3. All Saints say the same things. They just simply
cannot differ in their opinions. The souls, loyal to
God and completely purified from passions, become
the habitation of the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit,
which is in us, always talks only about one thing -
about the Truth: “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of
truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth” (St.
John 16:13).
Venerable Macarius the Great (of
Egypt)
(300 – 390)
__________________________________________
About passion (ego)
4. Thus, we liken both our soul and the sin stuck to it to a big tree with
a lot of branches and roots which are deep in the ground. it is the same
is with sin: upon entering our soul and it deepest secret pales it
dominates it completely- becoming a habit and preconception and keeps
growing in each of us and teaching us bad things from our early years.
The soul - of a virgin, having wished to go with God, - is supposed to
be clean not only from vivid sins such as fornication, murder, gluttony,
judgment, lies, love of money, covetousness, and others, but - which is
more important, and as it was said above – is to be clean from the
hidden sins: i.e. from lust, vainglory, man-servility, hypocrisy, flattery,
lust of power, depravity, hatred, lack of faith, envy, self-love, boasting,
and others similar to these.
Diminishing of ego (passions, imperfections)
It is necessary to daily resist the substance of numerous and
abundant evil thoughts, training your mind to always strive to loving
preoccupation with God, and to receive in return, the feeling of grace.
If you say, “I do not commit fornication or adultery; I am not a
money-lover; and that is enough, I am a righteous man”, - you are
deluding yourself, thinking that you have already done everything.
There are not only three parts of sin that man has to protect himself
against, but there are thousands. Where do arrogance, fearlessness,
unbelief, hatred, envy, craftiness, hypocrisy come from? Don’t you have
6. and correctly passes the way of righteousness, it receives complete
Grace and is completely freed from the heavy burden of spiritual
passions.
A question: What is the will of God? The answer: a complete
purification from sin, the deliverance from shameful passions and the
acquisition of the greatest virtue, that is the purification and blessing of
the heart, what undoubtedly is being done through and by the
participation of the Holy Spirit.
People, who are unthinking and careless and who have not
comprehended the exact extent of Divine grace acting in them, thought
that they had completely eradicated their sins; but reasonable and
intelligent people will not deny that when God’s grace is resting on
them, they experience uncertainty by evil and inappropriate thoughts.
Fruits of the Spirit
Human nature itself does not have an opportunity to fully bring the
fruits of virtues to perfection, but it needs a spiritual ploughman of our
hearts, that is. in the spirit of Christ, Who is not of our nature, because
we were created but He was not;
If we are not beautified by meekness, simplicity, and goodness, the
outward praying will be of no use to us. This is true not only in regards
to praying, but in regards to any deed, labour, virginity, or any other
deed or action, being done for the sake of virtue.
If we do not find the abundant fruits of love, peace, joyfulness,
meekness, simplicity, sincerity, faith and long-suffering, all our deeds
are futile and vain because all such deeds and actions should be
7. performed for the sake of the fruits.
The Christians who are worthy of Christ learn everything from the
Spirit of God, and (according to the Apostle) not from the human
wisdom which has been read in words, but from the words heard from
the Holy Spirit.
Repentance
God grace and love of mankind is very patient and waits for
repentance from each sinner, the appeal from each repentant sinneris a
great heavenly celbration.
About perfection
When a man comes into perfection of spirit, having completely
purified himself of all his passions, and through nonverbal
communication completely unifies with the Spirit Comforter, when the
soul itself as if being dissolved by the Spirit, deserves to become a
Spirit, then everything for the soul is light, everything is joy for it,
everything is quietness, everything is gladness, everything is love,
everything is mercy, everything is graciousness, everything is kindness,
and it is as if being dipped into the virtues of the power of gracious
Spirit, the same as a stone enveloped on all sides by the waters of the
deep sea.
About the prayer and petitions to God
8. …keep your heart clean and pure and ask God to give prudence to
you, and that He will let you know all the tricks and traps of evil, so that
the evil one with his dirty tricks does not to acquire us for itself.
… it is better a man always call upon God, for God Himself to
become his Guide, and his Way, and his Mind, and his Determination,
and his Motivator; until a man has found Christ in himself, under no
circumstances should he trust himself…
Love
He who has reached perfect love, becomes the captive and
prisoner of grace. He who is gradually coming closer to the full
measure of love but has not risen to the level to become the prisoner of
love yet, is still under the influence of fear, he is being threatened by
the battle and by the possibility of falling down; and if he does not
guard himself, then satan will depose him.
The easiest way to salvation is love and meekness.
Love of God and your neighbour
Great diligence and labour, as well as ascetic life, gives us an
opportunity to develop the love of God and by His grace and gift Christ
becomes visible in us. Having fulfilled this commandment, it is easy to
9. fulfill the second one too -the commandment to love thy neighbor.
If someone, having postponed his attention to this first andgreat
commandment and devotes himself only to the second commandment -
despite application and external service, it will be impossible for him to
fulfill this commandment soundly and purely.
Meekness
If you see someone being conceited or arrogant, claiming that he is
a partaker of grace, and even if he was creating visions and was raising
the dead, unless he admits his soul is dishonest and he himself is poor
in spirit and loathsome he will still be filled with evil without even
knowing it, .
God’s long-suffering
Even nowadays God – is merciful and gracious to each of us shows
His long-suffering. Although He sees numerous abuse from each of us,
He keeps silent, waiting for a man to sober up in time and to change
himself in order not to abuse and insult Him anymore. He accepts
anyone turning away from the sin with great love and joyfulness.
