On the thoughts, Bishop Alexei

God -loving clergy and faithful, the Christian

life, the robust, orthodox Christian life, we

all know involves acquiring the mind of Christ.

It all involves thinking about whatsoever things

are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever

things are just, whatsoever things are pure,

whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things

are of good report. If there be any virtue and

if there be any praise, think on these things.

And it likewise means a deep awareness of the

revealed truth that out of the heart proceeds

evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication,

theft, false witness, and blasphemies. Whether

we live according to the commandments of Christ

or according to the deceptive thoughts that arise

in our mind, depends upon how we watch over our

thoughts. Thoughts are not insignificant. They're

a matter of spiritual life and death. They're

a matter of psychological life and death. And

in the end, they're simply a matter of life or

death. So the first basic lesson is that the

thoughts really matter. The way we interpret

the world really matters. is more powerful than

any ascetic activity and helps in a more positive

way. In fact, he maintains that the entire spiritual

life depends upon the thoughts. Of good reason,

the Church's liturgical texts frequently contain

engomia of martyrs, for those saints were able

to endure a most painful death by remaining courageous

in thought. Elder Paisius would remark, that

a person's salvation can be gained or lost quickly.

It's not just a matter of minutes, but it's a

matter of seconds, because it's only a matter

of seconds that the thoughts come to us. The

second basic lesson, after that they really matter,

is that there is a common theme to bad thoughts

and that there's a common theme to good ones.

And knowing that theme is central. It's really

a matter of the self or Christ as the love of

one's life. and as the center of one's life.

Whatever the passions, whatever the evil thoughts,

the fathers boil it all down to what they call

philophthia, the love of self. Saint Basil the

Great provides perhaps the simplest definition

of philophthia. He says someone with philophthia

supposedly loves himself. Whatever that person

does, whether it's in accordance or in conflict

with God's commandments, is done for himself

and with disregard for others. Filoftia thus

refers to a self -centered motivation, self -centered

intentions. But the word supposed is significant.

Filoftia is not even what it seems to be to the

person under its influence. presumably because

it ultimately fulfills to fail the basic aim

of bringing benefit to the self. St. Basil contrasts

philophthia with not being concerned about oneself

on account of a loving stance with respect to

Christ, a loving stance with respect to the brethren,

being philochristos or philadelphos. St. Maximus

the Confessor narrows St. Basil's definition

to that of an irrational love for the body. And

the key word, of course, for St. Maximus is irrational,

a logos, being without reason, being without

purpose, being like an animal, and most importantly,

being apart from the logos of God, God the Word.

For a human being created in the image of God,

to act contrary to the logos entails acting contrary

to one's nature. St. Theodore, the great ascetic,

he would define philophthia as an impassioned

disposition towards the love for the body and

fulfillment of carnal desires. Although philophthia

involves an irrational attachment to the body,

the person who would be acting under philophthia

considers his thoughts and actions to be quite

reasonable. Peter of Damascus even defines it

as a love of one's own will and thoughts, which

is equivalent to a love of pleasure and a love

of praise. If someone affectionately coddles

their own preferences, coddles their own opinions,

that person will naturally, albeit mistakenly,

consider his will to be right, her thoughts to

be accurate. because such a perspective is always

reinforced by the gratifying incentives of pleasure

and increased self -esteem. St. Theophon the

Recluse likewise locates Philoptia in a person's

deeply hidden thought about his own self -importance

and insistence that everything be as he desires

it. So, consistently interpreting all thoughts

through the prism, of love for one's will, love

for one's thoughts, it gradually makes abnormal

interpretations seem to be perfectly normal,

especially when the person fails to ask around

for feedback from others. Filoftia, for the fathers,

is an irrationality, but that is really adept

at appearing rational. Its logic, however, is

always at odds with the struggle for virtue,

for Christian virtue, and it leads the believer

to ascetic sluggishness. St. Gregory of Sinai

notes that philophthia induces us to choose bodily

ease rather than virtue -promoting hardship,

or to regard it as positively good sense not

to willingly burden ourselves with ascetic labor.

Irrational philophthia thus has considerable

persuasive power that appears to be reasonable

to the individual because it makes him forget

the deeper eternal meaning of life beyond this

world. But Philoptia not only obstructs the path

towards virtue, but it opens the road to vice.

For this reason, St. John of Damascus calls Philoptia

the begetter of the vices and the ultimate cause

of the eight bad thoughts. According to St. Ezekiel,

These thoughts are self -praise, self -satisfaction,

gluttony, unchastity, vainglory, jealousy, and

the crown of these pride. St. Maximus likewise

notes that Philatia, again this love for self,

begets the three core passions of gluttony, avarice,

and vainglory, always justifying their existence.

Love of body, makes the soul strive to please

the body by feeding it with a glut of food, by

protecting it with a surplus of money, and by

admiring it with an excess of praise. St. Gregory

of Sinai points out that someone who is ensnared

by his own philophthia loses his freedom and

becomes enslaved to sensual pleasures and vanity.

