Spiritual warfare
Spiritual warfare (struggle with thoughts, spiritual struggle, invisible warfare ) - the ascetic act of keeping oneself from sinful thoughts, an integral part of the virtue of sobriety.
1. The Holy Fathers about what spiritual warfare is
2. The salvific value of spiritual struggle
3. Types of thoughts
4. The perniciousness of sinful thoughts
5. Mental abuse. Degrees of attitude towards thoughts
6. The means of resisting evil thoughts is awareness of them as alien and hostility towards them.
7. Reasoning in mental warfare
8. Anger against thoughts is the correct use of the power of anger placed in the soul by God
9. Prayer is a protection from evil thoughts. You shouldn't talk with your mind
10. How to deal with thoughts that come during prayer
11. Without repentance and confession, thoughts cannot be overcome
12. Cultivation of good thoughts and active virtues. The Need for Humility
13. You can't trust what it seems. Trusting your thoughts is a charm
14. Blasphemous thoughts
15. Demons do not know the thoughts of our hearts
16. Why does God allow especially strong spiritual warfare?
17. Correct spiritual dispensation
Holy Fathers on what spiritual warfare is
Rev. Macarius the Great writes about why spiritual warfare is necessary:
Many, strictly observing the external, practicing the sciences and caring about the right life, think that such a person is perfect, without delving into the heart, without noticing there the vices that control the soul. Meanwhile, in the members there is a root of vice, commensurate with the internal vicious thought, and in the house lies a robber, that is, an opposing force, and therefore opposing and at the same time mental. And if someone does not fight against sin, then internal vice, spreading gradually, with its multiplication, drags a person into obvious sins, leading to the commission of them by the very act, because evil, like the opening of a source, always exudes a stream from itself. Therefore, try to control the flow of vice, so as not to fall into thousands of evils.
The most important weapon for a fighter and ascetic is that, having entered the heart, he makes war with Satan, hates himself, renounces his soul, is angry with her, reproaches her, resists his usual wishes, argues with thoughts, fights with by myself.
Whoever wants to lead a Christian life with great accuracy and perfection, must take full care with all his might, first of all, about the meaning and understanding of the soul, so that, having acquired the ability to accurately distinguish between good and bad, and in any case, recognizing that something unusual has entered into pure nature, We must live correctly and without stumbling, and so that, using reason as the eye, we will be able not to become friends and not come into agreement with the suggestions of vice, and through this, having been granted a divine gift, become worthy of the Lord.
Some say that the Lord requires only obvious fruits from people, but God Himself performs the secret ones. But this is not what happens in reality, on the contrary, No matter how much someone protects himself according to the external person, just as much he must fight and wage war with thoughts because the Lord requires you to be angry with yourself, fought with his mind, did not agree with vicious thoughts and did not enjoy them.
For some hidden and subtle power of darkness is revealed, residing in the heart. And the Lord is near your soul and body, and looking at your struggle, puts innermost, heavenly thoughts into you, and secretly begins to give you peace. But for now he still leaves you under training, and in the midst of your sorrows he provides grace for you. And when you come to rest, He will let you know Himself, and will show you that for your own good He allowed you to be in struggle. Like the son of a rich man who has a mentor, while the mentor punishes him, the teaching, and wounds, and blows seem heavy, and this happens until he becomes a husband, and then he begins to thank the mentor: so grace providentially teaches until you come into a perfect husband.
Can anyone say: “I fast, lead a wandering life, squander my property, therefore I am already holy?” For abstinence from evil is not yet perfection itself, have you already entered into a humble mind and killed the serpent, which lurks just under the mind, in the depths of your thoughts, nests and kills you in the so-called secret places and storehouses of the soul, because the heart is an abyss, so , did you kill him and cast out from yourself all the uncleanness that was in you? All philosophers, both the law and the Apostles, and the coming of Christ, have the goal of purification. Every person, both Jew and Greek, loves cleanliness, but cannot become clean. Therefore, it is necessary to find out how and by what means it is possible achieve heart purity. This is possible only with the help of Him crucified for us. He is the way, the life, the truth, the door, the pearl, the living and heavenly bread. Without this truth, it is impossible for anyone to know the truth and be saved. Therefore, just as in the reasoning of the external man and visible things you renounced everything and gave away your property, so if you have knowledge and the power of the word and in worldly wisdom you must reject everything from yourself, count everything as nothing, then only you will be able to edify yourself in violence preaching, which is true wisdom, consisting not in the beauty of words, but in the power of the holy cross.
Rev. Macarius of Optina writes that All Christians, not only monks, but also laity, should wage spiritual warfare:
“Is it possible to be without war while in the spiritual army? The battle is invisible and everlasting! In addition, the enemies are evil, strong, cunning and treacherous; and they are even more strengthened by our laziness and negligence, and most of all by pride, through which they have a bold and daring attack... Just as it is impossible from a recruit to suddenly or quickly become a general and, without having been in many battles, to be a skilled warrior, so it is also possible and moreover, before you have time to enter the field of spiritual warfare, you already think that you have learned it; or wish to soon be free from passions and fly high, rising day by day. Do not think about yourself that you have already learned spiritual warfare; no, it is diverse, and don’t expect to quickly overcome passions: it requires a lot of time, heroism, labor, humility and God’s help.”
“You mentioned in your writing that God does not require more from a person than to fulfill the duties of the title in which he was born, which, according to your understanding, you try to fulfill without reproach of conscience. Since this point is important, it is necessary to think about it better. This duty consists of fulfilling the commandments of God, according to the vow we made in baptism, no matter what rank one may hold; but in fulfilling them we are faced with resistance from the enemy of the human race - the devil, as the holy Apostles write about... You see what kind of invisible war we have: he always tries to fight the Christian race by opposing actions to the commandments of God, through our passions; To this end, his main weapons serve - passions: love of fame, voluptuousness and love of money. Having been defeated by these, or by one of them, we give other passions free entry to act in our hearts. From your understanding it is clear that you have an imperfect understanding of this battle or resistance and not so much caution, but only your effort, without reproach of conscience, to fulfill your duty; but they did not penetrate into this, as they should, into what it consists of. If you fulfilled all your duty without a reproach of conscience, or better yet, without humility, then there would be no benefit.
Therefore, no matter what way of life we go through, everywhere we are confronted with spiritual warfare from the spirits of malice, disturbing our passions and forcing us to sinful actions, which is how our will and love for God are tested - in our struggle. And if we do not have this struggle, then we will not learn art, and we will not recognize our weakness, and we will not acquire humility, but it is so great that even without works it can save us, as St. Isaac in the 46th Word."
