Saint Sophrony Sakharov’s Vade Mecum towards the Divine Light

Abstract

The present study aims to capitalise on Saint Sophrony Sakharov’s theological/mystical view of experiencing the divine Light, which the Essex Abbot construes as an aspiration to be pursued by any Christian, not only by spiritual elites. For this reason, the experience, and exhortations of Saint Silouan’s disciple as to the believer’s partaking in God’s uncreated Light can become for contemporary man a vade mecum adapted to the spiritual requirements and realities of our time. The drafting of these spiritual guidelines will be based on the writings of St. Sophrony (especially We Shall See Him as He Is) and the testimonies of his direct disciples and of those who assumed his way of life in the light of Jesus Christ (Zacharias Zacharou, Hierotheos Vlachos, Neacşu Nathanael, and Maxime Egger). We believe that our effort to capitalise on the mystical experience of St. Sophrony will enable the reader to access the knowledge required to understand how one may come to partake in the divine Light.

1. Introduction

Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov (1896–1993), the Abbot of Essex Monastery in England, is one of the best-known spiritual fathers of our times, a promoter of a theology founded on mystical experience and knowledge (Louth 2016, pp. 63–66). His mysterious connection with Saint Silouan the Athonite, his mystical writings and, not least, his holy life led the Ecumenical Patriarch, together with the Holy Synod of the Phanar, to have him canonised in 2019. This new quality of Saint Sophrony provides an additional reason to study his life and teachings more closely to discover the path that leads to holiness, to living permanently in the light of God’s glory.

Saint Sophrony was born in 1896 in Moscow. He studied at the Academy of Arts (1915–1917) and at the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1920–1921) in Moscow, and then completed his studies in this field in Italy, Germany and later in France, where he settled for good in 1922. Having mysteriously experienced the divine light during Passion Week, he permanently abandoned the Eastern mysticism he had approached in his early searches and, in 1925, he enrolled in St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris. In the same year, he went to Mount Athos, entered the community of the Russikon Monastery and became a disciple of Saint Silouan. After the death of the latter, Saint Sophrony retired for a while in the wilderness, after which, following his ordination, he became the spiritual father of several Athonite monks. In 1947, he returned to Paris and published the writings of Saint Silouan. Upon the visit he made to a town in the Essex region, in England, he decided to establish a monastery dedicated to St. John the Baptist (1959), which, six years later, would become a stavropegion of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. He passed away in 1993, leaving behind a series of writings that would influence both the monastic and the secular environment.

Experiencing the uncreated Light is, to Saint Sophrony and his spiritual father, Silouan, a constant telos towards which they aspired as soon as God allowed them to partake in the sight of the divine Light. In biblical theology, seeing as a means of revelation is the pinnacle of knowing God. The great mystics of the Holy Scriptures (e.g., Moses, Elijah, David, Isaiah, Ezekiel, the Apostle John, the Apostle Paul, etc.) have therefore aspired to this level of divine revelation and those who have partaken in the sight of heavenly realities have noted that this kind of knowledge is beyond feeling and reason (Acts 9:3; II Cor 12:1–4; cf. Job 42:5). The way in which Sophrony Sakharov relates to this mystical experience can constitute a spiritual vade mecum for contemporary man, thus enabling him to discerningly assume the divine words received by St. Sophrony’s spiritual father, Saint Silouan: ‘Keep your mind in hell and despair not’.

The present study aims to bring to the foreground the advice and exhortations that St. Sophrony offers to those who wish to experience the divine Light. We find such an enterprise necessary, as St. Sophrony provides a detailed and profound approach to this theme which plays a decisive role in Eastern mysticism (Louth 2007, pp. 214–15; Orlov and Golitzin 2001, pp. 297–98).

The main reference employed by this research was written by St. Sophrony in 1985. In We Shall See Him as He Is,1 the author builds a spiritual autobiography describing the mystical experiences that marked his spiritual life. His testimonies regarding the experiencing of the uncreated divine Light can be a starting point when it comes to understanding this Light and to seeing it. The secondary sources used come mostly from disciples who also wished to capitalise on their spiritual father’s theological legacy as to the uncreated Light. We will focus on the writings of Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou (2018), Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos (2011), Archimandrite Nathanael Neacșu (2015), and Maxime Egger (2013).

In his study of Saint Sophrony’s way of understanding the uncreated Light, Archimandrite Zacharias writes about the three stages that characterise the mystical experience of the radiance of divine glory: the state of repentance, the contemplation of the Light, and the acquisition of the fruits of seeing heavenly realities. Even though the effects of experiencing the uncreated Light identified by Saint Sophrony are many, Archimandrite Zacharias chooses to present only the four that his Abbot stressed in particular: humility, prayer for the world, love for one’s enemies, and theology.

Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos seeks to validate the mystical experiences of his spiritual father by comparing them to similar episodes in the history of the Church. Thus, he places the testimonies of Saint Sophrony alongside those related by saints such as Isaac the Syrian, John of the Ladder, Simeon the New Theologian, Saint Gregory Palamas, or mentioned by their disciples (e.g., St. Nikephoros of Mount Athos). When it comes to the theme of the divine Light, the Greek Metropolitan stresses the two coordinates that, in the view of Saint Sophrony, lead man to the sight of God’s glory: repentance and the prayer of the heart. According to him, seeing God as light is, after all, the fruit of pure prayer.

Archimandrite Nathanael Neacșu devotes the last section of his extensive research on the dogmatic and ascetic-mystical teachings of the Abbot of Essex to the perspective developed by Saint Sophrony about the divine Light. In the chapter titled The Grace Eternalising the Hypostatic Love between Man and God or the Sight of the Divine Light, Archimandrite Nathanael emphasizes the way the sight of God’s glory experienced by Saint Sophrony is part of Eastern ascetic tradition. He insists on the three ‘moments’ of grace (knowledge of the mysteries and love of God; the departure of grace; and contemplation of the Triune God in His Light), while stressing that the sight of the divine light should not be regarded as a single event in life, but as a characteristic that marks the life of every Christian, or rather, of every human being, as Christ, the Light of the world, ‘enlightens every man that cometh into the world’ (Jn 1:9).

The study of Swiss sociologist Maxime Egger is focused on Saint Sophrony’s spiritual evolution. He links the stages of the saint’s spiritual growth to a few places that left their mark on his spiritual development. In the last part of his research, M. Egger emphasises the ascetic vocation of Archimandrite Sophrony, who, despite his manifest hermit qualities, returned into the world to be of service to his fellow man. In relation to that, the author refers to the theme of the divine Light, showing how St. Sophrony tried to reveal to people the mystery of seeing God’s glory. Thus, he provides an answer to the following questions: what is the nature of this Light? how does it manifest itself in man’s life and being? how does the divine Light operate? and what are its fruits and effects?

The inclusion of sociologist, journalist, essayist and ‘meditator-activist’ Maxime Egger among the theologians mentioned is not accidental. His contribution to the dialogue between the two axes (spiritual and eco-civic), without which the spiritual and community balance of present-day society cannot be restored, can serve as a bridge towards the social facet of the present theme. This direction is in line with our research interests within a project undertaken by the Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca via the Sacred Art Department of our faculty, which aims to transfer innovative technologies and advanced materials into the field of visual arts (production, conservation, restoration)—UBB-TeMATIC-art. St. Sophrony’s mystical experience of the divine Light has been capitalised on within the project and served as a reference in understanding the role played by icons in the revealed act: seeing the heavenly and partaking in the Light of God.

Saint Sophrony’s theological thinking suggests that every man has the possibility of becoming a partaker in the divine Light. This gift of sight is offered by God to all those who desire to enter communion with Him. However, to reach this level, man must cooperate with grace and make an ascetic effort to become free of passions. For these reasons, we wish to capitalise on both the theological and the mystical dimension of Saint Sophrony’s views on experiencing the divine Light. To that end, the way the Abbot of Essex develops the theology of experiencing the Light will be shown, based on his writings and on the perspectives provided by his direct disciples and by those who assumed the Sakharovian way of life in the Light of Jesus Christ.

2. St. Silouan the Athonite and the Initiation of Sophrony Sakharov into the Mystery of Seeing the Uncreated Light

Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov (1896–1993), also known as Elder Sophrony of Essex, was the disciple, biographer, and curator of the writings of Saint Silouan the Athonite (1866–1938). Thanks to his involvement, Saint Silouan’s notes have come to be important guidelines for the spirituality of the Eastern Church to this day. He was the Athonite monk’s disciple for almost eight years (1931–1938), during which time he assimilated the latter’s teachings, learned about his life (from accounts, as well as from the archives of Russikon Monastery) and came into possession of his writings. All of these he put to good use by publishing them in the volume Elder Silouan. Life, Teachings, Writings. Thanks to this book, the world came to know the personality and theological depth of St. Silouan (Ică 2001, pp. 8–9). However, Archimandrite Sakharov’s merit is not only that of sharing Saint Silouan’s legacy with others, but also the fact that he himself followed these teachings his entire life, thus attaining a spiritual awareness like that of his spiritual mentor (Sakharov 2002, pp. 22–29; Hamalis 2013, pp. 121–23).

