How can I learn God's will. Priest Daniel Sysoev

Priest

Daniel Sysoev How

Can I Learn

God’s Will?

Translated by DEACON NATHAN WILLIAMS

Daniel Sysoev Inc., New Jersey 2015

Approved for distribution by the Publishing Board of the Russian Orthodox Church PB 12–201–0052 96 p. Priest Daniel Sysoev. How Can I Learn God’s Will?

New Jersey, Daniel Sysoev Inc., 2015.

ISBN 978–5–4279–0224–9 The question of how to learn God’s will is one of the most important in a person’s life. God’s will is the most accurate and precise measure of our actions. If a person acts according to his own will instead of God’s, he may err and become doomed to a life of wandering in the darkness of this world.

Many people think that only great, pious ascetics are capable of learning God’s will, and that it is inaccessible for an ordinary Christian.

The author demonstrates how, as His chosen people progressed in their training, God manifested His love, revealing His names, and thereby renewing His relationship with man and revealing to him His good and perfect will.

This book will help to attune the mind to the proper understanding of the Creator’s intent for each of us. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: His going forth is prepared as the morning; and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth (Hosea 6:3).

Excerpts from The Ladder and The Psalter are taken from The Ladder of Divine Ascent and The Psalter According to the Seventy published by Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, NY. All rights reserved.

Protected by copyright law.

No part of this book may be reproduced in whole or in part.

All attempts to violate the law will be prosecuted.

© Daniel Sysoev Inc,, 2015 © Yulia Sysoeva, 2015

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Contents

On Divine Love God’s Love and Its Gifts…6 The Path to Divine Love…11 Understanding Divine Love…16

The Divine Names The Meaning and Significance of Names…35 Heretical and Irreligious Understandings of Names…36 The Biblical Meaning of Names…37 How Can a Person Learn the Names of God?…39 We Learn to Know God by Grace…46 The Names of God Who Gives Life…50 The Names of the All-wise God…54 Other Names of God…55 Anthropomorphism in Holy Scripture…59 Prayerful Contemplation of the Divine Names…62 4

God’s Will Everyone Must Know the Creator’s Will…75 The Properties of God’s Will…76 Why Do We Need God’s Will?…77 How is God’s Will Manifested?…78 Recognizing God’s Will Through Holy Scripture…79 How Are We to Learn God’s Will Where Holy Scripture is Silent?…81 Other Ways of Discovering God’s Will…83 Practical Advice…85 What is Incompatible with the Understanding of God’s will?…87 How to Determine God’s Will in Various Circumstances…87

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On Divine Love

God’s Love and Its Gifts

C

hristians 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 monitor 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 6

On Divine Love

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 apostle 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 7

How Can I Learn God’s Will?

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, and when it succeeds it experiences bliss. If a soul cannot quench this thirst, that soul has not yet achieved love. Love satisfies the longing of the human soul 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 8

God’s Will

What is Incompatible with the CONCEPT of God’s will?

God’s will is never revealed: 1) to those who are drunk, because a person’s reason is clouded; 2) to a person in a state of drug-induced intoxication or euphoria (when a person is “high”); 3) to a person who justifies evil.

How to Determine God’s Will in Various Circumstances

For us, all of the circumstances in which we find ourselves are part of God’s will. The question is, how are we to employ them? For example, a person dies in a terrorist attack. Can we say that he died without God’s will? No, this is a sin on the part of the terrorist, but the death of the given person was no mere chance for the person who died, for it occurred according to God’s will. Troubles are sent to people either in punishment, or in retribution, or so that they might receive crowns. If a person has 87

How Can I Learn God’s Will?

committed a sin, God sends him punishment so that the person might not commit it again.

Punishment in the form of retribution may take two forms: death or madness. Retribution differs from punishment in that it no longer gives the person the opportunity for correction. When God sees that a person’s will is incorrigible He visits His retribution upon him, to serve for the correction of others as well.

