СТРАСТИ
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1. When passions rage, it is necessary to preserve the root (of the tree) - the decision not to succumb to sin by inclining towards it, even death
Despite all our weaknesses, we believe that the Lord does not want the sinner to die and that, therefore, when we do not willingly surrender to weaknesses, He will not allow us to fall. A strong wind will bend some trees all the way to the ground, but the tree remains on the root and, as soon as the storm subsides, it straightens up. This happens from passions... Let them rage, but the root only needs to restrain itself... the root is the decision not to succumb to sin by inclination to it, even death (1, p. 21).
2. In the fight against lust: patience, self-guarding, guarding the heart, struggle and prayer
Sin begins with lust. And this thing can always be avoided. Of course, it would be better not to see or talk, but there is no possibility. Therefore, patience is required, self-care, guarding the heart and struggling with oneself. The Lord is near!.. St. John Kolov says: “When a beast approaches, I climb a tree.” We must resort to the Lord (1, pp. 21–22).
3. On the eradication of bad qualities
Anger, condemnation, lack of leniency, exactingness towards servants... - all this, of course, is not a virtue and detracts from the overall goodness of your character. Therefore, they are subject to exclusion from the list of your qualities. How to do this? Seek and you will find, ask and it will be given to you.
First: do not give way to these movements, but as soon as they appear, cut them off and suppress them, so that where they originate, they remain there, without coming out.
Second: after any discovery of these movements, repent before the Lord and cleanse your heart.
Third: discuss every such case and draw a lesson for yourself on how to avoid getting angry the next time like this. And most of all, while working like this, pray, for without the Lord you can’t do anything here (1, pp. 115–116).
4. The struggle with passions continues throughout life.
The struggle with passions is common to everyone... and lasts a lifetime. The hottest struggle occupies the middle of spiritual life. It begins with the soul’s turning to God and flares up... Then it subsides (1, p. 142).
The goal is the Kingdom of Heaven, but in order to be worthy of entering the Kingdom, one must cleanse oneself of passions and everything bad. Just as the door to the Kingdom will not open without this cleansing, it should be your immediate goal. Direct everything towards him now. The program here is simple: understand for yourself everything passionate and sinful that exists in you, and wage war against it (1, p. 204).
5. Manifestation of passions and main methods of struggle
Time... how free... Good deeds... Commandments are the norm; practice - presenting cases: it is better not to invent cases, but to do what presents itself. It seems like you can do one thing and not do another. Both rarely do without a struggle with what rebels inside and what is encountered outside. It is a big mistake to consider obstacles or resistance to doing as impossible. I cannot and must not come from the mouth of a zealot. Doing business is great wisdom, a gift from God. We need to pray about this. Confession and Holy Communion are inevitably necessary: one cleanses, the other – bath, plaster and food (1, p. 206).
The bad side will naturally weaken if the good side feeds well. But our misfortune is that the bad side does not allow the good to do what the good side feeds on; she interferes everywhere and makes her claims; and it happens that what the good side feeds on is either not done, or is not done as it should be, from which it either goes hungry or eats spoiled food... So that nothing like this happens, that is, neither interference with the nutrition of the good side, nor spoilage of what it feeds on, the zealot of salvation must constantly struggle with his bad side. The form of the fight is very simple: as soon as you notice the approaches, demands and attacks of your bad side, get up, take up a weapon and drive the enemy, and drive until there is no trace of him left. Everyone knows what the bad side is. This is egoism, selfishness, self-indulgence, self-pity - doing everything for yourself, for your own pleasure, for your own benefit and in your honor. There is no estimate for the actions in which this is performed. And there is no need for that, for an estimate. He who decides to live properly will immediately recognize the bad, no matter in what form it appears...
Sometimes it manifests itself only by thinking about something bad, when a bad object appears to the mind, sometimes by a bad feeling, sometimes by an urge to do something bad, sometimes together by a more or less strong attraction to it. Sometimes all this manifests itself nearby: a bad object appears, evokes a feeling, from the feeling an urge is born, and then an attraction... All this is unclean for the soul, but not yet sinful. Sinfulness begins with consent to bad things, which turns into the decision to do bad things, this is an internal matter; after which methods, times, places are invented... Then comes a sinful deed, from which slavery to sin and spiritual death follow. But no matter what form the bad appears, as soon as it is noticed, one must stand up and fight. Here are the main methods of struggle: recognize the enemy in the faintness that has appeared, get angry with him and strain to drive him away, calling on the Lord Savior for help; and then repeat these acts until the badness disappears and the soul calms down. With these three acts, all sickness can be driven away and overcome. It takes energy, courage and patience.
This is enough to provide general guidance for all cases. And all this, of course, you practiced and is practicing. But reconsider yourself even more mercifully... and fill in what is missing, correct what is wrong, improve what is imperfect (1, pp. 206–207)
6. The flesh will weaken - the spiritual feeling will come to life
The flesh is for destruction, the spirit is for salvation. I think that the flesh is not innocent in your cooling. I don't expect excess, but I'm happy. But even this contentment dulls the spiritual feeling and relaxes the energy. Take the trouble to tighten up this slave so that she doesn’t interfere with the mistress. How?.. I think you know! This applies to food, sleep, and other benefits. Make the flesh feel like there is a heavy hand on it. As soon as the flesh weakens, the spiritual feeling will come to life. In this regard, it means a lot not to let it fall apart, to keep all the limbs in line through the internal tension of the muscles. This greatly supports the cheerfulness of the spirit and helps the soul to stand in a sober mood (1, p. 210).
About food... Make it a law to leave the table a little hungry. The evil slave - the flesh - will feel that there is a powerful hand over it... And that wine drinking has been stopped, wonderful. This is the best way to ensure that your body is always cheerful, sober and fresh. This is a great thing (1, p. 220)!
8. Passion blinds, and the enemy allows fog in
Leo fell in love, love turned out to be hopeless, and he is tormented. Well, Leo!! And not just a simple lion, but an officer’s lion?! The other is commanded “to the right!” - and he himself reaches to the left. I would command myself “to the right”... and “march-march”... What’s the use of that? If there was hope, it would be reasonable to wait, otherwise waiting for something that you won’t get... and undoubtedly you won’t get, there’s no point! This is not love, but an evil heart disease, which the enemy attaches to and inflates. Passion blinds, and the enemy allows fog. And a person suffers, and the wonder is that he wants to suffer and does not want to leave the torment behind. And this is nonsense. But what can we do? No way. Command yourself: “Don’t squeak, I’ll crush your head...” and then stop thinking about it, throw away everything that reminds you, look for spots in this sun - and look at them more. This is quite cold water to cool the heart, especially if hopelessness depends on it. Will pass; it will attack, but not more intensely (1, p. 259).
9. Every passion has its demon
Should I use reprimand? After all, all passionate people are possessed. Every passion has its own demon, which feeds its passion, or itself, through a person. Drive him out - and the support of passion will fall away. Then what is natural, for example a habit... can be dealt with very easily (2, p. 3).
Get along with the anger little by little. Fight as much as you have the strength... Perhaps the Lord will have mercy and take away these weaknesses. And he will leave it behind you - and give thanks for it: it leads to humility. It’s not good, of course, to be angry, but when this is a consequence of temperament, then guilt here only embraces that part in which the consciousness is indifferent to these impulses. Sigh and repent every time. This is one of the everyday sins (2, pp. 81–82).
11. Cleansing the soul and body from passions
If you know what is spiritual, then everything else is either mental or physical.
There is natural soulfulness and physicality, and there is unnatural one. The latter is all expressed in passions. By extinguishing and eradicating passions, you will purify your soul and body and return it to its natural order. She will then become spiritual. All this is built by God’s grace with our efforts. The main thing is not to feel sorry for yourself... And everything will gradually re-purify itself (2, p. 148).
12. To reign over passions is the goal of life in Christ. This is accomplished by the Lord with the assistance of our will.
I remember one old man from the ancients who once exclaimed in his circle: “Rejoice with me, I am now a king!” How so? Reigned over passions. Although not everyone can proclaim so boldly, such a state in Christianity is in the order of things. That is the purpose of life in Christ. This is why it is written: If the Son frees you, you will be free indeed 214... He does this every time he sees someone prepared.
In this preparation, although He Himself is the main actor, He acts with authority only where He meets with complete surrender to Him as quick-obedient slaves. It is our joy that He does not despise the smallest beginnings of such a tradition, but as soon as the soul is moved to do so, He is here (2, pp. 168-169).
13. Instructions on the fight against lust
Try to overcome lustful passion in every possible way and never enjoy it... but drive away as soon as it appears. Drive away with the Jesus Prayer... When passion fights, eat less, sleep little and crunch... Make more bows... and sometimes beat yourself with a whip or rope on your shoulders (2, p. 236).
What they wrote about - it’s good to quit smoking. It is not only empty, but also gradually undermines health, spoiling the blood and clogging the lungs. This is a gradual poisoning of oneself. But there is no advice for this and there is no advice, except to make a stronger decision. There is no other way.
What happened to you is the enemy's mockery. To smoke or not to smoke is a matter of indifference, at least our and common conscience considers it so. But when non-smoking is bound by a promise, then it enters into the moral order and becomes a matter of conscience, the failure of which cannot but trouble it.
So the enemy has spoiled you. That's right, you had a good talk. The enemy advised you to make a decision, and then led you to break your word. That's the whole story! Please learn and continue to keep your eyes open. Why commit yourself to a vow? You have to say: “Wait, let me try to quit, God willing, I’ll manage.” Have you come across advice from the holy elders not to commit yourself to a vow? These are the kinds of cases it concerns (2, p. 240).
You write that laziness overcomes. How can this be? Manage to cheer yourself up. This weakness does not happen to anyone! You have to break yourself, and then, seeing that nothing will take you, endure this state. The Lord will give you consolation and movement, and your soul will come to life. Try to do a good deed that would require work and sacrifice... and maybe your soul will begin to play. Otherwise, endure it, there’s nothing to do. This is temporary. Sometimes from bodily weakness, sometimes from being tired of waiting (3, pp. 36–37).
