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耶稣祷文 The Jesus Prayer
Fr Maximos Constas 马克西姆神父著
Christianity is not a single or monolithic religion. It exists in three major forms or traditions: Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox. Protestant Christianity began in the sixteenth century when it broke away from the Roman Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church is the oldest of these Churches and exists in unbroken continuity with the first churches founded by the apostles of Jesus Christ in the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean world.
基督教不是一个单一的宗教。它有三种主要形式或传统: 新教、罗马天主教和东正教。基督教新教始于十六世纪,当时它脱离了罗马天主教会。东正教是其中最古老的教会,与耶稣基督的使徒在中东和东地中海世界建立的第一批教会一脉相承。
Today I would like to talk about the most popular prayer in the Orthodox Church. It goes by many names: the Prayer of the Heart, the Prayer of the Mind, Noetic Prayer, and other names, but the most common is the Jesus Prayer, because it centers on the invocation of the name of Jesus.
今天,我想谈谈东正教中最受欢迎的祈祷文。它有很多名字:心灵祈祷、心智祈祷、Noetic灵祷和其他名字,但最常见的是耶稣祈祷,因为它的中心是祈求耶稣的名字。
In its simplest form, it consists of a short phrase: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” There are slightly longer versions: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me,” to which many people add “the sinner,” though the simpler forms are the oldest. This phrase or formula, which is a direct address to Christ, is repeated in an intentional, meditative way, often with the use of a prayer rope, and is often said in conjunction with the rhythm of one’s breathing.
最简单的形式是一个短句:“主耶稣基督,请怜悯我”。还有稍长的版本:“主耶稣基督,上帝之子,请怜悯我”,许多人还会加上 “罪人”,不过最古老的还是简单的版本。这个短语或公式是对基督的直接称呼,要有意识地,以默念的方式重复,通常要使用祈祷绳,并经常与呼吸节奏一起念诵。
The first step in the practice of the Jesus Prayer is to “descend with the mind into the heart,” but to understand what this means, we need to know how the Church understands the nature of the human person, especially what we mean by the “heart” and the “mind.”
练习耶稣祷文的第一步是 “以心灵降心”,但要理解这意味着什么,我们需要了解教会如何理解人的本质,特别是我们所说的 “心 “和 “心灵 “的含义。
The Heart as Natural Center 心是天然的中心
The first thing we need to know is that the Church’s understanding of the human person is essentially the biblical view of the human person, so that the heart—and not the brain or the mind—is the natural center of the person.
我们首先需要知道的是,教会对人的理解本质上是圣经中对人的理解,因此心脏而不是大脑或头脑是人的自然中心。
In the Western world, since the European Enlightenment of the eighteenth-century, we tend to think of the heart as little more than a pump, and we identify consciousness and the ability to construct and maintain a sense of self-identity exclusively with the mind or brain—and thus the cessation of brain function (or “brain death”) is generally taken as an indicator of legal death. We identify with our thoughts and believe we are what we think; that the “self” or image of ourselves which exists in our minds is, in fact, the essence of who we really are.
在西方世界,自十八世纪欧洲启蒙运动以来,我们倾向于认为心脏只不过是一个泵,我们将意识以及构建和维持自我身份之能力完全归于心思或大脑,因此大脑功能的停止(或 “脑死亡”)通常被视为法定死亡的标志。我们认同自己的思想,相信我就是所思的;即存在于我们头脑中的 “自我 “或自己的形象实际上就是我们真正的本质。
In popular culture, we continue to ascribe certain feelings and emotions to the heart. For example, we say the heart and not the brain that can be cold, or warm, or lost, and broken; the heart can be made of gold or stone, and it even has strings which can be touched. But priority is always given to the mind or brain, resulting in a separation of the “head” from the “heart” and we are taught or learn from a young age to compartmentalize our subjective feelings and keep them separate from our supposedly objective rational thoughts.
在流行文化中,我们继续将某些感觉和情绪归于心脏。例如,我们说心而不是大脑,它可以冷酷、温暖、丧失,或心碎;心可以是金子做的,也可以是石头做的,它甚至还有可以触摸的琴弦。但我们总是优先考虑头脑或大脑,导致 “头脑 “与 “心 “分离,我们从小就被教导或学习将我们的主观感受区分开来,与我们所谓的客观理性思维分开。
When we turn to the Bible, we see that, in the Old Testament, the word “heart” appears nearly eight hundred times, while the word for the “mind” hardly appears at all. In the Old Testament, the heart is the source of physical, intellectual, and emotional life, the seat of consciousness, and the place where human moral choices are made based on “the desires of the heart” (cf. Ps 20:4, 21:2, 37:4; Mt 6:21). In the Old Testament, the heart is the center and source of all aspects of human existence: “Guard your heart, because from it flows your whole life” (Prov 4:23). Accordingly, Deuteronomy 6:5 enjoins Israel to “love the Lord thy God with all thine heart” (to which it adds: and soul and strength).
翻开《圣经》,我们会发现,在《旧约》中,“心 “这个词出现了近八百次,而 “心思/心智 “这个词却几乎没有出现过。在《旧约》中,心是身体、智力和情感生命的源泉,是意识的所在地,也是人类根据 “心中所愿 “做出道德选择的地方(参诗 20:4,21:2,37:4;太 6:21)。在《旧约》中,心是人类生存各个方面的中心和源泉: “箴 4:23)。因此,申命记 6:5 嘱咐以色列人要 “尽心爱耶和华你的神”(并加上:灵魂和力量)。
The prophet Jeremiah believed the human heart to be fundamentally broken (Jer 17:9), and thus the only hope for humanity was the heart’s complete renewal. Ezekiel prayed for the day when God would “remove the heart of stone” and give his people a “new heart of flesh” (Ezek 36:26). As these passages suggest, the Bible characteristically describes spiritual states in concretely bodily terms: the heart has eyes, ears, a stomach, and, in the Prayer of King Manasseh, it even has knees.
