My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
On the Devil: That He Exists and Performs False Miracles
By Saint Porphyrios
The Devil, according to the teaching of Saint Porphyrios and the entire Orthodox Church, exists. "Our faith," the Saint said with simplicity, "has made dogma of the devil (since Christ came to us in order to undo the works of the devil ). If you remove the devil, there goes everything else about our faith."
The devil does not save. He works false miracles. "Many lights exist," Saint Porphyrios taught, "which one might see and be mesmerized by… but only one Light is True… Nothing happens with the other ones (he meant of the other religions). These possess mere magic tricks and the like. Many things are implemented. But in our religion, we have everything… Everything is accomplished through the Saints. These are two types of accomplishments. There is the evil and the good… One might pray because the others have no oil and they are suffering much because there is no oil; one might open up his hand and fill their containers with oil. Well, the guru can do something else, another materialization of this, but it is not the same thing. It is not of the good spirit. Because, as we have said, EVIL DOES EXIST. Evil also has the ability to give evil to the person who believes in it… it has the ability to allow him to do it. For this reason, many magicians, gurus, and fakirs exist… they are of the evil spirit.
Concerning the Holy Cross and the Powerless Devil
Saint Porphyrios emphasized that the greatest weapon against the devil IS THE HOLY CROSS and second, contempt. "Leave him alone," he said once to a spiritual child (referring to the devil). "Don’t pay any attention to him. The more attention you give him, the closer he gets. If you wish to cast him off, to distance him from you, stop paying any attention to him. Disregard him, he is worthy only OF CONTEMPT. From the moment he begins to accumulate this disregard, he will start to retreat until the point when he will finally revert to flight. Contempt serves as the second weapon, after the Holy Cross, which is to be used against the devil… He cannot stand contempt because he is arrogant and green with envy. Besides, this arrogance was the cause of his fall and the reason for what happened to him. He collected his due punishment…
By means of the Holy Cross and the Holy Mysteries (Sacraments), and through our own ecclesiastical maturation within the Church in general, the works of the devil are destroyed. The devil is very, very weak.
"One day, going from the General Hospital to Omonoia" (a city square in Athens) recalled a certain spiritual child of the Saint, "he fell upon an area where a certain rally had just reached its conclusion. One of the many firefighters who was there cleaning the area, lifted his hose and by accident, drenched another firefighter who was standing across from him. This other firefighter in turn, grabbed his hose and turned it upon the first, starting a water war, so as to see who would win. The one hose possessed a wider diameter with the ability for more pressure and was beating the other with the use of less pressure, as they united their streams forming an arc of water in the sky. Seeing them, Pappouli said to me: ‘Do you see what’s going on there? The stronger one is defeating the weaker one. This is the same for the faithful Christian who defeats the evil demon, because Christ is All-Powerful in comparison to the evil one who is very, very weak."
The devil is abolished (i.e., does not exist) for the person who enters into the Church. He is abolished already from this life here.
That We Must Not Recall Our Sins with Detail
Divine Grace which comes after a person humbles oneself, confesses one’s sins, and is obedient to the specific prayer rule prescribed by one’s spiritual father, cures the ailments of the soul.
The Saint advised that we are NOT TO RECALL OUR SINS which have been confessed because this may cause harm. When a person who has previously confessed one’s sins believes that he has not been forgiven, he then demonstrates little faith in the Holy Mystery (Sacrament).
A person who is severely grieved by his old mistakes, reaching the point of despair, "plays along" with the evil one. He becomes confined, due to the absence of humility, to the feelings of frustration and sorrow, which lead to disinclination for the spiritual matters, spiritual indifference, and despair. This is nicely devised trap by the devil, which comes "naturally," since a person has been wounded. The wound is attributable to egotism and the high-mindedness (self-conceit), which a person must struggle constantly, advancing forward while not returning to things of old. By this way alone, through God’s Grace, cann a person achieve KATHARSIS (purification) and the healing of one’s soul.
Please note: In the Philokalia, Saint Symeon the New Theologian references a quote by Saint Gregory Nazianzos in his chapter On Faith, which states: "FEAR OF THE LORD is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7). For where there is fear, there the commandments are kept, and where the commandments are kept the flesh is purified, together with the cloud that envelops the soul and prevents it from clearly seeing the Divine radiance. Where there is this purification (katharsis) there is ILLUMINATION, AND ILLUMINATION IS THE FULFILLMENT OF THE LONGING OF THOSE WHO DESIRE THE GREATEST OF ALL SUPERNAL THINGS OR EVEN THAT WHICH IS ABOVE GREATNESS." Later on, in his work entitled One Hundred and Fifty-three Practical and Theological Texts, Saint Symeon comments: "Blessed are the pure in heart," says God, "for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). But PURITY OF HEART CANNOT BE REALIZED THROUGH ONE VIRTUE ALONE, OR THROUGH TWO, OR TEN; IT CAN ONLY BE REALIZED THROUGH ALL OF THEM TOGETHER, AS IF THEY FORMED BUT A SINGLE VIRTUE BROUGHT TO PERFECTION. Even so, the virtues cannot by themselves purify the heart WITHOUT THE PRESENCE AND INNER WORKING OF THE Holy Spirit" (The Philokalia: The Complete Text: Volume Four.
Simplicity and Gentleness in the Spiritual Struggle
In our battle against the three great enemies (the OLD PERSON, the World, and the Devil), the Saint noted that a gentle approach is required. The SPIRITUAL STRUGGLE MUST OCCUR SIMPLY AND GENTLY, WITHOUT FORCE, WITHOUT ANXIETY, AND WITHOUT PRESSURE AND HARSHNESS. Simply and gently, we come to approach the "meek and humble" Lord. We battle against OUR PASSIONS, THE EVIL ONE OF OLD, AND THE WORLDLY MINDSET EQUALLY WITH SIMPLICITY AND GENTLENESS. The most important weapon IS CONTEMPT AND DISREGARD, in other words, our lack of preoccupation with such things.
All of our efforts must be CONCENTRATED TOWARDS THE "ROSE GARDEN" WITHIN US (towards the seeds of the virtues, good, and the new man). Then, our personal "garden of thorns" (the old man, the passions, and evil) will wither away…
We MUST STUDY THE WRITINGS OF THE HOLY FATHERS. We must MEMORIZE THE PSALMS, VERSES FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE, AND SAYINGS OF THE FATHERS. WE MUST PRAY WITH FERVOR AND CONTRITION. WE MUST DELVE INTO THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS AND BECOME IMITATORS OF THEM.
We must NOT be distracted by our shortcomings and our passions. Simply, WE MUST POSSESS THE WILL TO BE ABSOLVED FROM THEM. At a certain point, we will be ready (we will have become quite humble) and then God will take them away. Our entire effort must be concentrated on coming to love God. The Saint emphasized that a Christian ought NOT TO LOSE COURAGE. The chief cause of COWARDICE IS VANITY, SELF-LOVE, AND THE LOVE OF THIS LIFE. The Christian does NOT LIVE IN THIS LIFE ALONE, FOR HIMSELF. In contrast, he must profess together with the Apostle Paul: "IT IS NO LONGER I WHO LIVE, BUT CHRIST LIVES IN ME" (Galatians 2:20). We must be fully confident in the reality that nothing can make Christ stop loving us. Therefore, let us proceed with confidence, repenting out loud together with the great Apostle: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39). [Source: Healing the Soul: Saint Porphyrios of Kafsokalyvia as a Model for Our Lives)
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"Glory Be To GOD
Fo
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 