watchfulness – Alana Nickels

Quotes on Orthodoxy / St. Seraphim of Sarov

“Upon his mind there must always be engraved these words of the prophet…”

A man who has taken upon himself to travel the path of internal mindfulness must have above all the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom. Upon his mind there must always be engraved these words of the prophet: Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling (Ps 2:11).
He should travel this path with the utmost care and with reverence for everything holy, and not negligently. Otherwise, he must take heed lest there should apply to him the divine decree: Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord negligently (Jer 48:10). Reverent carefulness is necessary here because this sea– that is, the heart, with its thoughts an desires, which one must cleanse by means of mindfulness– is great and vast, and there are numberless reptiles there (Ps 103:27), that is, numerous vain, unjust, and impure thoughts generated by evil spirits.

– St. Seraphim of Sarov, The Little Russian Philokalia

Featured image: Taken with Holga film camera. source

Quotes on Orthodoxy / St. John Maximovitch

“Carefully and attentively assess your inner impulses.”

Just as a basic concern is to be careful of anything that might be harmful to our physical health, so our spiritual concern should watch out for anything that might harm our spiritual life and the work of faith and salvation.
Therefore, carefully and attentively assess your inner impulses: are they from God or from the spirit of evil?

– St. John Maximovitch, wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco

Featured image: St. John Maximovich

Philotheos of Sinai / Quotes on Orthodoxy

“They do not take into account the defeats and the victories that occur on the plane of thought.”

Many monks are not aware how the demons deceive the intellect. Being naive and undeveloped, they tend to give all their attention to the practice of the virtues and do not bother about the intellect. They move through life, I fear, without having tasted purity of heart, and are totally ignorant of the darkness of the passions within.
Such people, unaware of the battle about which Paul speaks (Eph. 6:12) and not imbued with personal experience of true goodness, regard as lapses only those sins which are actually put into effect. They do not take into account the defeats and the victories that occur on the plane of thought, for these, being internal, cannot be seen by natural sight and are known only to God our judge, and to the conscience of the spiritual contestant. I take it that the scriptural words, They said, ‘Peace’, but there was no peace (Ezek. 13:10), apply to such people. The other brethren pray for them in their simplicity, and as best they can teach them to avoid the actual commission of sin. But for those who have a divine desire to cleanse the vision of the soul there is another form of activity in Christ and another mystery.

– Philotheos of Sinai, “40 Texts on Watchfulness (Nepsis)“, the Philokalia

Featured image: Photographer Gintare Vilcinyte. source