Demonstration 6: On Monks, Part 2

Our Savior showed us all this humility in himself. So let us humble ourselves too, my beloved. When our Lord went outside his own nature, he walked in our nature. Let us stay in our nature, so that on the day of judgment he may make us share in his nature. Our Lord took a pledge from us when he went, and he left us a pledge of his own when he ascended. He who had no need devised this plan because of our need. What was ours was his even from the beginning; but what was his, who would have given it to us? Yet what our Lord promised us is true: “Where I am, there you will be also.” For whatever he took of ours is held in honor with him, and a crown is bound on his head. So we too ought to honor what we have received of his. What is ours is held in honor with him who was not in our nature; let us honor what is his in his own nature. If we honor him, we will go to him who took our nature on himself and so ascended. But if we despise him, he will take away from us what he has given us. If we deal dishonestly with his pledge, he will take back there what is his and will strip us of everything he has promised us. Let us give glorious honor to the King’s Son who is with us, since a hostage for him has been taken from us. Whoever holds the King’s Son in honor will receive many gifts from the King. That of ours which is with him has sat down in honor; a crown is bound on his head, and he has sat down with the King. And we who are poor, what will we do for the King’s Son who is with us? He needs nothing from us except that we adorn our temples for him, so that when the time is fulfilled and he goes to his Father, he may give thanks to him for us, because we have honored him. [a]

When he came to us, he had nothing of ours, and we had nothing of his, though both natures were his and his Father’s. For when Gabriel brought the announcement to the blessed Mary who bore him, the Word set out from on high and came, and the Word became flesh and dwelt in us. And when he returned to the one who sent him, he took with him, when he went, what he had not brought. As the apostle said: “He has taken us up and seated us with himself in the heavens.” And when he went to his Father, he sent his Spirit to us and said to us, “I am with you until the world ends.” For Christ sits at the right hand of his Father, and Christ lives among men. By the wisdom of his Father he is enough both above and below. And though he is one, he lives in many; he overshadows all the faithful, each one, from himself, and he does not fail, as it is written: “I will divide him among many.” And though he is divided among many, he still sits at the right hand of his Father. He is in us and we are in him, as he said: “You are in me and I am in you.” And in another place he said: “I and the Father are one.”

But someone whose conscience lacks knowledge may dispute this and say: “Since Christ is one and his Father is one, how do Christ and his Father both live in faithful men? And how do righteous men become temples for God, so that he lives in them? If that is so, if a separate Christ comes to each faithful man, and God who is in Christ, then they have many gods and Christs without number.” But hear, my beloved, the answer that fits this argument. Let the one who has said this learn from what can be seen. Everyone knows that the sun is fixed in the heavens, yet its rays spread out over the earth, and its light comes in through many doors and windows of houses. Wherever the sunshine falls, even if it is only the size of the palm of a hand, it is called the sun. Though it falls in many places, it is still called that, while the real sun itself is in heaven. If that is so, do people have many suns? Again, the water of the sea is vast, and when you take one cup from it, that is called water. Even if you divided it into a thousand vessels, it would still be called water by its name. And when you light fire from fire in many places, the place you take it from loses nothing when you light it, and the fire is called by one name. Because you divide it among many places, it does not come to have many names. And when you take dust from the earth and scatter it in many places, it is not diminished at all, and you cannot call it by many names either. In the same way God and his Christ, though they are one, live in men who are many. They are in heaven in person, and they lose nothing when they live in many, just as the sun loses nothing in heaven when its power is poured out on the earth. How much greater, then, is the power of God, since the sun itself exists by the power of God!