This dependence on his own enjoyment and status

in turn damages the relationships with others,

since his philophthia embitters him with an envy

over his brother's prosperity. In a similar manner,

St. Maximus, the confessor, observes that philophthia

makes a misuse of the reason to justify cutting

up human nature into many fragments. Once philophthia

has convinced a person to view others as thoroughly

different or separate from him, it makes him

insensitive as well. Insensitivity to others,

coupled with a hypersensitivity to satisfying

one's own desires, are the two aspects of Filoftia

that give the impression that it's reasonable

to hate those who thwart our own plans. According

to Abba Isaiah, Filoftia is what then twists

a man into an unsociable, even antisocial being,

bereft of friendship, justice and piety. So the

fathers, you know, go to great lengths to describe

this love of self, which of course seems so very

natural, to show how all the results, of course,

are actually far from natural, and the ultimate

result is they destroy friendship, they destroy

piety, they destroy everything that's good. And

so having, say, a deep understanding of what's

the source of, say, of evil thoughts will eventually,

of course, help the Christian, of course, to

be able to see the thoughts and to check the

thoughts. St. John Chrysostom notes that Philoftia

blindfolds us with blinders that can only be

removed by those who are hostile to us. Under

the influence of Philoftia, We do not see our

own failings, while those who are hostile to

us often see them quite accurately. Alongside

of this subjective blindness caused by philophthia,

there is also a broader forgetfulness that breeds

philophthia. St. Peter of Damascus observes that

concern with pleasing the body eventually entangles

us in worldly concerns, and in this way leads

us to a complete unawareness of God's gift and

of our own thoughts. And like matter, St. Maximus

locates the source of philophthia in the forgiveness

and forgetfulness of God. Philophthia is obviously

contrary to how we were meant to be created.

In a particularly beautiful passage, Abba Isaiah

writes, Nature did not fashion human beings to

be like solitary beasts, but rather like a flock.

of gregarious animals who share the same pastures,

so that each person would not live only for himself,

but also for his father and his mother, for his

siblings, for his spouse, for his children, for

his other relatives, for his friends, and then

for his townsmen, for his fellow countrymen,

then for those living in his part of the world,

then for all of humanity, and then for every

aspect of all things. and then for the entire

world, and then, of course, for God himself.

So you can see how you start from Filoftia, and

then you just, the need to expand, and why, of

course, being in a gathering such as this, where

we're all gathered together, we're as one body,

it's one of the antidotes to Filoftia, is, of

course, coming together as the church. Instead

of growing, into an ever -enlarging sphere of

love that eventually encompasses all humanity,

even as Christ's love embraces all mankind on

the cross, the soul, distorted by philophthia,

shrivels up into a pitiful ball of lust, greed,

and isolation. All the wonderful potential with

which man was endowed is smothered and distorted

by being directed to an unworthy aim, leaving

the human being trapped in a very small, a very

stifling, and an utterly subjective world of

their own body. For the holy ascetics, removing

the loftia transfigures the way a person reasons,

the way a person desires, the way a person struggles,

by allowing a worthy goal to be placed before

each of the soul's faculties. St. Maximus. would

write, by our intelligence we should be stimulated

to overcome our ignorance and to seek the one

and only God by means of a spiritual knowledge.

Through desire, through a passion of self -love

which has been purified, we should be drawn to

longing for the one God, and with a sense of

power divorced from all tyrannical propensity,

we should struggle to attain God alone. For these

three powers of the soul For through these three

powers, we should actualize the divine and blessed

love on account of which they exist. So, for

the fathers fighting Gileftia, it's not a negative

act, but it's a positive transfiguration of the

entire man, aimed at nothing less than God, who

himself is love. When all the soul's faculties

function naturally, a person is then able to

see reality as it really is. St. Paisios put

it in one letter, if we could come out of ourselves

from our own phileftia, our own love for self,

we would also break free from the earth's gravity,

and then we would see everything as it really

is, with a pure, divine, and penetrating eye.

When phileftia is absent, it becomes easy to

conquer the passions. for not the slightest trace

or form of evil can exist in any way. In place

of the shifting emptiness of Philoptia, the new

man in Christ is filled with goodness which is

stable, permanent, and always the same. So it

is of interest that Philoptia, love of self,

is not the same thing as being self -centered.

Being self -centered It's part of growing up

as a child and needing to attract the attention

of others and to provide for one's need and for

one's safety. In a fallen world that's full of

dangers, the interpretations of how dangers can

affect the self are normal. Everyone basically

responds to life by forming their own personal

frame of reference that makes connections between

the self and whatever the self experiences. in

the environment. Subjective connections then

coalesce into a person's understanding of what

the world is and how it operates. So filoftia

is necessarily egocentric, but egocentricity

is not necessarily an expression of filoftia.

