14. Оболочка души бывает светлою или темною соответственно внутреннему настроению. Примеры. Потемненную душу видят бесы

In addition to the previous speech, I would like to say something else about the same thing. I will tell you several experiences that the soul in its shell exactly takes on a form corresponding to its inner mood. During the life of Saint Andrew, Christ the Fool for the Fool's sake, there was a priest (from among the unmarried) in Constantinople, a faster, a solitary man, and a man of prayer. Everyone respected him. But Saint Andrew met him and saw that he was dressed in some kind of dark fog, and around his neck there was a snake entwined with the inscription “snake of the love of money.” This is what his soul was like! And yet, no one saw this. The enlightened spiritual eyes of Saint Andrew 1 saw. But among the celestials they are even more enlightened. Thus, while we think that no one sees us as we are, we are seen by a myriad of eyes. See how many stars there are in the sky! There are even more eyes turned towards us. But we ourselves can, if not see, then determine what we are like. This is what our conscience tells us—an incorruptible judge. It can be drowned out for a while, but it always manages to free itself from oppression and raise its voice, even among those who are not entirely conscientious. And among those who have not been defamed, her voice is always clear and ringing. It is and is called the voice of God in the spirit of man. It also reflects what opinion the celestials have of us or what view they have of us. So, when conscience says that we are pure in everything before God and people, then this testimony of conscience is reflected with light around our soul - and everyone from heaven sees us as bright. And if our conscience reproaches us that we are unclean, then we are visible to be dark. But the Guardian Angels always see us closer than those: some dark, some light, judging by our inner mood - constant or random. In addition to Angels and saints, dark forces also see us invisibly. Only they, when the soul is bright, cannot look at it, fearing, like bats, the light, and they look at it only when it begins to darken. They scurry around in flocks and, as soon as they notice a darkened soul somewhere, they immediately attack it indiscriminately and begin to turn it back and forth with thoughts, passionate desires and excitement of feelings. That seething region about which I spoke, which lawlessly settles between the soul and the body, is a place where demons attach themselves to the soul and begin to sweep it away like dust by the wind. They try to sneak up on bright souls, but they are reflected and struck, like an arrow, by rays of light. There was a sorcerer Cyprian in Antioch. One young man asked him to win Justina, a beautiful Christian woman, whom he wanted to marry, with his magic, but she did not even want to look at him. Cyprian several times sent demons in his service to her, so that they would stir up her love for the young man in their own way, but they approached her home, but could not go inside and, turning back, said that from there, from the inside, the light reflected and scorched them, for that Justina, like some kind of cloud, was dressed in light, and they were not able to look at her 2 . This is the best example of how bright a soul can be when it is a Christian, pure in its conscience and devoted to the Lord. With a clear conscience, the fear of God fills the soul and keeps it inviolable. Then the Lord, Who is everywhere and fulfills everything, visits that soul, and it all becomes light and shines like a star. Having remained so pure and bright, the soul passes to the next world, after leaving the body, just as bright. Saint Anthony was talking one day with his disciples and saw a strip of light rising to heaven. Having peered into it and discerned what was there, he said: “This is Saint Ammon ascending to heaven, accompanied by Angels.” So that's what you're jealous about. Do not rely on your outer appearance, for it is possible that what we see in us is different, and what we actually see in reality is different. But, of course, being is better than appearing. I remember the words of Basil the Great, who says: “The body is ours; What we have besides the body, starting with clothes, is what surrounds us. What about us? We are soul (with spirit). This is where, abstracted from everything that exists outside of us and from the body itself, we must gather ourselves, enter into ourselves, look at everything and decide: what are you, mother, our soul?” This brings us back to what we deviated a little from - namely, to the decision of what to do in order to live in the spirit and with it spiritualize the soul and body and everything external? But more on that for another time. Saint Andrew, having spoken privately with this priest, brought him to repentance, and he corrected himself. We don’t need what happened next now. Both the young man and the sorcerer turned to Christ. See Chetyi Menaion. You might be interested in: