Devil in mind Human beings think more than they breath
In just a breath we can do many thoughts and that is something we don't conceive.
We don't consider that all the thoughts we do form our character,
our personality
our thoughts give us our identity and represent who we are
This occurs to such an extent, that an American philosopher says "you are what you think"
Our entire lives are a result of our thoughts With our thoughts we can change our future for example
Our future is not given, is not written, there is no "kismet"
We will decide on our future Our thoughts can make even God's opinion about our future change
As much outrageous that this might hear, or unimaginable, it's in the Bible teachings (Old Testament)
We see it for example in Jonah's story
and the city of Nineveh. The citizens, of this big city of the time, were fallen on sin
and God decided to destruct the city "Nineveh shall be destroyed"
God took a decision for the future of the city Jonah went to his fellow citizens and preached for repentance
and the whole population did regret consequently, God changed His decision
"He relented and did not bring on them the destruction He had threatened" (Jonah 3)
and the population was saved This is what can happen from a change of mind
which can affect our future
We have to do a distinction here There is a difference between the word "thought" and the word "logismos" (a greek word meaning the thought that insists and keeps coming again and again)
Some times they do concur and have the same meaning as it means an idea, a thought, or a notion But "logismos" is the insisting thought
and not the one that passes by the one that comes and comes again, which keeps bothering us
These insisting thoughts have tremendous power not only in our lives
in the present or in our future, but even to our bodies Let's say an example of how a thought can affect our bodies
I was in a monastery, and one father (monk) could not eat sesame paste
he detested it, but he loved "halves" (a kind of candy) So he ate "halva" often, and was one of his favorite things to eat
Until another monk asked him "how come you deteste sesame paste and love halva?"
and the first one answered, "why, how do you associate these 2 things, what's their connection?" "the main ingredient of halva is sesame paste," said the other one
The moment the first monk heard that he felt nauseous and started vomiting
This thought affects his body to react in such a way There is a very good psychiatrist in Athens
who has a well-known dean as a spiritual father This psychiatrist had a patient, a lady with a major psychological problem
and due to her treatment, he brought some very rare and expensive drugs from Holland
He explained to the lady to be very careful to hear and implement the drug therapy with accuracy because these drugs were very rare
and it would be so difficult to have them again soon So he gave her all the instructions and steps of the therapy
She heartily thanked him for his concern and the efforts that the doctor especially for her case
and she took the drugs and followed the instructions step by step and she was healed She was cured and she praised God
because she was suffering over 10 years with this illness
and these medicines made her all well What is the main point here? That these drugs were just candies, there were not pills
This is what thought can do, how essentialy can affect the body.
Unfortunally it can not only have positive effect on the body like the lady of this case ,but also negative
I will tell you another incident which is beyond any imagination but is 100% true
i can tell you the name of the doctor when i finish the speech This doctor says, that a relative of him went to a magician (one, who saw the future in some crystals)
who told him that he had a heart problem and he would die in the next full moon
The doctor's relative was healthy, full of energy and generally happy
but he had a very good opinion of this famous magician and trusted her a lot
The magician saw a crystal and foretold the future of each person and many of these did really happen
That's why she had such a reputation and had gained the confidence of the doctor's relative
In his case she had made a negative submission and he accepted this thought he was terrified and his mind stuck to the idea that he was going to die in the next full moon
He actually started to talk to his intimates he prepared the inheritance issues, did his covenant
and this terrible submission was finally fulfilled because he believed it completely
He died, he really died, without a significant health problem
This is the power of insisting on thoughts Both for good and for bad
Insisting thoughts are divided into 3 types, let's separate them
First are our own thoughts, and our ideas, these are what a human mind can do
Secondly are these that the devil brings to us We say for example "a thought came by" and we can not imagine how accurate and spot-on we are, by saying this sentence
it's correct that it was brought to you, literally, someone brought it to you Devil is a spirit and he can brush thoughts in our minds
So there are our own thoughts, thoughts that come from the devil
and thirdly thoughts that good God sends us. How can we distinguish them
in order to concern for our own thoughts and the thoughts that God sends us and reject the ones that the devil brings to us?
How can we do this discrimination in our insisting thoughts? It is very simple. We can not do it
By no means we can do this distinction between our thoughts, God's, and devil's
This needs extreme spiritual knowledge, extreme efforts
The Fathers of our church say that the charisma of distinguishing these thoughts is the greatest virtue
Then how shall we accept God's thoughts in order to live and reject bad thoughts from our own or by the devil in order not to perish?
