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The Path to Salvation: a Manual of Spiritual Transformation

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The Path to Salvation: a Manual of Spiritual Transformation THE PATH TO SALVATION St. Theophan (Govorov) (1815-1894) Icon painted for his canonization in 1988. THE PATH TO SALVATION A Manual of Spiritual Transformation Bv ST. THEOPHAN THE REcLusE Translated by Fr. Seraphim Rose and the St. Herman ofAlaska Brotherhood ST. PAISIUS MONASTERY t PRINTED WITH THE BLESSING OF HIS GRACE +LON GIN SERBIAN ORTHODOX BISHOP OF THE U.S.A. AND CANADA, NEW GRACJ\NICA METROPOLITANATE, AND BISHOP ADMINISTRATOR OF THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX DIOCESE OF WESTERN AMERICA Copyright 2006 by St. Paisius Monastery P.O. Box 1075, Safford, Arizona 85548 (Copyright transferred from St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood with permission, in the year 2002) First Printing 1996 Second Printing 1998 Third Printing 2006 Translated by Fr. Seraphim Rose and the St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood Front cover: Ancient Russian Icon of the Crucifixion Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Feofan, Saint, Bishop of Tambov and Shatsk, 1815-1894. The path to salvation. A manual of spiritual transformation. Translated from the Russian. 1. Christianity-Eastern Orthodox Spirituality. 2. Christianity­ Spiritual Instruction. Library of Congress Catalog Number: 96-071062 ISBN: 1-887904-S0-6 paperback I 1-887904-51-4 hardcover Contents PREFACE A Biography by E. Sumarokov 11 INTRODUCTION by the Author . 21 PART I HOW DOES THE CHRISTIAN LIFE BEGIN IN US? CHAPTER ONE: How the Christian Life Begins in Us 27 1. Christian Life Begins with Ardor of Zeal 27 2. The Fire of Zeal . 30 3. In the Face ofTemptation . 33 4. A New Creature in Christ Through Holy Baptism 36 5. Baptism fo r Infants . 38 6. Christian Upbringing . 41 7. The Influenceof the Parents Upon the Child . 44 CHAPTERTwo: The Chief Activities of the Body, Soul and Spirit . 48 1. Directing the Developing Powers of the Soul and Body . 48 2. Surrounding the Child With Sacred Images 53 3. Forming Attitudes . 56 CHAPTERT HREE: The Instruction and Guidance of Youth . 63 1. The Instruction ofYouth 63 5 THE PATH TO SALVATION 2. Conscious Acceptance of the Yoke of Christ 66 3. The Turbulent Period ofYouth . 68 4. Two Tendencies Characteristic ofYouth . 71 5. The Pinnacle of Danger fo r Youth . 75 6. How to Guard Against The Temptations ofYouth 77 CHAPTER FouR: Preservingthe Grace of Baptism 80 1. Why the Grace of Baptism Is Not Preserved 80 2. How to Correct A Bad Order of Things . 83 3. The Fruit of a Good Upbringing . 84 4. The ChiefForm of Moral Perfection: Unshakability in Virtue . 86 PART II ON REPENTANCE AND THE SINNER'S TURNING TOWARD GOD CHAPTERONE: How Does Christian Life Begin in the Mysteryof Repentance? . 91 1. Turning Away from Sin to God . 92 2. The Combining of Freedom with Grace. 93 CHAPTERTwo: The Sinner's Condition . 95 95 1. Particulars fo r a Person Who Lacks Grace 2. The Care and Trouble about Many Things . 96 3. The Seductions of the Prince of This World 98 4. The Invisible Kingdomof Spirits in which Each Sinner is Immersed . 99 5. The Inner Mood and Condition of the Sinner 99 6 CONTENTS CHAPTER THREE: The Action of Divine Grace . .. 101 CHAPTER FouR: Awakening the Sinner from the Sleep of Sin . 1 02 CHAPTER FrvE: The Special Actions of Divine Grace in Arousing Sinners from the Slumber of Sin . 105 1. Introduction of the Divine Way through Visible Means and Through the Senses . 107 2. The Spirit is Led into the Divine Way and Perceives It Internally . 109 3. The Word of God Replaces All Methods Shown . 119 CHAPTER Srx: The Usual Order of the Gift of Awakening Grace . .. .. .. 124 1. Procrastination: A Common Ailment . 127 2.Habits and Inclinations that Imprison a Person in Sin .. .. .. 129 3. Thought Processes that Keep One in Blindness . 133 4.Cease Making Excuses in Sins and Work on Your Blindness . 136 5. How to Soften Your Insensitive Heart . 137 6. How to Drive Away the Sleep of Indolence . 140 7. Labor Over YourselfWithour Relaxing . 141 8.Rea soning With Yourself About Salvation . 142 9.God's Grace Chooses Well-known Means . 144 10. Awaiting God's Visitation . 145 11. What is Grace-filled Awakening? . 147 12.Discerning States of Awakening from Natural States . 149 7 THE PATH TO SALVATION CHAPTER SEVEN: Ascent to the Resolve to Abandon Sin and Dedicate One's Life to Pleasing God . 154 1. Ascent to the Resolve to Abandon Sin . 154 2. Rising to the Promise to Dedicate One's Life to God . 169 PART III HOW THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IS LIVED, RIPENED AND FORTIFIED AND ABOUT THE ORDER OF A GOD-PLEASING LIFE CHAPTER ONE: The Final Goal of Man-A Living Unity with God . .. 