“You want to maintain concern for the salvation of your soul, which, apparently, you are actually doing; say that there is a continuous struggle going on within you, and every day new shortcomings appear; Yes, this is necessary in the feat of a Christian: we stand in battle against the spirits of evil, they fight us with our own passions. We are sometimes defeated and overcome, we fall and rise, and as we humble ourselves we receive God’s help. This powerful weapon against enemies is necessary for us. But how can we reconcile ourselves when, through our shortcomings, we do not recognize our weakness? They are the ones who humble us. Read... at St. Gregory of Sinaita: “Unless a person is defeated... he cannot come to terms.”
Rev. Macarius of Optina instructs that one who struggles in the matter of salvation, in any life circumstances will have to wage spiritual warfare:
“Read from St. Peter of Damascus in the 2nd book, in the 5th Homily, about patience, that “in mental warfare you cannot find a place without having battle; even if someone passes through the whole creation, but where he does not go, he finds battle: in the desert - animals and demons and other evil ones sorrows and horrors; in silence there are demons and temptations; in the midst of people there are demons and tempting people, and there is no place that can never be oppressed."
“Whoever begins to go through spiritual life, spiritual warfare usually rises up against them more powerfully...”
If a Christian does not feel mental warfare, then this is an alarming sign, writes Rev. Macarius of Optina:
“...If there is no abuse, it will be even worse; This means that he has a commonwealth with his enemies, then they do not fight him.”
“...Be grateful to the Lord that He carefully called you to serve Himself and to fight against invisible enemies. There [in the world] you would not have had any abuse, and all your vices would have left you, except for one, who could complement all the others [i.e. e. pride]...”
Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) speaks of the need for sobriety:
“The Lord commanded us to have constant prayerful vigilance over ourselves, called sobriety. Sobriety is true humility, concentrating one’s hope in God, renouncing all self-reliance and hope in people.
Acquire constant sobriety, constant vigilance over yourself. Without strict vigilance it is impossible to excel in any virtue.”
St. Theophan the Recluse writes about what the spiritual struggle of a Christian consists of:
“...a warrior of Christ must always have two vigilant guards: sobriety and discretion. The first is turned inward, and the last outward; the one observes the movements coming out of the heart itself, and the other predicts the movements that are about to arise in it due to external influence. The law for the first: after every thought has been driven out of the soul by the memory of God’s presence, stand at the door of the heart and carefully watch over everything that enters and leaves it, especially do not let feelings and desires prevent actions from happening, for that is where all the evil comes from.”
Rev. Macarius of Optina teaches about the essence and meaning of spiritual struggle:
Our life is spiritual warfare with invisible spirits of evil. They outrage us with our pledged passions and encourage us to obey the commandments of God. When we delve into it and look carefully, we will find that for every passion there is a cure - a commandment opposite to it; and therefore enemies are trying to prevent us from receiving this saving medicine... A Christian who lives his life according to God’s commandments must be tested by various temptations: 1) because the enemy is jealous of our salvation, with all sorts of intrigues he tries to hinder us from fulfilling the will of God; and 2) because virtue cannot be firm and true unless it is tested obstacle contrary to it and will remain unshakable. Why is there always spiritual warfare in our lives?
Spiritual warfare
Truly great is the warfare of the devil: he has strong bows, flaming arrows, various nets, countless tricks and weapons, through which he seeks in every possible way to harm the human soul. But if you want to completely and quickly join the army of the Heavenly King, do not be afraid of the enemy who opposes all that is good, but listen to how much the examples of Holy Scripture encourage us. Consider the warriors, the kings of the earth, and draw a useful conclusion from this. Earthly warriors, having with them assistants who are stronger and more skillful than the enemy, are not in the least afraid of their enemies. If they are confident that their assistants are invincible, then, forgetting all the horrors, they go bravely to the battlefield, fight courageously and do not leave the battlefield until they defeat their enemy and are crowned with laurels. But when we follow the path of virtue, God Himself accompanies us, and promised to confirm us in deeds of virtue until the end of the age: “And lo, I am with you always, to the end of the age...” (Matthew 28, 20). So, without being at all afraid of the attacks of the enemy, “take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery arrows of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Eph. 6:16-17) (Venerable Leo).
I ask you and pray, stay awake with humility, be sober and take courage, and<вин удерживайся>, deviating to flesh and blood and to all sorts of voluptuous movements, and from the clouds and noisy storm of excitement that torment your mind and feelings and want to plunge your good will into the mud of voluptuousness! But even if we think something and crawl, and we see a wound in ourselves from the evil speculator, but even then we rise and run again with repentance and tenderness to the One who revives the dead, and who raises the fallen and who crowns those who suffer from such tormentors and<дарующему>freedom and gifts of reasoning against... abuse (Venerable Leo).
That brother A. has come to you again and is causing concern to all of you, I sympathize with you. But everything comes to us according to Providence, so we must turn everything to our advantage. What benefit will a warrior have without fighting? Such a person is unskilled and unfeminine. And a monk cannot, without struggle, gain souls in patience and be crowned by the hero of the hero. Do not faint in spirit and do not become discouraged in opposition, but turn to the Lord with humble prayer and believe that help will come to you. I hope that God will not leave you to be tempted beyond strength, but will create with temptation an abundance that you are able to bear (St. Moses).
Do not delve into dreams, but correct yourself by trusting in the all-powerful grace of Christ. With the proposal to preserve your external and internal feelings, everything is possible. And as soon as you notice the creep, immediately direct it back to your beginning, and overcome the custom of postponing correction until the morning with an evening examination of your conscience and cleansing it with sincere gratitude before God: those who have sinned in this and that way. In cases that occur without me, act with reason, turn to the Savior and consult with whomever you have to (St. Moses).
Don’t be angry that I haven’t decided to come to you now. It is very sensitive to me that you are under siege by wolves, but I am afraid to come close to driving them away and freeing you, because your wolves look like rabid ones. They, as you know, tormented me many times, sinking their teeth to the depths of my heart. I don't know how there is still life left in me. The spirit of hope towards God was killed many times, and now whether there is any life in me, I don’t know, because I don’t feel a certain life in myself, but I hope only with a common hope, not living, but dead. Your wolves have no skins, are very toothy and cold-free. The people here, although they are predatory, are not so impudent, they are afraid of the word of man and of the species, and the more yours are driven away, the more they attack, and especially they are so angry at the one driving them away that they cannot even show themselves to him. Is it possible to shoot arrows and bullets at them from the bushes, which I do not renounce and, perhaps, sometimes I will lose something in?<попаду>with the help of Christ. If you have faith, then let me know when in what part of the soul a wolf will appear, with a description of its species, and whether it is old or young, one or two, or a whole herd, write! I truly wish God’s salvation for you and pray to Him with all my heart to deliver you from the mouth of lions and from the horns of unicorns. It is impossible to get rid of mental wolves except for the help of Christ - driving them away requires His almighty grace, and not weak human help. To do this, you need to surrender to the feet of Jesus with extreme humility, ask Him for everything and cast all your sorrow on Him and, moreover, pray to the Mother of God and other saints with true recognition of your sins and weaknesses to correct yourself. Thus, without a doubt, the Lord will help you and rest your spirit. “Learn,” he said, “from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29). This is where the Savior indicated to find peace of mind. Look, according to His direction you will surely find, because the Lord is faithful in all His words. Walk in Him and do not have to walk in darkness. Do not labor in vain in seeking for yourself consolation and peace and salvation other than humility. Everything will only cause you grief, anxiety and destruction if you do not take up the humility of Christ. Without it, the wolves will tear you to pieces. Equally, I cannot escape from them unless I consider myself the most sinful and the last of all (Venerable Moses).