Generally, we accept good thoughts and discard the bad ones
It seems simple, but it isn't. Because immediately 2 problems come across
First, how a bad thought is confronted and rejected, and second when a good thought is brought by the devil?
How can we know that it comes from the devil to turn it down? Because, we very well know, that the time when the devil appeared with horns and a tail is way back
He has now changed form, he knows to disguise He comes as a brilliant idea, as a man with many gifts
as a politician with eloquence, as a cleric who will fascinate you with his speeches
How can we figure out that the devil is behind all this?
When we have a bad thought it's easy to reject it but when it comes to a nice idea deriving from the devil what can we do?
In Old Testament, it says "There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end, it leads to death" (Proverbs 14:12)
There is a path that you start to walk and seems good and useful and in the end, death is awaiting
How can we recognize that, in order not to start this effort that will lead us to death?
For the first one, of how we deal with and reject a bad thought, I will give a small plan
a plan of how this bad thought progress so that you can remember it
Each thought has a development
for example, we pass along a brothel or we see a wallet on the ground
The idea comes "get in" or "take it"
This stage of thinking is called "infection"
it attacks, it strokes us We repel it, deny it, we say "no I won't get in" or "I won't take the wallet I found"
The thought insists "get in, just to take a look, there could be something awesome"
or "the wallet seems overfull, the owner shouldn't have a financial problem"
We still send away this thought "no" but it still coming
At this stage of "infection", we are not responsible across God for this thought, however bad and sinful it is
We are innocent before God
So,this insisting thought comes again, we repel it, comes again we reject it and this second stage is called "struggle, fight"
we are wrestling with this idea So, for the first stage we are not responsible, for the "infection"
But for the second, the "struggle" , we are not only irresponsible, but we will receive a wreath from God
we will receive a spiritual wage from God Because we do fight, and reject a bad idea, although it is so difficult to subdue it
to prevail over the temptation and the wish that is trying to lure us From this fight for the love of God we will have benefits, and we will be saved.
On the other hand, if we start to discuss it over, in our minds
and say "ok I will get in just to see if the girl is beautiful, I won't do anything else and I will exit"
or"I will take the wallet and I will do a charity, there is a lot of money I will keep a small amount and I will help someone with the rest"
From this stage and on our fault begins.
We are not yet guilty, but the sin begins and is called "combination"
We are trying to find excuses, to make it easy, and from that point, the guilt begins
From the moment we'll say in our mind "I get in" or "I'll take it" the story is finished
We are guilty before God It doesn't matter if we finally get in or take the wallet, because this can depend on external factors
as someone sees us at the time we want to enter and we feel shame and leave
This doesn't matter as the bad thought has won us in our mind
These are the 4 stages of insisting through the "infection", the "struggle", the "combination" and the "consent"
From "consent" everything starts. There is nothing harmful that we can do without consenting firstly in our minds
There are truly very few bad things or sins or crimes that we can do
from carelessness, due to recklessness, inattention, or negligence.
Most of the time we have assented to commit the evil thing in our mind first and we do it afterward
So if this evil thing doesn't occur inside us then it won't ever occur outside us
That is the meaning of Jesus' words "anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matthew 5:28)
and also in Holy Bible, it says "Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer" (1 John 3:15)
he will be judged as a murderer
and the Fathers of the church speak about envy which can result in murder
When you envy and are jealous of someone you have already killed him in your heart
is a potential murder That's why Jesus insisted "First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean." (Matthew 23:26)
Otherwise, however nice you look externally "You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean."(Matthew 23:27)
That's why we pay such great attention to these thoughts
We have mentioned the stages of these thoughts, which are 4 We are also going to say 4 ways to deal with them. All these might interlard, enrich, and branched
We will just refer to a skeleton, a framework and speak telegraphically just a simple scheme easy to be remembered
So how do we fend off the insisting thought, we repel it right from the start
We shouldn't allow it to take root inside us
At the moment it comes we repulse it straight away when it is obvious that is evil send him away immediately before he gets strengthened inside you
It seems like you know a killer is right outside your street door and knocking
If you don't open him he is quite away and you are safe If you open the street door and let him in, he is now pretty closer
Now you have to do a much greater effort to send him away from your yard If you still open your door and let him in your house, he will step inside and start knocking on your room door
and then it's much more difficult to put him out If you open your room then you will start to fight against him and it ends up an even harder thing to send him away
The same thing happens with an illness You are in the first symptoms of it and your doctor gives you some medicines to take, to have a short therapy
You do obey, you are saved. If you don't obey, you are getting worse You will then need more pills, antibiotics, greater therapy
If you don't follow the instructions, then you will need surgery, and you don't know if you will live in the end
That's why straight away when we are sure that something is evil we have no excuse, we send it away at once
We don't want to think badly. we don't want to accept bad thoughts
Yes, but how that can be done?