In other words, You know, it's possible for someone

to be concerned with the self, but that's not

because of self -love. Secondly, egocentricity

is about a subjective way of relating events

and persons to the self that may lead to psychopathology,

whereas philophthia involves a particular kind

of affectionate relation to the self that leads

to the enslavement of the passions. And third,

egocentricity is treated by teaching someone

to test egocentric conclusions for accuracy and

to consider the perspectives of others, whereas

Philoptia is fought by adopting a new hierarchy

of values that transfigures the believer's relationship

to God, to himself, and to others. In other words,

it's about taking the gospel and making the gospel.

and the teachings of Christ really the center

of one's life. So if we return to the theme of

watching over the thoughts in Orthodox Christianity,

what matters most in terms of thoughts are thoughts

about what we love. Those are the central thoughts,

of course, that we're called to take care of.

And those thoughts can either be love for others,

love for Christ, or love for self. And when that's,

of course, based on primary love for self, that's

where, of course, we'll get into, we'll basically

be off the path. The Fathers really spell out

everything in order to show us the way towards

salvation. That's why they also single out eight

principal bad thoughts that encompass and engender

all the other sins that the mind can commit.

Every Christian, Orthodox Christian, should know

the eight evil thoughts if the Christian is to

be able to watch over them. The eight thoughts

are traditionally gluttony, unchastity, avarice,

anger, dejection, listlessness, vainglory, and

pride. Now this traditional order in which the

thoughts are listed is meaningful. For the Fathers

teach. That gluttony begets unchastity. That

unchastity begets avarice. That avarice begets

anger. That anger begets dejection. Dejection

begets listlessness. Listlessness begets vainglory.

And vainglory begets pride. Food, sex, greed,

feeling frustrated, feeling unhappy. Feeling

that nothing matters. Feeling the need for praise.

Feeling the need to be better than everyone else.

Those are the kinds of thoughts that the Fathers

instruct all of us to be on our watch for. Knowing

that these are the areas we need to watch over

shows us that we need to watch over the intake

of our food, a wandering eye, a desire for things.

getting our own way, life having to be on our

own terms. All of this awareness of these thoughts

helps us to become the kind of Orthodox Christians

that, of course, we're the saints. We strive

to follow. The eight thoughts are really conceptual

counterparts to specific behaviors. For, as the

Fathers teach, What the body acts out in the

world of things, the nous, the eye of the soul,

the heart, the mind does in the world of conceptual

images. Hence the thoughts can be also formulated

simply in terms of behavior, in terms of the

gluttonous behavior of someone overeating, the

unchaste conduct of someone having illicit relations,

the avaricious actions of someone gambling, and

so forth. Father's connection between thought

and behavior links kind of the subjective reality

of the thoughts that we have in our mind with

concrete actions that others can also observe.

Furthermore, if bad thoughts can be formulated

in behavioral terms, then, of course, their antidotes

can also be formulated in like manner. For example,

in a text attributed to St. John of Damascus,

the author notes that gluttony can be corrected

by self -control, unchastity by desire for God

and longing for future blessings, avarice by

compassion for the poor, anger by goodwill and

love for all men, worldly dejection by spiritual

joy, listlessness by patience. perseverance and

offering thanks to God, vainglory by doing good

in secret and by praying constantly with a contrite

heart, and pride by not judging or despising

anyone in the manner of the boastful Pharisee

and by considering oneself to be the least of

all. Also note that if the beginning is gluttony

and the end is pride, in terms of the list of

the eight thoughts, that means that with a life,

A simple life of fasting and humility is really

the perfect combination for success in the Christian

life. Now, the eight bad thoughts can also be

framed as mistaken judgments about concepts or

as misleading impressions about the pleasure

some perceivable object will bring. For example,

envy can also be defined as the misbelief that

it's best to prevail over others. Greed is the

misbelief that the highest good lies in owning

things for the sake of possessing them. If we

use St. Maximus' definition of mistaking judgment

about concepts to the eight bad thoughts, we

can similarly express the thoughts in terms of

particular errors. For example, gluttony, unchastity,

avarice, anger, vainglory, and pride. involve

obvious mistakes in judgment that respectively

transform themselves into excessive eating, sensuality,

possessions, revenge, one's image or one's self,

all of them into the highest good, instead of

the highest good, who is, of course, God himself.

Sorrow for a being created by a loving God, listlessness

for a being whose days are numbered, whose life

is numbered in days, are mis -evaluations at

an existential level. The value of this way of

looking at the evil thoughts lies in its emphasis

on basically personal choice, and that there

is, it's basically, if we have an improper hierarchy

of values, those improper values can actually

support the evil thoughts, so that the evil,

what the fathers always characterized as, Eight

evil thoughts actually become eight ways of getting

ahead in life, which is basically the way, of

course, the way of the world, which, of course,

orthodoxy is very much upside down from that

perspective. One thing that I always note, even

though the fathers have a beautiful, comprehensive

way of looking at the thoughts, the Christian

life. It all always comes down to actually just

the simple, simple teaching of Christ, loving

Christ, loving neighbor, and then simply living

humbly according to the gospel. Now, mistakes.