One of the great themes that mark the theology of both St. Silouan the Athonite and Father Sophrony is that of seeing the divine Light. This Light is to be understood as grace, as uncreated energies emanating from the Divine Being and flowing out onto the world. The sight of the Light is nothing other than a form of partaking in the communion with God, a genuine sense of His presence, but also a lucid awareness of one’s own existence (Sophrony 2004a, p. 185). The sight of the uncreated divine Light is a climax of spiritual life. Reaching it requires ascetic labours, humility, and prayer. St. Sophrony Sakharov highlights this when speaking of Saint Silouan, when tackling the topic of prayer, and even when looking at his own life.

In his account of the life of Saint Silouan the Athonite, Archim. Sophrony Sakharov presents, among many other aspects, the stages that the Athonite monk went through in his spiritual life. As far as the topic of seeing the divine Light is concerned, the relevant period is the one after his joining the monastery of the Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon (or Russikon Monastery) on Mount Athos. We learn that, in the beginning, the devil tempted him to go into the wilderness, to attain salvation in solitude; but, in obedience to his confessor, he resisted this temptation. His confessor then advised him to utter the Jesus prayer and, after only three weeks, with the help of the Mother of God, he managed to acquire the gift of unceasing prayer, which would carry on in his heart throughout his life. However, this gift of unceasing prayer came with many temptations from the demons. On the one hand, he received words of praise from them, thus being drawn towards the sin of pride, while, on the other, he was urged to think of eternal life and believe that he would go to heaven and find that those he loved were missing from there, which meant he would have no joy (Sophrony 2004a, pp. 19–21).

Saint Sophrony relates that it is in this context that Saint Silouan first experienced a light, a strange light which, instead of spurring him to humility and heartbreak, made him laugh. That light penetrated his entire body so deeply that he could see his own bowels. A voice told him to receive it, because it was grace, yet he felt that his state was not right. He realised that the demons were trying to lure him, deceive him (Sophrony 2004a, p. 22).2 The appearance of the deceptive light was no longer resorted to by the devils after that. Perhaps, had the event reoccurred, it would have been easily recognisable to St. Silouan. Nevertheless, they continued to tempt him in many other ways, so that the Athonite monk came to the end of his strength. When he reached the height of despair, he said to himself: ‘God is implacable, no one can soften Him’. This thought brought with it a sense of complete desertion; ‘his soul plunged into the darkness of an infernal fear, and he spent almost an hour in that state’.3 Paradoxically, shortly after that state had taken hold of him, while he was at Vespers in the chapel of the Holy Prophet Elijah, he looked towards the iconostasis, towards the place where the icon of Our Saviour stands, and, to his amazement, he saw Christ in the flesh. The Lord appeared to him and filled him with grace. It was such an intense vision that the monk was left drained (Sophrony 2004a, pp. 23–24). After describing this incident, Archim. Sophrony adds the following: ‘the state in which Simeon4 was found then is impossible to describe. We know only from the words and writings of the blessed Abbot that a great divine Light then illumined him, that he was taken out of this world and his mind travelled to heaven, where he heard words that cannot be uttered; that, at that moment, he was born anew from above (Jn 1:13; 3:3). The gentle gaze of Christ, full of joy, all-forgiving and infinitely good, drew Simeon’s entire being to Him’5 (Sophrony 2004a, p. 24). Unlike the deceptive light from the devils, whose effect was to remove the monk from his state of humility, this time, even after the vision ceased, the love of God dwelt in his heart. The experience of seeing Christ and the divine Light marked Simeon the monk for the rest of his life. Even though the intensity of this experience would subsequently diminish, it remained a goal towards which he never ceased to strive. A closer look at the state that took hold of him reveals the effects that the sight of the Light had on the Athonite monk: awareness of the fact that his sins had been forgiven, the acquisition of a pure feeling of love for God and for people, a state of Paschal joy (Sophrony 2004a, p. 34).

It soon became apparent that it would be difficult to maintain this state of beatitude. Although he intensified his prayers and labours, the state of grace gradually began to diminish; the fear that he would lose what he had received started to nestle in his heart. He turned to Abbot Anatolius, a spiritually advanced monk, who advised him how to pray, but, because he praised him for the spiritual level he had reached in a very short time and at a young age, another sin began to take shape in the heart of Simeon the monk: vainglory. Through incessant prayer and struggle, he managed to overcome his thoughts and reach a state of perpetual nepsis. The advice he received from God to keep his mind in hell and not despair also contributed effectively to this achievement (Sophrony 2004a, pp. 34–41). In the latter part of his account of St. Silouan’s life, Father Sophrony emphasises his labour in prayer, as well as various events he witnessed during the nearly eight years he spent around St. Silouan. The latter’s physical features and deeds suggest that, during his monastic life, his main concern was the acquisition of grace through pure prayer (Sophrony 2004a, pp. 48–77).

