A Handbook of Spiritual Counsel by St Nicodemos of the
Holy Mountain is available from Amazon
The word 'mind' (nous) as used by St Nicodemos in this text, does not refer to reason, discursive thinking or logical thinking, but to the organ of the soul by which the soul can 'know', that is directly apprehend, spiritual realities; not by drawing conclusions, but directly under the inspiration of divine Grace. The Greek language makes a distinction between nous (translated as 'mind' here) which is the spiritual organ of knowledge of the soul; and diania or 'reason' the organ of knowledge of the brain through the senses and discourse. Orthodox Christian anthropology affirms that man has both organs of knowledge. Thoughts, reason and the senses can interact with the nous, both in a positive and in a negative manner, and in that way affect the heart, the spiritual center of man.
The reading of the following chapter from St Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain, should precede the reading of the Philokalia.
Section One-One Must Guard His Heart from Evil Thoughts More Than His Senses from Harmful Objects
Have you learned how to guard your external senses? Have you learned to guard also the internal and common sense of the imagination? Learn now also how to guard your heart from evil passions and thoughts. The heart is the mystical and hidden chamber of the mind or, in other words, the soul, as we said in the beginning. For, as St. Syngletike said, a ship can sink for two reasons: externally by the waves of the sea, or internally by the failure of the pumps. Thus the soul, too, can be harmed from without through physical things and from within through evil thoughts and desires that rise up in the heart.
This is the reason we must guard our senses from hedonistic and harmful objects, as well as our heart from evil thoughts and passions. It is therefore necessary to be vigilant and to guard both, for both of these may become our downfall. However, one must be more vigilant to guard his heart from evil thoughts and passions than to guard his senses from external harmful influences.
For if we neglect our evil thoughts, they will become our downfall and perdition, much like the ship that suddenly finds itself sinking at a time of calm seas when the sailors are sleeping, because they neglected to man the pumps. We must therefore keep in mind that as the center of a wagon wheel has a certain number of spokes going out to the circumference of the circle and returning to the center where they meet, so also is the heart of man like a center where all the senses, all the powers of the body’ and all the activities of the soul are united. The heart is a center that has three aspects: It is a natural, a supernatural, and a para-natural center.
Section Two-The Heart is a Natural Center, and the Essence of the Soul is found in the Heart
The heart is a natural center. Of all the members of the body, it is the heart that is fashioned first. St. Basil said: “In the creation of animals the heart is the first to be founded by nature in accordance with the animal that must be analogous to it”. See note 1. Thus the physicians too are of the common opinion that the heart lies at the center of the chest with a slight inclination toward the left side. Thus we can say that the heart, because of the sense itself and the central place where it is found, holds a key position in relation to the whole body.
For this reason it is not only the first to be created of all the members, but it is also the last of the organs to die. The heart is the seat, the root, the beginning, and the source of all the physical energies of the body—-generation, nurture, growth, life, sensation, emotion, desire, and the others. Also the heart is the center of all the natural energies of the soul—thought, reason, and will.
Therefore the essence of the soul as the inner form of the body may not be contained as if in a vessel, since it is bodiless; and yet the soul, as in an organ or carriage, is found at the very core of the heart and at the very core of the most sincere and most pure spirit that intercedes between the body and the mind. Thus the essence and the power of the mind, that is the soul, is not found in the brain as an organ. Only the energy of the mind is found in the brain, as we said at first, (and never mind the newer physicists and metaphysicists who argue that the essence of the soul is found in the brain). To say this is the same as to say that the soul of growth is not originally in the root of the tree but in the branch and the fruit. The teaching of Sacred Scripture and the holy Fathers is truer than the teaching of men.
One of the newer moral philosophers has expressed excellently this position of the heart: The heart as the first of the organs and root of life is also the organ of desire and the interpreter of passions and emotions, because of its marvelous activities. The ocean has received from nature a moderate and appropriate flow, called high and low tide. providing a rest for the ocean as it flows back and forth, like a baby in a cradle. But if this ocean is blown by the cold north wind or by the warm south wind, it is no longer contained within itself, but comes and goes, sometimes rising high toward heaven and sometimes lowering itself to the abyss.
The same divine providence has given to the heart a sort of perpetual and physical motion appropriate to the nature of man that is extended and contracted by innumerable measures to interchange the breathing and to distribute the vital spirits to the whole body. Now, if the heart is troubled by the winds of passions, then by a paradoxical extension or contraction, changing the analogy of physical movement, it changes the emotions. The changes of the heart are as many as are the passions.
It is obvious that the soul is moved first by thought and then the heart by the soul. The first is a physical movement, the second a moral one. It would be a most desirable sight to be able to look through a crystal and to see through the chest the movements of the heart as we see those of a clock.
