On Harmful Discussions...

 

ON HARMFUL DISCUSSIONS...

 

Last evening, Greek guests (zealots) visited, and although there was no significant conversation with them, they did not leave time to complete the evening rule. Their simple curiosity (if not something worse) in what they claimed was a casual visit to see me, their noticeable lack of interaction with us, though hypocritically masked by outward worldly decorum—handshakes, pleasant expressions, and tones—and after a brief conversation of a few words, already discordant, left a sense of emptiness. Then, a somewhat sensitive issue touched upon in the evening (about the calendar) provoked a whole stream of judgments, long forgotten but now revived, which not only disrupted the noetic prayer but also prevented sleep. How harmful attachment to theological discussions is for the practice of noetic prayer, and especially conversations with those who are not of the same mind, which do not occur without disputes. They cause an agitation of thoughts, from which it is difficult to divert the mind, particularly when the heart is also irritated by contention. This is why the Apostle commanded all Christians not to engage in disputes for any reason, and this commandment especially applies to monks (St. Basil the Great) and even more so to hesychasts.

- Journal of the Russian Athonite zealot Elder Theodosius of Karoulia, entry on September 17, 1937.

 

Russian source: https://corpus.prozhito.org/notes?diaries=%5B480%5D&diaryTypes=%5B1%5D&offset=50

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