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The Deception of Spiritual Dryness
The enemy uses spiritual dryness and impurity to discourage the obedient, failing to reveal that such trials are permitted by God to foster deep humility.
The devil tries at times to defile those under obedience with bodily impurities, making them hard-hearted and unusually anxious; at other times he brings upon them a certain dryness and barrenness, laziness in prayer, drowsiness, and darkening of mind, so as to suggest to them that they have not only gained no benefit from their obedience but are even going backward—and thus to tear them away from the struggle of obedience. He will not let them understand that the providential withdrawal of our seeming spiritual goods often becomes the cause of the deepest humility of mind for us.1
The Persistence of the Deceiver
Even when one overcomes initial temptations through patience, the deceiver immediately shifts tactics to attempt a new form of deception.
Still, some have repeatedly driven off this deceiver by patience; but while he has not yet stopped speaking, another messenger of lies—imagine—tries to deceive us in a different way.
Read the original Latin
Диавол старается находящихся в повиновении иногда осквернять телесными нечистотами, делает их окаменелыми сердцем и сверх обычая тревожными; иногда наводит на них некоторую сухость и бесплодие, леность в молитве, сонливость и омрачение, чтобы внушить им, будто они не только никакой пользы не получили от своего повиновения, но еще и вспять идут, и таким образом, отторгнуть от подвига послушания. Ибо он не попускает им разуметь, что часто промыслительное отнятие мнимых наших духовных благ бывает для нас причиною глубочайшего смиренномудрия.
Однако некоторые многократно отражали сего обольстителя терпением; но когда он еще не перестал говорить, другой вестник лжи, представь, другим образом покушается нас обольстить.
Notes
- 1 ↩смиренномудрие rendered as 'humility of mind' (humble-mindedness), the traditional ascetical sense rather than mere low self-esteem.
The Ladder of Divine Ascent (Klimax) 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.
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