Struggle with the Passions

Struggle with the Passions

The way of Life for an Orthodox Christian involves overcoming our passions. This is a struggle requiring our effort in cooperation with divine grace. In our fallen condition our brain is stronger than our soul. It operates based on patterns we call habits. 47% of our actions are based on automatic responses. Living a life of repentance we have to break these habits and develop God pleasing habits. This is difficult and why Christ gave us the Church with its sacramental life, guidelines for daly prayer, fasting, reading of Scripture and the Church Fathers, participation in spiritual fellowship like Bible study groups, and a spiritual father to guide us.

Avoid Covetousness in Our Spiritual Life.

To become united with a God demands our total focus on pleasing Him by living by His teaching. This means we love for God above all else. Any covetousness we may have must be rejected. We cannot be concerned about worldly possessions. This does not mean that we cannot own anything, but that we cannot have a thirst for more and more, or live in fear we might lose what we already have.

Th prophet David has a prayer for us.

Incline my heart into Thy testimonies and not unto covetousness. (Psalm 118:36)

When we look around we can see that the principal efforts for most people concern possessions. The more they have the more they seem to want. This misplaced desire consumes the powers of the soul making it difficult to give our full attention to doing His will according to His law. Our lives become busy with tasks so that there is no time left for God.

Our task is to rid ourselves of this condition so that we will not be seeking to be in good standing with God and all His teachings so we can receive some gain from worldly business. Our material success is not related to our standing with God. God may have gifted us with worldly well being and we should give thanks to Him when this is the case. But we cannot err by think that our well being is the result of our effort to do God’s will.

Saint Theophan points out the difficulty the rich face.

It is difficult for the rich to discern why they are devout, whether for God and His law, or for their own prosperity. In times of prosperity, they themselves cannot discern this with certainty, due to the cunning of the heart which, while trying to do everything for God’s sake, can harbor a reliance on prosperity. Only privations reveal this; and the more extensive they are, the more definitive the proof; for if then the love of God does not cease, then this means that previously it had not been for the sake of what had been possessed, but now is lost. Under normal circumstances, in order to avoid the love of possessions, those who possess much ought to warm up in their hearts such a disposition, mentally placing themselves in various situations of deprivation, and in so doing restoring in their hearts a peaceful mood. By this, they can imprint in their souls such, resolution that even if everything were to be taken and they should have to be without anything, they would be ready for it at once. Thus disposed they, even though possessing, will be like those who have nothing which, according to the Apostle, is the last degree of perfection in this regard for those living in this world and unable not to possess.

Live as if you were to lose everything you know you could still live a god-pleasing life with a peaceful mood

There is also a spiritual love of gain, in which one works to carry out the commandments in the hope of obtaining spiritual rewards here or in the life to come. This love of gain is subtle, not easy to define or to discern. In general, one must say that as soon as anything but God and the pleasing of and obedience to His will intrudes into the endeavors of a good and devout life, then already there is self-interest. 

This last type of covetousness is the most difficult to discern and correct. We desire to be with God in hope of eternal life, but this desire has to be based on our love of Him and not just on the benefit we hope for. There are steps involved in our spiritual life and we need to seek Gods help in walking this narrow path. To help us we also need a spiritual father to guide us in proper discernment of our condition. The ego is very strong and is good at misleading us.

Reference: Psalm 118: A Commentary by Saint Theophan the Recluse, pp 98-102

What is it we should Seek?

 “He fulfills your desire with good things; your youth will be renewed as the eagles” (Psalm 103)

Elder Aimilianos comment on this passage writes, “notice It doesn’t say “He fulfills your desires”  but says “your desire.”

So what is the significance of this being a singular desire. Our desires are the result of our passions, the many distractions we face in this worldly life. But what we seek is is His kingdom not our desires of our pleasure seeking life through earthly things. 

Scripture says, 

“Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be yours as well.” (Lk 12:31)

So our desire, singular, should only be our desire for God.

Elder Aimilianos says, 

He transforms you into a person of a single-minded desire, a person whose only desire is for God. And it is because you desire God and seek Him that He offers you all the good things of this life and the life to come.

What we should seek is only God, then we will be blessed with a good life. We must not think that God will satisfy our desires, but that we will be rewarded when we have a singular desire for a union with God. He must the the primary focus of our love. When we feel separated from Him we must seek His companionship. Otherwise we may be misled by the many desires that arise from the numerous temptations of the worldly life.

Ref: Psalms and the Life of Faith, by Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra, p 274

Ten Points for an Orthodox Way of Life

Passions are the root of sinfulness

Saint Maximos the Confessor says, “When the passions dominate the mind, they bind it to material things...” This separates us from God and divine grace. This is why our church fathers and elders like Aimilianos tell us to know ourselves in a deep way to uncover our passions. We often find our passions buried in our habits and our reactions to worldly events or encounters with others. We can often find them by digging into what upsets or hurts us. Also, there are often patterns of behavior that point us to our passions.