Thoughts from God, internal eyes (intuition)
… watch yourself attentively examine your thoughts and actions -
10. where they are coming from: from God or from the enemy, and who
provides food for your heart.
As internal eyes see thorns and rapids from afar, so the
perspicacious mind, being quick, foresees the tricks and preliminary
preparations of the opposing forces and warns the soul, functioning as
if an eye.
Each of us should know that there are eyes which are more internal
than ordinary eyes, and there is hearing which is more internal than the
ordinary one. As ordinary eyes sensitively see and distinguish the face
of a friend or of a loved one, in the same way the eyes of the worthy and
loyal soul, being enlightened by the Divine light, spiritually see and
distinguish a true friend – the Lord. It happens when the soul is
illuminated by the Holy Spirit.
About the soul
And thus, a single soul is more precious and more splendid than the
whole world, and kingdom, and its money, and glory not only because
the Heavenly Kingdom is more valuable than all this, but because God
did not deign to connect his essence to them through the Holy Spirit.
Let no one consider the soul as something small or insignificant, as
living within a small body and being completely limited by this body.
Just have a look: the soul is inside the body and outside the body, and
completely in and completely out of it by its mind and thoughts. God
created the soul as a great vessel and great creature, as something
11. precious and wonderful and being superior of all other creatures – such
a precious creature that it is created in His likeness and is capable to be
inhabited by God.
Finally, the soul belongs to him with whom it communicates and
unifies by its desires. That is why either having inside ourselves the
Divine light living in it and enriched by virtues we obtain light and
peacefulness, or – having inside ourselves darkness of sin we are
condemned.
Rules of God
… a potter who makes pots knows that if he does not put them into the
fire, they will not be useful; as well, he knows how long they should be
kept in the fire for them to be useful. … How much better does God
know - true Knowledge, unlimited Intellect, incomprehensible Wisdom
– how many ordeals, sorrows and temptations do those who want to
please Him need. Having experienced sorrows they are honoured to
receive the fullness of grace and entirely acquire purity and blessing
through participation of the Spirit; and they are completely delivered
from passions...
Like a resisting force God’s mercy can be both motivating but not
compelling completely preserving in us freedom and mercy.
… God does not permit the souls relying on Him and striving to Him
to be subjected to temptations and sorrows beyond their strength …
While you are still in the process of learning, even through the
13. By the way, the demon, as a servant and creature of the Master,
tempts us not as much as it wants, and inflicts sorrow not to the extent
it wants, but only to the extent permitted by its Master’s nod. God,
knowing the exact state and condition of each and everyone and how
much strength each of us has, to the same extent He permits us to be
subjected to temptation.
Saint Basil the Great
(330 – 379)
____________________________________________
Wandering thoughts
We should know that we cannot succeed in obeying the
commandment on either the love to God and to our neighbor, or in
obeying any other commandment, if our thoughts are wandering here
and there.
Diseases
“Where are diseases from? Where are bodily harms from? The Lord
created the body but not the disease; He created the soul but not the sin.
So what is that which is the most useful and most needed? It is
connection with God and communication with Him through love.
Losing this love we fall away from God, and falling away from Him we
are being subjected to different and numerous diseases”.
Struggle against passions
“At the end of the day and after finishing each of your daily routine,
either physical or spiritual, before going to bed, the conscience of each
14. of us should be subjected to the trial of our own heart. And if there was
anything repugnant to debt:, or the thoughts about the forbidden, or
obscenity, or laziness to praying … let the deed not be concealed but be
declared, so the infirmity …may be healed”.
Vigilance
When the mind is struggling against the passion and prevails due to
its endeavours and attentiveness, forces them to the surface, then it
triumphs over the passion, and its success is a delight to God; but when
being weakened, it gives way to sweet pleasures, then, having become
the servant and captive of sin, it amuses the demon.
The Holy Spirit
Through the Holy Spirit – hearts enlighten, the guidance of the
weak the improvement of the successful, The Holy Spirit shining in
people cleanses them of all flaws and making them spiritual through
contact with Him.
A true fast
A true fast is distancing oneself from the evil, abstention from
chatter, suppression of anger in oneself; disconnecting from passions,
backbiting, lies, perjury; abstention from all this is a true fast.
15. Love
He, who loves his neighbor, fulfills the commandment about the
love of God, because God transfers his mercy on Himself.
The amount of love you waste on the earthy things - will be the
amount you will be definitely lacking in the whole.
Knowing God
Proper keeping of yourself within the God’s truth will provide you
the sufficient guidance to get to know God too.
Suppression of sin
That is why, in its direct meaning, evil, i.e. sin (as evil which is the
most worthy to be called evil) depends upon our will, as it is within our
will either to refrain from the vice or to succumb to it. .
God’s Providence
Although the reasons for the ways of God are hidden to us,
everything that happens in accordance with the will of our very wise
and loving God, must be accepted by us, no matter how difficult it may
17. capable to give the best advice.
Conscience, intuition
There is a certain standard, arranged by the Creator, inside each of
us, with the help of which it is possible to distinguish the nature of
things.
Vainglory
To wish more in comparison with the others - even if it is something
good - is the passion of competition, deriving from vainglory.
Tricks of the demon
We have only one enemy blocking the way to salvation - the demon;
let us defeat it by our reasonableness. It suggests we be sluggish - let us
start doing something. It deceives our heart by vain promises - let us not
remain ignorant regarding its intentions. Isn’t it the demon, who
although not advising us to sin today, is persuading us to postpone the
truth until tomorrow?