St. Sophrony’s exposition on the topic of the uncreated divine Light and the ways to see it according to the teachings of St. Silouan is built on the fact that God Himself is Light (I Jn 1:5) and that He reveals Himself as Light and in the Light. He who sees the divine Light feels the presence of God in a real way and is transposed into another world; he no longer knows whether he is still in his body or outside it; paradoxically, he sees himself with great lucidity and, at the same time, he no longer feels his own materiality or that of the world.

3. St. Sophrony Sakharov—An Experiencer and Confessor of the Divine Light

The work We Shall See Him as He Is (1985) was written by St. Sophrony a few years before his death. It presents itself as a spiritual autobiography in which the Abbot describes several experiences he had in his spiritual life. The entire book is based on experiencing and feeling the grace of God. From the very first pages, St. Sophrony states that intellectual information does not lead to the meaning or core of faith. It is only by coming to know God that the believer can access and experience the eternal life that he is called to (cf. Jn 17:3). These premises testify to the fact that the Abbot of Essex was a theologian of experience and that the topics he tackles in this work stem from his spiritual depth and wealth. We therefore find that the texts he wrote on the uncreated divine Light represent a starting point, an introduction into what this Light represents and how it can be seen (Sophrony 2004b, pp. 7–8).

By recounting his own experiences, Saint Sophrony shows the path to seeing the Light and the ways in which it manifests itself. The Abbot of Essex starts by proposing an exercise of the imagination and urges one to deep reflection on God’s commandments and on how He created the world and man. By considering all this carefully, man will realise how sinful and powerless he is in doing good. This awareness of his own helplessness leads him to sincere repentance and humility. The latter will enable him to curve his own will and thus put all his trust in God. In this state of full surrender to God’s care, he will be able to be touched by the breath of His eternity, to see the Lord in the Light and as Light. The more this great gift reoccurs, the deeper the repentance it produces in the soul of the believer, the more intense the sense of unworthiness.6

For some, this profound repentance triggered by the appearance of God may be incomprehensible. Saint Sophrony shows that it is difficult to explain this state to those who have not experienced it. He who has experienced such moments has been overtaken by a painful urge toward God. On the one hand, the sight of God’s holiness, and on the other, the feeling of darkness, of hell, have led him to this state, marked by self-loathing and deep crying. The Abbot of Essex mentions that the Lord has given him the grace of despair and the “holy hatred toward sin”, toward himself as a sinful man. All this have brought him into a state of “hopeless hope”, in which, realising that he could not be saved by his own strength, he placed all his hope in God (Sophrony 2004b, p. 241). In this state, he gets to see the Light of the Kingdom of God, whether seen on Mount Tabor or on the road to Damascus, he gets to see the Lord in Light and as Light. This light draws toward itself, but man sees it as something distant, unreachable, as it surpasses his worthiness altogether. So powerful is prayer in those moments that man’s soul can be moved into another world; the earthly one is forgotten; man cannot even feel his body. According to Saint Sakharov, this profound repentance that must mark man is the only way toward the Father, the Father of lights (Sophrony 2004b, p. 223).

Before speaking of the uncreated divine Light, Saint Sophrony provides an example from his own life as a warning that, in some cases, increased labours can cause one to see the energy of one’s own thinking in the form of light. This is the trap one may fall into in the stage that precedes the sight of the true Light. The Essex Abbot thus points out that he was lured into such confusion himself in his youth. The saint confesses that, during his lifetime, he came to experience many kinds of light and lights: the light of artistic inspiration, the light of philosophical contemplation, the light of scientific knowledge, or visions of light from the devil. All these lights pale before the uncreated divine Light (Sakharov 2002, p. 15), which is eternal, it is life giving, it is God ‘touching’ humanity (Sophrony 2004b, pp. 224–25).

