Слово 79. О гордости

Temptations of God's enemies who are proud The temptations that happen by God's permission to shameless people, who in their thoughts exalt themselves before the goodness of God and insult God's goodness with their pride, are the following: obvious demonic temptations that exceed the limits of spiritual strength; taking away the power of wisdom that people have; a burning sensation within oneself of a lustful thought, allowed to affect them in order to humble their exaltation; rapid irritability; the desire to put everything according to one’s will, to argue in words, to blame; contempt of heart 621 ; a complete delusion of the mind; blasphemy against the name of God; holy fools, worthy of laughter, or better yet, tears, thoughts; and the fact that people neglect them, their honor turns into nothing, and secretly and openly, in various ways, shame and reproach from demons are inflicted on them; the desire to be in communication and dealing with the world, to constantly talk and recklessly talk idle, to always look for news, as well as false prophecies; promise much beyond one's strength. And this is the essence of spiritual temptation. Temptations of the body include: painful, ever-present, confusing, intractable adventures, constant encounters with bad and godless people; either a person falls into the hands of rapists, or his heart is suddenly, and always without reason, set in motion by fear 622; or he often suffers terrible, body-crushing falls from cliffs, from high places and from something similar; or, finally, he feels impoverished in what helps the heart with Divine power and the hope of faith; in short, everything impossible and beyond their strength befalls them and those close to them. All this, which we have outlined and listed, belongs to the temptations of pride. Their beginning appears in a person when someone begins to appear wise in his own eyes. And he goes through all these disasters as he assimilates such thoughts of pride. So, according to the nature of your temptations, draw conclusions about the ways of the subtlety of your mind. If you see that some of these temptations are mixed with the temptations mentioned before, then know that, as much as you have them, pride penetrates into you just as much. Listen also to another method 623. Every difficult circumstance and every sorrow, if there is no patience with it, leads to greater torment, because patience in a person averts disasters, and cowardice is the mother of torment. Patience is the mother of consolation and a certain strength, usually generated by the breadth of the heart. It is difficult for a person to find this strength in his sorrows without the Divine gift, acquired by the persistence of prayer and the outpouring of tears. Whenever it pleases God to subject a person to great sorrows, he allows him to fall into the hands of cowardice. And it gives rise to a force of despondency that overcomes him, in which he feels the depression of the soul, and this is a taste of Gehenna; This induces a spirit of frenzy in a person, from which thousands of temptations emanate: embarrassment, irritation, blasphemy, complaints about fate, wrong thoughts, relocation from one country to another, and the like. If you ask: “What is the reason for all this?” - then I will say: “Your negligence, because you yourself did not bother to seek a cure for this. There is only one cure for all this; with the help of only this, a person finds quick consolation in his soul.” - “What kind of medicine is this?” - “Humility of heart. Without it, no one will be able to destroy the barrier of 624 these evils; rather, he will find that his misfortunes have overcome him.” Don't be angry with me because I'm telling you the truth. You have not sought humility with all your soul. But if you want, enter its region and you will see that it will free you from your evil. For in proportion to your humility you are given patience in your troubles, and in proportion to your patience the severity of your sorrows is lightened. And you accept consolation; as your consolation increases, your love for God increases; and as your love increases, your joy in the Holy Spirit increases. Our generous Father, when He deigns to alleviate their temptations, does not take away their temptations, but gives them patience in temptations. And they accept all these blessings with the hand of their patience for the perfection of their souls. May Christ God grant us, by His grace, in a grateful heart, to endure all evil out of love for Him! Amen. A heart that despises everything, despises everything. The Greek text says, “by the fear of God.” But the Rev. Paisius does not have the last word, and we also omitted it as not corresponding to the meaning of the place. That is, a way to conclude about temptations. You might be interested in: