Today, July 12, we celebrate the memory of St. Paisios the Athonite, who slept in the Lord on this date in 1994. Australia had the blessing of receiving this modern day saint in 1977, upon the invitation of His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos. To celebrate his memory we provide an exert from one of his epistles as a spiritual counsel.
The worst enemy, even greater than the devil, is evilness combined with pride, because not only does this defile the virtues and render them useless, but exhausts the body as well, and plunges the soul into hell.
Just as a small hole in a tin causes food to spoil, because air seeps in, similarly, a single prideful thought, if it crosses our mind, puffs us up and makes us boastful, rendering the virtues useless.
Most of the time, egotism causes us the greatest spiritual harm, because egotism is the most vigorous and wrongheaded child of pride.
Of course, if the “I” did not exist and human beings used only the “you, he or she” humility, love, and the blessing of God would exist in the world and people would then live a heavenly life on earth. May God grant this blessing to His creatures. Amen.
Source: Epistles from St. Paisios of Mt. Athos
