What does Christian asceticism teach, or How can a believer correct his morals? How passions are healed

Warfare with passions

...Whoever overcomes one passion will defeat one demon, and whoever overcomes two passions will defeat two demons, and whoever leaves ten or more addictions will defeat a whole regiment of demons and will enjoy spiritual peace... (Venerable Anthony).

...It is impossible for a chaste girl to live without fighting her passions. But we need to lighten the battle, eat and sleep less, not despise others, not forget God and have the memory of death, and most importantly, humble ourselves, without this the battle with the passions is difficult. But a repentant sinner can always be saved through the ineffable mercy of God (Rev. Anatoly).

Question: “Can the Jesus Prayer be in a passionate person?” Answer: “It can, but here’s how: in the first period of action of the Jesus Prayer in a person, passion overcomes him, and in the second period, with any arousal of passion, a person overcomes passion. Passion remains in a person until death, and dispassion can only be relative. We can see this from the fact that many ascetics, such as the Monk Jacob, after spending their entire lives in ascetic endeavors, fell into sin. Whoever works in the feat of prayer undoubtedly feels the movement of passions in himself, but in a person who has achieved inner prayer, passion is like a dead man, it can no longer powerfully torment him, and the more powerfully prayer acts in a person, the more it is established in the heart of the ascetic, the quieter and quieter the passions act, they seem to be sleeping... The dead man lies, which means he exists, and has not disappeared, for we see him. So the passion in one who has undergone the feat of prayer and has already achieved inner prayer is like a dead person...” (Venerable Barsanuphius).

The Holy Fathers teach: fight with special passion, but flee from fornication. Yes, but we have to flee (almost) from every passion. By escape here we do not mean literally flight: if you feel a scolding in yourself - just leave the monastery, no! By flight we mean the name of the Lord Jesus, the Jesus Prayer, for it is said: “stone cliffs are a refuge for hares...” (Ps. 103:18). By hares we mean all the timid, weak, humble, who cannot fight passions on their own... (Venerable Barsanuphius).

Question: “I read from Bishop Theophan in “The Path to Salvation” that you need to find your main passion. I thought and could not stop under any passion.” Answer: “We must pray that the Lord will reveal this main passion; you won’t find it on your own. And finding it is very important in order to know where to direct your strength, i.e. know what passion to fight with primarily” (Venerable Barsanuphius).

Cheer up. Although you are struggling with passions - despite, as you write, your advanced years, since you are already more than 20 years old - but still do not lose heart. Passions sometimes fight at 30, and at 40, and at 50, and at 60, and at 70 years old (Rev. Anatoly).

It’s a pity that you lived in this world for so many years and didn’t exterminate your passions! However, even then: what would you do now at your respectable 25 years? What could humble you? And now, delving into this stinking dung heap of passions, you won’t raise your eyebrows high. And you especially need to be smart in order to be proud (Venerable Anatoly).

If you want to get rid of thoughts completely - this is worse than stupidity! The saints did not dare to say this! You wrote an abyss of passions fighting you. But I have twice, three, ten times more of them - and I endure everything. I advise you to do the same! (Venerable Anatoly).

Sister T.G. is already of advanced years - she has been living in the world for 26 years. And passions still did not leave her. It’s amazing: such respectable old age and passions. You must have heard, but did not understand, that “gray hair is the wisdom of a man, and the age of old age is not a bad life.” It happens that the Lord gives dispassion to the especially humble early, otherwise they will die in the struggle. But this doesn’t mean he’s dead. And someone said: such a one will be numbered among the martyrs. Do you want to know in what years passions will leave? It has long been said: “It is not your business to know the times or seasons that the Father has set in His power” (Acts 1:7) (Rev. Anatoly).

Don't worry about what's going on in your heart. The name of Jesus worries the enemy of our souls, who has settled in our hearts - so he is busy, and you do what is commanded to you. Remember that the Jesus you call is stronger than the enemy. Be sure to find the book “Seven Words” by Mark the Ascetic and read it constantly. So, sit over her (Venerable Anatoly).

...Are you at war with your passions? Fight, fight, you will be a good warrior of Christ! Do not give in to anger and do not be carried away by the infirmities of the flesh. And in case of creeping, hurry to the Doctor, crying with the Holy Church, our Mother: “God, number me with the thief, the harlot and the tax collector (of course, the repentant) and save me” (Rev. Anatoly).

You are very sad that your passions overcome you and you cannot resist them. You should grieve about this, but you should also know that passions are eradicated little by little, and you have to work on yourself for a long time. For now, let’s be patient and humble ourselves (Venerable Anatoly).

Do not shy away from fighting the enemy. Great, oh how great is the reward for those who fight. Eternal light, joyful, living, life-giving light, joyful for all these sorrows. The Lord said to his beloved: “You will have sorrow in the world, but your sorrow will be transformed into joy. And no one will take your joy from you” (Wed: John 16, 20, 22, 33). This means it will be eternal. And sorrows will dissipate like smoke, like dust (Venerable Anatoly).

You need to know which passion bothers you the most, and you need to fight it especially. To do this, you need to check your conscience every day... (Rev. Nikon).

We must consider everything bad, including the passions that fight us, not as our own, but as from the enemy - the devil. It is very important. Then only you can defeat passion when you do not consider it yours (Rev. Nikon).

Victory over passions is accomplished by the power of God. Our weak strength is not sufficient for this. We must humbly admit this and through humility attract God’s mercy and help to ourselves (Rev. Nikon).

“Daughter of Babylon, desolator!... Blessed is he who takes and dashes your babies against a stone!” (Ps. 136:8-9). ...Here, as the holy fathers explain, babies are called the arising passionate thoughts, passionate movements. These are the passionate thoughts and movements, as soon as they arise, as soon as they are born, at the very beginning of their emergence, so to speak, in their infancy, not allowing them to grow, but while they are still small and not strengthened, they must be destroyed, break on a stone. And the Stone is Christ. Beat with the name of Jesus, destroy with the prayer of Jesus and in general with the means of the grace of Christ these infants of Babylon (Venerable Nikon).

Without speaking in detail about the destructive effect of shameful, prodigal passions, which so strikingly and uglyly liken a person to cattle, let us draw attention to the fact that absolutely every passion takes away from a person the image of a person, making him similar to cattle and beasts. Look at what anger and malice do, for example. A man, overwhelmed by anger, becomes all animal-like, his eyes throw sparks, his face is distorted - he seems ready to devour his neighbor. And all passions and sins in general: gluttony, unbelief, love of money and others - turn a person into cattle (Venerable Nikon).

May the Lord make us wise, without double-mindedness, to fight the enemy of our salvation and sin: without wisdom from the Lord and His help, victory is impossible; we are weak and weak without God's help, but with God's help everything is possible, as the Apostle said: “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13) (Venerable Nikon).

...Are you asking how to deal with passions? - We are here in a militant church, we must have a constant battle, as “Reverend” Paisiy Velichkovsky says: (incessant) there must be struggle, self-reproach and humility, write the fathers, the strongest weapon against all passions (Venerable Hilarion) .

Reading the writings of the holy fathers, you see that those who want to cleanse their hearts of passions need to call on the Lord for help. - This is true, but you cannot say the Jesus Prayer without plundering your thoughts. God does not require from beginners an inexhaustible prayer; it is acquired through much time and labor; as the scripture of the saints, the father says: “God gives prayer to those who pray,” but you still need to continue to pray, with your lips and mind (Venerable Hilarion).

...No matter how many waves arise on your soul, always resort to Christ. Savior, He will come to the rescue and tame the waves. You believe that the Lord has carefully arranged for you such a life for healing, do not reject it and do not seek bodily peace and imaginary peace, first you must be shaken and suffer a lot: if you have a revelation, then it will greatly ease your struggle and you will have more peace of mind than by itself (Venerable Lev).

...There is war from outside. But inside it is intense and dangerous, and for such... warfare you will have to bring victory, namely: patience, self-reproach and humility (Venerable Leo).

... About this, do not give yourself up to much confusion and despair, because negative actions inside and outside you have resumed: that is why they took refuge and were hidden inside. And when the guilts accidentally came to the action of the furious part and grief with zeal, then with these guilts they opened themselves and became furious; but may we resort, according to God, to the One Representative and Patroness, our universal Intercessor, the Most Holy Theotokos and Virgin Mary, and She, with Her all-powerful prayers and intercession, will heal all our illnesses of body and soul! (Venerable Leo).

... That other passions described by you chill (disturb) and are overcome, and especially by the violent part, let us not be surprised at this, since a person can quickly be damaged, and to be cured to proper perfect health requires a lot of time, compulsion and labor; So, most venerable daughter, I hope in the goodness of God that if you only continue proper obedience and obedience to Mother Varvara, and try in every possible way to reveal your actions and all your thoughts from your mental enemy, the devil, and strive in everything to cut off your will and Do not believe in anything of your own, and avoid conceit and condemnation, as if from a deadly poison, and with the assistance of helping grace, try to correct yourself, then I boldly say that in every possible way the All-Merciful Lord will not only heal you from harm, but will also bestow the gifts of humility, reasoning!.. (Venerable Lev).

The boredom that comes to the wife... of course, is from the enemy, she forces herself to follow the advice given to her for salvation, and the enemy hates this, makes her bored: she must be patient and not submit to permission, and the Lord will help - the boredom will pass. And you need not to submit to the passion that dominates you, but to show resistance, cutting off the custom little by little, then it will not prevail over you (Venerable Leo).

...Spiritual warfare is offered everywhere. And you are not alien to it, although you do not see the arrows flying at you from your enemies; What you wrote about, that is, about despondency and so on, all this is built on the machinations of the enemy, but we, not having the light of humility, fight against them like in the night against enemies from sensual warfare, and when we humble ourselves, then the Lord will give the light of reasoning, and let us follow the path of His commandments (Venerable Leo).

...As for your domestic endeavors, which for pride have allowed you to indulge in the exhaustion of the flesh, let us flow with humility to the Most Merciful Lord, the Only One who is able to heal incurable ulcers and passions, as about this the Venerable Abba Apollos scolds his only suffering brother <says> that “ this passion is healed not only by human diligence, but by God’s love for mankind and mercy”... (Venerable Leo).

What about those who seem involuntarily disturbed and disturbed by dislike and malice, envy and hatred, or are confused by unbelief? First of all, we must pay attention to the causes of these passions and use decent spiritual healing against these causes. The reason for unbelief is the love of earthly glory, as the Lord Himself testifies in the Holy Gospel: “How can you believe when you receive glory from each other, but do not seek the glory that is from the One God?” (John 5:44). And envy, and anger, and hatred come from pride and from lack of love for one’s neighbors. Medicine against these passions: firstly, a humble and sincere awareness of one’s weakness before God and the spiritual father; secondly, the gospel compulsion not to act on the attraction of these passions, but to do the opposite to them; the third medicine is to seek in everything only the glory of God and from God; the fourth healing is humbly asking for God's help... not doubting, but believing that what is impossible with people is possible from God. The fifth remedy is self-reproach, that is, in every unpleasant and sorrowful case or circumstance we must lay the blame on ourselves, and not on others, that we did not know how to act as we should and this resulted in such trouble and such sorrow, which we deserve, by God's permission, for our negligence, for our arrogance and for our past and new sins (Venerable Ambrose).

Say the Jesus Prayer against lustful temptations, and in angry temptations, pray for the one for whom you are grieving. Save, Lord, and have mercy on such and such and with her holy prayers, help me, accursed and sinful (Venerable Ambrose).

Saint Climacus says that for those who have entered the monastery, the first and main charm of the enemy is self-righteousness, self-confidence and arbitrariness. Let each of you apply this to yourself, leaving everyone else to act as they please and as they please; each of you will give an answer to God about himself. Next, Saint Climacus exposes three main passions that fight those in obedience: gluttony, anger and carnal lust. The latter receive strength from the former, lust is kindled from gluttony and bodily rest, and anger is caused by gluttony and bodily peace. This entire evil council is born and comes from pride and a proud disposition of the soul. Therefore, the Lord commands in the Gospel to deny oneself and humble oneself. By forcing oneself and humility one attracts the mercy and help of God, with which a person is strong to evade evil and do good. If, following the example of the ancient ascetics, we cannot fast, then with humility and self-reproach, let us be forced to at least moderate and appropriate abstinence in food and drink. Let us do the same with regard to sleep and conversations and other things. In general, let us remember the words of the Apostle: “If we live in the spirit, let us walk in the spirit. We are not vainglorious, annoying one another, envious of one another” (Gal. 5:25-26). Envy is the most harmful thing. Saint Isaac the Syrian writes, <that> having acquired envy, you will find the devil with it. Whoever allows the devil to reach his soul, what confusion, rebellion and sedition will he not cause? May the Lord deliver us from this destructive passion, as well as from condemning others, which makes us hypocrites before God (Venerable Ambrose).

You describe the abuse that you have been experiencing for six months, and you wonder why such strong abuse was allowed to you. You ask: have you now angered God again with something, mortally sinned? Now at least she hasn’t sinned, but she must endure for old sins. Mary of Egypt struggled with passions like beasts in the desert for 17 years. “You say: maybe this is the common path of people who have sinned a lot.” Indeed, this is a common path, but on this common path each person experiences more or less, this or that, according to his own structure and his feelings. I'll tell you an example. In damp, cold weather, several people walk along the same road. A healthy person will get cold, and that’s all. Those who are in weaker health will catch a cold, runny nose, and headache. But a sick person will become completely ill from something that is harmless to a healthy person. So understand what you are asking about: the kind of abuse you describe (for example, what you experience while standing in church) is a sign of deep weakness. This warfare is made easier by humility, but intensified by arrogance and pride (Venerable Ambrose).

...You write that for a long time it did not occur to you and there was no desire to ask the Queen of Heaven to intercede in your battles, and it seems to you that asking for deliverance from the struggle means abandoning the monastic cross... How many times was it written to you that in your battle you should pray turned to the Lord, asked for His omnipotent help and the intercession of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos, but you write that there was no desire to ask the Queen of Heaven. They tell you to ask for God’s help, but you talk about getting rid of the struggle. Don’t ask the Lord for deliverance from the struggle, but for help and courageous patience. Call on the Lord and the Mother of God with humility, with a deep consciousness of your weakness, your rotten dispensation, leaving behind high-minded thoughts about your imaginary love for God, then the Lord is strong to help you and give you relief according to your humility (Venerable Ambrose).

In the letter... you again ask why the strong abuse was allowed to you, for sins or for cleansing, etc., etc. That is, you make various twists: is it possible to accept this abuse in such a way that you do not need to mentally humble yourself. Meanwhile, all this is allowed, by the way, precisely for the humility of our sublime wisdom; it’s simpler and shorter to say, for pride and for sins (Venerable Ambrose).

