Fathers & Saints
A selection of sayings, writings and accounts of lives of Church Fathers & Saints witnesses to the Orthodox Church's tradition of care for Creation.
Keep the Tradition Given Us!
Ecological Sayings
Ambrose of Milan | Anthony the Great | Augustine of Hippo | Athanasius
Basil the Great | Benedict of Nursia
Clement of Alexandria | Clement of Rome | Columba | Columbanus | Cyril of Jerusalem
Dionysius the Areopagite | David of Garesja
Ephraim the Syrian | Evagrius of Pontuis
Gregory the Great | Gregory Nazianzus | Gregory of Nyssa| Gregory of Sinai | Guthlac
Hilary of Poitiers | Hildebert of Lavardin | Hubertus
Ignatius of Antioch | Irenaeus of Lyons | Isaac the Syrian
Jerome | John Cassian | John Climacus | John Chrysostom | John Damascene | John Scotus Eriugena
Kevin of Glendalough | Lactantius | Leontios of Cyprus
Maximus the Confessor | Minucius Felix
Nikephorus of Chios | Nilus of Ankyra
Origen
Pachomius | Patrick | Peter of Damaskos
Seraphim of Sarov | Sergius of Radonezh | Symeon New Theologian
Tertullian | Theophan the Recluse
St. Ambrose of Milan (340 - 397)
No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.
Again, consider the fact that it is the serpent and not man who is cursed. And the earth is not cursed in itself, but is "cursed in your work" (Genesis 3:17, John 6:50). This is said in reference to the soul. The earth is cursed if your works are earthly, that is, of this world. It is not cursed as a whole. It will merely bring forth thorns and thistles if it is not diligently cared for by the labor of human hands.
Enter with me into this mighty and wonderful theater of the whole of visible creation. Not slight is the service rendered to strangers by one who watches for their arrival with the intent to conduct them on a tour around the city and to point out to them the more notable monuments. How much more ought you to welcome one who, as I do, conducts you in this assembly by the guiding hand of my discourse through your own native land and who points out to you each and every species and genus, with the desire to show you from all these examples how the Creator of the universe has conferred more abundant benefits on you than on all the rest of His creatures.... While you share with the rest of creatures your corporeal weakness, you possess above and beyond all other creatures a faculty of the soul which in itself has nothing in common with the rest of created things....
[Some may say] How long are we to learn of other living creatures while we do not know ourselves? Tell me what is to be for my benefit, that I may know myself. That is a just complaint. However, the order which Scripture laid down must however be retained. We cannot fully know ourselves without first knowing the nature of all living creatures.
St. Anthony the Great (251 - 356)
For creation, as if written in characters and by means of its order and harmony, declares in a loud voice its own Master and Creator.... For this reason, God, by his own Word, gave creation such order as is found therein, so that while He is by nature invisible, men might yet be able to know Him through His works.
For one who has faith and determination, it is not difficult to gain spiritual understanding of God. If you wish to contemplate Him, look to the providential harmony in all things created by His Logos.
Blessed Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430)
Some people, in order to discover God, read books. But there is a great book: the very appearance of created things. Look above you! Look below you! Note it. Read it. God, whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink. Instead He set before your eyes the things that He had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that? Why, heaven and earth shout to you: "God made me!"
St. Athanasius (297 - 373)
As the creative will of a sculptor hovers over a piece of wood, or as the spiritual soul spreads through all the limbs of the body, thus it is with the Holy Spirit: it hovers over all things with a creative and formative power.
Like a musician who has tuned his lyre, and by the artistic blending of low and high and medium tones produces a single melody, so the Wisdom of God, holding the universe like a lyre, adapting things heavenly to things earthly, and earthly things to heavenly, harmonizes them all, and leading them by His will, makes one world and one world order in beauty and harmony.
St. Basil the Great (329 - 379)
Why contemplate nature?
The contemplation of nature abates the fever of the soul, and banishes all insincerity and presumption.
Creation as a theophany of wisdom
You have then heaven and earth adorned, earth beautified, the sea peopled with its own creatures, the air filled with birds which scour in every direction. Studious listener, think of all these creations..., think of all those which my narration has left out to avoid tediousness; recognize everywhere the wisdom of God; never cease to wonder, and through every creature, to glorify the Creator.
Remembrance of God through creation
I want creation to penetrate you with so much admiration that wherever you go, the least plant may bring you the clear remembrance of the Creator....
