“St John Chrysostom (+407) says: ‘The Heavenly Fire, which was brought to earth by the God-Man–I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and what wil I but that it be kindled? (Luke 12:49)–was ignited in the hearts of people, enkindled in them a new life, quickened their souls which had been crushed by sensual pleasures, and thus freed thought, newly winged, began to feel the necessity and the strength to leap up from the earthly to the things on high.”
A long time ago, at the very beginning of this blog, I wrote that I’d bought Abbess Thaisia’s “Letters to a Beginner.”
I was looking for something to read before bed, and decided on this. I don’t do very well as a single person–I’m impatient, I want to meet The Husband now. Never mind that I’m not ready for a relationship. Never mind that I’m not yet twenty, and have no need to rush. Patience has always been a virtue I admired…from afar. But anyway, somehow it makes sense to me that, if I’m having trouble being unattached in the world, then perhaps I should study monasticism.
Each path is its own discipline. I don’t plan to become a monastic, not yet anyway. Maybe eighty years from now, if my kids are grown and circumstances are right. But not yet. There are so many miracles in marriage. I’ve known since I was six years old that I wanted children.
Still, I think I need to create a rule of prayer for my life. I need to create my own semi-monastic tradition, in that I don’t want to be a hedonist. I want to be the best child of God I can be. So I will study whatever I can, whether it be advice for the already-married or wisdom for future monastics. And as always, I will pray.
It’s been a long while since I first began “Letters to a Beginner,” so I’m starting over. And, like I promised, I’ll post a little from the chapters.
I do keep my promises. I’m just slower than molasses. Frozen molasses.
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Introduction:
“Why can’t we, free women of the 20th Century, have paradisal otherworldliness rhythmically beating in our breasts? Why should the saints of the past be the only Godbearers, and we not have God at our side? What hinders the contemporary woman, albeit living in ultra-modern surroundings, from having at hand patristic, ascetic spiritual power, endowed by Christ Himself? What hinders us from truly being with God?”
“That which the modern fashions and mores call necessities, but which are really burdens.”
“The mystical, spiritual life . . . is the ultimate fulfillment of our lives here upon this earth.”
The book was written in 1900.
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Letter one:
“I can tell you this first time only one word, but a word of such importance that all your further success will depend on how you fulfill it, as well as your personal calmness and peace of the soul, which is precisely the condition of our salvation. Here is the word: Strive to love everyone!”