16. About the fight against hostility and lust
There are two things that bring upon us the wrath of God, oppressive and oppressive: hostility towards others and lust, and the first is great space. Please take the trouble to find out everything that she has revealed herself to be in you and put a stop to it without hesitation, no matter how plausible it may seem. Instead of people, turn your hostility to what it was in you, and throw it out. Have you ever read or heard the words of the apostle: “My heart has expanded toward you”? So spread your heart, and for that you will receive what you seek and desire (3, pp. 150–151).
17. About the fight against temper
Try to bring your intention to pay all your attention and effort to extinguish your temper... Do not be embarrassed by failures or the disobedience of the heart, which is now quiet - and will immediately flare up... Break yourself and ask the Lord to break you (3, p. 160).
Who can help you deal with your temper? Manage it yourself. An outburst happens when someone allows themselves to do something against your will...desire...or command. As long as your lady is alive, you will not control your temper... It is she who commands everything. Throw her out the door and gates and punish her so that she does not dare show herself to you (3, p. 162).
18. The purpose of asceticism is to extinguish passionate thoughts and movements until they completely disappear. Envy is bad in everyday life, but even worse in spiritual things.
The main thing is to make the heart pure. It is unclean from pride, in which all passions live and act... Extinguishing passionate thoughts and movements until they completely disappear... is the goal of asceticism. Therefore, no matter what passionate thing you notice, arm yourself against it without self-pity. Correcting external behavior, of course, is good, but this is only a passing room... where galoshes and coats are tolerable... but in the living room you have to leave everything and enter in decorous attire (3, p. 160).
19. He who courageously struggles with passions draws closer to the Lord as his heart is pure
He who courageously struggles with passions, strictly fulfilling the commandments of the Lord, is, as he succeeds, purified in his heart and, as his heart is pure, draws closer to the Lord, Who promised such: We will come to him and make our abode with him 215 (3, p. 165).
20. About the spiritual erection of the cross (in the heart)
And now the exaltation of the Lord’s Cross. Then they erected the cross on a high place so that all the people could see and honor it. In memory of this, a cross is now erected in churches in monasteries. But all this is external. There is a spiritual erection of the cross in the heart. It happens when someone firmly decides on self-crucifixion or the mortification of their passions, which is so essential in Christians that, according to the Apostle, they alone are Christ’s who have crucified their flesh with passions and lusts. Having erected this cross within themselves, Christians keep it erected throughout their lives. Is this so, let every Christian soul ask itself and listen to what answer its conscience gives in its heart. Oh, don’t let us hear: “You only create pleasures for the flesh in lust, your cross is not erected, it is thrown into the pit of passions and rots there in neglect and contempt!” When the Lord was taken down from the Cross, the Cross remained on Golgotha, and then it was thrown into the pit that was there, where these instruments of execution were thrown along with all other rubbish. Soon Jerusalem was destroyed and all its buildings were razed to the ground.
The hole where the Cross of the Lord was thrown was also filled up. When the city was restored by the pagans (the Jews were forbidden to approach the place where it was), it so happened that in the place where the Cross of the Lord was hidden, they erected an idol of Venus, the pagan goddess of fornication and all lusts. The enemy told them so. The same thing happens with our internal cross. When the enemy destroys the spiritual structure in the soul, this mental Jerusalem of ours, then the spiritual cross is thrown down from the heights of Golgotha of the heart and is covered with rubbish of pleasures and lusts, and lustful self-indulgence, like a tower, rises above our entire inner world, and everything in us worships him and follows his beckons until grace illuminates, inspires us to overthrow this idol and erect a cross of self-crucifixion (3, pp. 165–166).
21. About the means of combating carnal passions: which passion should we fight first?
We would like to know what your main passion is... To this end, I will remind you of a legend about one ascetic who asked his elder a similar question, namely: “Which passion should you fight first?” The elder replied: “Fight the one who is fighting you now, and there will be no time to find out what is the main thing for you...” (3, pp. 175-176).
22. There should be no envy in the spiritual realm - everything is available in the spiritual realm
And envy!!! How can she be in a spiritual kind of action?! – Because in the spiritual order everything is accessible to everyone... Did you see anyone who is spiritually superior to you? Put in the work and you can get the same. But in everyday life, not everything is accessible to everyone. So they take envy (3, p. 176).
23. About female cleansing and the passionate dreams that occur during this process
What are you talking about monthly bleeding... why don’t you ask your spiritual father? I am not familiar with this matter, but in general I judge this: these bleedings are not mental uncleanness, spiritual, but material uncleanness - bodily... After them, it is enough to wash yourself completely so that no trace remains, and change your linen, and wash your hands... And then do with a clear conscience everything that you prescribed, asking if it is possible! Passionate dreams in a dream before bleeding are not considered a sin, because these dreams are involuntary... But one must lament and grieve over them... Why do they come from the soul? If consent is given in a dream... and this is not a problem, but the conscience is more burdened... therefore, if possible, it is good to reveal this to the confessor... The conscience will be calmer. That you repented in a dream, why... this is good. Sim cleanses what is unclean here. Pray to God for everything, that He will deliver you from these cases (3, p. 178).
24. Dispersion of thoughts, carnality and rest with food or sleep are the enemies of prayer and spiritual life
Above all, watch out for entertaining thoughts and breaking them up, and for passionate movements. Dispersion of thoughts and any carnality or rest with food and sleep are the first enemies, and irritation is always with them. Run away from the slightest movement of displeasure (3, p. 207).
25. About the fight against self-pity and pleasing the flesh
You complain about self-pity, and you can’t help but complain about it. This is the most flattering friend who is not angry, but out of his blindness always offers bad advice, which, however, seems so pleasant that he lacks the strength to go against it. That is why we have self-indulgence, and through self-indulgence the self becomes fatter and expands its circle more and more. You set the intention to take up the renunciation of the pleasures of the flesh. Bless, Lord. But, feeling your powerlessness, you turn for strength to the wrong place. Turn to where St. draws his strength. Paul, who confessed: I can do all things in the Lord who strengthens me 216 (Phil. 4:13). For your part, take the trouble to instill in yourself a fierce anger towards the flesh and a thirst to torture and kill it, in the confidence that this is the stomach. And this part will go well with you (3, pp. 220–221).
26. Should not be afraid of the envy of others
Don't be angry with the one who envies you. Her enemy confuses her, but she does not see, pray for her. And what lures sisters away should be joyful, because it means your sisters are so good that they want to have them. Let them go. God will send you the best (3, p. 227).
27. Good reasoning and harmful language
Any cases that are out of the ordinary greatly irritate the feelings and raise a storm of thoughts; This includes the news... After all, it’s invisible?! So, as soon as you notice, push away or move from your heart everything that troubles you and then, by reasoning, determine whether and to what extent it is worth talking about it, and then do this without indulging the linguistic problem. Sometimes vanity forces us to talk about this - to express our wise judgment about the case. Here it’s better not to talk at all (3, p. 232).
28. About restraining yourself from angry words and thoughts
Not uttering an angry word is a great perfection. May Elder Hilarion help you. The basis of this is the absence of irritability of the heart, and it, like a spark, is filled with surrendering oneself to the will of God, with the consciousness that God allows troubles to test us and show us how strong our good inner direction is... which obliges us to behave in such cases complacently, believing that God Himself is looking at us at this moment. And your idea that those who cause us trouble are tools of the enemy is correct. Why, when someone causes you trouble, always believe that there is an enemy behind them, inciting them and instilling offensive phrases and deeds in them (3, p. 245).
29. Suggestion to fight passions and complacently endure slander
And passionate thoughts, and not just passionate movements, must be driven away and suppressed; there is nothing to say about such matters.
Our passions are some lustful, others hostile. Both are yours, and drive them away without giving in to them... This is the main point of monasticism.
“They slandered you”... even though it’s not your fault. We must be patient. And this will take the place of penance for what you consider yourself to be guilty of... Slander is therefore the mercy of God for you... You must certainly make peace with those who slandered you, no matter how difficult it may be.
You cannot be saved with hostile feelings, just like with lustful ones.
We must stand firm in self-sacrifice and resistance to our unkind feelings.
Then there will be no sorrow. And as long as you are kind, the sorrow will not cease (3, pp. 250–251).
You were relaxing at the dacha. I really wanted you to be strengthened and refreshed. When would my wish come true?! Your companions, or hangers-on (little patience and resignation, pride, irritability, vanity, idle talk, slander, intemperance in words and in food, and above all laziness in prayer), of course, cannot be praised, but the good thing is that they are noticed and not only noticed, but also put on display, which these ladies cannot tolerate. Every evening you report them to the Lord, when, having reviewed everything that has broken through during the day, you say: “Lord! You see everything! Forgive me and give me the ability not to slip in this.”
If you do this, then one by one they will forget your doors. Just prick one of them right away, burn it and scatter the ashes to the wind... This is laziness towards prayer. Get angry with her and destroy her right now so that her spirit does not smell.
If it breaks through, but is driven away every time, then this is nothing, and there is no need to talk about it. And if an indulgence is made to her, then the hostess is all to blame... for not sparing her goods... From frequent indulgences, prayer will completely weaken, and the prayer rule will turn into a lifeless form, and spiritual life will freeze (4, p. 3).
31. Vanity must be torn out internally, not externally. Vanity is consumed by the fire of God's presence
Are you asking how to uproot vanity with this type of action? Vanity must be torn out internally, not externally. Without this, dig a hole deep to the very center of the earth and hide - vanity will find food for itself there. We must strengthen the fear of God and confirm our walk before God. The fire of God's presence will burn away vanity (4, p. 16).
32. How to avoid getting angry
The first method against anger is the silence of the mouth. Do not speak when your soul is restless, but calm down in advance and then talk, indicating how to do what. Eliminate the idea that the servant is deliberately not doing well or does not want to do what you want, and think that he wants and tries, but that the skill is lacking, then it is not intentionally that a mistake or omission slips through.
Put it not every time, but on the third or fifth time... And another thing is this: spiritual healing is not mechanical... but everything comes from will, from personal determinations and the exertion of one’s strength. Having established yourself in such a conviction, you will not wait for deliverance, but everything from yourself with God’s help and from the exertion of your efforts, and try not to get angry, no matter what. Bless you, Lord, for this work. Indifference is evidence of the great pacification of the self and the power of humility (4, p. 28).
