God’s Love and God’s Will. Priest Daniel Sysoev by mission shop

Approved for distribution by the Publishing Board of the Russian Orthodox Church PB 13-314-2075 48 pp. Priest Daniel Sysoev. God’s Love and God’s Will. Daniel Sysoev Inc, New Jersey, 2018. ISBN: 978-5-4279-0073-0

God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him (1 Jn. 4:16). Hence, this love is the core of perfection. Love is the source of trust in God: a person who does not trust God has never truly loved Him and cannot do His will, which is able to lead us out of our wandering in the darkness of this world. This booklet describes the paths to divine love, on which a person learns to do God’s will.

Booklet 1 of 12 from a series of talks given by Priest Daniel Sysoev entitled “How to Inherit Eternal Life.”

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CONTENT

ON DIVINE LOVE God’s Love and Its Gifts �� 4 The Path to Divine Love �� 9 Understanding Divine Love �� 14

GOD’S WILL Everyone Must Know the Creator’s Will �� 32 The Properties of God’s Will ��33 Why Do We Need God’s Will? ��33 How is God’s Will Manifested? ��34 Recognizing God’s Will Through Holy Scripture ��35 How Are We to Learn God’s Will Where Holy Scripture is Silent? �� 37 Other Ways of Discovering God’s Will ��40 Practical Advice ��42 What is Incompatible with Understanding God’s will? ��43 How to Determine God’s Will in Various Circumstances ��43

ON DIVINE LOVE

God’s Love and Its Gifts

Christians frequently lose sight of the goal they

must always seek. They suffer a loss of spiritual perspective, and their spiritual growth is stunted. Saint John of the Ladder notes that we must constantly evaluate the stage of our spiritual growth. The goal we must always seek is set by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Who said that all the law and the prophets may be reduced to two commandments: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself (Mt. 22:37–40). The commandments of love are the goal to which all the other commandments must lead. The Lord says, A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another (Jn. 13:34–35). As the apos4

tle Paul says, For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself (Gal. 5:14). Love for God and neighbor are not compatible with sin of any kind. Love is the very heart of perfection. What is love? The apostle John the Theologian gave this definition of love: God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him (1 Jn. 4:16). Saint John of the Ladder, recounting the 30th step of perfection—the step that leads a man to heaven, i.e., divine love—said that “Love, by reason of its nature, is a resemblance to God,” and “God is love. So he who wishes to define this, tries with bleary eyes to measure the sand in the ocean.” Love is the Lord God in Trinity. Love by reason of its nature is resemblance to God, insofar as people are capable of achieving this. Many think that love is a feeling, but this is not the case. It is a state of the will. If love were a feeling it would not be a commandment. Naturally, love is accompanied by certain feelings, but in essence it is a state of the will. In its activity it is inebriation of the soul, and by its distinctive property it is a fountain of faith, an abyss of patience, a sea of humility. A person’s soul seeks this fountain in which it can quench its thirst 5

and, when it finds it, experiences bliss. If а soul cannot quench this thirst, that soul has not yet achieved love. Love satisfies the human soul’s longing for perfection. Love has ever been a source of trust in God: the person who does not trust the Lord has never truly loved Him. Love has perfect eyesight: it sees the truth in a person, and it distinguishes the sin from the sinner. Love is an abyss of patience. Indeed, a loving person never loses his temper, for he is an initiate of Divine Love. Just as a person in love thinks not of himself, but of his beloved, so also in heavenly love a person thinks not of himself, but of the Lord. The apostle Paul’s definition of love outlines it clearly, so that people might not err when seeking it. Beginning with an ode to love, he describes the source of this gift: Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all (1 Cor. 12:4–6). The source of all gifts is the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ, and God the Father. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to anoth6

er the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:7â&#x20AC;&#x201C;13). The apostle goes on to list various gifts: Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way (1 Cor. 12:29â&#x20AC;&#x201C;31). There are various gifts: the gift of prophecy, the gift of speaking foreign languages, the gift of comforting, etc. But the greatest of the Holy Spiritâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gifts is the gift of love. Love is the greatest of all gifts, which a person receives when he participates in the di7

vine life that the Father pours out upon us all through the Son in the Holy Spirit. The Lord says, If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? (Lk. 11:13). Hence, asking for the gifts of the Holy Spirit is something we may and we must do. The apostle Paul describes what love is: Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there 8

be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away (1 Cor. 13:1â&#x20AC;&#x201C;10). Such is the brief description of love that the apostle gives: love is all the virtues combined. The Path to Divine Love