Saint John of the Climacus says that thoughts that are not revealed to the spiritual father come into action (v. 26, section 21) and that, on the contrary, opened ulcers do not extend to the worst, but rather are healed. From our own experience we see that man is extremely weak and powerless in spiritual struggle without the help of God. In this fight,<как>says the Monk Mark the Ascetic, we have one helper, mysterious, hidden in us from the time of baptism - Christ, Who is invincible. He will assist us in this struggle if we not only call on Him for help, but fulfill, according to our strength, His life-giving commandments. Throw yourself into the arms of His great mercy. Also, constantly resort to our Intercessor, the Lady Ever-Virgin Mary, often singing a church song: there are no other imams of help, no other imams of hope, do You, Lady, help us, we hope in You and we boast in You, for we are Your servants, let us not be ashamed ( Rev. Ambrose).
Despise the intimidation of the enemy, as if he is able to bring you into such a misfortune that you seem to reject the Crucified Lord. All these weavings of hostility, even if allowed to him, could end in some absurd opinions and unfair rumors from a person. But remember the psalm word in advance: “be prepared and not be troubled...” (Ps. 119:60) (Venerable Ambrose).
You write that at times you become very weak, to the point of cowardice, and sometimes even to despair. Know that there are two main machinations of the enemy: to fight a Christian either with arrogance and conceit, or with cowardice and despair. Saint Ladder writes that one skilled ascetic repelled the goats of the enemy with their own weapons. When they brought him to despair, he said to himself and to his enemies: “how not so long ago you praised me and brought me into arrogance,” and through this he reflected the evil intent of the enemy. If the enemies again switched to the other side and began to praise and give reasons for arrogance and conceit, then the elder would answer: “Why, not so long ago you brought me to despair; after all, one thing contradicts the other.” And thus this ascetic, with the help of God, repelled the machinations of the enemy with their own weapons, using one against the other at the right time. Also, sometimes you have the thought of retaliating courageously against your enemies, and you ask, is this fair? The opposite of this, cowardice, shows that it is unfair. It is not our measure to rebel against evil enemies, but rather, most likely, with humility, always resort to the help and intercession of the divine, calling on the Lord Himself and His Most Pure Mother for help, as the holy Climacus advises: in the name of Jesus, repel the warriors (St. Ambrose).
Do not do it...<в>to do anything to fulfill the will of your spiritual enemies, who confuse you with all sorts of suggestions and assumptions, which you trust on the basis that it seems to you. All the mental warfare or confusion that plagues you comes from this trust in enemy suggestions, to which you attribute some meaning or credibility, or which you want to catch, instead of despising them, calling on God’s help against them. The main reason for your mental warfare is your great arrogance, which is visible in everything (Venerable Ambrose).
Those who accept evil suggestions, mixing their will with them, are robbed by mental robbers; the suggestions of these mental thieves are always disordered and inconsistent with the case, according to the word of the Gospel: “Whoever does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in elsewhere, is a thief and a robber... A thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy” (John 10: 1, 10). Saint Abba Dorotheos, explaining the machinations of the devil, writes: he is not so much unskilled in doing evil and knows that a person does not want to sin, and therefore does not instill in him any obvious sins and does not tell him: go commit fornication or go steal, but he finds In us there is only one imaginary wish or one self-justification, and thus, under the guise of good, it does harm. So, with plausible suggestions, he removed N. from the monastery and confuses you in the same way, and generally confuses you with the wishes of his will (Venerable 4 Ambrose).
You write that sometimes you are occupied with the thought of how Dennitsa turned from a luminous angel into Satan. You yourself know that from pride. But remember that you must now hold on to prayer more tightly and not get carried away by any thoughts or reasoning, even if they happen on the other side, even if apparently on the gums. Prayer with humility is an invincible weapon against the enemy, but you cannot defeat him with reasoning (Venerable Ambrose).
You write that your spiritual enemies have raised such a battle against you that they are preventing you from usually performing your inner prayer, making noise and hum around you, as if a whole round dance is dancing, which is why you ask me, poor-minded, what you should do and how to act in in that case? We must imitate the saints of God, as they acted in similar cases. We read in the life of Arseny the Great that he sometimes, rising from inner prayer, publicly prayed with raised hands: “Lord my God! Do not forsake me, for I have done nothing better before You, but help me and make me worthy to make a beginning!” This short prayer of the saint of God expresses, firstly, great humility, self-reproach, and self-abasement. Secondly, it is shown that the saint of God did not pray like that without a reason, but apparently he was fighting for a strict life with thoughts of exaltation from mental enemies who do not leave anyone alone, but fight everyone with whatever they can. Especially for us who are weak, we need to keep an eye on the thoughts of exaltation, which are the most harmful for us in spiritual warfare, as St. Mark the Ascetic explains: “If we had been diligent about humility, we would not have demanded punishment: for everything is evil and cruel, what happens to us, for our exaltation, happens. If the apostle did not become arrogant, the angel Satan was quickly allowed to play dirty tricks on him; if we are exalted, Satan himself will be allowed to trample on us, until we humble ourselves.”... According to these testimonies of the saints of God, recognizing our humility, or the lack of it, or noticing theft by exaltation, sincerely and with humility, let us repeat before the Lord the aforementioned prayer of Blessed Arseny , rebelling against it when we are disturbed by our mental enemies annoying us. If, however, this prayer does not calm us down at all, then let us imitate Blessed Arseny in another action. He sometimes seated his disciples near him, complaining about the abuse of the enemy. You can sometimes place Sister P. near you, if necessary. Let him sit next to you in prayer or standing and read some of the Gospel (Venerable Ambrose).
Are there, or are there not, any hidden infirmities in your soul, for the sake of which your enemies are still strengthening themselves and boring you to the point of exhaustion? If you cannot find anything like that, then still pray with humility to God with the psalm words: “Who understands the Fall? Cleanse me from my secrets, and spare me from strangers” to Thy servant (Ps. 18:13). All the holy fathers have a unanimous answer and advice in such cases: in every temptation, victory is humility, self-reproach and patience, of course, while asking for help from above. Pray for this to the Queen of Heaven and to all the saints of God in whom you have special faith, so that they will help you get rid of demonic delusion. First of all, consider your spiritual disposition, whether you are peaceful with everyone, whether you condemn anyone (Venerable Ambrose).
