Macarian Homilies on Humility and Transfiguration
A short spiritual instruction about the Christian life of humility, Transfiguration of Christ as an example and “lighting” of the saints, and an explanation of the difference of Christian death and human freedom.
The sign of Christianity is this, that one be pleasing to God so as to seek to hide oneself from the eyes of men. And even if a person should possess the complete treasures of the King, he should hide them and say continually: "The treasure is not mine, but another has given it to me as a charge. For I am a beggar and when it pleases him, he can claim it from me." If anyone should say: "I am rich. I have enough. I possess goods. There is nothing more I need," such a person is not a Christian, but a vessel of deceit and of the devil. For the enjoyment of God is insatiable and the more anyone tastes and eats, the more he hungers. Persons of this kind have an ardor and love toward God that nothing can restrain. And the more they apply themselves to the art of growing in perfection, the more they reckon themselves as poor, as those in great need and possessing nothing. This is why they say: "I am not worthy that the sun shines its rays upon me." This is the sign of Christianity, namely, this very humility.
38. But if anyone should say: "I am content and full," that one is a deceiver and a liar. For as the body of the Lord was glorified when he climbed the mount and was transfigured into the divine glory and into infinite light, so also the bodies of the saints are glorified and shine like lightning. Just as the interior glory of Christ covered his body and shone completely, in the same way also in the saints the interior power of Christ in them in that day will be poured out exteriorly upon their bodies. For even now at this time they are in their minds participators of his substance and nature. For it is written: "He that sanctifies and the one who is sanctified are of one" (Heb 2:11); and: "The glory that you have given me, I have given them" (Jn 17:22). Similarly, as many lamps are lighted from the one, same fire, so also it is necessary that the bodies of the saints, which are members of Christ, become the same which Christ himself is.
Question: In what way are Christians superior to the first Adam? Indeed, he was immortal and not only was he incorruptible in soul, but also in body. But Christians die and decompose.
Answer: The real death takes place interiorly in the heart. It lies hidden. The interior man perishes. If anyone, therefore, has passed from death into the hidden life, that one truly lives forever and does not die. For, granted that their bodies for a time are dissolved, at last, however, they are raised in glory. For they are sanctified. We say that the death of Christians is thus a sleep and a falling off into repose. But if the [Christian] man were immortal and incorruptible in his body, the whole world, seeing the strange happening, namely, that the bodies of Christians do not corrupt, would be won over to what is good by a certain necessity and not by a spontaneous desiring.
In order that man's free will which God gave to man from the beginning might more clearly be manifested and confirmed, a great providence is at work in this matter, and the dissolution of the bodies takes place so that it is a question of man's will choosing to embrace what is good or evil. For even the man confirmed in evil, or the one completely immersed in sin and making himself a vessel of the devil by whom he is totally bound, caught up in a certain necessity, still enjoys free will to become a chosen vessel (Acts 9:15), a vessel of life. Similarly, on the other hand, those who are intoxicated with God, even if they are full and dominated by the Holy Spirit, still are not bound by any necessity, but they possess free will to choose and do what pleases them in this life. (Macarian Homilies 15:37-40, p.122-3)