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N atural knowledge is that which the soul can acquire through the use of its natural faculties and powers when investigating creation and the cause of creation -- in so far, of course, as this is possible for a soul bound to matter… Supranatural knowledge, on the other hand, is that which enters the intellect in a manner transcending its own means and power; that is to say, the intelligible objects that constitute such knowledge surpass the capacity of an intellect joined to a body, so that a knowledge of them pertains naturally only to an intellect which is free from the body. Such knowledge is infused by God alone when He finds an intellect purified of all material attachment and inspired by divine love.

quote 3372 | The Philokalia
St. Theodoros, the Great Ascetic in Theoretikon: ("Philokalia (Vol. 2)", pp. 39-40)

I f the intellect has not risen above the contemplation of the created world, it has not yet beheld the realm of God perfectly. For it may be occupied with the knowledge of intelligible things and so involved in their mulitplicity.

quote 3371 | Saint Evagrios the Solitary
On Prayer: ("Philokalia (Vol. 1)", p. 62, text 58)

B e on your guard against the tricks of the demons. While you are praying purely and calmly, sometimes they suddenly bring before you some strange and alien form, making you imagine in your conceit that the Deity is there. They are trying to persuade you that the object suddenly disclosed to you is the Deity, whereas the Deity does not possess quantity and form.

quote 3370 | Saint Evagrios the Solitary
On Prayer: ("Philokalia (Vol. 1)", p. 63, text 68)

T he soul can attain to the secrecy which is in God, where the mystery of unity beyond understanding and speech is celebrated, only when it has gone not only beyond the categories of vice and ignorance and of falsehood and wickedness - the vices which are opposite to virtue and knowledge and truth and goodness - but even, if one may say this, beyond the categories of virtue itself and of knowledge and truth and goodness as they are known to us. In the Kingdom of the Spirit of God, which lies beyond our senses and intellectual concepts and virtues, everything exists in a different way. It exists truly.

quote 3369 | Abbot Vasilios of Iveron Monastery
Hymn of Entry, p. 102

S o I entered the place where I usually prayed and mindful of the words of the holy man I began to say, "Holy God". At once I was so greatly moved to tears and loving desire for God that I would be unable to describe in words the joy and the delight I then felt. I fell prostrate on the ground, and at once I saw, and behold, a great light was immaterially shining on me and seized hold of my whole mind and soul, so that I was struck with amazement at the unexpected marvel and I was, as it were, in ecstasy. Moreover I forgot the place where I stood, who I was, and where and could only cry out, 'Lord, have mercy,' so that when I came to myself I discovered I was reciting this. But who it was that was speaking, and who moved my tongue, I do not know - only God knows.

quote 3368 | Saint Symeon the New Theologian
Cathecetical Discourse XVI

W hat is a charitable heart? It is a heart that is burning with charity for the whole of creation, for men, for the birds, for the beasts, for the demons - for all creatures. He who has such a heart cannot see or call to mind a creature without his eyes becoming filled with tears by reason of the immense compassion that seizes his heart, a heart that is softened and can no longer bear to see or learn from others of any suffering, even the smallest pain, being inflicted upon a creature. This is why such a man never ceases to pray also for the animals, for the enemies of Truth, and for those who do him evil, that they may be preserved and purified. He will pray even for the reptiles, moved by the infinite pity that reigns in the hearts of those who are becoming united to God.

quote 3367 | Saint Isaac the Syrian
The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church by Vladimir Lossky (Crestwood, NY: St. V1adimir's Seminary Press, 1991).

D uring the day he managed a patrician's household and daily went to the palace, engaged in worldly affairs, so that no one was aware of his pursuits. …One day, as he stood and recited, "God, have mercy upon me, a sinner" Lk. 18:13), uttering it with his mind rather than his mouth, suddenly a flood of divine radiance appeared from above and filled all the room. As this happened the young man lost all awareness [of his surroundings] and forgot that he was in a house or that he was under a roof. He saw nothing but light all around him and did not know if he was standing on the ground. He was not afraid of falling: he was not concerned with the world nor did anything pertaining to men and corporeal beings enter his mind. Instead, he seemed to himself to have turned into light. Oblivious of all the world he was filled with tears and with ineffable joy and gladness. His mind then ascended to heaven and beheld yet another light, which was clearer than that which was close at hand. In a wonderful manner there appeared to him standing close to that light, the saint of whom we have spoken, the old man equal to angels, who had given him the commandment and the book. …

quote 3366 | Saint Symeon the New Theologian
The Catechetical Discourses XXII

D eification is an enhypostatic and direct illumination which has no beginning, but appears in those worthy as something exceeding their comprehension. It is indeed mystical union with God, beyond intellect and reason, in the age when creatures will no longer know corruption.

quote 3365 | Saint Gregory Palamas
The Triads in Defence of the Hesychasts, Book 3, Chapter 1, Paragraphs 29

T hose who have been cleansed through following the path of stillness (hesychis) are counted worthy to see things invisible…, undergoing, as it were, the way of negation and not forming ideas about it.

quote 3364 | Abbot Vasilios of Iveron Monastery
Hymn of Entry, p. 103

B y receiving a new sense of taste and a new form of knowledge in "stillness" and in giving himself over to God totally. Be still and know. Be still: remain in a state of spiritual wakefulness, with your prospects and your senses open, to hear what God's will is at each moment.

quote 3363 | Abbot Vasilios of Iveron Monastery
Hymn of Entry, p. 92

I n diligent exercise of mystical contemplation, leave behind the senses and the operations of the intellect, and all things sensible and intellectual, and all things in the world of being and non-being, that you may arise by unknowing towards the union, as far as is attainable, with Him who transcends all being and all knowledge. For by the unceasing and absolute renunciation of yourself and of all things you may be borne on high, through pure and entire self-abnegation, into the superessential Radiance of the Divine Darkness.

