The Stranger Sitting on the Television...

The following story is told by John Chrysopoulou, an architect from Alexandroupoli:

I’m married to Evanthia Siontopoulou, and we have three children. A few years ago when my son Christos was three and a half years old, he was watching his mother burn incense in the home. He followed her around the whole house with a wooden rattle which looked like a censer, while she censed [the house], repeating, “Lord have mercy.”

One day, while playing his censing game as he usually did, he neglected to “burn” incense in the corner of the living room where the TV was. My wife noticed this and asked why he didn’t cense the whole living room.

Christos replied, quite naturally, that the stranger sitting on the TV would not allow him to burn incense there.

“But what stranger?” my wife asked.

“Him, dear mother, who sits on the TV, don’t you see [him]?“

Christos saw, with the pure eyes of his soul the devil on the TV, who inhibited even Christos’ make-believe incense.

How to train one’s will to have but one ultimate aim in all things, both external and internal— to please God

Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite

An excerpt from "Unseen Warfare"by Saint Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain, and Saint Theophan the Recluse

In addition to training your mind to learn, you should also control your will, so as not to let it lean towards your own desires, but instead to lead it to be perfectly as one with the will of God. Moreover keep it firmly planted in your mind, that it is not enough for you merely to desire and seek to please God. 

Always and in everything; you must desire it as if moved by God Himself, and for one single aim—to please Him with a pure heart. 

To be firmly grounded in this aim, we have to endure a much greater struggle with our nature than in anything we have mentioned above. For our nature is so accustomed to please itself, that it seeks its own comfort and pleasure in all its doings, even the most righteous and spiritual, and secretly and lustfully feeds on it as though it were food.

And so it happens that when we see the chance of spiritual doing lying before us, we immediately desire it and impetuously rush towards it;yet not as men moved by the will of God, nor for the sole purpose of pleasing Him, but for the sake of the comfort and joy which is born in us, when we desire and seek that which God wants from us. This prelest is the better concealed and hidden, the higher and more spiritual is the nature of what we desire. This is why I say that we should not be satisfied with desiring what God wills, but must desire it how He wishes it, when He wishes it and for the reason and purpose He wishes it.

The Apostle also teaches us to prove what is the will of God, that it is not only good, but also acceptable to Him and perfect in all respects. He says: ‘Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God’ (Rom. xii. 2). For if our action is faulty, even in one respect, or if we do something not with our whole will and strength, it is clear that it is, and is called, imperfect. This should lead you to the conclusion that even when we desire God Himself and seek Him, even this desire and search can contain some fault or omission, and may be mixed with some pandering to our self-love or vainglory; since we may have in view more our own good than the will of God, and do something rather for our own sake than for the sake of God. Yet He considers only those actions acceptable, which are done solely for His glory and wishes us to love Him alone, desire Him alone and work for Him alone.

Thus, my brother, if you wish to safeguard yourself from such hidden obstacles on the path to perfection, if you wish to be firmly grounded in such an attitude as to desire and do all things only because God wishes it, desirous only to please and glorify Him and to work for Him alone, since He wishes to be the beginning and the end in every action and every thought of ours— act in the following manner.

"Testimony from Mount Athos"Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi On Delusion

I think that we will not deviate from our subject if we give here a more detailed account of this demonic calamity which torments mankind. Delusion is the devil substantially and existentially. Through wrongful and selfish thoughts and judgements he has severed himself from the truth, God, from whom he had been receiving his participation in the “well being” and the entire normal performance of his personality. Thus he became The delusion, because he has not been truly and correctly thinking and acting. Having then been subjected to a total reversal, he first revolted against his own self and then he passed on to his victims his own corruption.

            According to our Fathers, only good has a real existence.The non good is devoid of personality and status.This is what has happened to the devil by necessity; He has lost his personality. However, when he is trying to assume a status and a personality, which he is naturally lacking, he forges it and this is what delusion is.

            Of course the devil exists as an entity, because he has died in the face of the Lord as well as in the sense of  any goodness, but he exists as a body of “death” in accordance with his corrupted entity. Nevertheless, he does not present himself under this nothingness but steals the methods and schemes of whatever is good, useful and beneficial- acting falsely and deceitfully- and deludes those who believe in him. He incessantly tries to haul human nature into the revolt of his own demise, either totally or partly. This act is and is called DELUSION.

              Satan’s first frontal attack was seen during the first appearance of divine revelation. The Creator’s providence towards His created beings extends beyond His creating energy towards their preservation as a constant and prolonged intervention. The Devil cannot corrupt God’s constructive intervention towards the creation in accordance with the unspeakable and unfathomable ways of His divine All Might. Thus he deceitfully interferes with the prolonged preservation and stewardship of the creation, especially of the rational beings.

St.Nikodemos the Hagiorite -On How to overcome negligence

 Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite

 An excerpt from "Unseen Warfare"

To avoid falling into the pernicious evil of negligence, which will stop your progress towards perfection and deliver you into the hands of the enemies, you must flee all kinds of inquisitiveness (trying to find out what’s here, or what’s there, idle wandering,empty chatter, gaping around), any kind of cleaving to something earthly, all arbitrary actions or ‘ doing what I like’,’, which is totally out of keeping with your position. On the contrary, you must force yourself to follow, willingly and quickly, every good guidance and command of your teachers and spiritual fathers and to do everything at the time and in the manner they wish.
Never delay in undertaking any work you have to do, for the first brief delay will lead to a second, more prolonged one, and the second to a third, still longer, and so on. Thus work begins too late and is not done in its proper time, or else is abandoned altogether, as something too burdensome. Having once tasted the pleasure of inaction, you begin to like and prefer it to action. In satisfying this desire, you will little by little form a habit of inaction and laziness, in which the passion for doing nothing will possess you to such an extent that you will cease even to see how incongruous and criminal it is; except perhaps when you weary of this laziness, and are again eager to take up your work.

Then you will see with shame how negligent you have been and how many necessary works you have neglected, for the sake of the empty  and useless ‘ doing what you like’.
Scarcely perceptible at first, this negligence permeates everything and not only poisons the will, planting in it aversion to all kind of effort and all forms of spiritual doing and obedience, but also blinds the mind, and prevents it from seeing all the folly and falsehood of the arguments which support this disposition of will; for it hinders the mind from presenting to the consciousness the sound reasonings, which would have the power of moving the slothful will to perform the necessary work as quickly and diligently as possible, without putting it off till another time.

For it is not enough to perform the work quickly; each thing has to be done in its proper time, as required by its nature, and needs to be performed with full attention and care, to make it as perfect as possible.
Listen to what is written: “ Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully’ (Jeremiah xlviii. 10). 