Let me remind you also, my beloved, of what is written. It is written that when leading the camp alone became too heavy a burden for Moses, the Lord said to him: “I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on seventy men, elders of Israel.” But when he took some of the Spirit of Moses, and the seventy men were filled with it, Moses lacked nothing, and no one could tell that anything had been taken from his Spirit. The blessed apostle also said: “God divided some of the Spirit of Christ and sent it into the prophets.” And Christ suffered no loss, for his Father did not give him the Spirit by measure. From this you can understand that Christ lives in faithful men, and yet Christ loses nothing though he is divided among many. For the prophets received of the Spirit of Christ, each one of them as much as he was able to bear. And again, of the Spirit of Christ there is poured out today on all flesh, and the sons and the daughters prophesy, the old men and the young men, the menservants and the maidservants. Something of Christ is in us, yet Christ is in heaven at the right hand of his Father. Christ received the Spirit not by measure; his Father loved him, put everything into his hands, and gave him authority over all his treasure. For John said: “The Father did not give the Spirit to his Son by measure, but loved him and put everything into his hands.” Our Lord also said: “All things have been handed over to me by my Father.” And again he said: “The Father will not judge anyone, but he will give all judgment to his Son.” The apostle also said: “Everything will be made subject to Christ except his Father, who has subjected everything to him. And when everything is made subject to him by the Father, then he too will be made subject to God his Father, who subjected everything to him, and God will be all in all, and in every man.” [d]

Our Lord testifies about John that he is the greatest of the prophets. Yet John received the Spirit by measure, for he received it in the same measure in which Elijah received the Spirit. As Elijah used to live in the wilderness, so the Spirit of God led John into the wilderness, and he lived in the mountains and caves. The birds fed Elijah, and John ate locusts that fly. Elijah had his waist bound with a leather belt; so John had his waist bound with a leather belt. Jezebel persecuted Elijah, and Herodias persecuted John. Elijah rebuked Ahab, and John rebuked Herod. Elijah divided the Jordan, and John opened up baptism. The spirit of Elijah rested double on Elisha; so John laid his hand on our Redeemer, and he received the Spirit not by measure. Elijah opened the heavens and ascended; and John saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit of God coming down and resting on our Redeemer. Elisha received a double share of the Spirit of Elijah; and our Redeemer received John’s and heaven’s. Elisha took the cloak of Elijah, and our Redeemer the laying on of the hand of the priests. Elisha made oil from water, and our Redeemer made wine from water. Elisha fed only a hundred men with a little bread, and our Redeemer fed five thousand men with a little bread, besides children and women. Elisha cleansed Naaman the leper, and our Redeemer cleansed the ten lepers. Elisha cursed the children and they were devoured by bears, but our Redeemer blessed the children. The children jeered at Elisha, but the children glorified our Redeemer with hosannas. Elisha cursed Gehazi his servant, and our Redeemer cursed Judas his disciple and blessed all his other disciples. Elisha brought only one dead man back to life, but our Redeemer raised three to life. One dead man came back to life on the bones of Elisha, but when our Savior went down to the place of the dead, he brought many to life and raised them up. And many are the signs that the Spirit of Christ worked, which the prophets received from him.

So, my beloved, we too have received of the Spirit of Christ, and Christ lives in us, as it is written that the Spirit said through the mouth of the prophet: “I will live in them and walk in them.” So let us prepare our temples for the Spirit of Christ, and let us not grieve it, so that it does not leave us. Remember the warning the apostle gives us: “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom you have been sealed for the day of redemption.” For it is from baptism that we receive the Spirit of Christ. In the hour when the priests call on the Spirit, the heavens open, and it comes down and moves over the waters. Those who are baptized are clothed in it. For the Spirit stays away from all who are born of the flesh until they come to the new birth by water, and then they receive the Holy Spirit. In the first birth they are born with a natural soul, which is created within a man and is not afterward subject to death, as he said: “Adam became a living soul.” But in the second birth, the birth through baptism, they received the Holy Spirit from a portion of the Godhead, and it is not subject to death again. For when men die, the natural spirit is buried with the body, and feeling is taken away from it, but the heavenly spirit that they receive goes, as its nature is, to Christ. The apostle made both of these known, for he said: “The body is buried a natural body, and rises again a spiritual body.” The Spirit goes back to Christ, as its nature is, for the apostle said again: “When we leave the body, we will be with our Lord.” For the Spirit of Christ, which the spiritual receive, goes to our Lord, and the natural spirit is buried in its own nature, and feeling is taken away from it. [f]

