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52. I want to tell you too, brethren, what the soul of a labourer is like in whom the fire of God has been kindled. Such a soul is like a two-winged bird that flies high in the sky. Of all God’s creatures, only birds in this world have the power of flight and wings. And the wings of the soul of a person who has submitted to God are the upward striving of the divine fire kindled in it. By means of these wings the soul can fly up high toward heaven. But if it is deprived of these wings — of the divine fire — then it will no longer be able to ascend to God, since it will be deprived of communion with Him and will become like a bird with clipped wings, which huddles below on the ground and is unable to fly. And I will tell you also that a person’s soul is like a bird in this too, that it also needs divine warmth to be born into faith in the Lord, just as a bird hatches its chicks from its eggs by the warmth of its own body. As a chick cannot come into this world without warmth, so the soul of a person cannot be born in Christ without the divine fire. So God, embracing and warming the souls that are obedient and faithful to Him, at the same time kindles them for the spiritual life and teaches them such a life. And when you thus know that the soul which has followed God and is obedient to Him is like a bird whose existence takes its beginning from warmth, by no means slacken and do not allow this divine fire to fail in your souls. Know, brethren, that to quench this divine fire in your souls the devil will wage a great war against you and will bring many wiles upon you, since the evil spirits know well that while this divine fire — the greatest grace of God, granted to His creature — burns in you, they cannot defeat you by any means.

53. Resist the devil and try to recognise his wiles and devices. His bitter poison he usually hides under the appearance of sweetness, in order to deceive us, and to this end he sends us various apparitions, beautiful in outward appearance, which are in fact quite otherwise: the evil spirits craftily imitate the truth and appear to us as angels of light, so as by this way to deceive our hearts — for truth is desirable to everyone and draws souls to itself. All the devil’s devising is directed to withstanding the soul that strives toward God and to hindering it in its striving toward heaven. He puts many different passions and desires into a person’s soul in order to quench the divine fire which is the strength of that soul. And the devil fights especially against the person labouring in spiritual toils by giving him bodily ease and freedom from care. And when the crafty spirit sees that all his temptations are put away and nothing is received from him, when all hope of defeating the labourer is exhausted, the devil withdraws from the labourers in shame. And then the Spirit of God enters into the souls of such people and takes up His dwelling there. And when the Spirit of God enters into them, then they gain peace and rest, that is, the ability to be true peacemakers in every work, which will make the bearing of the yoke sweet for them, as it is said in the holy Gospel: “Take my yoke upon you, for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matt. 11:29). And then such labourers, who have bowed their necks under the Lord’s yoke and have been filled with His Spirit, become untiring both in the labour of virtue, that is, in doing good works, and in obedience and in night vigil; they are never filled with anger because of human vanity and fear no one and nothing in this world: neither cruel people, nor raging beasts, nor evil spirits — because the joy of the Lord is in them day and night and strengthens them, quickens their mind and feeds them spiritually. By this joy the soul of every true believer in the Lord grows and becomes all-powerful, that is, attains perfection; and it is precisely by means of this joy that it will in due time be raised to heaven.

54. We see that an infant grows in this way: at first he takes only his mother’s milk for food, then some other easily digested food, and at last, having grown and become strong, he can take any food with which every grown person usually feeds himself. So the child grows, so he grows strong in body, becomes a man, and his heart then meets an enemy without fear if anyone attacks. But if some illness befalls a person in childhood, then his feeding and strengthening in body is not successful, and such a one, weak in body, is defeated and easily subdued by every enemy. In order to be healed and to gain the strength to defeat enemies, such a person is forced to make use of the help of an experienced physician and to entrust himself to the care of other people. The same happens with a person’s soul: if there is no divine joy in it, it is weak and wounded; if such a person wishes to be healed and finds a God-fearing man, skilled in spiritual healing, to whom he entrusts himself wholly, then this God-fearing man will first of all heal this weak soul of its passions and desires, will restore it for the spiritual life and will teach it how with God’s help to receive this heavenly joy — the true food of its soul. It is after such healing that the weak person, now healed and strengthened in soul, will be able to withstand his enemies, that is, the evil spirits, to defeat them and to reject all their counsels and instructions, after which he will rejoice with a still fuller joy.