And you incur this disaster, because you are too lazy to think of the value and worth of the work you have to do; for this thought would impel you to do it in its proper time and with such resolution as to banish all the thoughts of the accompanying difficulties, which laziness suggests in order to turn you away.
Let the conviction never leave your thought that a single raising of your mind to God, and a single humble genuflexion to His glory and in His honour has infinitely more value than all the treasures of the world; that every time we banish negligence and force ourselves to do the work we should with diligence, Angels in heaven prepare for us the crown of a glorious victory; and that, on the contrary, not only has God no crowns for the negligent, but that little by little He takes back from them the gifts He had bestowed upon them for their former diligence in His service, and will finally deprive them of His kingdom if they continue to be negligent, as He said in the parable of guests bidden to supper, who were too lazy to come: ‘For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper’ (Luke xiv. 24). 

Such is the lot of the negligent. For those who are diligent and who force themselves without self-pity to every good work, the Lord multiplies His blessed gifts in this life, and prepares a life of eternal bliss in His heavenly kingdom, as He said: ‘The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force’ (Matt. xi. 12).

If an evil thought comes to try and cast you into negligence, and suggests that the work necessary to acquire the virtue you love and desire is extremely long and hard, that your enemies are strong and numerous, while you are weak and alone, that you must do much, and perform great deeds to attain your aim; if, I say, the thought of negligence suggests all this to you, do not listen to it. 

On the contrary, look at the matter this way: of course you must work, but not much, you must undertake labours, but they are very small and will not last long; you will meet enemies, but instead of many there will be only one, and, although he is too strong against you alone, yet you are incomparably stronger than he, since you can always rely on God’s help in return for your great trust in it. 

If you have this attitude, negligence will begin to retreat from you and in its place, under the influence of good thoughts and feelings,there will gradually enter into you a diligent zeal in everything, which will finally possess all the powers of your soul and body.
Do the same in relation to prayer. Supposing the performance of some sacred service demands an hour of diligent prayer, which seems burdensome to your laziness; then, in starting this work, do not think that you must stand for an hour, but imagine that it will last only a quarter of an hour. In this way, the quarter of an hour of prayer will pass imperceptibly. Thereupon say to yourself: ‘Let us stand for another quarter of an hour—it’s not much, as you see.” Do the same for the third and the fourth quarter, and you will complete your task of prayer, without noticing any hardship or difficulty, If,, in the course of this,,’ you feel it so onerous that this feeling interferes with the prayer itself, leave off reciting prayers for a while and then, after a short interval, resume it again and finish what you have omitted.

Do the same in relation to manual work and the tasks of your obedience. Sometimes your tasks may seem too many; you become flustered and are ready to give them up. But refrain from thinking of their great number; instead, force yourself, take up the most immediate task and do it with diligence, as though the others did not exist; and you will do it without trouble. Then do the same in
relation to other tasks, and you will finish them all calmly, without fuss and bother.
Behave thus in everything, and know that, if you do not listen to reason and do not thus try to overcome the sense of burden and difficulty, which the enemy presents to you in the tasks which lie before you, then negligence will finally take complete possession of you. Then you will feel as if you were carrying a mountain on your shoulders, not only when you are faced with some immediate task, but even when it is still far ahead; you will be weighed down and tormented by it, like a slave hound in slavery with no hope of release. 

Then, even at times of rest, you will have no rest, and will feel yourself overburdened with work, even while doing nothing.
Know also, my child, that this disease of laziness and negligence gradually undermines with its poison not only the first small roots out of which virtuous habits may grow, but even those which are already deep rooted and serve as a foundation of the whole order of righteous life. As a worm gradually gnaws at the root of a tree, so negligence, if it persists, insensibly wears away and destroys the very nerves of spiritual life. Through it the devil manages to spread his nets and set the snares of temptations for every man; and exerts particular care and sly cunning in the case of those who are zealous in spiritual life, knowing that a lazy and negligent man easily submits to lusts and falls, as it is written: ‘The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing” (Prov. xiii. 4).
So be for ever watchful, pray and take good care of everything good, as it behooves a courageous warrior: ‘ The soul of the diligent shall be made fat’ (Prov. xiii. 4). Do not sit with folded hands, putting off the sewing of your wedding garments the moment when it is time to go out in festive raiments to meet the coming bridegroom, Christ our Lord. Remind yourself every day that now is in our hands, but to-morrow is in the hands of God, and that He Who gave you this morning has not bound Himself with the promise to give you the evening too. Refuse to listen to the devil when he whispers to you: give me now, and you will give to-morrow to God.
No, no! Spend all the hours of your life in a way pleasing to God; keep in your mind the thought that after the present hour you will not be given another and that you will have to render a strict account for every minute of this present hour. Remember, that the time you have in your hands is priceless and if you waste it uselessly, the hour will come when you will seek and not find it.

Consider as lost a day when, although performing good deeds, you have not struggled to overcome your bad tendencies and desires.

To end my lesson on this subject, I shall repeat the Apostle’s commandment: “Fight the good fight” always (I Tim. vi. 12). For one hour of diligent work has often gained heaven and one hour of negligence has lost it. Take great care if you want to prove before God your firm faith in your salvation. ‘He that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat’* (Prov. xxviii. 25).

Source - "Unseen Warfare"  by Saint Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain, and Saint Theophane the Recluse

Elder Ephraim of Vatopaidi-On War With Sinful Thoughts

 Elder Ephraim of Vatopaidi

Q. What are sinful thoughts and what are their spiritual substance?

A. They are thoughts opposed to God's will and operate in the area of the human intellect either by their own will or not. The mind is restless and it either produces thoughts or external factors are continuously displayed on the screen of the mind.

Q. Where do such thoughts come from?

A. Their source is either the passionate heart of man or demons themselves. Christ Himself reveals: "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, blasphemy" (Matt. 15:19).

The passions of man are produced and fed with sinful thoughts. Demons are certain beings that feed on excessive hatred for humans and impinge in any way the salvation of man. Their main job is to sow evil, wicked, vile, sinful, blasphemous thoughts in the intellect of man.

There are of course divine thoughts as well whose source are in God Himself and the Saints, who encourage the sinner to repentance, and bring consolation in any way to those who are troubled, illuminating the virtuous so that "they can know the deep things of God" (1 Cor. 2:10).

The spiritual advancement of man appears primarily in the quality of one's thoughts. We must cultivate the pure, holy and divine thoughts. We must make our mind into a factory of good thoughts, as the blessed Elder Paisios would say.

Q. How do we identify these thoughts and how do we distinguish them from sinful thoughts?

A. Only with watchfulness (nipsis) can we observe the mind, and be careful to identify our thoughts. Watchfulness is temperance, the attention I impose on my mind.

This is achieved by invoking the all-honorable, majestic and sweet name of our Christ. The prayer, the "Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me", is the greatest weapon against the demons and passions, and it is able to uphold the mind that is controlled by and observes the thoughts.

Thoughts are like airplanes that fly in the air. It doesn't depend on us if airplanes fly continuously in the air. It does depend on us and we must not allow thoughts to land within us, to accept them, to give them consent.