先知耶利米认为人类的心从根本上已经破碎(耶 17:9),因此人类唯一的希望就是心的彻底更新。以西结祈祷有一天上帝会 “除去石头的心”,给他的子民一颗 “新的肉心”(以西结书 36:26)。正如这些经文所暗示的,《圣经》的特点是用具体的身体术语来描述精神状态:心有眼睛、耳朵、胃,在玛拿西王的祷告中,它甚至有膝盖。
The Old Testament understanding of the heart was carried over into the New Testament. Jesus proclaimed that “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Mt 5:8); and he was grieved by those whose “hearts were hardened” and “dull” (Mk 3:5); and who “honored him with their lips though their heart was far from him” (Mt 15:8).
《旧约》对心的理解延续到了《新约》中。耶稣宣称:“清心的人有福了,因为他们必得见上帝”(太 5:8);他为那些 “心肠刚硬”、“迟钝”(可 3:5)和 “口里尊崇他,心里却远离他”(太 15:8)的人感到悲伤。
In the letters of Saint Paul, the heart is likewise the source of the will, emotions, thoughts, and desires, and denotes the whole person viewed from his or her intentionality.
在圣保罗的书信中,“心 “同样是意志、情感、思想和欲望的源泉,从其意图来看,心指向全人。
While Paul employs the traditional Jewish notion of “heart” in his letters, he also connects it to Hellenistic categories of “mind” (nous) so that heart and mind together incorporate cognitive, affective, and religious or spiritual functions. Moreover, heart and mind for Paul are not static categories, but their value is dependent on human renewal and transformation in Christ, an experience which engages the whole person. The coordination of heart and mind is a unique feature of Paul’s anthropology not found in other writers of his time and clearly forms the basis for the theological anthropology of the Philokalia.
虽然保罗在书信中使用了传统犹太教的 “心 “概念,但他也将 “心 “与希腊化的 “心智”(nous)范畴联系起来,因此心和智共同包含了认知、情感、宗教或灵性功能。此外,对保罗来说,心和智并不是静态的范畴,它们的价值取决于人在基督里的更新和转变,这是一种涉及整个人的体验。心和智的协调是保罗人类学的一个独特特征,是他那个时代的其他作家所没有的,而且显然构成了《爱神集》神学人类学的基础。
From this we may conclude that the heart is both the natural and the spiritual center of the person. This, again, is the teaching of the Philokalia.
由此我们可以得出结论,心既是人的自然中心,也是人的灵性中心。这也是《爱神集》的教导。
Let’s focus for a minute on the idea of the heart as the natural center of the person, which is supported by modern science. As the natural center, the heart is the first organ to be formed and function within us, a process that begins around 16 days after conception with beating cardiac cells active from the 22^nd^ day – a beating heart by three weeks! And cardiac cells do not regenerate, so these are the same cells you’ll have for the rest of your life, and which will keep beating even if you live for 100 years (what machine can do that?). And all of this at three weeks, when the embryo is no bigger than the tip of your finger. So we can think of the heart as the seed or center from which the entire person grows.
让我们先来关注一下 “心脏是人的自然中心 “这一观点,它得到了现代科学的支持。作为自然中心,心脏是我们体内第一个形成并发挥作用的器官,这一过程在受孕后 16 天左右开始,心脏细胞从第 22 天开始活跃跳动,三周后心脏就开始跳动!心脏细胞不会再生,所以这些细胞将伴随你的一生,即使你活到 100 岁,它们也会继续跳动(有什么机器能做到这一点呢?) 而这一切都发生在胚胎三周大的时候,那时胚胎还没有你的手指尖大。因此,我们可以把心脏看作是整个人成长的种子或中心。
The brain, on the other hand, is not fully formed until around age 13! (or 20?). Man is the only animal whose womb is the world. Parents must provide the missing executive function of the child’s mind.
而大脑则要到 13 岁左右才完全形成!(或 20 岁?) 人是唯一一个子宫就是世界的动物。父母必须为孩子提供缺失的心智执行功能。
In this heart-centered vision of the human person, the mind or the activity of the mind is simply the outward or external expression of the heart, of the deeper self. If the heart is the center and source, then the mind is the energy or activity of the heart; the outward expression of the person (the surface manifestation of the depth). Image of the tree: leaves vs. trunk and roots.
在这种以心为中心的人类观中,心智或心智活动只是心的外在或外部表现,是深层自我的外在或外部表现。如果说心是中心和源泉,那么心灵就是心的能量或活动;是人的外在表现(深层的表面表现)。树的形象:树叶与树干和树根。
Thus, in order to practice the Prayer of the Heart, the energy of the mind that has been scattered in outward distractions and which has wandered away in idle thoughts, fantasies, and daydreams must first be recollected and brought back to its source in the heart. The unfolding energy of the mind, which constitutes the world of thought, must be enfolded back into its essence, which is why teachers of the Jesus Prayer instruct us to “descend with the mind into the heart,” thereby reuniting the two and restoring the integral unity of the human person.