Scripture depicts to us the Supreme Artist, praising each one of His works; soon when His work is complete He will accord praise to the whole together....
A single plant, a blade of grass or one speck of dust is sufficient to occupy all your intelligence in beholding the art with which it has been made.
Magnifying the Lord through creation
He magnifies the Lord who observes with a keen understanding and most profound contemplation the greatness of creation, so that from the greatness and beauty of creatures he may contemplate their Creator. The deeper one penetrates into the reasons for which things in existence were made and were governed, the more he contemplates the magnificence of the Lord and, as far as it lies in him, magnifies the Lord.
The land as a common inheritance
God has poured the rains on a land tilled by avaricious hands; He has given the sun to keep the seeds warm, and to multiply the fruit through His productivity. Things of this kind are from God: the fertile land, moderate winds, abundance of seeds, the work of the oxen, and other things by which a farm is brought into productivity and abundance.... But the avaricious one has not remembered our common nature and has not thought of distribution.
God's creation teaches His qualities
"And God saw that it was good." God does not judge the beauty of his work by the charm of the eyes, and He does not hold to the same idea of beauty that we do. What He esteems beautiful is that which presents in its perfection all the fitness of art, and that which tends to the usefulness of its end. ...
May God who after having made such great things... grant you the intelligence of His truth so that you may raise yourselves from visible things to the invisible Being, and that the grandeur and beauty of creatures may give you a just idea of the Creator. For the visible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, and His power and divinity are eternal. Thus earth, air, sky, water, day, night, all visible things, remind us of Him who is our Benefactor.
How to understand creation's lessons about God
To investigate the great and prodigious show of creation, to understand supreme and ineffable wisdom, you must bring personal light for the contemplation of the wonders which I spread before your eyes, and help me, according to your power, in this struggle, where you are not so much judges as fellow combatants, for fear lest the truth might escape you.... Why these words? It is because we propose to study the world as a whole, and to consider the universe, not by the light of worldly wisdom, but by that with which God wills to enlighten His servant, when He speaks to him in person and without enigmas. It is because it is absolutely necessary that all lovers of great and grand shows should bring a mind well prepared to study them....
If sometimes, on a bright night, while gazing with watchful eyes on the inexpressible beauty of the stars, you have thought of the Creator of all things; if you have asked yourself who it is that has dotten heaven with such flowers, and why visible things are even more useful than beautiful; ... if you have raised yourself by the visible things to the invisible Being, then you are a well prepared auditor, and you can take your place in this august and blessed amphitheatre.
Come in the same way that any one not knowing a town is taken by the hand and led through it; thus I am going to lead you, like strangers, through the mysterious marvels of this great city of the universe....
You will know that you are formed of earth, but the work of God's hands, much weaker than the brute [creatures], but ordained to command beings without reason and soul.... If we are penetrated by these truths, we shall know God, we shall adore our Creator, we shall serve our Master, we shall glorify our Father, we shall love our Sustainer, we shall bless our Benefactor, we shall not cease to honor the Prince of present and future life, Who, by the riches that He showers upon us in this world, makes us believe in His promises and uses present good things to strengthen our expectations of the future. Truly, if such are the good things of time, what will be those of eternity? If such is the beauty of visible things, what shall we think of invisible things? If the grandeur of heaven exceeds the measure of human intelligence, what mind shall be able to trace the nature of the everlasting?
A conception of God from His creation
Let us glorify the Master Craftsman for all that has been done wisely and skillfully; and from the beauty of the visible things, let us form an idea of Him Who is more than beautiful; and from the greatness of these perceptible and circumscribed bodies let us conceive of Him Who is infinite and immense and Who surpasses all understanding in the plenitude of His power. For even if we are ignorant of things made, yet, at least, that which in general comes under our observation is so wonderful that even the most acute mind is shown to be at a loss as regards the least of the things in the world, either in the ability to explain it worthily or to render due praise to the Creator, to Whom be all glory, honor and power forever.
The cause of evil
If evil is neither uncreated nor created by God, from whence comes its nature? Certainly that evil exists, no one living in the world will deny. What shall we say then? Evil is not a living animated essence; it is a condition of the soul opposed to virtue, developed in the careless on account of their falling away from good.
The divine order penetrates to the smallest part of creation
See how the divine order embraces and extends to the smallest object. A fish does not resist God’s law, yet we men cannot endure His precepts of salvation! Do not despise fish because they are unreasoning; rather fear lest, in your resistance to the disposition of the Creator, you have even less reason than they. Listen to the fish, who by their actions all but speak and say: it is for the perpetuation of our species that we undertake this long voyage. They have not the gift of reason, but they have the law of nature firmly seated within them, to show them what they have to do.