Q. What is the difference between desire and thought?

A. Desire is the mood we have to do something, to ask for something is a movement of the heart, while thought moves in the area of the intellect.

First we desire and after this desire it is expressed internally through thoughts. Desire is the beginning, the root. By cutting off sinful desires we are essentially freeing ourselves from sinful thoughts.

This is why our Lord emphasized: "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman with desire has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matt. 5:28). He wanted to cut off the root of the passions.

Saint Gregory Palamas says that the intellect of the believer who struggles in prayer is easily purified of thoughts, just like the heart of a person (which is the power that produces thoughts), cannot be purified unless all the other powers of the soul, the appetitive and spirited, are purified.

Q. Must we confess all of our thoughts?

A. The thoughts that come into our minds daily by the thousands are countless. Most of these thoughts are vain, vile and sinful. The demon knows his job well and cultivates these thoughts. We are liable only when we consent to them, when we implement these thoughts into practice.

Depending on what spiritual state a person is in, so they are judged on how they deal with their thoughts. For example, for the perfect, who have perfect spiritual knowledge and supervision of thoughts, consent to a sinful thought is sinful. For someone who has now begun the spiritual life it may not be sinful.

The person who struggles correctly confesses their thoughts that do not cease to press on them, which through prayer and struggle alone cannot be resisted. It is not possible for someone to confess all their thoughts. This is psychological illness. Many come to confession with a notebook in which is written their thoughts, hundreds of thoughts that pass daily through their intellect. This is not right. They not only tire the Confessor/Spiritual Father but they themselves do not benefit. This is not observing one's thoughts, it is not a fruit of watchfulness and spiritual progress, but it is a situation of illness.

Q. Can we come to the Holy Chalice in a situation where right before Divine Communion there comes to us a sinful thought?

A. Of course we come forward. What do we read from Saint John of Damascus right before Divine Communion?: "I stand before the doors of Thy temple and I still do not forsake my wicked thoughts."

The war with thoughts is described by the Fathers as difficult. In this particular case we need to have contempt for this thought because it was brought by the enemy to rob us of the blessing of Divine Communion. Unless it is a thought connected with a deadly sin that has not been confessed, though I think such a thought would not battle us at that moment, since it would already be rebuked by our conscience.

Q. Are there certain pernicious thoughts that lead to spiritual death?

A. Yes, the thoughts of despair and hopelessness. These thoughts, say the Fathers, are like cutting off the head of a struggler. The believer must never forget the love and mercy of God our Father no matter what depth of sin they have fallen into. They must never forget that hope exists and repentance exists.

Christ did not come to judge the world but to save the world. Christ accepted the repentance of the thief, the villain on the cross who was at the throes of death, saved him, and placed him in Paradise.

Q. Should couples confess to one another the thoughts they have towards each other?

A. I think not. It is better to say their thoughts to their common spiritual father. Be aware that the devil, from the moment when certain people are united with the crowns of marriage, has placed upon them a target to separate them at some point. This is why there is a war that unfortunately most couples do not recognize. While the beginning of marriage is all milk and honey, and love united them both, but then disagreements begin, and quarrels, and "I don't like you", and "I don't love you". All this is war.

Why? What happened after ten years of marriage or more and the one doesn't love the other? It is better in the beginning for a couple to address such problems to their common spiritual father, who through the illumination of the Holy Spirit will guide them accordingly and with his prayer will banish the demonic energy that has come between them to separate them. And by God I am not saying that couples should not discuss things between each other, as this is essential for there to be unity and love, but do not tell each other your sinful thoughts which are sowed by the devil.

Q. How can we fight against thoughts?

A. With watchfulness and the prayer "Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me". Saint John of Sinai in his book The Ladder says: "The name of Jesus plagued our enemies." Our enemies are our passions, our sinful thoughts, the demons. There is no more effective way, than when the prayer is said with self-reproach and pain of heart.

If you see a thought persists despite your effort and prayers and does not leave you alone, then it is good to bring this thought to confession. Confession is practical humility, and "God gives grace to the humble" (Jam. 4:6). The shame we feel before our spiritual father through the confession of this sinful thought, will justify us before God and God will relieve us from the energy of this passion, this sinful thought.

It is also very good to cultivate good thoughts and despise the sinful ones, or bad thoughts, but this requires much diligence.

The contempt we show towards bad thoughts sown by the devil will make the same devil deflate, be trapped, to flee, because the devil is arrogant, and he wants us to care for him and be occupied with him, and he cannot tolerate being despised.

If you can cultivate in this way, it is the most bloodless, as Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyva would say. Let us ask for peace, joy and the love of Christ and not care for our evil selves, our passions, our sinful thoughts. Let us turn our face - our whole being - towards Christ and seek His face, His mercy. Thus slowly, without realizing it, we will be sanctified, and the old man with its desires and thoughts will flee, which bothered us, and we will be clothed with the new which is "created by God" (Eph. 4:24).

Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

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Elder Joseph The Hesychast and his battles with Demons