因此,为了练习心祷,必须首先收集散乱于外在杂念中、游离于闲思、幻想和白日梦中的心灵能量,并将其带回心之源。心智能量之展开构成了思想世界,这种展开必须回收,再次纳入其本体中。这就是为什么耶稣祷文的神师指示我们 “随心灵而下,进入内心”,从而使两者重新结合,恢复人的整体统一性。
So, the heart is our natural center, but it is also our spiritual center. If we believe God exists, how exactly are we connected to him, and where are we connected to him? Wouldn’t God be connected to us, be present to us, at our natural human center, the center of our being, our heart? The answer of course is yes, which means that if you’re disconnected from yourself, you’re also disconnected from God. And by “self” I don’t simply mean an idea of yourself, but your body. St John Chrysostom says: “Where the body is, there also must be the mind.” “If a man can remain in his body for one day, he can be saved.”
因此,心脏是我们的自然中心,但也是我们的灵性中心。如果我们相信上帝存在,那么我们究竟是如何与他相连的,我们又是在哪里与他相连的呢?难道上帝不会在我们人类的自然中心,我们存在的中心,我们的心脏,与我们相连,与我们同在吗?答案当然是肯定的,这意味着如果你与自己脱节,你也就与上帝脱节了。我所说的 “自我 “不仅仅是指关于你自己的想法,也包括你的身体。圣金口约翰说:"身体在哪里,心灵就在哪里” “如果一个人能在他的身体里呆上一天 他就能得救”
This points to the irreducible place of the body in the spiritual life, and even the organs of the body, in particular the heart. Christianity is not some abstract theory or disincarnated gnostic system: the heart is both our natural center and our spiritual center and the two are overlapping realities.
这表明了身体在灵性生活中不可或缺的地位,甚至包括身体的器官,尤其是心脏。基督教并不是某种抽象的理论或不具实体的知识体系:心脏既是我们的自然中心,也是我们的灵性中心,两者是重叠的实在。
This is why St Paul says: “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who lives within you” (1 Cor 6:19), and elsewhere: “You are the dwelling place of God” (cf. Heb 3:6); which is why he urges us to “glorify God in our body” (1 Cor 6:20). And God himself says: “I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God” (Lev 26:12; cf. 2 Cor 6:16). St Augustine looked everywhere for God but did not find him because, as he says: “I was seeking for you outside myself, and all the while you were within me.”
这就是为什么圣保罗说:“你们的身体是住在你们里面的圣灵的殿”(林前 6:19),并在其他地方说:“你们是上帝的居所”(参见来 3:6);这就是为什么他敦促我们 “在我们的身体上荣耀上帝”(林前 6:20): “你们是神的居所”(参见来 3:6)。神自己也说:“我要住在他们里面,行在他们里面,我要作他们的神”(利 26:12;参林后 6:16)。圣奥古斯丁到处寻找上帝,却没有找到,因为正如他所说:“我在我之外寻找你,而你却一直在我心里”。
Now, we need to take this one step further – and this is absolutely critical. The place of the heart as the spiritual center of the person takes on its deepest meaning through the sacrament of Baptism. Why, because at your baptism (and chrismation), you received the fullness of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which comes to dwell or reside … where else but at the natural core or center of our being, in the heart?
现在,我们需要更进一步--这绝对是至关重要的。通过洗礼,心灵作为人的精神中心就有了最深刻的意义。为什么呢?因为在你受洗(和洗礼)时,你接受了圣灵丰满的恩典,圣灵会居住在......除了我们存在的自然核心或中心--心里,还有哪里呢?
This is tremendously important, but we need to know that the grace of the Holy Spirit received in baptism was given to us only in potential, like a seed that we need to cultivate. In the words of St Maximos the Confessor:
这一点非常重要,但我们需要知道,我们在洗礼中领受的圣灵恩典只是潜在的,就像我们需要培育的种子一样。用认信者圣马克西姆的话说
“The mode of our spiritual birth from God is twofold. The first bestows on us the entire grace of adoption, which is entirely present in potential. The second ushers in this grace as entirely present in actuality, transforming voluntarily the entire free choice of the one being born so that it conforms to God who gives him birth. The first mode possesses this grace in potential according to faith alone; the second, in addition to faith, realizes on the level of knowledge the actual, divine likeness of God who is known in the one who knows Him” (Responses 6).
我们从上帝那里获得灵性的方式有两种。第一种是赋予我们收养的全部恩典,这完全是潜在的。第二种恩典则是在现实中完全存在的,让『通过受洗』出生的人自愿地改变其全部自由选择,使之符合赐予他生命的上帝。第一种模式仅凭信就在潜能中拥有了这种恩典;第二种模式除了信之外,还在知识和实际层面上意识到与上帝神圣之类似性,即在认识上帝的人中,上帝被认识。(《回应 6》)。
In order for this potential to become actualized, we need to cultivate the gift that God has given us. In addition to the language of potential and actuality, or potency and action, the Fathers also use the language of a small spark or ember that needs to become a fire (following Luke 12:49: “I have come to cast fire on the earth”); or the image of a seed that needs to sprout and grow, which is derived from 1 John 3:9: “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed (σπέρμα) remains in him,” which of course works with the language of “birth,” and this in fact is the biblical passage that Maximos is commenting on in Responses 6. Again, in order for the small spark to become a fire, we need to cultivate the gift that God has given us.
