True inner peace comes when one takes the right attitude. Our task is to find peace in heaven, not on earth. Some confessors reassure and justify the thoughts of a person who then says: “I really like this confessor!” - however, such a person remains uncorrected. But confessors must help a person find his shortcomings so that he can improve, and then guide him, giving him the right direction. Real peace comes only in this case.
And justifying a person for his passions is not helping him. For me this is a crime.
To help two people connected with each other, the confessor must have communication with each of them. For example, hearing that two people do not agree in their thoughts, the confessor must know the soul of each, because everyone can present the matter in the way he understands it. The confessor should take upon himself to resolve the conflict of these people only when they agree that he will resolve them according to the Gospel - all other decisions will be an ongoing headache, and you will have to constantly drink aspirin. In addition, the confessor must put each of those who disagree in his place, he must not justify anyone. He must point out the shortcomings of each person. In this way, both one and the other curvature will be trimmed, and people will come to agreement and mutual understanding.
Venerable Elder Paisius the Svyatogorets: “Justifying a person in his passions is not helping him. For me this is a crime"
I don’t have a single good quality, except for the following: I never justify anyone - even if the person is not guilty. For example, if women come to me and start complaining about their husbands, I give them a good beating. When men come to me and complain about their wives, I give the men a beating. I do not calm their thoughts, but I point out to everyone his shortcomings, I tell everyone what he needs in order to benefit.
Otherwise, both husband and wife leave the person to whom they came to consult, calmed down, but at home they begin to quarrel with each other: “No, after all, the priest was right when he told me who you really are! » - one reproaches the other, and in response hears: “Do you know what he told me about you?!”
I want to say that I do not justify anyone in their passions. And not only do I not justify it: I scold some people very much - it is clear that it is for their own good - and they really leave internally calm. That is, they may leave me sad, but they understand that my bitterness is greater than their own.
- Geronda, some, when you scold them, still feel like they are behind a stone wall.
- Yes, because I don’t scold a person in a dry, formal manner. I tell him that he has both virtues that need to be benefited from and shortcomings that need to be corrected. If you don’t tell a person the truth, then at some point, not hearing the flattery he loves, he will lose his balance.
One day an excited young man came to me and said: “Geronda, I am not able to correct myself. My confessor told me: “This is all hereditary for you...” From such words the young man fell into despair. If someone trusts me with their problems, then I will tell such a person: “This is happening for such and such a reason. In order to change, you have to do this and that.”
For example, a person comes to me who is tormented by some thought and cannot sleep. He takes pills for headaches and stomach pain and asks me: “Maybe it’s better for me not to take them?” “No,” I answer, “take your pills for now.” Throw away the thought that torments you, and after that you can leave the pills. If you don’t throw away your thoughts, your condition will not change, you will continue to suffer.”
After all, what will be the benefit to this person if he stops taking pills, but does not stop holding the thought that torments him? The confessor must treat some things with patience, but not bring things to a point where he has to turn on the red light in front of the confessor. Of course, the person confessing himself must work correctly in order to receive help.
Once upon a time, a young man began to put pressure on the girl to whom he was engaged on some issue. Who knows what he told her... She got angry, got into the car, drove away and crashed on the way. After this, the young man wanted to commit suicide because he felt that he had caused her death. He came to me and told me about it.
Troparion and Kontakion to St. Paisius the Holy Mountain
In fact, he committed a crime, but I consoled him and brought him back to normal. However, after that he completely stopped remembering this incident, became a completely indifferent person, and besides, he got involved with another girl. And so, when in this state three years later he came to me again, I gave him a good beating, because there was no longer any danger that he would commit suicide. He did not see, did not admit his guilt, and therefore a thrashing was necessary. “Don’t you understand,” I told him, “that last time you committed murder and caused the death of a girl?”
Venerable Elder Paisius the Svyatogorets: “Start right from today to do everything that you can do, and Almighty God will do the only thing that you can’t do.”
If this young man had worked on himself correctly, then, not forgetting that incident, he would have continued to suffer, but for this suffering he would have been rewarded with Divine consolation, and then he would not have sunk to such cynical indifference.
Thus, you need to be very careful. After all, someone, having committed a sin, falls into despair. At this moment you can console him, but in order for him not to be harmed, his own curiosity is also required.
