Wavering in Quest of the Kingdom Which Cannot Be Moved

by Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou of Essex

In the struggle to break free from the narrow confines of this world, we undergo successive fluctuations and painful sufferings. The angels are a light for the spiritual struggle of monks, while the monastic way of life is a light for Christians in the world. Through the wondrous narrowness of its path and the foolishness of obedience, monasticism leads to a supranatural enlargement of the heart, to the blossoming of the hypostasis, to the gift of divine adoption. The Christian life is extremely dynamic, but also very antinomic. The faithful believer bases himself upon the word of the Lord, and through his prayer he undertakes the ‘leap of faith’. Following the path of humble descent, he goes down with self-reproach even unto the lowest depths of hell, where with a humble spirit and a crushed heart he meets Christ as a fellow traveller, is united with Him, and is overshadowed by the energy of His state. This is the sanctification which the heroes of faith attain. United with the Author of his faith, the Christian athlete is flooded with the hope of eternal life. Now he voluntarily keeps his mind in sombre hell so as to preserve unharmed the treasure stored in the innermost depths of his being.