It is not commendable that you are overcome by thoughts and fall, but it is even worse that you despair. We are in a struggle, we fall and rise, and we are more courageous in battle, but there is no need to despair, but to humble ourselves and repent, although it is shameful, we must. Know why battle and victory are stronger: from opinions about oneself, from condemnation of others, from excess food and bodily rest, and also from concealment<сокрытия помыслов>from mother<духовной>... (Venerable Macarius).
Isn’t it arrogance that, having received some temporary calm from the battle, you believed that this was keeping your mind. Saint John of the Climacus says: “How far are the east from the west, so far is keeping the mind higher than keeping thoughts, and incomparably more difficult.” But you and I don’t even know how to preserve our thoughts as we should; then where will our mental preservation come from? Your calmness was not the preservation of your mind, but an obvious planting of the enemy (Venerable Ambrose).
Spiritual life
You want to make a start towards improving your life, but you don’t know how. And it seems that you and I have talked a lot about this, how one should wage spiritual warfare with the passions, and this should not be done in words, but in practice. Our passions do not give us rest, but some case will reveal them to us, then the disorder lying inside us confuses us, and when in any case you resist, do not do it out of passion, then they will become exhausted. When you are defeated, then look at yourself, reproach and humble yourself, consider yourself worse than everyone else, as if overcome by passions, do not blame any of the people, but blame yourself, and you will receive God’s help (St. Macarius).
It seems to you that you do not rely on yourself and that you recognize yourself as insignificant and so on, but, however, we advise you not to believe this, since we do not believe you until you learn this from experience, having entered the field of spiritual life; Perhaps you will meet people whose life seems to you inconsistent with your intentions, then you should not be tempted by this; Although you are running like a greyhound, you have not yet known your weaknesses, have not yet met the various kindled arrows of the evil one and have not had the opportunity to resist them and tempt your strength, have not yet endured the reproaches, annoyances, insults and reproaches that must certainly meet you, to the test and your test, about this you, it seems, should learn from the books of the holy fathers theoretically... We write this to you, not frightening you, but preparing you and warning you against arrogance (St. Macarius).
Do not think that you can quickly learn the spiritual life; she is the art of art; Not only theory, but also practice is needed, and with this there is a lot of stumbling and rebellion. You write that you were heartbroken by my reproof, “so much so that it went to your head.” This should show you your weak dispensation, which will be corrected by self-reproach and humility. If I only pat you on the head, then what good will it do you? (Venerable Macarius).
You and I are assigned a different type of service, but not civil, but military-spiritual. “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12). The Holy Apostle Paul advises Timothy: “Suffer evil, for Jesus Christ is a good soldier” (2 Tim. 2:3). Here suffering is also necessary: this war is fierce - it is not the body that fights, but the soul, not with visible person, but with invisible spirits... And with all this there must be great humility, for we fight with proud spirits, it costs nothing for them to defeat the proud, but they cannot resist the humble for an hour. Humility crushes all the snares and machinations of the enemy (St. Macarius).
In the interim there were times that were bitter, difficult and languid... you cannot do without it. In a sensual war, many are wounded and suffer illnesses, since even more so in this spiritual warfare many wounds are acceptable from the spirits of malice, and even more so when we rely on our strength and reason, then we are overcome, until we humble ourselves, having recognized our weakness... (Venerable Macarius ).
Those who want to be saved inevitably face spiritual warfare with the enemies of our souls, who fight and defeat us through our own passions, which I see in your dispensation, which you described. The envy and hatred that torment you are not newly born passions, but secretly hidden passions in your heart, and occasionally irritated and exposed (Venerable Macarius).
In battles, resist with humility, as it is written and shown to us from our father, and if you happen to fall, rise again and know that you will be tempted by them for your pride. Run to self-reproach and humility, and not from your cell. Dondezhe the monk will not be erased by various temptations and sorrows, he cannot recognize his weakness and humble himself (St. Macarius).
You write that you see your passions and mental weaknesses, which you have never seen before, and you cannot free yourself from them and leave them behind. Those who begin to go through spiritual life, then usually spiritual warfare rises up against them more strongly, and if we cannot suddenly become winners, then we should not be despondent and grieve about this, but, seeing our weaknesses, humble ourselves and bring repentance to the Lord. It is dangerous if you see your corrections or virtues, then it is a clear sign of delusion and a falling away from God. A sinner with repentance is more acceptable before Him than a righteous man with pride (St. Macarius).
As I see in you rapid changes from spiritual to carnal life, I will write something against this. You had a desire for spiritual life, but it was imaginary and vain, and therefore you took away the bitter fruits of delusion, deceived by an imaginary holy life and false, under the guise of spiritual, consolations. When the cover of delusion was removed from you and I realized what a disastrous position you were in, then a battle arose against you, with which the enemy had not bothered you in the least before, and you relied on it for your imaginary holiness, strove for both the mantle and to the shutter, and everything was vain, in order to see our imaginary holiness, but there was not even a trace of humility, without which all our good deeds are displeasing to God. In the battle that has now risen against you and is driving you into the world, do not be discouraged, but having realized that this was allowed to you for exaltation - and your current thoughts are completely opposite to the first - humble yourself, repent of your previous unreasonable and untimely jealousy, consider yourself the last of all, ask for help from God and the Most Pure Mother of God, then you will receive relief from the battle and you will know that with our own strength we cannot do anything good (Venerable Macarius).
A Christian who leads his life according to God’s commandments must be tested by various temptations: 1) because the enemy, envying our salvation, tries with all sorts of intrigues to hinder us from fulfilling the will of God, and 2) because it cannot be firm and truthful - to virtue, when it is not tested by an obstacle contrary to it and remains unshakable. Why is there always spiritual warfare in our lives? We have many passions hidden within us and cannot recognize them until one of them opens up to action. When we see ourselves defeated in something, unable to resist the scorching arrows of the enemy, then we recognize our weakness, humble ourselves and do not rely on our strength ahead, but resort to the help of the Almighty God, and our very humility protects us and attracts Him help. When we go through life in a visible and pious manner, without any vices, neither visible nor mental, and although we say and think that we are sinners, we are mistaken, and, comforted by our imaginary virtue, we are deceived and blinded by our minds, and, forgetting ourselves, we dare to judge others who are overcome by passions. For this reason, the Lord allows us to experience the ferocity of passions and to be overcome, so that we humble ourselves and truly consider ourselves sinners, having a contrite and humble heart. Someone who performs virtues and even feels some spiritual consolations, but if he does not have temptations, then the door to pride is opened for him, which alone, besides all vices, leads to spiritual destruction (St. Macarius).