33. About the fight against lust and anger
Lust and anger are not attributes of nature, but consequences of its depravity. He who conquers them does not conquer nature, but destroys the corruption of nature and elevates it to his natural rank.
In fact, this corruption appears in different degrees: for others, there is almost no lust and anger at all, the mercy of God; while others have them more ferocious than all animals. The latter, if they defeat them, will receive the crown of martyrdom, but the former will receive nothing for their lack of anger and reluctance. So, if you please, overcome your anger, seeing the crown of martyrdom ahead (4, p. 30).
But you still get angry. I see that the reason for this is that you don’t want to sacrifice anything from your established neatness... This is your sore. Drive her away, the worthless one, and you will have peace of mind. Show self-sacrifice, for here is the whole self, with arms and legs (4, pp. 41–42).
You are overcome by anger and satiety. Anger is becoming to your honor and not at all becoming to a blueberry. How about satiety? This is not a master's business at all... Hence the extra juices... and so on... the road is straight. Watch out!
Read St. Gregory Palamu... and everything in this volume comes to you! Delve into it and apply it to yourself (4, p. 100)!
36. How sin begins and matures
I'll tell you when sin begins. This is how temptation goes. 1. Something bad appears in your thoughts, or the eye sees something, and what you see awakens unkind thoughts! This is a preposition or an adjective. There is no sinner here, for both of them involuntarily attack. If you immediately, as soon as you realize that this is bad, resist it and turn to the Lord, you will do what is right - a spiritual feat. But if you do not resist, but begin to think and think, without resisting, without hating, without turning away, then this is not good. The soul was shaken. There is no sin here yet, but a step towards sin has been taken. There are bad, persistent thoughts. Let them be the enemy’s business... But as long as you don’t show them the slightest favor, but immediately turn away and stand in this disgust, then you are in a good position. So, first of all, are you having bad thoughts? - to drive, they came again - to drive again, and so on without ceasing until they leave. When they retreat, it means: the enemy has fled. But he will approach again... Then do the same thing again...
This is how the ascetic fathers determined that as soon as someone drives away the first bad thought - an excuse, an attack, then he stops the abuse (4, pp. 101-102).
37. Word while carnal warfare continues
The main thing is not to allow sympathy and not to allow even one iota of co-indulgence with sweetness... Then hostility to this sweetness should follow... When this is there, purity is not violated and there is no shadow of impurity... Grant you, Lord, to always be at this degree. You must always end with a prayer to the Lord (4, p. 104).
38. Approval of someone struggling with carnal passion
The body must be subjected to discipline, strict, soldierly... I wrote to you about this at the beginning... Do not stop not only not sparing the body, but also tyrannizing it... do not give it food, always stopping eating when hunger is still felt... and diminish sleep... Some kind of bodily work until fatigue would be good... As soon as the body gets a little dry and cools down... then those worries will stop completely... Anxiety from juices, and juices from food... When this source will cease... and there will be no work (4, pp. 105–106).
39. The danger of carnal pleasures for Christians
Joy is not from outside, but from the entire moral and religious order. For us, Christians, it is born by the confession of great blessings from the birth of the Son of God in the flesh, with the acceptance of our nature, and it grows and strengthens by remaining in the order of sonship to God, through the putting on of Christ the Lord mysteriously in Baptism or Repentance and effectively in life... The Lord received our flesh from virgin blood. Since we, by virtue of the incarnate economy, are one with the Lord, virginity has become a distinctive feature of our Christian character - virginity in thoughts and feelings and in the state of the flesh. Carnal pleasure has become a denial of Christianity within us. And nothing suppresses spiritual joy now... like this sweetness. And the enemy whispers as if it’s nothing (4, p. 106).
40. About the fight against carnal temptations
As for your inner self, I am very glad that you are fighting... Do not allow sympathy, much less agreement... Always pursue complete hostility from the first movement... just as you meet a snake. If you now deepen your hostility towards this, you will soon calm down... and you will be safe all your life. Look up to the Lord every time... saying: “Lord! You see what’s in me and that I don’t want this... Help me and calm me down...” (4, p. 107).
41. A fulcrum in the fight against carnal temptations
You have made me incredibly happy that you have finally found a foothold in your war. Always stick to this technique... pursue the first occurrence. To prevent the occurrence itself, keep your body in line, standing, sitting, and lying down... do not loosen your limbs... In your soul, keep the memory of God... with fear. How can we allow this to happen in the presence of God?.. This will envelop the entire body with cold (4, p. 108).
What convictions have you learned from temptations, keep them and watch yourself like the apple of your eye... Have enmity and irreconcilable hostility towards the flesh... and pursue its self-will... Do not give it peace in anything (4, p. 111).
I am very glad that you are finding peace. Now we have seen the tricks of the enemy and what he is aiming for... You know and what needs to be opposed... You have clearly noted that there should be no permission and complacency and that anger must be raised as quickly as possible... We must pray to the Lord for this! The fact that you are trying to hide what you are doing in the struggle is very good... And here is part of the success and the power of the work... You yourself have decided to watch and pray... And do this more than anything else (4, pp. 108-109).
43. Indulgence of passion and reproof for this
Sympathy left unrewarded means consent to impurity. Consent is an internal sin, cleansed by Confession. And please do so. Then watch. You know what is required. Fight back with anger and prayer. Tie a thick rosary... and around the shoulders - painfully.
Your indulgence is the same as if the bride, after getting engaged, kissed a guy - not the groom. Whatever the groom would do with such a bride, the Lord does with the soul that has promised itself to the Lord for such an indulgence. Conscience expresses His feelings towards you. Beware! One of the shortcomings of the five holy fools was this indulgence. You can’t joke with this indulgence... It seems light and insignificant, but all the destruction is in it... Kindly wean yourself completely from this... And at the first appearance of a thought, drive mercilessly... until sobering up (4, pp. 125-126).
44. Vanity is a many-headed serpent
You say that the spirit of vanity attacks. Beware. This is a many-headed serpent. Sometimes it turns into humility itself. Read more carefully from Climacus about humility and vanity and sort everything out for yourself, and from the means indicated there, choose those that are suitable for you and implement them. Vanity is subtle, but it always coarsens the soul. And the Lord soon takes away grace from those who indulge vain thoughts and allows them to fall. How long until trouble? Pay attention to yourself (4, p. 184).
45. Vanity is a house thief. Examples of fighting it
Not sitting down in church is good. And when vanity comes, sit down deliberately so that when you begin to feel vanity, you can say to your thoughts: “I was sitting there myself.” One father, when the thought of vanity came that he was fasting a lot, went out early to where there were a lot of people, sat down and began to eat bread. In Kyiv, someone fasted a lot and kept himself alone. The thought of vanity came, followed by other temptations. He told the late elder Parthenius about this. He gave him money and sent him to the market. “Buy,” he says, “a liver and eat it there in front of everyone.” He did this, and all temptations passed away. This is how the fathers feared and ran away from vanity. Often you criticize yourself from this side. The trouble is considerable! This, they say, is a domestic thief who is in conspiracy with outdoor thieves. He opens windows and doors for them, they enter and create great devastation within. Who knows? Perhaps that darkness that happened to you and passed away immediately after you prayed is an enemy’s trick to give rise to proud thoughts: what a prayer book! As I prayed, all the demons fled.
Remember: if you had thoughts of vanity after that, then know that it is the enemy who wants to piss you off. Be careful that the enemy doesn’t turn it into harm because you don’t read prayers, but follow the rule of worship. There goes the spiritual sweets! All this is lovely (4, pp. 195–196).
46. Clearing on the path in spiritual life
Measure yourself not by exploits, but by the fading of passions. Anything that freezes is a step forward. And when everyone is gone, then say: “Thank God! I got out into the clearing, now I’ll walk more calmly, otherwise I’m all torn up, walking among the thorns along the thorns (4, pp. 214–215).
47. About the fight against irritability
Irritability must be fought. The first step is not to give in... to grit your teeth and move away... Every time you pray until you cry... you can use a tourniquet on your shoulders. God will have mercy and heal. Such irritability belongs to the temperament and can only be destroyed through transformation, and this is God’s work. But God will not do it until he sees our own painful labor (4, pp. 249–250).
48. Passions as an obstacle to the spirit’s inflaming with love for God. They must be expelled
When your heart is warmed by the warmth of God, from that time your inner transformation will begin. That flame will burn and melt everything in you, in other words, it will begin to spiritualize everything until it completely spiritualizes you. Until that light comes, there will be no spiritualization, no matter how much you strain towards the spiritual.
Therefore, now the whole point is to get a light. And if you please, direct all your work towards this.
But know this, that the light will not appear while the passions are strong, even though they are not favored. Passions are the same as dampness in firewood. Wet wood does not burn. You need to bring some dry wood from the side and light it. As they burn, they will begin to dry out the dampness and, as they dry out, light the damp wood. So little by little the fire, driving away the dampness and spreading, will engulf all the wood laid in flames.
Our firewood is all the powers of our soul and all the functions of the body. All of them, until a person pays attention to himself, are saturated with dampness - passions and, until the passions are expelled, they stubbornly resist spiritual fire. Remember, when depicting to you what is in us, I wrote that there is some kind of disorderly, seething area in us, in which thoughts, desires and feelings are disorderly, like dust thrown up by passions. I place this area between the soul and the body, meaning that passions do not belong to nature, but are alien. But they do not remain here in between, but pass into both the soul and the body, taking the spirit itself - consciousness and freedom - into their power and thus dominate the entire person. Just as they are in a strike with demons, then through them the demons dominate over a person who dreams, however, that he is his own master.
What breaks out of these bonds first of all is the spirit. The grace of God pours out. The spirit, filled under the influence of grace with the fear of God, breaks off all connection with passions and, having repented of the past, sets the firm intention to please the One God and to live for Him alone, walking in His commandments. Standing in this determination, the spirit, with the help of God’s grace, then expels passions from the soul and body and spiritualizes everything within itself. So the spirit in you has been torn out from the bonds that held it. With your consciousness and will you stand on the side of God. You want to belong to God and please Him alone. This is the fulcrum for your activities in the spirit. But while your spirit is restored to its rights, your soul and body remain under the influence of passions and suffer violence from them. All you have to do now is to arm yourself against the passions and beat them - drive them out of your soul and body. The struggle with passions is inevitable. They will not give up their possessions on their own, even if they are illegal (9, pp. 189–191).