You see, it needs practice, like everything new we learn needs practice, with insistence, little by little
We have to learn to be awakened, and sharp-witted, not to be abstracted
Someone talks to us, what is he saying, we should pay attention our mind buzz off, we must pull it together forgot me, and lost a point he mentioned
Wherever our body is, there should be our mind too and not elsewhere the body, ourselves, and our mind.
There was a communist, a fanatic one during the civil war the opposite side killed his mother and father
his sister have being raped at the age of 9 and afterward slaughtered along with his brothers
His dream was, as he told father Nikon, to kill a ranger and then die
Not to pass away before killing a gendarme, and a policeman But human life has inversions, things have been changed and he became a faithful Christian
he became a monk and he came to mount Athos His body did come but the mind?
His elder was asking him at a time "where were we today my son?"
and he replied " Oh my elder, we were with Lenin and Krupskaya (Lenin's wife) sermonizing the ideas of communism in this place.." his elder was smiling
"say the prayer, my son, Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me" in order to recollect the mind A week later "how are we doing my son, where are your thoughts?"
"well my elder , we are in Greece, we are emending Greece those things shouldn't happen in that meeting of my comrades,
they should have taken other decisions", the elder was smiling After some time "how is it going, my son?"
"my elder, we have arrived in Ouranoupoli "(the city right before entering mount Athos) and next time " how is it going my son" "well my elder the superintendency didn't decide correctly on that occasion"
The monk's mind had entered into the Holy Mountain affairs the monasteries should resolve a specific issue differently, he was correcting mount Atho's decisions now
After a little while " how is it going, my son?" "well my elder we are around our place "skit" (very small monasterial community)
Little by little, we can not recollect our mind in a time instance, to be in its proper status
when in all our previous life had let it go away, let it get accustomed on that
And when the time comes for us to pray or do spiritual work or even to read something and absorb this knowledge, we must pay attention to this task
It is not easy to gather our mind on this particular moment when all day long it goes around collecting "trash" and "garbage"
That's why from the moment we awake in the morning, little by little, we must try to keep the mind in its position.
Where am I? I'm here, what am i doing? i do this work This may look insignificant, but it is important that you bring your thoughts to here and now
and this can be practiced and get used and finally, the mind learns to keep this state These are things that we have seen, learned, lived and know it is so
and are so simple that you can see by yourself the truth of it Alright, but what are we going to think?
The mind can't stay blank, it has to think of something We can not think constantly about the paper we read, we have to think of something
What should we do? Simply, we will not fill the mind with a thousand matters
The mind can't stay still, immobile, it always needs something
There is a Hindu saying, about how can we think positively
It says, that if you put an elephant into a room, there is nothing else that can get in
Exaggeration, but very characteristic The Fathers of the Orthodox Church say "consider positively,so you don't consider negatively
thing good not to think bad, see good not to see bad, listen well not to listen badly
The mind can't stay unmoving It needs to be fed, it works, so you'll give it good tasks not to be space for evil things
This is the second way There is a wish in Eucharist before Holy Communion that says
"bury through my kindness thoughts all the devious consultations" his mind can't stay still, by kind thoughts we will bury the evil cogitations
we shall throw them away, we won't let them any space
The first way, as we said, is the repulsion, straight away The second is not to let any room for them
The third is to avoid the causes that give birth to such thoughts
Beware, we can't say that I will not think whorish, fleshly
and on the other hand to view porn films, or magazines
or open tv on programs that we know we will see and simultaneously claim that we shall keep our minds clean
We shall avoid the causes that produce the evil thoughts that rule us and we wish to repel
You can't say that I won't think bad, I'll thing good when you hear indecent songs
They will stuck in your head You must avoid the causation places
There is a case in the Bible when God says Lot to leave Sodoma and Gomora
and go,not only away from them, not in the suburbs, but climb the mountains to be saved
There was a young person addicted to narcotics who went to elder Paiessios (contemporary saint, monk on mount Athos who reposed in 1994)
Elder Paiessios told him "what can I do for you my boy as you are like the one who wants to quit smoking and at the same time hangs about the tobacco store
he won't buy the first time, nor the second, the third he will." You must drive away even from the places which generate troubles for you, apart from looking out for what you think
Fathers say "get away and get saved" When i was an undergraduate (father Nikon) we got ready to see a film, a shameful one
and I asked another friend if he was coming with us The other one asked "would Christ go to that film?"...