Elder Aimilianos warns us that we have to be very careful and observant of our behavior and attachment to material things, because we fail to recognize the harm we are doing to our soul. 

He says,

The passions bind the mind to material things that we think are harmless, since we tell ourselves, God gave them to us and in them selves they are not sinful.

He uses food as a simple example. God did give us the passion of hunger so we can maintain a healthy life. But when our desire for food or drinks goes beyond what is necessary for good health we become consumed by it and lose our focus on God. We eat unhealthily, we obsess over certain foods and drinks, or desire things that are very expensive, creating other issues. Food can easily become a source of conflict between married couples driving them to separate meals, denying them of need social interaction to share and express their loving care for each other.

The path to a passionless life is our love of God. Saint Maximos says, “When the love of God prevails, it frees our mind from bonds...” When we love God with passion we think about the life to come and how we must prepare for this future life. In this way we can see all material things in the right light. They can not be bad in themselves but it depends on how we view them. We need to discern God’s purpose in all things.

Elder Aimilianos says,

Real maturity is when you understand that the problem you are struggling with is the sign of a worldly spirit, an indication that you do not love God.The true meaning of life is spiritual... Preoccupation with material things, worldly interests, and the cares of life, are like weights that oppress and drag us down.Too often we go to our spiritual father, even when we go to confess our sins, not because we care about God, but because we care only about things of this world; because we are looking for solutions to the problems of this life.

Mystical Marriage by Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra, pp 27-32

Ten Points for an Orthodox Way of Life

Overcoming Passions and Distractions in Prayer

Knowing God depends on a pure heart. But, we find ourself filled with negative worldly thoughts that cloud our heart and make it impossible for us to experience Him in our prayers. At the root of our problem are passions.

Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra gives us an incite about how we overcome this problem we all struggle with. It is recorded in a new book, The Mystical Marriage.

To begin with, he wakes us up by telling us that if we are distracted when praying we don’t love God. He says,

When someone says, “l am distracted by thoughts during prayer”... you can be sure that such a person does not love God genuinely and has never loved Him.

Our distraction means that giving our attention to a worldly thought is more important than God. When we find our mind distracted we must search to root out the cause which is a passion. This cause becomes our idol.

The elder says,

When a particular desire continually arises within us, by which I mean a particular chain of reasoning or line of thinking; when the same things continue to stir us up, or when we run into the same problem with people, or when something takes place that we do not like or approve of, what happens? We return, yet again, to the same thing that we have already discussed fifteen or twenty times, or more like fifteen or twenty years, this means we are in the grip of some kind of passion.

Our passions come from our desires. This could be an opinion about our work place, bosses or co-workers, our government, or the Church and it’s clergy, or friends or relatives. If we realize that this object of our thought has a power over us by commanding our attention in prayer like a superior god, we can then begin to seek out to identify and destroy the passion that has this power over us.

Every desire is a passion. Desiring involves turning our Spirit, our feelings, towards something that is controlling our thoughts. In desiring we are binding ourselves to something good or evil. But when this desire is not fulfilled we experience sorrow. Why? Because our ego has been constrained. Our desire is based on “I want.” When blocked, our will is not being satisfied. With the resulting frustration or sorrow we become self-focused, constantly coming back to what is being denied. We are then separated from God. Our spirit is stuck and focused on something constraining our self-will, what “I” feel, believe or want.

This condition can turn into anger. Whatever is denying the satisfaction of our desire becomes an enemy and we become hostile toward it. It can be the inability to get some tangible thing, to be respected, to have our view accepted, or something else caused by another person or institution. The passion or desire becomes stronger in a negative way. We want to do whatever we can to destroy what limits our original desire.

After this can come resentment. When this develops we have permanently established in our mind opposition against someone else. When we see them, think of them, or sit in prayer we have feelings of hostility towards them. These negative thoughts keep reoccurring. As a result we are no longer able to experience love or happiness and unable to show compassion. This also blocks our ability to love God. This why Christ tells us we must love our enemy, otherwise we find ourselves separated from Him.

How do recover from this condition now that even the cells in our brain have been connected is a way that makes this condition seem permanent leading to repetitive negative thoughts? The elder tells us that the way out is to despise what it is we desire, what it is we cannot have or do. He says,

If a person does not despise the thing toward which he is inclined, which he desires, he will remain the eternal slave of his passion, bound by a thousand chains.

To despise what we desire means we need a change in what has become our normal way of thinking. This is the idea of repentance, metanoia. We need to reprogram our brain, change our pattern of thought.

