An icon depicting St. Paisios receiving pilgrims, taking up their burdens and preaching to them the Word of God. His scroll reads: "We must struggle with philotimo, that we may be saved, and so that we not sadden Christ..."
Those who suffer deeply for the salvation of the whole world and help in their own way (as strugglers) and humbly entrust themselves to the hands of God, feel the greatest joy in the world. Their life is a constant doxology, for they flutter about internally like angels, glorifying God day and night. Those, however, who neglect the salvation of their souls and try to find joy and rest in this vain life, are continually tortured and entangled in endless worldly machinery and live in hell in this life...Those who have philotimo, because they move within the heavenly sphere of doxology, joyfully accept their trials as well as their blessings, and glorify God for them. Thus, they are continuously receiving God’s blessing from everything and are melting internally out of gratitude towards God, which they express in every spiritual way possible, like children of God.
St. Paisios of Mount Athos
source
The world is full of pain, fear and suffering. These feelings, without any exceptions, are experienced by all humans. It’s what causes our heart to ache, our mind to go hay-wire, and our emotions to become distorted. People often wonder: How have we had to handle all these problems? Why God allows these tragedies to happen? Some times the questions are complicated and the answers very simple. Elder Paisios of Mount Athos, famous for his spiritual teachings, provides encouragement and support to those who are suffering afflictions.
The struggle to sanctify the soul
..Life of course, is no summer camp; it has joys but also sorrows. The Resurrection is always proceeded by the Crucifixion. The blows of life’s trials are essential for the salvation of the soul, for the soul is refined through them. Just as with clothes; the more we rub them in the wash, the cleaner they become. Even with the octopus, the more it is beaten, the more it is cleaned and tenderized. And the fish, too, appears so graceful when alive and swimming in the sea, or even when displayed in the market with the scales and entrails intact. But it becomes useful only once it is cleaned and made to look less appetizing on the outside before it is broiled. It is much the same with people; when a person sheds all things secular-his scales, if you will- it may seem that he is losing life, his worldly liveliness, but in fact, he is merely removing all useless matter in order to be “ broiled”. Only then is he made useful…
Elder Paisios, Spiritual awakening, Souroti: Holy Monastery Evangelist John the Theologian, vol. II, p. 105.
What Helps Spiritual Progress
People who have been buffeted by rough winds, either because God allowed it in order to rein them in, or because of the devil’s envy, are in need of much sunshine and spiritual refreshment before they can blossom and bear fruit. They are like trees that have grown bold during winter’s halcyon days, only to face the cold north wind afterwards; they will need constant spring sunshine ad showers for their sap to circulate again and to blossom and bear fruit.
…Trust in God, simplicity, and struggle with philotimo will lead to inner peace and security and then the soul fills with hope and joy…
Christ helps those who are fighting the good fight that all Saints embraced in order to subdue the flesh to the spirit. Even when wounded, we must never lose our composure, but should instead ask for God’s help in continuing with the struggle courageously. The Good Shepherd will hear us and rush to our aid, just as a shepherd responds to the bleating of a lamb that is lost or wounded, or threatened by a wolf.
Elder Paisios, Spiritual awakening, Souroti: Holy Monastery Evangelist John the Theologian, vol. II, pp. 106-107.
Divine Energies are Omnipotent
…God never abandons us; we are the ones who forget and abandon Him. When man does not live spiritually, he is no entitled to divine help. But when he does live spiritually and is near God, he is entitled to it. Then if something happens and he dies, he is read for the other life, in which case he gains both in this life and in the next.
God’s help can’t be obstructed, neither by men nor demons. Nothing is difficult for God or a Saint. The obstacle for us humans is our lack of faith, which prevent the great divine energies from coming to us. And while there is such a great power next to us, we, because there is such a great amount of the human element in us, cannot understand the divine energies which exceed all of the world’s human powers, because they are omnipotent.
We sit for hours on end in vain, trying by ourselves to find solution to a problem, using all of our inexperience. Our head spins, our eyes burn, sleep escapes us, because the little demon has hooked us with obsessive thoughts. We may finally find a solution, but later God will found for us a better solution, which we had not thought of, leaving us with the headaches and the sleepless nights. No matter how right our thought might be, if God is not foremost, the head will tire and ache, while prayer with trust in God brings restfulness. For this reason, we can leave to God those activities which are difficult to achieve by human means and not be dependent upon our human efforts, reassured that God will do what is best.
For everything you think of doing, remember to say, “God willing”
A good disposition
-Geronda, what will become of the kind people who don’t believe?