The Church and Christ, its founder, are the theological themes that the Abbot of Essex directly relates to the experience of light. Christ revealed His will to us and left us His commandments so that, through them, we might be saved and reach the Father. But we can only reach the Father through Christ. And the Church, founded on the stone of testifying to the Godhead of Christ (acc. Mt 16.18), is the space where we can be with Him. It is also in this space, in this divine human institution visibly founded at Pentecost, that we can see the uncreated Divine Light. If we consider the event of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor and the event of the conversion of the Apostle Paul, we can notice that the Divine Light can be seen only in relation to Christ and in the presence of true faith. The sight of the divine Light must be placed in relation to Christ. Through His incarnation, mankind has been given the opportunity to follow the path (through His commandments) and reach the Father. Given this intervention, love for Christ should spur the believer’s soul to fervent prayer, to thirst for the Lord. Such powerful prayer places the soul in kinship with the Spirit of Truth, so that the believer comes to experience, in a state of grace, the exact triadological and Christological teachings of the Church’s dogmas.7

Saint Sophrony describes his experiences regarding the Light to the best of his ability, starting not from the time of his youth, but from adulthood, after he turned towards God, seeking Him with repentance and in deep prayer. And even though he saw the uncreated divine Light during that time, he did not understand what he was experiencing. In a state of utmost concentration in prayer, of utmost repentance, and of focusing all his strength on God, Saint Sophrony felt the divine Light in real life, very strongly and, at the same time, very gently: ‘And behold, on a Holy Saturday (perhaps in the year 1924), the Light visited me after the Eucharist, and I felt it as the touch of the Divine eternity on my spirit! Soft, full of peace and love, It stayed with me for three days. It drove out the darkness of unbeing that stood before me. I—I was resurrected and, within me and with me, the whole world was resurrected’ (Sophrony 2004b, pp. 253–54). The testimony provided by the Abbot of Essex does not stem from pride, but from the desire to show us that the events experienced by the Apostles (Sakharov 2002, p. 108) and the Fathers of the Church can be experienced again within the Church, through humility and prayer. He who sincerely seeks God receives gifts beyond all expectation.

These mystical experiences are difficult to express in words. In fact, in the history of the Church, there are examples of people who lived a holy life and performed miracles, but who did not have the gift of speaking and exposing their spiritual experiences to others. Saint Sophrony gives the example of the Apostle Peter, who was kindled by the fire of love for Christ and even performed miracles like Him, but in his epistles, he used poor words regarding his mystical experiences, compared to the Apostles Paul and John. Another example would be Saint Silouan, who was found worthy of high spiritual experiences. Nonetheless, in his writings, one can see the lack of vocabulary and concepts that could capture in detail what he experienced. (Sophrony 2004b, p. 250–1).

As for the way in which the Light is perceived, Saint Sophrony points out that it appears visually very intense for a short period of time, after which the believer sees it diminish in strength and feels that grace is leaving him.8 Driven by the desire to regain that state of grace, he labours more and more, detaches ever more from the material needs of this world and seeks to dwell in prayer as much as possible (Sophrony 2004b, p. 261). The attention of a person who has been found worthy of this gift must be focused, deepened in God, to remain permeated by the heavenly Light for as long as possible.

4. The Reception of the Mystical Experience of St. Sophrony as Reflected in the Writings of His Disciples

Among the disciples of Archimandrite Sophrony who tried to make good use of his theological heritage regarding the uncreated Light, the ones who stood out are Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou,9 Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, Archimandrite Nathanael Neacșu,10 and Maxime Egger. They tackled the subject of seeing the divine Light in their writings. Alongside them one might also mention Hieromonk Raphael Noica, who translated a large portion of Saint Sophrony’s work into Romanian, but his way of receiving the mystical experiences of the Abbot of Essex will be discussed on another occasion.

4.1. Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou

With respect to the stages preceding the sight of the heavenly Light recorded by Saint Sophrony, Archimandrite Zacharias shows that the state of repentance comprises two directions of contemplation, which develop simultaneously during one’s spiritual ascent. The first direction is towards oneself, as man sees himself in the darkness of sin and becomes aware of the state of sinfulness that characterises him. The second direction of contemplation stems from God’s great mercy. Man contemplates the uncreated divine Light thanks to the benevolence of God, who sees his sincere repentance. And, as the state of repentance intensifies and man becomes more and more aware of his state of sinfulness, of worthlessness, the more clearly, he sees the divine Light, enjoying its experience longer (Zacharou 2018, pp. 272–73).