"What did you say?" father Nikon asked back It's easy said the other one, when I want to go somewhere I ask myself if Christ would go there
and if my consciousness says yes, I go. Father Nikon was amazed by that reasoning
His friend had found a way to avoid the places that could trap him
Things are pretty simple, as long as we learn, remember, and practice them
This was the third way, to avoid the causes
Now, the problem is that we want something but we can't do it
We want to repulse the thought straight away but we can't we want to avoid the places that will lead us to a fall but we can't
we want to have kind thoughts instead of bad ones but we can't
Apostle Paul says " I can do everything" How he says that? what does he mean by that?
Every human mind has a maximum experience of about 100 years as we usually can't live more, we die
Devil has the experience of centuries, how can we confront him, how apostle Paul could?
"I can do all this through Him who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:13) he says
When Jesus Christ strengthens me Jesus Christ said"apart from me you can do nothing"(John 15:5) We can't do anything without Christ's aid
Even with our attitude to go to the spiritual father, we bring a wound to the devil's wishes
The time the priest is saying the Forgiveness prayer, he is gone(devil)
We can not be humble to the air, there is no meaning in self humility
It is of great importance to get humiliated before another one for the love of Christ, to preserve Christ's precept
You'll see if these are true only in practice The way, practically, so many millions of people in the passage of 2000 years learned them, this way you can ascertain them by yourself
We have already said that the time has passed when the devil appeared with horns and tail
Nowadays he's coming like a nice thought We can pull through a thought we know is bad, with the 4 ways I told you before
repulsion, don't leave space, avoiding the causes and the Sacraments of the church
But..when the devil comes as a kind thought?
When is coming like a dear friend? How can we then understand it?
Brethren, there are numerous species of demons
and there are 2 ways of demonism There are 2 ways that the devil can totally dominate someone
There are some thick daemons The demon of gluttony, fornication, avarice
Everything we feel is not always from natural causes In a neighboring monastery there was a father who, all of a sudden started to eat a lot more than average
He ate 10 loaves of bread per day, but he wasn't fat Where did all this food go? 10 loaves of bread per day, where were going?
The other fathers were concerned and read conjurations on him and after a week he recovered
And he, who ate 10 loaves of bread and was still hungry, now was satisfied with 2 slices of bread
We can recount a lot of stories on these issues Fornication deamon, anger demon, gluttony demon, these are thick daemons
But there are other daemons, princes, masters, sharp like blades and alas to whom falls in their hands
There is nothing that can save one from them If God doesn't help this man miraculously, he is in great danger
Such a daemon is pridefulness, the demon of heresy, the demon of fallacy
The one who believes a fallacy can't deny his fallacy even if his skin is scuffed.
As I told you there are 2 kinds of demonism
The first one is when the devil conceives your mind,
dominates your thoughts and makes you accept whatever thought you have
This is the way the sagacious daemonized, the clever
brainy people as they fall into great pridefulness Devil dominates their brain totally and from then on
they believe all of their thoughts as correct and true The terrible thing is that they have no idea that something's going wrong
all the others near him apprehend that something's wrong except himself
This is the devil's cunning, craft and ingenuity Not ingenuity to speak correctly but slyness because if the devil was clever he would repent and be saved
Saint Ephrem the Syrian says how wise the enemy is, as he doesn't bind me with trammels that I hate
but ties me with trammels I love and enjoy being leashed
Being beaten, slaved on something, and being happy for it
There is devil's slyness When he comes as a gift, as a virtue, dressed up in the garment of freedom," I'm free to do whatever i want"
That's why I have mentioned before, that unless God helps the man who is demonized like that and his mind is occupied can't ever escape, as he doesn't have a sense of his condition
I only know one person, one writer who did understand his condition but he couldn't do anything
You can't do anything As it is said it's like evil is in control of your mind and drives you wherever he wants, instead of your willingness
If a person is demonized like that he can't do much, as it means that he has given a lot of privileges to the devil
The result of this incident was what? The devil had persuaded this person that he was the new messiah and that he will save humanity
and such a clever man as this writer accepted that He reached the point to write to a dean in the USA (i have his writings)
"Son of the thunder, let us prepare We ought, undoubtedly, to establish churches in several places. We are 3, it doesn't matter "
A companionship of 3, him the dean and another, they would establish his church
"it doesn't matter we are 3 persons" Jesus Christ needed 12,as He was more impotent He needed more persons to help Him
but this man needed just the other 2 He had such a mind trouble
And continued in his letter "you have to found a battalion in the USA
i will find in Berlin and in Poland, the first churches and along is Lefteris (the third one)
The apostolic routes will start, the struggles, the martyrdoms.
