St. Ignatius Brianchaninov-On Vigilance
The soul of all practices in the Lord
is vigilance. Without vigilance, all these practices are fruitless. He
who is desirous of saving himself must so establish himself that he
might remain continuously vigilant toward himself, not only in solitude,
but also under conditions of distraction, into which he is sometimes
unwillingly drawn by circumstances.
Written for a Certain Layman As a Result of His Desire To Live A Vigilant Life In The World by St. Ignatius Brianchaninov
Let
the fear of God outweigh all other sensations upon the scales of your
heart; and then will it be convenient to for you to be vigilant toward
yourself, both in the silence of your kellia [cell] and in the midst of
the noise that surrounds you from all sides.
A well-reasoned
moderation in foodstuffs, diminishing the passionate heat of his blood,
tends greatly to facilitate your being able to attend to yourself; while
the impassioning of your blood, stemming, as it does, from an excessive
consumption of foodstuffs, from extreme and intensified bodily
movements, from the inflammation of wrath, from being heady with vanity,
and by reason of other causes, gives rise to a multitude of thoughts
and reveries—in other words, to distraction. The Holy Fathers, first of
all, ascribe to such a one as is desirous of attending to himself a
moderate, evenly-measured, constant abstention from food.
(Dobrotoliubiye [Philokalia], Pt. II, Ch. of St. Filofei [Philotheus] of
the Sinai)
Upon awakening from sleep—an image of the awakening
from the dead, which awaits all men—direct your thoughts to God,
offering up to Him the first-thoughts of your mind, which has not yet
become imprinted with any vain impressions whatsoever.
Having
carefully fulfilled all the needs of the flesh upon arising from sleep,
quietly read your customary rule of prayer, taking care not so much for
the quantity of your prayerful expression, as for the quality of it;
i.e., do it attentively, so that, by reason of your attention, your
heart might be enlightened and enlivened through prayerful feeling and
consolation. Upon concluding your rule of prayer, do you again, direct
all your strength to the attentive reading of the New Testament,
primarily the Evangel. In the course of this reading, intently take note
of all the instructions and commandments of Christ, so that you might
direct all your actions—both manifest and veiled—in accordance with
them.
The quantity of the reading is determined by one's strength
and by one's circumstances. It is unnecessary to weight-down one's mind
with an excessive reading of prayers and Scripture; likewise, is it
unnecessary to neglect one's needs in order to practice immoderate
prayer and reading. Just as the excessive use of foodstuffs disorders
and weakens the belly, so too does the immoderate use of spiritual food
weaken the mind and create in it a revulsion to pious practices, leading
it to despair. ([St.] Isaak the Syrian, "Sermon 71")
For the
novice, the Holy Fathers suggest frequent—but brief—prayers. When one's
mind matures with spiritual age, becoming stronger and more manly, then
shall one be in proper condition to pray without ceasing. It is to such
Christians as have attained to maturity in the Lord that the words of
the Apostle Paul pertain:
"I desire, therefore, that men pray
everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without anger and reproach." (I Tim.
II, 8) i.e., dispassionately, and without any distraction or
inconstancy. For that which is natural to the man is not yet natural to
the infant.
Enlightened, through prayer and reading, by our Lord,
Jesus Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, one may then go forth to carry
out the affairs of one's daily course, vigilantly taking care that in
all one's deeds and words, in one's entire being, the All-holy will of
God might prevail, as it was revealed and explained to men in the
Commandments of the Evangel.
Should there be any free moments
during the course of the day, use them to read attentively some chosen
prayers, or some chosen portions of Scripture; and, by means of these,
fortify the powers of your soul, which have become exhausted through
activity in the midst of a world of vanities.
Should there not be
any such golden moments, it is necessary to regret their loss, as
though it were the loss of a valuable treasure. What is wasted today
should not be lost on the day following, because our heart conveniently
gives itself up to negligence and forgetfulness, which lead to that
dismal ignorance, so ruinous of Divine activity, of the activity of
man's salvation.
Should you chance to say or to do something that
is contrary to God's commandments, immediately treat your fault with
repentance; and, by means of sincere contrition, return to the Way of
God, from which you stepped aside through your violation of God's will.
Do not linger outside the Way of God! Respond with faith and humility to
sinful thoughts, reveries and sensations by opposing to them the Gospel
commandments, and saying, along with the holy patriarch Joseph:
"How shall I speak this evil word and sin before God?" (Gen. XXX, 9)
One
who is vigilant toward oneself must refuse himself all reverie, in
general—regardless of how attractive and well-appearing it might seem,
for all reverie is the wandering of the mind, which flatters and
deceives it, while being outside the truth, in the land of non-existent
phantoms, and incapable of realization. The consequences of reverie are:
loss of vigilance toward oneself, dissipation of the mind, and hardness
of heart during prayer, whence comes distress of the soul.
In
the evening, departing into slumber—which, in relation to the day just
past, is death—examine your actions during the course of that day. Such
[self-] examination is not difficult, since, in leading an attentive
attentive life, that forgetfulness which is so natural to a distracted
man is destroyed through vigilance toward oneself. And so, having
recollected all your sins, whether through act, or word, or thought, or
sensation, offer your repentance to God for them, with both the
disposition and the heart-felt pledge of self-amendment. Later, having
read the rule of prayer, conclude the day which was begun by meditating
upon God by meditating, once again, upon God. Whither do they depart—all
the thoughts and feelings of a sleeping man? What mysterious state of
being is this sleep, during which the soul and body are both alive and
yet not alive, being alienated from the awareness of their life, as
though dead? Sleep is as incomprehensible as death. In the course of it,
one's soul reposes, forgetting the most-cruel earthly afflictions and
calamities that have beset it, while it images its eternal repose; while
one's body (!!) ... if it rises from sleep will also arise, inevitably,
from the dead.
The great Agafon said: "It is impossible to
succeed in virtue without exerting vigilance toward oneself." (The
Patericon of Skete)
Amen.
Excerpted
from The Writings of Bishop Ignatii Brianchaninov: Ascetic Essays,
Volume I, pp. 185-187 (in Russian). Translated into English from the
Russian by George Spruksts intrprtr@prodigy.net. English-language
translation copyright (c) 1999 by The St. Stefan of Perm' Guild, The
Russian Cultural Heritage Society, and the Translator. All Rights
Reserved. Permission is hereby granted to use this essay for
non-commercial purposes, as long as this entire notice is included
therewith.
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