A commonly repeated theme in the works of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov is that there are either few or no great spiritual elders of our times, and so we must find other ways of receiving guidance (I’ll address those ways shortly).
Perhaps the irony is that St. Ignatius was himself a saint and that he was writing during the era of great Russian saints like the Optina Elders, Seraphim of Sarov, Theophan the Recluse, and Tikhon of Zadonsk. Part of the testamony that the Orthodox Church is the true Church is that we continue to produce great saints. In the Orthodox Church in America, for example, we recently canonized St. Olga of Alaska.
So why did St. Ignatius say there are no great spiritual elders during our time? He was echoing prior fathers before him, going all the way back to St. Symeon the New Theologian who taught there were more charlatans (in modern lingo, “grifters”) than true spiritual elders.
So, yes, while the Holy Spirit continues to raise up saints in our Church, we must admit that it is highly unlikely that you and I will have the luxury of having one of those saints as our parish priest or local monastic elder. And that brings us back to the advice of St. Ignatius on how to find guidance.
Finding Guidance
The New Testament
Much of the work must be done by ourselves. Fortunately, with the advent of the printing press and now the digital age, we have no shortage of good material if we know what to look for.
St. Ignatius would tell us to begin with the New Testament, especially the four Gospels. And don’t just read them on your own, read them alongside the guidance of Blessed Theophylact and his commentaries on the New Testament. Theophylact had a gift for condensing the innumerable patristic commentaries written up to his time into a concise set of books.
The Old Testament
After you have read through the New Testament a few times, go to the Orthodox Old Testament and find the spiritual lessons there as well. While there are many difficulties in the Hebrew canon, it is a worthwhile read that has shaped the Orthodox services and all the saints of centuries past.
Works on Repentance
Next, read those saints whose writings move us to repentance. Perhaps someday you can read the great theological works, but for now, content yourself with the knowledge that you are a sinner and in need of spiritual cleansing. Spiritual texts take spiritual perception to properly understand.
Some of the books I have found helpful in this category include:
- Spiritual Struggle (St. Paisios)
- Unseen Warfare (St. Theophan the Recluse)
- The Spiritual Life and How to Be Attuned to It (St. Theophan the Recluse)
- Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives (Elder Thaddeus)
- The Arena (St. Ignatius Brianchaninov)
- The Ladder of Divine Ascent (St. John Climacus)
- Letters to Spiritual Children (Abbot Nikon)
- Wounded by Love (St. Porphyrios)
- Works on the lives of the saints, such as The Prologue of Ochrid (St. Nikolai Velimirović)
If you prayerfully read through these works, applying the lessons to yourself and not others, then you will be on your way to understanding the spiritual life through your own repentance.
Wrestling with God’s Help
It is necessary for the one who wants to thrive to go to confession and communion often. Speak to your parish priest, who is your de facto spiritual father, about your failures while also being willing to wrestle with things on your own.
I want to elaborate on that latter point. We sometimes want someone to fix our problems for us rather than working through them ourselves. Here’s an example:
I remember many years ago, arriving at the monastery where the abbot was my spiritual father, and being quite disappointed to learn that a necessary trip had taken him away for the time that I would be staying at the monastery. I had a list of things I wanted to discuss with him.
Seeing that was not going to happen, I sat down with a prayer rope and a notepad, and I began to prayerfully write in my journal, asking the Lord, the saints, and my spiritual father to guide me. And that’s just what happened. In my hours of quiet, prayerful reflection, I found the answer to most – if not all – of my questions. But I had to take the time to wrestle through it by myself.
We Orthodox do not teach fierce independence in the spiritual life, yet there is a time and a place for us to learn to grow up a bit and work through some of our problems with God’s help in prayer. It is good to seek the advice and counsel of others, yet it is also good to learn to seek the quiet, inner voice of the Holy Spirit.
Spiritual Discipline
The last bit of advice that I will give is that we all need spiritual discipline. We live in an age of distraction and busyness. If we are not very intentional about what we are doing, then we will never find time for prayer, reading, or other spiritual work. Even if you must begin with only five minutes of prayer a day, do something and do it consistently. Growth in the spiritual life comes not through moments of ecstasy but through the slow, forceful grind of wandering in the dry wilderness.
I haven’t yet met someone who doesn’t have five minutes at the start and finish of the day to give thanks to God and ask for His guidance throughout the day (in the morning) and His forgiveness for shortcomings (in the evening). But again, we have to be intentional or else it won’t happen.
Ways to make this happen:
In the morning, set your alarm clock early enough that you have a few minutes of time. Turn off your phone upon awakening and then make a few prostrations. Ask God to be with you and guide you through the day. If you have time, do a few formal prayers from the prayer book.
In the evening, have a set time that you turn off all electronics – phone, computer, TV, and tablet. Do a few prostrations, thank God for the day He gave you, examine your conscience and ask forgiveness for your sins, and then do a few formal prayers if you have time.
Conclusion
None of this is rocket science. Drawing close to God, being guided by Him, and becoming a saint are simple. All we have to do is live our life in total repentance and complete submission to God’s will in everything. Simple but not easy.
We’re attached to this world, our ego, and our comforts. That’s what makes it hard. The distractions and vanities of this world make it worse. Again, be intentional. People have lived through times that were far more difficult and far darker than what we are going through now. Some of those people were transformed into saints through that process. May God be with us, guide us, and transform us as well!
End Note: featured image is from a 13th century illuminated manuscript, courtesy of Getty Museum. Used with permission.