The Battle with Passionate Thoughts

St. Theophan the Recluse

 

 

Last time, I described to you the entire process of the transition from a simple thought to a passionate desire, and from there to the sinful act. However, things do not always develop as slowly as they appeared in my description. Often—if not most of the time—all the phases follow one another lightning-fast. Thus, before the thought has even had time to properly appear, the act is already carried out. This happens especially in the case of spoken words. You cannot—and indeed need not—analyze all these unpredictable and successive incidents. Do only this: when you perceive a passionate movement, immediately turn against it with the weapon of anger. How would you react if a criminal attacked and struck you? You would strike him back with all your strength. In the same way, you should react when an evil thought attacks you: strike it with anger. Of course, just as the criminal does not always flee when you strike him, so too the thought does not always vanish when you get angry with it. This is because, in the war of thoughts, demons are often involved—who, as you know, are stubborn and unyielding. No matter how much you get angry with them, they do not back down. Therefore, besides anger, you must use another weapon against them. What is that weapon?

Tell me, what does the victim of a criminal attack do if he does not succeed in driving him away with blows? He calls for help. Then the officers of the law respond to his call, rush in, and save him. This is what must also happen in the battle with the passions. You must get angry against them, but also call upon divine help: “Lord, help me! Jesus Christ, Son of God, save me!” “My God, hear me and send me Your help! Lord, do not delay to help me!” (Psalm 69:2).

When you take refuge in the Lord, do not look at what is happening within you. Keep your attention fixed on Him and entreat Him for help. With His name, scourge the enemy, as one saint says (Saint John of Sinai, The Ladder, Step 20, paragraph 6). For, as the psalmist says, “The Lord is near to all who call upon Him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their supplication and saves them” (Psalm 144:18–19). He Himself promises to whoever calls upon Him with hope in their hour of need: “I will deliver him, because he has hoped in Me. I will protect him, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him. I am with him in trouble; I will deliver him and glorify him” (Psalm 90:14–15). Therefore, with anger and with prayer, you will always confront effectively the passions that war against you.

You can, in addition to these things, do something else that the holy Fathers recommend: as soon as you perceive the stirring of some passion in your soul, expose—or rather, remind—yourself of its shamefulness. If, for example, a thought of pride offends you, begin to say within yourself: “Pride is abominable. Are you not ashamed, being dust and ashes, and yet you swell with arrogance? Reflect on your sins…” and other such things. In this way, you will neutralize the thought by devising counter-thoughts that suppress pride. However, this antithetical method often proves ineffective. Even when we understand the shamefulness of the passionate thought, we still keep it in our mind just long enough for it to defile our soul, stirring the emotions and awakening desire. More effective is the method of immediately fleeing to God for help. When we do not engage in verbal warfare with the passion, but rather call upon the Lord with fear, reverence, hope, and faith, the thought departs from the mind. For a mind fixed on the Lord cannot sustain a passionate thought. And if that thought was suggested by the noetic enemy, only through invoking and relying on the power of God can you drive it away. For no human being is stronger than the demons.

The following story is characteristic and instructive: An elder was living in stillness in the desert. One day, the demons attacked him. They seized him and began to drag him violently, striving to pull him out of his cell and drive him away from the desert. The ascetic resisted with all his strength, but in vain. Soon they had dragged him to the door. A little further and they would have taken him outside. Then, faced with ultimate danger, he cried out in supplication: “Lord Jesus Christ, why have You forsaken me? Help me!” Immediately, the Lord appeared and put the demons to flight. Then He turned to the elder and said: “I did not abandon you. But because you were trying to manage the demons on your own, without calling upon Me, that is why I did not come to help you. Call for My help, and you will have it forever.”

The above incident was a lesson for the ascetic, as it is also for all of us. Instead of arguing with passionate thoughts, it is better to flee to the Lord in prayer. This is the way all those who wisely struggle against the passions act. Abba John the Dwarf used to say: “I am like a man sitting beneath a great tree, and I see many wild beasts and serpents coming toward me. And when I cannot confront them, I quickly climb up the tree and am saved. In the same way, I sit in my cell and see the passionate thoughts attacking me. And when I cannot contend with them, I flee to God with prayer and am delivered from the enemy.” (Sayings of the Fathers, John the Dwarf, 12).

I wrote to you previously, as you will remember, to pray with the mind in the heart. What does this mean? It means that you must gather your mind from its dispersion into the surrounding world—a dispersion that takes place through the senses—bring it down into the heart, and from there raise it up to God in prayer. If our mind, remaining in the heart, were unceasingly fixed on the Lord with fear, reverence, and faith, we would never be in danger from passionate thoughts, emotions, and desires. Unfortunately, however, our mind is distracted from the Lord, departs from the heart, and through the senses wanders back and forth. Then the passionate thoughts invade, awakening corresponding emotions and sinful desires. There is the battle! Who is to blame? Ourselves—no one else. If we did not allow the mind to slip away and wander, we would avoid the battle. But what is done is done. Even if it is late, let us flee once more to the Lord and call upon Him for help.

And the following instructive parable also belongs to Abba John the Dwarf (op. cit., saying 16):

In a certain city lived a beautiful harlot who had many lovers. One day, a nobleman went to her and said, “Give me your word that you will leave your sinful life, and I will take you as my wife.” She agreed, and the nobleman took her into his house. Her former lovers began to search for her. When they learned where she was, they said among themselves, “We must bring her back to us. But if we show up at the house, the nobleman will see us and harm us. Let us go to the back of the house and whistle to her in a signal she’ll recognize. She will know it is us and come down. That way, no one will be able to accuse us.” Indeed, the woman heard the whistle and understood who it was. But immediately, she plugged her ears and ran into the inner chamber, shutting the doors behind her. The harlot symbolizes the soul. Her lovers are the passions and men. The nobleman is Christ. The inner chamber is the soul’s eternal dwelling. Those who whistle to the soul are the evil demons. And the whistles are the impulses of passionate thoughts, emotions, and desires. But the soul escapes them, always fleeing to the Lord.

Remember this story and act according to what it allegorically teaches you. You will see how quickly peace will be restored within you when it is disturbed by the uprising of the passions.

May the grace of God be with you!

 

Greek source:

https://imlp.gr/2025/09/23/%e1%bc%a1-%ce%bc%ce%ac%cf%87%ce%b7-%ce%bc%e1%bd%b2-%cf%84%ce%bf%e1%bd%ba%cf%82-%e1%bc%90%ce%bc%cf%80%ce%b1%ce%b8%ce%b5%e1%bf%96%cf%82-%ce%bb%ce%bf%ce%b3%ce%b9%cf%83%ce%bc%ce%bf%e1%bd%ba%cf%82/