Spiritual life consists not only in enjoying peace and consolation, but also in bearing the spiritual cross, that is, the withdrawal of consolation, complacently... (Venerable Macarius).
When receiving spiritual consolations, thank God and do not grieve when, when they are taken away, darkness covers your soul; The grace of God preserves the measure, so that they are not exalted in acquiring consolation, and sends tenderness and change, and not that they are abandoned completely. Be complacent, accept this for consolation, and this for humility (Venerable Macarius).
You write that good wishes are not always fulfilled. Know that the Lord does not fulfill all our good desires, but only those that serve our spiritual benefit. If we, when raising children, consider what teaching is appropriate for what age; Moreover, the Lord, the Knower of the Heart, knows what and at what time is useful to us. There is a spiritual age, which is not calculated by age, and not by beards, and not by wrinkles, and just as sometimes 15-year-olds study science together with 8-year-old children, so during spiritual training this happens even more often (Venerable Ambrose).
It is impossible to always be in the same dispensation, but one must expect warfare, either external or internal; just do not give guilt through arrogance and vanity, but humbly acquire wisdom, then the arrows of the enemy will be crushed (Venerable Macarius).
Spiritual... life consists not only in tasting its inner sweets and consolations, but moreover in complacently enduring their deprivation and other sorrows. From all of these our love for God is known when we carry them complacently; recognizing our weakness and poverty, we humble ourselves from it. Remember your first dispensation, when you enjoyed spiritual consolations; What did you gain from this? After being deprived of them, there was only emptiness, and you almost fell into despair when, after them, waves of passions rose up against you. You see how fragile this consolation is, which does not bring humility, but only deceives, and without experiencing the sorrowful, it puts those who have it in danger. On the contrary, the cross makes us partakers of Christ’s passion and glory, but only when it pleases Him to bestow it, and it will be useful to us (St. Macarius).
In spiritual life this always happens: either consolation precedes sorrow, or sorrow precedes it. These changes give rise to hope and humility. Only there are different sorrows, both worldly and spiritual, but it is too early for you to know about this, but accept what God sends with gratitude and indifference, do not be exalted in consoling feelings, and do not lose heart in sorrowful ones... ( Rev. Macarius).
It is dangerous for you to enter into spirituality ahead of time, that is, to talk about high things of spiritual speculation and so on, but you need to see your sins and try to overcome and eradicate passions, this is the goal of our intention, for after cleansing from passions it will reveal itself spiritual feeling, and the love of God is expressed in the fulfillment of God’s commandments: “he who loves Me will keep My commandments” (Cf.: John 14:21) - about this you must have an interview and, as it were, humble yourself, but without it everything is gloomy and dark. For God’s sake, I pray you, humble yourself in everything and have peace among yourself, then the grace of God will cover you from everything that opposes you (St. Macarius).
You say that now you don’t have the ardor that you used to have. You had ardor, but it was vain, and that’s why it cooled down. What you did then without compulsion and with ease, and now with compulsion and with difficulty, and in this you see your weakness and involuntarily humble yourself, then this is much more pleasing to God, although you do not see it. This is how our salvation is accomplished; We cannot even understand, not by the exploits and high virtues on which we think to place our hope, but by a contrite and humble heart and the consciousness of our poverty. When we arrange ourselves this way, then our virtues will be firm, strengthened by humility. Did you have zeal for exploits, for prayers, for fasting, and so on, but you didn’t think about it, that the darkness of passions was closing your heart from the Sun of Truth? It is necessary to have a struggle with passions: pride, love of glory, for from them many passions rise up against us (St. Macarius).
Spiritual life does not consist in seeing one’s corrections, but in seeing one’s sins; the former leads to pride, and the latter to humility, from which even the virtues become firm, and we do not elevate our minds about them. The enemy fights us in different ways: if he cannot draw us into vices, then he instills the idea of his corrections and thereby darkens our mind and leads us away from God. Our first path is the rejection of our will and reason and disbelief in ourselves... (Venerable Macarius).
As you went through the feat of your life, you had more in mind and in action external work: fasting, rules of prayer, etc., but perhaps you paid little attention to internal work. And therefore, I believe, you do not have peace within yourself... From your external exploits you had hope and were deluded into being more trustworthy, but you were deprived of peace of mind, lacking humility (St. Macarius).
Neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem can one worship the Father. “The true worshiper will worship the Father in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23). This is how our worship should be! Let us strive towards this with our minds and hearts, and believe - we will find mercy and eternal life, we are spiritual people, therefore we must endure in spirit - and this is true Christian unity, which will not be separated forever in Christ Jesus our Lord... (Rev. Anatoly ).
N.! Don’t be like a bothersome fly, which sometimes flies around uselessly, and sometimes bites and annoys both of them, but be like a wise bee, which began its work diligently in the spring and by autumn has finished its honeycomb, which is as good as it should be. stated notes. One is sweet, and the other is pleasant... (Rev. Ambrose).
Likened<твоя жизнь>a rather deep ditch, which in rainy times fills up so much that it is impossible to cross, but at other times it dries up so much that no water flows through it. The Holy Fathers boast of a life that flows like a small stream, constantly flowing and never drying up. This stream is convenient: firstly, for crossing, and secondly, it is pleasant and useful to everyone passing by, because its water is suitable for drinking, since it flows quietly, and therefore is never muddy. You have always had a noticeable desire only to fulfill the prayer rule, and to fulfill the commandments of God, called small by the Lord, you lacked the desire, zeal, compulsion, and attention, and the first without the second is never strong (Rev. Ambrose).
You write off how unpleasant driving was for you. railway and how you managed to get rid of annoying conversations. And the word of the Apostle came true: “If anyone among you thinks to be wise in this age, let him be foolish in order to be wise” (Cf. 1 Cor. 3:18). It bothers you that you had to turn to this remedy in the Church of St. Sergius. But the Lord does not look at our external actions, but at our intentions, why we act one way or another, and if the intention is good, according to God, then we can be at peace. Therefore, others should not be judged in any case: we see only external actions, and the innermost motives and intentions by which these actions will be judged are known to the One Knower of the Heart, God (St. Ambrose).
In every sojourn, try to remain pleasingly, that is, in a peaceful and humble spirit, do not judge anyone and do not annoy anyone, trying so that our word, according to the apostolic commandment, is dissolved with spiritual salt (St. Ambrose).
You are now in the middle, between the world and monasticism. But the average measure is approved everywhere and in everything, and for you, due to your upbringing and poor health, it is in many ways decent; just try to live according to the Gospel commandments of the Lord and, first of all, not judge anyone about anything, so that you yourself may be unjudged (Venerable Ambrose).
