Advices on spiritual experiences with temptations and sorrows.
By Saint Isaac the Syrian.
Just as the eyebrows approach each other,
so are the temptations close to men. It was the economy of God to be so, with
wisdom that we may receive benefit: namely, through knocking persistently,
because of the sorrows, on the door of God's mercy and to enter into your mind,
due to the fear of grievous events, the seed of memory of God, so that you may
approach Him with supplications and your heart be sanctified through the
continuous remembrance of Him. And while you ask Him, He will listen.
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The person walking the road of
God must thank Him for all the sorrows that he faces, and to accuse and
dishonor his negligent self, and know that the Lord who loves and looks after
him, would not have allowed the grievous things to happen to wake his mind up,
if he had somehow not been negligent. God may have allowed some sorrow because man
has become proud and consequently he should understand and let him not become
disturbed but find the cause within himself, so that the affliction may not double
up, namely suffer and not wish to be
treated. "In God who is the source of justice there is no injustice". May we
not think otherwise.
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Do not avoid the sorrows,
because being helped by them you learn the truth and love of God well. And do
not fear the temptations (negative experiences) for through them you discover
treasures. Pray that you may not enter into spiritual temptations, while for
the bodily ones, prepare to face them with all your strength, for without them
you cannot approach God. Through them comes the divine rest. Whoever avoids the
bodily temptations avoids virtue.
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Without temptations the
providence of God for man does not manifest itself, and it is impossible
without them to receive the boldness in God and learn the wisdom of the Holy
Spirit and moreover, it will not be possible to anchor the divine love in your
soul. Before the arrival of temptations, man prays to God as a stranger. From
the moment however he enters into temptations for the love of God and does not
change opinion, let's say, he has God duty bound towards him and God considers
him a genuine friend. For he fought and conquered the enemy, to fulfill the
will of God.
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God does not grant any big
grace without a big temptation preceding it, for according to the severity of
the temptations the graces were ordained by the wisdom of God, which however
men normally do not understand. By the measure of the great sorrows that the
providence of God sends you, you understand the great value that His
magnanimity grants you. For according to the sorrow you experience is the
consolation you will receive.
- If you ask me what is the
reason for all these, I will answer you: your negligence, for you did not
bother to find the cure. The cure of all of them is one, and with it man's soul
finds immediately the consolation it longs for. But what is the cure? "It is
the humility of the heart". Without it, it is impossible to destroy the fence
of temptations, in the contrary in fact you will discover that the temptations
become stronger and weaken you.....
- According to the level of
humility, God gives you the strength to endure calamities. And according to the
measure of your patience, the weight of your sorrows becomes light and so you
are consoled. And as you are consoled so does your love for God increases. And
as much as you love God that much greater joy the Holy Spirit bestows on you.
Our compassionate God wishing to bring the temptation of His true children to a
good end, does not take but instead gives them the strength to endure. "All
these gifts (consolation, love, joy) the strugglers acquire as fruit of their
patience" for their souls to arrive at perfection. I wish our Christ and God to
make us worthy through His grace to endure the bitterness of temptations for
His love and with gratitude of our heart. Amen.
- The saints show their love to
God indeed, by their suffering in His name when for example He sends them
sorrows without however distancing from them, for He loves them. Through this
suffering love their heart obtains Boldness, so that they may approach Him
freely and with conviction that their supplications will be heard and realized.
The power of prayer that has boldness is great. That is why He allows His
saints to experience every sorrow and acquire experience and be assured of His
help and how much He provides and cares for them. This way they acquire wisdom
and good sense from temptations, that they may not become negligent, that they
may not lack spiritual asceticism on both good and bad, and thus receive
through their trials, the knowledge of all things they would need. For
otherwise they will be swept away by ignorance and will become the mockery of
demons. For if they exercised only in the good things and had no experience of
struggles with the evil, they would have gone to war totally unprepared......
- Man cannot taste and value the
good, if previously he did not experience the bitterness of the temptations....
- Men come to the true knowledge,
when God deprives them of His power and makes them to co-experience the human
weakness and the difficulty that temptations cause, the cunningness of the
enemy, and what adversary they have to fight and how much they have advanced
and progressed in virtue and that without the power of God they are weak
towards any passion. God does this, that they may receive from all these
negative experiences, true humility and to approach close to Him and wait for
His certain help and to pray with patience. So where could they learn all these
but through the experience of many sorrows which He allows for them to
experience? For this way one acquires stable faith through these sorrows while
he is assured of the divine help that he many times receives during his
struggles.