Archimandrite Zacharias also tackles the state that marks a person’s mind and heart now of seeing the uncreated Light and the way in which the whole process of seeing it unfolds. It is particularly remarkable how delicately and gently it all takes place, even though such an experience provides a foretaste of eternity (Zacharou 2018, p. 275). Later, after seeing the Light, he points out that he who has been found worthy of such a sight receives four gifts: humility, prayer for the world, love for one’s enemies, and theology. Perhaps Zacharias Zacharou noticed the attention that Father Sophrony gave to these. ‘Father [Sophrony]—the Archimandrite points out—talks about the unspeakable and divine humility, a charism of the Holy Spirit, which seers of the Light of Christ have, and which can be matched by nothing human, but is a form of Divine Love.’ When it comes to prayer for the world, ‘the divine Light triggers an inconceivable enlargement of the heart, to accommodate Theanthropic (Divine-human) fullness in its entirety. Then, through his prayer, man brings the entire race of mortals before God and that is the fulfilment of the image of God in man’. In the moment of seeing the uncreated Light, man attains the state of Christ, of ‘Him Who stretched out his hands on the Cross for His enemies, for the sinful […]. The same mercy and love are found in him who has been found worthy to see the Face of Christ in the Light’ and has come to feel and manifest his love for his enemies. Finally, in Father Sophrony’s view, ‘true theology is the story of God’s face-to-face encounter with man in the uncreated Light’ (Zacharou 2018, pp. 276–77).

Archimandrite Zacharias provides a clue of a personal nature, which might suggest that he, as a disciple of Saints Silouan and Sophrony, may have become worthy of experiencing the sight of the uncreated Light. The fact that he develops this theme in his work and even gives certain details that contribute to its understanding could be proof thereof.11

4.2. Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos

The theme of seeing the uncreated divine Light in the view of Saint Sophrony is also addressed by Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, after speaking of repentance and the so-called ‘rush towards God’, during which ‘the prayer of the heart and mind’ develops. Repentance and prayer lead man to the sight of the uncreated light. Looking into the experience of the Church, Metropolitan Hierotheos noticed a fair number of similarities between the mysterious experience of his spiritual father and that of the mystics of old (St. Isaac the Syrian, St. Gregory Palamas, St. Simeon the New Theologian, St. John of the Ladder, etc.). Metropolitan Hierotheos believes, on the one hand, that the sight of the Light is the fruit of pure prayer, and, on the other hand, that, by the grace of God, it is the sight of the divine Light that leads man to the attainment of pure prayer. The latter represents a ‘birth of pure prayer, which is carried out as the Holy Spirit renders one worthy of it’ (Vlachos 2011, p. 82). In his view, Saint Sophrony attained pure prayer and was on numerous occasions found worthy to witness the uncreated divine Light.

After recording the moments when his spiritual father went through these mystical experiences, the Metropolitan of Nafpaktos reinforces the Abbot of Essex’s accounts with elements from the theology of St. Simeon the New Theologian and St. John of the Ladder. For example, St. Sophrony emphasised the fact that the divine Light can also be felt as a scorching, consuming fire that burns away sins and all impurities. Similarly, St. John of the Ladder stresses the fact that the same Holy Spirit can be perceived as both fire and light (Vlachos 2011, p. 88). Another important parallel between the theology of St. Sophrony and that of St. Simeon the New Theologian12 is that, in the Light, man comes to know the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Archimandrite Sophrony confesses that, in that Light, he saw all three persons of the Holy Trinity; in a similar vein, St. Simeon the New Theologian relates in his writings that he sees three lights which share the same Light, but which constitute distinct hypostases (Vlachos 2011, pp. 94–95).

Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos correlates the sight of the uncreated divine Light with the deification of man, which really means the latter’s union with God. In his view, one might argue that the sight of the Light is proof of having reached this spiritual stage. To prove this, the Metropolitan invokes St. Gregory Palamas, according to whom the sight of God is union and deification, not at all abandonment and denial. The deification of man occurs in a mysterious and unspeakable way by means of God’s grace (Vlachos 2011, pp. 94–95). Similarly, to St. Gregory Palamas, Sophrony Sakharov resorted to the event of the Transfiguration when writing about experiencing the uncreated Light. He spoke of the miracle on Mount Tabor in a homily on the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord (Sophrony 2015, pp. 194–206). In that sermon, St. Sophrony presents, on the one hand, the theological teachings that emerge from this event, and on the other, a conversation with an ascetic who was found worthy of seeing that Light. Metropolitan Hierotheos points out that the ascetic in question was, in fact, the Abbot of Essex himself. The latter confesses his experience before the listeners, speaking of himself in the third person, as the Apostle Paul once did in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians (II Cor 12:2–5). The Metropolitan notes that the ascetic provides clarifications to Archimandrite Sophrony on three matters concerning the Light. The first has to do with the luminous cloud on Mount Tabor, the second with man’s ability to see the Light, and the third with the soul’s cowardice or fear in the face of such a notion.