Mistakes happen when a person is not adept at

working with the appropriate standard, or when

interference prevents or distracts a person from

using it. Since the standard of the gospel is

a given for the ancients, they emphasize the

problem of what they call mixed signals, that

is, the coexistence of ideas that conceal the

eight bad thoughts so that the latter will slip

by unnoticed. For example, the thought of gluttony

is often camouflaged by the reasonable pretext

of preventing bodily illness. The thought of

avarice is disguised by prudent concerns about

old age. In other instances, the thought is not

camouflaged, but the attention shifts to another

issue that eclipses the bad thought that's already

present. For example, with the thought of fornication,

the conviction that fleshly impulses will not

subside make room for the belief that only by

satisfying them will a person have relief? In

all these examples, which are basically taken

from Evagrius, a person who has made the mistake

of acting on one of the bad thoughts has previously

accepted permission -giving beliefs that seem

to be reasonable, that feel compelling. So the

monastic fathers point out that these beliefs

are really sly self -dispensations. So the believer

will recognize, they point it out so the believer

will recognize them, be able to judge them with

increased objectivity, and by the grace of God,

avoid making such mistakes in judgment, not seeing

the evil sin, one of the evil sins that are present,

leading them to sin itself. The classical patristic

list of the eight evil thoughts, it's meant to

provide the believer with a set that's easily

remembered set of mutually exclusive but collectively

exhaustive categories that can be an aid or standard

for diagnosing our own thoughts. The additional

knowledge, in turn, should clarify the believer's

choice about accepting a thought, rejecting it,

or acting over it. Watching over the thoughts

means an awareness of the dangers of self -love.

And it means an awareness of the eight evil thoughts,

which could also be called the eight crafty thoughts.

It's also necessary, of course, to cultivate

good thoughts, that whatsoever things are true.

According to St. John Chrysostom, this entails

musing on virtue and on whatsoever is pleasing

to the faithful and to God. St. Isaac the Syrian

notes that the remembrance of the virtues is

a better way to elude the passions than resistance.

Conscientious reflection on virtues alters the

way people interpret and thus respond to situations.

For example, if Christians who often reflect

on the virtue of speaking truthfully encounter

a situation where it would be tempting to tell

a half -truth or lie to save face, the previous

reflection on the virtue of honesty will nevertheless

be enough to help them admit the truth. In like

manner, those who frequently ruminate on patristic

advice about fighting anger will be that much

more apt to apply that advice in a time of need.

By daily, for monks, for example, Often the fathers

will talk about how losing the first zeal. And

so there's a need for a monk, even all through

his life, to remember the zeal when he first

entered the monastery. Or for a priest to remember

the zeal that was present at that first liturgy

that the priest celebrated as a priest. And that

remembrance itself strengthens. That's basically

a watching over a good thought, a cultivating

a good thought, which then allows for... for

further faults that are pleasing to God. Fathers

say, by reflecting on the bold deeds of the fathers,

the martyrs discovered within themselves the

courage to fight in like manner for the brave

and steadfast mind riveted to religious meditations

endures. So the active cultivation of good thoughts

provides a believer with a corrective lens for

properly viewing the world, even as the passions

and the bad thoughts distort what a person sees.

According to St. Bartholomew, good thoughts are

like pigments that the believer applies to the

painting of the heart and thereby makes it difficult

for clashing colors to be added. Together with

musing on the beauty of virtue, the cultivation

of good thoughts also entails pondering just

on the basic truths of revelation and the human

predicament. St. John Chrysostom points out the

value of this kind of theoria is not merely intellectual

and didactic. Those who unremittingly remember

God not only choose to do what is right, but

are also remembered by God, who then gives them

the strength, gives them the grace to accomplish

it. As an aid to the faithful, the Holy Fathers

prepared lists of edifying topics to be sown

in the soil of the believers' hearts. For example,

St. Gregory of Sinai advises cultivating thoughts

about God, the angelic ranks, created being,

the incarnation, the universal resurrection,

the second coming, the eternal punishment, and

the kingdom of heaven. I recall nuns that I knew

in Greece, they would always be thinking about

their angels, and that their angels were watching,

and they found it extremely helpful in their

life as nuns. St. Peter of Damascus mentions

that the above subjects In his list, but he also

adds other topics such as the flux of time, the

trials of human life, the soul's plight after

death, our faults, and God's bounty towards us.

The finality of these considerations kind of

form a bedrock that helps stabilize the human

mind. They moreover establish firm beliefs about

human finitude, value. and responsibility that

powerfully shape the way people view themselves,

their world, and, of course, their future. Just

take the thought about, say, the soul's plight

after death. If you have that thought, then you

have a thought about gluttony. Automatically,

that thought of gluttony, or that thought of

avarice, or that thought of despair, it's weakened

by another thought that's actually... And you

can almost take any good thought, any thought

about the gospel, any thought about Christ's

mercy towards us, his love towards us, the closeness

of the mother of God to us, her protecting veil

that shelters us, even just hearing those words,

and then despair, anger, they don't have, they

kind of, that lack of kind of, It kind of gets

innerviated from within by these, of course,

this cultivation of good and blessed thoughts.