And that you are not what you should be is not a wonder: you came to learn spiritual life. After all, simple alphabet, I suppose, I didn’t understand right away, but this science is high. You won't learn it right away. And the great saints of God - Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, Tikhon of Zadonsk and many, many fathers - they all did not immediately shine. Learn. Be patient and wait for God’s mercy (Venerable Anatoly).
Number of entries: 29
Hello. I am a believer, I am 19 years old. I go to church very rarely, no lie, I was there once last year, and not at a service, but just put candles on the icons, prayed, and asked for forgiveness. I know that it is a sin to believe in God and not go to church, but so far I am not drawn to it. I'm thinking of going there as soon as my soul so desires. But I often pray to God, thank him, and ask for forgiveness. Over the past 2 years, bad thoughts have been appearing in my head, offending God and the Mother of God. I am very much afraid of them, because I think that this is my worst sin, so I want to get rid of them. Please tell me, are there any prayers that will specifically help cope with this illness? Thank you.
Hello. For this there is the Sacrament of Repentance, but in order to benefit from it, you will have to go to church, pray, fast and repent. There have never been and never will be any other means. It is impossible to be a Christian if, at least for an hour a week, you do not tear yourself out of the whirlwind and bustle of the world and immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the temple, where everything is designed to create conditions for sincere and attentive prayer, where sound teaching and grace-filled Sacraments are taught.
Priest Alexander Beloslyudov
Hello, father. My name is Andrey P., I am 18 years old. Recently, in a dream, I dreamed that I was blaspheming: I was throwing icons on the floor in the house. After that, quarrels and swearing began in the family, and I began to have business and internal problems. Please advise what should I do then, should I go to church and confess?
Andrey
Dear Andrey, in dreams we often see projections of our unresolved problems, so you shouldn’t be afraid of sleep; It wasn’t him that started the quarrels, it was just that the subconscious signaled an impending crisis. It’s good to start solving these problems, and if you notice that some of your sins were the cause of them, and, of course, those sins that accompanied the showdown (for example, anger, pride), they need to be confessed. God help!
Priest Sergius Osipov
Hello, thank you very much again for your site! Tell me what to do, what prayers, maybe to read, the fact is that my mother is a very angry person, she constantly slanders, and sometimes blasphemes, all people are not like her and even her own children and grandchildren are not like that. Very often she bursts out: “God will pay you all!” I tried to explain to her more than once, told her the truths of God, the Gospel - nothing helps. Sometimes it seems to me that a word thrown accidentally or intentionally only brings us harm - after all, it is my mother’s word. Thank you in advance. God bless you!
Oksana
Oksana, don’t be afraid that something bad will come to you from your mother’s words, but rather order a magpie or a church memorial for her for six months, or even a year. You need to pray for your mother, her enemy is tempting her, she needs to go to confession and communion, then she can find peace.
Hegumen Nikon (Golovko)
Hello! Is it blasphemy against the Holy Spirit when you commit a sin, knowing in advance that you are sinning, and cannot cope with passion (adultery), you ask the Almighty for forgiveness and somehow do not feel the fear of the Lord. Is there hope for forgiveness? I can’t raise my eyes to the icon. But how can I kiss the CROSS in confession - will it not be hypocrisy on my part? Sinful, she could not stand the temptation.
Elena
Elena, it will be a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit if, God forbid, of course, you begin to live in sin, nevertheless, justifying yourself and considering sin and lies to be truth. In any case, no matter what sin has been committed, while there is still time to live, there is time for repentance, the sin can be forgiven.
Hegumen Nikon (Golovko)
Good day! The essence of my question is this - now in many in social networks I observe how social network users put the faces of saints on their avatars. My opinion is that this is unacceptable! But many people think that there is nothing wrong with this. I would like to hear the opinion of the Orthodox Church. Thank you very much.
Elena
The opinion of the Church is the determination of a church council or at least a specialized synodal department; here you can only hear a private, albeit well-founded opinion. I also believe that such things are unacceptable, because they deprive the icon of its sacred meaning.
Deacon Ilya Kokin
Good evening, father! I am tormented by thoughts, I would like to know the answer to my question, so as not to become despondent. My name is Evgeniy, I am 15 years old, I live and study in Kyiv. In March, during a literature lesson, we were asked to recite an excerpt from Taras Shevchenko’s poem “Dream,” where there are the words: “There is no Lord in heaven,” - forgive me, Lord. I knew then that God existed, I believed in Him and did not want to offend Him in any way, and when I told these lines, I mentally disagreed with them. Then he confessed and, thank God, did not do such things again. Has God forgiven me this sin, have I blasphemed the Holy Spirit through this action?
Eugene
If you repented and decided not to repeat this again, then the Lord has forgiven. But the most important thing is not to repeat it again. For the future - if you explain to the teacher before class why you don’t want to recite godless poems, I’m sure he will understand and won’t give you a bad mark for it.
Hegumen Nikon (Golovko)
Good evening! Answer me this question, we bought an apartment from complete strangers, when they moved out, they left a plaster cross on the wall, citing the fact that it could not be moved from apartment to apartment. We moved in the tenants, and they flatly refused to let this cross hang; my husband and I didn’t need it either, so we put it in a bag and took it to the trash can. Tell me, is this a sin? And now what i can do? They all did this without thinking about their actions.
Elena
Elena, throwing away the cross is a grave sin. The cross is a symbol of our salvation, the cross is victory over death, over the devil. Christ voluntarily crucified himself on the Cross for our sake, for the sake of our salvation. You exchanged the cross for the money your tenants paid you. You did very, very badly. Repent before God in church in confession, and depending on the sincerity of your repentance and what kind of life you will lead next, God will forgive you.
Hieromonk Victorin (Aseev)
Good afternoon I know that it is very important for a Christian to control his thoughts. But very often there are periods when some kind of swarming occurs in your head, like in an anthill. And it happens that bad thoughts, even blasphemous ones, just come, even reluctantly and completely unconsciously. I immediately ask for forgiveness from the Lord and think, how could I so completely unwittingly end up in a bad situation? What to do? Thank you.
Ksenia
Ksenia, what you describe is called spiritual warfare: suddenly we feel in our minds thoughts or images that come from the devil. Until we communicate with these thoughts and do not hold them in attention, there is no sin, but if we begin to develop them or somehow concentrate on them, then we are already sinning. You gradually need to learn not to pay attention to such fleeting thoughts, and they will disappear from consciousness as easily as they appear.
Hegumen Nikon (Golovko)
I am 27, I have been going to church for seven years now, and I have encountered the sin of blasphemy. This started for me quite recently, about 1.5 months ago, I mentally call names to a saint, Jesus Christ, the Mother of God during prayer. How to overcome this temptation? A lot has happened in 7 years, but I think this is the worst.
