Διαβολικός πόλεμος γιά τήν άκολουθία

ΑΠΟ ΤΗΝ ΑΣΚΗΤΙΚΗ ΚΑΙ ΗΣΥΧΑΣΤΙΚΗ ΑΓΙΟΡΕΙΤΙΚΗ ΠΑΡΑΔΟΣΗ.

Διηγήθηκε Γέρων: <<Άπό νέος μοναχός βίαζα τόν έαυτό μου καί δέν καθόμουν ποτέ στό στασίδι.Αίσθανόμουν τό σώμα μου σάν νεκρό.
Ούτε νύσταζα ούτε πεινούσα ούτε διψούσα.Δέν έβγαινα ποτέ άπό
τήν 'Εκκλησία μέχρι νά τελειώση ή άκολουθία.'Ο διάβολος όμως,
πού θέλει οί καλόγεροι νά βγαίνουν άπό τήν Έκκλησία,μέ φθόνησε.
Κάποτε πού ήμουν στήν άκολουθία όρθιος στό στασίδι καί προσευ-
χόμουν μέ τό κομποσχοίνι,ήρθε καί στάθηκε μπροστά μου.
Κρατούσε ένα καλάμι κούφιο καί μέ αύτό φύσηξε στό αύτί μου.Ένιωσα έναν κρύον άέρα καί ξεπάγιασα,άν καί ήταν Ίούλιος μήνας.

>>Τήν έπομένη μέρα μού προξένησε τέτοια ζέστη,πού νόμιζα ότι
θά σκάσω,θά πεθάνω.Καί στίς δύο φορές όμως έκανα ύπομονή
καί δέν βγήκα άπό τήν Έκκλησία.

>>Τήν τρίτη μέρα,ένώ πάλι προσευχόμουν στό στασίδι,βλέπω 
 πλήθος μοναχών μέσα στό Καθολικό.
΄Περίεργο πράγμα",σκέφτηκα.Τόσους μοναχούς δέν έχουμε στό Μοναστήρι,γιορτή δέν είναι,τί γίνεται:".
 >>Προχωρούσε ή άκολουθία καί τελείωσε ή Η΄ώδή άπό τόν κανόνα τής άγίας Μαρίνης πού ήταν ή μνήμη της.Πήρε ό παπάς τό θυμιατό καί στήν Θ΄ώδή άρχισε νά θυμιάζη.Τότε βλέπω έκείνο τό πλήθος τών μοναχών συνωστισμένοι νά βγαίνουν σάν τά πρόβατα έξω.
Ό τελευταίος ήρθε πρόσωπο μέ πρόσωπο μαζί μου καί μού είπε:
-Μωρέ,δέν μέ βλέπεις;¨Ολοι φεύγουν,έσύ τί κάθεσαι έδώ;
-Άκουσε,τού λέω.Άν δέν άκούσω τήν άπόλυση τού ίερέως άπό
τήν θέση μου δέν βγαίνω.
>>Έφυγε καί αύτός.Είδα τότε άπό τούς 80 μοναχούς πού ήταν
στή Έκκλησία,ούτε 10 δέν είχαν μείνει.Οί ύπόλοιποι ήταν δαίμονες
καί έξαφανίστηκαν γιατί δέν ύπέφεραν νά άκούνε τό όνομα τής
Παναγίας στήν ¨Τιμιωτέρα¨πού είχε άρχίσει>>.
 http://tokandylaki.blogspot.ca/2012/09/blog-post_5.html

Saint Porphyrios: The Disposition of a Moralist

 

By Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia

Man has such powers that he can transmit good or evil to his environment. These matters are very delicate. Great care is needed. We need to see everything in a positive frame of mind. We mustn’t think anything evil about others. Even a simple glance or a sigh influences those around us. And even the slightest anger or indignation does harm. We need to have goodness and love in our soul and to transmit these things. We need to be careful not to harbour any resentment against those who harm us, but rather to pray for them with love. Whatever any of our fellow men does, we should never think evil of him. We need always to have thoughts of love and always to think good of others. Look at Saint Stephen the first martyr. He prayed, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. We need to do the same.

We should never think about someone that God will send him some evil or that God will punish him for his sin. This thought brings about very great evil, without our being aware of it. We often feel indignation and say to someone: ‘Have you no fear of God’s justice, are you not afraid of God’s punishment?’ Or else we say,‘God will punish you for what you’ve done,’ or,‘O God, do not bring evil on that person for what he did to me’; or, ‘May that person not suffer the same thing.’