- The strugglers therefore, are
tempted that they may increase their spiritual wealth, the negligent though to protect themselves from whatever
hurts them, the slumberous that they may be awakened, the distant ones that
they may approach God and the friends of God that they may enter His Holy Abode
with boldness. A son inexperienced in life cannot manage the wealth of his
father and help him. For this, in the beginning God sends difficulties and
hardships to His children and then He reveals His gifts. Like little children
become frightened of scary sights and run, grabbing at their dress of their
parents and ask for their help, so does the soul; the more upset and saddened
by the fear of temptation the more it runs and clings on God and begs Him with
unceasing supplications. And as temptations fall on it, one after the other,
that much more it prays. However, when they stop and it recovers its comforts, normally
it loses touch with reality and distances from God.
- The sorrows and dangers kill
sensuality, while good times and indifference feed it. For this both God and
the holy Angels are joyful in our sorrows, while the devil and his accomplices
are joyful when we are lazy and have a good time.
- Leave your cares to God and in
all your difficulties judge yourself, for you, yourself is the cause for all
.....
- All the sad occasions and
sorrows will torment us doubly if we have no patience. For with patience man
turns away the bitterness of afflictions, while pusillanimity gives birth to
the despair of hell. Patience is the mother of consolation; it is spiritual
power that is born of a broad heart. It is difficult for man to find this power
during sorrows, if he does not have the divine grace, which he acquires through
persistent prayers and with tears.
Saint Mark the Ascetic
- Sorrows bring good returns to
man, while vanity and pleasures bring evil things.
- The accusations of people cause
sadness in the heart but they become the reason for determination to him who
persists.
- If by chance you were harmed,
accused and persecuted by someone, do not think of the present but look at the
future. You will then perceive that these have brought forth good, not only in
this life but also in the future one and without end.....
- As bitter medicines are
beneficial to sick men, so too they are for the bad people of whom some are led
to a healthy soul and others, sickness prepares them for repentance.
- All sorrows that happen in this
temporary life compare them with the goods of the eternal life and you shall not be
found negligent in the struggle of this life......
- He who consciously avoids
sorrows, for the truth, whether willingly or unwillingly will suffer greatly by
the Divine Providence.
- Patience is a great virtue
during the various trials that will come to us and in parallel our love to
those that hate us .......
- Virtue without sorrow is
untested because it is born of no sorrows.
- In sorrows God rests, in
comforts the devil, who is the cause of all evil. Temptations are always
beneficial, suffice we endure them with fortitude and praises to God.
- Avoid temptations with patience
and prayer. If you wish to confront a temptation without these, it will come back at you much stronger.
Archimandrite Epiphanios Theodoropoulos +1989
- Events that now appear as
calamities, later prove God's blessings.
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If there were no sorrows we
would not seek paradise.
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We should accept sorrows like
we accept the suffering of a surgery in order to regain our health. Hardship
humbles man and the more he becomes humble, the closer he approaches God.
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In the great sorrows only God
can console us. For this, the best thing is prayer and not so much words of
consolation.
- Question: Elder, why does God allow
just and virtuous men to suffer horrible sicknesses?
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Answer : That they may be cleansed from even the
slightest traces of passions and that they may receive a greater crown in
heaven. Besides, since He allowed His beloved Son to suffer and die upon the
Cross, what can we say about people, who, no matter how saintly the may be, they
bear filth and stains from sin?
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"The greatest asceticism is to
bear without groaning whatever comes our way in this valley of tears. He who
persists to the end is saved.
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"If you suffer sorrows with
forbearance, you testify of your loyalty to Christ, your devotion to the
Saviour and your love for Him, who was resurrected from the dead and calls us
to approach Him".
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"Under no circumstances allow
any sorrow to overwhelm you. Depression is the executioner that deadens the
spiritual effort which is necessary for the acquisition of the Holy Spirit in
the heart. A depressed man loses the capacity to pray and is dead for the
spiritual struggles".
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With complete trust let us cry
out and live the "We commit ourselves and each other and all our lives in
Christ God.
"Salvific
supplies for the proper confrontation of sorrows"
By "Orthodox
Kypseli" Publications.
Greek Text