One day a young man came to my kaliva who was falling into carnal sin and could not free himself from this passion. The unfortunate man fell into despair. Before me, he had been to two confessors, who strictly tried to explain to him that he was grievously sinning. The boy lost all hope.
“Since I know that I am committing a sin,” he decided, “and cannot correct myself, then it is better for me to break off all relations with God.” When I heard what was happening to him, I felt pain for the unfortunate man, and I said to him: “Listen to me, blessed soul. Never start your struggle with what you cannot do, but start with what you can do. Let's see what you can do and you can start from there. Can you go to church every Sunday?” “I can,” he answered. “Can you fast every Wednesday and Friday?” I asked again. “I can,” he replied. “Can you give out a tenth of your salary in alms, or visit the sick and help them?” - "Can". - “Can you, even if you fall into sin, pray every evening and ask: “My God, save my soul”?” “Geronda,” he told me, “I will do all this.” “Well,” I say, “begin right from today to do everything that you can do, and Almighty God will do the only thing that you can’t do.”
The unfortunate young man calmed down and kept repeating: “Thank you, father.” You see: he had curiosity, and the Good God helped him.
Preface
Seeing that sin “has become fashionable these days,” Elder Paisius of blessed memory especially emphasized the need for repentance and confession. The great importance the elder attached to repentance can be seen from the last chapter of volume II of his “Words.” “Repentance and confession,” the elder told us, “are needed most of all today. They are needed so that the devil is deprived of the rights that people gave him. People give the devil rights, and as a result he torments the world.”
With the help of Elder Paisius, many began the sacrament of confession for the first time and changed their lives. Now these people strive as loving children of God and already in this life experience heavenly joy. “After all, people are very good! – Father Paisiy joyfully shared with us. “It has never happened that I advised a person to confess and he did not do it.” Of course, this was also facilitated by the great love of the old man, which changed the soul of the person with whom he came into contact and transformed it from barren loam into land suitable for cultivation.
This third volume of the “Words” of Elder Paisius is published with the blessing of the new ruling bishop of our diocese, His Eminence Metropolitan Nicodemus of Cassandria. The volume contains the elder’s instructions that can help a person tormented by sin to acquire good concern and begin a spiritual struggle in order to free himself from the sinful shackles that bind him. Living in repentance, a Christian will be able to put off his old man, this, in the words of the elder, “the evil tenant living in us.” Father Paisiy said that in order to expel an evil guest, we must “destroy his house and begin to erect a new building - to build a new person.”
According to patristic teaching, the beginning of sin is an evil thought. Therefore, we have placed the teachings on thoughts selected from the elder’s spiritual heritage in the first part of this volume. “Thoughts,” said the elder, “are an indicator of our spiritual state.” A good thought has great power: it spiritually changes a person.
And on the contrary, an evil thought torments a person. When a person casts out evil thoughts and cultivates good thoughts, his mind and heart are cleansed, and Divine grace lives in him.
The second part of the book says that by enduring injustice and dealing with it spiritually, a person receives a great blessing from God. Often this truth is unknown even to spiritual people who, justifying themselves, go so far as to “compose their own gospel” and thus isolate themselves from God, because human truth has nothing in common with spiritual life. If we want to become close to Christ, then we must become partakers of Divine truth, “which contains curiosity, nobility, and sacrifice.”
The third part of the volume deals with sin. A person’s earthly life from sin turns into hellish torment, but through spiritual struggle our life can become paradise. If a person wants to “come out of sinful darkness,” he must carefully examine his conscience—this “first Divine law” given to him by God—and humbly admit his mistakes and shortcomings. This doing leads to “endless labor of repentance” and gives the soul Divine consolation.
In the fourth part, Father Paisius denounces the satanic forces that operate in the world through their obedient tools: sorcerers, psychics, clairvoyants and other deceived ones. The elder emphasizes that the dark forces themselves are powerless, but they become destructive for a person if he has committed some grave sin and thereby endowed them with rights over himself, and is therefore subject to demonic influence. To free yourself from this influence, a person needs to find the cause of sin, that is, realize it, repent, confess and become a conscious member of the Church.