...You expressed desire and at the same time bewilderment as to why the Lord does not seem to hear your prayers regarding cleansing from passions. To your bewilderment, I will give you an example. In the spring, a gardener first completely clears the ground of all bad grass, then plants plants in the clean soil; but the bad grass penetrates again, and the gardener must carefully weed and clear the plants of the bad grass several times for almost the whole summer until the garden plants are completely strengthened. Our body is created from the same earth, and no matter how much a person tries to cleanse himself of passions, passions again penetrate like bad grass. Let us again turn to the vegetable garden, which, if poorly fenced, then goats and pigs damage the plant. And birds can fly over the fence. The gardener must monitor all this and preserve the plant. And a Christian must preserve spiritual fruits from mental birds, which sometimes transform into other animals. It was said to our forefather: “By the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground from which you were taken, for you are dust and to dust you will return” (Gen. 3:19) (Venerable Ambrose).

From your confession I see that, wanting to follow my advice, you are struggling with sleep and thoughts - may the Lord help you with this. And in order to get rid of a lot of sleep, you write, begin to eat not enough, and, leaving dinner hungry, you are embarrassed that you do not have and are doing this without my blessing. You don’t have to be overly hungry, but eat food at lunch in moderation, you don’t have to leave dinner out at all, also observe abstinence and eat less than lunch... Reading the morning rule, I felt especially contrived and zealous, but after that the whole day I was filled with thoughts of anger and rancor. Sim, don't be embarrassed. Saint Isaac the Syrian says: “If you pray as you should, wait as you shouldn’t,” and so it happened to you (St. Hilarion).

PORTAL CONTACTS

Today we will examine the tenth teaching of Abba Dorotheus, “How one should walk the path of God wisely and carefully.”

As always, in each of his chapters, Abba Dorotheos strongly suggests the most important method of spiritual life - acquiring a skill. And here he says that if a person wants to learn virtue, then first of all a skill must appear in him.

Skill can be used for both good and evil; that's really the key word. And when we talk with children about spiritual life, about the possibility of overcoming passions, we must remind them of it more often.

A skill is when a person takes something as a rule and constantly follows it as a rule. This concept will greatly help us later in our conversation about the rule of prayer. When the children and I finish talking about the teachings of Abba Dorotheus, we move on to talking about prayer and are faced with the problem of fulfilling the prayer rule, which for a teenager is often a stumbling block, and the fact that the teenager stops taking communion and generally doing anything orderly in spiritual life .

If someone at the beginning of the spiritual path improves in good skills, then, continuing to strive, he little by little succeeds and then calmly, as if naturally for himself, strengthens himself in virtue - in fact, this entire chapter is devoted to virtue; as we know, in many books on asceticism such a scheme is drawn - passion and virtue. And the Monk John Climacus in his famous “Ladder” also says that he opposes every passion with virtue in order to eradicate this passion in himself. And indeed, every passion has its opposite - virtue. Let's think about what virtue is, what it means to acquire virtue

?

- To do good.

Father Alexy:

Aren't you and I doing good?

“It’s not about doing something once, but constantly.”

Father Alexy:

Indeed, this quality is constant. A virtuous person is always the same. If a person is merciful, he is always merciful; if he is chaste, he is always chaste; if he is humble, then he is always humble; if you are kind, then you are always kind; if you are honest, then you are honest every minute of your life.

Virtue is what makes a person constant, unshakable. What are our qualities? We are always in good spirit ...

fickle.
We strive for good, we desire good, we consider ourselves good, often smart, virtuous, not evil, whatever, because we like these qualities and we strive to live up to them. But the sign of lack of virtue is lack of consistency. If a person has not acquired
virtue for himself, then he will never maintain this virtue in the face of temptation. Virtue will only be given to him as a kind of opportunity to express himself, and then, as from some height to which he soared unexpectedly and in an impulse, he will descend just as calmly. Our life, unfortunately, to a large extent is precisely such that virtue for us is rather sudden and accidental, and not the character of our being, not the way of our existence. And virtue is achieved only through the acquisition of skills.

Abba Dorotheus gives an absolutely wonderful example from his childhood, saying that at first he had difficulty in science. And this is an example when a bad student not only becomes a good student, but also acquires in this skill such a thirst for knowledge, which in him becomes a virtue, that is, a constant quality, without which a person cannot live. And this state of skill, of good habit, can probably be called a virtue. This is the habit of doing good. This is a wonderful habit that a person cannot do without, he cannot forget about it, because it acts outside of him. Virtue develops in a person into a quality that acts in him beyond his will, beyond his consciousness, and becomes a kind of driving force of his soul. First he does a good deed, and then begins to evaluate it.

Unfortunately, passion operates on the same principle in a person, the same is the way of acquiring vices and passions, which, with little skill, become dominant in a person, completely take away his will, and the person no longer controls himself - these passions act against his will , in addition to his reason, in addition to his desire, completely own him.

Abba Dorotheos says that according to the structure of the soul, people are divided into three types. The first dispensation of the soul is when a person acts out of passion, the second is when he is in a struggle with his passions, and the third is when a person eradicates passion in himself and defeats it.

When Abba Dorotheos talks about how a person falls into passion, how evil begins to act in a person, he again talks about the nature of evil, that evil in itself does not have an independent nature, cannot exist autonomously, does not have its own existence , because all evil is a deviation from virtue, a disease of the soul that has lost its natural state, because the natural state for a person is actually virtue. It is worth speculating on this topic, about what we do when we do good deeds.

In fact, the Lord created man in such a way that for him virtue is his most inherent, most natural state. And therefore, when a person breathes air or drinks water, or eats bread, that is, makes movements natural to his body, he is unlikely to somehow evaluate whether it is good or bad, whether he is doing it right or wrong. Virtue is also a natural state, only for the human soul. A person who is deprived of his natural state of virtue remains in an unnatural state. Evil is completely unnatural to man; evil is torment, and every sin as a manifestation of evil is also torment.

Here the question arises about what torments the sinner in hell. So sin, which is torment, is the torment that torments the sinner in hell. This is the passion through which a person actually connects with hell. That illness of the soul, that distortion and that unnaturalness of his state, through which he cannot pass to heaven, because everything that is unnaturally twisted must be straightened and healed by repentance. If this is not done, then there is simply no way to touch the truth. But since evil does not have its own existence, since in its essence it is devoid of absolute power, then, of course, a person who is naturally called to good, who is naturally created virtuous by his condition, always has enough strength to overcome there is evil in yourself.

Evil cannot defeat a person, it is not able to, it in itself is powerless, has no power over a person, because it does not have ontological existence. No one created evil; it appeared as a consequence of the illness of the human soul, and therefore good in man is natural, and evil is unnatural, therefore good in man must overcome evil if a person makes an effort to do so. There cannot be such a state when a person cannot defeat evil in himself - and this is from the beginning. A person cannot justify himself in this sense, he cannot claim that he is not able to cope with himself. Every person has so much of his own strength and everyone is given so much help from God that it is possible to overcome any sin.

When we fall into despair from minor sins that we cannot cope with, it is important to remember this, collect our thoughts and begin our own path, to understand what passion dominates us now, what defeats us, what is the name of this illness of the soul, what is the diagnosis we could supply ourselves. Well, through confession, of course. And then think about what virtue resists this disease and how we can begin the path of victory over ourselves.

When we talk about this with children and reveal what passions are, what it means to be able to fight passions in order to eradicate passion, we approach them with the following exercise: each student must draw up a plan, a spiritual route, along which a person moves little -Little by little, through the acquisition of a small skill of virtue, some passion can be overcome. Today we will also try to develop such examples for ourselves.

Well, what is it - a person acts out of passion? Probably, everything is clear here: this is when a person constantly satisfies his passions, constantly justifies himself, when he does not repent and does not reproach himself for committing certain actions. Usually these are small things; a person cannot immediately enter a state of destructive hellish passions, as in Dostoevsky’s novels. Usually we are overcome by minor passions, say, anger and irritability.