Saint John Chrysostom
18. (347 – 407)
____________________________________________
Benefactions of God
No one is trying to make us perfect, great and grateful for
everything as much as God, Who created us. That is why He acts to our
benefit quite often against our will, and still more often - without us
even knowing.
God does not require anything hard or laborious from us, but solely
for us to acknowledge His benefactions and to offer thanks to Him for
them.
Our neighbors
Nothing irritates God as much as the neglecting the salvation of our
neighbors because He made love the indicator of His disciples. For he
who loves, necessarily cares about the welfare of his neighbor.
Godlikeness
We can imitate God by loving all, even our enemies, but not by
working wonders; because although we are amazed at God when he
works wonders, we are more amazed by far when He shows kindness
and mercy.
19. Struggle against sins
Thinking often about our sins and blaming ourselves for them -
certainly contributes to their diminishment. There is another, even
more reliable way: When we do not remember the evil done by anyone,
when we forgive everybody the deeds they have done against us.
The will
While calling people to Himself, God does not compel them and does
not force the will of those who do not want to choose virtue; instead He
admonishes, gives advice, does something, tries to do His best to
encourage them to be nice. But if some of them do not want to be nice -
He never forces them.
Arrogance
There is nothing worse than arrogance. It deprives us of the most
common prudence, exposes us as stupid ones or even worse, and makes
us completely crazy.
High-mindedness
To be stupid by nature is not the fault of a man. But to become
stupid because of abuse or excess is not excusable and results in great
punishment. Those people who in their wisdom think about themselves
21. Sin
If sin is not stopped at the very beginning, then - like the fire
enveloping the woods - it will rise to an unprecedented heights.
Sin and punishment
The sin in itself is the greatest punishment, even if we have not been
punished for it.
Minor sins
Great sins do not require as much labour and endeavours as, to the
contrary, do minor and small sins. Because the characteristic of the sin
itself forces us to turn away from great sins, but small sins - since that
are small - incline us to laziness and prevent us from resisting with
determination their demands. That is why if we do not stay vigilant, very
soon they turn into great sins.
The Good and the evil
As the abuse of our neighbors turns, first of all, against the abusers
themselves, in the same way the good, done to our neighbors, primarily
brings joyfulness to the ones doing it. He who does the good or the evil
is the first who experiences both the first and the last himself.
25. Gentleness
Gentleness is a sign of great strength: in order to be gentle it is
necessary to have be noble, brave and rather great soul.
As a ray of the sun, dissipates the darkness, in the same way a kind
and gentle person turns confusion and disarray into peace and quiets.
Love
Love is a gift which is second to none and the most superior way of
the acquisition of all gifts. Any gift without love is nothing.
You can have a gift which is much greater than the ability to raise
the dead, to give sight to the blind and to perform the same acts of those
of the Apostles. What is this gift? It is love.
No, definitely there is not a single sin that, love like a fire, could not
be destroy. It is easier for the brushwood to resist a hail of fire than the
nature of the sin to resist the strength of love.
Love to the neighbor
Let us love each other order in such as to express our love to God
who loves us.
Love to God
If we love Christ, let us not do anything that can insult Him, but let
26. us prove our love by deeds.
Truly the strength of love is great: it estranges the soul from
everything and from our favourite objects. If we love Christ in this way,
everything which is here will seem to us like a shadow, like an image or
a dream.
Minor sins
Minor sins are muck and wickedness, such as, for example,
backbiting, abuse, and lies; or,- it would be better to say,- these sins are
not small at all but rather big: they are so big that they deprive us of the
Heavenly Kingdom.
Spiritual peace
Nothing achieves peace as well as knowing God and acquiring virtue by
means of an internal battle with our passions and not allowing self-
conflict.
The prayer
Prayer is a conversation with God.
Where there is prayer and thankfulness there descends, the grace of
the Holy Spirit , demons are cast out , and all enemy forces retreat and
run away.
The prayer and help from God
You need neither an intermediary before God, nor a long journey,
27. nor to please others, even if you are lonely and defenseless; begging
God, you will receive that what you have been asking for. He usually
hears all pleas not so much when other people pray for us, but mainly
when we ourselves pray to Him, even if we are burdened by a great
quantity of evil.
Pray by Spirit
Apostle Paul wrote: pray all the time, pray by spirit that is not only
verbally and with constant vigilance, but with the soul itself: with the
spirit.
Punishment
Punishment from God is the same as the medicine from a doctor:
cutting off and searing. Everything that seems to be scourge is sent to
the soul to stop - as can happen to the body - the development of its
diseases and to make it better.
Disbelief
Let no-one accuse God that not all of us petition Him. Disbelief
comes not from Him Who is calling but from those who do not obey.
Carelessness
God does not prescribe anything burdensome to us. Why do His
Commandments seem so burdensome to us? It is because of our
carelessness. As is the case when we are industrious, things what seems
hard become easy and comfortable for us; it is the same when we are
careless, even easy things will seem difficult for us.
28. Offences
If you did not take to heart the insulting words, you became superior
to the blow: you did not get offended.
Offence and humiliation derive not from the malice of those
offending, but from the weakness of those being offended.
Insult
It is not he who is insulting who is the cause of the insult, but he
who shows lack of spirit and becomes upset because of the insult as he
become predisposed to spitefulness. It is because if you did not get
angry, the insult would not be an insult to you. Becoming upset because
of an insult depends not upon those insulting but upon those who are
being subjected to the insults.
Basis for love
Love, based in Christ, is firm, constant, stable, unconquerable, and
nothing can stop it – either slander, or danger, or death, or anything
other similar to this.
