Affliction
cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground,
reasoned one of the friends of Job the Much-Suffering (Job 5:6). Because for
the Christian, woe and trouble is first of all sin and the passion that
precedes it, it could be said that passion “does not come from the dust”, and
sin “does not grow out of the ground”, but rather springs from the soil of the
human heart. The Lord Himself warned us when He said, From within, out of the
heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts,
covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy,
pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man
(Mk. 7:21-23). That is, according to the Gospel teaching, not only is sin what
is committed in deed, but even the longing for sin—which we call passion—is not
altogether innocent by itself and is also a sin.
Having
achieved victory in the struggle with their passions, the holy fathers of the
Church left us a detailed description of this struggle. Part of this was their
scrupulous study of the stages of the passions’ formation in the human soul.
“A thousand-mile
journey begins with one step,” say the Chinese. So also every passion begins
with one thought, which is called prilog, or “suggestion”. This term describes
a thought, but also an image, a feeling, a desire, or a state that suddenly
arises in the human soul; however that is not to mean all thoughts or states,
but only those aimed at separating us from God. It is not possible to
completely avoid prilogs, but it is within man’s power to either accept them or
reject them. The Ancient Patericon (sayings of the holy fathers) describes the
following incident: “A brother came to Abba Poemen and said to him, “I have
many thoughts, and I am in danger from them.” The elder took him outside into
the air and said, “Open your collar and lapel, and do not let the wind in!” “I
can’t do this,” answered the brother. “If you cannot do that,” said the elder,
“then neither can you prevent the thoughts that come to you. But it is your job
to withstand them.”
According
to patristic teaching, the most reliable method for warring with the passions
is to cut them off at the very beginning; that is, to reject the prilog, or
suggestion. “If we cut off the thoughts we will also cut off the sin,” taught
St. Tkhon of Zadonsk. “Sin comes from thoughts like the tree grows from its roots.”
The next
step in the strengthening of the passions in the human soul bears the name
“conjunction” and consists in the interchange with the thought. The thought
draws the attention of the one being tempted, who is now in danger of being
drawn into sin. Therefore, conjunction is not always without blame. If a person
feels some pleasure from the interchange, then the will is already inclined
towards the sinful thought and is leading the person to the next stage.
That
state is called soslozheniem, or “acceptance” of the thought. At this stage
happens the complete acceptance of the illicit thought, which attracts and
fills the person’s mind, feelings, and will so that sin begins to act in the
human soul and prepare it to actually commit the sin in deed.
By lingering
in this state a person is taken to the next step, called “captivity”—a state
that has a qualitative difference from the former states. If up to that point
the person could through his own efforts not only withstand the sinful
thoughts, but also overcome them (If thou doest not well, sin lieth at the
door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him [Gen.
4:7]), now even the very desire to abandon the sinful thought disappears. If
this comes up, then the person is no longer capable of getting rid of the
illicit desire that has taken him over—unless he have some outside help.
The final
step of this ladder into the abyss is the passion itself, which paralyzes the
will, and like a kind of inner despot draws the person into sin. Incidentally,
even if the passion does not result in the deed it is nevertheless destructive
and requires great effort, prayer, and both divine and human aid to be rid of
it.
The
venerable Abba Dorotheos illustrated the difficulty in struggling with rooted
passion through the following story: “A great elder was walking with his
disciples in a certain place where cypresses grew, both large and small. The
elder told one of his disciples to pull up a cypress. That cypress was small,
and the brother pulled it up quickly with one hand. Then the elder pointed to
another one larger than the first and said, ‘Pull up this one also.’ The
brother wrenched it back and forth with both hands and finally uprooted it.
Again the elder pointed to another, even larger tree, and the brother pulled it
out with great effort. Then he showed him yet another, yet larger tree, and the
brother yanked it about this way and that, and although he worked hard and
sweated over it, he could not tear it out. When the elder saw that he did not
have the strength to do it, he asked another brother to rise and help him. The
two of them were barely able to tear out the tree. Then the elder said to the
brothers, “You see, brothers, it is the same with the passions. While they are
small, if we want we can easily root them out. But if we are careless about
them when they are small, they will gain strength, and the stronger they become
the more effort is required of us to uproot them. When they have become very
strong in us, then even with great labor we will not be able to tear them from
ourselves, unless we receive aid from certain saints who help us according to
God.”
Because
the lingering in sin and sinful thoughts becomes worse for the person than the
sin itself, the holy fathers call us to go to confession as quickly as
possible, even if the fall is repeated many times. In the Ever-memorable
stories of the ascetic saints and blessed fathers we find the following: “A
brother asked Abba Sisoes, “What should I do, abba? I have fallen.” The elder
answered, “Rise up.” The brother said, “I rose and fell again!” “Rise up
again,” the elder answered. The brother again asked, “How long will this go
on?” “Until you are taken from this life, either good or depraved,” said the
elder. “For in whatever state you will be at that time, that is how you will be
when you go there [to the next life].”
The
question may arise as to why the majority of us not do this; that is, why don’t
we have recourse to repentance immediately, right after committing a sin? And
even if we repent, it is rare if we do not return, as the Scriptures say, “to
our own vomit” (cf. Pet. 2:22). St. Ambrose of Optina used to complain, “What
times have now come! It used to be that when someone sincerely repented of his
sins he would exchange his sinful life for a life of goodness. But now it often
happens that a person tells all his sins in detail at confession, and then goes
and does what he always did.”
Probably
this happens by force of our inner division, our disintegration, which in turn
leads to the inability to make a willful resolution—that is, to a lack of
resolve. It is namely this lack of resolve, according to the teachings of St.
Seraphim of Sarov, that does not allow us to imitate the ancients. This resolve
must be shown in the very early stages of the passion’s development—against the
prilog, or suggestion. If our indecision does not allow us to take this
comparatively easy but necessary action, our strength will be spent on the
struggle with the passions, which can grow to monstrous proportions.
How to
cut off a suggestion at its very inception is something that everyone has to
decide for himself. For example, Empress Catherine II had a rule never to say
anything while angry, but rather to wait until she was in a peaceful
disposition; and in order to ease the difficulty of silence, she literally
filled her mouth with water. St. Moses of Optina did a similar thing. He would
not bring guilty monks to reason right away, but only after they had forgotten
to some extent what they had done.
Of course,
the holy fathers taught that prayer is the most necessary and effective means
of conquering thoughts. Here is what St. John the Dwarf writes: “I am like a
man who sits under a tall tree and sees that that a multitude of beasts and
snakes are coming towards him. If he cannot fight them he will climb the tree
and be saved. That is what I do: while keeping silence in my cell, I see evil
thoughts attacking me. When I cannot fight them I run to God in prayer, and am
saved.” But what at first glance looks like a simple exercise is something that
a Christian has to learn his whole life.
An
article by Andrei
Gorbachev
Source: http://orthochristian.com/74462.html
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