When a person does not deserve punishment, yet trouble still comes, that trouble is a crown.

The Lord sends trouble that it might become a battlefield, and that man, by emerging victorious, might receive a reward in the heavens. If people quarrel with you, yet you manage to keep silent and even pray for your offender, you have conquered, and this will do you nothing but good.

Troubles must be endured for the sake of the name of Christ. There is a wonderful story concerning a monk who lived in a monastery, and all the brethren loved him except for one.

The monk could not endure this, and so he went to a different monastery. There he was even more “fortunate”: fully half the monks loved him, while the other half hated him. Then he 88

God’s Will

resolved to go to a third monastery, in which one brother loved him and all the rest hated him. The monk could not bear it and went to a fourth monastery, and there he was hated by all. Then the monk wrote upon his belt, “In the Lord’s name I endure!”

It should be remembered that sufferings on earth are an inevitability, but they should be borne properly — for the Lord’s sake — and then together with Him we will inherit eternal life. Christ said, [W]here I am, there shall also My servant be: if any man serve Me, him will My Father honour (Jn. 12:26). But no-one has ever been saved by suffering without the Lord. The Lord says, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you (Mt. 5:44).

One must guard oneself against despondency and despair, and then the will of God will be accomplished in us! How can joy be used to learn God’s will? Any joy a person possesses must become an occasion for giving thanks to God. Trust in God, depend upon Him, seek and obey Him, and the Lord will help you!

Daniel Sysoev Inc. was founded as a USAbased subsidiary of the Rev. Daniel Sysoev Missionary Center Benevolent Fund.

The corporation’s primary goals are: Creating high-quality translations of Orthodox texts from Russian into English and preparing these texts for print Distributing books, CDs, DVDs, and church supplies in the US and Canada, in English and in Russian Promoting projects to further the mission of Orthodoxy in the world The company’s primary area of activity centers on the works of the priest Daniel Sysoev, who was killed November 19, 2009, in Moscow, leaving behind numerous recordings of his lectures, sermons, and literary works. Father Daniel’s books touch with grace the minds of those who read them. Father Daniel had a profound understanding of the texts of Holy Scripture, in keeping with the explanations of the holy fathers of the Church. His Godgiven ability to interpret and explain the Bible, to preach and speak to a person’s heart, and most importantly to love God and neighbor has enlightened and continues to enlighten many. Upon reading his works many decide to change their path, fi nd answers to difficult questions, and are strengthened in their faith and desire to inherit eternal life with God. It is our desire that people on American soil might have spiritual food in abundance in the form of Orthodox literature, and that each person be able to acquire these books as needed. In this day and age life goes by at a frantic pace: people race about,

never having enough time, and suddenly we find that we have done nothing for eternal life. This rhythm of life is not of God. Father Daniel said that we must hasten to sow more fruits for the Kingdom of Heaven, running to cleanse our heart with tears of repentance and put on the garment of good deeds performed for Christ’s sake. To do this we must learn to stand still amid the whirlpool of earthly vanities, raise our eyes to heaven, think about God and pray to Him. We must make time to read spiritual books for our mind’s edification, for the vanity of this world strives to darken the mind: the devil wishes for man to be left with no time to think of God. One effective weapon against the enemy’s vanities is a book — one capable of turning our thoughts and feelings toward our heavenly homeland to which we are called.

It is our goal to bring back the laudable tradition of reading Orthodox books.

If you share our goals and feel able and inclined to assist in achieving this common goal, write to us at mission379@gmail.com.

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Priest Daniel Sysoev

How Can I Learn God’s Will?

Approved for distribution by the Publishing Board of the Russian Orthodox Church IS 12–201–0052 Translator and Editor in Chief Deacon Nathan Williams Layout and design Igor Ermolaev

mission-center.com mission-shop.com mission379@gmail.com +1(267)237-3768 Authorized for printing 04.10.2012.

Format 70×100/32.

Number of pages 96. Offset printing.

Run of 5,000. Order 000.