
those who possess this gift there is nothing which reveals God more fully.

[V2] 367

St Theognostos
On the Practice of the Virtues, Contemplation and the Priesthood
38. Let no one deceive you, brother: without holiness, as the apostle says, no one can see God (cf. Heb. 12: 14). For
the Lord, who is more than holy and beyond all purity, will not appear to an impure person. Just as he who loves father or mother, daughter or son (of. Matt. 10:37) more than the Lord is unworthy of Him, so is he wholoves anything transient and material. Even more unworthy is the person who chooses foul and fetid sin to preference to love for the Lord: for God rejects whoever does not repudiate all filthiness: 'Corruption does not inherit incorruption' (1 Cor. 15:50).

[V3] 60
Ilias the Presbyter
A Gnomic Anthology
103. God sees all men, but only those see God who perceive nothing during prayer. God listens to those who see
Him, while those to whom He does not listen do not see Him. Blessed is the man who believes that he is seen by
God; for his foot will not slip (cf. Ps. 73:2) unless this is God's will.

[V3] 285

St Symeon Metaphrastis
Paraphrase of the Homihes
of
St Makarios of Egypt
Spiritual Perfection

2. What is the will of God that St Paul urges and invites each of us to attain (cf. 1 Thess. 4:3)? It is total cleansing
from sin, freedom from the shameful passions and the acquisition of the highest virtue. In other words, it is the
purification and sanctification of the heart that comes about through fully experienced and conscious participation in
the perfect and divine Spirit. 'Blessed are the pure in heart," it is said, 'for they shall see God' (Matt. 5:8); and again:
'Become perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5:48). And the psalmist says: 'Let my heart be unerring
in Thy statutes, so that I am not ashamed" (Ps. 1 19:80); and again: 'When I pay attention to all Thy commandments,
then I will not be ashamed" (Ps. 1 19:6). And to the person that asked, "Who will ascend the Lord's hill, or who will
stand in His holy place?" The psalmist replied: "He that has clean hands and a pure heart" (Ps. 24:3-4), that is to say,
he who has completely destroyed sin in act and thought.

3. The Holy Spirit, knowing that the unseen and secret passions are hard to get rid of - for they are as it were
rooted in the soul - shows us through the psalmist how we can purify ourselves from
[V3] 286

them. 'Cleanse me from my secret faults', writes the psalmist (Ps. 19: 12), as though to say that through much prayer
and faith, and by turning completely to God, we are able, with the help of the Spirit, to conquer them. But this is on
condition that we too strive against them and keep strict watch over our heart (cf Prov. 4:23).

[V4] 39

St Symeon the New Theologian
One Hundred and Fifty-Three Practical and Theological Texts

73. 'Blessed are the pure in heart,' says God, 'for they shall see God' (Matt. 5:8). But purity of heart cannot be
realized through one virtue alone, or through two, or ten; it can only be realized through all of them together, as if
they formed but a single virtue brought to perfection. Even so the virtues cannot by themselves purify the heart
without the presence and inner working of the Spirit. For just as the bronzesmith demonstrates his skill through his
tools, but cannot make anything without the activity of fire, so a man using the virtues as tools
[V4] 40
can do everything, given the presence of the fire of the Spirit; but without this presence these took remain useless
and ineffective, not removing the stain that befouls the soul.


[V4] 72

St Symeon the New Theologian
The Three Methods of Prayer
In short, if you do not guard your intellect you cannot attain purity of heart, so as to be counted worthy to see God
(cf. Matt. 5:18). Without such watchfulness you cannot become poor in spirit, or grieve, or hunger and thirst after
righteousness, or be truly merciful, or pure in heart, or a peacemaker, or be persecuted for the sake of justice (cf.
Matt. 5:3-10). To speak generally, it is impossible to acquire all the other virtues except through watchfulness. For
this reason you must pursue it more diligently than anything else, so as to learn from experience these things,
unknown to others, that I am speaking to you about.

[V4] 84

Nikitas Stithatos

On the Practice of the Virtues:
One Hundred Texts

19. So long as we have the raw material of the passions within ourselves and, instead of repudiating it,
deliberately nurture it, the passions will prevail over us, deriving their strength from us. But when we cast this raw
material out, cleansing our hearts with the tears of repentance and abhorring the deceitfulness of visible things, then
we share in the presence of the Paraclete: we see God in eternal light and are seen by Him.

Sparking, kindling a debate...

What is the biblical/Orthodox view of hell?
On one hand the medieval images of Dante  emerge in our minds.  Demons grasping pitched forks  tormenting  the unrepentant. Then  a literalistic  reading  of hell in the Holy Scripture which  speaks of underground chambers in the earth  etc. I believe, following Scripture and the Fathers,  that hell is two  fold like heaven.

“The kingdom of God is within  you”  Luke 17:20.  Heaven  can be experienced as an earnest of the Spirit even now.
Heaven  that is not experienced now will not be experienced later.  God  places Eden in our hearts now as a foretaste. Yes, simply,  a fore taste. Why only a foretaste?  Two reasons.
“Eye has not seen nor ear  heard neither entered into  our hearts the things which God has prepared for them that love him.”
1.We simply are incapable in our present state to receive the fullness of Grace.

“Come you  blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom  prepared for you from the foundation of the world”
 2.Heaven, more properly the kingdom  of heaven,  is inherited at the bodily resurrection.

In the same way-

Hell is experienced now as a foretaste by our passions. St Gregory of Sinai  said it this way:

“Passionate habits are the precursors of the torment of hell, just as active virtues are the forerunners of the kingdom of heaven.” (Philokalia, Prayer of the Heart, St Gregory of Sinai saying 35.)

 Biblically this runs smack against a fundamentalist interpretation.  When  the average person on the street says  hell is on earth,  they are half  right. People have a foretaste here.  Biblically as well, we see the fire of hell is not necessarily  just physical.  According to Scripture  it cannot be. 
Here is how Saint  Iakobos  in his letter described it:
5  Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
(Js.3:5-6)

The Greek  actually says the tongue is flogizmenh upo thj geenhj. That is,  it is set on fire, enkindled by  Gehenna.  According to the Scriptures and the Fathers,  we can experience heaven  and hell in foretaste now by our lives.  Are we consumed by God the consuming fire (Heb.10:31)?  Or are we consumed by the flame of desire,  the flame of hell?