Judgment
Let us avoid judgment. There is no sin which is more grievous and at
the same time easier to commit than this one. Why? It is because it is
committed quicker than any lawlessness and promptly draws in an
inattentive person. That is why if this vice is so rapid, and if it is easy to
commit this sin, if the punishment is harsh for it, and there is no use
for it, either big or small, then let us spare no effort to avoid this
disease.
29. What does Jesus Christ say? Do not judge and you won’t be judged
(St. Matthew 7:1). If we did not commit any other sin, this sin alone can
bring us into the underworld Gehenna.
Do you want to judge? Judge yourself. Nobody will judge you, if you
judge yourself.
Remembering sins
If you permanently bear in mind your sins, you will never think
badly about your neighbor. I am not saying that if you comprehend that
you are a sinner -, it will humble the soul but not to the extent as when
you consider each of your sins individually.
Fruits of repentance
I call repentance not only that when we get rid ourselves of former
stupid deeds, but when we will also do good deeds.
Thoughts
As our eyes which cannot but look, and when they do not have
anything good in front of them to look at, then out of necessity they look
at something stupid, in the same way thoughts, not occupied by a
necessary and useful subject, are compelled to dwell on useless and
harmful subjects.
Vice
As a disease is to the body, as rust is to iron, as a moth is to wool, so
to is vice in relation to the soul. The vice makes it slave and not free.
Even before the eternal punishment, the vice punishes its follower,
30. harrowing and frightening his conscience.
Fasting
He who is fasting most of all needs to curb his anger, to learn how to
be meek and indulgent, to have a grieving heart, to resist impious
thoughts and lust by imagining that unquenchable fire and the
impartial trial; he has to be above the love of gain, to show great
generosity in being merciful, to cast out of his soul any malice at his
neighbour.
Fasting is food for the soul, and as the food for body makes our body
stronger, so fasting strengthens the soul. If we are fasting just for show,
not only we will not get any use from it, but it will be harmful to us.
Wisdom and stupidity
If the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God, the beginning of the
stupidity is the ignorance of God.
Forgiveness
God, wishing for us to be released from our numerous and great
sins, gave us a short, easy and convenient method. Is it really a labour
to forgive the one having insulted us?
Self-love
The root and the source of any evil is excessive self-love. He who is
devoted to this passion does not even watch his own actions.
Self-justification
32. How to achieve the highly pious life? It is solely through the power
of God.
The power of the prayer
There is nothing equal to prayer: it makes possible what is
impossible; it makes difficult become easy, and inconvenient to become
convenient.
Glorification
God does not need either our praise or our blessing of His glory;
nothing is added by glorification of those serving Him because His
essence is invariable, all-satisfied and does not have need in anything
else; but those glorifying become more glorious themselves.
Meekness
A meek person is engrossed by any passion; he is unaffected by
anger, nor love to glory, nor envy, nor jealousy. What can transcend a
soul free from these passions?
Pride
A man, who does good with pride - if it is possible to do the good in
such a way - will soon come close to extreme downfall.
Conscience
Having conscience is like having asome sacred anchor which
33. prevents us from complete sinking into the abyss of sin.
Shame
There is in or soul a certain shame of sin which does not allow us to
immediately reach shamelessness; on the contrary, the soul is
descending to extreme perdition unwittingly, little by little, when it
starts living negligently.
Vainglory
Vainglory is a fierce and many-headed passion. Carried away by the
vainglory, some people are in ssearch for wealth, others for power – and
this happens on the lowest stage of its domination. Spreading its power
further, it turns into its food virtues themselves, such as alms, fasting,
prayers and the gift of learning. How many more heads does this beast
have!
Spiritual reading
Acquire, at least, the New Testament - Acts of Apostles and the Holy
Gospel, they are our permanent mentors. If you suffer any sorrows –
nestle close to them as to a vessel filled with a healing substance.
Saint Gregory the Theologian
(329 – 389)
Habit
Consider a habit to do good as a virtue; and to the contrary, the
habit to do bad is considered as a passion, the opposite of virtue.
34. The acknowledgement of the guilt
Why do we lay down blame on the enemy (the demon), if we
ourselves provide it power over ourselves because of the way we live?
Reproach yourself either in everything or in the majority of your deeds.
We ourselves set thefire, and the evil spirit fans the flame.
Self-importance
Self-importance takes away from the persom a big part of what he is.
Strait gate
Under the guidance of the Spirit go through the strait gate as
through the expansive one. Then everything will be prosperous and
successful both in this life and in the future judgment by Jesus Christ
our Lord.
Teaching
First and foremost, you have to purify yourself, and only thereafter
purify others; first you have to become wise and then make others wise;
to become the light yourself and then to enlighten others; to come
closer to God and then to lead others to Him; to be blessed and then to
bless others.
Reading the Scriptures
Contiuously train both your tongue and your mind by reading of
God’s words. As a reward for your labour, God grants you the ability to
comprehend, to a certain extent, the meaning hidden in them.
Venerable Abba Dorotheus
(The End of the 6th-the Beginning of the 7th
35. Century)
____________________________________________
About the meek wisdom and pride
When Saint Antony saw all the nets of the evil one spread out,
having sighed, he asked God: “Who can avoid them?” The answer was:
“Meekness avoids them”, and what is more astonishing, God added:
“These nets do not even touch meekness”. Do you understand now the
grace of this virtue? Truly there is nothing stronger than wise
meekness, nothing can conquer it.
The first-rank pride is the one when someone reproaches his
brother, when he judges and disgraces him as meaningless, considering
himself superior to him. If such a person does not come to his senses
and does not try to improve himself, little by little he will reach the
second-rank pride - he will become arrogant against God Himself, and
all his deeds and virtues he will attribute to himself but not to God, as if
he committed them all by himself, by his mind and diligence but not
with the God’s help.