An ecumenical council should take place in 2-3 years." Now take notice, in order for the first ecumenical council to happen
which meant gathering bishops from the whole world and discussing the first heresy of Christianity
it took 300 years. But the new religion of this poor man was much superior than Christ's
his philosophy so deeper, that in only the following 3 years he would misapprehend
This means that in these 3 years his sermon would spread whole over the world
churches would have been found, and priests would preach his teaching
to bishops, deans and within 3 years, he would misapprehended and an ecumenical council should be necessary
And you think, is this man ok, is he ok? Is he foolish?
As a matter of fact, he is one of the smartest people among Greece and the whole world
How did he end like that? Fathers of the Orthodox church call this situation "captivity"
when the devil captivates your mind, from then on you are gone, you can't do much, he manipulates you as he wants
That's why we must not stay alone, with our thoughts and point of views
we must discuss them, we must take advice, we must not try to impose our ideas to others by force
We should listen to others, we mustn't rely on our own thoughts
We must learn to back down, we must accept advice
We should go to the spiritual fathers, we should confess in a simple way without many details
We also have to listen to the advice of the spiritual father
the Bible says the man who don't accept advice is an enemy of himself (Solomon wisdom) The person who doesn't ask things is an enemy of himself, he needs no other enemy
As long you don't ask, you have the one who will destroy you
Devil doesn't afraid of our smartness or our knowledge, he has much more than our virtues, he has more
there is only one he misses and this is deadly for him and we are saved by this one
Which is that virtue that misses and kills him? Once, I achieved something and I went full of pride in my elder
By the way, I looked he understood that something was wrong and before telling him a lot he replied
"Why should we brag about my boy, why should we feel proud because we fast and eat a little? devil fasts more than us, he doesn't it at all
Because we stay up, we wake up at night and sleep a little? devil never sleeps
Because we have self restrain, and keep our virginity? Devil is more virgin than us
because even if he doesn't want he can't as he has nobody" And so I landed on earth again
Whatever virtues we might acquire, the devil has them the virtues that the devil had when he was an Archangel we will never obtain
and all these virtues were wasted as he was missing one This one virtue we shall try to obtain in order to be saved
So you ought to have in mind that the devil doesn't fight us only with sins, but most with virtues
We can understand sins and try to avoid them, but our virtues we strive to acquire them
A saint of our church says "you want to fast, devil, help you
you want to make charities devil helps you, to build churches devil helps you"
Why is that? Because he knows that helping you do all these he can drive us to pridefulness and waste everything
We must have then this virtue that the devil didn't have
We will be humble That's exactly what Jesus did as the Bible says
"he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:8) "He parted the heavens and came down" (Samuel 22:10)
We will become humble, and we will learn to have the humble spirit to be humble persons not just talk about humility
not in words but in life, in way of thinking
And this means not considering other people as inferior to us
not to assume ourselves as very important We will admit that we have good aspects but we'll say "God gave that to me"
we have some gifts "God gave these to me" we do a kind thing "with the help of God"
we will have a shelter instantly, we shall put a shield and we shall engage God to everything, and thanks to Him we get round
That's how we keep our humility and don't fall to pride There was a visitor who came into my cell (monastic dwelling) and told me
"oh elder that's too much, everything is done by you in here?" " what do you mean?" I asked ''I told your submissive (spiritual son) how nice the food was and he replied "the elder, the elder"
I told him about another thing he replied"the elder", anything I told him "the elder", so is everything done by you over here?"