Although the subjects on the patristic lists

are worthy of cultivation, the particular needs

and spiritual maturity of individual Christians

dictate which thoughts should be emphasized.

For example, St. John Cashin prefers the love

of virtue, and the love for God, to the fear

of hell, as motives for the Christian life. Consequently,

he advised keeping the love of the Lord at the

immovable center of the mind. And, of course,

if you think of what was the opposite problem,

which is Philadelphia, the love of self at the

center of the mind, putting the love of, of course,

Christ at the center of the mind is the antidote.

St. John Climacus likewise praises the sublimity

of thinking about the love of God, the kingdom

of heaven, the zeal of the martyrs, but he also

notes that the universal effectiveness of reflecting

on one's departure, the last judgment, and eternal

retribution. In other words, although love of

God is the most exalted of subjects, the harsh

reality of death can soften even the most insensitive

souls. encouraging to turn away from arrogance,

from vain thoughts, from inordinate desires,

as well as to follow the ascetic life. St. Theophon

the Rectus advises the believer to reflect upon

the above subjects upon waking from sleep and

to repeat a scriptural verse, such as, Where

shall I go? It is appointed unto men once to

die, but after this the judgment. The daily cultivation

of good thoughts or theoria complements that

everyday practice of the virtues by further altering

the faithful's interpretation of the world around

them. When people ponder on virtue, patristic

advice for fighting the passions, the achievements

of the saints, and the history of salvation as

well as their own future death and judgment,

They make the image of God in the soul shine

with particular radiance. Not only is their inner

life nourished by the truth of the gospel, but

their inner vision is clarified by the light

of Christ that exposes the falsehood of the passions

as well as the treachery of beliefs stemming

from selfishness, irresponsibility, and ingratitude.

In watching over the thoughts, thinking upon

good thoughts, is greatly strengthened, of course,

by reading and the study of spiritual books.

Spiritual reading consolidates what the believer

learns during the divine services and the mystery

of confession. Spiritual reading is such an important

facet of the Christian life and the health of

the soul that St. Ignatius Branshaninov begins

his advice to monks with an exhortation on studying

the gospel and ingraining the commandments of

Christ in the mind so that the monastics might

put them into practice. St. Phaethon de Retrus

likewise emphasizes practical and purpose -laden

aspect of reading when he advised a believer

who has finished perusing a text to persuade

himself not only to think exactly like that,

but also to feel also so. We can see the difference

if you simply go online and read a news article.

Maybe read two pages of a news article and then

read two pages of something that's spiritual,

something about the soul. The kind of thoughts

that happen afterwards are very different. The

way the soul feels. Spiritual reading, it's not...

It's not really an option for the Orthodox Christian.

The Orthodox Christian always needs to have some

spiritual book by their bedside to at least something.

You can see, thoughts are simple. It could even

be a paragraph. It doesn't have to be 30 pages,

40 pages. Although generally it's true that actually

more is usually better. But you can say a paragraph

so that it doesn't sound so scary. So, for the

Holy Fathers, for the Holy Fathers, the spiritual

benefits of reading sacred texts are manifold.

The reading of Scripture protects the faithful

from sin, for it both makes them more sensitive

to spiritual matters, and it arms them with expertise

about how to withstand and overcome temptations.

It also strengthens faith. It steadies a wandering

mind. It gives rise to pious thoughts. It illumines

the heart, and it guides believers towards virtuous

behavior. St. Athanasius the Great notes that

constant rumination on the law of the Lord is

a necessary form of spiritual exercise that should

be practiced regularly so that good thoughts

might lead a person to acts of virtue. When believers

daily read familiar teachings with the same eagerness

and thirst for sanctifying knowledge that they

had when they encountered those teachings for

the first time, then even the purposes of their

hearts and the wanderings of their imagination

are sanctified. St. Niles the Ascetic said frequent

reminders of good examples carve similar images

within the soul. The ascetic fathers even maintained

that extensive spiritual reading can heal a person's

evil memories by imprinting in the mind the remembrance

of the good, thereby purifying memories of the

passions and distancing the soul from distressing

recollections. Spiritual reading, moreover, fills

the soul with incomprehensible wonder and divine

gladness. The Holy Fathers recommend reading

the saints' writings with the diligence of a

zealous student who pays attention to every word

to discover spiritual treasures embedded in sacred

texts. As St. John Chrysostom notes, one sentence

often supplies those who receive it with ample

provision for their entire life. Since the faithful

read Scripture and the writings of the saints

with an awareness that through these texts God

may be speaking to them, it follows that they

also read these texts humbly and prayerfully.

In terms of practical instruction, St. Theophany

of Recluse advises believers to empty their mind,

open their hearts, and pray to God before attentively

and slowly reading sacred texts. St. Ignatius

Francianino advises monks to study works for

those living in community, such as the Discourses

of Abba Dorotheus, the Catechetical Homilies

of St. Theodore the Studite, the Ladder of St.

John of Sinai, before reading texts written for

solitaries, such as the Ascetic Homilies of St.

