THE SECOND CONFERENCE OF ABBOT NESTEROS.
ON DIVINE GIFTS.
Complete Contents.
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Discourse of Abbot Nesteros on the threefold system
of gifts.
AFTER evening service we sat down together on the mats as usual ready
for the promised narration: and when we had kept silence for some
little time out of reverence for the Elder, he anticipated the silence
of our respect by such words as these. The previous order of our
discourse had brought us to the exposition of the system of spiritual
gifts, which we have learnt from the tradition of the Elders is a
threefold one. The first indeed is for the sake of healing, when the
grace of signs accompanies certain elect and righteous men on account
of the merits of their holiness, as it is clear that the apostles and
many of the saints wrought signs and wonders in accordance with the
authority of the Lord Who says: "Heal the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse the lepers, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely
give."[258] The second when for
the edification of the church or on account of the faith of those who
bring their sick, or of those who are to be cured, the virtue of
health proceeds even from sinners and men unworthy of it. Of whom the
Saviour says in the gospel: "Many shall say to Me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name, and in Thy name cast
out devils, and in Thy name done many mighty works? And then I will
confess to them, I never knew you: Depart from Me, ye workers of
iniquity."[259] And on the other
hand, if the faith of those who bring them or of the sick is wanting,
it prevents those on whom the gifts of healing are conferred from
exercising their powers of healing. On which subject Luke the
Evangelist says: "And Jesus could not there do any mighty work
because of their unbelief."[260]
Whence also the Lord Himself says: "Many lepers were in Israel
in the days of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed but
Naaman the Syrian."[261] The
third method of healing is copied by the deceit and contrivance of
devils, that, when a man who is enslaved to evident sins is out of
admiration for his miracles regarded as a saint and a servant of God,
men may be persuaded to copy his sins and thus an opening being made
for cavilling, the sanctity of religion may be brought into disgrace,
or else that he, who believes that he possesses the gift of healing,
may be puffed up by pride of heart and so fall more grievously. Hence
it is that invoking the names of those, who, as they know, have no
merits of holiness or any spiritual fruits, they pretend that by their
merits they are disturbed and made to flee from the bodies they have
possessed. Of which it says in Deuteronomy: "If there rise up in
the midst of thee a prophet, or one who says that he has seen a dream,
and declare a sign and a wonder, and that which he hath spoken cometh
to pass, and he say to thee: Let us go and follow after other gods
whom thou knowest not, and let us serve them: thou shalt not hear the
words of that prophet or of that dreamer, for the Lord thy God is
tempting thee that it may appear whether thou lovest Him or not, with
all thy heart and with all thy soul."[262] And in the gospel it says:
"There shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall
give great signs and wonders, so that, if it were possible, even the
elect should be led astray."[263]
Wherein one ought to admire the saints.
WHEREFORE we never ought to admire those who affect these things, for
these powers, but rather to look whether they are perfect in driving
out all sins, and amending their ways, for this is granted to each man
not for the faith of some other, or for a variety of reasons, but for
his own earnestness, by the action of God's grace. For this is
practical knowledge which is termed by another name by the Apostle;
viz., love, and is by the authority of the Apostle preferred to all
tongues of men and of angels, and to full assurance of faith which can
even remove mountains, and to all knowledge, and prophecy, and to the
distribution of all one's goods, and finally to the glory of martyrdom
itself. For when he had enumerated all kinds of gifts and had said:
"To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the
word of knowledge, to another faith, to another the gift of healing,
to another the working of miracles, etc.:"[264] when he was going to speak about
love notice how in a few words he put it before all gifts: "And
yet," he says, "I show unto you a still more excellent
way."[265] By which it is
clearly shown that the height of perfection and blessedness does not
consist in the performance of those wonderful works but in the purity
of love. And this not without good reason. For all those things are
to pass away and be destroyed, but love is to abide for ever. And so
we have never found that those works and signs were affected by our
fathers: nay, rather when they did possess them by the grace of the
Holy Spirit they would never use them, unless perhaps extreme and
unavoidable necessity drove them to do so.