Before the creation of the world
It appears, indeed, that even before this world an order of things existed of which our mind can attain by contemplation, but which has been left uninvestigated because it is too lofty a subject for men who are but beginners and babes in knowledge. The birth of the world was preceded by a condition of things suitable for the exercise of supernatural powers, outstripping the limits of time, eternal and infinite. The Creator and Demiurge of the universe perfected His works in it, spiritual light for the happiness of all who love the Lord, intellectual and invisible natures, all the orderly arrangement of pure intelligences who are beyond the reach of our mind and of whom we cannot even discover the names. They fill the essence of this invisible world, as Paul teaches us. “For by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,” or virtues or hosts of angels, or the dignities of archangels.
To this world it was necessary to add a new world, both a school and training place, where the souls of men should be taught and a home for beings destined to be born and to die. Thus was created of a nature analogous to this world and the animals and plants which live thereon, the succession of time, forever pressing on and passing away and never stopping in its course. Is not this the nature of time, where the past is no more, the future does not exist, and the present escapes before being recognized? And such also is the nature of the creature which lives in time, condemned to grow or to perish without rest and without certain stability. It is therefore fit that the bodies of animals and plants, obliged to follow a sort of current, and carried away by the motion which leads to birth or to death, s hould live in the midst of surroundings whose nature is in accord with being subject to change. Thus the writer who wisely tells us of the birth of the Universe does not fail to put these words at the head of the narrative, “In the beginning, God created;” that is to say, in the beginning of time.
Before this world
Even before this world, an order of things existed of which our mind can form an idea, but which was left untold [in Genesis], because it is too lofty a subject for men who are but beginners and are still babes in knowledge. The birth of the world was preceded by a condition of things suitable for the exercise of supernatural powers, out-stripping the limits of time, eternal and infinite... the intellectual and invisible natures, all the orderly arrangement of pure intelligences who are beyond the reach of our mind and of whom we cannot ever discover the names... the host of angels or the dignities of archangels.
St. Benedict of Nursia (480 - 547)
How he loved the creatures
His biographer writes, "Men like St. Benedict, always intent on the love of the Creator, could not withhold their love from the things He had created. Hence, they felt themselves bound by bonds of fraternal love with everything in God's universe.... These irrational animals, by divine ordination, often gave their services to these holy men, who, in the desert, far from human society, committed their lives into the hands of God alone. Wherefore, though defenseless and solitary, they never died from the violence of wild beasts
Monastery tools should be treated as sacred vessels
In the Rule of St. Benedict, there is a requirement to treat with the utmost of care the equipment which the monks product. A stewardship of barnyard implements is to be as careful as the implements of the altar.
Look upon all the tools and all the property of the monastery as if they were sacred altar vessels.
St. Clement of Alexandria (150 - 220)
Other men, indeed, live that they may eat, just like unreasoning animals; for them life is only their belly. But as for us, our Educator has given the command that we eat only to live. Eating is not our main occupation, nor is pleasure our chief ambition. Food is permitted us simply because of our stay in this world, which the Word is shaping for immortality by His education. Our food should be plain and ungarnished, suitable to children who are plain and unpretentious, adapted to maintaining life, not self-indulgence.
Excessive variety of food must be avoided, for it gives rise to every kind of bad effect.... Yet there are those who grow dissatisfied with this truth in their restless ostentation, and reject simplicity of diet to engage in a frantic search for expensive menus that must be imported from across the seas. ...
It is a natural law that the body is not benefited by excessively rich food: quite the contrary, those who live on simpler foods are stronger and healthier and more alert, as servants are, for example, in comparison with their masters, or farmer-tenants in comparison with their landlords.
Let the meal be plain and restrained, of such sort that it will quicken the spirit. Let it be free of too rich a variety, and let not such a meal be withdrawn from the guidance of the Educator.... If the diet oversteps the limits of self-sufficiency, it harms man by dulling his mind and making his body susceptible to disease. Indeed, the pleasures of a luxurious table inflict untold damage: gluttony, squeamishness, gourmandizing, insatiability of appetite, voraciousness. If a person is wealthy, yet eats without restraint and shows himself insatiable, he disgraces himself in a special way and does wrong on two scores: first he adds to the burden of those who do not have, and he lays bare, before those who do have, his own lack of temperance.