The last, fifth part of the volume is devoted to the sacrament of confession. The elder draws our attention to the fact that for the forgiveness of sins a Christian needs confession, and for safe spiritual growth he needs to have a spiritual mentor. Father Paisiy draws a clear line between the activities of a psychiatrist and the ministry of a confessor (these are sometimes confused these days) and shares his own experience of working on people’s souls.
As in previous volumes, Father Paisiy briefly answers the questions that are put to him. The elder’s answers are not a systematic presentation of a particular topic and do not pretend to be exhaustive. The purpose of the teachings is different: to help a person be saved. “The salvation of a person’s soul,” said the elder, “is my consolation and joy.”
Seeing what can help the interlocutor in his spiritual struggle in each specific case, the elder speaks to the person in accordance with spiritual necessity, reinforcing him with the necessary “spiritual vitamin.” Often Father Paisiy reveals the meaning of his words with the help of a suitable example. The elder was convinced that positive examples bring great benefits. “If I had time, I would write about some people who lived their lives honestly, about those girls and boys, about those fathers and mothers whose lives were distinguished by holiness,” he shared with us. – Such good examples expose those who brought sin into fashion. There is often no benefit from exposing evil. However, when we show good, evil itself is exposed.”
As you know, the questions that the elder answered were asked by nuns. But, despite this, Father Paisius’s answers apply to any person who strives for a “good feat” or wants to begin this feat. “Both monks and laity,” says the elder in one of his letters, “are given the same commandments. And heaven is also the same for everyone.” In addition, Father Paisius often noted that there are lay people who live a high spiritual life and perform subtle spiritual work on themselves.
We thank all those who graciously agreed to read the manuscript of this volume and with their advice helped us complete preparations for its publication.
“May the Good God enlighten us and give us good repentance, so that we all may be worthy of the good paradise that He has prepared for us as a Father who tenderly loves us,” said the elder.
We prayerfully wish that his words will be fulfilled in practice. Amen.
February 11, 2001
Week of the Prodigal Son
The abbess of the monastery of the holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, nun Philothea with the sisters in Christ.
- Geronda, how do animals understand that a person has kindness?
– Animals have intuition. Therefore, if you love them, if you feel pain for them, they feel it. In paradise, animals felt the fragrance of grace and served Adam. After the Fall, nature sighs together with man. Look at the poor bunny: he always has a frightened look. His heart beats anxiously, knock-knock-knock. The poor thing doesn't sleep at all! How this tiny, innocent creature suffers because of our sins! However, when a person returns to the state in which he was before the Fall, the animals again approach him without fear.
Moscow Sretenskaya Theological Academy
Priest Vasily Rodionov 01/08/201716888
Dejection and sadness are passionate states of the soul that must be fought. But doing this is not as easy as it seems, and without God’s help it is completely impossible. The Venerable Elder Paisius the Svyatogorets spoke about ways to combat despondency and sadness, whose advice we presented in this article - the third part of the series on the fight against passions and rooting in virtues.
Dejection and sadness are states that probably visit every person. Of course, they need to be fought. However, when choosing methods of struggle, it is important to understand the similarities and differences between despondency and sadness, because they are far from the same thing, and therefore every Christian needs to be able to distinguish one from the other.
Sadness
- a passionate state of a person caused by the absence of sinful pleasure[1]. From a worldly point of view, the absence of pleasure is a disastrous situation, but from a spiritual point of view it is a treasure for a Christian. If a person has lost the source of sinful pleasure, overcome his sadness and come to Christ for a source of water flowing into eternal life, he goes from being lost to being saved. That is why Elder Paisios said that Christians do not experience bitter sadness. After all, any bitter sadness is healed by Christ the Savior. Christ consoles the suffering, and this consolation is many times sweeter than any worldly pleasure. The most important thing is to feel the taste of Christ's consolation.
The elder distinguishes between sadness from the devil and sadness from God or, in other words, according to God. Sorrow for God ultimately produces sweet joy that brings comfort. And worldly sadness brings with it only fear, despair, hopelessness.
“Sadness is a passionate state of a person caused by the absence of sinful pleasure.”
For example, a Christian stumbles in his spiritual struggle and begins to grieve because of this.
