Word for St Sophrony

Christ is the miracle that astounds us. He is the sign of God for all generations until the end of times, for in His Person every impasse has found its solution. By extension, as imitations of Christ, all the saints can also be said to be the signs of God for their generation, giving solutions ‘not of this world’ to the problems of our time, whether they be philosophical, psychological or theological. St Sophrony was greatly blessed with the vision of the uncreated Light when he was but an infant, yet from the first years of his youth he also felt very acutely the absurdity and vanity of temporary life. His intellectual erring on the alien paths of transcendental meditation was interrupted by the Sinaitic revelation that God brought before his eyes: ‘I am that I am.’ The Elder preserved this knowledge as a precious treasure in his heart and longed to transmit it to his brethren. He believed that the correct expression of the theory of the hypostatic principle would render the uniqueness of the Orthodox Church self-evident and would provide a solution to the many impasses of the modern world.

When St Sophrony explained the concept of the person, he did not rely on philosophical speculation, but spoke factually and concretely. On the one hand, he had in mind his own Elder, St Silouan, whose portrait he depicted when defining hypostasis, and on the other, he was bringing forth out of his heart ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ’, which he had acquired when the divine Light abundantly ‘shined in his heart’ (2 Cor. 4:6), and ‘grace in diverse forms streamed down on him, sometimes like a wide river, sometimes like a cascade of “living water” on his head’ (John 4:10; ‘On Prayer’, p. 79). According to the teaching of St Sophrony, the term ‘hypostatic principle’ means the potential that God has planted in human nature, whereby man can know God, receive the increase of God, the fulness of grace, and be ‘wholly’ sanctified (1 Thess. 5:23). St Silouan, who expressed himself more simply, called the hypostatic principle ‘soul’, meaning the dynamic property of man to be able to receive the Spirit of God. The term ‘person’ is used in contrast to the term ‘individual’. The individual is limited, fragmented, confined by time and space, subject to corruption and death.

On the contrary, the human person resembles God, more specifically the Person of Christ. Just as Christ, being God, is infinite and bears within Himself the fulness of Divinity and at the same time all those born of Adam, so he who fulfils the hypostatic principle within himself is enlarged and acquires infinite dimensions. By grace, he bears within him the fulness of divine Being, of course, in its energetic form, as well as the fulness of created being. For him the whole Adam has become ‘one man’, whom he encompasses in the flame of love imparted to him by God.

St Sophrony’s teaching on hypostasis can be summarised in four main points, which he dictated to his brethren two weeks before his death: 1. The true and perfect Person is Christ, as He revealed Himself to Moses through the word, ‘I Am That I Am’ and as He repeats in His Gospel: ‘Before Abraham was, I am;’ and, ‘Because I live, ye shall live also.’ Christ is the living God. He is absolute divine Being. 2. The content of the Hypostasis of Christ is His love for man to the end, as revealed by His Cross, descent to hell and Resurrection. 3. Man is a potential person since he was created in the image of the Hypostasis of Christ. 4. The content of the man who has become a true person-hypostasis, is love for God to the point of self-hatred. St Sophrony was a man of the word of God, and we do not mean that he spoke about the word of God, but that he was a bearer of the quickening power of the personal God. He emphasised the importance of calling upon the Name of the Lord Jesus so that the impasse of human tragedy may be overcome. He also gave the greatest importance to the Divine Liturgy, whose celebration enraptured and inspired him. He considered prayer for the whole world, love and prayer for enemies as a sign of authentic and holy life. As a conclusion, we will quote the words of the Saint:

‘A single saint is an extraordinarily precious phenomenon for all mankind. By the mere fact of their existence – unknown, maybe, to the world but known to God – the saints draw down on the world, on all humanity, a great blessing from God… Thanks to these saints – whom the world does not know of – the course of historical, even of cosmic events, is changed. So then, every saint is a phenomenon of cosmic character, whose significance passes beyond the bounds of earthly history into the sphere of eternity. The saints are the salt of the earth, its raison d’etre. They are the fruit that preserve the earth. But when the earth ceases to produce saints, the strength that safeguards it from catastrophe will fail’ (Saint Silouan, p. 223).

Part II
Fr Sophrony was an event in the history of the Church. His life was sublime, and we are always afraid to even approach it and make comments on it, because our own experience and knowledge falls short. However, it is our duty to remember and honour our Father and ask him to make up for what is lacking in us. He received from God a word for his generation, by which solutions were given to all the problems of our times, whether theological, philosophical or psychological. He spoke to us about all things with a certain authority and knowledge, for he always perceived the things of the earth in the light of the life to come. Although we find great originality in Fr Sophrony, the whole ascetical tradition of the Orthodox Church was recapitulated in his life and writings. We cannot speak about every single point of his originality because the whole approach of his ascetical life was original. In all things he saw the benevolence, the grace and the honour that God offers to us in calling us to His service. He never spoke of sacrifice or duty; instead, he spoke of man’s response to God’s supreme calling to become like unto the new Adam, Christ. I will only mention a few points of originality in Fr Sophrony’s teaching.