What is the state of a person who is angry or irritated? When someone offends him, he not only gets angry with the person, but then he walks around for a long time, remembering the dialogue, thinking about what else he should have told him, then he begins to think about what he could have done to him, how to do it, and everything else. time acts according to passion and satisfies these passions within itself. This means that the anger in a person turned into a habit, because the person did nothing to reproach himself, in order to find an opportunity to do something to oppose this movement. Is this painful? - Painful. Is it hard? - This is very difficult, because sin torments a person.

Abba Dorotheos says a very terrible thing: every passion, no matter how small it may be or may seem, belongs to hell. This means that since we have already somehow accustomed ourselves to some kind of passion, in this corner of our soul we are already in hell. This is already hell, and we already belong to it with this part. And you can’t object to anything here - it’s already so. Abba writes: this means that evil has turned into a habit, for it certainly belongs to torment, because every sin carried out in practice belongs to hell. Even if such a person wants to repent, he cannot overcome this alone out of passion unless he receives help from some saints. This is precisely the state of our skill in evil, the habit of passions with which we do not fight, in which we have justified ourselves. This is the state of hell. And only when a person understands this and is afraid, when a person truly wants to get rid of it, can that first stage of the fear of God that we talked about be born in him - when a person begins to fear the torments of hell. Because the real feeling that a person’s passion belongs to hell, that hell is my own anger, my own constant irritability, that I constantly reproach everyone and boss everyone around, and I can’t and don’t want to get rid of it, and this determines my path in life , - if at some point I realize this for myself, then thank God; then maybe the fear of God will help me fight this.

And here a person enters the second dispensation of his soul, which is called the fight against passions. This is the state I hope most Christians find themselves in. When a person, although he acts out of passion, knows that it is passion that is acting in him, and he internally resists it, tries to fight it within himself, then this passion comes out, and the person then defeats it through repentance. Sometimes this passion does not come out, but the person carries within himself terrible traces of this struggle, often defeats or mental wounds. And this struggle is the real path to virtue. A person is not yet virtuous, he has not yet become good, but nevertheless the very state of internal struggle, opposition to passions, drives him out of hell.

And this state sometimes manifests itself in such a way that he gets angry and offends others, but then grieves and makes peace, and admits his guilt. And this can continue for a long time, but nevertheless, in this state, a person has already realized the terrible threat of hell that hangs over him, and sometimes in his struggle he already receives grace-filled consolations from God, which give him the strength to continue his struggle, to wage spiritual warfare. As we see, this state is somehow consonant with the second stage of the fear of God, when we are called hirelings, workers and laborers who work daily for pay.

And the third state is when a person has eradicated passions in himself, when he lives only by virtue. This can be compared with the third state of the soul, when a person is adopted by the Father. Abba Dorotheos gives the following example: if you imagine that there is a spiritual battle going on, arrows are flying, then those who expose themselves to the arrows, that is, act out of passion, themselves stick the enemy’s arrows into their hearts. Those who struggle with passions know how to pluck those arrows that were previously pierced from their hearts. And those who have conquered passions direct arrows at their enemy, defeat and defeat him. This is a state of virtue, and there is no end to it, it goes into infinity.

Let's think about how we can find a path from passion to virtue through the state of small skill. Take some example of passion and let’s gradually walk this path from it, so that we know what paths a person must overcome in his life, and it is imperative to overcome them. Because it is clear that, say, there is humility and there is pride, but the path between them, this amplitude, is equal to infinity. Let's find a small bridge through which we can move a little away from one pole and get closer to the other. Would you like to think a little?

“Here’s an example: a woman did so much good, her husband drank, she had three children, but no matter what people asked her, she helped everyone: some with wallpaper, some with a doctor... A very kind person.” She suffered from all sorts of diseases, and doctors did not even diagnose her. She left for another world. The father drank and abandoned his children. All that was left was a young man and two twin girls. The young man lived after his mother for two or three years, was killed, and two girls were left in the care of her sister. This is virtue until the grave.

Father Alexy:

But how can we judge a person we don’t know?

- No, I wanted to ask about the passion to do other people’s business, about the extent to which this should be done. The man gave everything to everyone, responded to everything - you have to know some measure.

Father Alexy:

You know, we have no right to judge and evaluate someone else’s life.

— I gave an example of when people take care of other people’s business.

Father Alexy:

Who gave you such vision to call it passion? What does it mean to have a passion for doing good? Why should a person who does good necessarily receive reward in a visible way? Why should his doing good bear the necessary visible fruit in changing his everyday situation, in influencing his alcoholic husband, and in influencing the fate of his unfortunate children?

- So this is not an addiction?

Father Alexy:

I do not know. I just don't think we should have any judgment on this in principle. The Lord never gave us any schemes in any of His scriptures by which we would determine how a person lives, rightly or wrongly. Man is a mystery, an enigma.

- So, is it possible?

Father Alexy:

Once again I want to tell you that I have no right to resolve such issues. I don’t know, I can’t say anything about someone else’s life. But we still call passions not the external manifestations of our life, but the internal ones, which become sources for external manifestations. Therefore, let's try to cope with, say, laziness.

When we talk about laziness, it is usually obvious in one thing, implicit in many things. Then it will certainly manifest itself in another, if it has become a passion... A person, say, is always lazy to do the same thing. This is obvious in children; children are lazy to do homework, etc. For teenagers, talking about laziness and lies is very relevant. For many children, things like laziness or being constantly late for school, or breaking a promise, or being untrue in one's word actually turn into a skill. Then a person no longer thinks about what he is doing, and this is passion - when he does not think that he has sinned, does not notice that he is doing something wrong; for him it goes completely unnoticed, and only then does he comprehend the fruits of it within himself, and he may not immediately understand where it comes from. Of course, the children are right to say that first you need to admit it to yourself. Indeed, you need to see that this belongs to hell, otherwise you will not be afraid, but will think that this is, of course, bad, but not bad enough to fight it, and that there are many more pleasant things than fighting some passions. Children say that first of all you need to diagnose yourself, see and realize yourself in this state as in a state of passion. The next step is to sincerely repent of this. And then I invite the children, every time they talk about it, to start their journey with the following phrase: “you need to make it a rule…” what? For example, what should a lazy person take as a rule? - That little virtue that a lazy person can suffer. Remember, I once told you about one novice whom the elder sent to the field to pull out weeds, and he slept and slept - everything was overgrown with weeds. And the elder told him to pull out the weeds in place of his bed. He made it a rule to turn this small goodness into a skill. And each person can find within his own strength the little that he, in his state of laziness, should take as a rule. And indeed, a child can make it a rule to firmly and seriously begin to do his homework, in obedience to his confessor, to his own conscience. This will be the first step. What else can children do who constantly live in a state of laziness?

- Wash the dishes. Get out. Do some work at home.

Father Alexy:

Right. Make it a rule to perform some specific household obedience. What about the third step? What else don't lazy children do who don't do their homework and don't help their parents at home?

- They are too lazy to read the rules.

Father Alexy:

Such children usually do not read either the morning or evening rules. The third step is to make it a rule to follow the prayer rule within your power, but constantly. And then make it a rule to go to Liturgy every Sunday. Make it a rule to take communion regularly. And then a person who gradually takes such steps as a rule for himself, adds at each stage something more, which is no longer even related to the rule, which has become the need of his soul. Thus, little by little, with the help of God, the child overcomes the passion in himself, which is called laziness, and acquires the virtue of at least a small amount of hard work. The main thing is not to fall into despair when you fail. My children and I discussed many times what despair is and how to deal with it. They also built a path to combat idle talk. I invite each of you to choose some kind of passion for our next meeting and develop a route to virtue through the words “you need to make it a rule”, so that it is staged from small to great, so that there is such spiritual didactics. This scheme will help us in many ways, and then it will help our students, to whom we will give such a small tool for understanding all these things. But the main thing is that they then learn to perform it themselves.