The goal God has set for men is that of God-like-

ness. How is this to be achieved? Holy Scripture contains a number of texts that describe a divine ladder. The briefest of these is given by the apostle James, and the most detailed by the apostles Paul and Peter. Thus, the apostle Peter writes, According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and 9

to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 1:3â&#x20AC;&#x201C;8). The apostle Peter says that we have already been given all the gifts that are necessary for salvation. They are given at the time of the sacraments of baptism and chrismation. These gifts are achievable through knowledge of God. The Lord, however, bestows not only gifts, but also the promise that we will be participants in the Divine nature, that through divine grace we will become participants in the nature of the Creator Himself. The first condition is withdrawal from the corruption and lust that reign in the world. This will require a supreme effort on our part. In faith there must be virtue, which is manifested through knowledge: one must know what to do and when to do it, to act handsomely, appropriately, elegantly, in a timely manner, in such a way that Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s will is accomplished thereby. Knowledge must be limited by temperance, and in temperance there must be patience, for without patience there is no salvation. In pa10

tience godliness is necessary: one must learn to honor the Lord God. In godliness there must be brotherly kindness: love for prayer must be accompanied by love for oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s neighbors. One who does not strive to go from one step to the next is blind and has forgotten the cleansing of his sins. The apostle Peter depicted a ladder like this, and the apostle Paul described a similar one. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by Whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God (Rom. 5:1â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2). The first thing with which the apostle begins is that we have received justification through faith: we have been reconciled with God the Father, and have been granted access to the sacred grace in which we already stand. For Christians, acquiring the Holy Spirit does not mean receiving something foreign. For them it is the unveiling of what was instilled in our hearts on the day of our baptism. Satan attempts to inculcate in us the idea that keeping Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commandments is impossible. This is untrue, however, and Christians must glory before others in the hope of God. We are justi11

fied by the blood of Jesus Christ, and we have received the opportunity for salvation, in the hope that we will take advantage of it. Christians are promised the Kingdom of Heaven. The apostle continues: And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom we have now received the atonement (Rom.5:3â&#x20AC;&#x201C;11). The apostle says that we glory in tribulations also. How then are we to glory in tribu12

lations? The logic is quite simple: since we are God’s children, God is teaching us; He has not forgotten us. From tribulations comes patience, which arises for God’s sake. Patience produces experience—the experience that God does not leave us. Experience produces hope: a person realizes that since God is helping him now, he will be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. When a person is firm in his hope, God comes to his aid: his hope does not disappoint him, and already here on earth the person gains entry to the Kingdom of Heaven, since the Spirit of God already bestowed upon him is poured out into his heart. This is the ladder leading to love. Hence, any tribulations we experience must be used to help us ascend this ladder. Saint John of the Ladder described thirty steps along the ladder, and at the end of his book he relates Who taught him all this. For a long time he prayed God to reveal how to obtain love in its fullness, and by what means to ascend the ladder that the righteous Jacob saw. God appeared to him and told him to describe steps on the ladder leading to Heaven equal in number to the years Christ lived upon the earth before He went forth to preach. 13