55. Guard yourselves against the counsels and instructions of the evil devil, when he resorts to the greatest craft and appears to you in the guise of one who speaks the truth, so as to deceive you and lead you into falsehood. Even if he comes to you transformed into an angel of light, do not believe him and listen to nothing from him, for it is precisely in this way that the devil wars against all who are righteous and faithful to the Lord: he tries to show himself as true and to charm by his attractiveness. People who have not reached perfection do not know this craft of the devil, for they cannot even see what the evil spirit unceasingly puts into their souls. But perfect labourers, tempered in temptations, know this device of the devil well, for, as the Apostle Paul says, “strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5:14). Such perfect people the devil cannot deceive; but the enemy of the human race easily deceives, with his outwardly attractive bait that looks like the truth, those believers who look into themselves but little; such people the devil catches as a fisherman catches a fish when he covers the hook with bait. For the fish does not know that a hook is hidden by this bait, and so it swims up to it, swallows the bait and in that very moment becomes the fisherman’s catch. If the fish knew what lot the bait held for it, then undoubtedly it would not come near it but would swim quickly away. In just the same way the enemy of the human race catches imperfect believers, as we said above, for a wholly similar reason; and King Solomon says the same in his divine wisdom: “There are ways that seem to be right to a man, but the end of them looks to the depth of hell” (Prov. of Sol. 16:2). And something similar is written in the prophet Amos (8:2): “And the Lord said to me, What seest thou, Amos? And I said, Behold, a fowler’s vessel (of the bird-catcher, the setter of snares). And the Lord said to me, The end is come upon my people Israel; I will not pass by them any more.” A bird, for fear of being caught, flies high in the air and builds its nest for rest and for breeding in high places or on unreachable cliffs, where it sleeps without fear, knowing: here no one can reach me and catch me. But we know well what trick and cunning the fowler uses to lure them into his trap: he goes to the places where he reckons the bird is to be found, sets his nets, scatters grain in an open place and with this bait lures the bird down from the height where it has sheltered; the bird flies down, rushes to the food and is caught in the net. In just the same way the devil acts when by his devices he catches imperfect Christians and casts them down from the height they have already reached. So the devil acted when he took the form of the serpent and said to Eve: “Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:4–5). Hearing these words, Eve inclined her heart toward the serpent and believed that there was truth in his words. And this happened because Eve did not judge as she ought to have. But when she both tasted it herself and gave Adam the forbidden fruit to eat, then the greatest misfortune fell upon them both: the wrath of God overtook them and they were cast down from the height of paradise. In the same way the devil deals with imperfect Christians who do not know how truly to tell good from evil, since they follow only their own desires and inclinations and are content with their own judgement and understanding alone. They do not ask counsel and instruction from their teachers, the perfect fathers, but follow their own thoughts and falsely think that they have already reached perfection and have received the prayer and blessing of our holy fathers. Such imperfect Christians are like those birds which have built their nests high up but, deceived by the bait, have flown down to the ground, fallen into the fowler’s net and been taken captive. Such a thing happens to such Christians because in their self-assurance they always follow their desires and act so as to fulfil every wish of theirs, and at the same time do not ask counsel of their teachers and do not listen to their instruction. And the devil, having found such people, sends visions and apparitions upon them and fills their hearts with pride. Often at night he suggests to them such dreams in which they live just as they do by day, and by this casts them into still greater deception. But the evil spirit is not content even with this: sometimes at night he shows them such a light that everything around is lit up, and he does this in order to show himself to weak Christians as an angel of light. And the devil does much else of this kind, often even working signs and wonders, in order to persuade the imperfect that he is a good angel of God, and to fill with false peace those who think so; and as soon as such labourers receive the devil in this way and do not reject him at once, the evil spirit casts them down from the height they have reached. So their fall comes about because they are enslaved to the spirit of pride, which takes hold of them wholly. And with this the devil still tries to keep such people convinced that they are, as it were, spiritually great and surpass others in the labour that pleases God and have no need to turn to their teachers for counsel. As Holy Scripture says, such believers really do look outwardly like attractive, glistening clusters of grapes, which are in fact not yet ripe and are sour. The counsels and instructions of the teaching fathers have become burdensome to them, for, lifting themselves up with pride, they are falsely convinced: we know everything well ourselves.

