Introduction
I did not go into the wilderness. I was not tonsured on a holy mountain. I live in the West, where noise seeps into the bones and the air is thick with restlessness. Yet something in me aches for the desert, for that place where men and women once wrestled with God and were broken open until mercy filled them.
This is not a manual, not a polished theology, not a record of visions. It is simply a journal of one who seeks hesychasm in hiddenness. I am not a monk in the desert but a struggler in a room. Yet the Fathers said: “Go to your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.” So I go.
What follows are fragments from that cell: noise, failure, temptation, tears, glimpses of grace. The desert is not far away. The desert is within.
Part V: The First Light of Grace
Entry 30: The Flame for the World
Sometimes, as I pray, the circle of my heart widens. I begin with my sins, but end up praying for others; friends, strangers, even enemies. A warmth rises, not sentimental, but strong, steady. The Fathers say true prayer embraces the whole world. Perhaps this is the beginning: one small flame that longs to set others alight.
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