And now I’m ready to answer your questions.

— What to do with a teenager who is thirteen and has problems preparing for communion: he does not read everything he is supposed to?

Father Alexy:

First of all, I don't understand why he has to read everything. Are you reading everything?

- I’m reading.

Father Alexy:

And the clock? No? You really need to read the clock then. Are you reading the akathists?

- No, I read the canons and follow them.

Father Alexy:

And do you read Compline? No? But that means you're not reading everything you need to.

— It says: three canons...

Father Alexy:

In one book it is written like this, and in another it is written about reading the clock...

“Then you don’t have to read anything at all.”

Father Alexy:

Can. Because the rule itself is not a condition for communion.

- And for the child?

Father Alexy:

Especially for a child. If a prayer rule is an obstacle to a child receiving communion, then this prayer rule is harmful, not helpful. Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov says that it is not man for the rule, but the rule for man. And we need to think about what rule will be useful for this little person.

- But it depends on the priest. One believes that without this one should not be allowed to take communion.

Father Alexy:

There are always two positions. What can you do? But, you see, there is still a Church that lives life in the Spirit, and not according to the law, not according to the letter. At what point then should you start reading the full rule? From the age of seven, when does a child begin to read?

— In one book it is written that from the age of seven a child must read the entire rule.

Father Alexy:

What book is it written in?

- In some prayer book, I don’t remember now. On the other hand, probably, the child does not need to be told that he does not need to read at all, but selectively.

Father Alexy:

This, in my opinion, is reasonable. You don’t have to be some kind of theologian to understand that a child cannot read three canons, eleven prayers, the rule for communion and also fast for five days.

- But what to do because of this attitude of the priest?

Father Alexy:

What does this have to do with father?

- And he asks and sends.

Father Alexy:

So, don’t go to such a priest, that’s all.

- That's what we're trying to do.

Father Alexy:

That's right. So, you understand how to act, so why are you asking? Otherwise, he will not receive communion and will not pray. If a person does not pray, but repeats some incomprehensible nonsense, and he is told that this is a prayer, then he will believe that he is being deceived all the time. And why people go to Church and pray to God, he will not understand.

- How can you explain to a child that he needs to acquire the skill of good when he has parents who instill in him the skill of bad, and at the same time not condemn the parents?

Father Alexy:

This is the situation here. If the child understands this himself, then why explain to him so as not to condemn the parents? You just need to teach him to pray for his parents. If a child does not understand this, and the parents act badly, it is very difficult to explain it to him, believe me. Then the child must have some kind of higher authority, which is higher than the authority of his parents. Only in this case can this be somehow explained to the child. But then there will undoubtedly be an internal conflict between the child and his parents, and this cannot be avoided.

1. Father Alexy Uminsky talks with parishioners and students of the gymnasium of the Brotherhood of St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir.

Brotherly love

May the Lord give the mind and strength to bear each other’s burdens and thereby observe the law of Christ, love and peace. Let the mistakes, misdeeds and sins of the brothers be mine (St. Moses).

...One must bear one's spiritual infirmities complacently without grief. For if someone is sick in body, then not only do we not be upset with him, but we also serve him in every way, then in this way we must act in the case of spiritual illnesses (St. Moses).

Experience showed me this rule: if someone needs to be reprimanded or reprimanded, then you must first pray to God in your heart for him. Sometimes you think that that brother will not accept the reprimand, but if you pray for him first, then you see, beyond expectation, he will listen to the remark calmly, and correction happens (Venerable Moses).

If you want to always be peaceful, do not part with anyone in displeasure, but try in every possible way from the heart to forgive everyone and even, if possible, to pacify them, in order to part ways in a peaceful spirit, then you yourself will enjoy peace of mind (Venerable Moses).

The Difficult Path to Fighting Fornication

Homily on the Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit!

Dear brothers and sisters! “From my youth, many passions have fought me...” We regularly hear these words of church hymn during Divine services. From a very early age, passions, like wild, fierce beasts, attack a person. If not for the special care of God, if not for the intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos and the saints, not a single soul in the world would have been saved from the onslaught of sinful passions.

Looking at the sad picture of our life, we have to note with regret that the world is sinking more and more into the abyss of debauchery, licentiousness and carnal impurity. Truly, not a single demon has succeeded in the world as much as the demon of fornication.

This phenomenon is not new; at all times the cult of fornication occupied a prominent place. But in our time, this passion is taking on more and more sophisticated and ugly forms, having a destructive impact on young fragile minds, which makes it truly scary for the future of our children.

The forbidden fruit has long ceased to be forbidden, and what was shameful and indecent to talk about, what was previously considered a taboo closed topic, is today brought to public display and preached worldwide from all available information media. There is open propaganda of permissiveness and outright debauchery, young children's souls act as apologists for premarital and free relationships, and chastity and purity are ridiculed as an unnecessary relic of the archaic past, fornication is cultivated in society, and low moral values ​​are glorified. Prodigal passion draws countless people, especially teenagers, into its hellish cycle. “Down with shame!” - this is the main slogan of these imaginary “fighters” for human rights and freedom. Therefore, new moral values ​​are instilled in us from the outside, an attempt is made to change our consciousness, a new religion appears, which allows a person to take from life everything that is forbidden by Christ. And there is only one holder who does not allow this world to fall into the abyss of sin - this is the Church of Christ.

The saints teach that the Holy Spirit departs from a person who has fallen into fornication: just as smoke drives away bees, so bodily defilement drives away the grace of God. The pure and the unclean cannot coexist in one body; God cannot dwell in the same place with the devil. Therefore, a person who has corrupted his flesh through fornication needs a long time to recover; it takes years of struggle to somehow reanimate himself for God and Eternity. Just as bodily purity makes us like disembodied Angels, so lustful passion disfigures the image of God in us and we become demon-like. The body is God’s house, intended for the unity of man with God, which is why the devil wages a fierce battle for the possession of this important strategic point. The Apostle Paul sternly warns us: If anyone destroys the temple of God, that is, the body, God will punish him (1 Cor. 3:17).

There are two types of fornication: carnal and spiritual. Carnal is when our flesh, intended for serving God in holiness and purity, indulges in voluptuousness, disgusting and shameful deeds, satisfying its base needs, and spiritual fornication is when our soul slavishly bows to earthly pleasures, when the place of God is taken by the objects of the world, which can be compared to idolatry. Betrayal of God is not only sexual intercourse and carnal defilement, but also the worship of earthly objects instead of the Creator, invisible to the human eye.

There is a common misconception that fornication concerns only bodily uncleanness. This is wrong. Any acceptance of a lustful thought and delight in it is equated to sin itself, according to the word of the Savior. There are even people who boast to others about maintaining the purity of their bodies, while in their heads they draw or accept such depraved images that no fornicator would actually carry out. Therefore, without desecrating your body, you can have a defiled mind.

This entire week is dedicated to the memory of the feat of a female fighter - the Venerable Mary of Egypt. Being a weak vessel, clothed in a fragile, tender shell, she waged a fierce war with lustful passion. Her feat is an excellent example for edification and practical guidance in overcoming sin for each of us and all subsequent generations.

How did the saint's struggle begin? Since she stopped feeling sorry for herself. Very often, self-pity is a stumbling block in spiritual struggle. Behind self-pity lies selfish love for one’s flesh, for one’s usual way of life. Whenever an Angel calls us to stand up for the fight, we put the matter of our salvation on the back burner and, as if to calm ourselves down, we say, and sometimes even promise to God, that from tomorrow we will begin to live differently. The Venerable Mary immediately responded to God’s call. Without thinking about what would happen to her in the desert, she placed all her hope in the saving Providence of God. Reading her life, you admire the ease and humility with which she accepted the obedience entrusted to her, given by the Mother of God: “Go beyond the Jordan, there you will find your salvation.” Repentance begins with leaving the previous way of life. The Monk Mary did not return to her usual environment. She left everything and went into the desert.