Whoever keeps the Spirit of Christ in purity, when it returns to Christ it speaks to him like this: “The body I went into, which put me on from the water of baptism, has kept me in holiness.” And the Holy Spirit will plead with Christ for the resurrection of that body which kept it in purity, and the Spirit will ask to be joined to it again, so that that body may rise up in glory. But whatever man receives the Spirit from the water of baptism and grieves it, it leaves him until he dies, and it returns, as its nature is, to Christ and accuses that man of having grieved it. And when the time of the final consummation has come, and the time of the resurrection has drawn near, the Holy Spirit that was kept in purity receives great power from its nature. It comes before Christ and stands at the door of the tombs where the men are buried who kept it in purity, and it waits for the shout of the resurrection. And when the Watchers have opened the doors of heaven before the King, then the horn will summon and the trumpets will sound. The Spirit that waits for the shout will hear, and quickly it will open the tombs and raise up the bodies and whatever was buried in them, and it will put on the glory that comes with it. The Spirit will be within, for the resurrection of the body, and the glory will be outside, for the adornment of the body. The natural spirit will be swallowed up in the heavenly Spirit, and the whole man will become spiritual, since the Spirit possesses his body. Death will be swallowed up in life, and body will be swallowed up in Spirit. By the power of the Spirit that man will fly up to meet the King, and the King will receive him with joy, and Christ will give thanks for the body that has kept his Spirit in purity.

This, my beloved, is the Spirit the prophets received, and we too have received it in the same way. It is not always found with those who receive it; sometimes it returns to the one who sent it, and sometimes it goes to the one who receives it. Listen to what our Lord said: “Do not despise one of these little ones who believe in me, for their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father.” This Spirit, then, often goes and stands before God and sees his face, and whoever harms the temple in which it lives, it will accuse him before God. [k]

Let me show you from what is written that the Spirit is not always found with those who receive it. It is written about Saul that the Holy Spirit he received when he was anointed left him, because he grieved it, and God sent him a tormenting spirit in its place. Whenever the evil spirit afflicted him, David would play the harp, and the Holy Spirit that David received when he was anointed would come, and the evil spirit that was tormenting Saul would flee from before it. So the Holy Spirit that David received was not always found with him. It used to come while he was playing the harp. For if it had always been with him, it would not have let him sin with the wife of Uriah. For when he was praying about his sins and confessing his offenses before God, he said: “Do not take your holy spirit from me.” It is written about Elisha too that while he was playing his harp, the spirit came to him, and he prophesied and said: “This is what the Lord says: you will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be made into many pits.” And again, when the Shunammite woman came to him because of her son who had died, he said to her: “The Lord has hidden it from me and has not let me know it.” Yet when the king of Israel sent men against him to kill him, the Spirit told him before the messenger reached him, and he said: “Look, this son of wickedness has sent to take off my head.” He also made known the plenty that came to Samaria the next day. And again the Spirit told him when Gehazi stole the silver and hid it. [l]

So, my beloved, when the Holy Spirit leaves a man who has received it, then until it comes back to him Satan draws near to that man, to make him sin, so that the Holy Spirit may leave him altogether. For as long as the Spirit is with a man, Satan is afraid to come near him. And notice, my beloved, that our Lord too, who was born of the Spirit, was not tempted by Satan until he received the Spirit from on high at his baptism. Then the Spirit led him out to be tempted by Satan. This, then, is the way for a man: in the hour when he sees in himself that he is not fervent in the Spirit, and that his heart is leaning toward the thought of this world, let him know that the Spirit is not with him. Let him get up and pray and keep watch, so that the Spirit of God may come to him and he is not overcome by the adversary. A thief does not break into a house until he sees that its master is leaving it. In the same way Satan cannot come near the house that is our body until the Spirit of Christ leaves it. Be sure of this, my beloved: the thief does not know for certain whether the master of the house is in or not, but first he puts his ear to it and watches. If he hears the master of the house inside saying, “I have a journey to make,” and when he has looked and seen that the master has set out about his business, then the thief comes, breaks into the house, and steals. But if he hears the master of the house warning his household and ordering them to keep watch and guard his house, and saying to them, “I am in the house too,” then the thief will be afraid and run away, so that he is not caught and taken. So it is with Satan too. He does not know beforehand, and cannot see, when the Spirit will leave, so as to come and rob the man; he too listens and watches, and then attacks. If he hears a man in whom Christ lives speaking shameful words, or in a rage, or quarreling, or fighting, then Satan knows that Christ is not with him, and he comes and carries out his will in him. For Christ lives in the peaceful and the meek, and makes his home in those who fear his word, as he says through the prophet: “On whom will I look, and in whom will I live, but in the peaceful and the meek who fear my word?” And our Lord said: “Whoever walks in my commandments and keeps my love, we will come to him and make our home with him.” But if Satan hears from a man that he is on his guard, praying and meditating on the law of his Lord day and night, he turns back from him, for he knows that Christ is with him. And if you were to say, “How many Satan must be! For look, he fights with many,” then hear and learn from what I proved to you above about Christ: however widely he is divided among many, he is not diminished at all. For as a house is lit up entirely when a little sunlight enters through its window, so the man into whom a little of Satan enters is darkened entirely. Hear what the apostle said: “If Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, it is no wonder if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.” And again our Lord said to his disciples: “Look, I have given you authority to trample on the power of the adversary.” The Scriptures have made known that he has power and servants as well. Job too said of him: “God made him to wage his war.” These servants he has, then, he sends running through the world to wage war. But be sure that he will not fight openly, because from the time our Savior came, God has given authority over him. But he will certainly plunder and steal. [n]