The elder says,

“Whatever it is that you think or believe, whatever it is you think you love, of that your mind has become attached to, you must strike it with a divine passion, with hate, and then your passion will be set aside by divine power, by divine grace, and you will lay the foundation that will enable you eventually to love God.”

He gives us an example. Suppose someone says something to you that causes you to think they are egotistical, a hypocrite, or someone who has bad thoughts. What does this imply? It simply means that you disagree with him or what he does. It’s the “I” at work. It’s your ego based view opposed to his. This is rooted in a passion and you must be able to totally despise this way of thinking. 

When these negative thoughts develop about another person it will do little good to talk with him about it. It won’t even help to seeing his view as right. This will solve nothing as the negative attitude will only appear again later. Elder Aimilianos says,

A thousand excuses and explanations; a thousand confessions to the person in question, or to my spiritual father, or to the icon of Christ; a thousand tears; an endless number of prostrations, will accomplish nothing. If, that is, I don’t change the way I think about others and learn to live with them.

So what are we to do?

We need to learn how to feel and think as they do, he tells us. We must be able to identify our own thoughts with those of the other. This means we must “enter into a fullness of relation with others. My disposition toward them must be one of love.” Remember how Christ said to love your enemies?  Unless you do this you will remain imprisoned by your passion, your own self-centered way of thinking.

He then raises the obvious question, “what if the other does not think correctly?” Never mind, he says, as long as a sin is not involved. When you are with him conduct yourself in a manner that is consistent with how he thinks even if it causes tension in you. When you are by yourself then do what you think is right.

One example I found in myself is about following the proper rubrics or typicon for our services. I serve with many different priests. Each priest has a slightly different interpretation of what is right that differs from my understanding. It is easy to judge them with negative feelings. Maybe they are poorly trained, self-centered, or don’t respect the role of a deacon. I had to learn not to make such judgements but simply follow the way they think is right when serving with a particular priest, rather than hold any ill feeling about why they don’t do it “my” way. Anther common situation involves visiting a non Orthodox who knows nothing about fasting and prepares a special meal on a fasting day. Instead of judging or feeling more spiritual, you must find a way to appreciate the offering they have prepared for rather than giving them a lesson on fasting and imposing your discipline on them. There are so many common examples where we hold some expectation about another person’s behavior and make negative interpretations about their motivations. When these feelings become permanent we are enslaved by our own desires or passions.

We must remember that there is no middle ground between what I want and what the other wants. There is no ground for compromise no matter how you may attempt to do so. Both views are rooted in the ego. The real issue is the realty of your separation from the other and God if you harbor any form of resentment. He advises,

 “the way I order and regulate my personal, inner journey is one thing, and the way I order my relationship with my fellow human beings is another.”  

We must learn to make these distinctions with love and respect for the other as the image of God.  He says that we must be able to venerate the other as a saint and ourselves as the sinner.

The process is one of denying ourselves. When we do so we are acting like God. Just imagine all the different conditions God must see in His children without withdrawing His love. To be able to do this we must continually work to uncover our passions which are hidden from us. This means we must look deeply into ourselves, to become aware of what our mind keeps returning to and then recognize that this is not truth.

The lesson here is that once you understand there is a cause for your recurring thoughts, you distractions in prayer, you can be assured that this cause is a passion. Once you know this cause you know in very practical terms the passion.

It is not difficult to find passions. What is difficult it to want to do something about it. This is because, he says, 

“we have become dependent on a false image of our self that we have, and we hold on to it tightly in order not to lose it.” 

Seeking God, knowing our thoughts separate us from Him, we must true repent and arouse our inner motivation to hate, despise the passion. This involves the difficult task of changing our mind. When we do we will feel freed, born again. God will give us the grace to free us from this passion.

“If we want to, we can correct ourselves, we can change our minds. If on the other hand, we don’t want to do this, if we don’t want to disdain and despise the things that keep us down and hold us back, we will remain in the grip of the passions for all eternity… We will be separated eternally from God, having embraced and idol in the place of the Lord.”

Reference: The Mystical Marriage: Spiritual life according to St Maximos the Confessor, by Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra, Newrome Press, 2018, 

Ten Points for an Orthodox Way of Life

What is the "Fire" that Torments?

How can a loving God be so cruel to allow any of his creatures to burn eternally? In Scripture we find numerous references to the fire of hell which we will endure if we are not united with God's love (see passages below).  What is really meant by this reference to fire?  Is it like a physical fire or is it something else?

