Continuation of “The Three Wheels of the Chariot”
And when a man follows the path of renouncing the world, this chariot of hell will certainly come out to meet him, to tempt him, to force him to follow after it; it will cut across his path to stop him. The chariot is headed in one direction, and the man who has renounced the world in another. And every Christian must necessarily be crucified on the cross of renunciation of the world; it’s not only monastics who renounce the world, but everyone who bears the name of Christian, for they cannot love the world, nor those who are in the world.
Christians also have four nails that nail them to the cross.
The first is self-denial.
This nail pierces the right hand, because it’s precisely our right hand that mainly creates and works. It’s an image of the active principle, and it’s nailed by the nail of self-renunciation.
What does it mean to renounce ourselves? To not pay attention, to not take notice of ourselves; if they berate you—don’t get upset; if they praise you—don’t rejoice, as if they’re talking about someone else.
The second nail is patience, which nails the left hand, because the left hand is considered a symbol of the evil inclination and protest.
The Christian’s right foot is nailed to the cross by the nail of prayerful vigil, endurance in prayer. Pray without ceasing, says the word of God (1 Thess. 5:17). It’s necessary that even when the body is sleeping, when it’s resting, the soul should be vigilant, praying.
The fourth nail, which pierces the Christian’s left foot, is the work of prayer.
It’s not correct to say that prayer is easy, that prayer is a joy. No, prayer is a labor. The Holy Fathers say that when a man prays easily, with joy, it’s not him praying himself, but an angel of God praying with him, and it’s good for him. When prayer doesn’t go well, when you’re tired and you want to sleep, when you don’t want to pray, but you pray all the same, that’s when your prayer is dear to God, because you yourself are praying, laboring for God, and He sees this labor and rejoices in your effort, in this work for Him.
Many say: “I didn’t pray this morning. I wasn’t in the mood.” Only an uneducated Christian could speak like that. When you’re not in the mood, then go to church and stand in prayer, so your feet would be as if nailed to the cross. A crucified man can’t go anywhere, so let your feet be nailed by standing in prayer and prayerful labor.
There’s always a crown of thorns resting upon the head of a Christian—this is our thoughts. They constantly make themselves known to a Christian; they painfully pierce us, like a thorn. A man stands in prayer, and his thoughts spring up and perturb him in the church; even before the Life-Giving chalice, these thoughts bother us, and they’re often terrible; they frighten a man, and he must uproot them. This is painful.
The spear that pierces the heart of a Christian is love for Christ. Whoever has this love always sees the Sweetest Lord before him; whoever has this love always hears in his soul: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” Such a man has no time to think about the world, about the mundane—his mind is ever occupied with the image of his Savior; he has no time to judge others, to analyze their actions—he judges only himself so as not to offend His beloved Lord.
St. Ignatius the God-Bearer had such love. He exclaimed: “Oh, my love…”
I pray to God that none of you will get on the chariot of the world, that not a single wheel would touch you, that you would ever be nailed to the cross, bearing the wounds of the Savior.
Lord, Jesus Christ, we pray Thee, grant us to be co-crucified and co-buried with Thee, that we might be resurrected unto eternal life with Thee…
St. Seraphim (Zvezdinsky) of Dmitrov
Source: Orthodox Christianity