WATCHFULNESS: THE BASIS OF SPIRITUAL LIFE
photo by Katrantzis Dimitrios
It is well known to the neptic Fathers of the Philokalia that three giants of the devil, who demolish the spiritual life of the fighter to its very foundation, are: forgetfulness, ignorance, and indolence. Watchfulness, however, shows itself much stronger than these three treacherous malefactors. It can seize the giants, imprison them, and handcuff them, because, how is it possible for a watchful Christian, be he monk or layman, to be seized by forgetfulness, in other words, to forget his internal uncleanness, the field of his heart full of public highways and thorny places; how is it possible to forget the Grace of God, which redeems, deifies, restores the distorted human icon to the pristine, divine beauty? How can he forget the heavenly realities, the divine compassion, the incarnation, the proclamation of the Gospel, the crucifixion, the resurrection of the revealed Son of God? How can he forget the Grace and the Love and Communion with the Holy Trinity? How can he forget the “hideous mask”, the past sins, the filth, the realization of which brings pain, contrition, divine humility, compunction? The searchlight of watchfulness illuminates all of these truths, when it enters into the darkest depths of the fighter’s personality, and confines the thief of forgetfulness- no matter how gigantic in the commission of evil and destruction he may be.
With the same ease watchfulness captures ignorance in the dangerously underhanded sabotage which it at- tempts in the camp of the heart. Countless are the damages and infinite the victims it has made with the cooperation of forgetfulness and indolence in a contemporary world which thinks that it knows everything, but ignores the “one thing which is needful”
Watchfulness dissolves the darkness of ignorance and with the cooperation and alliance of mental prayer it asks of the Lord knowledge: the knowledge of God (divine knowledge), and the knowledge of ourselves (self- knowledge). Spiritual knowledge is a gift of the Holy Spirit and watchfulness is its forerunner. Without watchful- ness and vigilance, ignorance is not recognized, it is camouflaged, it hides, it is full of conceit, especially in the contemporary technological, conceited and arrongant man. Both ignorance and conceit scatter fog and mist and the light of watchfulness reveals the nakedness of both.
With the same strength and effectiveness “mental attentiveness” neutralizes the giant of indolence. It puts negligence to flight, it spurs the soul, it awakens the will, it strenghtens its nerves in the working of Christ’s Commandments, which is proof of true love in accordance with His word: “If you love Me, keep My commandements”
The Christian can stay free from the bonds of forgetfulness and ignorance, but that is not enough for an awakened conscience. In the spiritual life, theory and practice go together
The Christian also is industriouş ,diligent in the working of the divine Commandments. He is not justified by his works. He knows this perfectly. But he attracts the Grace of God when mental prayer, the unceasing cry of the heart for Divine mercy, like a quintessence throbs in the remembrance e of God, in knowledge and work. Warchfulness, waylaying the enemies of spiritual life, performs the radically renewing work of self-knowledge upon personal guilt. Without self-knowledge the soul remains immobile and inoperative in the direction of desired purification. Watchfulness eagerly undertakes the work of self-knowledge Watchfulness and vigilance resemble a drill that advances to the deepest layers of the unconscious, from where, with the beneficial pump of prayer, it will remove its filth, until the clean vein of Divine Grace is found, which from there on will water our entire spiritual existence.
A brother said to Abba Poemen: “My thoughts disturb me. pushing me, pushing me to put aside my sins and to take notice of my brother’s shortcomings”. And the Elder told him about Abba Dioskoros who used to cry in his cell: his disciple sat in another cell. Then when he went to the Elder, he found him crying and said to him: “Why do you weep, Father?” And the Elder answered him: “I weep for my sins”. His disciple then said to him: You don’t have any sins, Father”. And the Elder answered him: “Know, my child, that if I allow myself to see my sins, three or four more people would not be enough to weep for them”. If we dared to allow ourselves to see our sins, maybe thirty or forty more people would be needed to weep for them…
J. Kornarakis notes: “… The lover and embodiment of watchfulness knows that a specific function is appropriate to each of the two sides which work together for the salvation of a soul. Thus the work of the Grace of God is to for- give and redeem, while the work of the ascetic is only to viably attach himself to personal guilt. When he remains steadfast in the viability of this guilt, he does not deny the blessing of Divine Grace. He does not doubt the power of God. He expresses only human weakness and offers to God what he is able to offer, the viability of his guilt. In this way he out-flanks the enemy and attacks him from behind. By this means he lives watchfulness as a psychological, but also a spiritual defensive mechanism which aims at nullifying the ruses of the devil”.