56. Know firmly, brethren, that you will not make progress in spiritual labour, will not grow and be strengthened so as to attain perfection, and will not truly have the ability to tell good from evil, unless you are obedient to your spiritual teachers. For our holy fathers themselves acted so: they obeyed their teachers and listened to all their counsels and instructions. That is why they made such progress in spiritual labour, grew and were strengthened spiritually, attained perfection and themselves became spiritual teachers and fathers to other labourers, as it is said in the book of the wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach: “Do not depart from your teachers and do not reject their teaching, for they themselves were taught by their fathers; do not turn away from the counsels of the fathers, and you too will be taught by them and will understand what answer to give at what time and in what case” (8:11–12). So you should imitate those labourers who were obedient in everything to their spiritual fathers and listened to all their counsels and instructions, and whom, with God’s help, these spiritual fathers taught everything good and true just as they themselves had been taught by their own spiritual fathers and as they themselves always taught their obedient and faithful spiritual children. So Isaac was obedient to Abraham, Jacob to Isaac, Joseph to Jacob, the prophet Elisha to the prophet Elijah, the Apostle Paul to Ananias, Timothy to Paul… All these and many others like them obeyed their spiritual fathers in everything, did their will and always followed their counsels and instructions. That is why by such obedience they came to know the truth and themselves became messengers of the truth in every work, as the prophet Ezekiel says (3:17): “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: and thou shalt hear the word from my mouth and shalt declare it to them from me.” So if you want to labour successfully for virtue and to grow more fully in spirit, be always peaceful and untroubled in heart; and if you can do this, you will never be put to shame by the devil; and if you truly want this, brethren, submit wholly to your spiritual fathers and teachers, listen to all their counsels and instructions — and you, clothed in humility in Christ, will never fall.

57. I will tell you too, brethren, of one thing which alone makes a person firm in virtue and in the doing of good works and will keep him in this firmness throughout his earthly life. This is that thing: love your God with all your soul, with all your heart and with all your mind, and serve Him alone! If you can do this, then God will give you the greatest strength and will grant you true joy, thanks to which every work of God will become for you as sweet as the honeycomb, and every other work too — bodily and earthly: various handiwork, mental occupation and the labour of vigil, that is, the yoke of the Lord in general, which you have laid on your neck by your own will — will become light and pleasant for you. And yet God, in His great love for people, sometimes sends you opposition too, so that you may not exalt yourselves vainly and may always labour for virtue. That is why it happens that even monks who have made progress in spiritual labour are sometimes seized, instead of courage, by heaviness and weakness; instead of joy, by sadness and grief; instead of peace and stillness, by agitation; instead of sweetness, by bitterness and gall. And much else of the kind sometimes meets those who truly love the Lord. But they must fight all this in themselves, and by this they will be strengthened still more in spirit; and when at last they completely overcome their weakness, then the Holy Spirit will appear to them, will take up His dwelling in their souls and will help them in every work; and it is precisely by the power and help of the Spirit of God that these true believers in Christ will no longer have any fear at all.

58. The Holy Spirit unceasingly gives forth the most pleasant, sweetest fragrance, unutterable by human tongue. But this wondrous sweetness is known only by those people into whose souls the Spirit of God has entered and in whom He has taken up His dwelling. And the Spirit of God fills with Himself only the souls of those people who by many spiritual labours and by the doing of good works repent of their sins. Thus to be filled with the Holy Spirit demands from the person who is zealous for God the greatest toil and the labour of repentance, and this is no wonder. For in earthly life too, and in the created world, we meet many examples of the same kind: for instance, precious stones cannot be gained by people except by the greatest toil. The saints who lived before us truly sought this Spirit of God and did gain Him. And it is precisely this Spirit of God who is that precious stone, that pearl of great price which is mentioned in the holy Gospel (Matt. 13:45–46) — in the parable of the merchant who seeks precious pearls and, finding one such, the finest and very costly, goes, sells all his property and buys that very precious stone. It is the Holy Spirit too who is meant in the other Gospel parable by the treasure hidden in a field, which a certain man found while ploughing that field, and with joy went, sold all that he had and bought that field (Matt. 13:44). I will tell you this also, brethren, that temptation and trial from the evil spirit meet no one so sharply as those people who are filled with the Holy Spirit. And our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, when at His baptism in the river Jordan the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove, was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where, after a fast of forty days, He was tempted by the devil, who used all his craft to lead Him astray, but achieved nothing and was cast back in disgrace, as it is said in the Gospel according to St Luke (4:1–14); and the Lord Jesus Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit and strengthened, returned to Galilee. In the same way all others too who have been made worthy to be filled with the Spirit of God, who always labour for the salvation of the soul, who fight and conquer, the Holy Spirit always strengthens and gives them strength to overcome every temptation.