Sergey
Sergey, this temptation is temporary, it passes pretty soon. Confess to the priest your mental warfare, and do not pay any attention to the thoughts themselves - nothing more than dust blown past by the wind.
Hegumen Nikon (Golovko)
Hello! Please resolve my question. About a month ago I was reading an empty sinful book, and there the main character spoke in the first person about selling his soul to the devil, and I became scared: what if I sold it with these words? I prayed to the Lord to forgive me, but I was still scared, and then I realized through one book that fear is also a sin, and that it comes from unbelief. I believed and the fear disappeared. But then I thought, what if Satan did it? The Bible says that all sins are forgiven to a person, except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. The Holy Fathers interpret this sin as attributing God's works to Satan. And I’m scared again: have I really committed this terrible sin, and there is no forgiveness for me?
Shinkarenko Yura
Dear Yura, it’s a pity that you didn’t look on our website for answers to the topic of what blasphemy against the Holy Spirit really is. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit can be equated to pharisaism, that is, to living in sin with the confidence that this is not a sin, but the norm. At the same time, those “gifts” that can arise from such an incorrect spiritual life will be a manifestation of the actions of demons, and a person, while confident in his rightness, will take them for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and from this will be even more mistaken. As for the events that happened to you, I think you have nothing to worry about, except for one thing: avoid sin in the future. By sin I mean empty reading, idle thoughts, and, of course, actions. And, besides, you need to study Orthodoxy more, and the best thing would be not even to find out, but to adopt it from some good priest or layman in the process of live communication with him.
Hegumen Nikon (Golovko)
Good day, fathers! I want to ask you for advice, my problem is my 26 year old son, who doesn’t work anywhere and doesn’t intend to, drinks for 2-3 weeks with a short break, all the metal that was in the yard has already been taken down for buying, I gave him a house , which I support myself, because we cannot live together, I have a second marriage and the relationship between my husband and son is no fault of my son. For many years I have been paying for gas and electricity, we feed him together with his grandmother, I help his son, whom he does not even want to acknowledge, no matter how much I persuade him. They treated him twice, and persuaded him, and inspired him, and on her knees asked him to come to his senses, I tried to talk about God - as a result, drunken blasphemy, I became scared for him, I pray as best I can. And the question is this: yesterday I gave money to pay for the electricity, I called - of course, nothing was paid, although I was sober, and another lie. Fathers, what should I do? Should I carry this burden to the end or stop supporting it? I am aware of my sin of under-education, but my strength is running out due to cynicism, because I am a man, and I have to work for him. Forgive me, a sinner, for grumbling, but I am alone in this trouble, and your advice is very important.
Marina
Dear Marina, Of course, stop supporting. By being overprotective, you and your grandmother only created the conditions for the development of the disease. This needs to stop. You will be supported by your husband, whose rejection of a situation where a twenty-six-year-old person is completely antisocial could lead to family conflicts. It will be more difficult with your grandmother if she does not live with you. She may not accept the need to leave her grandson without food and continue to feed him. Explain that this is direct harm to him, in fact, an offer to drink and again plunge into alcohol addiction, while others feed and clothe him. You will have to tell your son that for his benefit you cannot support him. If he wants to go to a clinic (if you offer to be “encoded” with a certain substance that causes aversion to alcohol on a physical level - know that the Church allows this) and then systematically work with a psychotherapist (you can call him a psychologist) with a complete lifelong abstinence from alcohol, then tell him that you are ready to help with this, pay for visits to the doctor. The psychotherapist will help him understand himself, find the wrong psychological attitudes that led to addiction, and “correct” them a little. With these realized problems and sins, he can already go to confession if he wants. But you can’t give him money now. Pay the doctor yourself. As he recovers, he will be able to do this on his own, but it will take a long time. He must earn money himself, be responsible for the house, for food (at the same time, have a reserve so as not to lose your house). Otherwise, the son will continue to go downhill. Only his desire to free himself from addiction can become the beginning of this liberation. By refusing to support him, you will create a situation that will make him think about it. More detailed instructions The psychotherapist you find for your son can give you advice. There are special classes for relatives of addicted people, search the Internet in your region. He can't do it alone. I have described the general direction for you, be sure to coordinate the details with your attending physician - and it will be very good if you consult with him in detail before announcing to your son your decision to terminate the support. God bless you all!
Priest Sergius Osipov
Hello, for 5 months now I have been tormented by thoughts that I have blasphemed the Holy Spirit. I can't repent. I just realize that I did wrong, but I can’t change. No matter how much I prayed, nothing helps, there is no feeling of forgiveness in my soul. I really want to change and be with God, but nothing is working out. I'm ready to do anything for forgiveness. What should I do? Can God forgive me if I really committed this sin, or are prayers useless? Maybe I should go to a monastery, maybe that will help?
Anna, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit has already been discussed several times and at some length on our website - just read the answers to the “Blasphemy” tag on our website. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit lies in the fact that a person lives in unrepentant sins, therefore, in fact, it is not forgiven - the person feels righteous and does not repent. Everything else is not blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. And, besides, you can repent of any sin, because the Lord is infinite mercy.
Hegumen Nikon (Golovko)
I blasphemed the Holy Spirit, and I didn’t realize it right away; now I feel like I’m going to die, because life didn’t go at all the way the Creator wanted. But I did it with free will. And now NOTHING can be fixed. Truly, the Bible is the truth... God bless you!