Clement also speaks against the scouring of the world for expensive foods.
"Do not for the sake of food destroy the work of God.... We must restrain the belly and keep it under the control of heaven. True food is thanksgiving. He who offers up thanks will not indulge excessively in pleasure. Our examples of virtue will draw out fellow banqueters to virtue.”
It is God Himself Who brought our race to possession of things in common, first by sharing Himself and by sending His Word to all men alike, and by making all things for all. Therefore, everything is in common, and the rich should not grasp a greater share.
The expression, “I own something and have more than enough; why should I not enjoy it?” is not worthy of man nor does it indicate any community feeling. The alternative expression however does: “I have something, why should I not share it with those in need? Such a one is one the right path, and fulfills the command: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
The Christian way of life is not achieved by self-indulgence. Far from "lust-exciting delicacies" is the table of truth. Even though all things have been created particularly for man, it is not well to make use of all things, nor to use them at all times. Surely the occasion and the time, the manner and the motive, make some difference to one who is educated (by Christ) to what is profitable. It is this goal that provides the strength we need to restrain ourselves from living lives centered around the table. Wealth chooses that sort of life, for its vision is blunted; it is abundance that blinds in the matter of gluttony.
O God, the Educator and Instructor,
Lord.... Give to us, who follow thy command,
to fulfill the likeness of thy image,
and to see, according to our strength,
the God who is both a good God and
a Judge who is not harsh.
Do thou bestow all things on us who dwell in thy peace,
who have been placed in thy city, who sail the sea of sin unruffled,
that we may be made tranquil and, supported by the Holy Spirit —
the unutterable wisdom — by night and day, unto the perfect day,
to sing eternal thanksgiving to the one only Father and Son,
Son and Father, Educator and Teacher, with the Holy Spirit.
All things are for the One, in whom are all things,
through whom, being the One, are all things,
through whom eternity is, of whom all men are members,
to whom is glory, and the ages,
whose are all things in their goodness;
all things in their beauty;
all things in their wisdom; all things in their justice.
To Him be glory now and forever.
Amen.
St. Clement of Rome (37? - 101)
Let us turn our eyes to the Father and Creator of the universe, and when we consider how precious and peerless are His gifts of peace, let us embrace them eagerly for ourselves.
Let us contemplate his purposes in creation, and consider how free from all anger he is toward his creatures and the total absence of any friction that marks the ordering of His whole creation.
St. Columba (521 - 597)
What is the will of God for us in this world? That we should do what he has ordered, that is, that we should live in righteousness and seek devotedly those things which are eternal. How do we arrive at this? By study. We must therefore study devotedly and righteously. What is our best help in maintaining this study? The Intellect, which probes everything and, finding none of the world's goods in which it can permanently rest, is converted by reason toward the one good which is that which is eternal.
Celtic monks left the forest standing at the sites of their monasteries rather than cut them. Adaman, Columba’s biographer, tells the story of how the Irish King Aedh gave a plot of land in Doire to Columba:
And he [Columba] had so great a love for Doire, and the cutting of the oak trees went so greatly against him, that he could not find a place for his church the time he was building it that would let the front of it be to the east.... And he left it upon those that came after him not to cut a tree that fell of itself or was blown down by the wind in that place to the end of nine days, and then to share it between the people of the townland, bad and good, a third of it to the great house, and tenth to be given to the poor. And he put a verse in a hymn after he was gone away to Scotland that shows there was nothing worse to him than the cutting of that oakwood: “Though there is fear in me of death and of hell, I will not hide it that I have more fear of the sound of an axe over in Doire.”
Why I love the oakwood of Doire
It is the reason I love Doire, for its quietness for its purity;
it is quite full of white angels from the one end to the other.
It is the reason I love Doire, for its quietness for its purity;
quite full of white angels is every leaf of the oaks of Doire.
My Doire, my little oakwood,
my dwellings and my white cell;
O living God in heaven,
it is a pity for him who harms it.
St. Columbanus (543? - 615)
The man to whom a little is not enough, he will not benefit from more.
He who tramples upon the world, tramples upon himself.