He (spiritual son) had found the right way, he did a kind thing "by the wish of my elder, by the help of God"
That's what we should do too whatever we do we'll have a humble feeling in our minds
We don't need to "act" like a humble We will also be humble in practice when is necessary
for example, if we get involved in a deteriorating situation where we have a quarrel with someone, we should back down
Back down even if we are 100% right when the issue is not of great importance, we should back down This is merciful for the soul of the other person too, as you don't give him to the devil
It needs attention in such cases. It's different to be humble from being a coward and not a fighter
One thing is to be humble and another is to be a clout collector When you back down again and again and you realize that the other one is taking advance of that and wants to overrule you
then you will stand up and you will defend yourself, that doesn't mean you are not humble
We must take care of that, we shouldn't let our yieldingness be a cause for the other one to sin
There are occasions when we shall back down because we are humble and for the love of the other
and times when we will stand up and confront the other and still be humble
Jesus Christ, Himself gives us the example, as He didn't teach us only by words but with His life as well
When they arrested Him and beat Him mercilessly and He was bleeding all over
while He was at the high priest, a soldier came up and gave Him a slap on the face
Christ's words were " If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also" (Matthew 5:39)
At the time the soldier slapped Him on the cheek did Christ turn the other? He didn't but he turned his face upon the soldier and said "If I said something wrong, testify as to what is wrong
but if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?"
What was His point on that? Exactly this Was it possible for Him not to accept a slap when He accepted the cross?
Did the slap hurt Him when He accepted the nails? and the lance and such a martyrdom death He accepted?
He wanted to show us exactly that cowardice differs from humility We should keep that in mind. We will be humble and we will know how to struggle at the same time
Let's go back again, we shouldn't forget the power of our thoughts and the devil we've said
Prophet Isaiah said ''he became a devil by his thoughts"
and also "You said it in your heart" which means in your mind, you thought it "I will ascend to the heavens, I will raise my throne above the stars of God
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights " (Isaiah 14:13)
Devil's fall happened before the creation of the world, God hadn't created humankind yet
the devil didn't kill anyone as there were no humans at the time He didn't lie or fooled nobody as the world didn't exist
The creation of the spiritual world and lucifer's fall happened first and then followed the creation of the material world
With only his thought then he became the devil. That's the power of thoughts
Across the "skit"(small monasterial community) I lodge, high on the edge of the mountain there is a cell difficult to discern
This was the cell of a spiritual monk in the past Allow me to read you an amazing story that happened in this cell skipping many details
The spiritual monk's name was "papa Savvas" Among the many monks that papa Savvas confessed there was a Romanian deacon
who came to mount Athos at a young age and cloistered somewhere in the desert(the only area in the Holy mountain) not too long from St.Anna
This happened many years ago "My spiritual father" says one day deacon sorrowfully
"Please, don't forget to memorize in tomorrow's liturgy my mother that has her third"
which means that she died 3 days ago Papa Savvas trying to hide his suspense asked him
"Tell me, my son, your mother died 3 days, in Romania, how did you know about her death in these 2 days"
There was a little silence At the time they had no telephones like I (father Nikon) do not have an electric current in my "skit"
They didn't have telephones "How did I learn," the Romanian said waveringly "well I was told"
"Who told you?" - "well my guardian angel told me" "your guardian angel, have you seen him?"
"I was blessed to see him, not once or twice, but almost for 2 years now
He comes along and accompanies me in praying. We say together the greetings for Holy Mary, we do penances, we discuss spiritual themes"
The words "2 years" embittered papa Savvas a lot "and how come you didn't mention a thing to me for all this time my son?"
"my angel told me that it's not necessary" "are you completely sure that this is an angel that appears to you my son?"
"absolutely certain my father, we do pray together, we do 1000 penances daily
we talk for the life after, for the future in heavens, he is my guardian angel" and the deacon seemed assured
But he was still receptive because he had great trust in his spirituality and was enlightened by God, father, On the other hand, he wondered how can a demon reinforce him in prayers, as he is fighting against the praying people
After a lot of discussions, they agreed to resort to some tests. To have some trials for the guardian angel
"Ask him when he returns to say the praying Mother of God Virgin Mary," said papa Savvas "and also ask him to do the cross sign"
But things weren't so simple When for 2 years the deacon was wreathed in fallacy,
then his eyes and ears were imagining that the angel did what he was asked
In the next meeting, the deacon announced with a hidden joy to the spiritual father
"my elder, things are just as I've told you, he is God's angel, my guardian angel and he prayed to the Mother of God and he did the cross sign"
I skip many things The saints and Angels know what we think,
but beware the devil doesn't have the powers we think We shouldn't exaggerate about his capabilities, as he has great disadvantages and many minuses.