In all these cases, we have a deep desire within us for the other person to be punished. Instead of confessing our anger over his error, we present our indignation in a different way, and we allegedly pray to God for him. In reality, however, in this way we are cursing our brother. And if, instead of praying, we say, ‘May God repay you for the evil you have done to me,’ then once again we are wishing for God to punish him. Even when we say,‘All very well, God is witness,’ the disposition of our soul works in a mysterious way and influences the soul of our fellow man so that he suffers evil.

When we speak evil about someone, an evil power proceeds from within us and is transmitted to the other person, just as the voice is transmitted on sound waves, and in point of fact the other person suffers evil. It is something like the bewitchment of the evil eye, when someone has evil thoughts about others. This occurs through our own indignation. We transmit our evil in a mystical way. It is not God who provokes evil, but rather people’s wickedness. God does not punish, but our own evil disposition is transmitted to the soul of the other in a mysterious way and does evil. Christ never wishes evil. On the contrary, He commands, Bless those who curse you…

Within us there is a part of the soul called the ‘moralist’. This ‘moralist’, when it sees someone going astray, is roused to indignation, even though very often the person who judges has strayed in the same way. He does not, however, take this as an occasion to condemn himself, but the other person. This is not what God wants. Christ says in the Gospel: You, then, that teach others, will you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? It may be that we do not steal, but we commit murder; we reproach the other person and not ourselves. We say, for example: ‘You should have done that and you didn’t do it. So see now what’s happened to you!’ When we think of evil, then it can actually happen. In a mysterious and hidden manner we diminish the power of the other person to move towards what is good, and we do him harm. We can become the occasion for him to fall ill, to lose his job or his property. In this way we do harm, not only to our neighbor, but also to ourselves, because we distance ourselves from the grace of God. And then we pray and our prayers are not heard. We ‘ask and do not receive’. Why? Have we ever thought of this? ‘Because we ask wrongly.’ We need to find a way to heal the tendency within us to feel and think evil about others.

It’s possible for someone to say,‘The way that person is behaving, he will be punished by God,’ and to believe that he is saying this without evil intent. It is not a simple thing, however, to discern whether he has or does not have evil intent. It does not appear clearly. What is hidden in our soul and how that can exercise influence on people and things is a very secret matter.

The same is not true if we say with a sense of awe that another person is not living well and that we should pray for God to help him and grant him repentance; that is, neither do we say, nor deep down do we desire that God will punish him for what he does. In this case not only do we not do harm to our neighbor, but we do him good. When someone prays for his neighbor, a good force proceeds from him and heals, strengthens and revives him. It is a mystery how this force leaves us. But, in truth, the person who has good within him radiates this good power to others, mystically and gently. He sends light to his neighbor and this creates a shield around him and protects him from evil. When we possess a good disposition towards others and pray, then we heal our fellows and we help ‘them progress towards God.

Do you see what happens? With the Spirit of God we all become incapable of every sin. We are made incapable because Christ dwells within us. We are henceforth capable only of good. Thus we will acquire the grace of God and become possessed by God. If we abandon ourselves to the love of Christ, then all will be overturned, all will be transfigured, all will be transformed, all will be transubstantiated. Anger, resentment, jealousy, indignation, censure, ingratitude, melancholy and depression will all become love, joy, longing, divine eros. Paradise!

From "Wounded by Love", The Life and Wisdom of Elder Porphyrios

Τα είδη της αμαρτίας

 Ένα είδος αμαρτίας που γίνεται, είναι όταν ο αγωνιστής φροντίζει για την αρετή κα επιμένει στην εργασία της μέρα και νύχτα, αλλά δεν τα καταφέρνει και πέφτει σε κάποια αμαρτία. Μπορεί δηλ. από άγνοια, ή από διάφορες αιτίες, αντίθετες στο δρόμο της αρετής, ή από τα κύματα των παθών που ξεσηκώνονται στα μέλη του κάθε τόσο, ή από την πνευματική παράλυση που ενδέχεται να του συμβεί για να δοκιμασθεί η ελεύθερη θέλησή του, να γείρει λίγο η ζυγαριά στον αριστερό ζυγό, οπότε έλκεται από την αδυναμία της σάρκας σε κάποια αμαρτία, και λυπάται και ανησυχεί κα στενάζει με πόνο ψυχής για την ταλαιπωρία του αυτή.
Άλλο είδος αμαρτίας είναι, όταν ο άνθρωπος αποχαυνωθεί και αμελήσει την εργασία της αρετής, και εγκαταλείψει πέρα για πέρα το σωστό δρόμο της, και τρέχει σαν υπάκουος δούλος στην απόλαυση των αμαρτιών, και δείχνει ζήλο πως να εφεύρει καινούργιους τρόπους για την πλήρη απόλαυση της ηδονής. Κάνοντας αυτά, είναι έτοιμος, σαν τον αιχμάλωτο δούλο, να κάνει με ιδιαίτερη φροντίδα το θέλημα του εχθρού του, και να προσφέρει τα μέλη του σώματός του όπλα στις διαταγές του διαβόλου. Και δε θυμάται ο δύστυχος καθόλου τη μετάνοια, ούτε περνάει από το νου του να αφήσει τον καταστρεπτικό δρόμο του και να γυρίσει στην αρετή.
Σο πρώτο είδος της αμαρτίας, που ανέφερα, είναι όταν ο άνθρωπος γλιστρήσει και πέσει, ενώ βαδίζει στο δρόμο της αρετής και της δικαιοσύνης. Αυτό εννοούν οι Πατέρες, όταν λένε ότι, στο δρόμο του Θεού, συναντάμε και πεσίματα, και εναντιώσεις από τον εχθρό, και καταναγκασμούς και τα παρόμοια. Ενώ το δεύτερο είδος της αμαρτίας, που ανέφερα, είναι να πέσει η ψυχή, και να χαθεί και να εγκαταλείψει τελείως τον αγώνα. 
  Άγιος Ισαάκ ο Σύρος
http://tokandylaki.blogspot.ca/2012/09/blog-post_4.html 