 Chapter 6 pages 167-171

Throughout his life Elder Joseph fought tooth and nail with the demons.Those apostates of God's love fought against him in various ways;sometimes with thoughts,other times with illnesses that god allowed,and other times with their visible presence.Later they manipulated weaker brethren and disciples of his and made him bear the burden of their temptations.
One winter night Geronda(Elder) and Fr.Arsenios were in their hut up in St.Basil's Skete while a snowstorm raged outside.The wind was howling fiercely,and the cold pierced them to the bone.
Even so,they followed their program and struggled with their vigil,the remembrance of death,tears of repentance,thousands of prostrations,and primarily noetic prayer.
This did not please the jealous devil at all,so he raised a series of attacks against Geronda with thoughts,fantasies,distractions,noises,threats,and anything else he could think of.
He tried three or four times to ruin Geronda's vigil,but all his attacks failed because by then Geronda was an experienced fighter.
Finally,the devil became so infuriated with him that he entered through the door in the form of a violent burst of wind.He threw the door aside and then lifted the roof into the air.
Geronda remained thunderstruck in his hut watching the roof with tons of rock on top of it flying through the air like a glider.
There had been strong winds before,but what happened that night was not just a strong gust of wind but a demon.
The roof crashed onto the rocks on the other side of a ravine, and the remains of their roof became a pitiful sight on top of the snow.As a result,the two ascetics ended up being exposed to the snowstorm.Despite this, they still didn't end their vigil!
What did they do to keep from freezing?They did prostrations all night long.When a monk came the next morning and found them with snow in their cells and even in their beards,perplexed he asked,'What happened here?' "My child,"Elder Joseph replied,"Don't trust in man;trust in God."
Another time,Geronda(Elder) was keeping vigil saying the prayer,and a demon appeared before him.
Apparently,the demon,s intent was to start beating him up.But Geronda was so brave and had so much fury against the demons that he immediately charged at him to crush him.After wrestling a little with the demon,Geronda managed to get a good hold of him,and then he called out to Fr.Arsenios;"Arsenios! Bring some fire so that we can burn him.Now that I've got him,he's not getting away."
But while Fr.Arsenios was trying to light a fire,the demon transformed himself into a crow and flew away.
These stories may sound trivial,but only people who have experienced tangible demonic assaults can fully appreciate Elder Joseph's courage and bravery.Saint Seraphim of Sarov,who had experienced numerous demonic appearances found it sufficient merely to say about them,'They are atrocious!"
During their blessed life at St Basil's Skete,Geronda's(Elder) demonic warfare continued relentlessly.
One day Mr.Sotirios Schoinas came from the world to see him.Up there in those abrupt precipices,however,they didn't have any place for him to stay.So Geronda had him sleep in his own cell,while he went to their little chapel to do his vigil.
That evening,the demons came to Geronda's cell as usual.When they started beating the visitor,he started screaming!The man was horrified-he almost lost his mind.As soon as Geronda and F.Arsenios heard the screams,they came running and asked him,"What's wrong?"
"The demons nearly strangled me!" he said."They almost beat me to death!"Indeed,he was black and blue from their hits."Don't be afraid,"Geronda told him."They won't hit you again.Every evening they beat me,but tonight they thrashed you by mistake!"
The visitor fell at Geronda's feet in tears and begged him;'Take me back to St.Anne's quickly!I can't stay here anymore."
Geronda told him cheerful things to calm him down,but it was impossible.He could not stay in that place of Martyrdom.He was terrified and kept looking left and right,begging to leave.So in the middle of the night,Geronda led him through the ravines back to St Anne's.
At the outset of their ascetical life,both Geronda and Fr.Arsenios were frequently tormented by the demons.But it was primarily Geronda who was beaten up,because it was his prayer that really burned them.They didn't attack Fr.Arsenios so much,partly because he was not on the same level as Geronda,but especially because he was a disciple.When a disciple is properly obedient and confesses frankly,he eliminates the demon's right to attack him.Geronda,on the other hand,had an unending struggle throughout his entire life.Years later,he wrote to someone;

I have been furiously and bloodily wrestling with the demons for more than twenty-five years in this world.I have descended to the bottom of the sea,devoid of any complacency and self-will,in order to find the"pearl of great price."I conquered Satan himself along with all his army,skill,and cunning.Having shackled him through humility,I asked him,"Why do you have so much rage towards us and fight us with so much fury?"
And he answered;So that i may have many companions in hades and brag to the Nazarene,"I am not the only transgressor-see now many others are with me?!"
Then once again I ascended to the heavens through grace and spiritual theoria and saw the ineffable beauty of Paradise,which God has prepared for them that love Him.
And after all this,grace was lifted away a little,and my feet were well nigh shaken.Then i fell into a little negligence,and sleep took me captive and deprived me of many blessings.Shortly thereafter,I rose once again and waged war and a bloody battle.But after I won,I fell into drowsiness,and once more negligence,the mother of every evil,began to eat away at my bones.Yet once again I rose and waged war against all the spirits."

His temptations were so severe that many times he told us;'If I describe to you my struggles with temptations,you will not be able to bear it because my entire life has been a martyrdom.But the goodness of God and our Lady the Theotokos,who always protected me,gave me a kind of persistence and toughness so that I would not yield.In difficult times,what really helps and saves you is tears.but everything depends on the goodness of God."
During his great trials,Geronda experienced the grace of God tangibly.This was because God's response is proportional to the magnitude  of the temptation that one bears for His Love.
When a person works for God with very good intentions,it is not possible that God will let him be tempted beyond his strength.
Furthermore,his reward from God will also correspond to the magnitude of the temptation.This is why Geronda wrote;
"Don't be surprised;that is how a monk is.The life of a monk is a continuous martyrdom.Our sweet Jesus reveals Himself through afflictions."As St.Isaac the Syrian says,"God does not grant great gifts without a great trial."

St.Isaac also warns us;

But if a man's soul has an infirmity and has not strength enough for great temptations,and she therefore asks that she should not enter into them,and God hearkens to her,then know for a certainty that inasmuch as the soul is insufficient for great trials,in the same measure is she insufficient for great gifts;and in so far as great temptations are prevented from entering upon the soul,to the same degree great gifts are withheld from her.

 
This means that whoever wants to experience great grace from God must be patient with temptations.He must hold the battlefront with trust in God.

Taken from the book "My Elder Joseph The Hesychast" By Elder Ephraim of Arizona

Saint Nikodemos The Hagiorite-On How the enemy turns the virtues themselves against those who practise them

 

Saint Nikodemos The Hagiorite

But let us suppose that you faithfully and steadfastly follow the path of virtue, turning neither to right nor to left; do not imagine that the enemy will leave you alone. No! In the extract I quoted from St. John of the Ladder, you have already heard that when the enemy sees that all his attempts to lead you into evil have failed, he follows you stealthily and flatters you, suggesting that your life is wholly pleasing to God. This is his last temptation. Our response to his flattery is self-opinion, self-importance and selfcomplacency, which give birth to vanity and pride; vanity robs our doings of all value, even if they are good, and pride makes us  abhorrent to God. 

So watch and repel all such flattery of the enemy, nor let it reach the heart, but repulse it from the first moment it touches the ears of your soul.
To avoid falling into this evil which threatens you, always keep your mind collected in the heart and be for ever ready to repulse these arrows of the enemy. Standing there within, like a general on the battlefield, choose a place, of advantage for battle, fortify it thoroughly and never leave it, but make it your shelter from which to give battle. This place, its fortification and armament, is a profound and sincere realisation of your nothingness, of the fact that you are poor, blind, naked and rich only in weaknesses, faults and deeds that are blameworthy, foolish, vain and sinful. Having taken up this position, never let your mind wander outside your fortress and particularly refrain from going over your apparently fruitful fields and gardens, that is, your good deeds. If you keep to this practice, the arrows of the enemy’s pernicious flattery will not touch you, and even if one of them happens to reach you, you will immediately see and repulse it, and throw it away.

