The Secret Remembrance

“To forget is to be in a state of mind similar to ignorance. For when a man forgets, the light of knowledge is hidden and he dwells in the same darkness as the man who never knew. Since the distractions of the world cause us to forget God, the Orthodox Church instructs us to attain an unbroken state of recollection of God through prayer, spiritual reading and contemplation. Knowing that this holy state brings many blessings to us, the enemy of our souls uses earthly pleasures to divert us from this solemn remembrance that we would pursue happiness in temporal things and forget God. The remedy for this spiritual amnesia consists in being ever mindful of God and to burn away every inordinate thought and affection in the Fire of this Remembrance.”

“If a man lends his mind to something sensory or to worldly vanities, his mind becomes darkened and barren. For straight away he loses warmth, contrition, daring toward God and spiritual knowledge. He forgets God and the ways of God.”

“A man who only practices the remembrance of God from time to time, loses through lack of continuity what he hopes to have gained. It is the mark of one who truly loves holiness that he continually burns up what is worldly in his heart by practicing the remembrance of God.”

“The whole effort of the enemy is to directed toward distracting the intellect from the remembrance, fear and love of God and to turn it away from what is truly good to what appears to be good.”

“One who is pursuing the spiritual way should direct all his desire to the Lord who he loves. Then no other passions will find any opportunity to activate in him any other desires.”

“The mind is easily captivated by the fantasies of the demons, unless it has within an overruling or superseding thought, which as ruler over the passions constantly deters and curbs it.”

“Since each passion, when active within someone whom it controls, holds his intelligence in chains, why cannot zeal for holiness keep our minds free from everything else?”

“The influence of an idea abides as long as the idea is not obliterated and supplanted by a stronger one. Thus, sensual desire continues to make itself felt as long as it is not driven out by some nobler thought which takes possession of the soul. Thus, if we would be rid of sensual desire we must through spiritual reading apply ourselves to an entirely different trend of thought and should strengthen good desires by dwelling on them and nourishing them.”

“If you do not watch over your mind attentively, the images from past fantasies begin to re-emerge like young shoots. If you do not prevent these thoughts and images from entering your mind, the passions will once again establish themselves within you. Despite your previous victories, you will have to struggle against them again. For after being tamed like cattle, the passions regain the ferocity of wild beasts if we are negligent.”

“Regard not as loss, the privation of sensual pleasure, but the failure to attain to higher things as a result of having indulged in such pleasures."

The Philokalia