On Love and the Love of God

Elder John of Dalyatha

Those upon whom you shed a ray of your love could no longer bear to live among people. In search of their Beloved, they renounced every physical love, becoming foreigners to all. They gave up all the pleasures of this life, seeking the way of their Beloved in tears. They felt unworthy of his beauty; finding themselves on this blessed quest, they wept ... They shook off every bodily pleasure and disdained all human joy. And instead, they loved the toil and fatigue which prompted the compassion of their Beloved.

They abandoned father and mother, brother and friend, seeking him whose love is rich. They knew that in his heart much love, and therefore much comfort was stored for them, this love, this comfort surpassing any other. When they felt this passionate love for the Only Begotten, they could not bear to abide a moment longer in the pleasures of this world. And when they found that they owned nothing worth offering, in love they offered their own selves upon his altar. In joy they surrendered their own bodies to death, for by so doing they found something to sacrifice to their Beloved.

They ran impetuously along the way of sorrows, bearing the torments of their own hearts. They crucified their members and passions contentedly. They drank the bitterness of gall with pleasure. Beloved! You robbed them of every-thing, even their own selves. They felt no longer alive, for it was you who lived in them... When hardships surrounded them on every side, they no longer sought to be exempted from them. Instead, they asked for more sufferings, they pleaded for the patience to endure them for their Beloved's sake.

These people were drunk with love. When they heard their Beloved say, "Blessed are those who mourn now," they could not stop mourning. What mourning! The man's heart would ignite with love, would explode with living water! When his knees could no longer support him in his prayer he fell on his face. Trying to stand up, he would fall down again. His eyes streamed with flaming tears, burning his cheeks with their fire and flowing down on the earth to purge it from its curse.

How shall I describe you, divine love! You have elevated the human soul and seated her in the light of her Maker. You have washed her until she looked like her Master. The loving soul tamed the wildest beasts; they saw in her the image of her Maker, they could breathe his heavenly fragrance.

It is not only wild beasts who submitted to the [saintly] human soul, but even demons were terrified at seeing her illumined with love. They fled when they saw in her the image of God's authority.

(St John of Dalyatha, Homily on Love and the Love of God, in "The Homilies of the Spiritual Elder John of Dalyatha")