Saint John of Damascus gives us some insight into these passages that are often used to instill fear rather than love of God. He explains this fire as a condition where we will not be able to satisfy the desires we carry with us into death, those desires that we have put above our desire to be united with  God out of love and to do His will. This absence of any satisfaction for these misguided desires leads us to the kind of suffering which is like being burned by fire. Isn't it the nature of suffering our inability to satisfy our desires?

He writes:

We say that the torment is nothing other than the fire of unsatisfied passion. For those who obtained changelessness in passion do not desire God but sin. But there in that place the commission of evil has no place. For we neither eat nor drink, nor get dressed, nor marry, nor gather wealth, nor does envy or another evil satisfy us. Therefore, by desiring and not partaking of the things desired, they are burned by passions as if by fire. But those who desire the good––namely God alone, Who is and exists eternally––and who partakes of Him rejoice according to the intensity of their desire according to which they also partake of the Desired One.

When we pass from this life to a heavenly life there will not be the means to satisfy those desires that we place such high priority on in our earthly life. We will not be able to find satisfaction in food, in fancy parties where we dress to look our best, in all the pleasures we can buy with money, in the superior status or power we have gained. Heaven strips us of what was pleasurable in our earthly life. There is only one desire that can be satisfied in this new life. That is our desire to be united with God in love. Without this as our overriding desire we will not find pleasure in heaven. There will  be no way to satisfy any other desire.

According to Orthodox teaching the fire that torments is not a physical fire, but is a torment that comes from the inability our soul to direct its desire towards communion with God. One who cannot do this is imprisoned by his own action and his passions strike him like poisonous serpents. He will be surrounded by those he hates and separated from those he loves and who love him. He will always be seeking what can never be satisfied. Dumitru Staniloae says, "He falls into a sort of dreamlike existence in which everything becomes chaotic in a senseless absurdity, without any consistency, without any search for an exit out of it, without any hope for an exit."

Why does God leave a person in such a condition?  Why doesn't he show himself with His divine light so one can see and depart from such darkness? The answer is that God is not an external reality that imposes itself but is offered to us out of love. This cannot be perceived except through an openness to love that is humble and full of desire for Him. It is based on a relationship. He who is bound up in lesser desires will not admit that such love is possible when he cannot offer such love in return. God therefore cannot make Himself evident as a loving Person in this case. Saint Isaac the Syrian says that hell is a punishment of love.

Satin John of Damascus writes:

He who desires receives. He who is good receives good things ... The righteous, by desiring and having God, rejoice forever; but the sinners, by desiring sin and not possessing objects of sin, are tormented as if eaten by the worm and consumed by fire, with no consolation; for what is suffering if not the absence of that which is desired? According to the intensity of desire, those who desire God rejoice, and those who desire sin are tormented.
Here on earth when we incline our desire toward other things and obtain them even partially, we find pleasure in them. Over there, however, when "God will be all in all" (1Cor 15:28) and there will be neither food, nor drink, nor any bodily pleasure nor any injustice, those who possess neither common pleasures nor anything from God will suffer great pain that is not produced by God, but that we prepare for ourselves.

We cannot say that God punishes us with fire, but that it is our own misdirected desires that lead us to suffering that is like being burt by fire. To avoid the fire our primary desire has to be directed toward our love of God.

We must remember that Jesus, God incarnate, came for our benefit. He came out of God's love for all mankind to save us from the fallen condition we are in. He did not come to punish us. He came to transform us and to teach us that our earthly desires are misguided when substituted for our love of God our Creator. He loves us so much that He sacrificed His own life on the Cross to free us from our sinfulness, showing us the way through His Resurrection to be joined with Him in His kingdom with eternal life, and then sends the Holy Spirit to establish His Church on earth for our perfection in love. He is a God of love and only calls us to return that love. We can enjoy the pleasures of this world, all He created is Good, but only if we always give priority to our desire for His love and give thanks to Him for what we enjoy. If we replace this supreme desire with earthy desires, these will not be fulfilled when we enter into the heavenly realm. Lacking a desire for union with God, we will find ourselves separated eternally from His love, the only desire that can be satisfied after our bodily death.

Remember that Christ is within each of us. He resides in our heart. Make His love your desire.


New Testament references to the fire of damnation:
"every tree that does not bear good fruit is thrown into the fire" (Matt 3:10, Lk 3:9)
"His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threading floor, and gather His seat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." (Matt 3:12, Lk 3:17)
"Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in their, so it will be at the end of the age.... Will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be ailing and gnashing of teeth." (Matt 13:40, 42, 50)
"It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, than to be cast into hell fire." (Matt 18:9, Mark 9:47)
"If Your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched." (Mark 9:45)
"If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, they are burned." (John 15:6)
"The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." (Rev 20:10)
"Anyone not found in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire." (Rev 20:15)
"The cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murders, sexually immoral,sorcerers, idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone..." (Rev 21:8)

Reference: The Experience of God, vol 6, by Dumitru Staniloae, pp 43-47

Growing Our Faith

The spiritual life is one that is ongoing.  It is not the result of a one time event like a simple declaration of faith as practiced in so many Protestant Churches.  It is a commitment to a growing faith that we are continually working on to deepen our relationship with God. It is an effort involving faith plus our own efforts. It is like any relationship we have.  To have a close friend we have put our own effort into the development of the relationship. The same is true with our relationship with God.