Vika
Vika, you are far from the first tormented by this topic, and therefore the time has come to understand in detail what blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is and why blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven either in this century or in the future, and give as comprehensive an answer as possible. So, when and under what circumstances did the Savior pronounce His words about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? After the Pharisees essentially accused him of being possessed, telling everyone that He casts out demons and works His miracles not by the Spirit of God, but by the power of the prince of demons: “Then they brought to Him a demon-possessed man, blind and dumb; and He healed him, so that the blind and dumb the dumb man began both to speak and to see. And all the people marveled and said, “Is this not the Christ, the son of David?” And the Pharisees, hearing this, said, “He casts out demons no other way than by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of demons” (Matthew 12:22- 24). After this, those famous words were spoken: “...if anyone speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but if anyone speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come” (Matthew 12:32 .). Here we must understand absolutely clearly that the Lord called blasphemy not when He was insulted as a Man of flesh and blood, but when He was denied precisely as God, that is, His Divinity was insulted, that is, when a person says that Christ is not God, not God's Son. It is precisely this blasphemy that will not be forgiven to a person. But in our time, it would hardly occur to any Christian to say such madness. And again, St. Athanasius the Great wrote about this: “Christ did not say: He will not be forgiven to the one who blasphemed and repented, but to the one who blasphemes, that is, the one who remains in blasphemy. For due repentance resolves all sins” (St. Athanasius the Great. “Conversations on the Gospel of Matthew"). Thus, even if such terrible blasphemy took place, but the person repented of it and no longer speaks or thinks about it, then it too will be forgiven by God! But there is one consequence from this blasphemy: namely, that you can not only deny the Divinity of Christ with words, but even deny Him with your very life spent in sins, that is, through trampling the commandments with your sins, you can actually deny the commandments and Christ Himself as God who gave them. It is in this regard that St. John Chrysostom called the shameless and persistent denial of truth blasphemy against the Holy Spirit: “Just as someone who considers the sun dark does not disparage this luminary, but presents clear evidence of his blindness, and like someone who calls honey bitter , - does not reduce its sweetness, but reveals its illness, just like the condemning works of God. .. Blasphemy does not humiliate the greatness of God... He who blasphemes inflicts wounds on himself... All torments, both present and future, are insufficient for the soul (blaspheming the Spirit)" (Treasury of Spiritual Wisdom: Extracts from the Works of the Holy Fathers, arranged in accordance with the annual circle of Gospel readings / Compiled by Archpriest M. Neigum) In other words, we blaspheme the Holy Spirit when we absolutely know that we should not sin, that this or that act is a sin, but we stubbornly continue to commit it, tempting God. St. Theophan the Recluse wrote very clearly on this topic. Asking the question exactly when, under what circumstances, people trample the truth and consider it untruth, he answers: “Then when they know the truth and do not fulfill it, when life does not correspond to the knowledge ; one thing is on their mind and conscience, sometimes in words, and the other in life and deeds, in the feelings of the heart and the mood of the will. ...This untruth increases a hundredfold when someone does something wrong at the very time when his mind and conscience disgust him and does not tell him to do it. This is what blasphemy against the Holy Spirit consists of...” (St. Theophan the Recluse. “Outline of Christian Moral Teaching.” Part 2.) So, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit consists of a conscious and persistent life in unrepentant sins, and this is precisely what we should be afraid of. Why But she is not forgiven? And precisely because a person stubbornly does not want to repent of his sin, even considering it sometimes excusable or justified. May God save us all from such a blasphemous life!
Hegumen Nikon (Golovko)
Sorry for the stupid question. But it is very important for me. I recently went to church. A couple of times in my life there were moments when, before confession, I “allowed” myself some small sin with the thought that I would confess it tomorrow. I repent of this. I read that this is the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Does this mean that he will never forgive me?
For modern man who does not have a Christian religious education, such a concept as “spiritual warfare” can be associated with concepts that are completely far from the truth.
The first association that may come to mind is that spiritual warfare is some kind of swearing. It is easy to mislead yourself here, since these two words are synonyms. In addition, there are many quotes and phraseological units that confirm this, but in the context of the Christian religion, this is not so. Warfare is a confrontation, a fight against what is harmful, destructive and destructive.
Someone will assume that we are talking about the need for self-improvement, say moral - this is partly true. If we say that spiritual struggle is a struggle with passions, then this is also not true, since passion is an innate instinct. Thus, what spiritual warfare is in Orthodoxy and what its goals are is a vague and poorly understood concept.
Spiritual struggle. Invisible and mental abuse
Spiritual warfare or spiritual struggle is an integral part of Orthodox asceticism and the spiritual life of monasticism, which has belonged to it for many centuries. It is learned through direct participation in it, which is a feat for an Orthodox Christian.
After all, the goal of this struggle is to achieve Christian perfection, which is drawing closer and remaining in touch with God. The tools of the struggle are Invisible and Mental warfare.
The longer your battle, the more brilliant the crown. Having conquered irritability and lust once or twice, these are the most painful passions of all, do not give yourself peace and do not think that you have completely conquered and have become free from all struggle.
But even after the greatest victory, stay awake and take care that the former victorious monuments do not lose their glory.
For many, I do not say three times, but a thousand times, having won victory, subsequently became the prey of enemies, and after many victorious celebrations, taken into captivity, they presented a pitiful sight.
(Isa. 63, 226–227)
If you truly want to become a winner in this invisible battle and be worthy of the crown worthy of it, (you must) install in your heart the following four dispositions and spiritual activities, as if donning invisible weapons, the most reliable and all-conquering, namely:
a) never rely on yourself for anything;
b) always carry in your heart complete and all-absolute hope in the one God;
c) strive unceasingly and d) always remain in prayer.
Nikodim Svyatogorets
Greek monk
Having gone through the above stages of struggle, a person can begin mental warfare (“Smart Doing”). These are changes in the mind, the mechanism of thinking, after which a person begins deeper fabrications that go beyond the visible and tangible.
This is possible only through abstinence, prayer, and self-restraint. Mental abuse is an indicator high level spiritual development of a person.
Listen to how the war that is constantly going on in us should be conducted, and do this: combine prayer with sobriety, and sobriety will strengthen prayer, and prayer will strengthen sobriety.
Sobriety, constantly watching over everything inside, notices how enemies are trying to enter there, and, blocking their entrance with its strength, at the same time calls on the help of the Lord Jesus Christ to drive away these crafty warriors.
At the same time, attention blocks the entrance through contradiction; and the invoked Jesus drives away the demons with their dreams.
Philotheus of Sinai
Reverend
John Climacus and Nicodemus the Holy Mountain - a reflection of the spiritual struggle in literature
The process of spiritual struggle is reflected in many literary works of the holy fathers, the most complete and exhaustive of which can be called:
- “The Ladder” is a work by John Climacus.
- “Invisible Warfare” - Nicodemus of the Svyatogorets.
John Climacus - Christian theologian, born in Constantinople in 579, was well educated. In his youth he moved to Egypt, where he was tonsured a monk.
After the death of his mentor, Elder Martyrius, in obedience, with whom John was about 19 years old, he chose the path of a hermit and spent 40 years of his life in the Thola desert.
At the age of 65, he was elected abbot of the Sinai Monastery, where he died 4 years later in 649.
In his work, John showed the spiritual and ascetic traditions in Egyptian monasteries, which allowed him to describe the path to the spiritual perfection of a Christian - 30 steps of virtues, by ascending which one can achieve spiritual perfection. These steps can be represented as follows:
- fight against worldly vanity (steps 1 - 4);
- sorrows on the way to true bliss (steps 5 - 7);
- fight against vices (steps 8 - 17);
- overcoming obstacles in ascetic life (steps 18 - 26);
- spiritual peace (steps 27 - 29);
- union of the three cardinal virtues (stage 30).
Ladder of Paradise (Byzantine icon). The path to spiritual perfection Nicodemus the Svyatogorets is an Athonite monk and theologian, born in 1749 on the island of Naxos in Greece, an interpreter of the Canons of the Orthodox Church. He was educated in the city of Smyrna, studied ancient Greek and Latin.