The days pass and fly away. The hours run without stopping. In the headlong rush of time the world nears its end.
Not one day will allow another to accompany it: not one hour will wait for another that they might fly by together. Just as it is impossible to stop and hold back running water with one's fingers, so the life of one born of woman cannot remain stationary.
The life of each person who enters the world is already weighed and measured - he has neither the means nor the ability to step beyond the appointed limit.
God has determined the measure of man's life, and the days divide this appointed measure into parts. Each day imperceptibly takes its part away from your life and each hour unrestrainably runs along its course with its little share. The days destroy your life, the hours subvert its edifice, and you rush to your end, and
The days and hours, like thieves and robbers, rob and steal from you. The thread of your life is gradually torn and shortened. The days deliver your life up to burial, the hours lay it in the grave, and together with the days and the hours does your life on earth disappear.
The life that you live today will depart and fly away at the end of this day, for every day takes away its part of your life and leaves with it. Every day delivers its part up to burial: every hour lays its portion in the grave, and in the swift flight of time they depart, disappear and are transformed into nothingness.
So swiftly do the days pass, so quickly too does life fly by - it has not opportunity to stop and stand in one place. If the sun were to stand still in the heights and the moon were to be restrained from its movements, then the time appointed for your life could also stop, could cease rushing to its end.
My children whatever grievous thing the devil, the enemy of our souls, reminds you of, make an effort to drive it away immediately without delay, for every delay brings about unfavorable consequences. The devil is completely vanquished with prayer and vigilance. The essence of watchfulness consists of being sleeplessly vigilant with the nous, pitting it against the passionate thoughts and fantasies of the vile demons. On this depends life or death, degradation or improvement. In other words, a soul that prays noetically and loathes and scorns the various evil thoughts is purified and sanctified with time.
In the war of the flesh, only turning our back saves us - that is, we must flee from fantasies and thoughts as soon as they appear.
Do not linger at all in order to examine or to converse with fantasies! The imagination is a great and terrible snare; things avoided by the eyes and the touch are approached with the greatest of ease by the imagination. Strive to keep your mind from imagining any worldly thing outside of your monastery. Only one thought should replace them all - the remembrance of our adored Jesus. If something in your cell reminds you of someone, you must necessarily get rid of it, to avert by all means any occasion for war. Make an effort to erase your past. When it rouses itself and tries to choke you, call on Jesus and He will be ready to help you.
My child, guard your nous from evil thoughts, as soon as they come, chase them off immediately with the Jesus Prayer. For just as bees leave when there is smoke, so also does the Holy Spirit leave at the foul odor of the smoke of shameful thoughts. And just as bees go to flowers which have nectar that makes honey, so also does the Holy Spirit go to the nous and heart where the nectar of virtues and good thoughts is produced. Without imagining anything, the nous should pay attention to the words of the prayer, which are pronounced either by the nous or by the mouth. The objective and focal point of all methods is to pray without imagining anything, while paying attention to the words which either the nous or the mouth is saying.
Glory to Thee our God.
+ Glory to Thee for All Things! +
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