为了实现这种潜能,我们需要培养上帝赐予我们的礼物。除了潜能与实现,或效力与行动的语言外,教父们还使用了小火花或微光需要变成火的语言(沿用《路加福音》12:49:“我来是要将火投在地上”);或种子需要发芽生长的形象,这源自《约翰一书》3:9: “凡从神生的,就不继续犯罪,因为神的种子(σπέρμα)常存留在他心里。“这当然与 “生 “的语言有关,而这实际上就是马克西莫斯在《回应 6》中所评论的圣经段落。同样,为了让小火花变成大火苗,我们需要培养上帝赐予我们的天赋。
And if we do not cultivate the gift that God has given us, freely and lovingly, the seed will remain dormant. Place a seed on a tabletop, and it can stay there for a long time, months and even years, yet it will never sprout. The oldest viable seed that has grown into a full plant was a 2,000 years old Judean date palm, recovered from excavations at Herod the Great’s villa at Masada in Israel. It was germinated in 2005.
如果我们不无偿地、充满爱地培养上帝赐予我们的礼物,种子就会一直处于休眠状态。把一粒种子放在桌面上,它可以停留很长一段时间,几个月甚至几年,但它永远不会发芽。能长成一棵完整植物的最古老的种子是一棵有 2000 年历史的犹大枣椰树,它是在以色列马萨达希律大帝别墅的挖掘中发现的。它于 2005 年发芽。『按:可见种子需要在合宜的环境中才能发芽生长』
How do we cultivate the seed of the Spirit? By living the life of the Church; by placing ourselves on a spiritual path; by committing ourselves to taking up our cross, to our spiritual struggle: by attending the services, vigils, going to confession, participating in the sacraments, especially Holy Communion. We also cultivate the life of the Spirit within us by reading Scripture, the lives of the saints, spiritual study, and of course through prayer.
我们如何培育圣灵的种子?通过过教会生活;通过走上灵修之路;通过承诺背起十字架,进行灵修斗争:通过参加礼拜、守夜、告解、参加圣事,特别是圣奥妙『即圣餐礼』。我们还通过阅读圣经、圣人生平、灵修学习,当然还有祈祷,来培养我们内在的灵性生命。
And this is why we have the Jesus Prayer, the Prayer of the Heart. And this is why focus our inner attention on our heart, our center, and from there to call upon Jesus Christ, to invoke the name that is above every names (Phil 2:9). When we do this, we nourish the seed that God has placed within us; we kindle the flame that God has lighted within us. And the Holy Spirit prays with us and through us; it is the Spirit’s voice that cries out from our hearts. And from the seed of the Spirit, Christ will be born within us. Because, in the words of Gregory of Nyssa: “What took place bodily in Mary, takes place within us spiritually”; and because “God the Word wills always to accomplish within us the mystery of his embodiment” (Maximos); so that with Paul we can say: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20) – but note the condition for this, namely, to be “crucified with Christ.”
这就是为什么我们有耶稣祷文、心祷。这就是为什么我们要把内心的注意力集中在我们的内心、我们的中心,并从那里呼求耶稣基督,呼求那超乎万名之上的名(腓 2:9)。当我们这样做时,我们就滋养了上帝放在我们内心的种子;我们点燃了上帝在我们内心点燃的火焰。圣灵与我们一起祷告,并通过我们祷告;圣灵的声音从我们心中呼喊出来。从圣灵的种子中,基督将在我们内心诞生。因为,用尼萨的格里高利的话说:“在马利亚身上发生的肉体上的事,在我们的灵里也发生了”;因为"上帝的话语总是要在我们的内心完成他“道成肉身”(embodiment)的奥秘”(认信者马克西姆);所以,我们可以和保罗一起说:“现在活着的不再是我,乃是基督在我里面活着”(加拉太书 2:20)--但请注意这样做的条件,即 “与基督同钉十字架"。
This, then, is the reason for the inward turn. Inner prayer is not selfish or self-centered; it’s not solipsistic, since we are not focusing on ourselves, but rather on the presence of the Holy Spirit within us. “For God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts to cry ‘Abba, Father’ (Gal 4:6); and this is why “no one can say ‘Lord Jesus’ without the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3). “The kingdom of heaven is within you” (“kingdom” = “reign”); see also St Maximos: The Lord’s Prayer is a Trinitarian Prayer: “They Kingdom come” = the “Kingdom” is the Spirit, so this is an epiclesis. And note that Nikodemos prefaces On Frequent Communion with a commentary on the Lord’s Prayer based on Maximos.
这就是向内转的原因。内在祷告不是自私的,也不是以自我为中心的;它不是唯我主义的,因为我们关注的不是自己,而是圣灵在我们里面的同在。“因为神差他儿子的灵进入我们心里,叫我们喊'阿爸,父'(加 4:6);这就是为什么 “若没有圣灵,没有人能说’主耶稣’"(林前 12:3)。“天国就在你们心里”;另见圣马克西姆: 主祷文是三位一体的祷文: “他们的国降临”,即"国"就是圣灵,所以这是一个epiclesis。请注意,圣尼哥底母在《论要常常领圣餐》的前言中,根据马克西莫斯的观点对主祷文进行了注释。
Close with a story about Elder Aimilianos: “People come to the monastery or go on pilgrimages to holy places thinking that they are going to get something, that they will receive something. And you have come here to be monks, thinking that the monastery has something to give you. But the truth is that we have nothing to give you – and that’s the good news - because you already have everything you need.”
最后以艾米里亚诺斯长老的故事结束:"人们来到修道院或去圣地朝圣,都以为自己会得到什么,会得到什么。而你们来这里成为修士,以为修道院能给你们什么。但事实上,我们没有什么可以给你们--这是好消息--因为你们已经拥有了所需的一切。
问答
1. 在俗世有很多分心之事和信息,除了过一个修道的生活,在修道院之外,我们如何能回到心中呢?
