2010-06-19

THE INNER KINGDOM

'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God' (Matt. 5:8). Made in God's image, man is a mirror of the divine. He knows God by knowing himself: entering within himself, he sees God reflected in the purity of his own heart. The doctrine of man's creation according to the image means that within each person - within his or her truest and innermost self, often termed the 'deep heart' or 'ground of the soul' - there is a point of direct meeting and union with the Uncreated. 'The kingdom of God is within you' (Luke 17:21).

This quest for the inward kingdom is one of the master themes found throughout the writings of the Fathers. 'The greatest of all lessons,' says St. Clement of Alexandria, 'is to know oneself; for if someone knows himself, he will know God; and if he knows God, he will become like God.' St. Basil the Great writes: 'When the intellect is no longer dissipated among external things or dispersed across the world through the senses, it returns to itself; and by means of itself it ascends to the thought of God.' 'He who knows himself knows everything,' says St Isaac the Syrian; and elsewhere he writes:

"Be at peace with your own soul; then heaven and earth will be at peace with you. Enter eagerly into the treasure house that is within you, and so you will see the things that are in heaven; for there is but one single entry to them both. The ladder that leads to the kingdom is hidden within your soul. Flee from sin, dive into yourself, and in your soul you will discover the stairs by which to ascend."
 
Archimandrite (now Bishop) Kallistos Ware
The Orthodox Way pages 70-71
St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, New York
1st Paperback Edition 1979 (Revised since this edition in 1995)
020409

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