Of a dead man raised to life by Abbot
Macarius.
AS also we remember that a dead man was raised to life by Abbot
Macarius who was the first to find a home in the desert of Scete.[266] For when a certain heretic who
followed the error of Eunomius was trying by dialectic subtlety to
destroy the simplicity of the Catholic faith, and had already deceived
a large number of men, the blessed Macarius was asked by some
Catholics, who were terribly disturbed by the horror of such an upset,
to set free the simple folk of all Egypt from the peril of infidelity,
and came for this purpose. And when the heretic had approached him
with his dialectic art, and wanted to drag him away in his ignorance
to the thorns of Aristotle, the blessed Macarius put a stop to his
chatter with apostolic brevity, saying: "the kingdom of God is
not in word but in power."[267]
Let us go therefore to the tombs, and let us invoke the name of the
Lord over the first dead man we find, and let us, as it is written,
"show our faith by our works,"[268] that by His testimony the manifest
proofs of a right faith may be shown, and we may prove the clear truth
not by an empty discussion of words but by the power of miracles and
that judgment which cannot be deceived. And when he heard this the
heretic was overwhelmed with shame before the people who were present,
and pretended for the moment that he consented to the terms proposed,
and promised that he would come on the morrow, but the next day when
they were all in expectation who had come together with greater
eagerness to the appointed place, owing to their desire for the
spectacle, he was terrified by the consciousness of his want of faith,
and fled away, and at once escaped out of all Egypt. And when the
blessed Macarius had waited together with the people till the ninth
hour, and saw that he had owing to his guilty conscience avoided him,
he took the people, who had been perverted by him and went to the
tombs determined upon. Now in Egypt the overflow of the river Nile
has introduced this custom that, since the whole breadth of that
country is covered for no small part of the year by the regular flood
of waters like a great sea so that there is no means of getting about
except by a passage in boats, the bodies of the dead are embalmed and
stored away in cells an good height up. For the soil of that land
being damp from the continual moisture prevents them from burying
them. For if it receives any bodies buried in it, it is forced by the
excessive inundations to cast them forth on its surface. When then the
blessed Macarius had taken up his position by a most ancient corpse,
he said "O man, if that heretic and son of perdition had come
hither with me, and, while he was standing by, I had exclaimed and
invoked the name of Christ my God, say in the presence of these who
were almost perverted by his fraud, whether you would have
arisen." Then he arose and replied with words of assent. And
then Abbot Macarius asked him what he had formerly been when he
enjoyed life here, or in what age of men he had lived, or if he had
then known the name of Christ, and he replied that he had lived under
kings of most ancient date, and declared that in those days he had
never heard the name of Christ. To whom once more Abbot Macarius:
"Sleep," said he, "in peace with the others in your own
order, to be roused again by Christ in the end." All this power
then and grace of his which was in him would perhaps have always been
hidden, unless the needs of the whole province which was endangered,
and his entire devotion to Christ, and unfeigned love, had forced him
to perform this miracle. And certainly it was not the ostentation of
glory but the love of Christ and the good of all the people that wrung
from him the performance of it. As the passage in the book of Kings
shows us that the blessed Elijah also did, who asked that fire might
descend from heaven on the sacrifices laid on the pyre, for this
reason that he might set free the faith of the whole people which was
endangered by the tricks of the false prophets.
Of the miracle which Abbot Abraham wrought on the
breasts of a woman.
WHY also need I mention the acts of Abbot Abraham,[269] who was surnamed
`aplous, i.e., the simple, from the simplicity
of his life and his innocence. This man when he had gone from the
desert to Egypt for the harvest in the season of Quinquagesima[270] was pestered with tears and prayers
by a woman who brought her little child, already pining away and half
dead from lack of milk; he gave her a cup of water to drink signed
with the sign of the cross; and when she had drunk it at once most
marvellously her breasts that had been till then utterly dry flowed
with a copious abundance of milk.
Of the cure of a lame man which the same saint
wrought.
