The Honor and Superiority of Stillness
The Life of Stillness by Mar Isaac, Bishop of Nineveh
“Stillness is the work of the monk. If he loses stillness, his life as a monk becomes disturbed.” – Mar Isaac
The Honor and Superiority of Stillness¹
The Honor of Stillness:
Mar Isaac said: “The first work in monastic virtue is stillness.”
“If you place every work of discipline on one side, and stillness on the other, you will find that stillness weighs more.”
“Stillness is very fitting for the work of God. For this reason, the saints withdrew their senses from the world, and after this they cared for preparing the heart for God’s hidden work.”
“Know that many – or perhaps all Christians – accomplish all virtues with courage and joy. But regarding stillness, they do not dare.”
“Love the quiet sleep in stillness, for the images of its dreams are more beneficial than the thoughts of wakefulness outside stillness.”
And about the superiority of the work of prayer in stillness over the rest of the virtues, he said:
“Exceedingly exalted and excellent is the lover of the King, His confidant, and the one who sits with Him at the table, more than all the brave and mighty men who fight in wars and prevail, the brave who possess wealth.”
The Work of Stillness Is Better Than the Work of the Righteous Laity and the Monks of the Community:
“A great shame to the solitary who promises the perfection of conduct, and a great disgrace to him, is that his discipline is found equal to that of the married layman, even if the layman fears God and is righteous.”
“For if the monk is not lifted above all worldly things, and his gaze fixed on God at all times through the discipline of stillness, how is he known to be better than the righteous layman? For righteous laypeople perform visible virtues, but they do not sense the perfect hidden discipline of the solitaries.”
“They must know, that just as the soul is by nature better than the body, so the hidden discipline through stillness is better than the visible discipline of laypeople.”
“And just as the discipline of angels is better than the work of men, so the discipline of the mind in stillness is better than the discipline of monks in the community and their virtues that resemble the virtues of righteous laypeople. And just as the love of God is nobler and higher than the love of men, so the work of solitaries is better than the work of righteous laypeople.”
“For laypeople please others by the love of men. But the solitaries desire nothing in heaven or on earth except Him alone. For they willingly stripped themselves of everything and clothed their conscience with the sight of God and His love. Therefore, exalted and better than all virtues is the work of stillness.”
“Truly, the work of a hundred brothers in service and conversation who fast and pray does not equal the work of one solitary sitting in stillness without mixture or conversation, even if he is weak. And one prayer offered by a person to God while alone is better than a hundred prayers performed with others.”
“In quietness a person easily acquires purity of heart and simplicity of faith and becomes worthy of cleanness, if he guards the principles of stillness and keeps watch over the duties of conduct.”
“But the one in the community is like the one in the marketplace! Even if he closes his senses, he cannot escape the helpful and harmful encounters that necessarily befall him.”
“Go, sleep in idleness, or wander aimlessly in the mountain alone. Do not recall hearing anything of vain conversations. Do not accustom yourself to drawing near to those who practice them. Then you will know how idleness with solitude benefits more than vain hearing.
For when a person withdraws from conversation with men, he returns to himself and to rightly directing the discipline of his life before God.”
The Work of Stillness Is Better Than Ministry and Working Miracles:
“He who has felt his sins knows that solitude is better for him than benefiting the world by his appearance. And he who groans over himself for an hour in solitude is better than he who raises the dead by his prayer and lives in service. And he who has been counted worthy to behold himself is better than he who has been counted worthy to behold angels. For the latter shares with them by the eye of the body, while the former sees himself by the eye of the spirit. And he who clings to Christ through sorrow and mourning in solitude is better than he who is praised by others in the assemblies every day.”
“It is better for us to inhale life by withdrawing from all, than to entice the living to inhale it.”
“The work done among men brings boasting. But the weakness found in stillness brings a crushed heart.”
“Do not compare those who perform signs, miracles, and wonders in the world with those who dwell with knowledge in quietness. For it is better for you to free your own self from the bond of sin than to free servants from slavery or from the prison of their captivity. Make peace with yourself in harmony with the Trinity within you – that is, the soul, body, and spirit – rather than reconciling the quarrelling through your teaching. For the Theologian says: ‘Good is speech about God because of His majesty, and greater than this is that a man purify himself for God.’”
“Many performed powers and raised the dead, and labored in bringing back the lost, and through their guidance many came to know the truth. After this, those who raised others fell into shameful passions and destroyed their own souls, becoming a stumbling block to those who believed through them.”
Stillness Is Better Than the Work of Mercy
Two Disciplines That Do Not Meet:
“One of the elders said: If you are a layman, conduct yourself with the good conduct of laypeople. If you are a monk, conduct yourself with the virtuous works of the solitaries. But if you wish to be enlightened in both disciplines – that of the laypeople and that of the monks – you will fall and fail in both. For the work of monks is this: release from all tangible things, perseverance with God through the meditation of the heart, and the labor of the body in prayer. How can one join this with worldly virtue? Or can the solitary who practices the life of stillness complete both disciplines – the internal and the external – that is, caring for God in his heart and caring for others?”
Stillness Is Better:
“And if under the pretense of charity thought whispers in you, know that the rank of prayer is higher than charity.”
“See that those who practice charity and complete the love of neighbor through bodily deeds are found in the world. But those who walk rightly in the discipline of stillness and converse with God – after great effort you find only a few individuals.”
“I ask you not to be deceived. For mercy resembles the upbringing of a child. But stillness is the end of perfection.”