The Spiritual life involves an effort on our part to discipline our bodies and control our passions.  This we do with the help of God's grace, but we must act to cooperate.  Our thoughts must be controlled because we are bombarded with temptations continually.  These can come from nowhere.  Our minds are very active.  Left uncontrolled they become like a wild horse which is impossible to ride.  Such a horse must be trained to ride. The same is true with our mind. As we train our mind, we become more watchful, the wildness is tamed and we can, with careful thought, learn to make choices which are congruent with the teachings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.


In our efforts we must not expect some grand transformation where everything changes and we become virtuous in all our actions.  It is a step by step process that also involves God's grace.  It is with a close relationship with God that we work toward our salvation which is our union with God forever.


Abba John the Dwarf says,

"I desire to possess every virtue, if only to a small degree."

 He is advising us to give thanks to the Lord for each little step we take.  This is the Way.


He says,

"When a man decides to build a house, he gathers many different materials for construction.  So too must we acquire all virtues, if only to a small degree."

We will not obtain all the virtues at once.  But as we are able to control our passions we will find that we will become more loving as we conquer each one.  We may find we become more patient and with patience we no longer respond with anger.  As we control our anger we find our relationships become more loving.  Then we are able to help others.  It is a ongoing process that never ends.  One virtue leads us to another. Our aim is to become perfect as our Lord directs us.


This path demands more than our self-effort.  Through prayer, repentance, participation in the sacraments, and practicing the virtues we grow. We must seek God's grace to lead us along this path. With a mind under control, we can then follow His lead. It is a way of life lived in the context of the Orthodox Church that leads us to an intimate relationship with God as we become His true servant.




Reference: The Spiritual Life, p 270

Counterattack - Opposing Passions

We are constantly called to be watchful because our passions are ever active, lurking to arise when we least expect.  This war we are engaged in is a spiritual war.  The challenge is to not let our passions have any air or food.  If we were not successful in our watchfulness, we can starve them with external actions. This is always a challenge, but the approach is one of using our will to deny the passion what it desires.  When we deny them, we starve them of food and air and they die.  We should learn to combine our inner efforts with external efforts.


Saint Theophan tells us that one kind of active warfare against our passions is to carry out actions that are directly opposed to  them.


He writes,

For example, to suppress stinginess, it is necessary to become generous; to combat pride, it is necessary to choose humbling occupations; to combat carousing, one must stay at home; and the like.  It is true that one such mode of action does not lead directly to the goal, because the passion, enduring external constraint, may erupt inwardly--either the same passion, or some other in its place. When inner and spiritual warfare are united with this active combat, however, they soon defeat any passion against which they are directed together.

This means we must learn to be watchful of our inner thoughts as well as take direct wilful action to counter the rise of a passion.  Both are useful in our spiritual effort to control our passions.


Ordering our life is one important aspect of the Orthodox way of life. We need to choose our friends,  our work, our activities, and so forth so that we do not allow ourselves to be tempted in ways we cannot control. We need to make changes in how we live to increase activities that are the opposite of the passions we encounter repeatedly. With a balanced life, when we do experience a passion coming forth, we can have the poser of our will to aggressively oppose it with opposite action.  Do this and you will find you  will make progress in overcoming the passion that haunts you.


Remember, passions are what lead us into sin and separation from God.  As we learn to conquer them we develop a more virtuous life  and our prayer life becomes more effective.  God will send more grace that will aid us in this battle.  Slow down and order your life so that you can overcome all your passions and come closer to God at all times.

"Since this habit has acquired power over your heart through frequent repetition of certain actions, which satisfy the passion dwelling in the heart, opposing it in the heart is not enough to weaken and destroy this power; you must use actions which are contrary to the former ones, actions opposed to the passion, smashing and destroying it. -  Unseen Warfare

More on Orthodox Way of Life


Reference: The Spiritual Life, pp 260-261

Dealing With Hidden Causes of Our Passions

The Church Fathers consistently talk about controlling our thoughts as a means to control our passions.  These thoughts are not usually predictable but seem to arise out of nowhere like they are hidden from our view.  We do know that when they arise they are given strength by external circumstances and stimulus.  In the case of lust we may have no such conscious thoughts in our heart, but then we receive an enticing look or a stroke of our body, a latent inner thought can be inflamed with uncontrollable passion. Recognizing this reality, the way we control our external circumstances is important for the control our passions.