The first-rank meekness is to consider your brother more
intelligent than yourself and superior in everything, and - in one word,
as Holy Fathers would say - “to consider yourself inferior to
everybody”. The second-rank meekness is to attribute all your deeds to
God, and this is the perfect meekness of the saints. It is naturally being
born in the soul as a result of the fulfillment of the commandments.
About conscience
36. When our conscience tells us to do something but we ignore it,
and when it tells us about it again and we do notdo it but keep and keep
trampling it, and it can no longer tell us clearly of of the burden lying
on it; then, as a lamp shining behind a curtain the things shown are
darker and vague.
However, there isn’t a single man without conscience, because it
is something Devine and never perishes, moreover, it always reminds us
about something useful but we do not sense it because, as it was said
above, we ignore it and trample it.
About the fear of God and love to God
He who fulfills the will of God because of the fear of torment is
still the beginner, since he does not do good for the sake of good but
because of fear of being punished. But another one fulfills the will of
God because of his love to God, loving God solely to please Him. So, the
latter one knows what the essense of real good is, he has comprehended
what it means to be with God. This man has a true love which saints call
the perfect one.
About justification
Really, when justification joins with will - it is a real death, great
danger, and great fear: and the unfortunate persons final downfall. For
who will make this person believe that another person knows better than
he what it is useful to him? When he completely gives himself up to his
own will, his thoughts; and at last the enemy organizes his downfall in
the way it wants.
38. although we could have recieved greater benefit from such
circumstances, we do the opposite and do harm to ourselves, not
comprehending that everything is sent by God’s Providence is for the
benefit of each of us.
About the necessity not to tell lies
So, we should be very attentive in order not to be deceived by a
lie because a liar never communicates with God. A lie is alien to God. It
is said in the Scriptures that any lie is from the evil one, “for he is a
liar, and the father of it.” (St. John 8:44). So, the evil one is called the
father of a lie, and the truth is God since He Himself says: “I am the
way, the truth, and the life” (St. John 14:6). Do you see now Who we
separate ourselves from and who we unite with through a lie: definitely
with the evil one.
There are three different types of lie: some people lie by their
thoughts, others lie by words, still others lie by their own lives.
Virtue is the middle way
That is why it was said that the middle is the essence of virtue:
thus, bravery is between fear and impudence, meekness is between pride
and man-servility, so to is goodwill which is between shame and
shamelessness.
And he, who does not heed himself, easily deviates from this path
either to the left or to the right, i.e. either to excessiveness or to
deficiency, thus creating in himself the illness which is evil. But the
middle path is the perfect path on which all saints were marching.
39. About the cutting off of passions
Trust me, brothers, that if at least one passion in a man turns into
a habit he is subject to torment; and so it happens that someone who
commits ten good deeds but has one bad habit, this alone, deriving from
the bad habit, outweighs the ten good deeds. An eagle, if it is out of the
net but gets tangled in it by only one claw, all its strength is being
depleted through this tiny bit. It is the same with our soul: if it turns at
least one passion into a habit, then the enemy depletes this soul any
time he wants, since the soul is in his hands because of that same
passion.
About the endurance of temptations
Listen to the voice of reason and to what I am saying: before
someone starts acting in accordance with his passion, and although his
thoughts would rise against him, he is still in his town, he is free and
God is his helper. Thus, if he humbles himself before God, if he bears
the burden of sorrows and temptations with thankfulness and struggles
a bit, then God’s help will release him.
About fasting
If someone is fasting because of vaingllory, or - thinking in
himself - that he is being virtuos, he is fasting unwisely; and that is why
40. later he starts reproaching his brother, considering himself to be great.
Love to your neighbour
Do not wish to know the vices of your neighbour, and do not
entertain any suspicion against him inspired in your thoughts by the
enemy; if they happen to arise in you, because of your sinfulness, try to
turn them into good thoughts. Be thankfull for everything and acquire
goodness and holy love.
About irritation
If you do not want to fall into irritation and unforgiveness, do not
have any passion to objects and do not care about them so much; at the
same time, do not ignore them as something unimportant and
insignificant.
Different short utterances
Being passionate, we should nottrust our heart because a
crooked mirror makes crooked even that what is straight.
Do not demand love from your neighbour, since the one
demanding is being confused if he does not feel this love. You would
better show love to your neighbour, and then you will calm down,
bringing thus your neighbour to love.
Nothing unites people so close among themselves as when people
41. rejoice with each other about one and the same, and when they have
similar way of thinking.
No matter what happens to me, I have never wished to guard myself
by human wisdom: but in all cases I always act in accordance with my
strength and leave everything in God’s mercy.
Do not do anything evil even as a joke; because it happens that
somebody does something evil as a joke, and later, although
unwittingly, gets captivated by it.
One should not wish to get rid of his passion to avoid the sorrow
resulting from it, but because of absolute hatred of the passion.
A sign that someone voluntarily exercises his passion is his
embarassement at the time when he is being denouced or corrected in
respect of it.
About love
Just imagine a circle: the centre of it and the radius-rays coming
from the centre. The farther these radius-rays are from the centre, the
more they get away from each other, and on the contrary, the closer
these rays are to the centre, the more they draw together among
themselves. Now suppose that this circle is our world, the middle of the
centre is God, and the straight lines (the radius) coming from the centre
to the circumferrence or from the circumferrence to the centre are the
esssence of people’s lives. So to it is here. … That’s how you should
understand estrangement. … This is the same with the attribute of love:
how further we are towards the outside and do not love God, the more
42. distant is each of us from the neighbour. If we love God, then we will
come closer to God through our love, to the same extent we will be
connected through love with our neighbour; and the extent we are
connected with our neighbours, is the extent to which we are connected
with God.