-…Benevolent God will find a way for these kind-hearted people, either with trials and tribulations, with illnesses, hardships, with an earthquake, a lightning bolt, a deluge, or even some word, to bring them around and in the end to lead them to Paradise….
Elder Paisios, Spiritual awakening, Souroti: Holy Monastery Evangelist John the Theologian, vol. II, p 326-328.
Divine consolation
…With the people I went through so much pain! I didn’t pass over their problems lightly. I was painted by them, I sighed over them, but with every sigh I turned the matter over to God and in the pain I felt for the other person God provided consolation. That is to say, divine consolation came with the spiritual approach, because the pain which carries with it hope in God also has divine consolation. Otherwise how is one to endure! How could I possibly get through all the things that I hear? Yes, I feel the pain, but I also think of the divine reward in those who are suffering. We are in God’s hands. Since there is divine justice, divine reward, nothing is lost. The more one is tormented, the more he will rewarded. Although God sees so much suffering upon the earth, even things which we cannot imagine, He never falters. “You have suffered more?” He asks, “I will provide you with more in the other life”, and He rejoices. Otherwise, how could He endure so much injustice, so much evil that exists? But He keeps in mind the reward of those who suffer and, in a manner of speaking, endures that great pain. We don’t see the glory to be received by the other person and so we feel compassion for him, and for this God rewards us with divine consolation…
Elder Paisios, Spiritual awakening, Souroti: Holy Monastery Evangelist John the Theologian, vol. II, p. 348.
Elder Paisios notes that God allows a calamity to happen due to our fault.
Sins Brings Calamities
Locusts, wars, drought and disease, they are all scourges. They’ re not God’s way of educating human beings but the result of our moving away from God. They happen because we stray from Him. God’s wrath comes to make us remember Him and ask for help. It’s not that He arranges and orders, so to speak, these calamities to happen. Rather, God allows them to happen because He sees how far human evil can go and how unwilling we are to change our ways, and so He tries to bring us to our senses. But they are not of His own making…
…It is good to know that the faithful who obey the commandments of God receives His Grace, and that God is, shall we say, obliged to help them in these difficult times….
Whatever God allows is out of love for Man
-Geronda, why does God allow a calamity to happen?
-There are al kind of reasons. Sometimes God will allow something to happen so that something better may come out of it, and other times He wants to educate us. Some people are rewarded others pay a debt; nothing is wasted. You know, whatever God allows, even when human beings perish, it is done out of love for man, because Goad has a “heart”.
Elder Paisios, With pain and love for contemporary man, Souroti: Holy Monastery Evangelist John the Theologian, vol. I, p. 118-121.
Injustice draws the Wrath of God
Most bad and harmful things happen when we wrong other people. For example, when a fortune is made unjustly, the owners may live a few years like royalty, but in the end, they will spend all their money on doctors. Remember the saying “ What is gathered by the wind is also scattered by the wind.” Or remember what the Psalm says, Better is a little that the righteous hath than the abundance of many wicked. What they collect is spent, blown away. Rarely will an illness, a bankruptcy and so on be sent as a trial from God…
Elder Paisios, With pain and love for contemporary man, Souroti: Holy Monastery Evangelist John the Theologian, vol. I, p. 87-88.
Elder Paisios spoke of various signs of the Times and noticed that we need to make spiritual preparation for the events prophesied.
The Antichrist
…the anticipated Antichrist will, in some manner, be the incarnate devil, who will present himself to the Jewish nation as the Messiah and will mislead the world. Difficult years are ahead; we will be tested very severely. The Christians will suffer great persecution. And, you see, people are not at all aware that we are living during the signs of the times, that the sealing is already advancing. It is as if nothing is happening. This is why the Sacred Scripture says that even the elect will be deceived. Those without a good disposition will not be enlightened and will be misled during the years of apostasy. For whoever does not have divine Grace, does not have spiritual clarity, just like the devil.
Elder Paisios, Spiritual awakening, Souroti: Holy Monastery Evangelist John the Theologian, vol. II, pp. 198-199.
Difficult times lie ahead
…with God’s permission, a strong jolt will come our way. Difficult times lie ahead. We will be greatly tasted. We have to take this warning seriously and live spiritually. It is circumstances that are forcing us and will force us in the future, to labour spiritually. But we should try to do so by choice and joyfully rather than by necessity when various sorrows come upon us. Many Saints would plead to live in our times so that they would have the chance to struggle for Christ…
Elder Paisios, With pain and love for contemporary man, Souroti: Holy Monastery Evangelist John the Theologian, vol. I, 39-40.
