January: Day 15: Teaching 1: Venerable John the Hut-Dweller

January: Day 15: Teaching 1:
Venerable John the Hut-Dweller
 
(What Does Love for God Consist Of?)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Venerable John, who is today being glorified, was called "the Hut-Dweller" because he lived in a hut, or kalyva, near his parents' house. He lived in the 5th century, and was descended from rich and noble parents who lived in Constantinople. His parents gave him an excellent education. From his early years, John's soul harbored an extraordinary love for God. He loved to read spiritual books, which convinced him that everything in the world is futile, that no one and nothing can or should be the exclusive object of love for the human heart, except God, our Creator, Provider, and Savior. One day he met a monk, whom he begged to take him with him to the monastery. Having begged his parents for the Holy Gospel as a gift, John and the monk secretly sailed away on a ship to a distant monastery, where he stayed for six years, astonishing all the brothers with his exploits of piety. Then, by God's arrangement, he went to his parents' house in the clothing of a beggar, without revealing himself to them or being recognized by them. In time, at John's request, the steward of his parents' house made a hut or kalyva for him near their house, in which John spent three years. The Lord Himself appeared to the Saint and revealed that his soul would soon pass to Him and dwell with the righteous. Then Venerable John wished to reveal himself to his parents. Appearing before them, he gave them the Gospel which they had given him and said: "I am your son! It is not I myself who am the cause of your sorrows, but this Gospel. It has taught me to love God more than anything." What joy there was when the parents saw their beloved son, and how they regretted that they did not recognize him in the face of a beggar! John died soon after this, on the third day, being no more than 25 years old. At his own request, he was buried by his parents on the site of the hut, where they later built a church and a hospice. The holy relics of John were first kept in Constantinople and then transferred to Rome.

II. The Life of Venerable John the Hut-Dweller, who loved God above all else – riches, glory, worldly pleasures and his parents – teaches us to also love God above all else . ”

What does love for God consist of?

Love for God consists in the constant thinking about God of our own will, and in spiritual delight in the perfections of God, and in the loving disposition of the heart towards God.

a) He who loves God always thinks about God. And this is quite natural. Whom we love, we think about. Godly thoughts in those who love God resemble a thirst that increases the more it is quenched. One of those who loved God, the Holy King and Prophet David, said: "My soul thirsted for God, the mighty, the living God." And what was the consequence of this blessed thirst? A constant, unceasing striving to think about God. "I have set the Lord always before me," says the same one who said of himself: "My soul thirsted for God, the mighty, the living God."

b) In the one who loves God, the thought of God is closely connected with the heartfelt delight in the perfections of God. The one who loves God is delighted by the wisdom of God. He would wish, if it were possible, to assimilate all the light of the mind of God into his mind and his heart. Therefore, the one who loves God with joyful attention delves into all the works of the wisdom of God, and from the depths of his soul and in the depths of his soul, with the Prophet David, he exclaims, “How manifold are Your works, O Lord, in wisdom have you made them all.” The one who loves God is also delighted by the other perfections of God. It is sweet for the one who loves God to imagine and feel that God is everywhere, and that He sees everything and hears everything. It is sweet for the one who loves God to imagine and feel that God alone is omnipotent, and that He alone does everything He wants.

But it is still sweeter for one who loves God to imagine and feel the goodness of God everywhere. And this is because this goodness extends not only to great beings, but also to the small ones – to the most insignificant, apparently not deserving of attention, and yet constituting the object of God’s care. Thus, from the seraphim to the worm, everything enjoys the mercy of God. The goodness of God preserves and makes light of the sun, but it also preserves the hair of our head. The goodness of God gives food to the lion, but it also feeds the fly. The goodness of God loves and glorifies the righteous, but it has mercy on and spares sinners. The comforting thought that the great, omnipotent God is merciful to both small and weak beings greatly rejoices the soul that loves God and prompts one to say with the Psalmist: “The Lord is good to all, and His compassion is over all His works.”

c) Besides this, love for God consists in the loving disposition of the heart towards God. This state is difficult to express. It can, by the goodness of God, be vividly felt, but not explained. The Prophet David, who was in this state, cried out to God: Lord! "All my bones shall say, Who is like You?" The heart of the Apostle Paul was so sweet to the love of God that he found nothing in the world that could distract him from God: "Who shall separate us," he said, "from the love of God?" This cannot be done, "neither death nor life." All that is most pleasant in sensations, all that is felt by the soul that loves God to the highest degree. In such a soul it is light, and easy, and calm, and joyful. Here is an abyss of grace-filled sweetness and heavenly raptures. What good children feel in relation to their parents, the soul that loves God feels in relation to God, only to the highest degree, not carnally, but spiritually, not by the action of passions, but by the action of the Holy Spirit, living and acting in the soul that loves the Lord God. Here is one's constant thought about God, one's constant desire to be in the presence of God, one's sighs at the feeling of separation from God, one's tears of joy, one's inexpressible delight at the feeling of God's closeness and spiritual communion with God. "O sweetest God," says the man who loves God in the secret of his soul," delighted by You, I do not know what to call You. You are my Creator, and King, and Father. I come to life, I am renewed, I become spiritual, I become light-bearing, I am transferred from earth to heaven, I melt in tears of joy when You, Lord, make me feel Your merciful presence in me." But there is no doubt that in them there are, at least at times, strong, extraordinary movements of grace-filled Divine love. Let us listen to what one of those says who know from their own experience how strong love for God acts in souls: “When,” says Saint Makarios of Egypt, “the purest grace emits light in the soul, then, as from the most abundant drinking of the wine of God’s love, having rejoiced, a man makes a feast. This also happens when this light shining in the heart opens the door to another inner and deeper shining light, and the person, completely filled with this sweetness and contemplation, does not become that in himself, but is considered as a fool and useless to the world for the sake of new delights of love and sweetness." This degree of Divine love is so high that we sinners are unworthy to speak and hear about it. This is a great rarity on earth, but it is possible, accessible to people, with God's help.

III. We have seen in part what love for God consists of. Let us bless Venerable John the Hut-Dweller who loved the Lord, with all the strength of our soul. He is happy, he is blessed. Let us emulate his goodness and pray that we too may be given at least the smallest part of the sweet and soul-saving love for our Creator. Amen. 

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.