“The joy of God is not a joy like the joy we experience in this world, and if we start comparing them it is like light and darkness. It is the contrast between something imperishable and that which is perishable. When one has a taste of God’s joy, then all the joys of the world are transcended, annihilated. They cannot dazzle you. How could the moon dazzle you when you have seen the light of the sun?”
It was intuitively apparent to Emily and myself, since we had both known Fr. Maximos for many years, that his wisdom was not based only on reading the works of the great elders of Christianity. We were confident that his own direct experience was the chief source of his charisma as a speaker and as a conversationalist. Undoubtedly his close apprenticeship with some of the leading saints of Mt. Athos, such as Papa Ephraim of Katounakia and Elder Paisios, played a major role in bringing forward these spiritual gifts.
“The joy of God is not dependent on stimulations related to external things,” Fr. Maximos continued. “It is everlasting and unalterable. That is why it gives birth within the heart of the person to this certainty of God’s presence that no one can take away.”
“There might be a problem here,” Eleni interjected. “One may wonder how such joy is possible considering that there is so much suffering all around. Is such a person detached and indifferent to the pain of others?”
“This is a mystery and a paradox. The man of God is continuously joyous while at the same time, as the Holy Scriptures say, he partakes in the sorrow of all human beings. This happens because his joy is not disconnected from agape or love. Such a person can experience deep sorrow for the suffering of others, but at the depths of his being there is the joy of God’s Presence that sweetens the pain of humanity.”
“Such a person has radically different sensibilities on how to address the problems of human existence,” I added.
“Absolutely so. Such a person is in a continuous state of joy regardless of what happens around him. No thing and no one can captivate his heart. After all, the source of joy is Christ Himself. That’s why the salutation to the myrrh-bearing women of chairete after the Resurrection is truly an evangelical message.”
Fr. Maximos went on to explain the importance of the Resurrection as a joyous message, that there is always the Resurrection and a joyous reunion with God after the cross everyone must bear. Elder Paisios told a rebellious young radical who came to visit him: “Here on Mt. Athos we believe not in revolution but in Resurrection!”
“It is possible that all around us everything is dark and gloomy but our hearts are filled with joy,” Fr. Maximos went on. “I don’t know whether you have seen people dying. I have seen people who were radiant with joy as they were about to die. They won over death, like the case of Fr. Theophylaktos [his name literally means ‘one who is guarded by God’], an old monk from Mt. Athos. ‘Grandpa, are you afraid?’ I asked him. “No: he replied. ‘I continuously recite the Efche,’ the Jesus Prayer. It was as if he was on his way to his wedding party. His face was shining as he passed away. And I have seen others who lacked this connection to God in their lives and their endings were real tragedies.”
~Adapted from Kyriacos C. Markides, Inner River: A Pilgrimage to the Heart of Christian Spirituality
