When at last such a person comes to this good state, of which the divine Paul says: "Our life is in heaven" (Phil. 3:20), which we do not see what is seen, but what is invisible (2 Corinthians 4:18), then he is illumined and enlightened, he daily grows with spiritual growth, he rejects everything that is characteristic of childish senseless wisdom, and he succeeds in perfecting himself, until he attains to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fulfillment of Christ (Ephesians 4:13).

By sacraments I mean that which all see, but do not comprehend. But he who is enlightened by the Holy Spirit, Who renews all things, acquires new eyes and new ears, and no longer looks simply, as a man, at the sensual sensuously, but, as one who has become higher than man, looks at the sensual and bodily spiritually, as at the image of invisible things; and he does not hear the voice or voices of men, but the one living word of God, although it is spoken by the word of man. Such a soul receives through hearing only the living word of God, as it knows and desires, and only allows it to enter within itself, and when it enters into it, it kisses it with joy, as Christ said: "My sheep hear my voice" (John 10:27), but they do not know a strange voice (5). As for the rest of all human words, she hears them, but she does not receive them, and does not allow them to enter into herself, but turns away from them and drives them away beforehand, and sometimes she does not feel their presence at all, and their being pushed into her ears, but is like a deaf person who hears nothing, does not hear them, and does not receive them, With all that he hears.

When he becomes such, then God dwells in him, and everything that he desires comes to him, and even more so than what he desires. For God is every good, and in whatever soul He indwells, He fills with every good that is possible for human nature to contain, such good as eye has not seen, of which ear has not heard, and which has not ascended in the heart of man, to that man who has not become such as we have depicted above. When God dwells in such a person, He teaches him everything - both regarding the present and the future, not in word, but in deed and experience, practically. He removes the veil from the eyes of his soul and shows him what He Himself wants, and what is useful for him, but inspires him not to investigate, not to question and not to be curious. And what God shows him, he cannot see without deep reverence and fear, but, looking into the depths of the riches of God's wisdom and understanding, he trembles and is terrified, thinking about himself, who he is and what mysteries he has been vouchsafed to see. Seeing God's boundless love for mankind, he falls into a frenzy, realizing and feeling how unworthy he is to look at such pre-sacred mysteries; Why does he not dare to inquisitively examine them, or to examine what they are, but only cries out with great fear and trembling, saying, "Who am I, O Lord, and what is my Father's house, that Thou hast entrusted to me, and has been pleased to show such mysteries to me, unworthy, and hast done more than I expect, that I should not only see such great Thy blessings, but also become a partaker of them?

Such a person, as one who has become higher than all creatures, no longer has the desire to turn back and consider creatures. Having acquired and having in himself the Lord of the Angels, he no longer likes to investigate the essence and nature of the Angels, the servants of God, knowing that it is not pleasing to God that he should be curious about that which exceeds the powers of man, for if we are commanded not to torture the dogmas of the Scriptures with our minds, how much more is it not at all fitting for us to be curious about what is above what is written.

Such a person beholds God, as far as it is possible for human nature and as much as is pleasing to God, strives to see Him unceasingly here and prays, that he may be vouchsafed to see Him even after his death; he is glad to see Him alone, and does not feel the need to look at anything else. Wherefore he has no desire to tear his attention away from his Lord God, from Whom he is filled with light and accepts eternal life, and to look at His servants like himself.

Such a person, since he sees, is illumined and enlightened by God, and himself beholds the great glory of God that surpasses all intellect, he no longer desires to be seen by others and to guess what he is and in what glory he is. Holy souls are free from vanity. Adorned with the most radiant and royal robe of the All-Holy Spirit and filled with the prevailing glory of God, they not only do not care about human glory, but when people surround them with it, they pay no attention to it at all. For the soul, which is seen by God and sees God itself, will not wish to turn to look at any other person, nor will it desire that anyone else should see it.

Therefore I beseech you, my brethren, let us not study the unspeakable blessings of God by words alone, which, however, is impossible, both for those who teach and for those who listen. For neither those who teach, without experiencing by deed, mental and divine things, can give clear proofs and explanations by examples, and present the truth in practical applications; nor can those who listen understand from words alone what is being said to them. But it is necessary to strive with many illnesses and labors, to come to the state of contemplation of those invisible things and to learn to understand them from deeds and experiences. Then, from such experiences, we will learn and be enlightened about the words about these blessings; may God be glorified in us for the sake of such a divine state, and may we glorify God through the knowledge of such things, and may God glorify us in Christ our God, to whom be glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever. Amen.