By cutting off the reason for sin, we cut off sin itself. The Monk Isaac the Syrian said: “He who does not remove himself from the causes of sin is drawn into sin against his will” (Sermon 57). This does not mean that we should all go into the desert together - we don’t have enough strength. But we are obliged to move away from everything that has a pernicious effect on our soul: from people who corrupt our good morals, from objects that serve as a temptation for us. In other words, our desert is a departure from everything that tempts us.

The sinner does not expect a quick reward from God. He punishes himself so severely that he is ready to accept any punishment from the Hand of God, even death, because the death of the body is not as painful as remorse. When a person feels guilty, he does not want to eat or drink, thinking that he deserves such a lifestyle, and thereby atones for his sins. The monk took several loaves of bread with her into the desert. And this episode is indicative and important, because food restriction is another effective way in the fight against the demon of fornication. “The satiation of the belly is the mother of fornication, and the oppression of the belly is the culprit of purity,” teaches St. Ephraim the Syrian. It would be unreasonable and wrong to completely refuse food, but leaving the table a little hungry is the golden rule of patristic thought, and everyone can bear it. It is also necessary to limit our intake of meat, which makes our body plump; Alcoholic drinks, the satiety of which leads to voluptuous desires, should also be excluded in order to achieve success in this fight. By reducing the amount of food for the body, we strengthen our spirit.

In the canons and rules of the apostles and holy fathers, the sin of fornication is punished by 15 years of excommunication from Communion. But this period can be shortened depending on the degree of repentance of the repentant and the spiritual state of the person. The Venerable Mary voluntarily imposed penance on herself, excommunicating herself from Communion for 47 years. This shows how much she hated her sin. The severity of her life is not an attempt to kill her body, it is an indicator of how much she did not trust it.

We are accustomed to bringing repentance before the lectern in words, but the saint brought active repentance to God with her life. She had such a thirst and zeal for God. Her love for purity is proven by her lifestyle and ways of fighting. May God grant us all such seriousness in bringing repentance, remembering that any sin must be washed away with streams of tears, and there may not be enough time to mourn oneself.

The life of our venerable mother Mary is not only a vivid guide to spiritual warfare, but also a consolation for those who have given up in the struggle. Let us remember that, no matter how severe our sin may be, God has the power to forgive it if we bring tearful repentance and determination in serving Him. Shortly before the blessed death of the Monk Seraphim of Sarov, they asked: “Why do we not have such a strict life as the ancient ascetics led?” “Because we don’t have the determination to do so,” answered the monk. “If we had the determination, we would live like our fathers.” Therefore, determination is the first step to victory.

Reverend Mother Mary, pray to God for us. Amen.

Future life

...You write that now, both from a painful state and from the mood of your soul, you often cry and most of all pray to God that in your future life you will not be deprived of the sight of Christ; and you ask if this is not a proud thought? No. Only you do not understand this idea correctly, because all those who have received mercy from the Lord will be granted the sight of Christ; and the Kingdom of Heaven is nothing other than joy in Christ the Savior, from the sight of Him. So, on the contrary, those excommunicated from Christ will be deprived of the Kingdom of Heaven and sent to torment. And Saint Chrysostom says that to be excommunicated from Christ is worse than Gehenna and more painful than any torment. The Monk Theognostus in the last chapter says: “if anyone does not hope to be where the Holy Trinity is, let him try not to be deprived of seeing the incarnate Christ.” And Saint Climacus in the 29th Degree in the 14th chapter writes that those who have achieved dispassion will be where the Trinity is. On average, those who are present will have different abodes. And those who have received forgiveness of sins will be honored to be inside the paradise fence, and the latter should not be deprived of the sight of Christ (Venerable Ambrose).

Question: “Father, surely one whose close relatives will suffer in hell cannot feel complete bliss in the future life?” Answer: “No, this feeling will no longer be there - then you will forget about everyone. It's just like taking an exam. When you go to an exam, it’s still scary and you’re filled with all sorts of thoughts, but when you came, you took a ticket (to answer), forgot about everything” (Venerable Ambrose).

You admit that you are guilty of grumbling and going so far as to intend to take your own life - this is not a Christian thing. It's a terrible thing. This means that you have absolutely no idea what awaits us in the future life. Your grief has passed, but neither the grief nor the joy there will pass away forever and ever. And everything will just begin: either the spring of life and joy, or mortal horrors and torment (Rev. Anatoly).

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How to survive passion? 7 tips

Love experiences are sent to people as a test that they must overcome. This is what the ancients thought. Sometimes this seems to be the only explanation for a sudden surge of passion. After all, otherwise it is impossible to understand why we sometimes experience an irresistible attraction to one person, while we are completely happy with another.

In fact, in psychology there are many explanations for the fact why people do not live quietly and peacefully with the same partner. This is often due to the natural stages of relationship development. For example, addiction makes life too measured and predictable, prevents us from experiencing strong emotions and contributes to the fact that we subconsciously try to find compensation in communication with another person. Or personality traits. After all, it is quite obvious that some individuals have a much higher need for love experiences than others. Sometimes the reason is a long separation, because of which we are forced to look for support and warmth in someone else. Or maybe passion should be considered only from a biological point of view, that is, it arises only when the “object” completely suits us in its physiological parameters.

But all of this looks more like excuses. A sane adult should not expose relationships to the danger of destruction and cause distress to a loved one with whom he has already connected his life. Let him soberly assess the situation and not commit reckless actions. However, the problem is precisely that the mind and feelings do not always coexist peacefully with each other. Perhaps there are people who, through an effort of will, are able to exchange anger for joy and stop the outbreak of passion, returning it to the framework of ordinary sympathy, but there are obviously very few of them. Although this also sounds like an excuse. Then you still have to admit to yourself: no one is immune from unplanned falling in love, we cannot guarantee lifelong fidelity, just as we are not able to demand it from our partner. But we must make sure that passion does not destroy established relationships.

Understand your feelings

Unusually high vitality, mood swings from elation to despondency, nights without sleep and a feeling of permanent fatigue during the day, sudden thoughtfulness, outwardly reminiscent of complete withdrawal from reality, almost manic preoccupation with one’s appearance and, of course, absolute concentration on one object - this is the clinical picture states of love.

It looks a lot like love, but only at first glance. Not every person who evokes sexual feelings in us can satisfy the need for affection and warmth. Having sex in an elevator during lunch break, sending each other soulful glances and conducting erotic correspondence is not at all the same as living under the same roof all the time, sharing thoughts and feelings, falling asleep and waking up next to each other. Men understand this perfectly and will never break off a good relationship just because they have a strong attraction to someone else. But women distinguish between infatuation, love and passion much worse. As emotional creatures, we are poor at predicting the development of relationships and are more willing to give up everything for love. We tend to be deceived by romance (maybe that’s why so many men are marriage swindlers), and it’s extremely difficult for us to understand our own feelings, especially at the first stage of a new relationship.

Don't make sudden movements

Even if it seems to you that new love is the only thing that matters and makes sense on this earth, do not rush to change everything. Wait for some time, at least a month. Or better yet, two months. Three years is even better. This is how long, according to social psychologists, the average passion lasts. Is yours not average? Is yours extraordinary and beautiful, such as has not yet been seen since the creation of the world? Then just wait...