Saint Theophan gives us the following advice:

1. Do not give free reign to your senses, especially the eyes and ears.  Do not allow them to see everything, hear everything and be concerned with everything indiscriminately.
2. Rush immediately to blot out the stimulus and suppress the thoughts... after the flow of the stimuli has been stopped of course.
3. Once a person has experienced harm from a stimulus, he should not willingly allow himself to encounter the objects that caused it again.
4. Learn to reinterpret everything you encounter so you can encounter it in the spiritual sense. St. Ephriam the Syrian, having encountered an enticingly dressed woman, told his disciples, "You see how she takes care to adorn her body, which soon will be dust; how can we not be concerned with adorning our immortal soul?

To overcome passions does not mean we need to seclude ourselves like a recluse.  We must learn to live with the reality of a full life in this world, lived in the spirit and not for the satisfaction of our passions.


Reference: The Spiritual Life, pp 257-259

Why Does It Take So Long?

So often, with great expectations, we will renew our commitment to the Orthodox Way of Life by making significant changes in our life and how we spend our time.  We will increase our time in prayer, participate more regularly in services and sacraments, begin to read Scripture and the lives of the saints daily.  Yet, we find we are still confronted with the same desires and distractions that keep us separated from God.  We expect instant success and we do not find it.  We grumble that we followed the instruction from a wise elder yet do not experience any improvement in our relationship with God.  Why do we expect such instant success? Why is it so difficult?


Saint Theophan says speaking to one of his spiritual children,

"I cannot in any way suppose that your success to have been complete as soon as you began, that your thoughts would be pure, and feelings and desires holy. This is because it never happens like this to any body.  The thoughts will be pacified, the passionate impulses of feelings and desires will become less frequent.  All the same , however, they will erupt and sometimes wit great force.

As he says our thoughts are not pure and desires not holy.  We also have unreasonable expectations.  We are only beginning to overcome our passions and must be patient and persistent.  One thing that is very important is to be humble and remember it is God's will that is to work through us and not just our own efforts.  To often we think we are the doer rather than humbling ourselves to the truth in the work of His grace.  Our task is to follow Grace and not try to force and direct it as our will demands.  We must strip ourselves of all pious pretenses and self-will.


Saint Theophan advises,

Do not try to conceal yourself, covering your nakedness with a fig leaf and hiding in the bushes from the Lord, who comes to you in the conscience and exposes you.  Blame yourself completely, and ask forgiveness without placing blame on anyone else.

The essence of a true spiritual life is humility.  This involves a life where we are continually recognizing the dominating power of our own will and our limitations in doing what is God's will for us.  Jesus calls us to be perfect, but too often we assume we are already perfect when we are far from what he has taught us to become.  Then we too often make the mistake of thinking we can do it through our own power by saying these prayers, or fasting in this way and so forth.  Our spiritual practice is only an aid for us to open our heart to the reality of our condition so that we will fall down in front of God and ask for His forgiveness and help and allow His grace to flow through us.  In this way our thoughts can become pure and our desires holy.


Our spiritual life involves daily effort.  Saint Hesychius says,

At every hour we must weigh our daily affairs attentively, and as much as we are able, without fail lighten their burden through repentance, if we want to overcome the passions with the help of Jesus. It is also necessary to examine whether we carry out all our outward actions through God's will, before God and for God Alone, so that the feelings (passionate) do not deceive us like foolish people.

Keep up your spiritual practices as called for in an Orthodox way of life.  But do it with complete humility and a spirit of repentance.


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Reference: The Spiritual Life, pp 255-256

What Do Church Fathers Mean By Sobriety?

What do the Church Fathers mean when they use the the term translated as sobriety? This is an important concept in our struggle against the passions -- those desires that lead us away from the will of God and separate us from Him.


Saint Hesychius writes,

Sobriety is the continual situating of the thought at the doors of the heart, so that it sees the thoughts creeping up and understands what form the demons are attempting to inscribe and establish in the mind, so as to entice it through the imagination.

Often we refer to this as self discipline. It is a level of spiritual maturity where we are aways aware of our thoughts.  This awareness is also called watchfulness.  It is where we are always watching for those thoughts that will enter into our minds and stimulate desires that lead us away from the teachings of Jesus Christ. 


How do we develop this virtue?  If we only follow the Orthodox Way of LIfe taught by the Church we will be lead on a path where we become watchful and have sobriety.  This involves daily prayer, practice of the Jesus Prayer, participating in the weekly fast on Wednesdays and Fridays and the other fasting periods specified by the Church. It involves our regular attendance to the Divine Liturgies and participating with proper preparation in Holy Communion and Holy Confession.  It also means we will read the Scripture each day.  This is an easy discipline that trains our mind, builds self-discipline, and subjects our self-will to the will of God.