Speaking of the moment when one loses the Light, an occurrence recorded by both Saint Silouan and Saint Sophrony, Metropolitan Hierotheos compares this mystical reality with the divine grace that comes and then leaves man, thus urging him to increase his labours and zeal to receive it and preserve it in his heart. The same is true of the divine Light. As the believer advances in his spiritual life, he sees the Light with different eyes and understands that he is being visited by God, but then ends up losing it repeatedly. St. Sophrony recounts how the Light remained within him for several days or even weeks. This was due to his advanced spiritual life. He also emphasises the way in which he lost the Light, thus showing how hard it is to be able to keep it. Oftentimes, the sight of the Light is lost due to the slightest thought of vainglory or to an attempt to understand it rationally (Vlachos 2011, pp. 97–101).

4.3. Archimandrite Nathanael Neacșu

Nathanael Neacşu’s ample research is concerned, on the one hand, with the dogmatic teachings of St. Sophrony and, on the other, with his ascetic-mystical ones. The last section of his book is devoted entirely to the divine Light. Under the title of The Grace Eternalising the Hypostatic Love between Man and God or the Sight of the Divine Light, Archimandrite Nathanael shows how the experience of seeing the divine Light lines up with Eastern ascetic tradition, stressing that it is the highest state a believer reaches following an intense ascetic effort. However, the experience of seeing the divine Light is not to be regarded as a unique moment in life, but, on the contrary, it is a recurring characteristic, one that marks a Christian’s—and every man’s—entire life. To receive it, to feel it, one needs to approach it ascetically and mystically; it can only be experienced in relation to God. The Light visits non-Christians as well, but they do not perceive it, they are not aware of its presence in their lives.

Archimandrite Nathanael mentions the three stages of experiencing the Light (receiving grace, abandonment, and contemplation of the Trinity in the Light) recorded by Father Sophrony and explains them one by one. In the first stage, as previously noted, the believer receives the Light, thus entering communion with God and, at the same time, becoming aware of his sinful state. The only difference between this initial stage and the final one lies in the intensity with which the believer sees the Light. However, this is the beginning of the believer’s relationship with the Holy Trinity, which will leave a mark on him. After that, the believer will begin to work very hard to become free of passions. Glimpsing the divine Light, he will undertake to set out on the path of repentance towards communion with God (Neacșu 2015, pp. 294–95). The second stage begins once the believer has managed to overcome his passions. During this stage, man reaches a spiritual level where he feels compassion for all of humanity, seeing its sinful state. He thus goes through a spiritual descent into hell, at which point, paradoxically, he feels both abandoned by God and filled with divinity. ‘For Archimandrite Sophrony,’ Nathanael Neacșu points out, ‘the spiritual descent into hell also means seeing the Divine Light at the same time, albeit briefly, just as Christ’s descent into hell was, at the same time, His resurrection.’ (Neacșu 2015, p. 303). The third and final stage is the greatest height that man can attain; it involves the contemplation of God in His Light. In this stage, one truly finds that ‘it is the sight of the Light that gives meaning to the entire spiritual journey, it is the one that accounts for one’s whole life of labours and asceticism, and what is more, it is the one that gives meaning to our entire existence.’ (Neacșu 2015, p. 308).

After tackling these three stages of spiritual life, Nathanael Neacșu touches on two other important points: (a) the conditions, ‘forms’, and consequences of seeing the divine Light, and (b) the Theopathy or contemplation of the Holy Trinity in the Light, which is the foundation of the ‘objective’ actualisation of the hypostatic principle within man. Among the conditions which the believer must meet to be deemed worthy of the sight of the divine Light, Archimandrite Nathanael mentions love, prayer, and the emptying of one’s soul, heart, and mind of all materiality, which he insists on. During one’s spiritual ascent, the Light not only shows itself at different intensities, but also exhibits different forms of manifestation. Or rather, the believer receives it in different ways depending on the spiritual level he has reached.

4.4. Maxime Egger

In his study published in the Buisson Ardent (1995) journal, Swiss sociologist Maxime Egger analyses the spiritual evolution of St. Sophrony, placing considerable emphasis on the mystical experiences during which he partook in the divine Light. To systematise his research on the divine Light, he sets out to answer four questions: (1) what is the nature of this Light? (2) how does it manifest itself in man’s life and being? (3) how does it operate? and (4) what are its fruits and effects? The familiarity with which he speaks of the divine Light leads the sociologist to compare Saint Sophrony with Saint Simeon the New Theologian, whose ardour, boldness, and fervour are well known. The definition that the Abbot of Essex gives to the Light, as recorded by Maxime Egger, proves how profound St. Sophrony’s understanding was. To him, ‘this Light is the Energy of God, and as such, it is the One Light of the Holy Trinity. It proceeds from the Father; It is the Light of the co-eternal Logos of the Father; It is the work of the Holy Spirit within us.’ (Egger 2013, pp. 169–70). As to the way in which this Light makes itself present in man’s being, M. Egger specifies that it increases gradually. St. Sophrony speaks of a stage-based manifestation. At first, silence is prevalent; man sees the Light, and faced with this experience, his mind and heart become silent, marked by a deep state of wonder. That silence is devoid of representations and thoughts. The believer’s undivided attention is directed towards the Light that embraces man from the outside, embraces his mind and dwells in the depths of his being.

