St Anthony of the Desert / New Mexico
The heart is central in Orthodox Spirituality. This is biblical: if your
heart is pure, your actions are pure. If your heart is impure, so will
your actions be.
In our Orthodox tradition, the heart is bigger than the mind and the
mind is located in the heart; the combination is referred to as the nous
(νους). The heart is not identified with the physical heart, but it is
understood to be the center of our spiritual existence.
God takes up residence in the heart (Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 3:17). Christ
refers to this residency in the heart as “the Kingdom of God,” which is
not a state like New Mexico or Montana, but rather may be understood as
a reign or rule (βασιλεία). It
is a verbal noun; it is not, in other words, static but energetic. When
Christ says, “The Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21), he means
that we are energized by God’s power through the Holy Spirit. This is
where we know the “peace of God that passes all understanding”
(Philippians 4:7), to which Paul also testifies at Romans 5:5. In the
heart we receive both the grace of God and the enlightenment of our
lives (II Corinthians 4:6).
The heart is the location for our feelings, for our will, and for our
thinking.
Our objective as Christians is to have these three unified, for the heart to
be one. Sin interrupts this process of unification. The mind may be
convinced of the good, but the will is not able to follow because of the
heat of desire; hence, the unity of the heart is broken.
When trouble comes, it comes in the form of double-mindedness (this concept
is found in the Epistle of James, chapters 1 and 4, in particular). We
are split apart in consciousness. Jesus uses a different metaphor for
the same idea in Matthew 6:22: “The lamp of the body is the eye. If
therefore your eye is good (sound, singular), your whole body will be
full of light.” We are to be of one mind and focused. But we do not see
the world aright because we are blind. The Slavonic word for this
problem is prelest, or delusion or, better still, spiritual
blindness. Ironically, the word has the positive meaning of “lovely” in
the sense of “enchanting.”
Because of the dynamic nature of our lives and our hearts, and because we
are always strung between good and evil, light and darkness, life and
death (see Deuteronomy 30:19), the Evil One may also take up residence
in the heart. We may be deluded; we may be spiritually blind; we may not
think right! The Orthodox Tradition, however, insists that the Light
cannot be overcome (see John 1) by the darkness that Evil brings to
it. Because of baptism, our hearts are filled with the grace of God that
cannot be extinguished; therefore, the Evil One cannot take up
residence in the heart but must remain outside as a goad
(St Diadochos of Photiki, On Spiritual Knowledge, Philokalia Vol.
1).
Metaphor or not, this is a powerful image that can bring us comfort
in dark moments.
The heart is the seat of passion (pathos - πάθος). As
our Lord says, “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts” (Matthew 15:19).
Paul writes, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful
nature with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24) and goes on to
list the virtues of life in the Spirit. But this is again part of the
dynamic of life. There is no guarantee that we will remain in this
condition; in fact we have every reason to commit ourselves to spiritual
warfare for life. At the heart of this is the struggle for self-control
(Galatians 5:23, Ephesians 4:22, and elsewhere) and for what the
Tradition calls apatheia (απάθεια), which means dispassion; it does not mean
that we become apathetic, but that we view all things without clinging
to them. In a way it relates to our use of the icon. Our vision does not
stop with the icon; if it does, then we do indeed make an idol of the
icon. Our vision must pass through the icon to see the reality it
embodies.
At this point we must consider the process of temptation. The Fathers of
the Philokalia clearly labeled this process. We should learn to
recognize it in our own lives. At the core of the process is a logismos,
(λογισμός) a thought that potentially leads to action. First there is
the suggestion to sin. A temptation arises: let’s be
gluttonous. Let’s gorge ourselves on food and wine. Wow! Great idea!
Second, we begin to think about this suggestion, savor it,
interact with it, and dwell on it. Third, we accept the premise as
possible (to change the temptation: I can find a way to commit
adultery with that person). Fourth, we enter into agreement with the
suggestion (I want to commit adultery with that person), and
we become captive to it. The thought becomes habitual and we become
passionate about it. The Fathers say that this is the point when
it becomes sin, in accord with Christ’s word (Matthew 5:28). We
don’t have to fulfill the act. We have already stepped over the line,
and we must repent and repeal our agreement to the suggestion. We must
refuse the logismos with its allure. Now, back to our concern with the
heart.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,” says our Lord. The
first step toward purification of the heart is the recognition that we
need God’s power; we cannot purify ourselves. We can only invite this
act of Grace into our lives. We can turn to it but we cannot purify
ourselves.
The logical second step, then, is prayer. The Fathers particularly invite us
to the Jesus Prayer. This prayer is performed in quiet (Greek
ησυχία hesychia – hence, the term hesychast prayer), an injunction
that goes back to Christ’s word at Matthew 6:5-6. Since this prayer
penetrates deep within us, it is also called noetic prayer, i.e. the
prayer of the nous, in this case the word meaning that
supplication which embraces both mind and heart (see Mark 12:30).
Repentance (metanoia - μετάνοια) is the next
step. Repentance means, literally, re-thinking: we have to enter into
the depths of our own hearts to discover all those habits and
temptations to which we cling that separate us from God’s Light. This is
the capsule sermon with which Jesus begins his ministry, according to
Mark 1:15, “The time is fulfilled. The Kingdom of God is at
hand. Repent, and believe this good news.” Reflection on the Love of God
draws us to repentance (Romans 2:4).
There is the possibility of return. As we pray at the Divine Liturgy, “Shine
in our hearts, Loving Master, with the pure Light of your divine
knowledge and open our hearts to the message of your Gospel.”
In the Orthodox tradition, a great deal of emphasis is placed upon tears of
mourning for our alienation from God. This is called
penthos (πένθος) in Greek; the word is the opposite of acedia
(ακηδία), which means sloth or despair. Hence these are not tears of
despair, but rather of mourning at the loss of paradise, so to speak, in
our own lives. St Isaac the Syrian wrote much about the gift of tears,
but he is one among many of the fathers who recognized the importance of
mourning at loss.
If we desire purity of heart, we must see that the worship life of the
church is of central importance. Simply put, we make no solo progress
along this pathway; we join together with others in community in the
knowledge that we are all seeking purity of heart. We need the
sacraments and the Word of God to nourish us and to enable us. The
ascetic life includes fasting. This is important but we must
always remember that the fast is of the soul as well as the body. Bodily
fasting is only the outward manifestation of inward fasting. If it is
only outward, the fast is worthless (see Christ’s word at Matthew
6:16-17).
