St. Ignatius Brianchaninov

5.ІІ (І7.ІІ). 1807–30.IV (12.V). 1867

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Blessed is the man [1]

The inspired Divine singer sings, beats the sonorous strings.

When the noise of the world deafened me, I could not listen to it. Now, in the silence of solitude, I begin to listen to the mysterious singer. Both his sounds and his song become more intelligible to me, as it were. It is as if a new ability is opening up in me: the ability to listen to it and the ability to understand it. I hear in his sounds a new feeling, in his words a new meaning: wondrous, wondrous, like God's wisdom.

Saul! cease to rage: let the evil spirit depart from you... St. David sings, rattling into the slender harp.

Saul I call my mind, troubled, indignant at the thoughts that come from the ruler of the world. He, my mind, was ordained by God at the establishment of the kingdom of Israel at creation, and then, at the redemption of man, into king, lord of soul and body; by disobedience to God, by violating God's commandments, by violating unity with God, he deprived himself of dignity and grace. Spiritual and bodily forces are disobedient to him; he himself is under the influence of an evil spirit.

St. David sings, proclaims the words of Heaven. And the sounds of his psalter are the sounds of heaven! The subject of the hymn is the bliss of man.

Brethren, let us listen to the Divine teaching, set forth in the Divine hymn. Let us listen to the verbs, let us listen to the sounds with which Heaven speaks, with which the Heaven thunders to us.

O you who seek happiness, who pursue pleasure, who thirst for pleasure! Come: listen to the sacred song, listen to the teachings of the salvific one. How long will you wander, prowl through valleys and mountains, through impassable deserts and wilds? How long do you torment yourself with unceasing and vain labor, not crowned with any fruits, with any lasting gains? Incline your humble ear: listen to what the Holy Spirit says through the mouth of David about human blessedness, which all men strive for, which all men hunger for.

Let everything around me be silent! and let my very thoughts be silent within me! Let the heart be silent! Let only reverent attention live, act! let holy impressions and thoughts enter into the soul, through Him!

David was a king and did not say that the throne of kings is the throne of human bliss.