Before holy baptism grace encourages the soul towards good from the outside, while Satan lurks in its depths, trying to block all the intellect's ways of approach to the divine. But from the moment that we are reborn through Baptism, the demon is outside, grace is within...
It is a mark of one who truly loves holiness that he continually burns up what is worldly in his heart through practicing the remembrance of God, so that little by little evil is consumed in the fire of this remembrance and his soul completely recovers its natural brilliance with still greater glory.
+St. Diadochus of Photiki, from One Hundred Texts on Spiritual Knowledge and Discernment, The Philokalia, Volume 1
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