Understanding Divine Love

understand what Divine love is we must come to an awareness of what dispassion means. Let us examine chapters 29 and 30 of The Ladder by Saint John of the Ladder. The 29th step is titled, “Concerning heaven on earth, or godlike dispassion and perfection, and the resurrection of the soul before the general resurrection.” Revelation describes the first and second Resurrections. Resurrection and life are the vision of God. John of the Ladder writes, “Here are we who lie in the deepest pit of ignorance, in the dark passions of this body and in the shadow of death, having the temerity to begin to philosophize about heaven on earth. The firmament has the stars for its beauty, and dispassion has the virtues for its adornments; for by dispassion I mean no other than the interior heaven of the mind, which regards the tricks of the demons as mere toys.” The heaven on earth of the mind appears, that is, a person reaches the pinnacle of the universe within himself. The fathers of the Church see this as a macrocosm and a microcosm. For example, Saint Gregory the Theologian says that man is a large world within a small one. 14

The macrocosm is the material universe, while the “little cosmos” is people, who have limits. And John of the Ladder writes that man has a limit: the “earthly heaven of the mind.” This is dispassion, in which the virtues shine as the stars. Hence, for a person who has ascended to this heaven, who possesses dispassion, all the demons are as mere toys. “And so he is truly dispassionate, and is recognized as dispassionate, who has made his flesh incorruptible, who has raised his mind above creatures and has subdued all his senses to it, and who keeps his soul in the presence of the Lord, ever reaching out to Him even beyond his strength.” The body and the senses are completely subject to the mind, which thinks only of the divine, and comes into contact with the divine alone. “Some say, moreover, that dispassion is the resurrection of the soul before the body; but others, that it is the perfect knowledge of God, second only to that of the angels. This perfect, but still unfinished, perfection of the perfect, as someone who had tasted it informed me, so sanctifies the mind and detaches it from material things that for a considerable part of life in the flesh, after entering the heavenly harbour, 15

a man is rapt as though in Heaven and is raised to contemplation. One who had experience of this [i.e., David the Psalmist] well says somewhere: For God’s strong men of the earth have become greatly exalted (Ps. 46:10). Such a man, as we know, was that Egyptian* who prayed with some people for a long time without relaxing his hands which were stretched out in prayer.” The words “this perfect, but still unfinished, perfection of the perfect” mean that a person encounters the ultimate perfection of God and senses that it is limitless, that it cannot be further perfected. Perfection for a man lies not in doing nothing but hone his natural abilities, but rather in encountering the invisible perfection of the Creator. Then a person stops before this great perfection—the abyss of the divine life. As Saint Gregory the Theologian says, “Look carefully at God. He is an immense shining abyss that has no beginning, for which reason He is called beginningless. The existence of God extends beyond all bounds, and for this reason He is everlasting and immortal, and when you unite all things God will appear eternal.” God’s elect are already exalt* St. Moses the Ethiopian – Trans.

ed here on earth, in the sense that they behold heavenly realities. “There is a dispassionate man,” continues Saint John of the Ladder, “and there is one who is more dispassionate than the dispassionate. The one strongly hates what is evil, but the other has an inexhaustible store of virtues. Purity too is called dispassion; and rightly, because it is the harbinger of the general resurrection and of the incorruption of the corruptible. Dispassion was shown by [the apostle Paul] who said: I have the mind of the Lord (1 Cor.2:16). Dispassion was shown by [Anthony the Great,] who said that he no longer feared the Lord [but rather loved Him]. Dispassion was shown by [Saint John Kolov], who prayed that his passions should return to him. Who before the future glory has been granted such dispassion as [Ephraim the] Syrian? For David, glorious among the prophets, says to the Lord: O spare me, that I may recover my strength [Ps. 38:14]; but that athlete of God cries: ‘Spare me from the waves of Thy grace.’ The soul has dispassion who is immersed in the virtues as the passionate are in pleasures.” As an alcoholic is experienced in inebriation, so the dispassionate person is experienced in the virtues. 17