Elder Ephraim of Arizona on Sin,Repentance,Mourning,and Tears.

(The elder writes to one of his spiritual daughters in the world)

 

All that you suffered,my daughter,was because of your self-reliance.
Didn't I advise you to have humility and self-reproach?.

What did you trust in?Don't you know that if one boldly leans on a bamboo rod,it will break and pierce his hands?So what did you trust in?Don't you know the saying;"Without Me you can do nothing:"?
Don't you know that many Fathers fell by trusting in themselves?
Humble yourself,blame yourself,weep,my daughter,wash your
wedding garment.Your Bridegroom,Who is more beautiful than
the sons of men,is calling you,is seeking you,and has prepared an abode for you in the heavens.The spiritual bridal chamber is extremely luxurious!

 

Angels are serving;do not be sluggish.Arise;get some water and
wash your wedding gown well,for you do not know when He will come.The time of death is unknown;it comes to us all.We do not know at what time it will come.

Repent.See how the harlot washed the immaculate feet of the
Master.She shed tears more precious than myrrh,and they attracted God's mercy and forgiveness.The she heard,"Your sins are forgiven;go in peace."

 

Repent,my daughter.Fall before the fearsome feet of the Master
with mourning.Weep;cry out,I have sinned,my Jesus.Accept me in repentance and save me.Overlook not my tears,O joy of the angels.
Abhor me not,cast me not away.Thou Who hast bent the heavens by Thine ineffable abasement."With these and many other such words importune Christ,resting assured that you will find His love three times as strong.

Your repentance will give limitless joy to the angels,and exuberantly they will exclaim,"She stopped! She stopped! She stopped!"That is she stopped short of falling.You were caught out of the flow,and now you are ascending again.

http://tokandylaki.blogspot.ca/2012/09/elder-ephraim-of-arizona-on.html

Θοῦ Κύριε φυλακήν περί τά χείλη μου...

 Ἡ αἰτία γιά ὅλα τά κακά, πού μᾶς τυραννοῦν στή
ζωή, εἶναι τό στόμα· μᾶλλον ὄχι τό στόμα, ἀλλά ἐμεῖς, πού δέν τό χρησιμοποιοῦμε σωστά, ὅπως θέλει ὁ Θεός. 
Ἀπό αὐτό βγαίνουν ἔξω οἱ κατηγορίες καί οἱ συκοφαντίες.
Μήν μοῦ πεῖς· «Δέν εἶναι τίποτα, δέν εἶναι καί με-
γάλη ἁμαρτία νά κατακρίνω ἤ νά συκοφαντῶ κά-
ποιον». Αὐτό ἀκριβῶς εἶναι ἡ πιό μεγάλη ἁμαρτία,
ἐπειδή λές, ὅτι δέν εἶναι τίποτα.
Αγ.Ἰωάννης Χρυσόστομος.
http://tokandylaki.blogspot.ca/2012/09/blog-post_8804.html 

Why the Grace of Baptism is not Preserved

The reason why the grace of Baptism is not preserved is because the order, rules, and laws of an upbringing which is adopted to this end are not kept. The chief causes of this are:




1) Going away from the Church and its grace-giving means. This starves the sprout of Christian life, disconnecting it from its sources, and it wilts as a flower wilts when it is placed in a warm place.




2) Failure to pay heed to one's bodily nature. People think that the body may be developed in every way without harm for the soul, while actually in the bodily members is the seat of the passions, which develop together with its development, become rooted in and take possession of the soul. Penetrating the bodily members, the passions receive in them a place to settle, or they make out of them a certain unapproachable fortress and thereby secure power for themselves for all the time to come.