Venerable John the Cassian of Rome
(360 – 435)
God’s Grace
Good thoughts and wishes cannot be opened, cultivated and
strengthened without God’s grace; but the God’s grace also l wakes
them up, develops and strengthens them not without free will of a man
but depending on how much the man himself wants it and does his best
to assist or to follow the effect of grace.
About prayer
How we want to be during our prayers, is the same we should be
before our prayers. Our spirit during prayer definitely recieves the
mood from our previous state, and – while praying – our spirit ascends
to the heavens or descends to the earthly matters by the same thoughts
with which it was occupied with before prayer.
We should pray to God for Him to help take away vain thoughts
and keep concentrated attention during the prayer, and for God to give
43. us the feeling of tender emotion.
God is sometimes slow to fulfill our requests not because he does
not want to do it, but to make us pray more and have a more
poassionate desire of the blessing being asked for, since that what has
been achived quickly and easily is not valued that much and is soon
forgotten.
Food for body and soul
The bodily fasting alone cannot be sufficient for the perfection of
the heart and for the purity of the body if it is not connected with
spiritual fasting. For the soul also has its harmful food, having been
sated with which, and without the abundance of bodily foo it falls into
excesses.
Backbiting is its food, and a pleasant one; anger is also its food, but
not an easy one: it satiates the soul for an hour with unclean food and,
at the same time, injects poison. Envy is the food of a soul which
seduces it by its venomous juices and continuously tortures the poor
thing by the well-being and the success of others. Vainglory is its food,
which delights temporatily by its pleasant taste, but later makes the
soul empty and deprives it of any virtue.
So, abstaining from these passions as much as possible while
fasting, we will experience a useful bodily fasting.
About fasting
45. Everyon may judge only themselves, cautiously and carefully
watching himself in everything, but may not to investigate the life and
behaviour of others.
Remembring sins
Each time you recall former sins, or likings, or weaknesses, and
although you do not delight in them, but the touching of the former
filth alone spoils the soul and infects it by its odour. That is why when
memories of your previous sins surface, you should immediately turn
away from them.
We should try try to stimulate contrition in ourselves by thinking
about virtue and about the Heavenly Kingdom rather than by the
harmful recallection of our sins; you will not stop feeling the presence
of the harmful stinking dirty hole until you stop turning the filth in it..
Under the cover of virtue
The passions, which become apparent under the cover of virtues
and in the form of spiritual things, are more ruinous and difficult to
treat than those which are being committed openly for the sake of the
carnal pleasure.
Abstention and meekness
It is better to mask your abstention with meekness than to reveal it
with a proud announcement.
46. The sin and God’s image
Although a man’s nature is ruined by sin, and a man has become
ill not to the level of insensibility, though: he retains awarenes and
recognition of goodness and of evil, the sensation of his illness,
repentance and the desire to get rid of this illnessas God’s image in the
man has not been destroyed by the sin but only obscured; the seeds of
goodness have not been extinguishedin in the man’s soul, but they
glimmer in him like the sparks under the ashes.
Two kingdoms
If the Kingdom of God is inside of us, and if this Kingdom is
righteousness, peace and joy, then he who has acquired them is, without
any doubt, in the Kingdom of God. Vice versa, he who lives in the
untruthfulness, discord and sorrow, producing death, is in the kingdom
of the evil one, in hell; since the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of
the evil one are distinguished by these two features.
Meekness and pride
The attribute of meekness is to see sins in yourself and to see good
features in the others; and the attribute of pride is to see only the good
in yourself, and only evil in others.
Pride is so disgusting to God that he permits a man to fall into foul,
carnal vices which make him ashamed so thathe may comprehend his
47. impurity and to humble himself.
The true patience and kindness
It is impossible to acquire or to keep true patience or kindness
without meekness of the heart. If this is the source of patience and
kindless then there will be no need for isolation or to hide in the
wilderness.
The intention of the mind
God looks not at the comsequence of the deed but at the intention
of the mind.
God’s Providence
There is nothing in the world that can happen without God’s will,
but everything happens either by His will or with His permission.
Everything that is good is committed by His will and with His
assistance; the opposite happens solely with His permision when God’s
patronage cease, leaving us because of the impurity and bitterness of
our hearts, allowing the devil to tyranise us us and to succumb to
dishonest carnal tpassions.
God’s fear
Fear of God is such a fear by which the son is afraid of his most
48. loving father, or a brother is afraid of his brother, or a friend of his
friend, or the spouse of another spouse; in this case we are not afraid
of punishment or reproach, but we are afraid of even the slightest
insult of love.
Venerable Isaak the Syrian
(VII century)
__________________________________________
Struggle against passions
So, the sign of our success will be the diminishing of our passions
from our soul from day to day thus, we become closer to God and -
without even comprehending it - we are becoming worthy of His
innumerable gifts.
Be afraid of your habits more than your enemies. Nursing a habit
in yourself is similar to a man providing fuel to a fire. If one day the
habit demands something and you do not fulfill its wish, the next time it
will get weaker. But if one day you fulfill its wish, next time you will
find your habit attacking you more powerfully.
Diminishing of pride
He, who lets others know about his illness, is close to healing and
will easily find it.
Always keep in your mind those who outrank you in virtue, in order
to continuously see your imperfections on the background of their
standard.