Bishop Chamnoald from the Cathedral of Lyons who studied for some time with St. Columbanus relates that we should not marvel at the way the birds and beasts responded to this man of God. He often told those in the city that when Columbanus walked into the forest to fast or pray, how he would call the creatures of the wild, birds or beasts to him, and how they would come quickly at his call. Then he would stroke them with his hand and caress them; and the wild things and the birds would leap and frisk about him for sheer happiness, jumping up on him as young dogs jump on their masters. Even the usually fearful little squirrels would come down from the tree-tops at his call, and the saint would take the creature in his hand and let it scamper up onto his shoulder, and it would play running in and out of the folds on his cowl; and this the bishop said he had often seen with his own eyes.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem (315 - 386)
God and creation
There is then only one God, Maker of souls and bodies; One Creator of heaven and earth, the Maker of angels and archangels.... This Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is not circumscribed in any place, nor is He less than the heavens; but the heavens are the works of His fingers, and the whole world is held in His grasp: He is in all things and around all things.
Perceiving the Divine through the creatures
The Divine Nature is impossible to see with eyes of flesh: but from the works, which are Divine, it is possible to attain to some conception of His power, according to Solomon, who says, "For by the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionately the Maker of them is seen" (Wisdom 13:5). For God appears the greater to every man in proportion as he has grasped a larger survey of the creatures: and when his heart is lifted up by that larger survey, he gains withal a greater conception of God.
To restrain defilement of creation
Enter within yourself, and from within your own nature consider the Author of creation. What is there to find fault with in the framing of this body? Be master of yourself, and nothing evil shall proceed out from any of your members.... The members are not the cause of sin, but they who use their members amiss; and the Maker thereof is wise.
To understand creation, know its Creator
Is not the Artificer (or Creator) worthy the rather to be glorified? And for what purpose? If you do not know the nature of all things, do the things that have been made forthwith become useless? Can you know the purpose and efficacy of all the herbs? Or can you learn the good and service which resides in every animal? Do you know that even from venomous adders (poisonous snakes) have come antidotes for the preservation of men. But some of you will say to me, "the snake is terrible." Fear the Lord and it shall not be able to hurt you.
Or you may say, "the lion is a bloodthirsty creature." Fear the Lord, and he shall lie down beside you, as he did alongside of Daniel. But truly wonderful are the actions of the animals: how some, such as the scorpion, have sharpness in their sting; and others have power in their teeth; and others do battle with their claws.... So then from this varied workmanship, understand the Creator's power.
In Wisdom hast thou made them all
My discussion has left out many things, and especially left out things incorporeal and invisible, that you may abhor those who blaspheme the wise and good Artificer, and from what is spoken and read, and whatever you can discover or conceive, from the greatness and beauty of the creatures, you may proportionately see the Maker of them. And bending the knee with godly reverence to the Maker of the worlds, the worlds of sense and thought, both visible and invisible, you may with a single and holy tongue, with unwearied lips and heart, praise God, and say how wonderful are thy works, O Lord; in wisdom hast thou made them all.
God creates all parts of creation
Let no one tolerate anyone who says that God is the Creator of the light, but another is the creator of darkness. For let him remember how Isaiah says, "I am the God who made the light, and created darkness..." Let us not then admit the evil thought that another is the Maker of darkness, for experience shows that this also is good and useful.
Dionysius the Areopagite (485? - 535?)
Beauty reflects an invisible harmony
For anyone who reflects, the appearances of beauty become the themes of an invisible harmony. Perfumes as they strike our senses represent spiritual illumination. Material lights point to that immaterial light of which they are the images.
God's beauty infuses creation
God is beauty. This beauty is the source of friendship and all mutual understanding.
It is this Beauty... which moves all living things and preserves them while filling them with love and desire for their own particular sort of beauty. ... for it is by its likeness to beauty that everything is defined. Thus true Beauty and Goodness are mixed together because, whatever the force may be that moves living things, it tends always towards Beauty-and-Goodness, and there is nothing that does not have a share in Beauty-and-Goodness. ...
By virtue of this reality, all creatures subsist, united and separate, identical and opposite, alike and unlike, contraries are united and the united elements are not confused.
By virtue of Beauty-and-Goodness, everything is in communion with everything else, each in its own way; creatures love one another without losing themselves in one another, everything is in harmony, parts snugly fit into the whole... one generation succeeds another; spirits, souls and bodies remain at the same time steady and mobile; because for all of them, Beauty-and-Goodness is at once repose and movement, being itself beyond both.
Matter participates in the Good
During the time of the Manichaeans a false but persistent understanding emerged which said that matter was evil, but spirit was good. Dionysius the Areopagite bluntly refutes this perverse and heretical notion.