Assess your partner's feelings

Men also have intuition, they can sense changes in relationships and suffer. They just talk less about it - such a situation hurts their pride too much. A man is more likely to pretend that he doesn’t notice anything, and even behaves as usual, but this is not a reason to allow himself various kinds of liberties (such as weekly sleepovers with a friend in another city). Keep in mind: men have a harder time dealing with infidelity than women. They are bad for their health. Cardiovascular disorders, serious mood disorders and impotence - this is what your hobby can ultimately turn out to be for him.

Stay within limits

Women do not like to remain silent, especially when a serious conflict is brewing. As a rule, they really want to tell “the whole truth.” Firmly decide for yourself that there are things that you will never say under any circumstances. Even if you are tortured with a hot iron, even if your husband suddenly mentions that your neighbor looks much younger than her age. Of course, it’s so difficult to restrain yourself – but do it anyway. Then you’ll have to explain for a long time: they say, your confession means nothing, they say, you basically made it all up - the fact that sex with him now almost doesn’t suit you, and the fact that his best friend has been showing you unambiguous signs of attention since the wedding, and, most importantly, that there is a person with whom you feel like a woman with a capital letter. In short, the more you manage to say, the more difficult it will be to return everything.

Maintain secrecy

Men are naturally less curious than women. They're not inclined to check your incoming and outgoing calls, look in your purse, or keep track of how many new pieces of underwear you bought in the last month. But they can do this - by accident, by coincidence, or intentionally: suspicion pushes even them to actions that are unusual for them. So keep an eye on your things and phones, don’t leave particularly touching messages as a souvenir, and don’t bring home flowers with an explanation that your birthday is always confused at work – this is the fifth time in six months.

Do something good

Even if in the current situation your attention has completely switched to the object of passion, at least by an effort of will, pay attention to your regular partner. Say pleasant words more often, hug him and do not reject him sexually. It’s already incredibly difficult for a person, and depriving him of affection and care is simply cruel. And, of course, try to avoid particularly traumatic situations. You know better what to consider as such.

return everything

A person whose passion has finally left his life experiences great relief. And he expects that in his previous relationships, now that the experiences are behind him, everything will normalize and improve. But the revival of love is not a matter of one day, especially since the partner may have already weaned himself from your participation in his life. There is another problem. Fear that he too has met someone who will be able to distract him from you for a long time. And this, of course, is a very real prospect. Firstly, because, as we found out, no one is insured. Secondly, because there is a law of congruence: people living together experience the same events, but with a difference in time (this is especially true for relationships). You should not prepare for troubles in advance (besides, every rule has exceptions), and in no case should such a sad event be regarded as revenge. It's just a passion that he will experience. You survived...

Elena,

The shackles of passions and how to free yourself from them

In the spiritual life of every Christian there is a clear and seemingly obvious task - the eradication of sinful passions. You cannot serve God while being devoted to a sinful habit. According to St. Ignatius, “when the passions take possession of a person, then the mind, deprived of its dominion, serves as an obsequious and inventive servant of the passions to satisfy their crafty, whimsical, criminal demands”[1]. That is, a passionate person’s entire inner world is geared towards satisfying passion. Thought and heartfelt feeling are focused on the search for something that would satisfy the criminal demand of fallen nature. The mind and heart of such a person are not free, they are in the shackles of sin, they think and desire only what is sin or leads to sin.

Obviously, a Christian cannot achieve success in spiritual life when he is in the grip of passions, these “moral ailments of man”[2], fulfills their wishes, and does not even try to fight them. If the whole meaning of spiritual life is to tear away the mind and heart from the earth, lift them to heaven and commune with God with all one’s being, then any sinful habit, addiction to something perishable “brings the mind and heart down from heaven, plunges them to the earth between the countless reptiles and reptiles of the vast sea of ​​life”[3]. Therefore, genuine spiritual life “requires a sober, strictly moral life”, requires the eradication of all sinful habits, the abandonment of attachments to earthly things, otherwise sinful impressions will begin to manifest themselves in the mind and heart, entertain in prayer, distract from God, from salvation[4].

Passion is subject to eternal torment, and he who fulfills his sinful will is already dead in soul. After all, he serves not God as the Source of life, but sin as the beginning of eternal destruction. That is why a feat is necessary, through which one must return from death to life, come to life for the Lord, and for this it is necessary to fulfill His will and eradicate passions. But how to do this?

It is not heroic deed that frees a Christian from the dominion of passions—it is the grace of the Holy Spirit that frees him.

Since passion is a sinful habit, the fettering of the soul by an evil habit, it is important to break this chain. “Every resistance offered to the demand of passion weakens it; constant resistance overthrows it”[5]. No matter how much passion asks for its way, one must refuse to fulfill it. Without nourishment, sinful desire becomes impoverished.

Decisive resistance is possible only when the soul loses its disposition to sin and becomes imbued with hatred of passion. After all, if we hate something, we try to avoid it. “Hatred of sins is a sign of true repentance, determination to lead a virtuous life”[6]. “When our nature, damaged by sin, rebels against the teachings of the Gospel, let us express our hatred of nature by rejecting the wishes and demands of nature. The more decisive the expression of hatred, the more decisive will be the victory over sin and over the nature that sin possesses, the faster and more lasting our spiritual progress will be.”[7].

The saint gives the following comparison: “Whoever constantly betrays his friends, his friends become enemies, moving away from him as from a traitor seeking their certain destruction; whoever confesses his sins, they retreat from him, because sins are based and strengthened on the pride of a fallen nature, and do not tolerate reproof and shame”[8]. If sinful habits have become our friends, they must be confessed and revealed at the Sacrament of Repentance. Convicted, they will retreat from us: “If you have acquired the habit of sins, then confess them more often - and soon you will be freed from the captivity of sin, you will easily and joyfully follow the Lord Jesus Christ”[9]. For a Christian, this feat must be constant, because passions shake us until the very last moment of earthly life.

However, one must also know that although “a feat is necessary for a Christian, it is not a feat that frees a Christian from the dominion of passions: it is the right hand of the Most High that frees him, the grace of the Holy Spirit that frees him”[10]. It is not we who free ourselves through our efforts; victory comes only from God. And therefore, the very act of being a Christian, resistance to sinful desires, and spiritual life serve only as a means of seeking God’s help to eradicate passions. Knowing our sinful weakness, we must ask in prayer for God’s help and mercy. Through prayer we allow God to act in us, and He, if it is His will, eradicates our weaknesses in us.

Symbolic image of the passion on the fresco of the Last Judgment

But passions in a Christian can sometimes live for many years, sometimes they are cast down only at the very end of life, and Saint Ignatius sees in this the wisdom of God’s Providence, directed to the benefit of our soul. “Premature dispassion is dangerous! It is dangerous to receive the pleasure of Divine grace prematurely. Supernatural gifts can destroy an ascetic who has not learned weakness through his falls, who is inexperienced in life, inexperienced in the fight against sinful thoughts, who is not familiar in detail with the cunning and malice of demons, with the adaptability of human nature... He can abuse the very grace of God. Because of this, he can exalt himself above his neighbors; because of this, he may be subject to arrogance”[11], which is followed by loss of grace and spiritual death.

Premature dispassion is dangerous! It is dangerous to receive the pleasure of Divine grace prematurely.

This statement of Saint Ignatius requires special attention. The saint explains what should be the true goal of eradicating passions, as, indeed, of all spiritual life - not the search for supernatural gifts, but the achievement of humility, the subordination of one’s will to the will of God. Without humility, dispassion leads to arrogance.