In this Beatitude we have reached the peak of our quest. Our reward of our efforts is to become worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven.
St Gregory says,
No longer do we go astray, pinning our hope on what is unstable and subject to change. For earth is the place of variation and flux; but in the things that appear moving in heaven we observe nothing like that, because they do not behave in such a way; but all heavenly things move in their own courses in series of orderly sequence.
The examples we have for this final step are the martyrs of the Church.
Gregory says
It seems that in the last words He holds out to them the highest Beatitude like a crown. For it is truly blessed to suffer persecution for the sake of the Lord. And why? Because being chased by evil becomes the cause of attaining to the good, since separation from the wicked one is made the occasion for drawing near to the Good, that Good that is above every good, the Lord Himself, to whom runs the man who is persecuted. Therefore he is truly blessed, because he uses the enemy to help him attain the Good…
Hence the immediate aspect of the persecution which tyrants unleash against the martyrs is indeed painful to the senses; but the outcome of it exceeds all beatitude.
We all know how difficult it is to deal with those who scheme against us and who do not show their love for us. Gregory uses the story of Joseph as an example. His brothers plotted against him, sold him, yet by this action he became a king over those who had plotted against him. But the persecution in the days of the early Church (which still continues to this days in parts of the world) horrible and was something known by all. Many of Saint Gregory's peers had horrific scars to show this (This is the reason the veiled headgear that monks wear to this day was initiated.). To become blessed because someone has plotted against you, or worse physically harmed you, is not a logical thought. We do not normally see the outcome of inflicted pain as something that is good.
Gregory says,
The fact that the persecution the tyrants inflict on the faithful brings much sensible pain, makes it difficult for the more carnally minded to accept the hope of the Kingdom that is to be realized through these pains. But the Lord, who looks down upon the infirmity of our nature, tells the weak beforehand what is to be the goal of the struggle, so that they may more easily overcome the transitory feelings of pain.
The first martyr Stephen who willingly received the stones that killed him is another example he uses. As Stephen confessed his faith he saw the glory of the Lord shine down on him from heaven. Who else could be more blessed?
Now it is really difficult to prefer what is invisible versus the good things of this world, like the martyrs were able to do.
Gregory says,
Now the soul is in some way attached to the pleasant things of life through the senses of the body. Through the eyes it delights in material beauty, through the ears it inclines to melodious sounds, and so it is also affected by smell, taste, and touch, as nature has disposed to be proper to each. Hence, as it is attached to the pleasant things of life through the sensible faculty as if by a nail, it is hard to turn away from them. It has grown up together with these attachments much in the same way as the shellfish and snails are bound to their covering of clay; and so it is slow to make such movements, since it drags along the whole burden of a lifetime. As such is its condition, the soul is easily captured by its persecutors with the threat of confiscation of property or loss of sonic other things that are coveted in this life; and so it gives in easily, and yields to the power of its persecutor.
But when we God’s grace penetrates our being it is transformed. As Paul says, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword…” (Heb 4:12)
Gregory says,
It cuts through the things that have badly grown together, and disrupts the fetters of habit… He is not pained by the loss of earthly things, but gladdened by the gain of heavenly ones. Therefore he will readily accept every form of torture as a means that will help him to attain to the joy before him: the fire, as a purification from matter; the sword, as disrupting the union of the mind with what is material and carnal. Every device for inflicting pain he will receive eagerly as an antidote against the dangerous poison of pleasure.
Gregory conclude with this:
Therefore affliction is the flower that will yield the hoped-for fruits. Hence let us pick the flower for the sake of the fruit. Let us be persecuted so that we may run, but if we run, let us not run in vain. Let us race towards the prize of our supernal vocation; so let us run that we may obtain. What is it that we shall obtain? What is the prize, what the crown? It seems to me that what we hope is nothing else but the Lord Himself. For He Himself is the Judge of those who fight, and the crown of those who win. He it is who distributes the inheritance, He Himself is the goodly inheritance. He is the portion and the giver of the portion, He makes rich and is Himself the riches. He shows you the treasure and is Himself your treasure. He draws you to desire the beautiful pearl; He offers it to you as it were for sale, if you will trade fairly. In order to gain it, therefore, as if in the market, let us compare the things we have not with those we have. Let us not be sorrowful, then, if we are persecuted, but rather let us rejoice, because by being chased away from earthly honors, we are driven towards the heavenly Good. For this He has promised, that those who have been persecuted for His sake shall be blessed, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven, by the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever.
