Selected Quotes from Fr. Schmemann's Journals

"The temptation of piety is to reduce Christianity to piety; the temptation of theology--to reduce it totally to history."

"'A quiet and silent existence' is the summit of intelligence, of wisdom, of joy, and--I don't know how to say it better--of 'interestedness.' Humility is not to be crest fallen, dejected, nor to be a bigot. It is a royal and kingly virtue because humility stems from wisdom, from knowledge, from contact with life overabundant. The contemporary man is a man who constantly jumps to action. Our whole civilization is an energetic 'jump to action'--and man finds himself exactly where he was before he jumped."

"Amazing--in nature, in the world, everything moves. But in this movement (falling snow, branches lit by the sun, fields) each moment reveals a divine immobility, a fullness, in an icon of eternity as life.

Another strange thought: the  whole world lives at the same time, the whole world lives this very minute, owns this minute; the rest is abstract numbers on a calendar."

St. Silouan of Mt. Athos on Humility

"The first year after I had received the Holy Spirit I thought to myself: ' The Lord has forgiven me my sins: grace is witness thereof. What more do I need?' But that is not the way to think. Though our sins be forgiven we must remember them and grieve for them all our lives, so as to preserve a contrite heart. I did not do this and ceased to be contrite, and suffered greatly from evil spirits. And I was perplexed at what was happening to me, and said: 'My soul knows the Lord and His love. How is it that evil thoughts come to me?' But the Lord had pity on me, and taught me the way to humble myself: 'Keep thy mind in hell, and despair not.' Thus is the enemy vanquished; but when my mind emerges from the fire the suggestions of passion gather strength again.

Fight the enemy with the weapon of humility.

Whoever like me has lost grace, let him wrestle manfully with evil spirits. Know that you yourself are to blame: you fell into pride and vanity, and the Lord in His mercy shows you what it means to be in the Holy Spirit and what it means to be at war with evil spirits. Thus the soul learns by experience the harm that comes of pride, and shuns vainglory and the praises of men, and evil thoughts. Then will the soul begin to recover her health and learn to retain grace. How can we tell if the soul is well or ailing? The ailing soul is full of pride, while the soul that is well loves the humility taught her by the Holy Spirit." - Wisdom from Mount Athos, Chapter 9

Prayer of the Heart

The original Conferences were numbered at ten. Only later were other conferences included in this work to satisfy the needs of the brethren. Part II, Conferences 11 - 17, was written for Saints Honoratus and Eucherius and covered topics not previously mentioned at length in Part I. The former saint desired to establish his cenobium after the traditions of the desert fathers, while the latter desired to travel to Egypt, as Saints John and Germanus had previously done. Part III, Conferences 18-24, was written for the monks Jovinianus, Minervus, Leonitus, and Theodore who had established several cenobium in the Gallic provinces in and around modern day France. St. John Cassian comments that the first ten conferences were "put together haphazardly at the command of the holy Bishops Helladius and Leontius" (Conferences, Part II Preface, 1.2). All this being said St. John intended Abba Isaac's two conferences (IX & X) on prayer to be the fulfillment of a promise given in the Institutes, as well as the culmination of the first eight conferences.

"The aim of every monk and the perfection of his heart direct him to constant and uninterrupted perseverance in prayer; and, as much as human frailty allows, it strives after an unchanging and continual tranquility of mind and perpetual purity" (9.2.1). Establishing the virtues simply and humbly on the Gospel Rock is necessary before pure, interior prayer can be achieved. The beginning of pure prayer is acquiring the virtues and casting off the vices. Thus, a virtuous life and ceaseless prayer in the heart are inseparable.

Obtaining Discretion

We cannot obtain discretion by ourselves--it is a gift from God (1 Cor. 12:8-11).  Nevertheless, we must always seek to obtain discretion in order to avoid errors and waywardness (The Conferences: 2.1.4).

In this conference Abba Moses shares a short discourse given by St. Anthony the Great on discretion.  St. Anthony points out that when discretion is lacking, our thoughts and deeds fall into darkness (Matt. 6:22-23).  How can we avoid such darkness?  By obtaining the virtues and being filled with the gladsome Light Who is Christ.  Only by discretion can we assure that the virtues will endure in us to the end (2.2.4; 2.4.4), because thoughts and deeds themselves proceed from discretion (2.2.6).  We always have the free will to discretely allow or disallow whatever thoughts come into our minds.  Thus, discretion is needed to preserve inner peace.