Before this, I explained everything to you about the memory of God, about being with God and walking before Him. And you marveled: why am I always talking about one thing? The memory of God is the life of the spirit. It ignites zeal for pleasing God, and makes your determination to be God’s unshakable. This, I repeat again, is the fulcrum for life in the spirit and, I will add, the basis of your strategic operations against passions.
Ask: how is this so? When I turned my attention and desire to God, what place do passions have here? But why ask? Look, you still have them in you? You recently wrote that you were very angry. Isn't this passion? But she doesn’t exist alone, there is pride, and her own will, and contempt. And before that they remembered that they had refused something to someone who asked. What is this? Not stinginess? Also: you mentioned that you can’t stand a certain person. Isn't this passion? Why do you like to sleep? Isn’t that a passion for body love? And this was still revealed in passing, but dig deeper into yourself - you won’t find something there.
So there's no point in asking. You probably know that passions are in you and that they must be expelled, because their presence is illegal and harmful, since they interfere with further success in spiritual life. And take up arms against them. Don't be shy. The matter is very simple: two or three techniques - and that’s it (9, pp. 191–192).
49. About the fight against passions
Passions are in us, but they have no independence in us. The mind, for example, is an essential part of the soul, and it cannot be taken away without destroying the soul. But passions are not like that. They have entered into our nature and can be expelled from it without preventing a person from being a person, but, on the contrary, having been expelled, they leave a person as a real person, while with their presence they spoil him and make him into a person, in many cases worse than animals. When they possess a person and a person loves them, they become so close to human nature that when a person acts on them, it seems as if he is acting from his nature. It seems so because a person, having submitted to them, acts on them self-willingly and is even convinced that it is impossible otherwise: nature.
All of them (passions) come from self-indulgence, selfishness, self-love and are based on them.
As soon as, having denied himself, a person is inspired by the determination to please the One God, then in this very act of spiritual passion everyone loses their support, becomes outside the consciousness and will that they previously possessed. Having lost their support, they are already deprived of their former determining force, by which a person was drawn after them, like a donkey on a scrap of paper after its owner. Previously, as soon as a passionate impulse appeared, a person immediately rushed with all his strength to satisfy it, but now it’s not the same. They still show themselves, but instead of rushing to please them as quickly as possible, man rebuffs them and drives them out of his sight.
This is what is now in you, after you have so fervently set out to work for the Lord, without sparing yourself. Passions, however, have not yet had time to grow in you and become stronger; but they were all there, and you acted on them, not realizing that you were going against yourself, and even sometimes boasting of your, for example, noble indignation or your noble pride, while in a noble form they are just as ignoble as in any other. They existed before and sometimes took possession of you almost without your consciousness, they will appear now, but they should not take possession of you. I would say: they won’t, because now by your decision all their power has been stopped - stopped at the same time as you decided not to spare yourself for God. But I don’t know how this matter will go for you, because it is not only necessary to lay it down, but also to fulfill it—to fulfill it constantly, without concession. Self-pity is so flattering, passions sometimes take on such plausibility that it would not be surprising if you again work with passions in the old way, although not so clearly recognizing and noticing this.
You see from this that, despite the fact that you have already decided to please the One God and have clearly understood for yourself what the will of God, holy and perfect, requires of you, you must strictly adhere to the following rules: be careful how dangerously you walk, not as if you are not wise, but as if you are wise; time is redeeming, for the days are evil 217 (Eph. 5:15-16). These evil days are an evil time, an evil state and position in which we are due to the evil passions that are evil within us. Be sober and watchful (1 Pet. 5:8), watch, watch and pray (Mark 13:33).
What is it to watch over and watch out for? Keep a watchful eye so that no passion creeps in, and be careful that it does not deceive you and force you to do anything to please it - big or small. Even though you will unnoticedly follow a passionate path and do not deliberately do something about it, it will all be a bad thing, done to please the enemy, and not God.
You must arrange yourself in such a way that the enemy does not profit from anything around you, even the slightest. And for this purpose be vigilant, vigilant, sober and watchful.
All these actions mean one thing: watch out for the enemy to sneak up. To be vigilant and awake means not to sleep, not to indulge in negligence, but to keep both soul and body in tension. To be sober means not to attach your heart to anything other than God. This clinging makes the soul drunk, and it begins to do not know what. To watch means to strictly watch so that nothing evil appears in the heart. When you, keeping your strength in tension and not putting your heart into anything, keep a watchful eye on everything that is happening inside, then you will truly fulfill the Lord’s and apostolic instructions given above - you will stand on guard.
This is the first thing in the fight against passions. As soon as the enemy is seen and missed, then expect either a wound or complete defeat. An enemy who is noticed is not terrible. Just threaten and he will run. Such is the trick of our spiritual enemies that as soon as they see that they are open, they will now run away, although this, of course, does not always happen. There are also mischievous people here who, no matter what, keep climbing and climbing (9, pp. 192–195).
Let's assume that you guard your heart. Will you be careful?
First, I will say that you have the opportunity to be careful. When it’s dark, you won’t notice a big thing, but when it’s light, then a small one catches your eye by itself. It is dark in the soul until it turns to God, but lives in self-indulgence; when she turns to God, light enters her, and the thought of God, like the sun, illuminates everything in her. He who lives in self-indulgence has nothing to say: be careful that no passion creeps in, because self-indulgence is the den of all passions: it accepts them, and covers them, and justifies them, and does what pleases them without interference. But whoever turned to God and, denying himself, set out to please God, by this very fact he sees what is not pleasing to God, and immediately notices it. Everything that is passionate is not pleasing to God, because passions are all contrary to the commandments of God, which alone are pleasing to God, since they express His will. So you decided, without sparing yourself, to please God, and thereby dispersed the darkness of your soul and received light in your spirit. If you do what is written to you about the memory of God, then the spiritual sun will shine in you.
It has become very possible for you to see if something passionate approaches you.
Secondly, I will say that you have prepared for this. When, before Confession, you reconsidered yourself and clarified the appropriate course of action for you in the future, then in this action you outlined what you should avoid. What one should avoid is the realm of passions, which always oppose what one should do. One must be humble, but passion teaches pride and vanity; you have to be meek, but passion makes you angry and angry; one must rejoice in the well-being of others, but passion arouses envy; one must forgive an insult, but passion kindles revenge. Likewise, one’s passionate feeling and movement resists everything worthwhile. You have clarified all this for yourself and are sealed with a determination and vow to do one thing that should be done, and what should not be done, i.e. passionate, reject everything. I’m saying that for this very reason you are ready not only to watch over yourself, but also to watch out - to notice any creeping passion (9, pp. 195-196).
Unless this is why your guarding yourself will be unsuccessful, because passion is not always suitable in its crude form, but is often presented in such a plausible form that you will not even guess that it is passion, but will think that it is something good. Anger, for example, when it ignites, everyone can see that it is passion. But he does not always appear in his rude form, and often comes in the form of noble indignation. Likewise, every passion has the custom of dressing itself in appearance and presenting itself as noble. You are noble and can very easily be caught in this bait. Look! We must reject everything passionate in its smallest manifestations and in its subtlest features. Reject?! Therefore, notice and do not let inside.
But what can we do? After all, he will sneak under the guise of such plausibility! Firstly, if you wholeheartedly turned to God and completely surrendered yourself to Him, then He will never leave you without admonition. His Guardian Angel will always give you a warning thought. Pay attention to yourself and listen to the voice that denounces what is wrong.
Secondly, when you begin to struggle with passions - and you have already begun it - then you will begin or have already begun to develop spiritual experience - the ability to immediately distinguish right from wrong. Just be sure not to miss anything that is conscious of passion, no matter how small and conducive to indulgence it may appear. If you do this without pity, your experience will soon increase. St. Paul mentions in one place the senses trained in the judgment of good and evil (see Heb. 5:14). This is what you get. Just as taste distinguishes between dishes, so the heart, trained by its feelings, will say what is good and what is bad. You will say: for now you will learn, but then everything passionate will slip and slip. It is true that this happens, and it will happen to you. But you, of course, will not allow any passion in its rough form. Stand firm on this. And if something passionate steals in, God will not punish you for it. He punishes only for what is deliberately omitted from the passionate, and what slips through unnoticed, he does not punish for it.
Whatever passionate thing was unnoticeably missed, and then realized that it should not have happened, cleanse it with repentance before the Lord and together consider how it crept in and take measures for the future. And through this you will learn how to deal with passions and everything passionate.
But there is one technique that, if you adhere to with all attention, then rarely anything passionate will slip through unnoticed, namely: discuss your thoughts and feelings, where they are heading, whether to please God or to self-pleasure. This is not at all difficult to determine. Just pay attention to yourself. Know that as long as you do something contrary to self-indulgence, then there is no mistake. One elder told his disciple: “Be careful not to keep a traitor with you.” "Who is a traitor?" - asked the student. “Self-indulgence,” answered the elder. And exactly. It is the cause of all troubles. If you take it apart, you will see that all the bad things that happened came from him. Therefore, if you go against him with unyielding determination, then you will probably not allow anything improper to happen (9, pp. 195–198).
50. The slightest movement of passions must be banished
The benefits of your position in relation to passions.
You have lived little and have not yet had time to become deeply passionate. Although passions are all there in you, they are still like young children: weak and perhaps only annoying. This is of great benefit to you; because in many, many cases it is enough for you to just notice something passionate in order to turn away from it or drive it away. Not like those who lived a long time and satisfied their passions a lot. There they roar like lions and rush at those who rise up against them with fierceness. But there is also a considerable disadvantage in this - namely, that for the sake of the ease of passionate thoughts, feelings and movements, you can be indifferent to them, thinking: it’s not a big deal, it will pass by itself, you won’t catch up with every little thing! This thought, so natural in you, is dangerous. To act this way means to leave passionate feelings and movements to their will to grow and strengthen. They will grow stronger and from small ones they will become big. Then they will no longer turn back from one unfavorable glance from you (9, pp. 198–199).
