Υπακοή, εκκοπή θελήματος, αυτομεμψία, υπομονή γενική, ταύτα θεμελιώνουν την ψυχήν, την δε θέρμην και τον ζήλον τα δάκρυα διατηρούν. Εάν θέλης ζηλωτής να ευρεθής μέχρι τέλους του βίου σου, ζήλωσον του κλαίειν διαπαντός, και εάν τοιαύτα δάκρυα έχης, μη φοβού, συμπαραμένει ο ζήλος του πόθου του σωθήναι.
Το ύδωρ σβήνει το πυρ. Το ύδωρ το του Θεού, που ρέει από οφθαλμούς μετανοούντος, άπτει, οίδαμεν, πυρ ου φιλόϋλον, αλλά πυρ θεϊκόν, κατακαίον ζιζάνια αλλοφύλων!
Γέροντας Εφραίμ της Αριζόνας
Πατρικαι Νουθεσίαι.
ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Γ΄
Περί Αμαρτίας, Μετανοίας, Πένθους και Δακρύων.
My child, always be careful, both when you are happy and when you are sad. When you are happy you should not lose control through vivacity and laughter, nor when you are sad should you be so gloomy that it shows.
The reason why is that Satan shoots thoughts at us like arrows, but he cannot tell if our heart is receptive to them. But since he is an expert, once he shoots an arrow—that is, once he assaults us with an evil thought—he observes our face and all the movements of our body, and based on them, he gauges how well the arrow struck our heart. If he sees that the soul is hit, then he shoots more arrows there to kill it. But if he deduces from the exterior signs that the soul is not wounded, he changes his attack, and so on.
Therefore, when you are happy, you should conceal it within yourself, so that he does not discover it through your carelessness and rob you of it with some temptation. Likewise, when you are sad, do not let it show lest he augments your grief after discerning the reason for your sadness. If you maintain a balanced state when you are happy and when you are sad, the devil does not know exactly what is happening inside you, and thus does not know how to fight you.
Elder Ephraim of Arizona
On the Warfare with the Demons.
Counsels from the Holy Mountain
Chapter Seven.
Christ said to His disciples, “He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him Who sent Me” (Lk.10:16 ). The successors of the Apostles are the hierarchs, the priests, the abbots, and the elders of small synodias. So whoever obeys the successors of the Apostles obeys Christ Himself, and whoever disobeys them, rejects Christ. For this reason, since we want to place ourselves under obedience to Christ, we ought to show obedience—not merely obeying what we like and disobeying what we do not want.
For in Gethsemane, Christ asked that the salvation of mankind happen differently from what the Heavenly Father desired. But since the Heavenly Father decided upon the Cross, Christ then replied, “Not My will, but Thy will be done, my Father” (cf. Mt. 26:29 ).
Elder Ephraim of Arizona
Counsels from the Holy Mountain
Chapter Five
Homilies on Obedience
Stories of Obedience and Disobedience.