In St. Sophrony’s work, the Swiss sociologist remarks, one finds relevant details as to the way in which this Light operates. It is necessary to first consider the fact that the sight of the Light is not dependent on certain external circumstances, nor is it the result of human effort, but is due to the benevolence of God. The author also mentions that the Abbot of Essex repeatedly urges discernment, as it is possible that the light seen by the believer may be deceitful. To that effect, one must bear in mind three pieces of advice offered by the Saint, namely: not to trust subjective interpretations; to base one’s experience on the testimony of the Holy Fathers; and to consult with one’s confessor. It is spiritual experience that leads to clear thinking, to the ability to discern the origin of the light. The arrival of the Light and its departure will enable the believer to become familiar with that state (Egger 2013, pp. 175–76).

5. Conclusions

Based on the observations made by the Abbot of Essex as to the mystical experiences and the writings of his spiritual father, St. Silouan, on the personal confessions of St. Sophrony, as well as on his disciples’ analyses of the divine Light, we have put together the guidelines below.

To see the Light, man needs to pray, humble himself, labour unceasingly, and strive for communion with God without regard to time, and to be constantly open to God’s will always and fulfil it. That is because the sight of the Light does not come upon one at predictable times, but unexpectedly and in a way that is beyond understanding.

The uncreated divine Light is different from natural, physical light; nevertheless, the two are not opposites. A man who has reached a sufficiently high spiritual level can see two types of light at the same time: the natural and the divine. However, the act of seeing the divine Light is different from the act of seeing natural light. Unlike the latter, which occurs at the level of the optic nerve, the former occurs at the level of the mind. And even though they differ in this respect, an analogy can be made between the two types of light. In the physical world, man can see the objects around him depending on the intensity of the light. If it is dim, he can hardly distinguish what is around him; if it is a little stronger, he sees better; and, if the objects are in the sunlight, man’s sight is at its best. The same is true when it comes to one’s spiritual life, in which man contemplates the will of God depending on the intensity with which he sees the divine Light.

The sight of the uncreated divine Light is not to be regarded as a fruit of ascetic efforts, but as a gift of God’s mercy. That is because the mind, by its own powers, is unable to probe the mysteries of God and thus come to see this Light. When man witnesses a great, rich light, he can have no doubt that it is the Lord. Yet, he who has seen only a small ‘glimmer’ of this Light needs to turn to patristic literature to distinguish it from the nature of his soul. If he interprets it according to his own experience, it will take numerous visits and departures of grace for him to learn to distinguish God’s Work from the efforts of his own mind.

The first contact with the uncreated divine Light is an occurrence so new, so unusual and surprising to man that he cannot grasp what is happening to him. It is only through the repetition of these experiences that he comes to understand and realise the gift that God has bestowed upon him. Thus, his soul will become accustomed to that state of grace, characterised by genuine bliss and by an infinite longing for Christ.

The teachings on the uncreated divine Light must be considered in the context of the theme of imago Dei (the image of God in man) and the theme of deification according to Eastern Orthodox tradition. Being the image of God gives man the opportunity to enter communion with Him. Through grace, man becomes capable of partaking in the Godhead. In the act of deification, man is the receiving principle, while God is the active principle. In other words, man ‘suffers’ deification. As he finds himself in that state, seeing the uncreated divine Light, man becomes petrified; it is a state he cannot put into words, as the experience does not belong to him, but is entirely the work of God.

The stages to becoming free of passions are presented as a string of virtues and labours that the ascetic must go through: faith, fear of God’s judgment, repentance, prayer, confession, tears, liberation from passions, hope, ascetic efforts. Thus, it appears that, before getting to see the divine Light, a series of processes occur, in which prayer, fear of God, repentance, and humility reach ever newer, deeper levels that are more firmly rooted in trust in God. Once he has gone through all these stages, man reaches the state of enlightenment, deification, perfection; he comes to identify himself with God (not in terms of nature!), to become a god through grace, light of Light.