January 3

Of the demons opposing us in the practice of the ascetic* life, there are three groups who fight in the front line: those entrusted with the appetites of gluttony, those who suggest avaricious thoughts, and those who incite us to seek the esteem of men. All the other demons follow behind and in their turn attack those already wounded by the first three groups. For one does not fall into the power of the demon of unchastity, unless one has first fallen because of gluttony; nor is one’s anger aroused unless one is fighting for food or material possessions or the esteem of men. And one does not escape the demon of dejection, unless one no longer experiences suffering when deprived of these things. Nor will one escape pride, the first offspring of the devil, unless one has banished avarice, the root of all evil, since poverty makes a man humble, according to Solomon (cf. Proverbs 10:4 LXX). In short, no one can fall into the power of any demon, unless he has been wounded by those of the front line. That is why the devil suggested these three thoughts to the Savior: first he exhorted Him to turn stones into bread; then he promised Him the whole world, if Christ would fall down and worship him; and thirdly he said that, if our Lord would listen to him, He would be glorified and suffer nothing in falling from the pinnacle of the temple. But our Lord, having shown Himself superior to these temptations, commanded the devil to ‘get behind Him’. In this way He teaches us that it is not possible to drive away the devil, unless we scornfully reject these three thoughts (cf. Matthew 4:1-10).

~Evagrios Pontikos (Philokalia, vol. 1, p. 38)

*Ascetic Life-all Christians are called to a life of self-control and the restraint of our carnal passions or impulses, for the purpose of living spiritually, not carnally.

Jesus Christ is our example and our strength. We can accomplish all things through Christ, and like St Paul, we can be alike in prosperity and in poverty (cf. Philippians 4:12), not allowing either to destroy us—having but not possessing, or in need but content and not despondent.

Resist the devil and make him flee from you by practicing ascetic discipline, and gaining ability and strength in resisting these three temptations. Remember that for true life we need the things of God, not the things of this world. Cultivate humility, the poverty of spirit which leads to the Kingdom of Heaven (cf. Matthew 5:3).

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

January 2

If you are disheartened, pray, as the Apostle says (cf. James 5:13). Pray with fear, trembling, effort, with inner watchfulness* and vigilance. To pray in this manner is especially necessary because the enemies are so malignant. For it is just when they see us at prayer that they come and stand beside us, ready to attack, suggesting to our intellect* the very things we should not think about when praying; in this way they try to take our intellect captive and to make our prayer and supplication vain and useless. For prayer is truly vain and useless when not performed with fear and trembling, with inner watchfulness and vigilance. When someone approaches an earthly king, he entreats him with fear, trembling and attention; so much the more, then, should we stand and pray in this manner before God the Father, the Master of all, and before Christ the King of Kings. For it is He whom the whole spiritual host and the choir of angels serve with fear and glorify with trembling; and they sing in unceasing praise to Him, together with the Father who has no origin, and with the all-holy and coeternal Spirit, now and ever through all the ages. Amen.

~Evagrios Pontikos (Philokalia, vol. 1, p. 37)

*Watchfulness-spiritual vigilance and alertness.

*Intellect-the nous, the organ of contemplation, the innermost aspect of the heart, through which, when purified, man can know God. Not to be confused with reason.

When we are disheartened, or suffering, it can be difficult to pray, yet through prayer we come before the One able to heal us. Often, in fact, it is because of this very suffering that we are more likely to seek God, than we otherwise would be; and while no suffering is pleasant while we are enduring it, in the end it can train us in righteousness and lead us to peace (cf. Hebrews 12:11).

The enemy will do all he can to keep us from our source of healing; and so we must pray with effort and diligence if he makes us feel tired, or lazy or bored while praying. In fact, by continuing to pray, even while we feel no results, we are acting out our faith and demonstrating our trust in God. Like the woman with the flow of blood, who approached Jesus, with fear and trembling, we come before the only one who can say, “…your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction” (Mark 5:34).

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

January 1

Today’s great enemy of truth, drawing men to perdition, is delusion. As a result of this delusion, tenebrous ignorance rules the souls of all those sunk in lethargy and alienates them from God. Such people are as if unaware that there exists a God who gives us rebirth and illumination, or they assume that we can believe in Him and know Him only in a theoretical way and not through our actions, or else they imagine that He has revealed Himself only to the people of former times and not to us also; and they pretend that the scriptural texts about God are applicable only to the original authors, or to others, but not to themselves.

Thus they blaspheme the teaching about God, and read the Scriptures only in a literal…manner; denying the possibility that man even in this life can be resurrected through the resurrection of his soul, they choose to remain in the grave of ignorance.

Delusion consists of three passions: lack of faith, guile and sloth. These generate and support each other: lack of faith sharpens the wits of guile, and guile goes hand in hand with sloth, which expresses itself outwardly in laziness. Or conversely, sloth may beget guile–did not the Lord say, “You cunning and lazy servant” (Matthew 25:26)?–and guile mothers lack of faith. For if you are full of guile you lack faith, and if you lack faith you stand in no awe of God. From such lack of faith comes sloth, which begets contempt; and when you are full of contempt you scorn all goodness and practice every kind of wickedness.

~St Gregory of Sinai

December 31

In whatever work we engage, patience gives birth to courage, courage to commitment, commitment to perseverance, and perseverance to an increase in the work done. Such additional labor quells the body’s dissolute impulses and checks the desire for sensual indulgence. Thus checked, desire gives rise to spiritual longing, longing to love, love to aspiration, aspiration to ardor, ardor to self-galvanizing, self-galvanizing to assiduousness, assiduousness to prayer, and prayer to stillness.

