WISE WORDS

1. Most people in our time are well educated, but because they do not believe in God, they are led to the precipice. They are very troubled, and most of them are fogged. They have lost their orientation. Little by little, they are heading towards not being able to control themselves.

2. Endless are the sufferings of the world. Most homes are full of sorrow, agony, and anxiety. Only in homes where people believe in God is everyone well. In other homes, you see divorces, bankruptcy, sicknesses, car accidents, drugs, and substances. And if one or two children in such families happen to be healthy, they ultimately get sick from that situation. 

3. What misery there is in the world! When someone feels and cares about others and not for themselves, they can see the whole world through “x-rays,” the spiritual rays… When I say Jesus’ prayer, I often see little children pass before me praying to God. Their mothers make them pray because they have problems and difficulties in the family, and they ask God for help. They turn the button on the same frequency, and that’s how we communicate!

4. We have not realized that the devil has set out to destroy God’s creatures. He went berserk because people started being interested in God. He is very wild because he knows that his years are running out. Now, he acts like a criminal who, when surrounded, says: “I have no salvation! I will get caught!” and makes everything a mess.

5. Today, the world is filled with insecurities, and because it is distant from Christ, it has the greatest insecurity ever. In no era was there the insecurity that today’s people have.

6. The years we live in are very difficult and dangerous, but in the end, Christ will win. You will see how people will appreciate the Church as long as we, in the Church, are right. They will understand that otherwise, nothing can be done. And the politicians have now understood that the only ones who can help now with the mess the world is mired in are the people of the Church. It sounds strange, but it’s true. Some politicians came to me and told me: “The monks must go on a mission. Otherwise, the situation cannot be fixed. Difficult years! If you knew what situation we are in and what awaits us…

7. Today, if someone wants to be honest and spiritual, they do not fit in the world; they find it difficult. In the past, there were plenty of goodness, virtues, and good examples, and the bad “drowned” in the good. Minor disorders worldwide or in the monasteries were not seen or harmed anyone. But today, there are a lot of bad examples, and the little good that exists hardly survives.

8. Good is difficult to achieve because humans must work hard on it. But evil is easy to accomplish because the devil helps with it.

9. The coming years will be tough. However, despite the difficult times ahead and the spiritual battles we may face, we can find solace in knowing that God can turn even the most evil intentions into opportunities for good.

10. Today, sin has become a trend. That’s why if today’s people see someone who does not go with the flow, who is not a sinner, who is a little pious, they call them retarded, or regressive. Today, those who sin neither feel guilt for themselves nor respect for those who do not sin and live right. Today, people do not consider sinning to be an insult but progress. That is the worst of all. If people who live in sin would at least recognize it, God would have mercy on them, but they justify the unjustifiable and praise sin. That is also the greatest blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, considering sin progress and morality wrong and outdated. But God always rewards those who strive in the world and maintain a pure life.

11. There is nothing sweeter than having your conscience at rest. It feels like having wings within, being able to fly. But with what people do today, their conscience is constantly heavy. They try not to feel it by jumping into entertainment, rushing to parties, getting drunk, and watching TV. In other words, they fool around to distract themselves from the heavy conscience. Because of the same heavy conscience, they can’t even relax when they sleep.

12. The more one moves away from God, the more difficult things become. A person may have nothing, but if they have God, they want nothing! Whereas, if they have everything, if they do not have God, they are distressed inside. That’s why we all should be as close to God as possible; only close to God does one find real and eternal joy. One who is alienated from God is vulnerable to demonic powers. On the other hand, those who are close to God receive divine grace. Whoever has God’s grace, more will be given to them. And whoever has a little only but disdain it, it will be taken away from him. The Grace of God is missing from today’s people because, with their sins, they throw away the little they have. And when Aunt Harris leaves, all the demons rush into the man.

13. If someone finds something on the street and keeps it, saying, “This is mine,” they won’t have rest within! They neither know to whom it belongs nor wrong anyone nor steal it, yet they have no rest inside them. Imagine how worse they feel when they steal something.

14. People don’t believe in God; that’s why they sin so much. That is where all evil begins, from unfaithfulness. They don’t believe in the afterlife, so they don’t care… They wrong others, abandon their children, and commit serious sins. Not even the Holy Fathers had foreseen such sins when they wrote the Holy Canons.