OR when the same man as he went to a village was surrounded by mocking
crowds, who sneered at him and showed him a man who was for many years
deprived of the power of walking from a contracted knee, and crawled
from a weakness of long standing, they tempted him and said,
"Show us, father Abraham, if you are the servant of God, and
restore this man to his former health, that we may believe that the
name of Christ, whom you worship, is not vain." Then he at once
invoked the name of Christ, and stooped down and laid hold of the
man's withered foot and pulled it. And immediately at his touch the
dried and bent knee was straightened, and he got back the use of his
legs, which he had forgotten how to use in his long years of weakness,
and went away rejoicing.
How the merits of each man should not be judged by
his miracles.
AND so these men gave no credit to themselves for their power of
working such wonders, because they confessed that they were done not
by their own merits but by the compassion of the Lord and with the
words of the Apostle they refused the human honour offered out of
admiration for their miracles: "Men and brethren, why marvel ye
at this, or why look ye on us as though by our own power or holiness
we had caused this man to walk."[271] Nor did they think that any one
should be renowned for the gifts and marvels of God, but rather for
the fruits of his own good deeds, which are brought about by the
efforts of his mind and the power of his works. For often, as was
said above, men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the truth, both
cast out devils and perform the greatest miracles in the name of the
Lord. Of whom when the Apostles complained and said: "Master, we
saw one casting out devils in Thy name, and we forbade him because he
followeth not with us," though for the present Christ replied to
them "Forbid him not, for he that is not against you is for
you,"[272] still when they say at
the end: "Lord, Lord, have we not in Thy name prophesied, and in
Thy name cast out devils, and in Thy name done many mighty
works?" He testifies that then He will answer: "I never knew
you: depart from me, ye workers of iniquity."[273] And therefore He actually warns
those, to whom He Himself has given this glory of miracles and mighty
works because of their holiness, that they be not puffed up by them,
saying: "Rejoice not because the devils are subject to you, but
rejoice rather because your names are written in heaven."[274]
How the excellence of gifts consists not in
miracles but in humility.
FINALLY the Author Himself of all miracles and mighty works, when He
called His disciples to learn His teaching, clearly showed what those
true and specially chosen followers ought chiefly to learn from Him,
saying: "Come and learn of Me," not chiefly to cast out
devils by the power of heaven, not to cleanse the lepers, not to give
sight to the blind, not to raise the dead: for even though I do these
things by some of My servants, yet man's estate cannot insert itself
into the praises of God, nor can a minister and servant gather hereby
any portion for himself there where is the glory of Deity alone. But
do ye, says He, learn this of Me, "for I am meek and lowly of
heart."[275] For this it is
which it is possible for all men generally to learn and practise, but
the working of miracles and signs is not always necessary, nor good
for all, nor granted to all. Humility therefore is the mistress of
all virtues, it is the surest foundation of the heavenly building, it
is the special and splendid gift of the Saviour. For he can perform
all the miracles which Christ wrought, without danger of being puffed
up, who follows the gentle Lord not in the grandeur of His miracles,
but in the virtues of patience and humility. But he who aims at
commanding unclean spirits, or bestowing gifts of healing, or showing
some wonderful miracle to the people, even though when he is showing
off he invokes the name of Christ, yet he is far from Christ, because
in his pride of heart he does not follow his humble Teacher. For when
He was returning to the Father, He prepared, so to speak, His will and
left this to His disciples: "A new commandment," said He,
"give I unto you that ye love one another; as I have loved you,
so do ye also love one another:" and at once He subjoined:
"By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have
love to one another."[276] He
says not: "if ye do signs and miracles in the same way," but
"if ye have love to one another;" and this it is certain
that none but the meek and humble can keep. Wherefore our
predecessors never reckoned those as good monks or free from the fault
of vainglory, who professed themselves exorcists among men, and
proclaimed with boastful ostentation among admiring crowds the grace
which they had either obtained or which they claimed. But in vain,
for "he who trusteth in lies feedeth the winds: and the same
runneth after birds that fly away."[277] For without doubt that will happen
to them which we find in Proverbs: "As the winds and clouds and
rain are very clear so are these who boast of a fictitious
gift."[278] And so if any one
does any of these things in our presence, he ought to meet with
commendation from us not from admiration of his miracles, but from the
beauty of his life, nor should we ask whether the devils are subject
to him, but whether he possesses those features of love which the
Apostle describes.