I was talking with a young family yesterday and they were describing how a priest who came into their parish was firm in asking his parishioners to follow these practices.  There were many in the Church who rebelled and caused him difficulty but they began to follow what he taught them.  This lead them to a higher quality of life and one they found to be much "easier" than trying to make up their own approach to their Orthodox Faith. Their teen age children matured and developed responsibility and the younger ones became curios about the teachings of the church asking questions and seeking information on their own. The found the discipline to always eat their meals as a family and to function as an integral family unit. Their lives changed and their love for God increased. 


Sobriety is the the result of a very simple act and choice.  It involves simply choosing to follow the teachings of the Church about our daily way of life. This simple act will give greater meaning to the crazy world we live in, greater capacity to discern what is right and wrong, a inner quietness and strength to exercise our self-will in conjunction with the teachings of Jesus.


Saint Theophan advises,

I am pointing you directly to the path so that you do not wander all over the place.  Be more diligent in your undertaking and you will soon see success.  However, you must labor with all your might, because without labor there will be nothing.

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Reference: The Spiritual Life, p 251-252

" My Passions are Pretty Much Under Control" Beware!

For most of us who are serious about our spiritual life, we feel we have a good degree of self-control.  We are able to follow the regular fasts and other Traditions of the Church.  We don't seem to have any major sins. This is a good condition, but also one where we need to be  especially vigilant.  The passions that do remain can become seen as frivolous or insignificant.  But these are like the glowing embers of a fire that is about to go out.  At any time a wind can come along and restart an immense blase and even start a whole forest on fire.  Each glowing ember needs to be attended to to prevent the danger of a major forest fire.  Every passion, no matter how slight, needs to be attacked.


Saint Theophan advises us in this way,

No matter how small or weak a passion appears, it is necessary to regard it as if it were the largest and most powerful.

How do we respond then to the passions that we seem to regard lightly as we become more spiritually mature?  One thing we cannot do is ignore them and surely if we do they will eventually flame up and possibly destroy us.


Saint Theophan says that we have to get very angry at them and treat them with hostility.

Try to stir up anger within yourself against it as quickly as possible. This anger is a firm rejection of the passion.  The passionate cannot be sustained unless there is sympathy for it, but any sympathy is destroyed by anger, and the passionate will leave or fall away at the first manifestation of it. Here is the only case where anger is permissible and useful.

The Prophet David told us, "Be angry, and sin not (Psalm 4:5).
Saint Paul says, "Be angry and sin not" (Ephesians 4:26).


It s important to always be on the lookout for the work of our passions.  It is as if there are terrorists lurking about who want to destroy us.  They may be silent and not too visible but we must always be on the lookout and ready to act with quick and firm action against them.  Do not delay in action against them when you see even the slightest  action of a passion.  Your sympathy towards it will only lead to its growth and the potential of a raging fire that you cannot put out.


Saint Theophan says,

Self-indulgence still lives concealed within even long after we have obviously renounced and devoted ourselves to God... Thus, it is necessary to reject this sympathy and stir up anger... As son as you realize a passion's belligerence, get angry at it in a very obvious way.

Reference: The Spiritual Life, pp 233-236 

Overcoming Passions

Overcoming our passions is one of our biggest challenges along our path to theosis.  Saint Theophan the Recluse assures us that they do not have autonomy.  This means we do have control over them if we choose.

We do not have to give up our humanity or our personality. 

Saint Theophan says,

They have entered into our nature and can be driven out without making a person something other than a human being.  On the contrary, once they have been driven out, they leave a person a real human being, whereas their presence ruins a person, making him into something that is in many respects worse than an animal.

So what is the source of these things we call passions?

Saint Theophan says,

All of these (the passions) come from the desire to please one's self, selfishness and pride; and they are sustained by these.

Our challenge is to do as Christ says, deny ourselves, that is, put our faith in God as the real doer and do not focus on our own ego as the center of the world.  Once we are able to do this all the passions will lose their power over us.  They become tendencies we can objectively observe come and go. We can smile at them and willfully ignore their call for action.  This is often called detachment or a state of dispassion.

It is as Peter tells us, "Be sober, be vigilant" (1 Peter 5:8), or as is reported in Mark "Take head, watch and pray" (Mark 13:33).

Saint Theophan says,

To watch and be vigilant means not to sleep, not to give yourself over to negligence, but instead to keep the soul and body in a state of alertness.  To be sober means not to put your heart in anything but God.... To take heed means to watch carefully, so that nothing bad appears in the heart.