49. Meekness
Meekness makes many sins forgivable even without any deeds; and
without meekness even the deeds are useless, on the contrary, they
prepare a lot of unpleasantness for us. … If we acquire meekness, it
will make us the sons of God.
About faith
Having not experienced God’s palpable patronage, the heart is
unable to hope for God.
If one day you entrust yourself to the Lord completely for your
protection and for watching over you then do not worry about anything
else but tell your soul: “In each circumstance it is enough for me that
He is to Whom I have singularly entrusted my soul. I am not here. He
knows it”. Then you will see God’s wonders in reality, you will be
convinced how close God is at any time.
Offence and judgment
To be spiteful and to pray is the same as to sow on the sea and to
wait for the harvest.
Forgiveness and repentance
Repentance is the door of mercy: through this door we enter into
God’s mercy; and you will not acquire mercy through any other door.
There is no sin which is unforgivable, except for the sin which is
unrepented.
50. Love
He who does not love his neighbour but keeps saying that he loves
God, has gone completely astray without even realizing it.
The way to the Lord through love and fear
Fear for the body can be so intense that quite often people are
unable to commit something glorious or honourable because of it.
When fear for the soul will joins with fear for the body - then the
corporal fear wilts before the fear for soul as wax melts from the
omnivorous fire force.
The heaven and the hell
I keep telling you that the ones being tortured in the gehenna are
being targeted by the scourge of love. How bitter and severe is this
torment of love. For those having realized that they have sinned against
love, endure a torment worse than any possibly imagined; and the
sorrow targeting the heart for the sin against love is the more
acrimonious than any possible punishment.
Venerable Varsonophy the Great
(End of the VI century)
Judgment deprives of strength
Why is it when we contradict our thoughts, do we not receive any
power to reject them? It is because, first, we succumb to judgment of
our neighbour, and through that, our spiritual force is becoming
weaker, and we blame our brother, being guilty ourselves.
52. obviously from the left side. Our Lord comes with quietness, and
everything hostile comes with confusion and revolt.
So, if when you hear, think about or see something and your heart
gets confused even a little, it is demonic. When the thought inspires you
to do something on the will of God and you feel joy because of this, …
you should know that this thought is from God.
Thoroughly take care of yourself; work against thoughts in order
not to fall into negligence and vainglory, do not do anything on your
own will and do not accept the thoughts arising in you, or self-
justification - otherwise you will be subjected to severe attack. Know for
sure that no matter where you will go - even if you travel the whole
world from one end to the other - nowhere you will receive as much
benefit as where you are now.
About prayer
“Our Father” is said by both those who are perfect and those who
are sinful. For those who are perfect - having gotten to know Whose
sons they have become – trying not to fall away from Him; for those
who are sinful - shamefully judging themselves, because they are
naming their Father Him, Whom they have often insulted.
Judgment and self-justification
Judging othes after an argument can happen to you because self-
justification has not died in you yet; judge yourself and you will stop
judging others.
53. Repentance
Thoroughness means that if you get absorbed and if you sin agains
someone by deed or by word, you should walk to him and bow to him
(asking for forgiveness). And seeing this, God will protect you from
your enemies.
Listen to me, my son! There is healing for every passion and there is
repentance for every sin. If you are unfaithful and want to be cured of
lack of faith, there is one way to do it - to undoubtedly believe in Him
Who is merciful.
To repent sin means not to sin any longer, and moving away from
the evil and not to harm anybody. Let your former sins not insult you
any more, and do not turn aside from serving to God with fear and
trepidation. Remember, that this is sanctification of your soul.
About the Holy Spirit
Pray to the Most Merciful God for Him to send you the Holy Spirit-
the Comforter; and having come, He will teach you everything and will
reveal all mysteries to you. Take Him as your Guide: He will not permit
fascination or distraction into your heart, will not permit negligence
and depression or somnolence in your thoughts; He will enlighten your
eyes, strengthen your heart, raise your mind. Joinwith Him, believe in
Him, love Him because He makes sane those who are crazy, delights
thought, gives strength, purity, joyf and truth; He teaches long-
suffering, meekness, love and peace, and grants all this.
54. Many have been awarded grace; but having recieved it, fell away
because they were not guard with fear that which they had been
granted. So, be desire good and, at the same time, be its keeper.
About fasting
Do not doubt when you are satisfying the needs of the body, and in
accordance with the internal man labour to humble your thoughts; and
then God will open the eyes of your heart for you to see the real light
and to be able to say: I am saved by the grace of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
About fasting (I will tell you): have a deep look into your heart: has
it been conquered by vainglory, and if it hasn’t, have another deep look
into it: is this fasting not making you feeble for doing your work, for
you should not have this feebleness; so if there is no harm to your body
here – your fasting is the right one.
The Spirit of God
Have the Holy Spirit in you, and this Spirit will teach you
everything, for you cannot do anything without Him.
Meekness
If someone wants to be saved and to become the son of God, he
should acquire great meekness, obedience, submissiveness and
humility. I have told you before and confirm that neither enemy nor
passion will take possession of you, for they burn form humility as it it
56. Great Elders of our time
Truly priceless experience of Gods Conduits living in our not simple
times.
Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
(1924-1994)
Faith
To understand from your own experience God’s mysteries you must
defeat your Old Testament man …you need a simple and direct heart so
that your faith is unwavering. You need to believe without doubt that
there is nothing impossible for God…..Only those who truly believe live
a real life and are truly God’s people.
If a person sets his life’s course with faith without faltering and seeks
God’s help then with time he experiences wondrous events at first minor
ones then more important ones – and his faith deepens.