But just as warriors entrenched in a fortress do not sit idle, but either go through military training, or repair and strengthen the fortifications, so must you, sheltering in the consciousness of your nothingness, do the same. To be more precise, act as follows.
However firmly you hold your mind, it will continue to run away, and it is not surprising if in its wanderings it comes upon works of yours which look good. As soon as it comes upon them, the enemy will immediately seize it and afflict it with self-opinion, in such a way that, on returning home, it will willingly range itself on the side of the enemy and will try to drag you with it. As soon as you notice this, call your mind back to you and say to it: ‘ Listen, mind: you keep on telling me that this is good and that is not bad. Maybe so; but what’s that to do with me? You were about to praise me. Very well, sing my praises, I am listening. But know that justice demands that you should praise me only for what is my own in me and in my actions; but for those things that come from God and His grace, praise and thanks are due to their source. So let us examine what you and I have of our own and what belongs to God,and let us refer to God what comes from God, and keep what is our own. Then by what we still have—if we still have anything—let us determine our weight and value, and let us praise ourselves for it.
So, let us begin. Let us glance at the time before we existed: what were we then? Nothing, and we could do nothing, for which the Source of all life could reward us by granting us existence. Thus our existence is a spontaneous gift of God, a divine favour; this is the start, and through this we receive all the subsequent favours granted to us in His measureless mercy. So let us refer this to God.—Then we began to live. How? We do not ourselves know. For many years you and I were not aware of our existence, yet we did exist; then when we did become aware of it, we could do nothing to sustain our life. Other hands cared for us, not of themselves, but moved by the providence of the Provider of all life and being. We were brought up, educated, put on our feet.

There was nothing of our own in all this—so let us put it aside.
‘Then we began to live on our own. What is there of our own? Take our vital energy and our means of existence; they are not ours,they are a gift of God.
‘Direct knowledge of God is a gift of God, conscience is a gift of God, thirst for heavenly life is a gift of God. These three constitute the spirit of our life, urging us heavenwards. You, my mind, are not mine: you were given me by God. Neither are the powers active within me—will, with its energy—mine. Nor does my feeling, the ability to enjoy life and all my surroundings belong to me. 

My body, with all its functions and requirements, which determine our physical well-being, is not mine either. All this was given by God. And I myself belong not to me, but to God. When he gave me being, God invested me with a calculated complexity of vital energies and gave me consciousness and freedom. He ordained that I should rule over all existing in me, in accordance with the function and value of each part of my being. All this offers no grounds for self-praise, but only for realising the great and heavy duty imposed on us, and for fear of the answer we are to give to the question: What have we done with ourselves and of ourselves?

Let us now turn to the means of life. There is in us the life of the body, the life of the soul and the life of the spirit. Each of them needs its own means of existence, they are all ready to hand, but they are all a gift of God, and not our own acquisition. Air, fire,water, the earth with all its treasures: the elements, stones, metals, plants and animals, which provide all we need as food, garments and houses, arc not made by us but are given. All the concepts we need about our surroundings, the forms of our daily life, of society and government, the arts and crafts and the rules of action in all these domains, we find ready-made and need only to assimilate them, instead of bothering our heads to invent them. Each man coming into the world inherits them from his ancestors.
And where did our ancestors get it all? God sends down men endowed with special gifts and special strength of will, and they make new discoveries and improve human life. But if you were to ask any one of these inventors how he has arrived at one thing or another, he would answer: ‘I do not know; it just came into my mind, developed, took shape and matured.’ So it has always been,and so it will always be to the end of the world: the means of livelihood for the soul are not ours—they are given. Even more is it so in our spiritual—moral—religious life. In the mind of our soul God has placed knowledge of Himself, and in our conscience—knowledge of His will, endowing each alike with the hope of eternal bliss. 

This is the seed of life of the spirit. It is sown in us and received by us at the moment when God breathes into us His divine spark of life. Each man, when born, brings this seed with him and in him; later the development of this seed is determined by the kind of people who surround him. What an indescribably great blessing it is to be born among people who lead a truly spiritual life! But look around you. We possess knowledge of the one true God, worshipped as the Trinity; we confess the Son of God, Who assumed flesh for our sake and provided all things for our salvation; and we believe in the Holy Spirit, whose grace animates us and who is active in building spiritual life in us; we are planted in the Church of God and receive in it all that is needful for preserving and raising up our spiritual life, and we are inspired by the expectation of the resurrection of the dead and of life in the world to come. All this we have in the most pure and unadulterated form, and none of it is our own—it is a gift of God. So you see how rich are the means which surround you for leading a life, which should be natural to you in all its fullness; not one of them is the fruit of your own efforts, all is given you. 

You are called to the banquet of life, already prepared. if you and I can boast of anything in this respect, it is perhaps only of how we have used it all. To possess all this in full force represents our wedding garment. Should we glory in it? Should we not rather be afraid, lest the bountiful Host of the banquet should come and say to us: “ See what a banquet it is! But what of your garment.”

Now let us look more closely at this garment. The garment of the soul is chiefly composed of the moral and religious dispositions and feelings rooted in it, rather than of actions alone. But since they are hidden, they are but rarely the occasion of vanity and pride.
Actions, however, are visible, and so jump to the eye, and as it were involuntarily, provoke in the doer a feeling of self-importance and self-approbation, and their outer effect is to move the witnesses of a man’s deeds to praise, which makes this feeling of selfimportance and trumpeting still deeper and more firmly rooted. So let us examine our actions to see whether they contain anything we can incontestably boast about.
‘Let us remember that we can boast only of something which is a direct result of our own will and is done by us independently of anything else. But look how our actions proceed. How do they begin? Certain circumstances come together and lead to one action or another; or a thought comes to our mind to do something, and we do it. But the concurrence of circumstances does not come from us; nor, obviously, is the thought to do something our own; somebody suggests it. Thus, in such cases, the origin or birth of the thought to do something cannot or should not be an object of self-praise. Yet how many of our actions are of this kind ? If we examine them conscientiously, we shall find that they almost all start in this way. So we have nothing to boast of.

If we can praise ourselves for anything, it is for doing something we need not have done; for, however strong the external and internal impulses to action, the decision to act always depends on our will. But here again the decision to do a good deed is not always right. A decision is right, if it comes from the realisation that God wills such and such an action, and from obedience to His will. 

But as soon as something foreign comes in, to please oneself or other people, the quality of the decision becomes tarnished and darkened. Sometimes we take a decision for fear of what people may say if we do not; sometimes, because we expect some profit or satisfaction from the action, either now or in the future, and sometimes simply because we cannot do otherwise; we don’t want to but we must. No such acts can be counted as purely good acts, and, although they appear praiseworthy, are not so in their inner quality before God and conscience. Let us examine how many of our deeds are of this kind? Once more we are forced to admit—almost all of them. So again we have nothing to boast of.’
Thus, on strict examination, our good acts do not allow us to open our lips in boasting before others or in trumpeting inwardly to ourselves. But if we bring to memory all our blameworthy deeds—empty, vain, useless, harmful, lawless, abhorrent to God, of which there are sure to be many, what must we feel then? Perhaps someone will say: ‘ Weigh one side against the other and judge yourself by whichever is heavier.’ But here such a method is unsuitable. Actions proceed from within. If wrong actions occur, it means that our inner state is wrong; and it is this inner state which determines our worth before God—our essential worth. If this cannot be approved, then the whole man is unworthy of approval.
I shall add one more thing: all our actions done visibly, in the household, in society, at work, constitute our behaviour. If we look round, we cannot but say that on the whole our behaviour is correct. But we cannot assert that our inner state is equally correct. The eyes of the people around us exert a great pressure on our designs. These witnesses force us not to give expression to the evil which arises in the heart; we refrain from evil—and our behaviour appears correct. Were it not for them our behaviour would look quite different; and it often becomes such as long as we are sure that no other eyes can see us. It happens with some people, that as soon as their outer conditions change and they can live more freely, all that was previously concealed, for fear of being seen by others, bursts out and a formerly well-behaved man becomes a drunkard, a debauchee, or even a robber. All these bad impulses were not born at this moment, they existed before, but were denied expression, whereas now they are given free rein and so become manifest.

