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(134) During prayer there
sometimes occur moments of deadly darkness and
spiritual anguish arising from unbelief of the heart
(for unbelief is darkness). Do not let your heart
fail you at such moments, but remember that if the
divine light has been sent off in you, it always
shines in all its splendor and greatness in God
Himself, in God's Church, in heaven and on earth,
and in the material world in which "His eternal
power and Godhead are visible" (Romans I. 20). Do
not think that truth has failed, because truth is
God Himself, and everything that exists has its
foundation and reason in Him. Only your own weak,
sinful and darkened heart can fail in the truth, for
it cannot always bear the strength of the light of
truth, and is not always capable of containing its
purity, but only it is being or has been purified
from its sins, as the first cause of spiritual
darkness. The proof of this you may find in
yourself. When the light of faith or God's truth
dwells in your heart, only then is it tranquil,
firm, strong, and living; but when this is shut off,
then your heart becomes uneasy, weak as a reed
shaken by the wind, and lifeless. Do not pay any
attention to this darkness of Satan. Drive it away
from your heart by making the sign of the
life-giving Cross!
(135) Sometimes in the lives of
pious Christians there are hours when God seems to
have entirely abandoned them hours of the power of
darkness; and then the man from the depth of his
heart cries unto God: "Why hast Thou turned Thy face
from me, Thou everlasting Light? For a strange
darkness has covered me, the darkness of the
accursed evil Satan, and has obscured all my soul.
It is very grievous for the soul to be in his
torturing darkness, which gives a presentiment of
the torments and darkness of hell. Turn me, O
Saviour, to the light of Thy commandments and make
straight my spiritual way, I fervently pray Thee."
(13G) When, during prayer, your
heart is overwhelmed with despondency and
melancholy, be sure that these proceed from the
Devil endeavoring by every means to hinder you in
your prayer. Be firm, take courage, and by the
remembrance of God drive away the deadly feeling.
Observe: if not in your thoughts, then in your
heart, the enemy often endeavors to blaspheme the
name of Almighty God. What constitutes blasphemy of
the heart against God? Doubt, unbelief, despondency,
impatience under God's chastisements, murmuring, and
all the passions. By unbelief in God's truth and
mercy, the enemy utters blasphemy against the truth,
mercy, and omnipotence of God; by despondency he
blasphemes God's goodness: in general by the
outburst of human passions, he blasphemes God's
all-merciful providence and truth.
(137) You are praying, your
prayer is successfully accomplished, and you have
inward proof that the Lord hears it and deigns to
receive it favorably; your thoughts are at peace,
you feel lightness in your heart; but at the end of
your prayer, through some slight infirmity of your
heart and thoughts, a heavy burden falls on your
heart, a weakening fire, and you feel an extreme
difficulty in praying, and even an aversion to it,
instead of the former lightness and inclination to
prayer. Do not despair, friend; these are only the
snares of the enemy, who loves to mock at us,
especially at the end of our pious employment, so
that we may fall into despondency and consider all
our previous labors in the holy work lost. Learn
from this in future not to extinguish your spirit
even for a moment during your prayer; pray in spirit
and truth, unremittingly, and not flattering the
Lord during prayer by one single word - that is,
not pronouncing a single word feignedly,
hypocritically; let your prayer be only the
expression of truth, the mouthpiece of the Holy
Ghost, and do not let it serve by a single word the
enemy's lie, nor be in any way the organ of the
Devil. And to release your soul from his heavy load
and to extinguish his fire, pray fervently to God,
heartily confessing your fault before Him - your
hypocrisy during prayer - and you will obtain relief
and peace. Do not hurry; say and do everything
calmly. You will succeed. It is the enemy who
hurries and disturbs us, for there is no sense in
confused hurry.
(138) In order to purify and
stimulate our prayer, the Lord allows the Devil to
painfully inflame our inward parts, so that we,
feeling a strange fire within us and suffering from
it, may endeavor to bring into our heart by means of
humble prayer the fire of God, the fire of the Holy
Ghost giving life to our hearts.
(139) During prayer at home and
at church against the craftiness of the Devil, and
the distraction of your thoughts, remind yourself
of the simplicity of truth, and say to yourself:
"simply", I believe, in everything that I ask in the
simplicity of my heart, and ask for everything
simply; whilst all mine enemy's - craftiness,
blasphemies, abomination, and illusions - I
renounce. Let the origin, and the foundation, and
the source of all your thoughts, words and works be
humility, the consciousness of your own nothingness,
and the fullness of the Godhead which hath created
and filleth everything, and "worketh all in all" (1
Corinthians 12, 6). He who is infected by pride is
inclined to show contempt for everything, even for
holy and Divine objects: pride mentally destroys or
defiles every good thought, word, act, every
creation of God. It is the deadly breathing of
Satan.