The motives for such sadness can be different. The elder says that a person can be sad because he considered himself spiritually successful, but sinned. His fall in his own eyes and in the eyes of those around him hurts his “I” and produces worldly, demonic sadness. But it also happens differently: a Christian labored diligently, but stumbled and sinned. The fact that he upset Christ with his fall produces sadness in him. However, this is a completely different sadness—sorrow for God. One sin comes with another. One virtue brings with it another. Selfishness always leads to sadness. Therefore, you need to understand that the fight against sadness should begin with the fight against your selfishness. Also, such a sin as ingratitude produces sadness in a person. Therefore, it is necessary to replace ingratitude with sincere gratitude. Then the sadness will go away on its own. In addition, sadness is overcome by spiritual courage, bravery, zeal for God, and hope in God. Elder Paisios said: “Hope in God is a lever that overturns despair, frees the soul from despondency and fear, and step by step strengthens a person’s spiritual strength, awakening in him holy optimism” [2]
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Cell of the Rev.
Paisia Anyone who does not live for God, does not seek Him, and sees the meaning of his existence in something else, according to the elder, will always be sad. Sadness can also produce illnesses in the body. For example, if a person suffers from a disease in the head or stomach and is constantly sad because of this, then in this state he will get sick more and more often, because he is setting himself up for the worst.
In addition, worldly sadness is produced by worrying about everything beyond measure and vanity of this kind.
According to the teachings of the elder, you can fight the vain thoughts of sadness in this way: when there are many worries and thoughts of care do not give you peace, you need to do one thing and do it decisively, and leave everything else to God. “By entrusting our future to God, we seem to oblige Him to help us,” [3] the elder said. Sometimes a person begins to torment himself with thoughts of anxiety. The elder advised in such cases to approach the circumstances spiritually. The word “spiritually” in this context can be explained by the words of the elder: “Having a good thought, a latecomer will say: “Apparently, the Good God slowed me down for a reason. Who knows: maybe if this delay had not occurred, I would have had an accident! My God, how can I thank You for saving me from danger” [4]. This example clearly shows the spiritual attitude to the unfavorable circumstances of life: everything must be approached with gratitude to God and the reasoning that the Lord always puts a person in a position that is most salutary for him. Such thoughts drive away vanity, and with it the harmful worldly sadness.
“Selfishness always leads to sadness. The fight against sadness should begin with the fight against one’s selfishness.”
Joy is one of the means to combat sadness.
The fullest joy for a Christian is possible only when he does not experience burning torment of conscience; therefore, in order to inherit joy, to which all people are called by God, it is necessary to be at peace with one’s own conscience. Conscience is the first divine law within a person, which is necessarily given by God to every person at the moment of conception. The Monk Nicodemus the Holy Mountain writes about this: “She is the law inscribed by God in the hearts of people”[5].
All people have a conscience. “Conscience does not give its consent to... thoughts that obey sin, but immediately denounces them,” [6] writes St. Macarius of Egypt. When a person does something wrong, his conscience tells him this. But conscience must be given special care in order to always hear it and understand it correctly. If you don’t take care of your conscience, don’t test it, don’t pay attention to it, then a person stops hearing its voice in his heart. Such a person will always experience mental anxiety, although it will seem to him that everything is fine with him. And joy will not visit such a person.
Another danger that Father Paisius warned about is the distortion of one’s own conscience. Sometimes people teach their conscience to remain silent when committing gross sins, and to bring the mind into contrition when dealing with minor things. Or the conscience becomes too sensitive and leads a person to despair.
How can you take care of your conscience so as not to distort it and drown it out?
According to the teachings of Father Paisius, firstly, you need to take care of yourself, constantly be attentive to your inner voice of conscience. In order to correctly understand it and act in accordance with this understanding, you must open your conscience and your thoughts to your confessor, a person who can help in this matter. When the conscience is restless, then a person feels unwell and suffers. If a Christian feels bad, it means that something is wrong - unconfessed or forgotten sin, driven into the corner of the soul, constantly causes suffering.
“Conscience is the first divine law within man.”
Another sure way to keep your conscience intact is humility.
Humility helps to easily accept any information sent by conscience. An undistorted conscience always tells us the truth about ourselves. A proud person often does not want to accept this truth, and he calms his conscience. But a humble person accepts everything about himself as it is and tries to improve. When a person’s conscience is clear, he feels divine consolation and great joy, and this is one of the means of combating sadness.