Homilies of St. Symeon the New Theologian. Part 2. - Moscow: Pravila very, 2001, pp. 82-92.

Homily Sixty-Six. 1. About repentance, and that for the purification of the soul it is not enough to give up possessions, if we do not also gain weeping. 2. About the expulsion of Adam from paradise, and that if he had repented after transgressing the commandment of God, he would not have been expelled from paradise. 3. What good did repentance bring him, and what did he bring after his exile? 4. How one who wants to truly repent should repent. 5. On the Second Coming of the Lord. 6. The rebuke of those who do not live badly, but not with a good disposition, but feignedly.

Repentance is a good deed, and great is the benefit that comes from it. Our Lord Jesus Christ God, Who seers all things, knew this, and said: Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Do you also want to learn and know that without repentance it is impossible for us to be saved? And I mean repentance that comes from the whole soul and from the whole heart. Listen to the Apostle, who says: "Every sin that a man commits is besides the body, but he who fornicates sins in his own body" (1 Corinthians 6:18). And again in another place: "It behooves us all to appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that he may receive what he has done with the body, either good or evil" (2 Corinthians 5:10). But to this some may say: I thank God, I have not defiled my body by any shameful deed (which I, who have committed every sin, cannot say), - and saying this, he has some consolation from this, that he is clean from carnal sin. But our Lord Christ, in the parable of the five foolish virgins, gives a decisive assurance that we will not receive any benefit from bodily purity alone, if we do not have other virtues. Those five virgins also had a little oil in their vessels, that is, some outward virtues, and they also partook of certain gifts, from which their lamps burned for some time, but for their negligence, ignorance (in spiritual matters) and laziness they were condemned to eternal torment. They did not take care to cleanse themselves of the passions hidden in their souls, which were set in motion by demons, and did not even know them properly. For this reason their hearts were corrupted under the influence of demons through their association with thoughts, with which they secretly mixed, being captivated by them and conquered.

But what kind of demonic actions are these? Passions are envy, jealousy, quarrels, contentiousness, condemnation and slander, hatred, anger, grief, rancor, vanity, man-pleasing, self-gratification, love of money, carnal lust, which they delighted in and by means of sweetness committed fornication in thoughts; in addition to this are the passions of unbelief, fearlessness (before God), timidity (not knowing what), despondency, sorrow, contradiction, laziness, drowsiness, self-conceit, arrogance, pride, gluttony, lust, hopelessness, and all other subtle and hidden sinful passions set in motion by demons.

The blessed Apostle Paul cries out like Christ and says: "Have peace (διωχετε, persecute) and holiness with all, whom but none shall see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). For what reason did he say: persecute, that is, always seek peace and holiness, seek unceasingly? Because it is impossible for us to become saints in one hour. It is necessary to begin with the lesser and, gradually succeeding, ascend to a more and more perfect holiness and purity. And even though we have lived in this life for thousands of years, we will never be able to attain the full perfection of holiness, but we have the duty to strive for its sake unceasingly, as if we had only now laid a beginning. This is shown by St. Paul when he says of himself: "I persecute, if I comprehend, I am also ashamed of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:12).

Therefore I beseech you, my brethren, to give heed to what I say to you, and listen to the words of your sinful brother. Come, let us worship and fall down before our good and loving God, let us precede His face in confession and weep before Him, Who created us: for He is our Lord, and we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture, and He will not turn His face away from us. Only let us repent with all our hearts and renounce not only evil deeds, but also the most evil and impure thoughts of our hearts, and destroy them completely. For the Divine Scripture says: "Tear apart your hearts, and not your garments" (Joel 2:13). What is the use, tell me, if we distribute our possessions to the poor, and do not abandon evil, and do not hate sin? What is also the use if we do not commit any carnal sin by deed, but nourish shameful and impure thoughts in our hearts, thus committing sin secretly in our souls and being possessed by impure passions of the soul? Let us, then, I beseech you, together with silver and gold, also reject our usual slavery to the passions; let us not stand in negligence, as we have hitherto, but let us accept the podvig of washing away the filth of the passions with tears of repentance.

Let any man who has sinned and covered the feelings of his soul with the impurity of sinful delights, distribute to the poor all his riches and leave the glory of his ranks, splendid houses, slaves, relatives, friends and acquaintances, and, having thus become poor, come and become a monk to the poor and the needless, but for all this, while he is alive, he also needs tears of repentance, which are absolutely necessary, in order to wash away and cleanse the filth of sins with them, especially if, like me, he is unclean not with some, but with great and many sins.