Από το βίο του αγίου Παύλου του Λατρηνού
Paul's Life and Teaching in the Wilderness
The divine Paul dwelt in the wilderness, occasionally visiting the Lavra to counsel the brothers in virtue and Gospel living, and to teach them a method for purifying the heart of passions.
The divine Paul always lived in the mountains and the wilderness, with wild animals as his neighbors and table companions. Occasionally he would also come down to the Lavra to oversee the brothers. He would counsel and teach them not to lose heart, not to neglect the hard labors of virtue, but to follow the Gospel way of life with great attentiveness and discernment, and to struggle against the evil spirits with magnanimity.✦1 He also taught them a method by which they could wipe away the old passionate memories and prevent the fresh sowing of the passions.
The Method of Guarding the Mind
The author exclaims over the Father's teaching of a method that wards off passions—identified as the guarding of the mind—and then transitions to continue the discourse.
Oh, how this divine Father teaches his untaught disciples a method so they can ward off the assaults of the passions! This method is none other than the guarding of the mind; for it is this that achieves that feat, and nothing else. But let's go on further.
Read the original Greek
Ο θείος Παύλος ζούσε πάντοτε στα όρη και στις ερημιές, έχοντας τα άγρια θηρία γείτονές του και ομοτράπεζους. Κάποτε κατέβαινε και στη Λαύρα για να επιβλέπει τους αδελφούς. Τους συμβούλευε και τους δίδασκε να μη μικροψυχούν και να μην παραμελούν τα επίπονα έργα της αρετής, αλλά ν’ ακολουθούν τη σύμφωνη με το Ευαγγέλιο ζωή με πολλή προσοχή και διάκριση και ν’ αγωνίζονται εναντίον των πονηρών πνευμάτων με γενναιοψυχία. Επίσης τους δίδαξε και μέθοδο, με την οποία θα μπορούσαν να απαλείφουν τις παλιές εμπαθείς μνήμες και ν’ αποτρέπουν τη νέα σπορά των παθών.
Ω, πώς ο θείος αυτός Πατέρας διδάσκει στους αγνοούντες μαθητές του μέθοδο για να μπορούν ν’ αποκρούουν τις προσβολές των παθών! Αυτή η μέθοδος δεν είναι άλλη από τη φύλαξη του νου· γιατί αυτή πετυχαίνει αυτό το κατόρθωμα και όχι άλλη. Αλλά ας προχωρήσομε παρακάτω.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Eph.6.12 — For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Notes
- 1 ↩γενναιοψυχία rendered as magnanimity (greatness of soul); could also be read as courageous largeness of heart in spiritual combat.
On Watchfulness and the Guarding of the Heart companion
A daily portion of stillness
Chosen Portion delivers one short contemplative reading and a guided moment of silence each day — the ascent, one step at a time.
Chosen Portion is the paced doorway into this collection: it portions the dense mystical treatises into one daily reading plus guided silence, exactly as the 14-day plan teaches.
- Daily bite-sized excerpts from the contemplative classics, never a wall of text
- A built-in timed stillness practice that grows from 2 minutes to 10
- Gentle progression through the tradition — the app remembers where you are on the ascent