Compositions

Spiritual Conversations

Conversations 1–10

Conversation 1. An allegorical explanation of the vision described by the Prophet Ezekiel.

1. The prophet Ezekiel related the Divine and glorious appearance and vision that he saw, and described it as a manifestation filled with the unutterable mysteries. And he saw in the field a cherubic chariot, four spiritual animals. Each animal had four faces: one was a lion's face, the other an eagle's face, a calf's face, and a man's face. And each face had wings, so that none of them could distinguish whether the front or the back side was. Their lashes were full of eyes, and their heads were also full of eyes, and there was no place that was not filled with eyes. With each face there were three wheels, as if a wheel were in a wheel, and in the wheels there was a spirit. And the Prophet saw as it were the likeness of a man, and his footstool was like sapphire. This chariot (that is, the Cherubim and the animals) bore the Lord seated on it. Wherever He went, the animals everywhere were turned to their faces. And the Prophet saw under the Cherubim as a human hand, which supported and bore them (Ezekiel 1:5-28).

2. What the Prophet saw in the rapture was true and certain; but it pointed to something else, prefigured something mysterious and divine, a mystery truly hidden from generations; which was manifested in the last times, at the coming of Christ. The prophet contemplated the mystery of the soul, which has to receive its Lord and become the throne of His glory. For the soul, which the Spirit, Who prepared it in His seat and abode, vouchsafed to partake of His light, and shone with the beauty of His ineffable glory, becomes all light, all face, all eye; there is not a single part of it that is not filled with the spiritual eyes of light, that is, there is nothing darkened in it; but the whole of it is made of light and spirit, it is all filled with eyes, and has no last or back side, but is everywhere presented as a face, because the ineffable beauty of the glory of the Light of Christ has descended upon it and will sit upon it. And as the sun is everywhere like itself: —

For it is said that the hand of man was under the Cherubim (Ezek. 1:7). Christ Himself is both carried by the soul and guides it.

3. The four animals carrying the chariot represented the image of the dominion powers of the rational soul. As the eagle reigns over the birds, the lion over the wild beasts, the ox over the meek animals, and the man over all creatures, so in the rational soul there are more royal powers, that is, the will, conscience, the intellect, and the power of love. The chariot of the soul is guided by them, God rests in them. And according to another way of explanation, of course, this is about the heavenly Church of the Saints. And as the Prophet says about the animals, that their height was excessive, that they were full of eyes, and that it was impossible for anyone to comprehend the number of eyes, or height, because no knowledge of these things was given; just as the stars in heaven are given to every man to see and marvel at them, but it is impossible for anyone to know their number: in the same way it is given to all who wish to strive to enter the heavenly Church of the Saints and enjoy in it, but to know and embrace the number of the Saints — this belongs to God alone. He who sits on the chariot and on the throne of the all-revered animals, that is, in every soul that has become His throne and seat, which has become His eye and light, walks and rushes about, sitting on it, and ruling the reins of the spirit, and directing it as He Himself knows. As the spiritual animals marched, not whither they wanted to go, but where He Who sat on them and guided them knew and wanted, so He Himself rules and leads their souls, showing them the way by His Spirit. Thus, it is not of their own free will, when they will, that souls ascend to heaven; but God directs the soul, having cast down the body, to strive with its thoughts to heaven, and again, when it pleases Him, it walks in the flesh and in thoughts, then by His own will it passes to the ends of the earth, and He shows it the revelations of the mysteries. O truly excellent, good, one and true Reinshouse! Thus, if the soul is now glorified, and has entered into union with the Spirit, then the bodies will also be vouchsafed a part in the resurrection.

4. And that the souls of the righteous are made the light of heaven, the Lord Himself said to the Apostles: "Ye are the light of the world" (Matt. 5:14). Having made them light, He Himself commanded that through them the world should be enlightened, and He says, "Below they burn lamps, and set them under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it shines to all who are in the tabernacle." Thus let your light shine before men (15:16). And this means: do not hide the gift that you have received from Me, but communicate it to all who will. And again: The lamp of the body is the eye: if thy eye be light, thy whole body shall be enlightened: but if thy eye be evil, thy whole body shall be dark. For if there be light in thee, darkness (Matt. 6:22, 23)? As the eyes are light to the body; and when the eyes are healthy, the whole body is illuminated; and when something falls into the eyes, and they are darkened, then the whole body is in darkness: thus the Apostles were set with eyes and light for the whole world. For this reason, the Lord, commanding them, said: "If you, being a light for the world, endure and do not turn away, then the whole body of the world will be enlightened. But if you are the light of the world, you will be darkened; And so, the Apostles, having become light, served as a light for those who believed, enlightening their hearts with that heavenly light of the Spirit by which they themselves were enlightened.