From here, if you please, draw the following conclusion: no matter how small and weak the passionate may appear, it should be treated as the largest and strongest. When you drink water, you take out even the slightest fly that gets there; when you splinter your finger, even if the splinter is barely visible due to its small size, you rush to get rid of the anxiety it causes; When the slightest bit of powder gets into your eye and clouds your eye, you go to great trouble to quickly clear it from your eye. So make it a law for yourself to act in relation to passions: no matter how small the form they appear, hasten to drive them out, and so ruthlessly that not a trace of them remains.
How to kick out? By a movement of anger that is hostile to them, or by being angry with them. As soon as you notice something passionate, quickly try to arouse your anger at it. This anger is a decisive rejection of the passionate. The passionate cannot be held in any other way than by sympathy for it; and by anger all passionate sympathy is destroyed and departs or disappears at its first appearance. And only where anger is permissible and useful. I find among all the holy fathers that anger was given for this reason, so that they could arm themselves against passionate and sinful movements of the heart and drive them away. Here they also include the words of the prophet David: be angry and do not sin (Ps. 4:5), repeated later by the holy Apostle Paul (see Eph. 4:26). Be angry at passion and you will not sin, because when passion is driven away by anger, every reason for sin is stopped.
So arm yourself with passion. Anger at passion must be ingrained in you from the moment you decide to work diligently for the Lord, doing what is pleasing in His sight. Here you have a covenant with God for all eternity. The essence of the union is this: your friends are my friends, your enemies are my enemies. And what are passions for God? Enemies. Throughout the Word of God, God’s complete displeasure towards them is declared. God opposes the proud; love of money - idolatry; people-pleasers scattering the bones of God, etc., etc. Therefore, the apostle prescribed to Christians about the passions: below, let them be called in you 218 (Eph. 5:3). So, in order, anger at passions should be kindled in you as soon as they appear. But due to our damage, this is not always the case. Why does anger at passions require a special free, intentionally directed, hostile action, effort, tension.
In order to succeed in this, one must, after noticing what is passionate in oneself, hasten to recognize and recognize it as an enemy to oneself and to God. Why is there a need to hurry? Because from the first time the appearance of a passionate person always evokes sympathy for him.
For self-indulgence still lives secretly in us for a long time even after we have clearly rejected ourselves and betrayed ourselves to God and do not want to violate this decision one iota. This secret self-indulgence, or selfishness, is always met with favor by the passionate, which favor is expressed by greater or lesser sympathy for it. So we need to repel this sympathy and arouse anger. Both are mediated and promoted by the consciousness and recognition of the enemy in the passionate thought or movement that appears, no matter how flattering they may be. Once the hostility of passion is recognized, it is not at all surprising to become angry with it. This anger arises naturally.
Consciousness in a passionate enemy does not require much puzzling work. It is enough to restore the conviction that God does not favor everything passionate; Therefore, he does not favor everyone who accepts and cherishes the passionate within themselves. Therefore, passionate God rebels against us and drives us away from Him. And this is our ultimate ruin. These thoughts and convictions instantly shine in the consciousness of the attentive person and immediately respond in the heart to hostility towards the passionate, anger and anger towards him. But don’t flounder with a passionate person, coming up with various charges against him. The success of this is very doubtful. Meanwhile, while you are going through all the indictments, the defendant - passion - is sitting right there, even in the dock, and is still holding on to his lawyer - sympathy. And this means holding in oneself arbitrarily impurity, which is dangerous. No, put it without any reasoning: as soon as you notice something passionate in yourself, immediately recognize it as an enemy and become angry with him (9, pp. 199–202).
51. Different degrees of development of passion: passionate thoughts, feelings, desires and actions. Fight them
That passionate things show up in us is not an inevitable misfortune. This means we are unclean, but does not make us guilty. Our guilt begins with how favorably we react to the noticed passion, i.e. Let us not rush to recognize him as an enemy and not arm ourselves with anger against him, but, on the contrary, let us accept him and begin to admire him, enjoying the movement in which he appeared. This will already show that we are not averse to being friends with the passionate - and, therefore, enemies of God. For all carnal wisdom - passionate - is enmity against God 219 (Rom. 8:7).
Where arbitrariness begins, guilt also begins, which grows as it deepens into the passionate (9, p. 202).
Our usual state is this: thoughts wander here and there, feelings and desires, although they sway, are without a definite direction. This happens all the time. Sometimes whole days go by like this. These thoughts are mostly vain, attached to current everyday affairs and improvised activities. Between them there is often idle thinking or a dream of not knowing what. And empty and vain thoughts mostly crowd on the surface of the soul. How to tame and streamline this confusion of thoughts, which prevents you from remembering God and Divine things, has already been explained to you more than once (9, pp. 202–203).
But look: one object has somehow become special among the others and requires attention. Notice this moment: it has become and requires attention. And never let it pass without attention. Now do the interrogation: who is he, where is he from and what does he want? You yourself will immediately find the answers to this by looking only at what has presented itself. Let's say this is the face of a person who once insulted you. It is obvious that someone wants, by occupying your attention with this person and his deeds, to drive you to indignation, anger, and even a desire for revenge. This is how it will happen if you don’t take the proper measures. What measures should be taken to drive away this idea? What it wants to bring you to is a bad state. Therefore, he is your enemy. Treat him with hostility too, i.e. conduct it not with honor - with the method that was discussed last time, namely, with angry rejection.
If you do this, you will completely disrupt the enemy's ruse or network. But if you focus your attention on the face that presents itself, then it, at first bare and isolated, will be surrounded by many other thoughts and images that will paint in your imagination a very vivid picture of how this person insulted you, with all the connections of that incident. Along with this, the old feeling of insult, indignation and anger will rise in the heart. A passionate object or thought about it gave rise to a passionate feeling. The passion went deeper. If you come to your senses and realize that you are doing something bad by allowing yourself to flare up with passion, then, of course, you will see the enemy in this too and treat him with hostility, expelling the bad feeling from your heart and driving out of your thoughts the very object that gave rise to it. The confusion will pass, and peace of mind will be restored (9, pp. 203–204).
But if you don’t do this, then others will approach the already insurgent passionate feeling and stir it up. They will start to explain to you: how dare he? And what kind of great person is he? I myself am no worse than him. No, it can't be left like that. And I don’t know how I missed it then. If you let everyone down like that, then you can’t live. We must certainly prove to him that he cannot do this with impunity. And the desire to take revenge, big or small, is all the same - you have it ready. The passion went even deeper. This is already the third stage. If you come to your senses here too, you can drive away the desire. For desire does not mean determination. It comes one minute, and the next it can go away. Do this and you will do good; If you don’t act, your fear will go further.
Notice: thought gave birth to feeling, thought and feeling gave birth to desire. The soul is full of passion. But all these are still mental impurities and sins. There's still a long way to go. Between desire and deed there is always a determination to do something with consideration of how to carry it out. How determination is formed is not always visible. It already exists in a weak form in desire; then it grows along with thinking about the matter, i.e. selection of means and establishment of methods and circumstances. When everything is thought out, the determination is completed. Then the work inside is already done. Before the face of God and conscience, sin has already been committed: the commandments are despised, conscience is trampled upon. Sometimes a lot of time passes from wish to decision to thinking about the matter. The fear of God comes, the commandments are remembered, and the conscience is not silent. But all their saving suggestions are rejected with contempt. Therefore, in determination there is already a crime and a sin. Thought, feeling and desire, although they have already occupied the whole soul, still seem to be happening on the surface of the soul. There is no inclination towards sin yet, but only a urge to do so.
The slope begins from the moment the soul begins to consider whether and how passion can be satisfied. Here the soul already enters the path of sin.
When determination is formed, freedom is bound, the soul feels as if it is absolutely necessary to do what is planned. But there is no need for this. This is some kind of internal self-deception going on. What was decided may remain unfulfilled due to unexpected obstacles. It may also be abandoned because a person will decide to commit it himself for some reason or out of conscience and fear of God, if they have to rise up fully armed with their strength.
Finally, everything was settled - and the job was done. You took your revenge as you intended. The passion is satisfied, the sin is finally done. What has been added here to the previously matured determination? As if it was nothing, because here only a plan that had already been thought out was being carried out. So it seems; but, in essence, crime here increases to the extreme.
First. The fear of God and conscience were hitherto only rejected and disrespected, but now they are trampled upon. Until now, it was like how a mother persuades her son not to do something bad, and he pushes her away with his hand or runs away from her, but now it’s like how a son, in response to his mother’s persuasion, hits her in the chest or face.
Second. Now the internal matter is introduced during external events and must be accompanied by its consequences, also external - everyday. You cannot erase it with a pen or a negative word from the circle of events. It will remain here forever and will always be attached to the person who made it, forcing him to eat its fruits.
Third. The grace of God departs, and man enters from the realm of God into the realm of God’s enemy and his own. He is drooping, burdened, feeling oppressed by some kind of heaviness. A parable is fulfilled over him: the demon returns with seven others. Gloom, anxiety, burden - this is the reward of satisfied passion - of all kinds. And lo and behold! As long as passion is not satisfied by deed, paradise awaits from its satisfaction: you will be like a god 220. But as soon as it is satisfied, the charm falls from the eyes, the ghost dissipates and leaves only emptiness, tightness, frustration and burden: it sees that it is naked. He took revenge on the enemy - he would have rejoiced as expected, but it turned out completely different.
You see what a path it is to infuriate yourself with some passion and fall into sin as a result (9, pp. 204–206).
Passionate thoughts, feelings and wishes sometimes run through your soul in an instant, not allowing you to come to your senses. In this case, they do not make us guilty, as long as, having come to our senses when even a desire arises, we drive them away with hostile anger at them. Our guilt in thoughts, feelings, and desires depends on our delay in dealing with them, after we notice them and do not drive them away, but dwell on them. Banish the thought - there will be no feeling or sympathy. Drive away the feeling with thoughts - there will be no desire. Drive away the desire - there will be no danger of starting to be passionate. If, having noticed a passionate thought, you arbitrarily focus your attention on it, you are guilty: why did you bother with someone you know is the enemy of God and you? But if attention is involuntarily drawn to a thought, you are not guilty if you immediately begin to divert attention from it and drive it away. If, as a result of your voluntary attention to a passionate thought, a passionate feeling is generated in you, then your guilt increases slightly.
