--- In Parthenon_Agora@yahoogroups.com, "parthenon_agora_usuk"
<mauxion.robert@...> wrote:
>
> --- In Gnosis_diagrams@yahoogroups.com, "palomnik" <strannik@> wrote:
>
>
> May the Lord help you to firmly strengthen yourself by His spirit. This
demands the utmost heedfulness. If inner concentration is lacking we must grieve
and fall down before the Lord with pain of heart. It is not attained solely by
our own efforts; on the other hand, it does not come without labor. It requires
a cooperation of forces--from there and from here; this is essential. First God
created light, and then He gathered it into the celestial bodies. And so it is
with us. Good exists, but it is dissipated or diffused. It must all be brought
together into a single unity. The soul, it seems, desires this, although
evidently it does not recognize this desire. The chief obstacle is--self-pity.
Lord, have mercy upon us! Without struggling and applying ourselves we shall
achieve nothing. We must force ourselves at least a little bit, even if only by
a hair's breadth. When there is zeal and dedication everything goes as it
should. But true zeal shows no self-pity. Is there, aside from this, a good
foundation? Here it is: a profound sense of one's sinfulness and lack of
self-justification before God.
>
> -- Bishop (St.) Theophan the Recluse
>
> (Translated From Letters on the Spiritual Life: 1985 reprint of 1908 Moscow
edition)
>
> --- End forwarded message ---


Amen. - C.