It is just as false to repeat the commonplace [notion] that it is in matter as such that evil resides. For to speak truly, matter itself also participates in the order, the beauty, and the form [of Good]... How, if it were not so, could Good be produced from something evil? How could that thing be evil when it is impregnated with good? ... If matter is evil, how can one explain its ability to engender and nourish nature? Evil as such engenders and nourishes nothing. It does not produce or preserve anything. If it be objected that matter... leads souls toward evil, how could that be true when many material creatures turn their gaze toward the Good?
St. Ephraim the Syrian (306 - 373)
The symbols of God fill creation
Wherever you turn your eyes, there is God's symbol; wherever you read, you will find there his archetypes... Look and see how nature and scripture are linked together.... Praise for the Lord of Nature. Glory for the Lord of Scripture.
The keys to knowledge of creation
The keys of doctrine which unlock all of Scripture’s books,
have opened up before my eyes the Book of Creation.
The treasure house of the Ark, the crown of the Law,
this is a book which above its companions has in its narrative
made the Creator perceptible and transmitted his actions;
It has envisioned all His craftsmanship,
made manifest His works of art.
Nature and Scripture
I considered the Word of the Creator,
and likened it to the rock that marched
with the people of Israel in the wilderness....
In his book Moses described the creation of the natural world
so that both Nature and Scripture might bear witness to the Creator.
Nature, through man’s use of it,
Scripture, through his reading of it,
These are the witnesses which reach everywhere,
they are to be found at all times, present at every hour,
confuting the unbeliever who defames the Creator.
I read the opening of this book and was filled with joy,
for its verses and lines spread out their arms to welcome me;
The first rushed out and kissed me, and led me on to its companion;
And when I reached that verse wherein is written the story of Paradise,
it lifted me up and transported me from the bosom of the book
to the very bosom of Paradise.
The Tree as judge of human obedience
God established the Tree as judge,
so that if Adam should eat from it,
it might show him that rank which he had lost through his pride,
and show him, as well, that low estate he had acquired,
to his torment....
Had Adam conquered, he would have acquired glory upon his limbs,
and discernment...
The Tree was to him like a gate;
its fruit was the veil covering that hidden tabernacle.
Adam snatched the fruit, casting aside the commandment.
When he beheld that Glory within, shining forth with its rays,
he fled outside;
he ran off and took refuge among the modest fig trees.
Even though all the trees of Paradise are clothed,
each in its own glory,
yet each veils itself at the Glory;
the Seraphs with their wings, the trees with their branches,
all cover their faces so as not to behold their Lord.
St. Evagrius of Pontus (345 - 399)
Creation as a means for knowing God
As for those who are far from God..., God has made it possible for them to come near to the knowledge of him and his love for them through the medium of creatures. These he has produced, as the letters of the alphabet, so to speak, by his power and his wisdom, that is to say, by his Son and by his Spirit.
The whole of this ministry is performed by creatures for the benefit of those who are far from God.
Practice of the virtues
We practice the virtues in order to achieve contemplation of the inner essences of created things, and from this we pass to contemplation of the Logos who gives them their being, and He manifests Himself when we are in a state of prayer.
Preparation for seeing God in creation
Evagrius says that a sign that a person is ready to move up the ladder of spiritual formation from the first stage of praktike [practice of the virtues which purifies] to the second stage of physike, or the ability to enter into contemplation of nature, is: “...when the spirit begins to see its own light.”
Other signs which he lists are the ability of the person to pray at length without distraction and awareness of the powers that reside in the soul.
“Only when these signs are present... can the world be seen as it truly exists — in God.”
St. David of Garesja (497 - 569?)
The Hunters and the Milking Deer
Some hunters from Kakheti came near St. David's cave looking for wild goats and deer. The deer saw them first and scrambled up to the hermit's cave where they took refuge. The hunters were amazed that deer would run into a cave and climbed up the hill after them to catch them in the close confines of the cave.
When they reached the cave entrance, they saw the deer behind St. David and his disciple, Lucian, was milking them. The hunters were amazed and struck with fear. They asked him, "How is it, holy father, that these deer, wild animals of the field, are so tame and more peaceful than sheep brought up from a domestic farmyard?"
St. David said to them, "Why are you so astonished at the glories of God? Do you not know that He tamed lions for the Prophet Daniel and saved the three children from the fiery furnace? So what is so wonderful about these deer? Now go and hunt other game, for these animals are granted by God for our feeble flesh."