15. The purpose for one is to rise spiritually, not simply not to sin.

16. The devil is making people suffer a lot today because today’s people have given him many rights and are receiving terrible demonic influences.

17. Christ has removed from the devil the right to do evil. Only if man gives him rights can he do evil. When one does not participate in the Holy Sacraments of the Church, he gives the right to the devil and receives a demonic influence. However, when the soul is purified, the Holy Spirit dwells in it, and the person is filled with God’s Grace. When one is abandoned by Grace, they become worse than the devil. Because the devil does not do some things but makes people do them. For example, the devil does not commit crimes but makes people commit them. That is how people become possessed. In such cases, they should go to a good priest to confess and force the demonic influence to go away so they can think clearly. Otherwise, they can’t think clearly because of the demonic influence. Repentance and confession cut off the rights of the devil.

18. Some time ago, a magician came to Mount Athos and blocked the entire road to my hut with stakes and nets. If an unconfessed person were to pass through it, harm would come to him. He would not know where the evil came from. As soon as I saw it, I made the sign of the Cross and went through; I destroyed it, and nothing happened to me. Then the magician came to my hut, told me all his plans, and burned his books. In one who is faithful, attends church, confesses, and receives Holy Communion, the devil has no power, no authority. He is like a dog without teeth.

19. When the devil has acquired substantial rights over a person and has dominated them, the cause must be found for the rights to be cut off. Otherwise, no matter how much the others pray, the devil does not leave. It cripples the person. The priests constantly do exorcisms, and in the end, the person is tortured more because he is tormented even more by the devil. That person must repent, confess, and cut off the rights he has given to the devil, and then the devil will leave; otherwise, they will suffer.

20. I remember that there was a very loving family. Once, the man told the woman: “I will divorce you.” And the woman said to the man: “I will divorce you.” They kept saying those words to one another jokingly. But the devil took advantage of it and created difficulty in their relationship, and they were about to separate. They didn’t even think of their children. Fortunately, a good priest told them, “Are you going to divorce because of this nonsense?”. And that’s how they overcame that problem.

21. When sin remains in one for many years, the devil, of course, acquires more rights.

22. When a person decides to change their life for the better, take strength from God, illumination, and divine consolation to begin. But, as soon as they start, the devil makes a fierce war against them. Thus, they understand that they alone cannot do anything, and they humbly ask for God’s mercy, and humiliation comes. When they are humble, they get enlightened and easily communicate with God. Humility is what cripples the devil. Patience is the spiritual defense, and humility is the greatest weapon against the devil.

23. The devil has malice and hatred, not power. God’s love is omnipotent. The devil tries to appear omnipotent, but he fails. He looks strong, but he is frail. Many of his destructive plans fail before they even begin to be realized.

24. We should not fear the devil. He has no power and is rotten, but Christ is omnipotent. Don’t you wear a cross? The devil’s weapons are weak. Our Christ has armed us with His Cross. Only when we leave our spiritual weapons does the enemy have power. Once, an orthodox priest showed a small crucifix to a sorcerer, making the demon who helped him do his magic tremble.

25. Christ crushed the devil with his crucifixion. After the Crucifixion of Christ, the devil is now like a snake whose poison has been removed or like a dog whose teeth have been removed. The poison was removed from the devil, the teeth were removed from the dogs (demons), and they are now disarmed. But we are armed with the Cross. Nothing, nothing the demons can do to God’s creatures when we don’t give them rights. They only make noise; they have no power.

26. God’s love does not allow people to see the devil! Most of them would die of their fear! Think if they saw how he acts or if they saw the “sweetness” of his looks! Some would have the best entertainment! You know what entertainment. What do they call it? Cinema?… However, for someone to watch such a film, they must pay a lot… and again, I doubt they can watch it! The devil has horns, a tale, and all the accessories!!