60. If you easily become proud then it means you have a high opinion of
yourself, you think you are something special. A person would not be
proud if he thought that he thought he was something special. As you
think you are an exceptional person so you are proud of your every little
action.
Selfishness is the disobedient son of pride. A selfish person always
holds his ground. A selfish person is stubborn and unrelenting and a
proud person may not have either one or the other.
A proud people does not have the Grace of God and because if this he
is in danger that he – God forbid – can suffer a great downfall. A person
like this is separated from God because pride - is an insulator, a poor
conductor which does not allow God’s Grace to pass through to the
person and separates us from God.
If there is pride in a person them God allows him to be in a state of
lethargy, indifference, coldness and impassiveness. If a proud person
takes a bite of heavenly grace then he becomes proud and thinks deserved
it by his own efforts.The he starts to think and says “Join me! See what I
have achieved by my own momentum!” – and so causes harm to others.
That is why God allows such people to be beaten, as much as they need to
be, until pretentiousness dies in them.
Concealed pride
Concealed pride is cunning for this reason is difficult to heal. It hides
deep, and those around do not see it, and only an experienced person is
able to uncover it. People in spiritual life often suffer from concealed
62. understand when he acts with pride. However if he pays attention to
himself then he will comprehend when he is acting with pride. He may
not be able to sense all the forms of pride in him but a least parts he is
able to feel and understand it if he senses selfishness pleasure and
superiority over others.
Self love.
Many people see what embarrasses them in others but do not see in
themselves what embarrasses others. Their demands are only of others
and not of themselves. The logic of spiritual life is to pay attention to the
ways in which you embarrass others and not what is embarrassing to you.
Strive to that which is need by another and not to that which is needed by
you.
Self-love – is the fulfillment of the desires of your Old Testament man
that is love of your Old Testament man.
Gaze of mankind.
If you come to love God then your mind will be continually occupied
with thoughts of how to serve him and not about how to be appealing to
others. This will help free you of the heavy gaze of mankind.
Bragging, compliments
In any event a person always loses if he informs everyone of the good
deeds he has done and takes pride in it. Only he labours uselessly and
then is indignant.
63. When a person demands recognition from others that is even worse. It
is the emergence of selfishness, feelings of righteousness, flattery. As
much as possible act humbly …When a person does not react to
compliments from others and concerns himself only working for God,
then God rewards him in this life, giving to him His grace and in the
future gifts him the grace of heaven.
A person who rejoices in the compliments of others is deceived by
demons.
If you rejoice and experience a feeling of pleasure when you are
complimented and become angry and aggressive when you are corrected
or are told that something you have done is not very good, then know that
this feeling is very earthly. Your worry is earthly as is your pleasure.
A spiritually healthy person is happy if you say to him: “You did that
poorly.” because saying that you helped him see his mistake.
Vanity, arrogance.
- How do I rid myself of arrogance?
- Take a close look at yourself, and you will see that you have
nothing of your own, that you can’t do anything without God’s
help. If you come to understand that something good you are
dong comes from God – something stupid is yours alone then you
will stop believing in yourself and rid yourself of arrogance.
When we strive to elevate ourselves in the eyes of others then we
feel an inner emptiness – the fruit of vanity… When a person has
64. spiritual aspirations accompanied by vanity then his soul becomes
heavy, the other passions are not as great an obstacle in spiritual
enlightenment if we meekly call upon God’s mercy.
When we cease understanding that we are progressing with the
help of God and begin to think that we are achieving everything on
our own then God takes away His grace so that we may understand
that only wishes and efforts are ours but power and results depend on
God.
Fasting and physical work
The body submits to to soul through physical work. Fasting, being
vigilant and any other activity done because of the love of Christ and
when it is in conjunction with the battle with spiritual passions is
beneficial. If a person does not uproot his spiritual passions; pride,
jealousy, anger – but is only thoughtlessly torturing his body, the he is
only proudly feeding his passions. Spiritual passions cause us much
harm, that plumpness of the body – this is a swelling of physical pleasure
but spiritual passions – are a harmful swelling. I am not saying that
bodily sacrifice is not needed I only want people to understand the
purpose of the sacrifice which is comprised by the indulgence of their old
testament man.You need to join as follows; it is necessary to give the
body the basic necessities – sleep, food etc. The next task is to sever your
spiritual passions: похоть selfishness, jealousy etc. and then move to
withholding food, and sleep. In such circumstances the bodily sacrifice is
justified.
Conscience
With what prudence did God set up everything! He gave man a
65. conscience. Strange thing! With the help of cruelty, cunning, deceit a
person can achieve whatever he wants but in doing so is stripped of
spiritual peace. If a person is in control of his conscience then without
help from others can ascertain he has strayed from the path.
Our attention and thoughts.
Like the opponent, which at first bombs the fortifications from the air
to destroy them, and only then, under the artillery support, moves to the
offensive, similarly the demon first bombs the thoughts of a man and
after that attacks him. The demon never attacks a man, unless it first
ruins his thoughts protect a person.
You must pay attention to yourself, control yourself, when your enemy
bring you bad and evil thoughts. You must try to chase them away and
replace them with good and kind thoughts. Proceeding like this you
transform your (inner) disposition and make it kind. Of course this is not
a job for one or two days.
You should always try to include good thoughts in your work and not
be tempted by the undemanding (failings of others) but look at the
actions of others without blame and with love. When good thoughts
multiply the soul of a person is cleansed, he sees himself with grace and
peacefulness. благоговением и умиротворяется. Life of such a person
becomes heavenly.
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