Dejection
- this is the next stage in the development of sadness
,
a passionate state of mind when a person is unable, for some reason, to receive pleasure from sin.[7] In other words, despondency is “neglected” sadness (that is, the sadness that a Christian did not overcome in time), and therefore all means of combating the passion of sadness are good in the fight against it. However, they alone are no longer enough.
Often thoughts of despondency and despair arise in a person’s mind. In the fight against them, Father Paisius advised taking on some feasible feat that could distract the Christian’s mind from dull thoughts. For example, go to help in hospitals where people who are even worse off than you are being treated. If this is not possible, then read the liturgical hours daily and in a timely manner. If this is not up to the task, then we must begin the struggle by reading the lives of the saints. From this, good thoughts and bright images are deposited in the mind, and the person gradually gets better.
Athos Dejection also often appears in sensitive people. Sometimes the elder advised such people to do some kind of housework so that the mind would be occupied with it and would not be distracted by thoughts of despondency.
Saint Ephraim the Syrian said: “if you want to overcome despondency, do some handicraft, at least for a short time, or read, or pray often”[8]. Prayer is a means of overcoming despondency because it produces ineffable hope in the Creator of the world.
Elder Paisiy Svyatogorets is not an unfounded teacher of prayer, but a most zealous prayer book. One monk who saw the elder testified that “his prayer rose to the clouds”[9]. One metropolitan recalled: “I was impressed by the way the elder prayed before the meal. While reading the Lord’s Prayer, he raised his hands and read the prayer with such love and reverence, as if he was really talking to God.”[10] The elder believed that he could help people much more with his prayer than with words of instruction. He said that it would be better to talk with God about those in need than to talk to those in need about themselves. The elder attached a box to his gate, on which were the following words: “Write what you want, throw notes in the box: my prayers will help you more than verbosity. This way, I will have time to help those most in need. I came here to pray, not to teach.”[11]
The elder sought to convey to those around him that prayer is as necessary for a person’s soul as oxygen is for his body. Prayer is a conversation with God, with the Heavenly Father, and there is nothing sweeter than this conversation. It provides a connection with God, and this connection must be constant. Therefore, you need to pray in every place, and the prayer should be simple. This is important because Christians are often carried away by the external form of prayer, forgetting that in prayer they are talking with God himself. And this is absolute reality, not just beautiful words. The essence of the prayer is important, and not the number of words spoken and akathists read.
“Despondency is “neglected” sadness.”
Father Paisiy said that due to the fact that people forget to pray in everyday life, they are visited by sorrows, troubles, illnesses, and various misfortunes.
This comes from the fact that, as Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh said, “the ways of God are strict ways; God gives us a lot, but He will never let us perish from our well-being. If we cannot find gratitude and eternal life in this prosperity, then... He will not allow us to perish in our prosperity”[12]. Therefore, when a person stops praying and thanking God, the Lord sobers him up through troubles and sorrows. The elder often repeated that when there are problems that cannot be resolved by human efforts, one must resort to prayer to Almighty God. Because “... you can build monasteries with prayer alone, supply them with everything they need and help the whole world”[13]. The elder taught that before reading the prayer rule there should be at least two minutes of preliminary preparation, which consists of reading the Gospel, the Holy Fathers and reflecting on what was read. This reading helps to tune in to prayer, introduces a person into a certain prayerful atmosphere, helps to bring the mind into a silent state, to remove everyday worries and vanity[14].
Before prayer, according to the elder’s advice, you should not tune into some special contemplative state, but you must have a repentant, contrite feeling. Father Paisiy said that repentance is always a guarantee of correct prayer. Understanding one's deep sinfulness naturally produces a need for prayer in the heart.
“Prayer is a conversation with God.”
We must not forget to pay attention to the fact that in prayer, along with repentance, there must be complete trust in God, hope in Him, so that the Lord can act in our lives without resistance on our part.
Especially when we ask for something in prayer. Each request must be made with complete trust in God, with faith that He will do what will be most beneficial to the person praying. Then the person praying will definitely feel Divine consolation. “Prayer is trust in God. When you completely trust God, then you no longer need to ask for anything or worry, because God has already understood everything. Just wait patiently for the fruit to ripen and fall.”[15] If someone prays at the request of others (which also helps fight despondency), then this should be done with lively empathy and participation in the need of another. You need to make someone else's pain yours. The elder especially valued prayer for the dead, because it is an act of love towards those people who have already died. Such a prayer can change their fate after death. It is the duty of every Christian to do it.