But even if all this was merely inside, then the whole man was such—a drunkard, a debauchee, a robber / —although outwardly he seemed different. Look carefully, maybe you too belong to this category. If it is so, to however small a degree, you have no right to boast or to accept praise.

To conclude: if, following all the indications set out above, you begin to make a frequent survey of your life, then, when the enemy begins to blow your trumpet into your ears, saying how good you are, this trumpeting will not find response within you by engendering self-esteem or self-approval, but, on the contrary, will be repulsed on every occasion by the most humble and disparaging thoughts and feelings about yourself.

Taken From "Unseen Warfare" By Saint Nikodemos The Hagiorite and Saint Theophane The Recluse.

St. Ignatius Brianchaninov-On Vigilance

 

The soul of all practices in the Lord is vigilance. Without vigilance, all these practices are fruitless. He who is desirous of saving himself must so establish himself that he might remain continuously vigilant toward himself, not only in solitude, but also under conditions of distraction, into which he is sometimes unwillingly drawn by circumstances.

 

 Written for a Certain Layman As a Result of His Desire To Live A Vigilant Life In The World by St. Ignatius Brianchaninov

Let the fear of God outweigh all other sensations upon the scales of your heart; and then will it be convenient to for you to be vigilant toward yourself, both in the silence of your kellia [cell] and in the midst of the noise that surrounds you from all sides.

A well-reasoned moderation in foodstuffs, diminishing the passionate heat of his blood, tends greatly to facilitate your being able to attend to yourself; while the impassioning of your blood, stemming, as it does, from an excessive consumption of foodstuffs, from extreme and intensified bodily movements, from the inflammation of wrath, from being heady with vanity, and by reason of other causes, gives rise to a multitude of thoughts and reveries—in other words, to distraction. The Holy Fathers, first of all, ascribe to such a one as is desirous of attending to himself a moderate, evenly-measured, constant abstention from food. (Dobrotoliubiye [Philokalia], Pt. II, Ch. of St. Filofei [Philotheus] of the Sinai)

Upon awakening from sleep—an image of the awakening from the dead, which awaits all men—direct your thoughts to God, offering up to Him the first-thoughts of your mind, which has not yet become imprinted with any vain impressions whatsoever.

Having carefully fulfilled all the needs of the flesh upon arising from sleep, quietly read your customary rule of prayer, taking care not so much for the quantity of your prayerful expression, as for the quality of it; i.e., do it attentively, so that, by reason of your attention, your heart might be enlightened and enlivened through prayerful feeling and consolation. Upon concluding your rule of prayer, do you again, direct all your strength to the attentive reading of the New Testament, primarily the Evangel. In the course of this reading, intently take note of all the instructions and commandments of Christ, so that you might direct all your actions—both manifest and veiled—in accordance with them.

The quantity of the reading is determined by one's strength and by one's circumstances. It is unnecessary to weight-down one's mind with an excessive reading of prayers and Scripture; likewise, is it unnecessary to neglect one's needs in order to practice immoderate prayer and reading. Just as the excessive use of foodstuffs disorders and weakens the belly, so too does the immoderate use of spiritual food weaken the mind and create in it a revulsion to pious practices, leading it to despair. ([St.] Isaak the Syrian, "Sermon 71")

For the novice, the Holy Fathers suggest frequent—but brief—prayers. When one's mind matures with spiritual age, becoming stronger and more manly, then shall one be in proper condition to pray without ceasing. It is to such Christians as have attained to maturity in the Lord that the words of the Apostle Paul pertain:

"I desire, therefore, that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without anger and reproach." (I Tim. II, 8) i.e., dispassionately, and without any distraction or inconstancy. For that which is natural to the man is not yet natural to the infant.

Enlightened, through prayer and reading, by our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, one may then go forth to carry out the affairs of one's daily course, vigilantly taking care that in all one's deeds and words, in one's entire being, the All-holy will of God might prevail, as it was revealed and explained to men in the Commandments of the Evangel.

Should there be any free moments during the course of the day, use them to read attentively some chosen prayers, or some chosen portions of Scripture; and, by means of these, fortify the powers of your soul, which have become exhausted through activity in the midst of a world of vanities.

Should there not be any such golden moments, it is necessary to regret their loss, as though it were the loss of a valuable treasure. What is wasted today should not be lost on the day following, because our heart conveniently gives itself up to negligence and forgetfulness, which lead to that dismal ignorance, so ruinous of Divine activity, of the activity of man's salvation.

Should you chance to say or to do something that is contrary to God's commandments, immediately treat your fault with repentance; and, by means of sincere contrition, return to the Way of God, from which you stepped aside through your violation of God's will. Do not linger outside the Way of God! Respond with faith and humility to sinful thoughts, reveries and sensations by opposing to them the Gospel commandments, and saying, along with the holy patriarch Joseph:

"How shall I speak this evil word and sin before God?" (Gen. XXX, 9)

One who is vigilant toward oneself must refuse himself all reverie, in general—regardless of how attractive and well-appearing it might seem, for all reverie is the wandering of the mind, which flatters and deceives it, while being outside the truth, in the land of non-existent phantoms, and incapable of realization. The consequences of reverie are: loss of vigilance toward oneself, dissipation of the mind, and hardness of heart during prayer, whence comes distress of the soul.

In the evening, departing into slumber—which, in relation to the day just past, is death—examine your actions during the course of that day. Such [self-] examination is not difficult, since, in leading an attentive attentive life, that forgetfulness which is so natural to a distracted man is destroyed through vigilance toward oneself. And so, having recollected all your sins, whether through act, or word, or thought, or sensation, offer your repentance to God for them, with both the disposition and the heart-felt pledge of self-amendment. Later, having read the rule of prayer, conclude the day which was begun by meditating upon God by meditating, once again, upon God. Whither do they depart—all the thoughts and feelings of a sleeping man? What mysterious state of being is this sleep, during which the soul and body are both alive and yet not alive, being alienated from the awareness of their life, as though dead? Sleep is as incomprehensible as death. In the course of it, one's soul reposes, forgetting the most-cruel earthly afflictions and calamities that have beset it, while it images its eternal repose; while one's body (!!) ... if it rises from sleep will also arise, inevitably, from the dead.

