You, my child, should look only at yourself. You lack humility; your pride and obstinacy are causing those thoughts which you wrote about. If you humble yourself, if you blame yourself in all temptations and believe that you suffer them because of your passions and that the Elder and the brothers are not in fault, then immediately you will sense relief from those thoughts, and your wounds will heal. If you expect to be healed by any other means—namely, that the Elder or the brothers change—you labor in vain. Evil require eradication from the root, and its root is pride, egotism, obstinacy, the will, anger, etc. All these are healed with one medicine: by casting the burden of the error and temptation on yourself. Always say: “It is my fault; I am the cause; because of my passions I suffer; the cause of my evils is no one else but me, the thrice-wretched one”. Yes, my child, this is the highest truth, the true reality. Walk in accordance with what I advise; walk along these guidelines, and you will truly find the health and cure of your soul.
Elder Ephraim of Arizona