27. Only God knows people’s hearts, and only to God’s people does God sometimes reveal – for our good – what we have in our hearts. The devil only knows the wickedness and vices he puts on people; he doesn’t know our good thoughts. It is only through experience that he sometimes understands some of them, but even in these, he falls most of the time. And if God doesn’t allow him to understand them, he keeps falling in everything because the devil is dark, with zero visibility!!! He doesn’t know, let’s say, a good thought of mine. He knows if I have a bad thought because he put it in me. If I now want to go and do a good deed somewhere, to save, e.g., a man, the devil does not know this. But when he puts a thought on someone and says: “Go save that person,” the person will be filled with pride at the same time, which is why the devil knows the person’s thoughts.

28. But how is it possible, Elder Paisios, that a magician says about three girls that one will be married, the other will have an accident, and the other will remain unmarried, and it will be like this?
The devil has experience. For example, an engineer can say how long a house will hold when it is in danger of falling, etc. The devil also sees someone walking and, from his experience, says how they will end up. The devil has no intelligence; he is a fool. He’s all a mess. God made things that way so we can easily recognize the devil and his tricks. One must be very blinded by pride and not recognize him.

29. If we believe that Christ is the cornerstone, then nothing scares us.

30. God allows a tough thing to come to us if something good comes out. When God sees that there will be a greater good, he leaves the devil to do his job. God allows everything for our good. Let’s believe this.

31. So God allows the devil to beat us with malice because, with the blow he gives us, he drives away all our dust and dusts our dusty souls. He let him attack to bite us so that we would take refuge in Him. God calls us all the time, but we usually turn away from Him, and only if there is any danger do we run to Him.

32. When we are united with God, there is no room for the devil to enter, but there is also no reason for God to allow him to tempt us to force us to take refuge in Him.

33. The devil is now trying to gain the whole world. He thinks, “If I have more followers, God will be forced in the end to feel sorry for all His creatures and will save me, too!” That is what he mistakenly believes, that he will be saved without regretting, without asking God for forgiveness. That’s why he wants to gain as many followers as possible. Didn’t Judas do the same? He knew that Christ would free the dead. So he thought: “I will go to the dead before Christ so that he will set me free, too.” Do you see how much cunning he had? Instead of asking for forgiveness from Christ, he went to hang himself.

34. Humility has great power and destroys the devil. Where there is humility, the devil has no room. And where there is no devil, then there are no temptations.

35. A person can become an Angel or a devil in a minute. How? With humility or pride. Did it take hours for Lucifer to transform from a devil into an angel? Within seconds, it happened. The easiest way to be saved is love and humility. So, let’s start with love and humility and then move on to all the others.

36. The devil rules vanity and the people who are dominated by vanity. Vanity is the “world,” the material world. What does the word world mean in Greek? Jewelry, vain ornament. Whoever is possessed by vanity is possessed by the devil.

37. – Elder, why don’t we understand how bad the material world and worldly spirit are so we can escape them?
– Because they enter our lives gradually, as the hedgehog entered the hare’s nest. At first, the hedgehog begged the hare to put its head inside his nest a little so it wouldn’t get wet. Then it put in one leg, then the other, and finally it went in whole, and with his thorns, he pulled the hare out completely. In the same way, the worldly spirit deceives us with small concessions and slowly conquers us. The evil advances little by little. If it came suddenly, we wouldn’t be fooled. That’s what the devil does; he scalds us little by little, and finally, we find ourselves scalded without realizing it!

38. People must direct all their attention to spiritual purity and inner beauty, not outer beauty. The priority should be the beauty of the soul, the spiritual beauty, and not vain beauty because our Lord also said: “As much as one soul is worth, the whole world is not worth.”

39. When I give my heart to God, can God not give me all of Himself? God seeks our hearts. If we give him our heart, then God gives us whatever our heart loves, as long as it does not harm us. Only to Christ, when the heart is given, is it not wasted, and only to Christ do you find divine love in this life and eternal, divine joy in the next life.

40. – Elder, often worldly people, say they feel empty while having all the good things.
– Real, genuine joy is found near Christ. If you connect with Him through prayer, you will see your soul fulfilled. Worldly people seek joy in pleasures. But also, some spiritual people look for it in theological discussions, speeches, etc. And when they finish, they are left empty and wonder what they will do next. Don’t they at least go to sleep to be rested in the morning at work?

41. It is the Holy Spirit that sanctifies, informs, and supports souls.

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Last Edited: September 1st, 2024.

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