答: Well, I mean, obviously the environments the world around us is a big plus or minus, depending on what kind of an environment it is if we’re living in a world of distractions and you know if we spend all of our time on the Internet it’s gonna make our prayer life very difficult. So, the answer to that, though, have to run away and live in a monastery right? But you can spend time. You can take fifteen minutes out of your day and put yourself in a quiet place and say your prayers. You can go for a solitary walk in nature and allow your thoughts to settle down and turn your heart toward God. So It’s not so much a question of place, physical play, because you can be in a monastery and be very distracted, too. You could be focusing on the wrong kinds of things. It’s a question of your desire. Basically, where is your heart? Where is your love? What do you want out of life? We make time for so many things in our life? We can surely find fifteen minutes in the day or twenty minutes in the day to quietly read Scripture, or to collect our thoughts, and say our prayers, and that will be even that little bit will make a difference. God knows that we’re busy. but if he sees us making even a small effort, He will bless us and give us His grace and strengthen us.
嗯,我的意思是,很明显,我们周围的环境是或多或少让人分心的,这取决于它是什么样的环境,如果我们生活在一个分心的世界,你知道,如果我们花我们所有的时间在互联网上,这会使我们的祈祷生活非常困难。所以,答案是,虽然,必须跑出去,住在修道院里,对吗?但你可以花时间。你可以每天抽出15分钟,把自己放在一个安静的地方,然后做祷告。你可以去大自然中独自散步,让你的思绪沉淀下来,让你的心转向上帝。 因此,这并不是一个地点在哪里的问题,因为你在修道院里也可能非常分心。你可能专注于错误的事情。问题在于你的欲求。基本上,你的心在哪里?你的爱在哪里?你想从生活中得到什么?我们一生中会为很多事情,挤出时间吗?我们一定可以在一天中抽出十五分钟或二十分钟来安静地读经,或整理思绪,进行祷告,哪怕只有那么一点点,也会带来不同的效果。 上帝知道我们很忙,但如果祂看到我们做出哪怕是一点点的努力,祂就会祝福我们,赐给我们恩典,坚固我们。
2. 用拉丁文说耶稣祷文好,还是用希腊原文说更好?
the original language of the Jesus. Prayer was Greek, like the New Testament. So I’m not sure how to say it in Latin. I’ve never said it in Latin, but if people want to say the Greek, that’s fine, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with saying it in your native language, I myself say it in English sometimes I’ll say it in Greek but it’s whatever you’re most comfortable with really in other words, your mother at home is probably the best, because that’s the deeper side of you.
首先,我们的原文是希腊文,因为新约是用 希腊文写的。我自己呢?有时候用希腊文说耶稣祷文,有时候用英文。当然这个并不在乎你用什么语言。 我建议用你的母语,就是你,你用哪个语言,你觉得更自然更舒适。因为母语代表了更深层的你自己。母语最好的。
3. 心思与心的区别是什么? the difference between the mind and the heart?
In the Western world all of the emphasis is on the mind, and we think the mind is the center of consciousness, and that the self is the mind. I see. We have these ideas, for example, that people want to take their brains and upload them on the Internet as if they could live forever on the Internet, as if all we all we are brain.
So maybe some people believe that. But we don’t believe that the Orthodox Church doesn’t believe that we’re not just brains. There’s more to us than just thinking. There are other aspects of the person. There are other dimensions of the person much deeper than that, and the consistent with the Bible, and the tradition of the church is center, or the core, or the foundation, or the depth. I mean there are many words you could use the roots we talked about, or that natural center of the self is the heart, and which is why we have those phrases in our language like a broken heart, or these kinds of things. So that’s the seed in the sense from which the person grows that’s the beginning of that’s the deepest part of Us and we feel deeply within ourselves. Right the whole idea of a broken heart again. So I think everyone understands that.
在西方世界,所有的重点都放在心思上,我们认为心思是意识的中心,自我就是心思。我明白了 我们有这样的想法,比如,人们想把自己的大脑上传到互联网上,好像他们可以永远活在互联网上,好像我们就是大脑。
也许有些人是这么认为的。但我们不相信,东正教会不相信我们不仅仅是大脑。我们不仅仅是在思考。人还有其他方面。人还有比这更深层次的其他方面,与《圣经》和教会传统相一致是中心,或核心,或基础,或深度。我的意思是,你可以用很多词来形容我们谈到的根源,或者说,自我的自然中心是心,这就是为什么我们的语言中会有那些短语,比如一颗破碎的心,或者诸如此类的东西。因此,从某种意义上说,那是一个人成长的种子,是我们最深的部分的开始,我们在自己的内心深处深有感触。对了,又是 “心碎 ”这个概念。我想每个人都能理解
You know, and when I love, and when I desire and when I’m afraid, and when I have other profound and intense feelings like that, those don’t just come from my thoughts. Those come from a place very deep inside of me, it’s like the rudder of the ship, that steers the whole boat that’s where I feel from that’s where I love from, that’s where the pain goes. All of that begins from heart, and it finds expression in the mind.
当我爱的时候,当我渴望的时候,当我害怕的时候,当我有其他深刻而强烈的感觉的时候,这些感觉不仅仅来自我的思想。它们来自我内心深处的一个地方,它就像船的舵,掌舵着整艘船,我的感觉来自那里,我的爱来自那里,痛苦也来自那里。所有这些都发自内心,并在头脑中得到表达。
You know you don’t when you love your wife, you love from your heart when you love your husband, you love from your heart, when you love your children, right, you love them from a place deep with deep inside yourself, and sometimes it’s even hard to put that into words because it can’t be reduced to words it’s not just thoughts or concepts that feeling of love comes from a place very deep within us.
