The Rule for Attending to Oneself
Written for a Certain Layman As a Result of His Desire To Live A Vigilant Life In The World
by St. Ignatii Brianchaninov
The soul of all practices in the Lord is VIGILANCE. Without VIGILANCE, all these practices are
fruitless. He who is desirous of saving himself must so establish himself that
he might remain continuously VIGILANT toward HIMSELF, not only in solitude, but
also under conditions of distraction, into which he is sometimes unwillingly
drawn by circumstances.
Let the fear of God
outweigh all other sensations upon the scales of your heart; and then will it be
convenient to for you to be VIGILANT TOWARD YOURSELF, both in the silence of
your kellia [cell] and in the midst of the noise that surrounds you from
all sides.
A well-reasoned
moderation in foodstuffs, diminishing the passionate heat of his blood, tends
greatly to facilitate your being able to ATTEND TO YOURSELF; while the
impassioning of your blood, stemming, as it does, from an excessive consumption
of foodstuffs, from extreme and intensified bodily movements, from the
inflammation of wrath, from being heady with vanity, and by reason of other
causes, gives rise to a multitude of thoughts and reveries—in other words, to
distraction. The Holy Fathers, first of all, ascribe to such a one as is
desirous of ATTENDING TO HIMSELF a moderate, evenly-measured, constant
abstention from food. (Dobrotoliubiye [Philokalia], Pt. II, Ch. of
St. Filofei [Philotheus] of the Sinai)
Upon awakening from
sleep—an image of the awakening from the dead, which awaits all men—direct
your thoughts to God, offering up to Him the first-thoughts of your mind, which
has not yet become imprinted with any vain impressions whatsoever.
Having carefully
fulfilled all the needs of the flesh upon arising from sleep, quietly read your
customary rule of prayer, taking care not so much for the quantity of your
prayerful expression, as for the quality of it; i.e., do it ATTENTIVELY, so
that, by reason of your ATTENTION, your heart might be enlightened and enlivened
through prayerful feeling and consolation. Upon concluding your rule of prayer,
do you again, direct all your strength to the ATTENTIVE reading of the New
Testament, primarily the Evangel. In the course of this reading, intently take
note of all the instructions and commandments of Christ, so that you might
direct all your actions—both manifest and veiled—in accordance with them.
The quantity of the
reading is determined by one's strength and by one's circumstances. It is
unnecessary to weight-down one's mind with an excessive reading of prayers and
Scripture; likewise, is it unnecessary to neglect one's needs in order to
practice immoderate prayer and reading. Just as the excessive use of foodstuffs
disorders and weakens the belly, so too does the immoderate use of spiritual
food weaken the mind and create in it a revulsion to pious practices, leading it
to despair. ([St.] Isaak the Syrian, "Sermon 71")
For the novice, the
Holy Fathers suggest frequent—but brief—prayers. When one's mind matures
with spiritual age, becoming stronger and more manly, then shall one be in
proper condition to pray without ceasing. It is to such Christians as have
attained to maturity in the Lord that the words of the Apostle Paul pertain:
I DESIRE, THEREFORE,
THAT MEN PRAY EVERYWHERE, LIFTING UP HOLY HANDS, WITHOUT ANGER AND REPROACH. (I
Tim. II, 8) i.e., dispassionately, and without any distraction or inconstancy.
For that which is natural to the man is not yet natural to the infant.
Enlightened, through
prayer and reading, by our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, one may
then go forth to carry out the affairs of one's daily course, VIGILANTLY taking
care that in all one's deeds and words, in one's entire being, the All-holy will
of God might prevail, as it was revealed and explained to men in the
Commandments of the Evangel.
Should there be any
free moments during the course of the day, use them to read ATTENTIVELY some
chosen prayers, or some chosen portions of Scripture; and, by means of these,
fortify the powers of your soul, which have become exhausted through activity in
the midst of a world of vanities.
Should there not be any
such golden moments, it is necessary to regret their loss, as though it were the
loss of a valuable treasure. What is wasted today should not be lost on the day
following, because our heart conveniently gives itself up to negligence and
forgetfulness, which lead to that dismal ignorance, so ruinous of Divine
activity, of the activity of man's salvation.
Should you chance to
say or to do something that is contrary to God's commandments, immediately treat
your fault with repentance; and, by means of sincere contrition, return to the
Way of God, from which you stepped aside through your violation of God's will.
Do not linger outside the Way of God! Respond with faith and humility to sinful
thoughts, reveries and sensations by opposing to them the Gospel commandments,
and saying, along with the holy patriarch Joseph:
HOW SHALL I SPEAK THIS EVIL WORD AND SIN BEFORE GOD? (Gen. XXX, 9)
One who is VIGILANT toward oneself must refuse himself all reverie, in general—regardless of how
attractive and well-appearing it might seem, for all reverie is the wandering of
the mind, which flatters and deceives it, while being outside the truth, in the
land of non-existent phantoms, and incapable of realization. The consequences of
reverie are: loss of VIGILANCE toward oneself, dissipation of the mind, and
hardness of heart during prayer, whence comes distress of the soul.
In the evening,
departing into slumber—which, in relation to the day just past, is death—examine
your actions during the course of that day. Such [self-] examination is not
difficult, since, in leading an ATTENTIVE life, that forgetfulness which is so
natural to a distracted man is destroyed through VIGILANCE TOWARD ONESELF. And
so, having recollected all your sins, whether through act, or word, or thought,
or sensation, offer your repentance to God for them, with both the disposition
and the heart-felt pledge of self-amendment. Later, having read the rule of
prayer, conclude the day which was begun by meditating upon God by meditating,
once again, upon God. Whither do they depart—all the thoughts and feelings of
a sleeping man? What mysterious state of being is this sleep, during which the
soul and body are both alive and yet not alive, being alienated from the
awareness of their life, as though dead? Sleep is as incomprehensible as death.
In the course of it, one's soul reposes, forgetting the most-cruel earthly
afflictions and calamities that have beset it, while it images its eternal
repose; while one's body (!!) ... if it rises from sleep will also arise,
inevitably, from the dead.
The great Agafon said:
"IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO SUCCEED IN VIRTUE WITHOUT EXERTING VIGILANCE TOWARD
ONESELF." (The Patericon of Skete)
Amen.
Excerpted from The
Writings of Bishop Ignatii Brianchaninov: Ascetic Essays, Volume I, pp.
185-187 (in Russian). Translated into English from the Russian by George
Spruksts intrprtr@prodigy.net. English-language translation copyright (c) 1999
by The St. Stefan of Perm' Guild, The Russian Cultural Heritage Society, and the
Translator. All Rights Reserved. Permission is hereby granted to use this essay
for non-commercial purposes, as long as this entire notice is included
therewith.
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