photo by Katrantzis Dimitrios
Lack of watchfulness causes us not to examine ourselves and the internal, but busy ourselves with others and the external, indeed to be deceived often by seemingly true or imaginary things. Abba Elias related the following from his personal experience:
“It seemed to me that I saw someone secretly placing squash and wine in his bosom. And to shame the demons, positive that it was a mistaken impression, I said to the brother: “Please, open that up”. He opened then his robe, and it was evident that he didn’t have anything hidden in his bosom. I am relating this so that you should not be so sure, even when you see something with your own eyes, or hear something with your own ears. On the contrary. the Father continues, “be attentive to reflections, memories and thoughts, knowing that the sly spirit comes from them to defile the soul and to make it trusting in harmful things, distracting the mind away from our sins and from God”,
The neptic, watchful work on our spiritual life will help us evaluate both our acts and our conscience with divine, Biblical criteria.
We read in the Desert Fathers: “Once certain brothers came to Abba Pambo and one of them asked him the following question: “Abba, if I fast two days and eat two slices of bread, do I save my soul, or am I deluding myself?
And the other one said: “Abba, if I earn two small coins from my handicraft everyday, and I keep some for my sustenance and give the rest to charity, am I saved or am I
lost?”
“Although they begged him a great deal, he did not answer them. After four days they were about to leave. The clergymen consoled them saying: “Don’t worry, brothers, God will reward you. That is the Elder’s way: he does not speak easily, unless God informs him inwardly”. Therefore, they went to the Elder and said to him: “Abba, pray for us”. He asked them, “Do you want to leave?” They answered him, “Yes”. Then, assuming their acts himself and writing on the ground, said to himself: “Can Pambo become a monk by fasting two days and eating only two slices of bread?” No. Pambo earns two small coins with his handicraft and gives them to charity. Can he become a monk this way? Not yet”. And he said to them “The acts are good, of course. But if you do not have your conscience clear in regard to your neighbour, you will not be saved”. And with this advice, they left joyfully”.
A brother asked Abba Poemen about the influence of thoughts, And the Elder told him: This resembles a man who has fire on his left and a pitcher of water on his right. Then, if the fire ignites, he takes water from the pitcher and puts it out. Fire is the seed of the enemy. Water is to entrust oneself to God”.
They used to say about Abba Sisoes of Thebes, that when Church services were over, he would leave for his cell. They used to say “He is possessed”. But he did the work of God, that is the work of watchfulness and prayer.
Once they asked Abba Silouan: What ascetism did you practice, Father, to receive this wisdom?”” And he answered: “I never left a thought in my heart that might offend God”.
A certain brother asked Abba Poemen: “Is it better for someone to speak, or to be silent?”” The Elder said to him: *Whoever speaks for the sake of God does well. And whoever keeps silent for the sake of God again does well”. Another brother asked Abba Poemen:”How can one avoid slandering his neighbour?” The Elder said to him:
“Our brothers and we are two pictures. So, at the time that a man watches and reproaches himself, he sees his brother worthy of honour. But when he seems good to himself, he gazes at his brother as being evil”.
Watchfulness, like a general intelligence agency and at the same time the headquarters of military operations, knows how to urgently and unceasingly call upon the omnipotent alliance of divine mercy which immobilizes and disarms every internal and external enemy. But even after this disarmament, it does not rest. It remains the sleep less eye of the soul in its vigilant guard, the never-sleeping observation post, the penetrating searchlight which follows every movement of the world inside the soul, and searches to keep the field of the heart clean, fertile and receptive to the grace and operation of the Holy Spirit.
The purpose of life in Christ is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit, as all the holy Fathers conclude, and as St. Seraphim of Sarov says in his dialogue with Motovilov. But the purpose of watchfulness and prayer is also the same; it coincides perfectly and completely. That is why the faithful who acquire neptic life attain the goal of life in Christ.
Life in Christ is man’s mission deified by grace. And the final, ultimate mission of watchfulness and prayer is none other than the theosis of the faithful and the indwelling of the Holy Trinity in the heart, cleansed of demons and passions. How, then, can watchfulness not be one of the most fundamental bases of true spiritual life?
St. Isaac the Syrian very wisely writes: *If we keep the law of watchfulness and the work of discernment in spiritual knowledge, of which life in Christ reaps the fruit, then the struggle with passionate provocations will in no way Come near our mind.
“Spiritual richness and the health of the soul are founded in watchfulness and diligence. For as long as one lives, he has need of diligence and vigilance to guard his treasure. If, however, one abandons his post, he will become weak and a victim of robbery.
You must work spiritually not only until you see the fruit in your soul, but also until your very end. For even ripe fruit is often destroyed by hail”.
By Archim. Ioannikios Kotsonis
Publications of the holy Monastery of St Gregory Palamas
Koufalia – Thessaloniki