I will not refer to any other thing but this, that he doesn't know what we are thinking
Take notice that, the Angels know what we think The saints, not only those who are in heaven but those who are among us when they see us know what we are thinking. Devil doesn't
What happens with thoughts then? The devil puts in our minds a thought, he doesn't know if we accepted that but if he sees that we are changing our program then he understands that we've accepted it
Let's say that he puts a fleshly desire, he doesn't know if we accept it but when he sees our pulse to get a rise or change our plans he concludes we've allowed it
He doesn't know what we are thinking, and this is one of his great disadvantages, we'll talk about others at another time
So, papa Savvas told the deacon "Listen to what we'll do In that instant moment I will think of something", he thought something against the devil, "and I'll keep that as a secret in mind
You will ask at night the angel to tell you what I thought.
If he finds it, he is undoubtedly God's angel and you should come to inform me"
The deacon was returning to his hut with an unpleasant anxious feeling inside
but on the other hand, he admired the great idea of his spiritual father This situation would face the most important stage
When the angel was asked at night to answer this, a hidden disturbance corrugated his bright face he seemed discomfit
"but my dear father,why would an important spiritual person like you, should care for the thoughts of a priest
This is an objection, poor wishing Wouldn't you care more to show you heaven and hell, Mother of God's glory?"
but the deacon feeling suspicious insisted " I do obedience to my father, you have to tell me what he thought"
The angel tried to change the subject again but the deacon persisted and these avoiding technics made him more suspicious
"you have to tell me what my spiritual father thought, this is a simple matter why are you evading that? you don't know?"
" watch out deacon, by this petty behavior you are putting at stake my favor on you"
" I don't know, I ask you a simple thing, do you or don't know what my father thought finally?"
At this moment the bright face of the angel vanished and a horrible figure took its place
and as of a beast's mouth, these words came out " You should be perished squalid, tomorrow this hour you'll be in hell and fire, we'll burn and destroy you
tomorrow this hour" the deacon stayed alone and desperate
all the sweetness of the 2 years of visions couldn't counterbalance his bitterness
And if it wasn't for his spiritual's father cordially prayers from away who stayed awake and begged for him, the deacon would have gone
Many hours passed before the deacon came together, his hut couldn't fit him anymore
he couldn't feel secure but only near his spiritual father During the route to his father he was hearing in his mind the threat
"this hour tomorrow in hell" and was shivering He finally arrived at the hut of papa Savvas and grasp the frock of his spiritual father and didn't leave it
even at the time, the priest wants to rest for a very little time "Don't be afraid my son, calm down"
"How can i my father as the time for me is coming, the time to be taken, Jesus Christ save me"
And indeed, the specific time he was violently attacked by the daemons. He shouted desperately
"save me, they are taking me, save me" and papa Savvas kneeled and started praying to God
to be merciful to his servant and rebuke the demons and his prayer has listened and the poor deacon was saved from the lion's mouth
I skip things. With time and papa Savva's guidance, the Romanian deacon calmed
His spiritual life evolved well, he has ordained priest and was distinguished for his devoutness
However, these years of fallacy had left him some marks Devil had obtained some rights upon him, as he didn't offer so many visions for free
Thus, during his life, he was suffering from some annoying temptations
All the diacritical fathers saw upon him the remains of the biennial cooperation with the angel who wasn't an angel.
My brethren and fathers, we don't have another chance to earn our salvation, from the one we have now
We don't have another life, only this one and it's a pity to have perished
Good God has given everything to us to be saved Devil might have today so many weapons that he'd never possessed before
But Christians also, have so many weapons to defend that we never had before
Christians had never before radio stations like now, they had never before so many Christian books like now
and I mean spiritual books not theological, that can help us in our everyday life
Never before have we had so many tapes, cd's, DVDs
for someone to hear something beneficial from the Fathers of the church Devil equips his man, but good God equips His too
We have everything to be saved and most of all we have the church's Sacraments
Don't go away from your parishes, don't go away from your priest's "petrahielie"(Holy confession)
We have no excuse to perish with all these, it will be of our laziness and nothing else
And a father says that it is easier to go to heaven than to hell with all these we have today
you have to work harder to go into hell than go to heaven We will take care of this
Everything starts in our minds and nowhere else Devil has as much power as we give him
Why is it that he can manipulate some people and others don't? Why can he overrule wise men, like the example I've told you
and make them say nonsense to laugh about and they don't understand a thing?