所以,夫妻之两个是爱的夫妻之间,他们彼此相爱的时候,他们的相爱是说我在心里爱你「而不是说我头脑或者理智爱你」我们爱我们的孩子,「也是不是说头脑爱孩子,」而是我发自内心的爱。这种爱甚至超越语言「,有一些是无以言表的东西在里面啊,不只是思想的一个活动而已」,他来自内心最深处。
the mind and the heart are supposed to be one. They’re supposed to be kind of a unity between them. But now they’ve been separated, and our heads think one thing, and our hearts feel something else. That’s because of the sort of society we’ve created. But we’re supposed to be much more. Let’s say unified than that, and more consistent and more whole, and not to be fragmented.
心思和心应该是一体的。它们之间应该是一种统一体。但现在,它们被分开了,我们的头脑在想一件事,而我们的心却在感受另一件事。这都是因为我们创造了这样一个社会。但我们应该更团结。我们应该比这更统一,更一致,更完整,而不是支离破碎。
We could talk about it all day. All of these questions, and become very complicated in our minds, and the way to really answer them is in practice. If you want to learn about prayer, you have to pray, if you wanna understand the relationship between the heart and the mind, you have to enter into, you have to struggle to send with your mind into your heart, and try to pray from that deeper center and then we will see for yourself you’ll be like a scientist. you have to experiment and the answer comes, through prayer itself to the actual practice.
我们可以讨论一整天。所有这些问题,在我们的头脑中都变得非常复杂,而真正回答这些问题的方法就是实践。如果你想了解祈祷,你就必须祈祷,如果你想了解心思与心之间的关系,你就必须进入,你必须努力把你的心思送入你内心,并尝试从那个更深的中心祈祷,然后我们就会看到你自己,你就会像一个科学家一样。你必须亲身实践,而答案也来自于通过祈祷去实践。
4. 净化与默观有什么区别和联系?What is different between purification and Theoria?
The kind of classical, spiritual tradition, the first step or the first stage of the spiritual life is called purification, and the idea is before we can go deeply into the life of prayer. We need to purify our minds, our consciousness from all of the negative and dark and sinful thoughts and ideas and images that have accumulated within us which create a kind of barrier between us And God. So those things need to be purified, clean, washed and purged away that’s the first step of the spiritual life.
If I spend all my time on the Internet looking at inappropriate images, bad images, things like this, all of that will leave an impression on my heart. All of that will leave an impression in my mind, in my thoughts, and when I go to pray, those things will come back to mind, so They have to be washed away, wiped away and be purified.
在古典灵修传统中,灵修生活的第一步或第一阶段被称为 “净化”,意思是在我们深入祈祷生活之前。我们需要净化我们的心思,净化我们的意识,去除我们内心积聚的所有消极、黑暗、罪恶的想法、观念和形象,它们在我们与上帝之间制造了一种障碍。 因此,这些东西需要净化、清洁、洗涤和清除,这是灵性生活的第一步。
如果我把所有的时间都花在互联网上,看一些不恰当的图片、糟糕的图片,诸如此类的东西,所有这些都会在我心中、脑海中、思想中留下印象,当我去祷告时,这些东西又会浮现在我的脑海中。
The next question should be: How do we purify ourselves? And that the the answer is very simple. The first step in the spiritual life is to practice the commandments, to fulfill the commandments of Christ in Scripture, to love and to forgive and so fast and all the things that we are taught by Christ in the Gospels, so the first step is to struggle, to try and live the Christian life as outlined in the Gospel, and if we live in that way, if we struggle to live in that way, we will slowly purify our consciousness. Awareness from the negative things that have accumulated in there.
Let’s say a sinful man. A man who has not purified himself. He maybe has when he looks at another human being and have thoughts of lust. All they can see is the surface. They see the surface beauty. That person will arouse bad kinds of thoughts or even sinful actions. But the person who has been purified well, He’ll not see the surface. He’ll see the depth now, that is human created in the image of God, a child of God, and should not be abused or exploited. But treated with dignity and respect.
Through the spiritual life, through the process of purification, I will begin to see the world differently. I’ll go through seeing the surface of things to seeing the depth of things. I mean, to see or feel the presence of God and creation, the vision that’s the contemplation to see that all things are from God, and that all things are in God, and that all things are returning to God. [Basically Theoria]
下一个问题应该是 我们如何净化自己?答案非常简单。灵性生活的第一步就是践行诫命,履行圣经中基督的诫命,去爱、去宽恕,以及基督在福音书中教导我们的所有事情,所以第一步就是努力奋斗,尝试过福音书中概述的基督徒生活,如果我们以这种方式生活,如果我们努力以这种方式生活,我们就会慢慢净化我们的心思。我们的心思会从积聚在那里的负面事物中净化出来。
比方说,一个有罪的人。一个没有净化自己的人。当他看着另一个人的时候,他可能会产生欲望的念头。 他们看到的只是表面。他们看到的只是表面的美。这个人会唤起不好的想法,甚至是罪恶的行为。 但已经得到很好净化的人,他不会只看到表面。他现在看到的是深度,是按照上帝的形象创造的人,是上帝的孩子,不应该被虐待或剥削。而应该受到有尊严的对待和尊重。
通过灵性生活、通过净化过程,我将开始以不同的方式看待世界。我将从看到事物的表面转向看到事物的深处。我的意思是,他看万事万物,当中都有上帝的作为。看到万物源于上帝,在他之中,也将归于上帝「这就是默观的意思」。
That’s something very advanced, and you know that’s for sort of the saints have experiences like that. Most of us will spend most of our life struggling on the practical level, to be obedient to the commandments, to follow the basic commandments. So it’s sort of like you wanna learn how to play the guitar, but you have to spend hundreds and hundreds of hours practicing. We’re not gonna say that Jesus prayer for one week and then have visions of the divine light. So most of us are need to continue to repent and it is never ending.