Isaac the Syrian. the Philokalia of St. Nicodemus

and Macarius of Corinth. St. Nicodemus himself

advises those sick with the thoughts to read

sacred books, especially St. Ephraim, the Ladder,

the Evergetinos, the Philokalia, and other books.

Although the advice differs of these two saints,

both monastic masters emphasize that the selection

of spiritual books is neither a haphazard process

nor an academic exercise, but it's purposeful

and practical, and an endeavor that should ideally

be done under the direction of the believer's

spiritual father. So, knowledge about Filoftia,

knowledge about the eight evil thoughts, knowledge

about the cultivation of good thoughts, can be

helpful. But all this knowledge, of course, at

times, can be forgotten at the time of the struggle.

Knowledge is never enough. The human will needs

the support of divine grace. Monastic fathers

acknowledge the difficulty of the struggle against

the thoughts, but they assure the believer that

it's always a struggle towards salvation. Abba

Zosimus used to say that without the presence

of temptation and thoughts, one could not become

a saint. Sometimes the Father suggests a methodological

approach to this struggle. For example, St. John

Chrysostom recommends working for one month on

one set of virtues and next month on another.

A similar approach can be seen in St. Nicodemus

of the Haggirite, who advised about preparing

for confession in terms of recalling sins committed

in thought, word, and deed during the span of

a month, during the span of a week, and then

during the span of a single day. The Fathers

also stressed a streamlined approach to dealing

with the thoughts by focusing primarily on becoming

humble -minded. The virtue of humility is capable

of protecting the believer from sundry thoughts

that can damage the inner world. For example,

someone who feels humbled will avoid not only

getting the appearance of critical thoughts,

but also the temptation to weave such thoughts

at the instigation of others. If that person

happens to hear someone being criticized, he'll

use criticism to humble himself even further.

As a help to avoid ranting about what others

have done, the father suggests that the believers

striving for humility recall that such inner

tirades make him resemble the demons who in this

wise torment themselves and others. To avoid

acting with pride, the Christian should refrain

from reacting before reflection and prayer. A

further patristic counsel for acquiring a humble

outlook so crucial to the battle against the

thoughts consists in simply being skeptical about

one's initial judgment regarding another person

or regarding a situation. Elder St. Paisius suggests

saying to oneself, I don't always think correctly.

I often make mistakes. How about when I had this

thought, which turned out to be off the mark?

Or when I misjudged my number in this way, but

it didn't turn out to be such. Therefore, I shouldn't

listen to my thoughts. In monasticism, where

special opportunities for training and humility

are available, the novice learns to distrust

his thoughts by asking his elder about them.

Abba Dorotheos relates, how he would think about

doing something, but at times be disinclined

to bother his elder. In such times as this, he

would say to himself, curse you, your prudence,

your knowledge, and whatever you know, you know

from the demons. Then he'd go and he'd ask the

elder for his counsel, and the elder's counsel

would actually be just exactly what he had thought

about. But then he told himself, yes, he says,

now it's good and from the Holy Spirit, but earlier

it was from your passionate state. Obviously,

the issue is not the truth value or the utilitarian

benefit of a given thought, but about the acquisition

of humility that can transfigure the entire thought

process and open one to the grace of God. St.

Bartholomew and John situate this practice in

the biblical tradition, stating that to seek

the counsel before acting is to fulfill the law

and the prophets, because by so doing a person

manifests in his life humility of Christ, who

took on the form of the servant. You know, on

the Holy Mountain, they often stress about the

great importance of obedience. You know, obedience

is life, disobedience is death. But what does

obedience mean? And it simply starts with just

asking. Just asking, is this right? Just asking,

is this what I should do? And rather than simply

accepting the first thought that comes to oneself

and that this is truly good, I think this actually

applies for everyone. I mean, as a bishop, I

may think, well, maybe I should make this decision

at the diocese. But I ask someone. If it's a

big problem, I ask his beatitude. I may call

a brother bishop. But also in doing so, there's

a humility present. And when that humility is

present, then it's no longer all about the self.

And again, back to Philadelphia, and just the

self making the decision by itself. There are

some more distinctions to consider in watching

over the thoughts. But the primary one, the final

one I'd like to talk about tonight, is between

thought as a temptation to sin, and as a sinful

state. Following Stoic tradition, Origen calls

the initial response to temptation what he calls

a pre -passion, before something becomes a passion,

propachos. That is an involuntary and hence sinless

inclination towards an irritating stimulus. Without

pre -passion, temptation would be an impossibility.

For Didymus the Blind, Of course, the temptation

of Christ demonstrates that pre -passion is a

sinless state. But there is a point when a sinless

pre -passion becomes a sin of thought. St. Jerome

writes, God does not punish the first or the

second stimuli of thoughts that the Greeks call

propathias, and that no man can be without. But

he does inflict punishment if someone decides

to do what has been thought. In his commentary

on Matthew, St. Jerome notes that a person turns

a thought into an emotion when he assents to

a thought and wills it. In this way, the neutral

pre -passion becomes a blameworthy passion. Thus,

for St. Jerome, sin begins with the use of the

will in a mental act of decision and judgment.

