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| P. Dumitru Staniloae |
Father Dumitru Staniloae wrote:
"In all Orthodox spiritual writings, we find the presentation sequence in which the passions arise in any circumstance:
Satan put thoughts of sin in our mind This is called the "attack" ... It only at first looks like a simple idea that we can commit this or sin. It appears in the mind as a possibility. This is not a sin, because we have not yet taken a position vis-à-vis her. It seems to be outside us, we have not created, and it still has a virtual character is a possibility but it does not seem very serious, and that does not give us many concern. We are concerned with our whole being by something else. We do not know where this thought came, it was as if someone was playing with and had thrown carelessly on the side of the road. However we continue to think about it. Thus, it has all the characteristics of a thought abandoned by someone else and the Fathers do not fail to attribute Satan ... "
Have you ever wondered where did some of the thoughts you have?
In this attack until the act of sin, we have many steps ....
The decisive moment was when our thinking takes place. If we rejected the thought from the first moment, we escaped. If, however, we begin to think about to taste the sin in our mind, then "the combination", the mixture of our thoughts with those demons evil has happened. Now we have joined with the thought of evil, it became a part of us .... with it we have entered the area of sin and we can hardly stop the full development of this process once it was set in motion. Closely follow the consent by the way, or device operated by our thoughts and the thoughts of Satan to the fact that to happen. Now only the mere thought took shape in images.
Have you wondered why you came to look at some of the thoughts you take into consideration?
St. Paul, described his frustration with this issue:
15 In fact, I do not understand what I do: I do not do what I want, and this I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not, I consent unto the Law is good. 17 In reality, no longer I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18 For I know the good dwells in me, that is to say that I am by nature. Want the property is within my reach, but not done. 19 I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want, I commit. 20 If therefore I am I do not want, no longer I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me. 21 When I do good, I find this law: it is the evil that is within my reach. 22 In my inner being I delight in God's Law. 23 But I see another law is at work in my whole being: it combats the Act approved by my reason and it made me a prisoner of the law of sin which acts in my members. 24 Woe is me! Who shall deliver me from this body doomed to death? 25 God be praised for it is through Jesus Christ our Lord. In summary: myself, I am, by reason, in the service of God's Law, but I am, what I saw in practice, serve the law of sin ... (Romans 7:15-25)
The implications of this process are clear. If we want to progress in spiritual life, one must first have faith and a strong belief that these thoughts must be rejected. Reject them requires a firm, a disciplined mind, and God's help.
Father Dumitru writes:
"Therefore, the obligation imposed on anyone who wants to move forward in life towards perfection is to constantly observe the thoughts that appear in the field of consciousness. It must eliminate the idea of passion at its first appearance. Custody of the mind, attention, and the firm and sagacious thoughts resistance are continuously recommended by the spiritual masters of those who do not want to be victims of passion .... This means to keep his mind submerged, full of love, divine infinity, which enriches it with new meanings and always pure.
This is the first task of Orthodox spirituality.
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