默观是灵修的高级阶段,只有圣人才有这等经历。我们大部分人穷尽一生都停留在操练,谨守诫命的层面。这就像弹吉他,你必须花成百上千个小时去练习。我们不可能操练耶稣祷文一周就获得了神光的异象。我们中的大部分需要不断忏悔,直到生命的终结。
5. 心祷与爱神集的关系?the connection between the prayer of heart and Philokalia?
The Philokalia is an anthology of writings that was published in the eighteenth century, and the Greek word Philo Kalia means the love of, like philosophy means the love of wisdom. Pilo Kalia means the love of beauty, and the idea is that it’s the love of divine beauty.
《爱神集》是18世纪出版的一部灵修合集,含义为爱美,即爱神圣之美,如同哲学爱智慧。
It was published in printed form in 1782, but the writings themselves go back to much older in the Three hundred. So it’s from the fourth century ranging to the fifteenth century. About a thousand years of spiritual writings collected in this one book.
And if you read its prologue or the introduction, it states very clearly what the aim or the purpose of [that is the prayer of heart]. Among them, the work of Saint Nikiphoros which Jason is translated into Chinese is considered classical introduction for the practice of the Jesus Prayer.
该书于 1782 年以印刷品形式出版,但其著作本身可追溯到四世纪。因此,从四世纪一直到十五世纪。大约一千年的灵修著作都收集在这本书里。
如果你读一下它的序言或导言,就会非常清楚地知道的目的或宗旨是什么「即介绍心祷,尤其是耶稣祷文」。其中,阿甲翻译成中文的圣尼克弗罗的著作被认为是实践耶稣祷文的经典导言。
Philokalia is actually a very difficult book, because it contains some complex writings. Maybe spiritual experiences that might be unfamiliar to us, so it might not be the best introduction for most readers, which is why youshould, if you’re interested in the Jesus Prayer, you might want to start by reading The Way of a Pilgrim, which is the pilgrimage story of a nineteenth century Russian pilgrim who learns the Jesus prayer and most people learn about the Jesus prayer starting with this book.
Why Philokalia published in 18 centuries? partly as a response to the European Enlightenment, and especially the French Revolution. Enlightenment was claiming to have a new of sort of a form of illumination. The people who published the Philokalia. They said no. The true enlightenment, the true illumination is the light of the Holy Spirit. It’s not a political idea or a political philosophy. God, Christ is our light, he’s the light of the world.
《爱神集》 实际上是一本非常难懂的书,因为它包含了一些复杂的内容。如果你对耶稣祷文感兴趣,不妨从《朝圣者之路》(The Way of a Pilgrim)开始读起,这是一个 19 世纪俄罗斯朝圣者学习耶稣祷文的朝圣故事,大多数人都是从这本书开始了解耶稣祷文的。
为什么《爱神集》在 18 世纪出版?部分原因是对欧洲启蒙运动,尤其是法国大革命的回应。启蒙运动声称有一种新的启蒙形式。出版《爱神集》的人说:“不, 真正的启蒙,真正的照亮是圣灵之光。这不是一种政治理念或政治哲学。上帝,基督是我们的光,他是世界的光。”
6. 神化与默观的关系?thesis and Theoria?
Theosis, which is often translated as a deification, and I know that sounds unusual to many people, and it’s difficult. because it sounds wrong, or it sounds incorrect, but it’s a simple idea. So, for example, in the book of Genesis, we are told that God creates human beings according to His image and his likeness. We believe that while human beings are fallen, we have retained the image, but we have lost the likeness, it’s like a portrait that was painted but got covered with dirt, the image is still there, but the likeness is no longer visible. So that’s the first distinction, I think, is to think about image and likeness, because theosis means to become like God. So maybe start with that.
The spiritual life is a process, a journey of slowly, gradually becoming more and more like God, to have more God like to be become more loving, to become more forgiving to become more compassionate, to have more patience, to be more generous, all of those things, to grow in the likeness, of God that’s what theosis is.
Theosis通常被翻译为神化,我知道这对很多人来说听起来很不寻常,也很困难,因为听起来不对,或者说听起来不正确,但这是一个简单的概念。例如,《创世纪》告诉我们,上帝按照自己的形象和样式创造了人类。我们相信,虽然人类堕落了,但我们保留了形象,却失去了相似之处,这就像一幅画好的肖像,但被灰尘覆盖,形象还在,相似之处却不复存在。因此,我认为首先要区分的是形象和相似性,因为 “神化 ”的意思就是变得像神一样。所以,也许可以从这一点入手。
灵性生活是一个过程,是一个慢慢地、逐渐地变得越来越像上帝的旅程,变得更像上帝,变得更有爱心,变得更宽容,变得更有同情心,变得更有耐心,变得更慷慨,所有这些事情,都是为了像上帝一样,这就是 “神化”。
Now the other way to think about Theos is to Saint Paul’s notion or idea of of adoption. So we are not the natural sons of God. There’s only one Son of God, and that’s Jesus Christ. He’s the natural Son of God. We are the adopted sons and daughters of God. So we’re not the natural, that is we’re not born of God. We’re we’re adopted into that family.
