By St. Antony the Great (c. 12 January 251 – 17 January 356)
LETTER TEN
1. My blessed children, I am writing this letter to you so that you may know that those who love God seek Him with all their hearts and He responds to them and grants them what they ask for.
As for those who do not approach God with all their heart, but do all their works out of a desire for boasting in order to gain human glory, He does not hear their prayers. Rather, He is angry with them because their deeds are done in hypocrisy. That is why the words of the psalmist are fulfilled in relation to them, who says: “God will scatter the bones of those who rebel against You…” (Ps. 52:6).
2. Verily the Most High God is angry with their works, is not pleased with their prayers, and opposes them very strongly, because they do their works without faithfulness and perform them hypocritically before men. Therefore the power of God does not work in them, because they are weak in heart in all the works they undertake. Therefore such men have not known the goodness of God with its inherent bliss and joy, and their souls grow weary of their works as under a heavy burden.
Some of your brothers are like that. Because they had not acquired that power which brings sweetness to the soul, fills it with joy and gladness day after day, and kindles in it the desire for God, they were seduced by the spirit of corruption, and hypocritically performed their works before men.
3. And you, my beloved and so dear to my heart, when you present to God the fruits of your labor, try to distance yourself from the spirit of vain glory and conquer it at all times, so that the Lord will accept these fruits of yours and receive from Him the power that He gives to His elect.
My heart is at peace with you, my beloved, because I know that you do not approve of the spirit of vainglory, and are constantly opposed to it. Because of this, your fetus is holy and alive. So keep resisting this evil spirit. When a man has actually begun righteous deeds and has harnessed himself to a strenuous struggle, then this same spirit rushes in and tries to join him to restrain him in what he has begun, so that he may not do something fair. He is an evil spirit and therefore opposes all who want to be faithful.
Many are those for whom we rejoice that they are faithful and are ready to give out of mercy to the poor. This very spirit is fighting against them. With others he joins their works, destroys their fruits, and hinders their course, because both the virtues and the good works which men undertake are mingled with human glory. It seems that such people bear fruit before men, but in fact it is not so. They are like a fig tree, which from a distance appears to be laden with good fruit, but when one approaches it, one finds only bitter fruit without any sweetness. Such is the state of all those who receive glory from men. People think they have too much fruit pleasing to God, when in reality they have none at all. Moreover, God has left them to wither because He has found no fruit in them. That is why He has deprived them of the supreme sweetness of His divinity.
4. As for you, my dear and industrious children, make an effort to resist the spirit of vainglory. Resist him and defeat him. And the power of God will come to your aid; she will stay with you and give you strength and warmth forever. And as for me, I will pray that this warmth will remain in you for eternity, because it is real and there is nothing more beautiful than it.
Therefore, if any of you finds that this warmth is not in him, let him earnestly ask for it, and it will come to him. It is similar to a fire, on which people blow to kindle, wishing to cook a meal with a vegetable. When this fire is lit, the water acquires the burning property of the fire, it begins to boil, its heat rises and cooks the vegetables. In the same way, my brethren, if you find your soul chilled by carelessness and indolence, endeavor to raise it up by mourning its condition, and the warmth will not fail to come and unite with it, giving it its burning property. And the soul that begins to boil will abound in good deeds.
When King David found his soul stiff and cold, he said thus: “Unto Thee I lift up my soul” (Ps. 142:8); “I remember the days of old and meditate on all Your works…” (Ps. 142:5); and more: “I stretch out my hands to You; my soul to Thee is like a thirsty land” (Ps. 142:6). Moreover, understand, my beloved, what David did when his heart was hardened: he exerted himself until the heat rekindled his heart, so that he could say: “My heart is ready, O God…” (Ps. 107 :2). And he regained the ease of his round-the-clock ministry.
And you act in this way, that you may be united by the arrangement of your heart in the brightness and warmth of the Godhead, so that God may reveal to you the great and inexpressible mysteries.
And I ask you to keep your body, soul and spirit intact until He takes you to the abode of His goodness – to the place where our holy fathers reached.
Be in the joy of our Lord, Whom befits glory now and forever, Amen!
Photo: Orthodox icon of the Ascension of the Lord.