Mercy Is Not Your Work:
“One of the saints said: The aim of your conduct and its purpose is not to feed the hungry or make your cell a refuge for strangers. For this conduct befits those who wish to conduct themselves well in the world. But it does not fit the solitaries who have withdrawn from all visible things, whose aim is the preservation of the mind through prayer.”
“When a desire for concern over others enters you under the form of virtue in a way that scatters from your heart the stillness within it, say to it: The way of love is good, and mercy for God’s sake is acceptable. But I, for God’s sake, do not desire it. As that pilgrim said when he was running after the solitary saying: ‘For God’s sake, stop for me or else I will run after you.’ He replied: ‘And I, for God’s sake, flee from you.’”
“The completion of the duties of love through bodily comfort is the righteousness of laypeople and of monks in the community who gather together and go in and out at all times. This is very fitting for them, but not for the solitaries who truly chose withdrawal from the world in body and mind and desire to establish within themselves constant prayer.
The discipline of solitaries is like that of angels. So we must not leave heavenly work to gain righteousness through earthly things.”
“It is not fitting for the solitary to let his mind descend from standing before God to caring about anything.”
“But as for you, if you want the work of stillness, be like the cherubim who care for nothing earthly. And think that in the world there is no one but you and God, and your care and meditation is in Him. As our fathers who walked before you in this discipline taught you.”
Why Is Mercy Not Your Work?
“For the work of monks is this: release from all perceptible things, perseverance with God through the meditation of the heart, and the labor of the body in prayer. And such a one is not required to serve people.”
“The monk upon whom mercy is not imposed as a virtue is the one who can say to Christ openly: ‘Behold, we have left everything and followed You.’”
“If we possess nothing, God did not command us to cast ourselves into concerns for the poor. And if our conduct obliges us to withdraw from people and from mixing with them, it is not fitting for us to leave our cells and places of solitude, roaming the world, tending the sick, and occupying ourselves with these things – this is descent and lowering from the higher to the lesser.”
Examples from the Lives of the Saints:
“How did the ancient saints please God, those who left us this conduct after being trained in it? Saint John the Theban – the treasury of virtues and the spring of prophecy – was it not through prayer and not through service that he pleased God?”
“As for Abba Arsenius, for God’s sake he would not open his mouth to speak, neither a word of benefit nor anything else. And another, for God’s sake, spoke all day long and received the strangers who came to him – likely Saint Moses the Black. But Arsenius instead acquired silence and stillness for himself, and for this reason, with the Spirit of God, he sailed inside the sea of this world in peace, lifted in the ship of stillness, as appeared to one of God’s saints when he investigated this matter.”
“So if those whom the whole world needs for their prayers and teachings and even their presence, God honored their perseverance in stillness more than the benefit of all people – how much more for the one who cannot preserve even himself?!”
The Question of Abba Simon:
Why did the Lord bless mercy, yet monks chose stillness and preferred it over mercy?
The Answer:
“We monks do not keep stillness without mercy, but we attempt to be perfect at all times within mercy toward all rational beings.”
“We do not keep only this. But when necessity calls us to this work, it is not fitting for us to neglect love for the sake of stillness. We must not dishonor the great name – the name of stillness – by our ignorance, for each conduct and discipline has its time, season, and discernment.
Know this: he who neglects the sick will not see light. And he who turns his face from one in distress, daylight will darken upon him. And he who despises the voice of the weary will walk in darkness.”
If we have known that without the love of neighbor the mind cannot be enlightened in divine conversation and love, then who is the wise monk who has clothing or food and sees his neighbor or brother naked or hungry and hesitates to have compassion on him? Or who sees his brother sick in body without anyone to visit him and yet, desiring solitude, prefers the rule of withdrawal and stillness over the comfort of his brother or relative?”
“This may be harsh and far from love, and his stillness may be hypocrisy!”
“If a monk works with his hands and also receives from others, he too must give in charity. Neglecting this is clear transgression of God’s commandments.”
“If a monk lives near many people, and his dwelling is next to theirs, and he finds comfort from their labor in his times of health and sickness, he must likewise work with them just as they worked with him.”
“And if he practices stillness according to weekly rules, and after completing the week he goes out among people, being consoled by conversation with them, yet he neglects caring for his brother when he sees him distressed or sick and thinks he keeps the rule of weeks – this is truly harsh!”
“If these things are not present nor near us (because we live far in the deserts), then let us preserve in our mind and heart love and mercy for our neighbor. But if these things are near us, let us fulfill the love of neighbor in deed. For God, in this case, requires us to accomplish it in action.”
“And if you mention to me John the Theban or Arsenius or those like them, and you say: Who among them cared for the sick or the poor and left stillness? I say to you: If you had fled from all human comfort, and renounced meeting people as they did, you would not be required to perform works of mercy. So do not bring forth the conduct of the great fathers and perfect saints whose ways you are far from.”
“And I recall about this great father that it was written about him – to cut off the excuses of those who neglect their brothers – that at times he went to visit a sick brother. And when he asked him what he desired, the brother said: ‘I desire fresh bread.’ So that blessed one from Scetis went to Alexandria – he was seventy years old – and exchanged his dry bread for fresh bread and brought it to the brother.”
“And another saint among the fathers – Abba Agathon – did greater than this, he who practiced silence and stillness all his life more than anyone. For once he went to the countryside to sell the work of his hands. He found in the market a stranger sick and lying down. He rented a house for him, stayed with him, worked with his hands, spent on him, paid the rent, and served him for six months until he recovered. He also used to say: ‘I desire a leper, that I may give him my body and take his body.’”
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Article by His Grace Bishop Shenouda, Bishop of Education – Al-Keraza Magazine, Year Three – Issues One and Two – January and February 1967
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