But I will explain to you, my beloved, the saying of the apostle by which the teachings that are tools of the Evil One, and the teachings of deceit, can be weighed. For the apostle said: “There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body, since it is written: The first Adam became a living soul, and the second Adam a life-giving spirit.” So they say that there will be two Adams. But he said: “As we have put on the image of the Adam who was from the earth, so we will put on the image of the Adam who is from heaven.” For the Adam who was from the earth was the one who sinned, and the Adam who is from heaven is our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. So those who receive the Spirit of Christ come into the likeness of the heavenly Adam, who is our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. For the natural will be swallowed up in the spiritual, as I wrote to you above. And the man who grieves the Spirit of Christ will be natural in his resurrection, because the heavenly Spirit is not with him, for the natural to be swallowed up in it. When he rises, he will remain in his natural state, naked of the Spirit. Because he stripped the Spirit of Christ from himself, he will be handed over to utter nakedness. But whoever honors the Spirit, and in whom it is kept in purity, the Holy Spirit will protect him on that day, and he will become wholly spiritual and will not be found naked. As the apostle said: “When we have clothed ourselves, may we not be found naked.” And again he said: “We will all sleep, but in the resurrection we will not all be changed.” And again he said: “This which dies will put on what does not die, and this which is perishable what is imperishable; and when this which dies has put on what does not die, and this perishable what is imperishable, then the word that is written will be fulfilled, that death is swallowed up by victory.” Again he said: “Suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, the dead will rise imperishable, and we will be changed.” Those who are changed will put on the form of the heavenly Adam and will become spiritual. And those who are not changed will remain natural, in the created nature of Adam, that is, of dust, and will remain in their own nature on the earth below. Then the heavenly will be caught up to heaven, and the Spirit they have put on will make them fly, and they will inherit the kingdom that was prepared for them from the beginning. But those who are natural will stay on the earth by the weight of their bodies, and will turn back to Sheol, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. [p]

In writing this I have reminded myself, and you too, my beloved. So love virginity, the heavenly portion, the fellowship of the Watchers of heaven. For there is nothing to compare with it. And in those who are like this, in them Christ lives. The time of summer is near; the fig tree has budded and its leaves have come out. The signs our Redeemer gave have begun to be fulfilled. For he said: “People will rise against people and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and plagues and terrors from heaven.” And look, all these things are being fulfilled in our days. [t]

So read in this whatever I have written to you, you and the brothers, the monks who love virginity. And be on your guard against scoffers. For whoever scoffs at his brother and mocks him, the word written in the Gospel fits him well: when our Lord wanted to settle accounts with the greedy and with the Pharisees. For it is written: “Because they loved money, they mocked him.” So now too, those who do not agree with these things mock in the same way. Read, then, and learn. Be eager for reading and for doing. Let the law of God be your meditation at all times. And when you have read this letter, my beloved, I charge you by your life: get up and pray, and remember my sinfulness in your prayer. [u]