How it is more wonderful to have cast out one's
faults from one's self than devils from another.
AND in truth it is a greater miracle to root out from one's own flesh
the incentives to wantonness than to cast out unclean spirits from the
bodies of others, and it is a grander sign to restrain the fierce
passions of anger by the virtue of patience than to command the powers
of the air, and it is a greater thing to have shut out the devouring
pangs of gloominess from one's own heart than to have expelled the
sickness of another and the fever of his body. Finally it is in many
ways a grander virtue and a more splendid achievement to cure the
weaknesses of one's own soul than those of the body of another. For
just as the soul is higher than the flesh, so is its salvation of more
importance, and as its nature is more precious and excellent, so is
its destruction more grievous and dangerous.
How uprightness of life is of more importance than
the working of miracles.
AND of those cures it was said to the blessed Apostles: "Rejoice
not that the devils are subject to you."[279] For this was wrought not by their
own power, but by the might of the name invoked. And therefore they
are warned not to presume to claim for themselves any blessedness or
glory on this account as it was done simply by the power and might of
God, but only on account of the inward purity of their life and heart,
for which it was vouchsafed to them to have their names written in
heaven.
A revelation on the trial of perfect chastity.
AND to prove this that we have said both by the testimony of the
ancients and divine oracles, we had better bring forward in his own
words and experience what the blessed Paphnutius[280] felt on the subject of admiration of
miracles and the grace of purity, or rather what he learnt from the
revelation of an angel. For this man had been famous for many years
for his signal strictness so that he fancied that he was completely
free from the snares of carnal concupiscence because he felt himself
superior to all the attacks of the demons with whom he had fought
openly and for a long while; and when some holy men had come to him,
he was preparing for them a porridge of lentiles which they call
Athera,[281] and his hand, as it
happened, was burnt in the oven, by a flame that darted up. And when
this happened he was much mortified and began silently to consider
with himself, and ask why was not the fire at peace with me, when my
more serious contests with demons have ceased? or how will that
unquenchable fire which searches out the deserts of all pass me by in
that dread day of judgment, and fail to detain me, if this trivial
temporal fire from without has not spared me? And as he was troubled
by thoughts of this kind and vexation a sudden sleep overcame him and
an angel of the Lord came to him and said: "Paphnutius, why are
you vexed because that earthly fire is not yet at peace with you,
while there still remains in your members some disturbance of carnal
motions that is not completely removed? For as long as the roots of
this flourish within you, they will not suffer that material fire to
be at peace with you. And certainly you could not feel it harmless
unless you found by such proofs as these that all these internal
motions within you were destroyed. Go, take a naked and most
beautiful virgin, and if while you hold her you find that the peace of
your heart remains steadfast, and that carnal heat is still and quiet
within you, then the touch of this visible flame also shall pass over
you gently and without harming you as it did over the three children
in Babylon." And so the Elder was impressed by this revelation
and did not try the dangers of the experiment divinely shown to him,
but asked his own conscience and examined the purity of his heart;
and, guessing that the weight of purity was not yet sufficient to
outweigh the force of this trial, it is no wonder, said he, if when
the battles with unclean spirits come upon me, I still feel the flames
of the fire, which I used to think of less importance than the savage
attacks of demons, still raging against me. Since it is a greater
virtue and a grander grace to extinguish the inward lust of the flesh
than by the sign of the Lord[282] and
the power of the might of the Most High to subdue the wicked demons
which rush upon one from without, or to drive them by invoking the
Divine name from the bodies which they have possessed. So far Abbot
Nesteros, finishing the account of the true working of the gifts of
grace accompanied us to the cell of the Elder Joseph which was nearly
six miles distant from his, as we were eager for instruction in his
doctrine.
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