But if, having noticed the generation of a passionate feeling, you continue to engage in passionate thoughts and, therefore, arbitrarily inflate the feeling, then your guilt will increase twice as much as before. If, having noticed a passionate feeling, you wake up and drive it away along with the thought, then you will only be guilty of the fact that you voluntarily engaged in a passionate thought, but you are not guilty of the feeling, for they are involuntarily born under the influence of thoughts. If, under the influence of a passionate thought and feeling, arbitrarily admitted, a desire for a passionate deed (for example, to take revenge) is born in you, then this also slightly increases your guilt, because a desire is involuntarily generated from thoughts and feelings. The guilt remains the same on you: why did you engage in a passionate subject and, when a passionate feeling was born from this, why did you allow the feeling and the thought that gave rise to it to last in you, i.e. double guilt. But if, having noticed a passionate desire, you allow it to linger within you, and do not immediately arm yourself against it, then your guilt increases by one more degree - it will be triple (9, pp. 206-208).
Whenever you find a passionate movement in yourself, then drive it away. Make it a law: neither a thought, nor a feeling, nor a passionate desire should be arbitrarily indulged, but driven out with complete hatred as soon as you notice it. And you will always be innocent both before God and before your conscience. There will be impurity of passions in you, but also innocence.
You will do the work of a whitewasher (laundry), working diligently to whiten your soul (9, p. 208).
52. Excerpt from St. Hesychius on the fight against passions
“He who strives internally at every moment must have the following four things: humility, extreme attention, contradiction (of thoughts) and prayer.
Humility: since his opponents in battle are proud demons, for the Lord hates the proud.
Attention: not to allow the heart to have any thoughts, even if they seem good.
Contradiction: so that, as soon as the one who comes (thought) sees, he will immediately repel the evil one with anger.
Prayer: in order to immediately cry out to Christ with unutterable groaning after a contradiction. And then this ascetic will see the enemy bound or driven by the worshiped name of Jesus, like dust by the wind, or like smoke disappearing with his dreams” (paragraph 20) (9, p. 214).
“In mental warfare one must act as one acts in (ordinary) war.
First, attention is required; secondly, when we notice that the enemy has advanced a thought, we must strike him with a curse with anger in the heart; thirdly, one must pray against it, calling on Jesus Christ in the heart, so that the demonic ghost immediately disappears, so that the mind does not follow a dream, like a child seduced by some artist (magician, buffoon)” (p. 105).
“If in your heart you always deal with humility, with remembrance of death, with self-condemnation, with contradiction of thoughts and with the invocation of the name of Jesus Christ, and with these weapons you daily continue the soberly narrow, joyful and pleasant mental path, then you will enter into the holy contemplation of the saints and be enlightened by the deep mysteries of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, in In whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily (Col. 2, 3, 9). For you will feel in Jesus that the Holy Spirit has descended upon your soul, who gives light to the mind so that it can look with an open face. No one, says the apostle, can call Jesus Lord except by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3). Of course, by this he affirms the mysterious seeker" (paragraph 29)" (9, p. 215).
“The great lawgiver Moses, or, better, the Holy Spirit through his mouth, says: “Take heed to yourself, lest there be in your heart the secret word of lawlessness” 221 (Deut. 15:9). He calls a secret word one mental representation of something bad (passionate), hated by God, which the fathers also call an excuse brought to the heart by the devil, after which, as soon as it appears to the mind, our thoughts immediately rush and passionately communicate with it” (paragraph 2).
“Attention is an unceasing heartfelt silence from every thought, in which the soul always breathes unceasingly and unceasingly and calls upon Him for the One Jesus Christ, the Son of God and God; courageously takes up arms with Him against enemies; Confession is made to Him, who has the power to forgive sins; often with a secret invocation embraces Christ, the only knowing heart” (paragraph 5).
“Sobriety is the firm installation of a thought and its standing at the door of the heart, so that he sees creeping thoughts and understands what image the demons are trying to draw and imprint on the mind in order to deceive them through the imagination” (paragraph 6).
“The thought that stands (in the heart) and calls Christ against the enemies, and resorts to Him, is like a certain beast surrounded by many dogs and defending itself in a stronghold. From afar, she mentally discerns the mental ambushes of invisible enemies and, constantly praying against them to the peacemaker Jesus, remains unharmed by them” (paragraph 8).
“He who does not have prayer, pure from thoughts, has no weapon for battle. I mean prayer that is constantly performed in the interior of the soul, so that the secretly attacking enemy is defeated and scorched by the invocation of Christ. For you must look with a sharp and intense eye of the mind in order to recognize those entering, having recognized, immediately crush the head of the serpent with contradiction and at the same time cry out to Christ with groaning: then by experience you will recognize God’s invisible help; then you will clearly see the right state of the heart” (paragraphs 21, 22).
“So, let the soul be bold in Christ, let it call upon Him, and let it not be at all afraid: it does not fight alone, but together with the terrible King, Jesus Christ, the Creator of all things, corporeal and incorporeal, visible and invisible” (p. 40).
...I made these extracts in order to renew in your memory what I have been explaining to you for so long about the memory of God and the internal battle with the passions. Know that this is the whole essence of working to achieve salvation (9, pp. 216–217).
After reading this, do not say to yourself: why am I, a hermit, that I should follow such rules?! You are not alone, but very, very many people say this, but not from among those who properly set about the work of working out their salvation. Those who have undertaken this work cannot speak like that. So you, if you want to live in the spirit, which is the achievement of salvation, must urgently act as prescribed. And if you want to live carelessly, then, of course, all this does not suit you. I began to write about this, believing that your decision to belong to the Lord was sincere. For whoever has such a decision sincerely cannot avoid the prescribed path. He can work hard and make various detours, but until he attacks this path, there will be no use. I am pointing it out to you directly so that you don’t wander around. Work harder and you will soon see success. But all the work is necessary; nothing happens without work.
Do not allow such superstition. Whoever lives in the desert or in a monastery or in the world works out his salvation - everyone has an urgent law to cleanse his heart from passions; he cannot clean it otherwise than in the described way. Do not refuse and do not rest your feet (9, pp. 217–218).
53. What to do if, even when fighting passions, passionate thoughts and desires break into us. Cleansing the Heart
I believe that you have taken up the matter as you should and are diligently straining to always remember the Lord, to listen to your heart and pursue any wrong movement in it with hostile rejection, at the same time turning in prayer to the Lord for help. But at the same time, I just can’t believe that once you get started, you’ll be a complete success: your thoughts are all pure, your feelings and desires are holy. Because that doesn't happen to anyone. Thoughts will be pacified, passionate movements of feelings and wishes will become more and more rare. But they will still break through - and sometimes with great force.
If you break through, kick them out; If they break through again, kick them out again. But that's how it's supposed to be. Now I just want to tell you how you should react to these violations according to the judgment of your conscience. Should we be indifferent or should we grieve that this happens and repent of it to the Lord? You cannot be indifferent to these interruptions, and after driving them away, you must every time be sick and repent before the Lord that this happened. Even when passionate thoughts, feelings, and desires burst through suddenly, without any participation of will, they still mean that the heart is unclean and evil thoughts come from it (see Matt. 15:19). And you must have a pure heart. So regret that your heart is unclean, and repent to the Lord of this uncleanness, promising to work on cleansing it and begging Him for help in this. But in reality, arbitrariness is rarely not mixed in here. You, through inattention, gave room to a passionate thought, and it managed to give rise to a passionate feeling: you are guilty, why didn’t you listen?
Due to the same inattention, or even the sweetness of feeling, you did not rush to arm yourself against him and drive him away - and it managed to give rise to a passionate desire: you are guilty, why didn’t you immediately arm yourself, but allowed the co-indulgence of the sinful and passionate? So that you allow a wish to give rise to an inclination to action, I do not allow this in you, but you can in any way allow the duration of a wish and not immediately take up arms against it. And this makes you even more guilty. Thus, a bad thought is allowed - guilt; a bad feeling is allowed to arise from him - another; from a bad feeling a bad wish is allowed to be born - third; a bad wish is allowed to linger - fourth. That's a lot of guilt!
And do not deign to disguise yourself, hiding behind fig tree leaves, and hide in the bushes from the Lord, who comes to you in conscience and convicts. Blame yourself rather all around and ask for forgiveness, without placing the blame on anyone. If you were angry with a maid, for example, and even more so if you said sharp words to her, do not blame the maid. Even if the maid made a mistake, it’s not about her, it’s about why you were angry. Wasn't it possible to correct the mistake without getting angry? Yes, even if it’s impossible to fix it, everything can be settled without getting angry. Here there was anger, there - condemnation, there - envy, there - vanity. There were, of course, external reasons for all this. But it’s not the reasons that are to blame, it’s you who are to blame for why you allowed such bad feelings. And please, without hiding, directly blame yourself before the Lord and ask for forgiveness. Do this every time you notice faintness and drive it away. Through this repentance and contrition, make peace with the Lord and conscience - and you will calmly look to the Lord again.
And if you don’t repent, you can’t look like this - it will be difficult and dangerous for you.
Until evening, do not leave such passionate outbursts unpurified by repentance, but immediately cleanse them, as soon as you drive them away, in the name of the Lord. The whole day will pass with you - all in repentance, because at first these relapses will be frequent among you. And in the evening, before you pray, in your turn again review all your passionate outbursts, again regret it with contrition and repent. This is the matter of daily repentance.
Here's a lesson from St. Hesychius again for you. “We must weigh our daily affairs carefully every hour and, as much as possible, certainly ease their burden in the evening through repentance, if we want to overcome passions with the help of Jesus. We must also look at whether we are doing all our visible deeds according to the will of God, before God and for God alone, so that (passionate) feelings do not rob you as fools” (paragraph 124) (9, pp. 218–221).
