Elder Cleopas (Ilie): Working to cast out the demons

 

Through humility, self-knowledge, self-deprecation, by enduring the troubles and miseries, and by doing all the good deeds in the name of God — this is how the demon of pride can be expelled; by doing good deeds in secret, by praying often and by self-reproaching, the demon of vainglory can be cast out; through labors, we can banish the demon of laziness and sloth; by thinking thoughtfully of death and Gehenna, through fasting and humility, we can expel the demon of gorging the belly; by loving God and thy neighbor, one can cast out and expel the demon of anger and wrath, and the demons love for pleasures; by praying for the one who wronged you, the demon of hatred and denigration can be cast out; by thinking of death, by fasting and praying, the demon of indifference and hardening of the heart can be expelled; by loving God, by being humble, abstinent, and by guarding the eyes and mind, we can chase away the demon of fornication; the same demon of fornication can be cast out by running away from women‘ friendship, by guarding ourselves against laziness, by fasting and praying, and by not judging anyone who fell into this passion or others; by fearing God, by keeping the mind awake, and by praying, we keep away the demon of forgetfulness; heading and paying attention, fearing God and keeping the mind awake help us help us cast out many different demons battling and warring against us, disturbing and wavering our minds during prayer; by enduring the troubles and miseries, and by thanking God for all the things that bring us sorrow and pain, we cast away the demons of blasphemy, slander, and discontent; by weeping and willful poverty, we cast out the wicked devil of love of silver; by maintaining a thoughtful and understanding silence, by weeping, and by thinking of death, the demons of defamation and vain words is expelled; through faith and great hope in God, mentioning the dead, and tasting the goods from above, we cast away the wealth love and vain wealth-gathering demon; by singing the psalms, by praying, by reading the holy books, and by talking with the skillful Fathers about the spiritual matters, we cast away and expel the demon of sorrow and grief; by being aware of our nothingness, by fearing our weaknesses and by repenting wholeheartedly, we expel the demon of self-trust and self-hope; through love and honest prayer for the one who wronged us, we expel the demon of hatred and calumny.

+Elder Cleopas (Ilie), from On Dreams and Visions: St. George Monastery (Elder Cleopa Book 8) Book 1: On Dreams

Archbishop John (Shahovskoy): Characteristics of Evil Pastorship

 Some characteristics of evil pastorship.

I. Love of Money; practical materialism; offering prayers of sacraments on the payment of a fee - which is a sin and a perversion of God's Kingdom.¹
II. Pomp, show, theatricality... (the angel warned St. Hermas, wherever there is pomp, there is deceit, that is, falsity before God). The Orthodox rite is not pompous or theatrical; it is a reverent and prayerful reality, calling unto God with voice, color and movement - the surrender to God of all this world's flesh. Only through a heart aglow with love for God and man does Orthodox symbolism find its right to truth and become a heavenly reality.

III. Fawning on the rich and powerful. A contemptuous attitude to poor and humble people. "Respect of persons." Timidity and false gentleness in denouncing the sins of the mighty ones in this world. Rudeness and bad temper with subordinate and defenseless people.²

IV. Preaching in church earthly values and attainments; absorption in some side-issue or work to the detriment of the direct pastoral task of healing souls and bringing them to the One Shepherd. Lack of reverence in church.

V. Seeking honor and glory for oneself, vanity. Signs of atheism: "How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that comes from God only?" Indication of pastoral faith: "he that seeketh his glory that sent him" (John 5:44).

VI. Lack of care for the human soul... "He that is a hierling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees: and the wolf catches them, and scatters the sheep" (John 10:12-13).

+Archbishop John (Shahovskoy), from The Orthodox Pastor, Outline of Pastoral Theology, Chapter 2, Evil Pastorship.

¹Even if the priest is not personally interested in acquiring material means through the Gifts of grace he must not allow this for his parishioners' sake, so as to instill in them a clear sense of God's mercy and of Divine gifts which cannot be bought or sold and are incommensurable with earthly values.

²It has a very painful effect on the laity when, because of some slight mistake, a higher cleric makes a rude reprimand to his subordinate during a church service. If a pastor does not spare the feelings of those at prayer, is he likely to care for their feelings outside the church?

³A certain layman came once to a refugee church at the very beginning of the Liturgy and saw through the open south door of the sanctuary that the priest while robing himself was comfortably talking to the reader on purely secular matters. The layman knew that the priest should put on his vestments prayerfully, and at once lost respect for this particular pastor not mindful of the holy things entrusted to him. If the priest during the service had preached an inspired sermon about the need for silence and reverence in church, could that layman have believed him? The Lord has said, however: "Whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works" (Matt 23:3).

Note: The use of italics and the numbered footnotes above are from the original. Some archaic spellings have been updated.

St. Theophan the Recluse: The Fire of Zeal

 What success can one expect when there is no enthusiastic zeal for a Christian pleasing of God? If there is something that involves no labor, one is ready to do it; but as soon as one is required to do a little extra labor, or some kind of self-sacrifice, immediately one refuses, because one is unable to accomplish it oneself. For then there will be nothing to rely on that can move one to good deeds: self-pity will undermine all the foundations. And if any other motive besides the one mentioned becomes involved, it will make the good deed into a bad deed...

Zealous pleasing of God is the path to God which is full of consolation and gives wings to the spirit. Without it one can ruin everything.

One must to everything for the glory of God in defiance of the sin which dwells in us. Without this we will do everything only out of habit, because it seems "proper", because this is the way it has always been done, or the way others do it. We must do all we can, otherwise we will do some things and neglect others, and this without any contrition or even knowledge of what we have omitted. One must to everything with heedfulness and care, as our chief task; otherwise we will do everything just as it comes.

And so, it is clear that without zeal a Christian is a poor Christian. He is drowsy, feeble, lifeless, neither hot nor cold - and this kind of life is not life at all. Knowing this, let us strive to manifest ourselves as true zealots of good deeds, having neither stain nor spot, nor any of these things.

+St. Theophan the Recluse, from The Path to Salvation, Chapter 1, #2.

St. Sophrony (Sakharov): Indifference to salvation

 The word accidie means, etymologically, 'lack of care', i.e., about one's salvation. With few exceptions, all humanity is not living in the state of accidie. People have become indifferent about their salvation. They do not seek divine life. They confine themselves to forms of life which appertain to the flesh, to everyday needs, to the passions of this world, to mundane activities. God, though, created us out of nothing, in the image of the Absolute and after His likeness. If this revelation is true, then the absence of concern for salvation is nothing else than the death of the human person.

+St. Sophrony (Sakharov), from Words of Life