If the understanding accepts some subject as lovable, the heart as a whole extends itself and rushes forward to receive it. But if a subject is hated, the heart again is all contracted, drawn back, and appears to be going away. In utter joy the heart rejoices and jumps. In sadness and grief, the heart is with- drawn and apparently closed. In anger the heart is agitated and pumps the blood quickly. In fear, it is choked, struggling, and trembling. The smallest part of the ship is the rudder, but every small movement of the rudder causes the whole ship to turn on a wide circle left or right.
Similarly every small movement of the heart, situated at the center, can cause great movements throughout the periphery of the human body: those sweet smiles and tight embraces which one does in answer to a beloved friend; the expression of abhorrence and turning away from something that is undesirable and abominable; the clapping of hands and the jumping up and down when one is pleased; the expression of sighs and laments when one is grieved; the burning sensation in the face; the turning of the eyes and the biting of the teeth in anger; the cold paleness and the terror of fear—all of these are external results of the internal movements of the heart: small at the center but great at the outer perimeter.
Section Three-The Heart Is a Supernatural Center
The heart is also a supernatural center. The supernatural grace of God which we have received through holy baptism is found in the heart-—its seat and throne. Sacred Scripture is the first witness of this. For the Lord has said: “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:11). St. Paul said: “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us” (Rom 5:5). Again he said: “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba.’ Father!’ ” (Gal 4:6). Elsewhere he said: “That according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with might through his Spirit in the inner man, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Eph 3:16).
The holy Fathers agree with the Holy Scripture. St. Macarios said: “The heart affects the whole organism, and as soon as grace enters the place of the heart, it rules over all the members and the thoughts, for the mind and all the thoughts of the soul are there. ”2
St. Isaac wrote: “If you are pure, behold heaven is within you; and you will see in yourself the angels and their light and their Master with them.”3 Elsewhere St. Isaac wrote: “Seek to enter into your inner chamber and you will see the heavenly chamber, they are one and the same. ”4
St. Diadochos also said: “I have learned from Sacred Scripture and from the mind of perception that before holy baptism grace prompts the soul to good externally, while Satan lies hidden in its depths. But at the hour of our rebirth in holy baptism, the devil is banished from our soul while grace enters.”5
St. Gregory Palamas, interpreting a saying of St. Macarios: “It is necessary to look there to see if the grace of the Spirit has written any laws,” asked, “Where is there?” And he answered: “In the leading organ, in the throne of grace where the mind and all the thoughts of the soul are present, in the heart, of course.” This is the universal confession of all the Fathers and especially of the neptic Fathers.
Section Four-The Heart Is a Para-natural Center
The heart is also a para-natural, that is, an unnatural center. All the unnatural passions, all the blasphemous, proud, shameful, and evil thoughts and all the evil passions, tendencies, appetites, attempts, and consents that we have come to receive from the things of the world are born in the heart and are to be found there. All of these evils can cover over the divine grace which we received at Holy Baptism, much like the ashes covering the spark of fire, as St. Kallistos has noted.
There in the heart are the roots and origins of all the unnatural sins, which we have committed after Holy Baptism, through evil thoughts and deeds and which we even now do and desire to do. There in the heart is also Satan, even though he is not at its core (for divine grace is at the core as St. Diadochos said above). Nevertheless, Satan is at the surface of the heart and simply around the heart, as again St. Diadochos has noted, smoking up the mind through the dampness of the body and the desires and pleasures of the flesh. Thus he is able to project, through the inner reasoning that is naturally spoken in the heart, all the passionate and improper thoughts. This situation is confirmed by Sacred 2 Scripture. The Creator of the hearts has taught us to know: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man” (Mt 15:19).
Again another passage: “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest, but he finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and brings with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first” (Mt 12:43-45).
Do you hear? “They enter and dwell . . .” Where? In the heart, of course, in the inner man. The tradition of the holy Fathers confirms this word of Scripture. St. Gregory the Theologian wrote in his Homily on Baptism and in his heroic elegies: “You came to me again, O deceiver, as you planned, grazing within the depths of my heart.”6 St. Basil too wrote: “We must first of all consider it a blessing to be pure in thought. The reason is that the root of the activities of the body is the will of the heart.
For the sin of adultery begins to burn first in the soul of the hedonist and then the corruption of the body is brought about. Therefore the Lord warned us that the things which defile us come from within” 7.
St. John Chrysostom and generally all the Fathers agree in their interpretation of this passage from Scripture. Especially significant is the comment of St. Macarios about guarding the heart: “Enter by controlling your thoughts into your mind that is a captive and a slave of sin; detect there him who is lower than mind and deeper than your thoughts, in the so-called chambers of your soul; see there the cowering serpent that has brought death to your most vital members. The heart is indeed an incomprehensible abyss. Only when you succeed in killing this demon in your heart can you dare to take pride in being pure before God. Otherwise, humble yourself as wanting and sinful and pray to God for your hidden sins. ” 8