St Gregory of Nyssa
In the past, people were so brave! In the Monastery of the Flavians in Asia Minor, the Turks had captured a man and slaughtered him. Then they told his wife, 'Either you deny Christ, or we will kill your children too.' And she replied, 'My husband is now with Christ, and I entrust my children to Christ and I will not renounce Christ.' What bravery! If Christ is not in us, how can there be such bravery? Today, people without Christ are building their home on rubble...
What love the holy Martyrs had for Christ, what bravery! ... [For example,] St. Gideon the Karakallenos (+1818) -- what amazing forbearance he had! To his executioners he said, 'Take my hand, take my leg, take my nose.' In short, take everything! Incredible! But for a man to reach that point, he must not love himself, he must love God. A mother runs into a fire to save her child. She doesn't feel any pain, because her love is stronger than the burning of the fire. Her love for her child masks the pain. So you can imagine how much more the love for Christ can mask the pain of martyrdom!...
For the Saint approaching martyrdom, the love for Christ is stronger than the pain; it neutralizes it. The Martyrs felt the executioner's sword to be sweeter than the bow of a violin. When the love of Christ really blossoms, then martyrdom becomes a festival; fire refreshes better than a bath, because the burning feeling is dispelled by the burning of divine love. A flaying becomes a caress...
Divine eros takes hold of the heart, takes hold of the mind, and man goes 'mad'. He does not feel the pain of anything else, because his mind is on Christ; and his heart is overflowing with joy. So many Saints went to their martyrdom and felt such joy, one would think they were going to a festival!...
If one does not start sacrificing something now, like giving up some desire or selfishness, how will he ever be able to sacrifice his life at a given time? If, even now, he thinks of the labor, and tries to avoid working a little harder than the next person, how will he ever attain the state of risking his own life to save another's? ... When there is no spirit of sacrifice, everyone looks only to save himself...
These years are like a pressure-cooker that is boiling and whistling. It takes endurance, bravery and manliness. If something should happen, be sure not to leave yourselves completely unprepared. Be prepared from now to face any potential difficulty. What did Christ say? Didn't He say, 'Be ye ready?' (Luke 12:40)...
Living in such difficult times as today, gives us one more reason to be all the more prepared. It is not only sudden death that we may encounter; there are other dangers as well. Therefore, dispel the spirit of ease and comfort for ourselves. Let the spirit of philotimo prevail. May you always have the spirit of sacrifice...
A woman, who had everything, once told me that having children is a dizzy bother. She couldn't be bothered to be a mother! When a mother thinks like that, she becomes useless; for mothers, after all, are suppose to love naturally... When a person has a sense of sacrifice, he does not complain, he is not lazy; he rejoices. That is the key: to have a spirit of sacrifice...
Oh, what joy it brings! Nowadays people don't savor this joy of sacrifice, and this is why they are tormented. They have no ideals in them; they are too bored to live. A generous heart and self-denial are what drives us. Without this force, we are tormented...
The miracle happens when someone can be compassionate and feel the other's pain. It is this very pain that moves God and brings about the miracle. For there is nothing else that moves God as much as a noble and sacrificial spirit. But now, in our time, this kind of nobility is rare, because self-love and self-restraint have entered the picture. Seldom does someone say, 'Let me give my turn, my place, to someone else, and it's alright if I am delayed.'...
The good is good, only when the one who does it sacrifices something from himself -- some sleep, some rest and so on. That is why Christ said [of the widow], 'But she, out of her need, hath cast in all the living that she had.' When I am at ease and do some good, it does not have the same value. But when I am tired and some one asks me, let's say, for directions and I do it, then it has value...
Can you imagine what joy is experienced by the one who sacrifices himself? One cannot even express the joy he feels. Sublime joy emanates from sacrifice. Only when we sacrifice ourselves can we be related to Christ, for Christ is sacrifice. Man can live in Paradise from here and now, or he can live in Hell. Whoever does good is overjoyed, for he is rewarded with divine consolation. Whoever does evil, suffers.
Elder Paisios
… But, you say, you cannot keep silent when you are pricked by
distress. I certainly do not forbid you to make a sound, but give
thanks instead of blasphemy, worship instead of despair. Confess
to the Lord, cry out loudly in prayer, cry out loudly glorifying
God.
In this way your suffering will be lightened, because the
devil will pull back from your thanksgiving and God’s help will be
at your side. If you blaspheme, you have driven away God’s
assistance, made the devil more vehement against you, and involved
yourself even more in suffering; but if you give thanks, you have
driven away the plots of the evil demon, and you have drown the
care of God your protector to yourself.
- St. John Chrysostom