On the contrary, “a difficult struggle with passions erases a person’s heart, crushes his arrogant spirit, makes him confess to a state of fall, experimentally discovering this state, makes him confess the need for redemption, destroys hope in himself, transfers all hope to the Redeemer”[12], in which lies the very essence of the spiritual life of a Christian. Here Saint Ignatius expresses a thought that runs like a red thread through all patristic asceticism: the struggle with passions leads to humility, which contains within itself a living hope in the Savior.

Therefore, Saint Ignatius often advised not to demand dispassion from ourselves, not to judge ourselves over errors and misdeeds - they tend to arise in our passionate nature, and we must recognize ourselves as passionate, admit that we cannot help but fall into errors[13]. But, on the other hand, repentance is not given for the purpose of indulging in sin: we cannot, having recognized ourselves as sinners, sit idly by, since any indulgence in ourselves will leave the state of peace for a long time. At the same time, whoever serves and works for sin does not see his sin, does not repent, remains careless; passions are revealed only when a Christian begins to struggle with them[14].

Thus, regarding the passions, Saint Ignatius identifies two facets and extremes that must be avoided: the demand from oneself for rapid dispassion and a careless stay in the passions. The saint points out the path of the golden mean - a humble prayer to the Savior for help with the consciousness of our inherent sinfulness and with possible resistance to all the desires of the fallen nature.

What passions are replaced by?

St. John Climacus identifies eight main passions: gluttony - the desire to eat tasty and/or eat a lot; love of money - love of money; vanity - the desire to do everything for show and for the sake of praise; fornication - irrepressible sexual desire; anger is a desire for harm to the one who saddens; sadness is sadness that takes away spiritual strength; despondency - a state when nothing is needed, the inability to patiently endure sorrow; pride is an excessively high opinion of oneself.

Almost each of these passions has an opposite virtue, with which this passion can be replaced : gluttony - abstinence; love of money - mercy; vanity - modesty; fornication - chastity; anger - lack of anger and meekness; sadness - mercy and non-covetousness or patience and meekness (depending on what cause the sadness occurred); pride - humility.

Dejection alone does not have its opposite, and one has to fight it with handicrafts, singing spiritual chants, or thinking about death.

Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the desires of the flesh, for the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh: they oppose each other, so that you do not do what you would like.

(Gal.5.6-17).

Strive for the good, and get away from the bad.

Russian proverb.

Then you will hate vice when you judge that it is a demonic sword shining over us.

Venerable Nile of Sinai (IV-V centuries).

Every resistance offered to the demands of passion weakens it; constant resistance brings her down. Each infatuation with passion strengthens it; constant infatuation with passion enslaves the passions of the one who is carried away by it.

A person’s good will is strengthened away from temptations and receives extraordinary firmness and strength; on the contrary, being brought closer to temptations, it begins to weaken little by little and finally becomes completely perverted.

Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) (1807-1867).

The best way to start this struggle is this: although all passions are inherent in us, some to a greater extent, others to a lesser extent. We must determine what passion dominates us and arm ourselves against it.

Venerable Barsanuphius of Optina (1843-1913).

Whatever passions you notice in yourself, fight them. Just not on your own, but with God’s help, but pay special attention to the main passion that is struggling more than you.

Schema-abbot Ioann (Alekseev) (1873-1958).

The entire Christian feat consists in stopping at the very beginning evil thoughts that rebel against the holy faith and God's Law and want to pervert the pious heart, and not allow them to grow and intensify.

Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk (1724-1783).

When you drink water, you take out even the slightest fly that gets there; when you splinter your finger, even if the splinter is barely visible due to its small size, you rush to get rid of the anxiety it causes; When the slightest bit of powder gets into your eye and clouds your eye, you go to great trouble to quickly clear it from your eye. So make it a law for yourself to act in relation to passions: no matter how small the form they appear, hurry to drive them out, and so ruthlessly that not a trace of them remains.

How to kick out? A hostile movement of anger towards them or being angry with them. As soon as you notice something passionate, quickly try to arouse your anger at them. This anger is a decisive rejection of the passionate.

Saint Theophan, recluse of Vyshensky (1815-1894).

When the passion of gluttony overcomes you, then strive with all your might for God’s sake not to give your body as much as it requires. And with regard to the love of money, do the same: while the war bothers you, do not acquire anything superfluous, even a shirt and clay from the court, and in the smallest things strive against the love of money. When, with the help of God, you overcome this battle, then, according to God, acquire what you need. And with other passions, do the same.

Saints Barsanuphius the Great and John (VI century).

When you are carried away by the passion of enmity towards your brother, imagine how God loves us; when pride - imagine how the Lord

for our sake He became poor, although He was rich (2 Cor. 8:9), and how meek and humble He is in heart (Matt. 11:29); when you are stingy, imagine more clearly how generous the Lord is to you, how His hand never fails to give you gifts.

Do everything opposite to what the enemy inspires: he inspires to hate those who offend us - you love them; Bless those who scold and do not torture those who take what is yours, and give it back willingly; when you want to laugh, cry; when you feel despondent, try to cheer up; when there is envy, rejoice in the well-being of others; when you struggle with contradiction and disobedience, immediately submit and agree; when you have lustful thoughts, be jealous of the purity of your heart, imagine the high dignity of a Christian, deified in Christ Jesus, that our members are members of Christ; when there is pride, humble yourself; when there is anger, be especially kind; when irritability, remain calm; when stinginess, be generous; when you are absent-minded, immediately shut your senses away from everything external and think about the only thing you need.

The root of all evil is a proud heart, or self-pity, self-sparing... Never feel sorry for yourself in anything, crucify yourself - your old man, nesting mainly in the flesh - and you will cut off all your passions. Endure with good-naturedness everything that happens that is unpleasant for the flesh, do not spare it, go opposite to it, and you will be a true follower of Christ.

Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt (1829-1908).

If the fire of carnal lust burns you, contrast it with the fire of Gehenna - and the fire of lust

yours will immediately go out and disappear. If you want to say something vile, think about that gnashing of teeth - and fear will bridle your tongue. Do you want to carry out any kind of abduction, listen to what the Judge commands and says: Having tied his hands and feet, take him and throw him into outer darkness (Matthew 22:13), and in this way you will drive out this passion.

Saint John Chrysostom (+407).

To eradicate passions, begin with self-reproach, with the knowledge of your own (and not your sister’s) weaknesses, and consider yourself worthy of sorrows.

Reverend Anatoly Optinsky (Zertsalov) (1824-1894).

Always cut off passions while they are still young, before they gain a foothold in you and begin to depress you, for then you will have to suffer a lot from them; because it is one thing to pull out a small blade of grass, and another thing to uproot a large tree.

It is not only said: Turn away from evil, but also: Do ​​good (Ps. 33:15). For example, if someone is accustomed to offending, then he must not only not offend, but also act truthfully; if he was a fornicator, then he must not only not indulge in fornication, but also be abstinent; if you were angry, you should not only not be angry, but also acquire meekness; if someone was proud, then he should not only not be proud, but also humble himself.

Venerable Dorotheos of Palestine (+620).

A passionate look at a woman is considered by God to be fornication; anger at one's neighbor is considered murder; Reward is promised for every idle word. Who is such a person and where can one find him, who would not know a lie, would not be tempted by the lust of any person, would never be angry with his neighbor in vain, in whom there would be no idle talk, who would not need repentance? Know: if someone does not give himself up to all the misfortunes that God allows him, in a humble and humiliated opinion of himself, if he does not submit himself to be trampled underfoot before everyone, offended and insulted by everyone, if he does not endure all this with joy, with the power of prayer for the sake of God, If he does not remove himself from human glory, honor and praise, from voluptuous foods and drinks, then he will not be able to achieve perfection.

Unknown old man, from Fatherland.

Moscow Sretenskaya Theological Academy

Priest Vasily Rodionov 01/08/201718329
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]

.
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.”