And talks about churches and ecumenical councils that he wants. Making everybody laugh except himself
Well, as the Holy Bible says before the Ascension of Christ
the apostles were gathered in the attic of the place they were staying and received the Holy Spirit
They were joined together at the highest place of the residence
and an Athenian monk says that in the spiritual attic of the body
at the highest place of the human body which is called "nous" (a greek word meaning "intellect" or "mind")
and which has the image of the Big "mind"
we are also receiving the grace of the Holy Spirit From here depends on life and death, heaven and hell, the way up or the way down
We should make our mind a holy workshop From here everything begins..
We ought to say a prayer for Holy Mary which is referred to during the Eucharist that has the following words
"give us withdrawal to the captivity of our thoughts",
to bring back my notions that the devil captures
Apostle Paul says "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble
whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things." (Philippians 4:8)
And we should praise along with the chanter "and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me" Psalm 51(12)
Amen.With your wishes. If anybody wants to ask something with pleasure I thank you for your patience and your love.
Things are simple as others succeeded we can succeed as well
Question: In any case of thought if we say the prayer " Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me" and do the cross sign does it work? does it turn away everything?
Answer: It depends " Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me" is a weapon against the devil
and not only a plain weapon, but a nuclear bomb
It blows the devil away, it vanishes him It's a tremendously concentrated and powerful wish
It includes inside all the prayers, you know why? It's a mystery, the Bible says that during the Second Advent
the name of Christ will appear in the sky and before the name of Christ everything will kneel
everything in the heavens - the Angels, everything on earth-human beings, and everything below the earth - the demons and devil
everything in the heavens - the Angels, everything on earth-human beings, and everything below the earth - the demons and devil
The Bible also says that there is no other name, but Christ which will save us. So what do we do?
we say this name "Lord Jesus Christ" Your name we name, we don't know other God than You
It's something that the devil tries to persuade us not to do Devil doesn't afraid if we believe in god, take notice of that
however faithful you are not saved You are not saved if you believe in god
Devil is killed, but we are getting saved when we confess that Christ is God
We don't have another God. This is the scandalous point and the devil's concern
There are theological conventions abroad with Christians,
Christians I repeat, who agree not to mention Christ's name
in order not to offend Buddhists, Hindus, and all the other participants
How the devil fears Christ's name And we name Christ as Lord, the thing that devil tries not to be said
Firstly devil doesn't want you to think about Christ but if you do, think of Him as a great initiate
as a reincarnation of Buddha, as a great poet, philosopher, as.., as...but not Lord
And we say "Lord Jesus Christ" and what else," have mercy" who asks for mercy?
a beggar, that means that you humiliate yourself, killing bullet for the devil That's why we insist on "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me"
Now if we do the same time cross sign or not, it doesn't matter When we have the devil in our hearts it's a joke to do the cross sign, it doesn't save us, it's insignificant
The important thing is to have Christ's name in our minds It's a nuclear bomb. You'll see those in practice
Simple things, you'll leave this place, you'll start walking there is no one who can stop you saying by yourself "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me" repeatedly
What obstructs you? What does it cost? All the other prayers need a silent environment, some icons, vesper time, some books
This prayer we can say whenever. You can say it when you walk when you drive
Make a start and the prayer itself we'll tell you everything
We learn these in practice and not by words You might hear the words I'm saying and feel good about it
but when temptation time will come the devil will attack viciously and nothing from my speech will be remembered
The thing that you'll have is what you practiced by yourself and learn personally
This is what no one can move away from you This is how you acknowledge if these are true and that is the way we acknowledge Christianity's truth if Christ spoke the truth or not
People have learned and kept everything from their own lives and not from the priests and monks
People themselves experience and recount them to us You can't imagine the stories we've heard from people who live in the world
Exactly because it's a matter of living we can all be saved It's not a case of intelligence, education, or knowledge
That's why we had illiterate saints, who didn't even finish school and we pray "saint of God, intercede for us"
and on the other hand cultured people who say rubbish Simple things and with these simple things we go either to heaven or hell
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