One is the way he speaks about repentance, about which he says it can be offered on two levels: on the human psychological level and on the ontological, spiritual level. Ontological repentance is a deep regret, a deep sad love for Christ. Seeing His perfect beauty and love to the end, man perceives his utter poverty and begins to repent out of gratitude and love, and such repentance has no end on earth. Another original point is his classic teaching about the three stages of spiritual life. The first stage is God’s initial calling to spiritual life, and this preliminary grace reveals to man the pattern of all the divine virtues, the purpose of his life. Then man concludes a covenant with God to live, not for the vanity of this world, but only for His glory. Certainly, man cannot preserve this first grace, because his nature is not yet conformed to its law. Then the second period begins, which is complicated and subtle, but also very creative. Man endures all trials in order to prove himself faithful to the vision he was given in the first grace of God’s calling. It is a period of spiritual education, when God Himself becomes our Teacher by allowing dryness to come upon us, so that we may strive to overcome it. We are educated through this vacillating up and down in our life. When we go down, we learn the humble path that Christ chose in order to save us: we experience and learn the humility of Christ, Who descended to hell in order to illumine the universe and leave no space in the created world unbathed in the radiance of His countenance. When we go up, we learn the lesson that there is no tragedy in the Christian: if we turn with all our heart to God, He will make a way out of every impasse, of every temptation.

Therefore, by going down and up, we learn not to despair and to sing a new song of gratitude and love to Christ. Then, the judgment of the Son of God is repeated in us, we learn the judgment of the house of God, which we are (1 Pet. 4:17), and we fulfil our destiny which is to become the temple of the Holy Spirit. When we have convinced God by bearing many afflictions that we are unshakable in our fidelity to Him, that whether we live or die, we make it a purpose to be His forever, then a day comes when He says clearly in our heart: ‘Yes, you are mine, this day have I begotten you, all that is mine, is thine’ (Ps. 2:7; Luke 15:31). This is when the third stage begins, which is a period full of stability, grace and the joy of the grace of adoption. The originality of Fr Sophrony also lies in the fact that he gives great emphasis to the second period in order to inspire people not to see trials as a curse, but as a true blessing from above, through which we become children of God. Another point of originality is Fr Sophrony’s teaching about pure prayer. He defines it as the state in which man no longer feels whether he is in the body or out of the body while praying, as St Paul describes his rapture to heaven in his vision on the way to Damascus (2 Cor. 12:2). Thus, the man who converses with God with pure prayer, is aware of only one thing: that he has thrown an anchor not into the sea, but into heaven. And the rope of this anchor is pulling him up to that place where he now belongs.

Pure prayer is given especially to monks: through love for God to the point of self-hatred, through total renunciation to everything earthly and to their limited and corrupted will, they wholly embrace the will of God which is that all should be saved. This is how the prayer of intercession for the salvation of the whole world begins. This is the true priesthood of the saints, not according to the order of Aaron, but of Melchizedek; it is the charismatic priesthood not according to the mosaic law, but according to the law of grace. This priesthood is generated by the experience of the enormous grace that sprang forth from the one true Mediator between God and man, the Lord Jesus. When we receive the grace of praying for the whole world as for ourselves, as St Silouan and Fr Sophrony describe, we fulfil our vocation of becoming in the image of the last Adam, Christ. Another point particular to Fr Sophrony is his teaching that in order to prove that the gift we received is genuine and not our illusion, we must be tested. We prove that we pray for the whole world if we love our enemies, which is the perfection of divine love. Christ loved His enemies to the end and died for them. Some say, ‘I have no problem to love my enemies because I have no enemies.’ Well, we must love our fellows, which are enemies to God, for we are all His enemies through sin. Fr Sophrony says that love for enemies is the infallible criterion of the true Church and of the presence of the Holy Spirit. The teaching of St Silouan on ‘keep thy mind in hell and despair not’ is another original element in Fr Sophrony’s teaching. This became a word for our generation, a word to inspire all people within and without the Church. When man becomes aware to what kind of God he belongs, he utterly condemns himself for being unworthy of such a God and, full of gratitude and love, he comes to hate himself.

Part III

All St Sophrony’s teachings are unique. His classic book on St Silouan never becomes outdated, because it is true Tradition and, as St Paul says, the true Tradition is Christ Himself, Who is ‘the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever’ (Heb. 13:8). In all his writings, Fr Sophrony gives a most authentic synthesis of the inner life and teaching of the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Orthodox Church, which has preserved the ability to produce images of Christ, citizens of heaven. If I were to mention all the original points of Fr Sophrony’s teaching, time would not suffice. When St Paul preached until midnight, one of his listeners fell from the window of the upper floor and died, but St Paul was able to raise him from the dead. In a relative sense, we can say about our Father what St John the Divine said about Christ: ‘And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written’ (John 21:25), not because of the number of books or lack of physical space, but because of the immense grace of Christ which the whole world cannot contain.

Q: Are all the four points of St Sophrony’s theory on the hypostasis signs of divine otherness in God and in man?

A: Yes. The purpose of our life is to become by grace a true hypostasis in the image of the Hypostasis of Christ. And that which is otherness in God becomes the garment of the saints, for they are clothed with His holiness.

Q: Can you tell us more about repentance on the psychological and on the spiritual level?

A: It is not always easy to separate the two levels. When we begin our life, our repentance is more psychological and less spiritual, but gradually, the spiritual part overrides the psychological. When we repent for concrete sins or sins of the past, we are on a human level, but it is also spiritual because without grace we cannot repent. However, when we repent out of gratitude towards God for not being able to render adequate thanksgiving to Him for all His benefits to us, for not being able to love Him to the end as He loved us, we repent on the spiritual ontological level. Also, the more self-hatred we have when we repent, the more our repentance approaches the ontological level, because this is the level on which the Lord lived and acted.