“If it is the acme of gluttony to force oneself to eat even when one has no appetite, then it is certainly the acme of temperance for a hungry man to overcome nature when it is blameless. If it is extreme sensuality to rave over irrational and even inanimate creatures, then it is extreme purity to hold all persons in the same regard as inanimate things. If it is the height of cupidity to go on collecting and never be satisfied, it is the height of poverty not to spare even one’s own body. If it is the height of despondency, while living in complete peace, not to acquire patience, then it is the height of patience to think of oneself even in affliction as being at rest,” for a person experiences an unearthly joy, and continually draws new strength from God. “If it is called a sea of wrath for a person to be savage even when no one is about, then it will be a sea of long-suffering to be as calm in the presence of your slanderer as in his absence. If it is the height of vainglory when a person, seeing no one near him to praise him, puts on affected behaviour, it is certainly a mark of its absence, not to let your thought be beguiled in the presence of those who praise you. If it is a sign of perdition (that is to say, pride) to be ar18

rogant even in poor clothing, then it is a mark of saving humility to have humble thoughts in the midst of high undertakings and achievements. If it is a sign of complete enslavement to the passions to yield readily to everything the demons sow in us, then I take it as a mark of holy dispassion to be able to say honestly [with David]: The evil one who dodges me, I have not known [Ps. 100:4], nor how he came, nor why, nor how he went; but I am completely unaware of everything of this kind, because I am wholly united with God, and always will be. “He who has been granted such a state, while still in the flesh, always has God dwelling within him as his Guide in all his words, deeds and thoughts. Therefore, through illumination he apprehends the Lord’s will as a sort of inner voice. He is above all human instruction and says: When shall I come and appear before the face of God? [Ps. 41:3.] For I can no longer bear the force of love; I long for the immortal beauty which Thou hast given me in exchange for this clay.” A person is seized by a heavenly pull, and he strives to find his way above and beyond the heavens. “But why say more? The dispassionate man no longer lives himself, but Christ lives in him [Gal. 2:20], as [the apostle] 19

says who fought the good fight, finished his course and kept the faith [2 Tim. 4:7]. A kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s diadem is not composed of one stone, and dispassion does not reach perfection if we neglect even one virtue, however ordinary. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Imagine dispassion as the celestial palace of the Heavenly King; and the many mansions as the abodes within this city, and the wall of this celestial Jerusalem as the forgiveness of sins. Let us run, brethren, let us run to enter the bridal hall of this palace. If we are prevented by anything, by some burden or old habit, or by time itself, what a disaster! Let us at least occupy one of those mansions around the palace. But if we sink down and grow weak, let us make sure of being at least within the walls. For he who does not enter there before his end, or rather, does not scale the wall, will lie out in the desert of fiends and passions. That is why [King David] prayed, saying: Through my God I shall scale the wall [Ps. 17:30]. And another [prophet] says as if in the person of God: Is it not your sins that separate you from Me? [Is. 59:2]. Friends, let us break through this wall of separation which we have erected to our own harm by disobedience; and let us receive the forgiveness of our sins, because in hell there 20

is no one to pardon our debts. ... Blessed dispassion lifts the mind that is poor from earth to heaven, and raises the beggar from the dunghill of the passions [1 Sam. 2:8]. But love whose praise is above all makes him sit with the princes, with the holy angels, and with the princes of the people of God [Ps. 112:8].” Dispassion leads one to heaven, but love is already heaven itself, the peak of all peaks, and nothing is higher than this. It is the ultimate goal toward which we are moving. Step 30 in The Ladder of Saint John is titled, “Concerning the linking together of the supreme trinity among the virtues” (that is, faith, hope, and love). “And now, finally, after all that we have said, there remain these three that bind and secure the union of all, faith, hope, love; and the greatest of these is love [1 Cor. 13:13], for God Himself is so called. And (as far as I can make out) I see the one as a ray, the second as a light, the third as a circle; and in all, one radiance and one splendour. The first can make and create all things; the divine mercy surrounds the second and makes it immune to disappointment; the third does not fall, does not stop in its course and allows no respite to him who is 21