现在,另一种思考 “Theosis ”的另方式是圣保罗 “收养 ”的概念。因此,我们不是上帝的亲生儿子。神的儿子只有一个,那就是耶稣基督。他是上帝的亲生儿子。我们是上帝收养的儿女。所以我们不是天生的,也就是说我们不是上帝所生。我们是被收养到这个家庭的。
The biological child have some of the physical characteristics of their father and mother, because that’s how it works. If you’re the natural born child, you will have, you will be look like your parents.
亲生子女有父亲和母亲的一些身体特征,因为事情就是这样。如果你是亲生的,你就会有,你就会像你的父母。
We, as the adopted children, do not naturally have the attributes or the features or the qualities of God. But God is pleased to give them to us to bestow them on us, even though they are not ours by nature. That’s his gift of grace, and that’s how we become like him, because He gives us the grace to be like him. He freely and lovingly gives us his own characteristics, his own features.
而我们作为被领养的孩子,天生并不具备上帝的属性、特征或品质。但上帝乐意把它们赐给我们,即使它们天生不属于我们。这就是他的恩典,这就是我们如何变得像他,因为他赐予我们恩典,让我们像他一样。他白白地、慈爱地把他自己的特点、特征赐给我们。
Which is why Jesus taught us when His disciples asked him, How should we pray? He said, our Father. So his Father becomes our Father through the gift of grace. But how can we call God our Father? If we’re not like Him. So with the Christian life is to become, is to resemble our Heavenly Father more and more. And that’s theosis, becoming like God.
因此,当门徒问耶稣:“我们应该怎样祷告?”耶稣就教导我们说:“我们的父。他说,我们的父。因此,通过恩典的恩赐,他的父成了我们的父。但我们怎么能称上帝为我们的父呢?如果我们不像他。所以基督徒的生活就是要变得越来越像我们的天父。这就是 “神化”,变得像上帝。
Even sinful people can feel the presence of God from time to time. But there are people who have made progress in the spiritual life, and their lives are truly transformed because of the grace of God and the other models, for that is the transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor, he showed us. In his transfiguration, the extent to which human nature can be transfigured in the light and the grace of of God.
即使是有罪的人也能时不时地感受到上帝的存在。但有些人在灵性生活中取得了进步,他们的生命因为上帝的恩典和其他榜样而真正发生了改变,因为这就是耶稣在他泊山上的变容,他向我们展示了这一点。在他的变容中,人性可以在上帝的光和恩典中得到多大程度的改变。
How Theoria connected to this? The first steps of spiritual practice and struggling to keep the Gospel commandments. We move through purification, our spiritual eyes are opened, and the greater the degree of grace and purification. we could see in the spirit and through the spirit.
Theoria 与此有何联系?灵修的第一步,努力遵守福音诫命。我们在净化中前行,我们的灵眼被打开,恩典和净化的程度越高,我们就能在灵里和通过灵看见。
So imagine you look at another human face. You look at the face of your brothers and your sisters. You look at the face of a stranger, and you see a face that God loves, Imagine looking at another person, and seeing a face that God Himself loves. That to see what God sees in a sense. but you can only do that through the holy Spirit.
想象一下,你看着另一张人脸。你看着你的兄弟姐妹的脸。想象一下,你看着另一个人,看到的是一张上帝所爱的脸。但你只有通过圣灵才能做到这一点。
We say that when the three disciples on mount table or so Jesus transfigured, they did not see Him transfigured with their earthly eyes. What they saw was something spiritual, and they were able to see Jesus in His divine glory. Why? Because they were filled with the Holy Spirit. It was not something other people saw Jesus. They never saw him like that, but on the mountain. Disciples saw Him in His glory because they were seeing Him in and through the Spirit they were filled with the Holy Spirit. And that’s how with their new spiritualize, they were able to see Jesus Christ in His heavenly and divine glory. So. You could say then that they were seeing God in God, that God the Spirit was in them, and through God, the Spirit of them they could see God, the Son, so they were in God and it was in God that they were seeing God because human Eyeballs can’t see God.
我们说,当三个门徒在山上看到耶稣变像时,他们不是用属世的眼睛看到耶稣变像的。他们看到的是属灵的东西,他们能够看到耶稣神圣的荣耀。为什么呢?因为他们被圣灵充满了。这不是其他人看到的耶稣。除了在山上,他们从未见过这样的耶稣。门徒们看到了耶稣的荣耀,因为他们是在圣灵中看到耶稣,并且通过圣灵看到耶稣,他们被圣灵充满了。这就是他们如何通过新的灵性,看到耶稣基督属天的神圣荣耀。所以 你可以说,他们在上帝里面看到上帝,上帝的灵在他们里面,通过上帝的灵,他们可以看到上帝,看到圣子,所以他们在上帝里面,在上帝里面看到上帝,因为人的肉眼是看不到上帝的。
This is why in the orthodox Church we have many saints who’s bodies, physical bodies become radiant with light, which other people have been able to see again precisely because of this there not only are there souls transfigured. But their physical cells become transfigured. 这就是为什么在正教会中,我们有许多圣人的身体、肉体变得光芒四射,其他人能够再次看到他们,正是因为这样,他们不仅灵魂得圣化。而且他们的肉体细胞也得圣化了。