(140) When, during the reading of
the canons and Akathistos to the Saviour; to the
Mother of God, and to the Guardian Angel, or during
the reading of other prayers, the Devil whispers to
your heart: "This is untrue, untrue this is -
strained, forced," and thus robs your heart of the
power (the truth) of the words of prayer, then be
"like a deaf man ... that heareth not; a fool, that
he may be wise" (Psalm XXXVIII. 14; 1 Corinthians
III. 18). Do not for a moment agree in your heart
with the falsehood of the enemy, or reason with his
infernal reasoning, but believe firmly in the truth
of all the Church prayers and hymns of praise in all
their fullness, knowing that they are in the words
of the Holy Ghost, proclaiming through the mouth of
holy men the praises due to the Saviour, to the
Mother of God, and to the saints. Bear in mind also
our infirmities and ungodliness. Remember that "the
Church of the living God is the pillar and ground of
the truth " (1 Timothy III. 15).
(141) Sometimes during prayer
you feel a kind of estrangement from God and
despair. Do not be carried away by such a feeling;
it proceeds from the Devil. Say in your heart: "I
despair not of salvation, reprobate as I am, and
emboldened by Thine immeasurable compassion, I come
unto Thee. If there is any hope of salvation in me,
if Thy loving mercy can overcome the multitude of
transgressions, be Thou my Saviour" (First and
Fourth Prayers before Holy Communion).
(142) When during oral prayer the
Devil gnaws at your words by a multitude of most
subtle thoughts, say: "The power of the Saviour is
in every word and in every sound."
(143) Also it sometimes happens
during prayer that our heart becomes impishly
ashamed before men of the words of the prayer or of
the Lord God Himself, and we pronounce the words of
the prayer listlessly, not from the whole heart. We
must vanquish this ungodly, man-pleasing, diabolical
shame and fear, and say the prayers from our whole
soul loudly, in all simplicity of heart,
representing God alone before us, and counting all
else as not existing. "Whosoever therefore shall be
ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and
sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man
be ashamed when He cometh in the glory of His Father
and with the holy angels" (St. Mark VII. 38). If you
consider anything visible to be important and great
except the Lord God, and neglect Him, Who alone
exists, Who alone is great, then you are most
impiously arrogant. Reckon everything as nothing in
comparison to the Lord, and cling to Him alone.
(144) The Devil generally enters
into us through one single lying imagination, or
through a single false thought and sinful desire of
the flesh, and afterwards he works us and disturbs
us, so in complex is he. Cannot, therefore, the Lord
of all spirits enter into us through one single
thought and through true and holy love, and abide
with us, and be everything to us? And therefore pray
undoubtingly; that is simply, in the simplicity of
your heart, without a doubt: it ought to be as easy,
to pray as to think.
(145) Do not pay attention to the
darkness, fire, and distress, proceeding from the
enemy during prayer, and steadfastly trust with all
your heart in the very words of the prayer, being
assured that the treasures of the Holy Ghost are
concealed in them - that is, truth, light,
life-giving fire, forgiveness of sins, expansion,
peace and joy of the heart, and blessedness.
(146) Even the saints of God
were at times seized with diabolical despair and
despondency. What, therefore, can we sinners
expect? O, the enemy often wounds us by the wrath,
humiliation, and cruel despondency of the heart! We
must continually turn to God and be every moment
with Him, in order that we may not be besieged with
the wrath and despondency of the enemy. There are
many other means besides of escaping from them - the
broad way of the world; only if you give yourself up
to worldly pleasures, despondency will leave you for
a time, at least while the pleasures last. But
afterwards you will be captivated by these
pleasures; they will become a necessity to you, and
you will find comfort and joy in them, and in them
alone; but may God preserve every Christian from
finding his only way of escape from the despondency
of the Devil through such means! It is better to
walk in the narrow path, to patiently bear
despondency, and to seek frequent help and
deliverance from the Lord Jesus Christ, Who always
rejoices those laboring for their salvation for His
sake, than to enter on the broad and smooth way of
the world and purchase there, by means of the
pleasures of the flesh, freedom from the spirit of
despondency. By means of this spirit of despondency
the enemy has driven many from the narrow path of
salvation on to the broad, smooth path which leads
to destruction.
(147) During prayer, when the
Devil violently tempts you, cast all your care upon
the Lord, "for He careth for you" (1 Peter V. 7).
During prayer only have faith in the Lord, Who is at
your right hand, and all things shall be possible
unto you.
(148) The surer and stronger are
the means that unite us to God (prayer and
repentance), the more destructive are the actions
brought to bear against them by God's opponent and
ours, who makes use of every means to attain this
end: our body, so inclined to laziness; the
weakness of our soul, its attachment to earthly
goods and cares; doubt, so near to everyone;
incredulity, unbelief; impure, evil, and
blasphemous thoughts; the oppression of the heart,
the darkening of the mind - all these are brought to
bear against the inattentive, through the action of
the enemy, in order to put a stumbling block in the
way of their prayer, on the ladder that leads us up
to God. This is the reason why so few pray sincerely
and heartily; this is the reason why Christians so
very seldom prepare themselves for Holy Communion -
so seldom confess and receive the Sacrament.
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