“We must thank God for everything, for every day we live.”
Father Paisiy spoke very highly of the prayer of thanksgiving.
We must thank God for everything, for every day we live. “Doxology sanctifies everything around. Glorifying, a person forgets himself in gratitude..., rejoices in everything. And when a person thanks God even for the smallest things, then later God’s blessing comes upon him generously...”[16]. Thus, it is not a muffled conscience and humility that help a person realize his sinfulness, but prayer, a request to God for help, gives strength in the fight against sadness and despondency, which, according to the teachings of Elder Paisius, is replaced by joy and gratitude to God for everything.
Reverend Father Paisius, pray to God for us!
[1] Leonov Vadim, archpriest. Fundamentals of Orthodox anthropology: Textbook. - M.: Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, 2013. - P. 226.
[2] Paisiy Svyatogorets, elder. Words. T.V. Passions and virtues. - M.: Holy Mountain, 2001. - P. 140.
[3] Paisiy Svyatogorets, elder. Words. T. II. Spiritual awakening. - M.: Holy Mountain, 2001. - P. 284.
[4] Ibid. P. 23.
[5] Nicodemus the Holy Mountain, St. Invisible abuse. - M.: Dar, 2005. - P. 392.
[6] Macarius of Egypt, St. Spiritual conversations. - M.: Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, 2008. - P. 158.
[7] Leonov Vadim, archpriest. Fundamentals of Orthodox anthropology: Textbook. - M.: Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, 2013. - P. 226.
[8] Ephraim the Syrian, St. Selected creations. - M.: Sretensky Monastery Publishing House, 2007. P. 299-300.
[9] Paisiy Svyatogorets, elder. Testimony of pilgrims. - M.: Sretensky Monastery Publishing House, 2011. P. 387.
[10] Ibid. P. 253.
[11] Tatsis D., priest. When someone else's pain becomes your own. Biography and instructions of schemamonk Paisius of Athos. - M.: Local religious organization Orthodox parish of the Church of the Holy Spirit of the Descent at the Lazarevskoye Cemetery, 2011. - P. 94.
[12] Anthony (Bloom), metropolitan. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Sermons. - Klin: Christian Life, 2006. - P. 415.
[13] Paisiy Svyatogorets, elder. Words. T. II. Spiritual awakening. - M.: Holy Mountain, 2001. - P. 328.
[14] Rakovalis A. “Father Paisios told me...”. - M.: Holy Mountain, 2003. - P. 165.
[15] Tatsis D., priest. When someone else's pain becomes your own. Biography and instructions of schemamonk Paisius of Athos. - M.: Local religious organization Orthodox parish of the Church of the Holy Spirit of the Descent at the Lazarevskoye Cemetery, 2011. - P. 139.
[16] Paisiy Svyatogorets, elder. Words. T. V. Passions and virtues. - M.: Holy Mountain, 2001. - P. 141. “Prayer is a conversation with God.”
Words. Volume III. Spiritual struggle
Thoughts from the “left” are the greatest disease
- Geronda, when I have to sort out some problem, I get very worried and cannot sleep.
- Your main problem is many thoughts. If you didn’t have these many thoughts, then you would work with much greater dedication both in obedience and in spiritual life. But I will teach you one way by which you can avoid many thoughts. Listen here. For example, if a thought appears in your mind about some task that you have to do tomorrow, tell your thought like this: “This task is not for today. Tomorrow I’ll think about it.” And in the event that you have to make a decision, do not torment yourself with thoughts about how best to act, and do not put off making a decision further and further. Choose something, take a decisive step, and leave the worry about the future to God. Try to avoid scrupulousness, excessive thoroughness, so as not to rack your brains. With curiosity[7] do what you can do. At the same time, behave simply and with complete trust in God. By placing our future and our hope on God, we, in some way, oblige Him to help us. Many thoughts will make even a healthy person good for nothing. If a sick and suffering person gets upset, then he has an excuse. However, if someone, being healthy, worries and suffers from thoughts from the “left”, then it’s time to put him in a straitjacket! Is it conceivable to be in excellent health and tormented by your own thoughts!
