There is a type of spirituality closely enmeshed with the emotions - aesthetic, sentimental, passionate - which can easily coexist with selfishness, vanity, and sensuality. Men of this type seek the praise and good opinion of their spiritual father; it is a very hard task for him to hear and accept their confession, for they come in order to complain of others, to whimper; they are full of themselves and readily accuse their neighbor. The poor quality of their religious devotion is best demonstrated by the ease with which they pass into a state of anger and irritation. They are further from the possibility of genuine contrition than the most inveterate sinners.
+Fr. Alexander Elchaninov, from The Diary of a Russian Priest, Fragments of a Diary
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