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- Sinful thoughts continually disturb a man. But if he does
not cooperate with them, then he is not guilty of them."
St. Ambrose of Optina (+1891)
- "Be attentive to the thoughts of the mind. If some evil
thought passes through you, do not get upset, for it is not the
transient thoughts of your mind that the knowledge of the Lord
of all observes, rather He looks at the depths of the mind to
see if you take pleasure in that evil thought which resides
there; for hateful thoughts float over the surface of the mind,
but it is the senses that are lower down which can chase away
hateful thoughts, which the Lord of all examines. He does not
judge what just passes over the mind, but rather the thoughts
that are lower down than those hateful ones, namely those which
appear in the depths of the mind, which can drive them away with
its hidden hand. For He does not pardon the thoughts which
spring up from the depth of the mind, for it is they which
should be chasing away those which pass over the surface of the
mind; He judges those thoughts which have a passage into the
heart." John the Solitary, in The
Syriac Fathers on Prayer and the Spiritual Life
- "In that time, infants will die on their mother’s lap, and
the mothers will die over their children, fathers will die with
their wives and children in the marketplace, and there will be
nobody there who will bury them." St.
Ephriam the Syrian, Oration on the Coming of the Lord
- "During a time of disturbance and warfare of thoughts, one
should lessen a little even the ordinary quantity of food and
drink." “Saints Barsanuphius and John:
Guidance Toward Spiritual Life,” trans. by Fr. Seraphim Rose, (Platina,
California: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 1990)
- "Listen to a parable against base thoughts. The grape, when
it is cut from the vine and cast into the press and trampled
down and yields its wine, to begin with the wine bubbles up so
much as though it were being boiled by a ferocious heat; so that
open vats, unable to bear the violence, break under the strain;
so it is with human thoughts, whenever they pass over from this
vain world and its care to things of heaven. For the demons,
unable to bear the zeal, trouble the human mind in varied ways,
as they wish to engineer for it a turbid overthrow; so that they
find a ready vessel, that is an unfaithful and doubting soul,
they will rend it. For the demons are ravening wolves, who go
round the cells of the monks looking for an open door for them,
so that when they have got inside they may destroy a soul which
obeys them. But if they find the door shut in their faces, they
go away extremely disappointed; I am speaking of a soul which is
firmly founded on faith." St Ephrem
the Syrian, 'To the Monks in Egypt", 10th Exhortation,
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/ephrem/egypt1-10.htm
- "This deceiver and corrupter of souls has often driven many
out of their mind. No other thought is so difficult to tell in
confession as this. That is why it often remains with many to
the very end of their lives. For nothing gives the demons and
bad thoughts such power over us as nourishing and hiding them in
our heart unconfessed." St. John
Climacus, "The Ladder of Divine Ascent," (Boston: Holy
Transfiguration Monastery, 1978),STEP 23: On Mad Pride, and, in
the Same Step, on Unclean Blasphemous Thoughts
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