If you act as prescribed with merciless determination towards yourself, you will soon see the fruit: your heart will be pacified and the joy of the Lord will shine in it. Why is the heart restless? Because he is consumed by passions. Beat passions - and it will perceive peace. One of the fathers likens the heart to a hole full of snakes. These snakes are passions. When something passionate comes from the heart, it is the same as a snake poking its head out of its hole. Hit her on the head in the name of the Lord and she will hide. Another one appears - hit her too. And hit everyone. A dozen times you will have to strike such a snake - passion, it will forget to stick out, or even die completely. Anyway, if you fill up a hole or don’t give food to snakes, they will die. Likewise, passions will die out if you do not feed them with sympathy for their suggestions, but, on the contrary, tear them off with anger as soon as they appear.
Behold the shortest path to cleansing your heart from passions. If you love this purity, follow this path towards it, for there is no other way. If you don’t agree to act this way, passions will remain in your heart. You can correct your behavior and make it impeccable even without this, but your heart will remain passionate and will not allow you to see the Lord. Don't forget the holy fools (9, p. 221)!
54. Monitoring hearing and vision. How to destroy bad impressions of the visible and audible
Passionate thoughts, and behind them the same feelings and wishes, sometimes arise on their own, without knowing how, in the soul. But for the most part they are generated under the influence of external impressions. The things, persons and events encountered, by their nature, also excite thoughts in the encounterer. Good thoughts give birth to good thoughts, bad thoughts give birth to bad ones. But the opposite can happen: good thoughts will give rise to bad thoughts, and bad thoughts will give rise to good ones. It all depends on the constant or random mood of the greeter. Consequently, the answer lies entirely with him. How can this be?
First. Do not give free rein to your senses, especially your eyes and ears. Don’t allow yourself to see everything, hear everything, and touch everything indiscriminately. Our feelings are like windows or doors, but more like a scoop. Whoever opens the windows and lets in bad air does something bad. Whoever opens the doors and allows all kinds of livestock to enter his home cannot be free from reproach. But what would you say about someone who, taking a ladle, a cup or a mug, walked through dirty and unclean puddles, scooped into them and doused himself with it? What can be more stupid than this? But isn’t this what someone does who stops with curiosity before the bad and listens to unkind speeches?! Through this he will pick up bad thoughts; from them he will move on to unkind feelings and wishes - and he walks around all horrified, as if in some kind of fog. So, prudence and the duty of self-preservation (inner peace) require not to look at everything, not to listen to everything, and not to touch everything that one involuntarily encounters. Little by little it will seem that those who are able to stir up passions must turn their eyes away from it, close their ears, or see without seeing and hearing without hearing.
Second. It happened that something would give a bad impression and give rise to bad thoughts. We must immediately hasten to erase the impression and stop thoughts in the manner shown before - of course, by stopping the influx of impressions in advance. Remaining under a bad impression or leaving it to be erased and the restoration of spiritual peace until another time is unreasonable. Remaining under the impression, we will willingly contribute to the disposition of bad thoughts and feelings; and by leaving this bad thing in us for a long time, we give it the opportunity to take deeper roots and then resist expulsion and purification longer, if not completely take over the soul.
Third. Having once experienced a bad impression from something, you should not arbitrarily allow yourself to encounter again the objects that produced it. This will mean that the one who does this loves to enjoy evil and, therefore, is unclean to the depths of his heart. If any need forces you to meet him, you must arm yourself in advance and prepare your heart to resist the bad impression and not allow it to reach you. Attention, increased self-resistance and prayer will make this possible.
Fourth. I have already written to you about reinterpreting everything that you encounter and may encounter in a spiritual sense. This must also be done in relation to objects of evil significance. After this, when you meet them, you will perceive not bad, but good thoughts; just like St. Ephraim the Syrian, having met an immodest beauty dressed up, said to his disciples: “You see how she cares about decorating her body, which will soon be dust, how can we not care about decorating the immortal soul?” (9, pp. 222–224).
55. Instruction on active struggle with passions
But there is also an active struggle against them, which consists in deliberately undertaking and doing things that are directly opposite to them. For example, to suppress stinginess, one must begin to be generous; against pride one must choose derogatory activities; against the passion to have fun - homebody, etc. It is true that one such way of action does not directly lead to the goal, because, enduring oppression from the outside, passion can force its way inside, either by itself, or giving way to another. But when this active struggle is combined with the internal, mental one, then the two of them soon defeat every passion against which they are directed.
And this is the advice I am enclosing for you. Try to find your main passion and direct not only a mental, but also an active struggle against it. I can't determine what exactly is important to you. Perhaps it has not yet been determined, but anyway, if you begin to more closely monitor the movements of your heart, it will affect your attention. Then, if you would like to trust me, together we will figure out how to quickly deal with your main weakness. Let me also remind you that there are cool techniques for this active struggle with passions. Our usual one is a world-denying life in its detached form, when, having decisively abandoned everything and placed all trust in the Lord, they enter the monastery to live in uncomplaining obedience, in strict fasting, in hard-working prayer and vigilant sobriety. Here, having nothing, cutting off one’s will and self-pity soon grind out everything passionate from the soul. Then a peaceful dispensation of the heart and purity of the heart are established - the final goal of a world-denying life. I am not driving you out of the world. You will be saved in him if you hold yourself in relation to him as if you do not exist in him.
I only remind you of this as an order of life that is most adapted to the task of cleansing the heart from passions (9, pp. 225–226).
I will also add that one of the laws of Divine Providence for us is to arrange everyone’s life and the flow of accidents in it so that, using them wisely, he can cleanse himself of passions in the fastest and most convenient way. I remind you of this because you once asked why people have different fates and why they are changeable, and I, it seems, did not answer you. So I answer why. Then, because the way the Lord arranges it is more convenient for people to cleanse themselves of passions, or because He wants in this way to grind into powder our incandescent selfhood, our stubborn egoism, on which the passions that destroy a person rest.
And I’ll add one more thing. Beat passions both from within and from without, and nurture your good sides, giving them space and exercise. The main thing here is prayer. It has already been discussed. It is followed by the work of doing good. And this was what we were talking about when you were thinking about some broad goals in life. And along with this should come soul-saving readings and conversations, and the fulfillment of church rites, and feats of self-mortification - denying yourself, when necessary, little by little food, sleep, amusements and all sorts of pleasures of self-indulgence, and keeping yourself in constant self-resistance and self-constraint. And this was what we were talking about.
That’s the whole course of cleansing yourself from passions (9, pp. 226–227).
56. About the bifurcation of a sinful person
You have seen a split in yourself and wonder how it is possible. It must be. At first, man was isolated in himself. After the fall, another man came, completely opposite to the first. Before a person turns to the path of truth, a passionate person - wholly composed of passions - overcomes and drowns out a dispassionate, pure person, but does not destroy him. When, with the help of God, a person awakens from sleep, he will begin to fight, escape from the clutches of a passionate person, or tear himself out piece by piece; one stands on one side, the other on the other, and their fire is terrible. But a person has one consciousness, although the internal movements are divided. So it’s not clear what it is: two opposing voices from one heart. Pay attention to yourself. And tear away the evil, and embrace the good. Look (hey, you read it) Macarius of Egypt beautifully depicts this duality. Read more... What is written by the apostle. Paul: I see another law in my heart, warring against the law of my mind, and taking me captive by the law of sin 222 (Rom. 7:23), this is our duality.
A person who is on the side of the passionate with his consciousness and heart is completely passionate and disgusted with God. A person who is on the side of the dispassionate, although he has passions in him and struggles, is not opposed to God for the sake of not loving the passions and the desire to do not according to them, but according to the will of God. With this good proposal of the heart and determination to please God, he is considered innocent of those passions that tempt him, for he does not want them. While they are silent, there is a strong need to cry out to God. We walk on our feet, but under our feet the volcano is ready to explode (11, pp. 45–46).
57. About pride and vanity
You are being praised. What's so wonderful about this? In the absence of fish and cancer, fish, as Father Fr. Parthenius. This, however, is highly recommended by our society, that it has compassion even for the shadow of good... Meanwhile, this is very disadvantageous for you. A drop pierces a stone with frequent falls. A particle from each praise falls on the worm of pride and vanity and feeds it; it grows unnoticed by you, allowing you to have humble feelings until it has become stronger. And when it’s ripe, everything will eat up at once. Dangerous! And what else? Praise tickles the heart, stops jealousy and relaxes. This is the same as tripping someone running. A stop in spiritual life is already a backward movement. And this is bad! What to do? Humble yourself and suppress the elevation of your thoughts and hearts with all sorts of humble feelings about yourself. Then, as stones of sweet speech are struck in your ears, go into your heart and humiliate yourself in every possible way before the Lord and His saints. What great feats they performed to please the Lord! What do we have? Let's go to church one day, make five bows at home, read a page of the book of salvation - and we will become saints. How true!
Humble physical labor helps a lot. Servants are also good teachers of humility. Desire insults and more than those who are wrong; at least, greet them as a saving plaster applied by the Lord to the wound of vanity. But don’t think about doing anything on your own. Run to the Lord, who humbled Himself to the point of being a servant. He will teach. Just don’t be careless about this condition. Praise will freeze you, and you will emerge as a marble statue, not ugly in appearance, but lifeless. Deliver you, Mother of God, from this! It is better to wallow in the mud and be trampled upon by everyone than to be like this (11, p. 7273).
58. Causes of anger and means of dealing with it
You are sick; but I understood your state differently, so I was going to burst out at you with the most threatening, reproachful speech for the outburst of great selfishness in anger at and about something else, I forgot, it’s a past matter. Now I see that all this is a consequence of irritability of the nerves from illness! May the Mother of God strengthen you! Just take into account that such outbursts are a rather unvirtuous thing. This is truly Satan in the form of a bright angel. In appearance, there is nothing here except a sense of truth. The heart is boiling - and is ready to take a knife for the truth, in the language there is only speech that is the truth, forgotten, violated by another. And this other one, who dared to violate it, seems far more absurd to us and even malicious. And such a judgment is so right in our eyes that if the whole world were present with it, it would certainly approve of it. See how bright and legal everything is! But is this really the case? In essence, it always turns out that the basis of such a feeling of violated truth is always a feeling of offended pride, humiliation of our dignity or failure to give it due respect or due price.