Mastering our passions is an never ending struggle for a Christian.  As we become watchful and our faith in God becomes stronger,  we will receive strength from the Holy Spirit to not respond to the desires that continually tempt us in our daily lives.  We will lose our attachments to things and thoughts and learn to practice love as Christ has commanded us to do to be worthy to be with Him in His kingdom. We will lose our self centeredness and always think of the struggles and needs of others more able to show compassion even for our enemies. The is how we become God centered and more like Christ.


Reference: The Spiritual Life, pp 227 - 230

Four Things Essential for Our Spiritual Struggle

Saint Hesychius give this advice on our struggle to overcome the passions:

One who is engaged in the spiritual struggle must have at every moment the following four things: humility, extreme attentiveness, refutation (of the thoughts) and prayer.

Humility, in so far as its adversaries in combat are the demons of pride, so that he will have at hand Christ's help in his heart, for ' the Lord resists the proud.' (James 4:6; 1Peter 5:5) 

Attentiveness, so that one does not allow the heart to have any thought, no matter how good it seems.

Denial, so that as soon as one has detected a thought that has come, he may repulse it immediately with anger.

Prayer, so that after refuting a thought, one may immediately cry out to Christ with 'groanings which cannot be uttered' (Romans 8:26)  Then the ascetic will see the enemy bound or chased by the honorable name of Jesus, like dust by the wind, or like smoke that vanishes with it's dreams.

Saint Hesychius adds the following on the importance of prayer,

One who does not have prayer that is free from the thoughts is without a weapon for battle.  I understand prayer to be that which is carried unceasingly within the depths of the soul, so that the enemy who is secretly fighting may be vanquished and scorched by this invocation to Christ.  For you must look with the sharply focused eye of the mind so that you will recognize what has entered into it, and after doing so, immediately cut off the head of the snake through refutation, and at the same time call on Christ with groaning. Through experience you will come to know God's invisible help; then you will see clearly the true condition of the heart.

Saint Theophan advises in his commentary on the teaching of Saint Hesychius,

A person whose decision to belong to the Lord is sincere cannot by-pass the path described.  He may preform great labors and get around things in various ways, but until he comes upon this path, it is to no purpose.  I am pointing you directly to the path so that you do not wander all over the place.  Be more diligent in your undertaking, and you will find success.  However, you must labor with all your might, because without labor there will be nothing.

Reference: The Spiritual LIfe, pp 249-253

When Passions Strike, Seek the Lord

Attacking the thoughts that lead us to actions that are not in keeping with the teachings of Christ is a simple matter.  Attack with vigor!  We have to see them as something we hate and forcefully take a stand and they will desist. Of course it is most helpful when we have developed a prayer practice which is with us at all times  (i.e. the Jesus Prayer).  Then we will know when and how to subdue the attack.

St. John the Dwarf says,

 I act as a man sitting under a tree who looks attentively around him.  This man as soon as he sees wild bests coming towards him to eat him, immediately climbs up the tree, and the bests, after coming up tp the tree, walk around for a while and go away.  And I, as soon as I observe mental beasts coming toward me in passionate thoughts, immediately rise up in my mind to the Lord, and the beasts cannot get to me as they are forced to scatter every which way.

Here is a parable from St. John the Dwarf.

There was in a certain place  a beautiful woman of questionable behavior.  the ruler of this country took pity on her, that such a beauty would perish, and when he found the opportunity, he said to her, 'Give up your immoral ways, and I will take you to my house and you will become my wife and the mistress of many treasures.  Just watch that you are faithful, or else there will be such trouble for you as you cannot seven imagine.'  She agreed to this, and was taken to the ruler's house.  Her former friends, seeing that she had disappeared, began searching for her, and found out that she was with the ruler.  Although the ruler was a terror, they did not despair of enticing the beautiful woman back to themselves once again, knowing her weakness. 'We have only to go up behind the house and whistle; she will know who it is and immediately run out of the house to us.'  that is just what they did.  they went up behind the house and whistled. the beautiful woman, hearing the whistle, started.  sSomething from her previous life stirred inside her.  But she had already come to her senses, and instead of running our of the house, she rushed in the inner chambers to the ruler himself, and immediately calmed down; she did not even hear the whistling that continued outside.  Her friends whistled a few more times, and went off with nothing.  

The lesson is clear.  When we are tempted we can escape by retreating to our inner chambers of our heart and stand before the Lord, "Lord have mercy on me a sinner."  If we do this any passion will leave us undisturbed.


Saint Theophan advises,

Learn this story by heart and always act according to it meaning.  You will see how quickly inner peace that has been disturbed by the appearance of passions is restored within you.