wounded by its blessed rapture. He who wishes to speak about divine love undertakes to speak about God. But it is precarious to expatiate on God, and may even be dangerous for the unwary.” One must be careful, since frequently under the guise of love the devil offers us everything imaginable—everything, that is, but love. “The angels know how to speak about love, and even they can only do this according to the degree of their enlightenment.” Only Three truly know love: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, for They have abode in eternal love since before time began, and in it They include all creatures. “Love is essentially the banishment of every kind of contrary thought, for love thinks no evil [1 Cor. 13:4-5]. Love, dispassion and adoption are distinguished as sons from one another by name, and name only. Just as light, fire and flame combine to form one power, it is the same with love, dispassion and adoption. As love wanes, fear appears; because he who has no fear is either filled with love or dead in soul. There is nothing wrong in representing desire, and fear, and care and zeal and service and love for God in images borrowed from human 22

life. Blessed is he who has obtained such love and yearning for God as an enraptured lover has for his beloved. Blessed is he who fears the Lord as much as men under trial fear the judge. Blessed is he who is as zealous with true zeal as a well-disposed slave towards his master. Blessed is he who has become as jealous of the virtues as husbands who remain in unsleeping watch over their wives out of jealousy. Blessed is he who stands in prayer before the Lord as servants stand before a king. Blessed is he who unceasingly strives to please the Lord as others try to please men. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Even a mother does not so cling to the babe at her breast as a son of love clings to the Lord at all times. He who truly loves ever keeps in his imagination the face of his beloved, and there embraces it tenderly. Such a man can get no relief from his strong desire even in sleep, even then he holds converse with his loved one. So it is with our bodily nature; and so it is in spirit. One who was wounded with love said of himself (I wonder at it): I sleep because nature requires this, but my heart is awake [Song of Sol. 5:2] in the abundance of my love. You should notice, venerable brother, that the stagâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the soulâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;having destroyed those reptiles, longs 23

and faints [Ps. 83:2] for the Lord with the fire of love, as if struck by an arrow.” Here he uses familiar imagery: the stag devours snakes, and when it has eaten a poisonous snake a burning sensation arises in its stomach. To quench it the stag runs to a spring. In the same way a person hastens to God out of love for Him. “The effect of hunger is vague and indefinite; but the effect of thirst is intense and obvious to all, and indicative of blazing heat. So one who yearns for God says: My soul thirsts for God, the strong, the living God [Ps. 41:3]. If the face of a loved one clearly and completely changes us, and makes us cheerful, gay and carefree, what will the Face of the Lord not do when He makes His Presence felt invisibly in a pure soul?” This is why the faces of the saints are beautiful: they are beaming with happiness because their Beloved has come to them. This is the very essence of Christianity, which is built upon the personal love between God and man. “Fear when it is an inner conviction of the soul destroys and devours impurity, for it is said: Nail down my flesh with the fear of Thee [Ps. 118:120]. And holy love consumes some, according to him who said [in the Song of Solomon]: Thou hast ravished our heart, Thou hast 24

Except where otherwise noted, scriptural quotes are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. Quotes from the book of Psalms are taken fromÂ The Psalter According to the Seventy,Â published by Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline MA; all rights reserved. Quotes from The Ladder are taken from The Ladder of Divine Ascent by St. John Climacus, Archim. Lazarus Moore, trans. (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1959).

Priest Daniel Sysoev

GODâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S LOVE AND GODâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S WILL Translator and Editor in Chief Priest Nathan Williams Layout and design Kyrill Zubchenko Daniel Sysoev Inc was founded as a USA-based subsidiary of the Rev. Daniel Sysoev Missionary Center Benevolent Fund in 2014. The company offers a wide assortment of Orthodox literature in Russian and English, liturgical items, and jewelry. We distribute our products throughout the USA and Canada, on attractive terms and with significant discounts for wholesalers, Orthodox church bookstores, and monasteries. Detailed descriptions of our products may be found at mission-shop.com, with e-book editions of our titles available at danielsysoev.com mission-shop.com danielsysoev.com mission379@gmail.com +1(609)605-70-76