But the decision is actually not always so straightforward.

According to Evagrius, a decision is made when

a person lingers on a harmful thought. Lingering

implies immoderately indulging on a bad thought

that should be spat out as soon as it touches

the mind. According to St. Mark the Ascetic,

if a person experiences pleasure or anger while

dallying with a thought, then there also exists

an attachment that stems from one's free choice.

He also views the appearance of images accompanying

thoughts as indicative of inner ascent. The saint

discerns that being emotionally distressed over

a bad thought, rather than being pleased by it,

indicates that the thought was generated against

the will and can easily be eradicated. Because,

of course, for the fathers, the three sources

of the thoughts are, of course, the thoughts

that simply arise just from... the human organism

and what they consider, of course, natural thoughts.

You know, you haven't eaten for four hours and

you'll think about eating. That's simply a natural

thought. But then there are demonic thoughts,

which, of course, are evil thoughts. And then

there are, of course, good thoughts, angelic

thoughts. One of the fathers talks about the

example of gold. You say the word gold, and gold

is just neutral. It can't be neutral. But if

someone looks at it and thinks of it, yes, with

gold I can acquire this and that, and it turns

into avarice, then, of course, that concept has

become, of course, an evil thought. Whereas if

you say this gold that God has providentially

strewn throughout the mountains so that we can

build, make, fashion a beautiful chalice for

the temple of the Lord is an angelic thought.

So, of course, it has to do with, you know, Basically,

the origin of the thought and kind of the direction

that the thought is moving. After the distinction

between temptation and sin and thought, the ancient

ascetics instruct the faithful to the obvious

but crucial difference between sin and thought

and sin and deed, as well as the need to prevent

the former from slipping into the latter. Origen

viewed sin in thought as tolerable and treatable,

but sin in word and deed is dangerous and difficult

to cure, if not incurable. For this reason, when

a wise person is disturbed by a storm of thoughts,

he keeps that tempest of the mind hemmed in,

neither uttering a word nor moving a muscle.

So the exemplary behavior of the wise demonstrates

that an initial sinful thought can be arrested

by an act of will. Origen suggests that by some

introspection, anyone can come to see the possibility

of such resistance. He writes, if someone says

that it's impossible to resist what comes from

the outside, then pay attention to his own passions

and movements in order to see if his governing

mind is somehow approving, consenting, or being

inclined to that thing. As an aid to self -observation,

The Church Fathers outlined in varying degrees

of detail the processes whereby a temptation

becomes a sin in thought and then a sin in deed.

Their ultimate aim was, of course, to help faithful

avoid sinful actions, acquire compunction, attain

purity of heart, and discover the kingdom. St.

Mark the Ascetic queries, If someone has not

perceived this general process of sinning, when

will he pray about it and be cleansed from it?

So that's why, of course, knowing the stages

leading from thought to the action is kind of,

I would say, the final piece of knowledge that's

needed to start watching over the thoughts. The

standard patristic account of the process of

sin is enshrined in Balastha, Bossomon's commentary

on the fourth canon of the Council of Neo -Caesarea,

the Fathers say that there are four degrees of

sin. Provocation, struggle, assent, and act.

The first two of these are not subject to punishment,

but the other two call for penance. In other

words, there are three stages in the mind before

turning to one in action. St. Augustine of Hippo

and Gregory of Rome provide... slightly different

descriptions of the three stages as being that

of suggestion, pleasure, and assent, with pleasure

replacing struggle. Blessed Augustine gives the

example of a person who's fasting. If that person

sees food, the suggestion, his appetite will

be aroused, the pleasure, and then he may decide

to go and eat the assent unless reason holds

him back. St. Maximus the Confessor describes

the three stages as a memory bringing a thought

into the mind. The arousal of a passion by lingering

on the thought and then the mental ascent to

the passion. Other fathers refer to these stages

but emphasize the interaction between the devil

who initiates the process and the individual

who mingles or couples with demonic provocation

for the sake of self -indulgence or vainglory.

St. John Climacus defines the first stage. pros

voli, as a simple conception or an image of something

encountered for the first time in the heart.

In a text attributed to St. John of Damascus,

we are given the scriptural example of a provocation

as a suggestion coming from the enemy, like,

do this, do that, as our Lord experienced when

he heard the words, command these stones become

bread. St. Maximus and Ilias the Presbyter notes

that provocation takes place in the imagination.

Thus the first stage involves the appearance

of thoughts, images, and possible courses of

action, real or imaginary, appearing or being

engendered in the heart. Because they appear

in the heart, provocations touch the core of

the human person, and because they are often

clothed in the imagination, they do so where

the heart is actually most vulnerable. St. John,

the abbot of Sinai, defined the next stage, the

struggle, as a conversation, what has been presented,

accompanied by the passion or dispassion. In

other words, an individual who converses with

a thought will either couple with it by deliberately

dallying with it in a pleasurable manner or wrestle

with it by resisting it. Although pleasure indicates

an initial movement towards assent and sorrow

suggests an initial movement towards rejection,

sometimes one's feelings are quite mixed. St.