3) A development of the powers of the soul which is undiscriminating and is not directed towards a single aim. People do not see the aim ahead of them, and so do not see the path to it. From this, despite all the concern for the most contemporary education, people do no more than to puff up in themselves curiosity, self-will, and a thirst for pleasures.




4) Complete forgetfulness of the spirit. Prayer, fear of God, and conscience are seldom taken into consideration. If there is outward good order, the most inward side of life is always taken for granted and therefore always left to take care of itself. During the time of learning, the most important thing is covered over by secondary things, and the one thing needed is overshadowed by a multitude of others.


5) Finally, when one enters into the age of youth without first putting in place good principles and the determination to live in a Christian way. Further, when one does not restrain the attractions of youthful life in a proper order, but gives oneself over to all the thirst for impressions, through amusements, light reading, the heating of the imagination by fantasies, indiscriminate contact with those who are like oneself, and especially with the opposite sex, an exclusive concern for learning and giving oneself over to the world by means of fashionable ideas, rules, and customs, which are never favorable to the life of grace but always arm themselves hostilely against it and strive to smother it.


Each one of these causes, and even one of them, is sufficient to quench in a young person the life of grace. But it happens for the most part that they act together, and one unfailingly draws another in its wake; and they all together so obstruct the spiritual life that sometimes not even the slightest trace of it can be noticed, as if a man has no spirit at all and was created not for communion with God, does not have the powers foreordained for this, and has not received the grace which gives him life.

Excerpt from "The Path To Salvation" By Saint Theophan The Recluse .

Τὸ λάθος ποὺ κάνουν πολλοὶ νομίζοντας ὡς ἀρετὴ τὴν μικροψυχία

ΟΣΙΟΥ ΝΙΚΟΔΗΜΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΡΕΙΤΟΥ

            "ΑΟΡΑΤΟΣ ΠΟΛΕΜΟΣ"

                                                                         

Σχετικὰ μὲ αὐτό, βρίσκονται σὲ πλάνη πολλοί, ὅσοι νομίζουν γιὰ ἀρετὴ τὴν ὀλιγοψυχία καὶ τὴν
ὑπερβολικὴ λύπη ποὺ τοὺς συνοδεύει ὕστερα ἀπὸ τὴν ἁμαρτία, μὴ γνωρίζοντας ὅτι αὐτὴ προέρχεται ἀπὸ κρυφὴ ὑπερηφάνεια καὶ πρόληψι, ποὺ ἔχουν κάνει θεμέλια πάνω στὴν ἐλπίδα καὶ στὸ θάρρος ποὺ ἔχουν στὸ ἑαυτό τους καὶ στὶς δυνάμεις τους.

 Γιατὶ αὐτοί, ὑπολογίζοντας τὸν ἑαυτό τους ὅτι εἶναι κάτι, κατὰ κάποιον τρόπο, ξεθάρρεψαν πολύ, καὶ βλέποντας μὲ τὴν δοκιμὴ τῆς πτώσεως, ὅτι δὲν ἔχουν καμμία δύναμι, ταράζονται καὶ ἀποροῦν, σὰν γιὰ κανένα πρᾶγμα καινούργιο καὶ   ὀλιγοψυχοῦν βλέποντας πεσμένο στὴ γῆ ἐκεῖνο στὸ ὁποῖο βασίσθηκαν (δηλαδὴ τὸν ἑαυτόν τους), πάνω στὸν ὁποῖο εἶχαν ἀποθέσει τὸ θάρρος καὶ τὴν ἐλπίδα τους.

Αὐτὸ ὅμως δὲν γίνεται καὶ στὸν ταπεινό, ὁ ὁποῖος μόνο στὸ Θεὸ ἔχει τὴν ἐλπίδα καὶ τὸ θάρρος του, χωρὶς νὰ ἔχῃ καμία ἐλπίδα στὸν ἑαυτό του.

 Γι᾿ αὐτό, ὅταν πέσῃ σὲ κάθε εἴδουςσφάλμα, ἂν καὶ αἰσθάνεται πόνο καὶ λύπη, μὲ ὅλο τοῦτο δὲν ταράσσεται, οὔτε ἀπορεῖ. Γιατὶ ξέρει ὅτι αὐτὸ
τοῦ συνέβη ἀπὸ τὴν ἀθλιότητα καὶ τὴν ἀδυναμία τοῦ ἑαυτοῦ του, ἡ ὁποία γνωρίζεται πολὺ καλὰ μὲ τὸ φῶςτῆς ἀλήθειας.