Experiencing freedom

It is one thing neither to be stung nor angered by affronts and insults, nor by temptations and trials, and another to be pleased by them. It is one thing to pray for the people who do such things, and another to love them with all one's soul as benefactors, and still another to impress on one's spirit the face of each one of them, and then, with tears of sincere love, to embrace them dispassionately as true friends without the least trace of dislike making its nest in the soul. Greater, however, even than the last of which I spoke is it when someone in the midst of trials maintains an attitude of sameness and equilibrium with respect both to those who revile and slander him to his face, and to all the others who judge, or insult, or condemn him, or who spit in his face; and indeed, who remains so even with respect to those who bear themselves outwardly with an appearance of friendliness, but who, behind his back, practise the same things against him as the others, even though he is aware of this, too. I am also of the opinion that there is a stage yet incomparably higher than the last: to have arrived at complete forgetfulness of whatever it is one may have suffered and never to recall it, whether those who have done the injury are present or not, and, in addition, to behave toward these people, whether in conversation or at table, as toward friends, without having any second thoughts. These are all the works of men who walk in the light. As many, however, as learn that they are far away from such men and such behavior, let them neither be deluded nor fool themselves, but let them rather know of a certainty that they walk in darkness.
("On the Mystical Life (Vol. 2)", pp. 15-16)

{The liberated person} sees gold and pays no mind to its gleaming, but understands that it is stuff which comes form the earth and is mere stone and dust, incapable of ever being changed into anything else... He sees someone who is acclaimed, seated on a throne and escorted by many people in solemn procession down the street, or puffed-up with pride, and is disposed to regard it all as a dream. He smiles and is astonished at men's ignorance. He sees the world and lives and walks in the middle of a great city -- the Lord is my witness Who works thse things in us -- as if he were alone in all the world, and he lives with men as if he were in a trackless wilderness, and as if he had nothing to do with anyone or knew no man on earth. Thus is such a man disposed to live.
("On the Mystical Life (Vol. 2)", p. 72)

... it often happens that a man {who has died before death and risen again before the resurrection}, so to speak, forgets even his natural faculties, because his soul lives its life intellectually, on a plane above nature... For once the flesh is dead by the coming of the Spirit, as we have said, from then on it leaves us undisturbed. You will live without hindrance, since "the law is not laid down for the just" (1 Tim. 1:9), as God's apostle says, because he lives a life that is higher than the law. As he says, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2 Cor. 3:17), a freedom from the slavery of the Law... As it is written, "They shall all be taught by God" (Jn. 6:45), learning goodness not by writings and letters (cf. 2 Cor. 3:3, 6), but by being taught by the Holy Ghost. Not by word alone, but in the light of the word and in the word of the light are they mystically initiated into things divine. For He says, "Then you will become teachers both for yourselves and for your neighbors; more than that, you will be the light of the world and the salt of the earth" (cf. Mt. 5:13-14).
("Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses", pp. 296-7)

For those who have merited the title of perfect men by virtue of sharing in God's grace, and have acquired spiritual stature in the measure described, these become wholly with God. They behold Him as much as they are themselves beheld by Him. God abides consciously in them, and they abide consciously in God, indivisibly and without separation.
("On the Mystical Life (Vol. 2)", pp. 32-33)

... they live as in heaven and have their citizenship there {in heaven (Phil. 3:20)}, even though they spend their lives in caves or on mountains and in [monastic] cells, or live in the midst of cities. Thus they will always serve Him in joy and gladness and ineffable exultation.
("Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses", p. 123)

While they live and move among all men they are by no means defiled by their converse with others (Mt. 10:16). When they do well to those who come to them they suffer no loss of what is good, but as they impart to others they receive more mercy than they give. Rather, as they love others they become like Him who is the Lover of mankind.
("Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses", p. 207)

... they are no longer their own but belong to the Spirit who is in them (1 Cor. 6:19). In them He becomes all the things about which you hear in the divine Scriptures concerning the kingdom of heaven -- a pearl, a mustard seed, leaven, water, fire, bread, drink of life. He becomes a living fountain springing forth, a river flowing with spiritual words, word of divine life, a lamp, bed, marriage bed, wedding chamber, bridegroom, friend, brother, and father. But why do I try with many words to expound the whole matter -- the terms are without number! For how can the tongue measure what "eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived" (1 Cor. 2:9) and express it in words? In no way whatever! For even if we possessed all these things within us because we carry with us God who supplies them, yet we cannot measure with our minds, nor in any way explain them by word.
("Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses", p. 366)

{Christ speaks of a people whose ears are hard of hearing (Mt. 13:15).} He who is deaf to the Word is deaf to every voice, just as he who hears the Word hears them all... he hears all, yet hears no one, save those alone who form [their] words in the Word, and not even those, but only the Word who speaks without voice in their voices. But he who is deaf to the One is deaf in relation to all... Since he is in the One he sees all things; if he is in all things {without seeing them as they are in the One} he sees nothing of them. So he who sees in the One and through the One perceives both himself and all persons and all things; he who is hidden in himself sees nothing of them all. He therefore who hears, sees, and perceives knows the meaning of what is being said, but he who does not know clearly shows that his senses are neither accurate nor sound... He has in no way whatever clothed his rational and intellectual self with the image of Jesus Christ our Lord, who is the heavenly man (1 Cor. 15:49) and God. But if he has not put on this image in perception and knowledge, then he is no more than flesh and blood (cf. 1 Cor. 15:50). He is incapable of receiving through the word any perception of the heavenly glory, just as those who have been born blind cannot by word alone see the light of the sun.
("Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses", pp.306-307)

The higher they ascend the more they abase themselves; the more they humble themselves the higher they are lifted up (Lk. 14:11). By humbling themselves they go without what they need, yet they lack nothing because they are fed by the eternal life of holy love.
("Symeon the New Theologian: The Discourses", p. 207)

... he who with toil and tears has planted the virtues in himself and has harvested the fruits of the Spirit knows both the form and the quality of each of them, and tastes of all their sweetness, and what is greater and more marvelous, he recognizes that same fruit in others.
("On the Mystical Life (Vol. 2)", p. 121)

©1999 by Deb Platt