The great Agafon said: "It is impossible to succeed in virtue without exerting vigilance toward oneself." (The Patericon of Skete)

Amen.

Excerpted from The Writings of Bishop Ignatii Brianchaninov: Ascetic Essays, Volume I, pp. 185-187 (in Russian). Translated into English from the Russian by George Spruksts intrprtr@prodigy.net. English-language translation copyright (c) 1999 by The St. Stefan of Perm' Guild, The Russian Cultural Heritage Society, and the Translator. All Rights Reserved. Permission is hereby granted to use this essay for non-commercial purposes, as long as this entire notice is included therewith.

Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite-On the Order of Acquiring Virtues

  Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite

A true warrior of Christ, filled with a whole-hearted desire to achieve the fullness of perfection, must set no limits to his efforts to gain success in all things. Yet he must moderate and direct excessive transports of his spiritual zeal by good judgment. Particularly in the beginning, such transports surge up suddenly with great vigor and carry us away with irresistible force; but later they gradually grow weaker and weaker, until they die down altogether, leaving us stranded in the middle of our journey. For not only should external, bodily virtues be acquired little by little, by gradually ascending, as by the rungs of a ladder, but in the acquisition of the inner virtues of the soul one should also observe a definite order and sequence, since only then does our little become much and remain with us for ever.
[BEGIN WITH A LOWER DEGREE OF A VIRTUE AND THEN STEP UP]

For example, in the process of acquiring the inner virtue of patience, it is impossible at once to welcome injustice, injuries and all other forms of unpleasantness, to seek them and rejoice in them, although it is possible to endure them with patience when they come. For welcoming them and rejoicing in them are the highest degrees of patience, and before you reach them you should traverse the lower degrees, which are: humble self-depreciation, in which you consider yourself worthy of every insult, overcoming in yourself impulses of revenge, hatred of the least thought of revenge, and so on.

[START WITH ONE VIRTUE AND THEN ACQUIRE MORE]

I advise you, besides: do not at once undertake the practice of all virtues, or even of a number of them, but become first grounded in one and there upon pass to another. In this way every habit of virtue will take root in your soul with greater ease and firmness. For when you are constantly exercising yourself in the virtue above all others, your memory will be almost entirely occupied by this alone, and your mind, thus welded to the thought of it, will acquire more quickly the skill of finding means and occasions for its practice, while your will will cleave to it with greater readiness and desire. All these things help greatly in the work of acquiring habits of virtue, which you will expect in vain if you undertake many virtues at once.

[VIRTUES BUILD ON ONE ANOTHER AS YOU GROW SPIRITUALLY]

On the other hand, since the practice itself of any given virtue remains always the same, it follows from the similarity of this mode of action that it gradually becomes less and less difficult and leads more quickly to another virtue. For one virtue usually stimulates another, akin to it, and helps it by the fact that, once it is established in the heart, it predisposes the heart to receive the like by preparing as it were a seat for it.

This calculation of mine is true and reliable, and we know from experience that if a man exercises himself in one virtue well and wholeheartedly, he not only learns in advance by this very fact how to exercise himself in another, but, as his experience in the first virtue increases, he stimulates too all other virtues and makes them grow and strengthen in himself; for they cannot be divided from one another, as all are rays issuing from the same Divine Light. 

from "Unseen Warfare," by St. Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain, revised by St. Theophan the Recluse, (Crestwood, N.Y.: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1978), pp. 179 - 180

St.Nikodemos the Hagiorite- On How to struggle against bodily passions

 Saint Nikodemos The Hagiorite

In struggling against bodily passions, my brother, a different method should be used than in struggling against the others. If you want things to proceed in the right order, know that you should do one thing before you are tempted by these passions, another thing during temptation and yet another when it is over.
Before temptation, attention should be concentrated on the causes, which habitually give birth to temptation or which excite passion. The rule here is to use every means to avoid all occasions, which may upset the calm of your body, especially meeting people of the other sex. If you are forced to converse with such a person, let the conversation be short, and preserve not only modesty but a certain sternness of countenance; let your words be friendly, but reserved rather than forthcoming.

‘ Never trust thine enemy’ (Ecclesiasticus xii. 10) says the wise Sirach. So never trust your body; for as iron produces rust by itself, so the corrupted nature of the body produces evil stirrings of lust. “For like as iron rusteth, so is his wickedness’ (Ecclesiasticus xii. 10). I repeat again, do not trust yourself in this respect, even if you no longer feel and have not felt for some time this sting of your flesh.

 For this thrice-cursed wickedness sometimes achieves in one hour or one moment what it has not done for many years, and always makes its preparations for attack silently. Know that the more the flesh pretends to be your friend and gives no cause for suspicion, the greater the harm it inflicts later, and often strikes to death.
All must fear people of the other sex, communion with whom is regarded as good in ordinary life, either because they are relatives,or because they are pious and virtuous, or because they have done you a favour and you fee] under the obligation to express your gratitude as often AS possible. You should fear this because, without fear and attention to yourself, such communion is practically always mixed with the pernicious sensory lust which, gradually .”and insensibly, steals into the soul to its very depths and so obscures the mind that a man thus infected begins to disregard all the dangerous causes of sin, such as passionate glances, sweet words on both sides, seductive movements and postures of the body and the pressing of hands. Thus he finally succumbs to the sin itself and to other snares of the devil, from which at times he never manages to extricate himself completely.

So, my brother, flee this fire, for you are gunpowder, and never dare to think in your conceit that you are damp gunpowder,moistened with the water of a good and firm will. No, no! Better think that you are as dry as dry and will catch fire as soon as you are touched by that flame. Never rely on the firmness of your resolve and your readiness to die rather than to offend God by sin.
For, although it can be assumed that this resolve makes your gunpowder damp, frequent communication and sitting together in private will gradually dry the moisture of your righteous will by bodily fire, and you will never notice how you are set aflame with bodily love to such an extent, that you will cease to be ashamed of men and to fear God,- and will disregard honour, life and all the tortures of hell in your longing to commit sin. So avoid in all possible ways:
(a) Communion with people, who can be a temptation to you, if you sincerely desire to escape the captivity of sin and paying its wages, which is death of the soul. The wise Solomon calls a man wise, who fears and avoids the causes of sin; and he calls foolish a man who, with great self-reliance, confidently neglects to avoid them, saying: ‘A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident” (in his actions) (Prov. xiv. 16). Did not the Apostle point this out when he advised the CORINTHIANS: “Flee fornication” (I Cor. vi. 18).
(b) Flee idleness and laziness; stand on guard watchfully, in all things peering closely at your thoughts, and wisely arranging and conducting the activities, demanded by your position.
(c) Never disobey your spiritual teachers and fathers, but obey them willingly in everything, executing their orders quickly and readily, and especially those which can teach you humility and go against your own will and inclination.

