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Step into the mystical realms of faith with this rare audio recording narrated by St. Sophrony the Athonite (+July 11, 1993). Listen as he recounts a powerful vision of divine adoption, where a sickly child’s plea to be sent to the monastery transforms into a celestial encounter. The boy’s journey, guided by the prayers of his mother and the intercession of the Mother of God, unfolds into an awe-inspiring revelation before the King’s throne. St. Sophrony delves into the profound connection between dispassion, love, and adoption as sons. Join us on this spiritual voyage, exploring the mysteries that transcend the earthly and beckon us toward a state of eternal existence. If this message resonates with you, like, subscribe, and share to spread the wisdom. Your support is cherished. Blessings on your spiritual journey!
Essex Monastery, January 11th, 1993
Audio source: https://youtu.be/R-a1HG_jG1M
English translation adapted after the Romanian version of Fr. Rafail Noica, Cuvantari Duhovnicesti I (18).
St. Sophrony:
Once I visited an elder who had been in charge of Old Russikon [skete on Mount Athos] for many years, and I spent a lot of time in his cell. He told me about his life and about one of his visions. He was a sickly child and could not bear the labors of peasant life. And indeed, peasant’s work is hard. And then one day he says to his parents:
– Send me to the monastery!
They answer:
– Well, my dear, you cannot live there; in the monastery you have to work.
“But anyway, send me there.”
And so his mother takes this boy, brings him in front of the icon of the Mother of God and says to Her: “From now on, you will be his Mother: I can’t take it anymore; I give You this boy, my son, to care of him.” And after this prayer of the mother, when she gave her son to the Mother of God, he fell asleep. And in a dream he sees a large hall and the throne of the King at the end of this hall; and the Lord King sits, and many important people close to the King stood around. And the Woman who was the Mother of God brings him there and leaves him kneeling before the King. And the King says to one of those standing nearby: “Go and see what he has there in his handkerchief.” That man took the tissue wrap from the boy’s hands, untied it and said: “Here are two broken hearts.” Then the King stood up from His throne, approached the boy and said: “So, you are My son.”
Can you imagine the power of prayers of both the mother, the boy, and the Mother of God Herself?! God rose from the throne and said: “You are My son.” Those who have not experienced such things cannot understand them. St. John Climacus writes that if someone has not been given the opportunity to experience something by the Holy Spirit, then he cannot understand it. The others, who have not reached this degree, but lead an ascetic life, it happens that, not reaching these heights, they do not accept the words of their brothers and say: “Leave him: he is in delusion.” And what is a gift of the Holy Spirit is misinterpreted by these pious people and turned into a painful state of bad quality.
So, there are people who have reached the state when the Lord says: “Yes, you are My son,” and when a person says:
– I am yours, save me!
God answers: “Yes, you are Mine”.
And then these words “I am Yours,” uttered by the person praying, already become a fact of eternal existence.
Many incidents could be told that touch the heart. But this is enough: people achieve the adoption as sons through the One who is Son according to the Divinity, in the beginningless Divinity. St. John Climacus says that three words have the same meaning: dispassion, love and adoption as sons.
So, when you revolve around people who live in God, it becomes an attractive force, so that we also long for such a state. But the path to this is truly difficult and complex. We need helpers, abbots, spiritual fathers to help us walk. Why did the Lord suddenly say at a certain moment: “Yes, you are My son”? How can this monk live on earth? – Yes, very simple and natural! And when this is done in the true sense, then there is no theater or anything artificial, but everything is simple and truly beyond sin.
