Cassian and Germanus Consult Abba Theonas of Scetis
Theonas said: “It is impossible for the mind to partake of a vision of the divine at all times, because it’s pulled in all directions by so many worries and entangled in such varied and annoying problems. Are there even any saints who undertake training that is so tenacious, or have intentions that are so rigorous, that the shrewd manipulator won’t sometimes toy with them?
“And is there anyone who has gone into hiding and avoided the company of all other human beings who is never afflicted by pointless thoughts? Whose contemplation of God is so exclusive and wholesome that they stop picturing and engaging with earthly things entirely? Is there anyone who can ever maintain such an intense spiritual heat that they don’t suddenly backslide from the heavens to the earth because their attention in prayer has been hijacked by slippery thoughts? And leaving aside other instances of distraction, is there anyone among us who has not checked out at the very moment when we’re making entreaties to God and lifting our mind to the heights—and end up unintentionally offending him in our attempt to obtain pardon for our faults!?
“I could go on. Is there anyone who is so driven and alert that when they’re chanting a psalm to God their mind is never drawn away from their focus on scripture? Is there anyone who is on such friendly terms with God, who is so connected with him, that they can actually say that they followed the apostle’s command to us to pray without ceasing for one whole day?
Sure, to some people (people who are wrapped up in much more glaring flaws), all of this may seem insignificant and basically irrelevant to the subject of sin. But to people who know how good perfection is, the agglomeration of even the most minor things weighs on them very heavily.”
“The saints who keep a steady hold on their memory of God, like they’re forever walking aloft on cables stretched out to the skies: I’d say it’s worth comparing them to funambulists or tightrope walkers. They stake their life and salvation on the incomparably narrow path of that razor-thin wire, and they know all too well that they’ll fall to a grisly death the instant they waver and take a single misstep or wrong turn.
“And as the practitioners of this marvelous craft undertake their aerial climb through the void, they must mind that narrow path with sure footing and careful control. Otherwise, the ground—which for everyone else is a natural baseline, a firm and reassuring foundation—spells obvious and immediate extinction for them, not because the nature of the ground changes but because the weight of their bodies would bring them smashing down into it. The same is true of the tireless goodness of God and his unchanging essence itself. They do not harm anyone. We inflict death on ourselves, by turning away from the heights toward the depths. The fall itself is deadly.
“ ‘Woe unto them!’ he says, ‘for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me.’ And elsewhere: ‘Woe to them when I depart from them!’ Thy backslidings shall reprove thee; know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God. Each one is bound by the ropes of his own sins. The objects of the Lord’s rebuke are quite appropriately singled out in this passage: ‘Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled.’ And here, too: ‘Whosoever will kindle evil will perish by it.’ ”