The most serious illness of our era is the vain thoughts of worldly people. They can have whatever you want, except good thoughts. They suffer because they do not approach their circumstances spiritually. For example, a person is driving somewhere by car. On the road, the engine begins to malfunction, and he arrives at his destination with a slight delay. Having a good thought, the latecomer will say this: “Apparently, the Good God slowed me down for a reason. Who knows: maybe if this delay had not occurred, I would have had an accident! My God, how can I thank You for saving me from danger!” And such a person glorifies God. And the one who does not have a good intention will react to what happened unspiritually and will begin to blame and blaspheme God: “What kind of bad luck! I should have arrived earlier, but I was late! Everything is wrong! And where is this God..."
By accepting what happens to him through the “right” thought, a person receives help. And working “to the left”, he suffers, is tormented, loses balance. I remember how many years ago we arrived from the Holy Mountain to Ouranople[8] and were planning to go further - to Thessaloniki. They handed us a truck, already loaded with all sorts of things: suitcases, oranges, fish, empty dirty fish baskets... People began to climb into the same truck: children from Athonias[9], monks, lay people. Those who could sat on the boards, the rest stood on their feet. One obese layman squeezed onto the bench next to me. The cramped space made him very uncomfortable, and he began to loudly indignant: “What a disgrace this is!” And a little further away from him sat a monk, all covered with stinking fish baskets - the poor fellow had only one head left outside. The truck set off along a broken country road, shaking and swaying on potholes. The baskets inserted one into the other fell on the monk, and he, trying to protect his head, pushed them away with his hands. And my obese neighbor on the bench continued to loudly express displeasure that he was sitting a little cramped. “Why are you still shouting? - I reasoned with him. - Look what it’s like for your neighbor! How are you doing there, father? - I asked the monk. “It’s better here than in hell, Geronda,” he answered with a smile. One sat and suffered at the same time, and the other rejoiced, despite the fact that mountains of stinking fish baskets were falling on him. But the road was not close - about two hours' drive. The layman's mind imagined how comfortable a bus ride would be, and he was ready to smash everything to smithereens. And the monk rejoiced, thinking about the suffering that he would experience in hell. “In two hours we will reach the place and get out of this body,” the monk reasoned. - And unfortunate sinners suffer in hell forever. And the torment there is hellish - nothing like all these baskets and crush of people. Glory to You, God, it’s not as bad here as there.”
- Geronda, what is the reason that, for example, two novices have different degrees of trust in their elder?
- The reason is in the thought. You can have a damaged thought towards anything and anyone. Without having a good thought and without removing his “I” from each of his actions, that is, acting out of self-interest, a person will not receive benefit even from a saint. Even if he had a holy elder or elder, even if his elder was Anthony the Great himself - what can I say - even all the saints, even if they were his elders, would not be able to help him. Even God Himself cannot help such a person, despite the fact that He really wants to. If a person loves himself, that is, suffers from self-indulgence, then he interprets everything according to the liking and taste of his “I”. Some interpret everything sinfully, others interpret it as they like. Gradually, absurd interpretations become “natural” for such a person. And no matter how you behave, such people are still tempted. And some, you just have to give them a little attention, say some kind word, and they take off as if on wings. But if you don’t pay attention to them, they become very upset and rush to extremes. These extremes are from the enemy. For example, such people notice some trifle and based on it they build their baseless assumption. And then they come to the certainty that things were exactly as they expected. For example, seeing that someone is deep in thought, such people think that he is angry with them for something, although the person may be thoughtful because he is preoccupied with something. A few days ago a visitor came to me and asked about one of his friends: “Why did he talk to me before, but now he doesn’t? Maybe the reason is that I recently reprimanded him?” “You know,” I told him, “he could see you and simply not recognize you. Or someone close to him fell ill, and he was preoccupied with the thought of how to find a doctor. Or he was planning to go abroad and was preoccupied with exchanging money. There could be something else." And it turned out that the person in question was really absorbed in many worries in connection with the illness of one of his loved ones. And his friend wanted him to stop and talk to him at all costs, and as a result he began to torment himself with thoughts.