5. And as they were salt, they dissolved every believing soul and salted it with the salt of the Holy Spirit. For the Lord said to them: "Ye eat the salt of the earth" (Matt. 5:13), calling human souls earth; for they have served the souls of men with the heavenly salt of the Spirit, dissolving them and making them rotten, and uninfected with the great stench. As meat without salt rots, it is filled with a great stench, and because of the unbearable stench, everyone turns away from it; and worms crawl in rotten meat, find food for themselves there, eat it, and nest in it; but as soon as the salt is sprinkled,

For it is said: "Thou shalt stink and rot my wounds" (Psalm 37:6). But as soon as the soul runs to God, believes and asks for the salt of life, the good and humane Spirit, the heavenly salt descends in it destroys the terrible worms in it, destroys the harmful stench, and cleanses the soul by the action of its power. And thus, when true salt makes it healthy and unharmed, it is again introduced into use and service to the heavenly Lord. That is why in the Law God commanded that every sacrifice should be salted with salt (Lev. 2:13).

6. Therefore, it is necessary that first the priest slaughter her, and she dies, and then that when she is cut into pieces, she is salted, and finally she is placed on the fire. For if the priest does not first give the sheep over to the slaughter and death, then it is not salted and is not offered to the Lord for fruitfulness. In the same way, our soul, approaching the true Hierarch – Christ, must be slain by Him and die to its own wisdom and to the evil life it has lived, that is, to sin; and as life leaves the victim, the cunning of the passions must leave it. Just as the body, when the soul comes out of it, dies and no longer lives the life it lived, does not hear, does not walk: so when the heavenly Hierarch Christ, by the grace of His power, slaughters and dies in the soul the life for the world, it dies to the evil life by which it lived, and no longer hears, speaks, or lives in sinful darkness; for the wickedness of the passions, as its soul, goes out of it by grace. And the Apostle cries out, saying: "Unto me is the world crucified, and I am to the world" (Gal. 6:14). For the soul, as long as it lives in the world and in the darkness of sin, and is not mortified by Christ, but still has in itself the soul of vice, that is, the action of the darkness of sinful passions, and is nourished by it, does not belong to the body of Christ, does not belong to the body of light, but is the body of darkness, and to this day is still on the side of darkness; and vice versa, those who have within them the soul of light, that is, the power of the Holy Spirit, are on the side of light.

7. But someone will say: Why do you call the soul the body of darkness, when it is not the product of darkness? "Pay attention to this, and understand correctly. As the everyday clothes that you wear are prepared by another, and you are dressed in them; In the same way, Adam, having transgressed God's commandment and obeying the evil serpent, sold and gave himself up as the property of the devil, and into the soul, that beautiful creature which God had prepared in His own image, the evil one put on himself, as the Apostle says: "He put off the principle and the powers, and conquered them on the cross" (Col. 2:11). 15). For for this was the coming of the Lord, that He might cast them out and restore His own house and temple, man. For this reason the soul is called the body of evil darkness, as long as sinful darkness dwells in it; for it lives and is kept there during the evil age of darkness, just as the Apostle, mentioning the body of sin and the body of death, says: "Let the body of sin be abolished" (Romans 6:6); and again: "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death" (Romans 7:24)? Likewise, on the contrary, the soul that has believed in God, has been delivered from sin, has died to the dark life, and has received into itself the light of the Holy Spirit as life, and has been revived in it, there it already spends its life; for there it is held by the light of the Godhead. For the soul is not of God's nature, nor of the nature of evil darkness, but is an intelligent creature, full of babbling, great and wonderful, a beautiful likeness and image of God, and the cunning of dark passions has entered into it as a result of transgression.