Stillness gives birth to contemplation, contemplation to spiritual knowledge, and knowledge to the apprehension of the mysteries. The consummation of the mysteries is theology, the fruit of theology is perfect love, of love humility, of humility dispassion, and of dispassion foresight, prophesy and foreknowledge. No one possesses the virtues perfectly in this life, not does he cut off evil all at once. On the contrary, by small increases of virtue evil gradually ceases to exist.

~St Gregory of Sinai

December 30

Listlessness–a most difficult passion to overcome–makes the body sluggish. And when the body is sluggish, the soul also grows sluggish. When both have become thoroughly lax, self-indulgence induces a change in the body’s temperament. Self-indulgence incites the appetite, appetite gives rise to pernicious desire, desire to the spirit of revolt, revolt to dormant recollections, recollection to imaginings, imagining to mental provocation, provocation to coupling with the thought provoked, and coupling to assent. Such assent to a diabolic provocation leads to actual sinning, either through the body or in various other ways. Thus we are defeated and thus we lapse.

~St Gregory of Sinai

December 29

According to St Maximos the Confessor there are three motives for writing which are above reproach and censure: to assist one’s memory, to help others, or an an act of obedience. It is for the last reason that most spiritual writings have been composed, at the humble request of those who have need of them. If you write about spiritual matters simply for pleasure, fame or self-display, you will get your desserts, as Scripture says (cf. Matthew 6:5,16), and will not profit from it in this life or gain any reward in the life to come. On the contrary, you will be condemned for courting popularity and for fraudulently trafficking in God’s wisdom.

~St Gregory of Sinai

Reorient Us

When I say Glorify God!

I have sometimes meant, glorify me, instead.

Though you wouldn’t know it by my words.

 

Turn me back to You, oh Lord.

 

I’ve read the beautiful words of John Chrysostom, been inspired,

and tried to emulate them.

But rather than expressing pure words from a golden mouth,

like he did,

I’ve uttered deceit, more befitting the one with a forked tongue.

Words may sound fragrant, though the motive for saying them can still stink.

 

Reorient me, oh Lord.

 

I know of the beatific attitudes, and that they lead to You,

to the summation and summit of all being.

But I’ve gone my own way, with attitudes that lead to nothingness,

to non-being.

 

I’ve turned purity of heart to corruption,

mourning into self-exaltation,

meekness and peace into warfare,

attempting to overcome my brothers and sisters.

 

Turn me back to You.

Turn me away from evil.

Turn me back to life.

Reorient me, oh Lord of the eternal morning!

 

Sometimes I am so tired of asking,

embarrassed, and weary for all of my incessant sins.

But who else can I turn to for help?

We all are turned in a myriad of wrong directions,

so how can my brother, who is currently walking into a ditch,

save me, who am presently walking off a cliff?

 

You are our only help.

Reorient us all, oh Lord.

Turn us back to You, in all we say and do.

And turn us back to You, in spirit and in truth!

 

~FS

December 27

There are three degrees of eating: self-control, sufficiency and satiety. Self-control is to be hungry after having eaten. Sufficiency is to be neither hungry nor weighed down. Satiety is to be slightly weighed down. To eat again after reaching the point of satiety is to open the door of gluttony, through which unchastity comes in. Attentive to these distinctions, choose what is best for you according to your powers, not overstepping the limits. For according to St Paul only the perfect can be both hungry and full, and at the same time be strong in all things (cf. Philippians 4:12).

~St Gregory of Sinai

The Nativity Challenge

Here’s the challenge—

Our forefather in Eden could not be obedient to God in the Spirit.

Can we now be obedient to God in the flesh?

 

Emmanuel, God is with us.

Do you believe?

 

Can you believe in the incarnate God—

born of flesh and Spirit: a man and God?

Will you obey the God-man, Jesus Christ?

 

Be obedient, not to yourself,

to not merely a Spirit,

to not an inhabitant of a heavenly realm,

but to This Human who walked among us.

 

Man loves a challenge,

especially when it builds his pride and self-esteem,

but how will you do, with a greater challenge—

a challenge that tramples your pride underfoot,

the challenge that is poison to your ambition?

 

Can you find the narrow gate,

and once found,

will you enter therein;

dying to all that you were,

and following the One who is greater than you?

 

Would you follow the man that is God?

Would you obey He that is and will be,

and was from before the beginning of time?

 

He was born in the flesh as one among us,

yet was perfect man.

He commands us to be perfect too—

 

Can you face this challenge?

Will you obey Him,

and will you be victorious?

 

~FS

December 25

The main cause of warfare–arising in us through every kind of object or situation–are three: our inner disposition, the misuse of created things and, by God’s leave, the malice and onslaught of the demons. As the fallen self rises in protest against the soul, and the soul against the fallen self (cf. Galatians 5:17), so in the same way our inner disposition and our mode of acting make the passions of the fallen self war against the soul, and the valiant powers of the soul wage war against the fallen self.

And sometimes our enemy, shameless as he is, has the audacity to fight against us in his own person, without cause or warnings. Thus, my friend, do not let this blood-loving leech bleed your arteries, and then spit out the blood he has sucked from you. Do not glut the snake and the dragon, and then you will easily trample on the insolence of the lion and the dragon (cf. Psalm 91:13). Lament until you have stripped off the passions and clothed yourself in your heavenly dwelling-place (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:2), and are refashioned according to the likeness of Jesus Christ, who made you in His image (cf. Colossians 3:10).

~St Gregory of Sinai