The heat of jealousy for the truth is not at all because the road is true, but because someone dared to violate this truth in relation to us. If it were in relation to others, it would still be bearable, i.e., perhaps, through clenched teeth they would say: yes, this is awkward, and that’s the end; and perhaps they would have forgiven me. Do you notice that the cry for the truth is only on the outside, but in the middle there is a war for oneself?! Well, you can see who it is in angelic clothes! I reminded you of all this just in case! Our soul is a tricky thing. Whether it is in good condition or in bad condition is evidenced by peace or confusion. When there is confusion in the soul, no matter what it concerns, do not believe the soul at that time: everything lies, no matter what it says. At that time, Satan was trying to persuade her and, of course, it was not for her salvation; and she, poor thing, is struggling with all her might. The wrath of a man does not accomplish the righteousness of God 223 (James 1:20). Everything of God is peaceful, quiet, sweet, and leaves this sweetness in the soul, and spreads it abundantly around, despite the fact that sometimes he seems to scold. And in this case, there is warmth and even heat, only of a completely different kind: tender, non-crackling. Have you sorted it out now (11, pp. 91–92)?
Your anger at the bad means progress! After all, even without a heart you can say a thing. Judging directly, there is no thing in the world for which one should be angry. What is more valuable than the soul and its peace? And anger takes away this peace. Here a person can be his own accuser. And he himself inflates, increasing the untruths of another in the soul. It’s all because there’s no attention to oneself—it’ll break through. Deep in the heart lies the assumption of the right to judge and punish the sins of others instead of oneself. That's all... If a person saw himself as a sinner with a feeling of all the consequences of sin, he would not become angry. It’s good that you moved from anger to thinking about death. This is the case. And do not leave your thoughts from the grave. Stand there and beg the Lord for mercy (11, pp. 132–133).
59. About the deceit hidden in the corrupted will of man
You have it written: “Some people begin to cut off vices on their own, but continue this work for a while and abandon it again. This is a self-made correction, without the inner spirit of life (p. 189). How is this possible? Is it really not true with God? Still, man desired and worked. Why is it left without support?
Don't worry! The Lord will not hurt anyone. A glass of water is not forgotten, not just a lot of work. If only what is being done is done for Him and is dedicated to Him with the heart. And it often happens that in appearance it is done as if it were God’s work, but in reality it is completely different. How much deceit is hidden in the corrupted will of man! And who is able to unravel all his deviations and crossroads! I'll tell you one case that happened in Moscow in 1812, as I was told. There was one pious man in Moscow, a faster, a pilgrim, and a merciful man. Everyone revered him, and everyone was confident in the firmness of his virtue. But when the Russians left Moscow and after the French entered it, all our orders there were upset and everyone was able to live as they wanted, then this man, who remained in Moscow for some reason, indulged in drunkenness and unclean life with such uncontrollability and shamelessness, which was rarely seen among permanent sinners. The only Lord knows what this means!
But I do not condemn this man (for the enemy’s intrigues are many and our weaknesses are great), but only to clarify the thought that I intend to offer you, that’s what I think. It could happen that in his heart he always had a urge to do such things and never denied them in his heart. The external environment in which he was before kept him in good behavior. But when this barrier was gone, then the dispositions hidden in the heart came out and revealed themselves in corresponding deeds. How many people of this kind are there perhaps in the world! Everything works fine for a while, but then everything falls down and is no good. Why? Because everything was done for external reasons, and with their elimination the work itself ceased. Whoever has such an order of life, no one knows this except the Lord. Everyone must understand to himself whether his correct behavior is built on such a fragile foundation.
But if someone has this kind of service and it then falls, what is the damage from this grace, when nothing was done here for the Lord, and what is the guilt on the path of the saved, when he did not have this in mind at all (11, pp. 108-110)?
60. About the fight against condemnation and bad habits
Don’t refrain from judging... Try to get used to it, and you will get used to it so that you will see the funny and not laugh... After all, there are those who don’t do this... secular people. But here it is necessary to distinguish idle talk, or idle talk, from the sin of condemnation, in which lies gloating and malice... This latter is actually condemnation...
"It's hard to break bad habits." Difficulty is not an impossibility... Start struggling and fight... it will break through - judge yourself and decide not to give in... Little by little you will get out of the habit. Just take things seriously (6, pp. 13–14).
61. Heart intention and internal division
You ask: “What should you do when there is a split inside?” First of all, know that this is not a bad thing, but a normal turn of spiritual life. When our spirit awakens through the action of grace, then it rushes to God and directs everything there. Even after this, the egoistic disposition still remains and asserts its rights, attracting both feeling and will according to the old custom. That is why everyone experiences, as did the apostle: I want to do good with me, but I see that evil is present to me 224. Here is the split. What can I do here? Always take the side of the spirit, and drive away and suppress the demands of the selfish, carnal person. This is spiritual warfare. It is short (6, p. 58).
62. Analysis of sinful states
You ask: what is a fall? A fall is the act of committing something bad, something repugnant to God, with the consciousness of its evil and repugnance to God and with a repressed conscience.
The fall is caused by a sinful act. An act is sinful when there is arbitrary permission to do something bad. Thoughts are sinful when you arbitrarily give them a place in the soul. But when thoughts come on their own, but the soul does not want to resist them, there is no sin, but the struggle is good.
A feeling is sinful when one deigns to express it, restrains it and kindles it, but when it involuntarily bursts into the soul, the soul does not want it and strains to repress it. There is no sin here, but a good struggle. It happens that along with feeling, sympathy suddenly arises; the soul, as soon as it notices it, arms itself against it - there is no sin here. Sympathy is sinful when it is allowed to reign in the soul, knowing that it is bad.
A sinful deed goes like this: thought, feeling and sympathy, permission, decision or election - and the deed. Whoever drives away a thought remains clean. Sinfulness begins with feeling and sympathy as permissible. Where there is no permission, there is no sin (6, pp. 85–86).
Bad movements in the body, as long as there is no accompaniment and permission, are sinless. Compassion and connivance make them sinners. There is, of course, a penalty against passions when one does not fight them off, but allows them to enter the heart and create a riot there.
By these signs, condemn or blame yours: anger, malice, conceit, harsh angry speeches, condemnation of others, exaltation, carelessness about God and indifference to the spiritual, selfishness - all these are great sinful acts, but one becomes sinful from one’s permission (6, p. 86).
In my words “cooling” - is it clear what it is? It happens involuntarily... but it also happens from arbitrary actions... from external entertainment, disordered conversations, satiety, excessive sleep... and much more... There is guilt here (6, p. 86).
64. About the fight against the movements characteristic of youth
What you wrote about the excitement of internal movements characteristic of youth, vague, troubled, however, and tormenting, no matter how natural they are, but for you, who have changed your mind so much, who have known so much correctly about the spiritual inner order and have experienced so much, it is not excused if they manifest themselves in you with such force that you cannot cope with them. Without a condescending view of them, without arbitrary permission and indulgence, they could not take such power over you. Sit down and think it over - and take the reins of self-government and hold your scepter menacingly, not allowing anything to crowd into your area and disturb your rule. Treat them like impudent people invading your home against your will. With this you show the door and treat those in the same way. As soon as you notice, drive away without self-pity. If they come again, drive them away again. They will come again, and they will drive you away... They will fall behind... just don’t hold onto self-pity... Without resisting self-pity, it is impossible to have good self-government.
The harm from indulging them is especially that the enemy squeezes into the crowd of these thoughts and images and, in the confusion, seeds bad sympathies, desires and even intentions. Repeating this several times creates an unkind, self-indulgent system inside, which then initiates corresponding activity outside, which will little by little displace the disposition towards the former pure, brotherly and God-loving deeds. This is the source of insensibility, negligence and oblivion - these giants of the enemy camp, the Goliaths.
How to drive it away? – The general procedure for this (look at the book “What is Spiritual Life”): 1) create hostility towards them, 2) push them away with hatred and anger as enemies, and 3) strike with prayer to the Lord, the Guardian Angel and the Lady Theotokos, and to Saint Sophia, whose name you bear. You have read all this many times, both written and printed. For God's sake, remember well and act like this.
You called this state transitional.
All the more attention is required to it, because from it comes the subsequent course of life - either good, or bad, or mixed.
You yourself used the second remedy against these seethings: fasting, Confession and Holy Communion. Do you see how powerful they are?!
Hurry to them whenever their help is needed (6, pp. 87–89).
This is what you do when internal bad movements that confuse you come: immediately pay attention to your heart and stand there, pushing away the attacking bad movements both by exerting your will, and especially by prayer to the Lord. That there are attacks, it is not your fault, but when you do not push them away and deal with them and allow sympathy, then it is your fault. This makes the heart unclean and loses boldness before the Lord. Guard your heart (6, p. 90).
Treat yourself like an evil stepmother treats her stepdaughter. Your slave; the flesh that climbs into the mistress, subdue in food, in sleep, in bodily labor and corporal punishment (6, p. 90).
We need more humility. Speeches or outbursts of words that are upsetting to others, are they not from the nobility? The consciousness of lordship is pride, a thing very displeasing to God and the most harmful in moral life. Delve into and pull out this root of grief and vegetate if it appears (8, p. 10).
Smoking is a stupid thing; there is as much moral here as there is empty bias and perceived harm. The last two features are difficult for smokers to recognize and difficult to explain to non-smokers. It is strongly indecent, but decency and indecency are the same as people - they change. Tolerate a bad habit, but don’t turn it into a sin. Praying for your daughter to lose the habit is a good thing. But there is no need to put this in a special form. Whenever you pray, cry out to God. And He will arrange it as His holy will pleases (8, p. 12).
67. Harmful wine. About playing cards
That your son-in-law stopped drinking and decided not to drink is a good decision.
Without drinking anything, you will always be fresh and live longer. Drinking and eating little food eats up your life and is a bit like slow suicide (8, p. 34).
Playing cards is idleness and idleness. The big problem is that our youth do not learn to work. If they knew one or another job, it would attract them and keep them busy. Boredom would have no place (8, p. 34).
if the Son sets you free, you will be truly free (John 8:36)
I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me.
See that you walk carefully, not as fools, but as wise, valuing time, because the days are evil.
should not even be named by you.
the carnal mind is enmity against God.
You will be like gods (Gen. 3:5)
Beware lest a lawless thought enter your heart.
I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin.
Man's anger does not create God's righteousness.
When I want to do good, evil is present to me. (Rom. 5:21).
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