Gregory the Dialogist puts it, often when the

heart is tempted, it experiences delight in the

sinfulness of the flesh, but resists this same

sinfulness in its judgment. Thus, in one's secret

thoughts, the heart is both saddened by what

pleases it and pleased by what saddens it. In

other words, The tempted feel torn in opposite

directions, self -indulgence, vainglory, clamor

for pleasure, whereas the wiser conscience exhorts

the tempted to preserve the soul as the dwelling

place of God. And so you can see in the midst

of the tempting thoughts, having the strength

of actually cultivating good thoughts, or simply

having an awareness of, well, this is phileftia,

or an awareness that this is one of the evil

thoughts. how that makes that struggle, which

is a struggle that everyone goes through anyway,

that much easier. Remaining in the stage of struggling

with a provocation for extended interval is not

without danger. Real time spent in an imaginary

world surrounding the thought gives the thought

the semblance of reality, and it grooves a channel

in the mind through which similar thoughts will

tend to flow. In this way, habit -forming passions

come into existence. At this point, the person's

thought can become the person's tyrant in a process

that the fathers call captivity, a forcible and

involuntary rape of the heart. The final stage,

consensus, can be defined as an approval of the

passionate aspect of the thought. in which the

mind enjoys bending down towards what it envisions.

At this point, a person plans how to commit sin

in practice and step -by -step transforms the

thought into deed. Although detailed planning

intimates decision -making and control, the person

may well feel like he's being captive and being

dragged to the act. St. Gregory the Dialogist

views this consent as a sin not of the thought,

but of deed. For although the circumstances bring

a delay that outwardly defers to sin, the will

has already accomplished it inwardly by that

act of the conscience. As thoughts become obsessional

and habitual, so behaviors become addictive and

unexamined, leading the unfortunate soul to a

lack of repentance that paves the way to hell.

Repelling bad thoughts from the start is like

driving out wild beasts, so that one's vineyards

and fruits can be protected. If a person converses

with the thoughts, even without experiencing

pleasure, the vineyard is placed in jeopardy.

And although the fruit of the vineyard is still

unharmed, wild boars have been allowed to enter

therein. If the individual enjoys conversing

with the thoughts, yet does not consent to them,

the boars not only come to the vineyard, but

also begin feeding on the grapes, those godly

thoughts of humility. gratitude, and love that

are the very spiritual aim of the vineyard of

the mind. And when a scent takes place, the more

the boars move about, freely devouring at will.

In terms of sin, according to the ecclesiastical

canons, a person will not be tried for being

provoked by a thought and struggling with it,

but he will be judged for consenting to a thought

and subject to punishment for putting it into

practice. Monastic literature often has a higher

standard for that. Given the detrimental effects

of following a provocation to its bitter end,

the Fathers advised cutting off the bud by rebutting

it or viewing it dispassionately, as well as

simply by invoking the name of the Lord Jesus,

St. John. Cassian suggests keeping watch over

the head of the serpent, the first inkling of

the pernicious thoughts by which the serpent

tries to creep into our soul and striking it

down. The earlier a person rejects a bad thought,

the less he will be harmed by it. Nevertheless,

rejecting the thought at any stage before putting

it into action has its value. The corollary to

this action is the principle that repentance

should be in accord with how far one proceeds

through the stages. Thus, St. Gregory Dialogist

counsels, those who mourn over transgressions

in thought are to be exhorted to consider carefully

to what extent they have fallen into sin, so

they may be lifted up by an amount of weeping

that is commensurate with their downfall that

they are already inwardly aware of. Otherwise,

if contemplated evils torment them too little,

they will be led on to the perpetration of deeds.

So, patristic instruction concerning the thoughts,

it's practical, it's theoretically consistent,

and it's readily understandable. But it's also

based on careful observations and time -tested

approaches that are known to bring results. Obedience

to Christ's commandments and the struggle to

attain humility by reproaching oneself, by questioning

one's thoughts. and seeking advice are actions

that weaken the hold the thoughts have over a

person. Knowledge about when and how a provocation

or suggestion becomes a sin of thought increases

the believer's introspective awareness, as well

as their sense of responsibility for the development

of thoughts. Thus, this knowledge increases the

probability that they will rest of that thought

at an early stage of development. Knowledge and

practice are inseparable. One learns in order

to do, and in doing, one learns. The examined

life for the Orthodox Christian is truly a life

worth living. As Orthodox Christians, we have

the tools, we have the teachings, and through

the Holy Mysteries, we have the grace for something

truly wonderful to take place in each of our

lives. For human beings, Love God and loving

neighbor with all one's heart, striving to be

free of filthia, striving to see bad choices

as bad choices, to see evil thoughts as evil

thoughts for what they are, is what can lead

us to actually make wise choices in life. Holiness

is not the prerogative of monks alone. Our treasures

are for all. We simply need to make use of them

with humility, with fasting, With love, above

all, with love.