quote 3362 | Dionysius the Areopagite
Mystical Theology, Chapter 1

T ry to make your intellect deaf and dumb during prayer, you will then be able to pray.

quote 3361 | Saint Evagrios the Solitary
On Prayer: ("Philokalia (Vol. 1)")

I f, then, you wish to behold and commune with Him who is beyond sense-perception and beyond concept, you must free yourself from every impassioned thought.

quote 3360 | Saint Evagrios the Solitary
On Prayer: ("Philokalia (Vol. 1)")

F or God is silence, and in silence is he sung by means of that psalmody which is worthy of Him. I am not speaking of the silence of the tongue, for if someone merely keeps his tongue silent, without knowing how to sing in mind and spirit, then he is simply unoccupied and becomes filled with evil thoughts: … There is a silence of the tongue, there is a silence of the whole body, there is a silence of the soul, there is the silence of the mind, and there is the silence of the spirit.

quote 3359 | Desert Fathers
John the Solitary in The Syrian Fathers on Prayer and the Spiritual Life" (Cistercian Studies 101; Kalama-zoo 1987). [Malayalam adaptation by G.Chediath, 1990; Persian tr.Tehran 1997(-); French translation of Introduction and selections by M.Moubarakah and J. Obeid, in Parole de l'Orient 26 (2001), 201-266; complete French translation forthcoming].

T rue wisdom is gazing at God. Gazing at God is silence of the thoughts. Stillness of mind is tranquillity which comes from discernment.

quote 3358 | Saint Isaac the Syrian
Homily 64

P rayer is the laying aside of thoughts.

quote 3357 | The Philokalia
Evagrios Ponticus, "On Prayer 61," in the Philokalia

I f your intellect is freed from all hope in things visible, this is a sign that sin has died in you. If your intellect is freed, the breach between it and God is eliminated.

quote 3356 | The Philokalia
Abba Isaiah the Solitary: "On Guarding the Intellect", taken from the Philokalia

S hut all the gates of your soul, that is the senses, so as to not be lured astay. When the intellect sees that it is not dominated by anything, it prepares itself for immortality, gathering its senses together and forming them into one body.

quote 3355 | The Philokalia
Abba Isaiah the Solitary: "On Guarding the Intellect", taken from the Philokalia

F or he was a man full of discernment and the good odour of the Holy Spirit.

quote 3354 | Desert Fathers
An Abba of Rome (probably Arsenius): The sayings of the Desert Fathers : the alphabetical collection. Trans. Benedicta Ward, SLG. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications Inc., 1984, 1975, p. 210, An Abba of Rome, 2

I t was said of Abba Sisoes that when he was at the point of death, while the Fathers were sitting beside him, his face shone like the sun. He said to them, "Look, Abba Anthony is coming." A little later he said, "Look, the choir of prophets is coming." Again his countenance shone with brightness and he said, "Look, the choir of apostles is coming." His countenance increased in brightness and lo, he spoke with someone. Then the old men asked him, "With whom are you speaking, Father?" He said, "Look, the angels are coming to fetch me, and I am begging them to let me do a little penance." The old man said to him, "You have no need to do penance, Father." But the old man said to them, "Truly, I do not think I have even made a beginning yet." Now they all knew that he was perfect. Once more his countenance suddenly became like the sun and they were all filled with fear. He said to them, "Look, the Lord is coming and he's saying, 'Bring me the vessel from the desert'" (cf. 2 Cor. 4:7). Then there was as a flash of lightening and all the house was filled with a sweet odour.

quote 3353 | Desert Fathers
Abba Sisoes: The sayings of the Desert Fathers : the alphabetical collection. Trans. Benedicta Ward, SLG. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications Inc., 1984, 1975, pp. 214-215, Sisoes 14

T he monk must die to everything before leaving the body, in order not to harm anyone.

quote 3352 | Desert Fathers
Abba Moses: The sayings of the Desert Fathers : the alphabetical collection. Trans. Benedicta Ward, SLG. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications Inc., 1984, 1975, p. 141, Moses 2

A bba Ammoun of Rhaithou asked Abba Sisoes, "When I read the Scriptures, my mind is wholly concentrated on the words so that I may have something to say if I am asked." The old man said to him, "That is not necessary; it is better to enrich yourself through purity of spirit and to be without anxiety and then to speak."

quote 3351 | Desert Fathers
Abba Sisoes: The sayings of the Desert Fathers : the alphabetical collection. Trans. Benedicta Ward, SLG. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications Inc., 1984, 1975, p. 216, Abba Sisoes 17

A teacher ought to be a stranger to the desire for domination, vain-glory, and pride; one should not be able to fool him by flattery, nor blind him by gifts, nor conquer him by the stomach, nor dominate him by anger; but he should be patient, gentle and humble as far as possible; he must be tested and without partisanship, full of concern, and a lover of souls.

quote 3350 | Desert Fathers
Amma Theodora: The sayings of the Desert Fathers : the alphabetical collection. Trans. Benedicta Ward, SLG. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications Inc., 1984, 1975, pp. 83-84, Amma Theodora 5

T he true monk should have prayer and psalmody continually in his heart.

quote 3349 | Desert Fathers
Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus: The sayings of the Desert Fathers : the alphabetical collection. Trans. Benedicta Ward, SLG. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications Inc., 1984, 1975, p. 57, Epiphanus 3

W hen we turn our spirit from the contemplation of God, we become the slaves of carnal passions.

quote 3348 | Desert Fathers
Abba Theonas: The sayings of the Desert Fathers : the alphabetical collection. Trans. Benedicta Ward, SLG. Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications Inc., 1984, 1975, p. 80, Theonas 1

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