An open door for the demons

The demons have no means of taking possession of a man’s spirit or body, no power forcibly to enter his soul, unless they first deprive him of all holy thoughts, and make him empty and devoid of spiritual contemplation. 

Damage done by anger

What we gain by fasting is not so great as the damage done by anger; nor is the profit from reading as great as the harm done when we scorn or grieve a brother.  St. John Cassian 

 

There once was a boy who had a bad temper.  His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.  The first day the boy drove 37 nails into the fence.   

Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down.  He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. 

Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all.  He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. 

The days passed and the boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.  The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence.  He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence.  The fence will never be the same.  When you say things in anger, it leaves a scar just like this one.  You can put a knife in a man and draw it out.   It won't matter how many times you say ‘I'm sorry,’ the wound is still there.  A verbal wound is every bit as bad as a physical one.”

On the retention of anger

 

If we take St Paul literally, then we are not allowed to cling to our anger for even a day (cf. Eph 4.26).  I would like to make a comment, however, that many people are so embittered and furious when they are in a state of anger, that they not only cling to their anger for a day, but drag it on for weeks.  I am at a loss for words to explain those who do not even vent their anger in speech but erect a barrier of sullen silence around them and distill the bitter poison of their hearts until it finally destroys them.  They could not have understood how important it is to avoid anger, not merely externally, but even in our thoughts, because it darkens our intellect with bitterness and cuts it off from the radiance of spiritual understanding and discernment by depriving it of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  

 

 

Love will never cease

The blessed apostle described even the higher gifts of the Holy Spirit as things that would vanish.  He points to love alone as without end. Prophecies will end, languages cease and knowledge will fail, (I Cor 13:8).  As for love, love will never cease. 

Actually, all gifts have been given for reasons of temporal use and need and they will surely pass away at the end of the present dispensation.  Love, however, will never be cut off.  It works in us and for us, and not simply in this life.  For when the burden of physical need has been laid aside in the time to come it will endure, more effectively, more excellently, forever unfailing, clinging to God with more fire and zeal through all the length of incorruption.  St. John Cassian



On the need to uphold one another

Learn from your own experience to sympathize with those in trouble, and never to terrify with destructive despair those who are in danger, nor harden them with severe speeches, but rather restore them with gentle and kindly consolations and as the wise Solomon says, ‘Spare not to deliver those who are led forth to death, and to redeem those who are to be slain, (Prov 24:11) and after the example of our Savior, break not the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax (cf Matt 12:20), and ask of the Lord that grace, by means of which you yourself may faithfully learn both in deed and power to sing, ‘the Lord has given me a learned tongue that I should know how to uphold by word him that is weary (Isaiah 50:4): for no one could bear the devices of the enemy, or extinguish or repress those carnal fires which burn with a sort of natural flame, unless God’s grace assisted our weakness, or protected and supported it. 

The greatest of these is love

The blessed apostle described even the higher gifts of the Holy Spirit as things that would vanish.  He points to love as alone without end.  Prophecies will end, languages cease and knowledge will fail, (I Cor 13:8).  As for love, love will never cease.  Actually, all gifts have been given for reasons of temporal use and need and they will surely pass away at the end of the present dispensation.  Love, however, will never be cut off.  It works in us and for us, and not simply in this life.  For when the burden of physical need has been laid aside in the time to come, it will endure, more effectively, more excellently, forever unfailing, clinging to God with more fire and zeal through all the length of incorruption. 

On pursuing a pure heart

Everything we do, our every objective, must be undertaken for the sake of…purity of heart…we must practice the reading of the Scripture, together with all the other virtuous activities…to hold our hearts free of the harm of every dangerous passion and in order to rise step by step to the high point of love. 

 

The importance of a pure heart

Now the antecedent purpose of our profession is purity of heart, while its ultimate end is the Kingdom of Heaven.  It is, thus, impossible for the Kingdom of God to come to us without purity of heart.  Thus, let our minds be fixed on this purpose at all times; and let us be zealous always to direct our thoughts, words and deeds to it.  And if it should happen that our heart departs from the straight path, let us bring it back at once and rectify it --- using our purpose like a carpenter's plumb line. 

On purity and diet

He has no lasting purity and chastity who is not contented always to keep to a well-balanced and temperate diet. 

The Mother of God--rightly called

I have been amazed that some are utterly in doubt as to whether or not the holy Virgin is able to be called the Mother of God.  For if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, how should the holy Virgin who bore him not be the Mother of God? Letter to the Monks of Egypt 1 (A.D. 427)  St. Cyril of Alexandria

You cannot then help admitting that the grace comes from God. It is God, then, who has given it. But it has been given by our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore the Lord Jesus Christ is God. But if he is God, as he certainly is, then she who bore God is the Mother of God On the Incarnation of Christ: Against Nestorius 2:2 (A.D. 429)  St. John Cassian

On infrequent reception of Holy Communion

We must not avoid Communion because we deem ourselves to be sinful. We must approach it more often for the healing of the soul and the purification of the spirit, but with such humility and faith that considering ourselves unworthy we would desire even more the medicine of our wounds. … It is much better if, in humility of heart, knowing that we are never worthy of the Holy Mysteries we would receive them every Sunday for the healing of our maladies, rather than, blinded by pride, think that after one year we become worthy of them.  St. John Cassian

On self-restraint and purity

Bodily fasting alone is not enough to bring about perfect self-restraint and true purity; it must be accompanied by contrition of heart, intense prayer to God, frequent meditation on the Scripture, toil and manual labor.  These are able to check the restless impulses of the soul and to recall it from its shameful fantasies.  Humility of soul helps more than everything else, however, and without it no one can overcome unchastity or any other sin.  St. John Cassian

On anger

We must, with God's help, eradicate the deadly poison of anger from the depths of our souls. So long as the demon of anger dwells in our hearts ... we can neither discriminate what is good, nor achieve spiritual knowledge, nor fulfill our good intentions, nor participate in true life.... Nor will we share in divine wisdom even though we are deemed wise by all men, for it is written: Anger lodges in the bosom of fools (Eccles. 7:9). Nor can we discriminate in decisions affecting our salvation even though we are thought by our fellow men to have good sense, for it is written: Anger destroys even men of good sense (Proverbs 15:1). Nor will we be able to keep our lives in righteousness with a watchful heart, for it is written: Man's anger does not bring about the righteousness of God (James 1:20)....

If, therefore, you desire to attain perfection and rightly pursue the spiritual way, you should make yourself a stranger to all sinful anger and wrath. Listen to what St. Paul enjoins: Rid yourselves of all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, and all malice (Eph. 4:31). By saying 'all' he leaves no excuse for regarding any anger as necessary or reasonable. If you want to correct your brother when he is doing wrong or punish him, you must try to keep yourself calm; otherwise you yourself may catch the sickness you are seeking to cure and you may find that the words of the Gospel now apply to you: Physician, heal yourself (Luke 4:23), or Why do you look at the speck of dust in your brother's eye, and not notice the beam in your own eye? (Matt. 7:3).

No matter what provokes it, anger blinds the soul's eyes, preventing it from seeing the Sun of righteousness.... Whether reasonable or unreasonable, anger obstructs our spiritual vision. Our incensive power can be used in a way that is according to nature only when turned against our own impassioned or self-indulgent thoughts.  St. John Cassian