(d) Never allow yourself boldly to judge your neighbour; judge and condemn, no. one, especially for the particular bodily sin of which we are speaking. If someone has manifestly fallen into it, rather have compassion and pity for him. Do not be indignant with him or laugh at him, but let his example be a lesson in humility to you; realising that you too are extremely weak and as easily, moved to sin as dust on the road, say to yourself: ‘He fell today, but tomorrow I shall fall.’ Know that, if you are quick to blame and despise others, God will mete out a painful punishment to you by letting you fall into the same sin for which you blame others.
‘Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matt. vii. 1); you will be condemned to the same punishment, in order to learn from it the perniciousness of your pride and, thus humbled, to seek a cure from two evils: pride and fornication. Even if in His mercy God protects you from downfall and you keep the chastity of your thought inviolate, stop blaming others if you were blaming them, and instead of relying on yourself, be still more afraid and do not trust your own steadfastness.
(e) Pay attention to yourself and watch over yourself. If .you have gained some gift or another from God, or find yourself in a good spiritual state, do not in your vainglory accept vain illusions. about yourself, thinking that you are something and .imagining that your enemies would not dare to attack you that you abhor and despise them so much that you will immediately repulse them., if they dare to come near you. As soon as you think thus, you will fall as easily as an autumn leaf from a tree.
That is what you must do before the temptation of bodily passion assails you.

At a time of actual temptation, do as follows: hasten to discover the cause which provoked the attack and sweep it away immediately. This cause may be internal or external. External causes may be: undisciplined eyes, words sweet to the hearing, songs which delight your ears by their content or melody, fine garments made of soft materials, perfumes pleasing to the nose, free behaviour and conversations, physical touch and pressing of hands, dances and many other things. Remedies against these are:simple and humble attire, the will not to see, hear, smell, say or touch anything which may produce this shameful impulse, and especially avoidance of all intercourse with people of the other sex, as has been already said above. Inner causes are, on the one hand, ease and comfort of the body, when all bodily desires find full satisfaction; on the other—shameful thoughts, which either come of themselves brought by memories of things seen, heard and experienced, or which are excited by evil spirits.
As regards a life of physical ease and comfort, it should be hardened by fasts, vigils, sleeping rough, and especially by a great number of bowings and prostrations to exhaust the body, and by various other voluntary mortifications of the flesh, as advised and counseled by our wise and experienced holy fathers. The remedy against thoughts, no matter whence they come, is various spiritual exercises, compatible with your present state and dictated by it, such as: reading of holy and salutary books, especially of St. Ephrem the Syrian, St. John of the Ladder, the Philokalia and others of the same kind, devout meditations and prayer.
When shameful thoughts begin to assail you, pray thus: immediately raise your mind to our Lord, crucified for us, and call on Him from the bottom of your heart: ‘ My Lord Jesus! My sweetest Jesus! Hasten to help me and do not let my enemy ensnare me!’ At the same time embrace mentally (and also physically if there is one near you) the life-giving cross upon which your Lord was crucified, kiss often His wounds and say to Him with love: ‘Most beautiful wounds, most holy wounds, immaculate wounds! Wound my wretched and impure heart and do not let me offend and shame Thee by my uncleanness.” During the time when shameful thoughts of bodily lust multiply in you, your reflections must not be directed straight against them, though many advise this. 

Do not attempt to picture in your mind the uncleanness and shame of the sins of bodily lust, nor the remorse of conscience which follows upon them, nor the corruption of your nature and loss of your pure virginity, nor the besmirching of your honour, and other similar things. Do not attempt, I say, to think of these things, for such reflections are not always a reliable means of overcoming bodily temptations and may only give strength to the attacks and, at times, lead to your downfall. For, although your mind remonstrates with the lust and mentally upbraids it, yet the thought dwells on its objects, to which the heart feels such predilection. 

So it is not surprising that while the mind is lavishly pouring out severe condemnations of these things, the heart delights in them and consents to them—which means inner downfall. No, you must think of such subjects as would screen off these shameful things and completely distract your attention from them, things which, by their nature, would have a sobering effect on your heart. Such subjects are the life and passion of our Lord Jesus, Who took on flesh for our sakes, the inevitable hour of our death, the terrible day of judgment and the various aspects of torment in hell.

If, as often happens, shameful thoughts should persist in spite of this, and should attack you with special force and impetuosity, fear not, do not stop reflecting as we have said, and do not attempt a direct attack on them to expose their shameful nature, Refrain from this, but continue to direct your whole attention to reflections upon the sobering and awe-inspiring subjects indicated above, without bothering about the shameful thoughts, as though they were not your own. Know that no better means exists of driving them away than disregarding and neglecting them. As often as possible, interrupt your meditation by this or a similar prayer: 

‘Deliver me, my Creator and Saviour, from my enemies, to the glory of your passion and your infinite mercy.” Conclude your meditation by a similar prayer,Take care not to cast the eye of your mind upon this bodily uncleanness, since merely visualising it is not without danger; and do not pause to converse with these temptations or about them, in order to find out whether consent to them had occurred in you or not.
Although such analysis may appear good, in actual fact it is a trick of the devil, who strives by this means to weigh you down, to cast you into faintheartedness and despair, or to make you dwell on these thoughts as long as possible, in order thus to drive you to sinful action, of this kind, or some other.
Instead of all such investigations of the thoughts which trouble you, go, confess all in detail to your spiritual father, and thereupon remain undisturbed in your heart and thought, untroubled by any questions, but content with the ruling of your father. Only, you must reveal to him everything, which has troubled and is troubling your mind and feeling in this temptation, concealing nothing and not letting your tongue be tied by shame, but humbling yourself in self-abasement.

For if, to gain victory, we need profound humility in all struggle with our enemies, how much more so at moments of warfare of the flesh? For in this case the very temptation is mostly either born of pride or is a reproof and punishment for it. Therefore St. John of the Ladder says that he who has fallen into fornication or some other sin of the flesh, had previously fallen into pride; and that his fall into sin was allowed, to humble him. ‘ Where a downfall has happened, there pride has dwelt before it; for pride comes before a fall.’ And again,‘Punishment for the proud is to fall’ (Chapter 23). When shameful thoughts are at last subdued and temptation ceases, you must do the following: however much you are convinced that you are now free from attacks of the flesh, and however sure you are of yourself, take every care to keep your mind and attention away from things and people, who were the cause of this upsurging of temptation.

Do not satisfy the impulse to see them, under the pretext that they are your relatives, or that they are devout and your benefactors. 
Admonish yourself with the thought that this too is a sinful blandishment of our corrupt nature and a net of our cunning enemy the devil, who assumes here the form of an Angel of light, in order to cast us into the darkness of which St. Paul speaks (II Cor. xi. 14).

Taken From the Book "Unseen Warfare "edited by Saint Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain, and Saint Theophan the Recluse