191 1. Various Aspects of Communion with God . 193 2. How Grace Settles in the Repentant Soul . .194 3. Two Ways of Communing With God . .198 CHAPTER Two: Why the Grace of God Does Not Abide All at Once Entirely with the Soul . .. 202 1. The Inner Make-up of the Convert . .. 202 2. The Grace-filled Life is at First Only a Seed . 204 CHAPTER THREE: A Guiding Rule fo r a God-pleasing Life . 208 1. The Spirit and Character of Ascetic Struggles . .208 2. The Fruits of AsceticLabors are Preserved and Ripened Through Grace . 210 3. The Need fo r a Spiritual Guide and a Rule .21 1 4. Rules fo r the Beginner of an Ascetic Labor . 218 8 CONTENTS CHAPTER FouR: Preserving the Spirit of Zeal fo r God . 221 1. Being Within . .. 222 2. Vision ofAnother World . 226 3. Remaining in Feelings that Lead to Resolve . .232 CHAPTER FrvE: Prescribed Exercises that Help to Confirm a Person's Powers of Soul and Body in Goodness . 239 1. The Three Powers of the Soul and their Curative Exercises . .. .. 242 2.Bodily Exercises .. 243 3. The Outward Ordering of Life . .. .243 4. Forming a Spiritual Atmosphere Through Govenie . 244 5. General Notes about all These Ascetic Labors and Practices . .. .. .245 6.Exercises fo r Developing the Powers of the Soul According to the Spirit of Christian Life . 247 7. Keeping the Body in the Spirit ofNew Life . 261 8. The Order of External Life According to the Spirit of New Life ................. ... 264 9. Grace-filled Means of Developing and Strengthening the Spiritual Life . .. .. 269 CHAPTER Srx: Approaching Constant Govenie .274 1.Concerning Govenie . 274 2. Concerning Confession . 275 3. Concerning Communion . 276 CHAPTER SEVEN: Rule fo r Struggling with the Passions, or the Beginning of Self-Opposition . 280 1. War with the Passions and Lusts . 280 9 THE PATH TO SALVATION 2. Freely Choosing and Loving Good Is a Powerful Weapon . 281 3. Reviewing our Enemies to Know the Suitable Methods of Uprooting Passions . 282 4. The Rules of SpiritualWarf are . 289 CHAPTEREIGHT: The Beginning of Ascent Towards Living Communion with God . .. 311 1. Ascent to God . 312 2. Living Communion with God Occurs in a State of Hesychia, WhichBr ings Passionlessness . 319 3. Dispassion is the Heavenly Palace of the Heavenly King ... ........... ...... ...324 CHAPTERNINE: Lessons by Our Holy Father John Chrysostomon Education . 326 INDEX . • . • . 353 IO Preface Bishop Theophan, the Recluse of Vysha A Short Biography by E. Sumarokov1 I To BISHOP THEOPHAN belongs an immense significance in the history of the moral development of Russian society. That thirst for complete union with God which led him into reclusion did not deprive the world and his own people of his help. Even from his remote reclusion he was a great public figure, supporting and directing thousands of people and their spiritual life. Acquiring great spiritual experience by means of complete self-renunciation and strict daily asceticism, Bp. Theophan generously shared with all who had need of it the treasures of his spiritual experience. No one who appealed to him in writing was denied advice. But he exerted a much wider influence by means of his books. How to live a Christian life; how, amidst the slough of temptations, misfortunes, weaknesses, the weight of our sinful habits, not to fall into despair; how to desire salvation for oneself and begin the work of moral perfection; how to do battle on I. Translated by Fr. Seraphim Rose from Lectures on the History of the Russian Church (Harbin, 1945, V. 2) and printed in The Orthodox Word, Vol. 2 (1966), No.9. The above version is slightly abridged. II THE PATH TO SALVATION this path step by step, and to enter ever more deeply into the saving enclosure of the Church: it is of this that the books of Bp. Theophan speak. Behind all the spiritual wisdom that is expressed in his books stands the pure image of a great ascetic. Every word of Bp. Theophan produces all the stronger an impression for having been imprinted by his life. When he repeats: "Do not gravitate to the earth. All is corruptible; only the happiness beyond the grave is eternal, unchanging, true, and this happiness depends upon how we spend this life of ours!" - then, as a living example of this correct view of the world and the destiny of the soul stand his own self­ denial, his reclusion, his desire to take nothing from life but a striving toward God. II Bp. Theophan was called in the world George Vasilyevich Govorov and he was born on Jan. 10, 1815, in a village near Orel, where his father was a priest. Thus from the first impressions of his youth he lived with the Church. He studied first in the theological preparatory school in the city of Liven, then in the Orel Seminary. From 1837 to 1841 he continued his education in the Kiev Theological Academy.
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