Saint Symeon Metaphrastis. "Paraphrase of the Homilies of Saint Makarios of Egypt". III Patient Endurance and Discrimination. From Philokalia, Vol. 3.
45. He who follows the spiritual path
must pay great attention to discrimination, since the ability to
distinguish between good and evil, and to scrutinize and understand the
various tricks through which the devil by means of plausible fantasies
leads most people astray, keeps us safe and helps us in every way. If a
man wanting to test his wife’s virtue comes to her at night disguised
as someone else, and she repels him, he will rejoice at this and welcome
the assurance it gives. It is exactly the same with us in relation to
the attacks of the evil spirits. Even if you repel the heavenly spirits,
they will be gladdened by this, and will help you to participate still
further in grace: because of this proof of your love for the Lord they
will fill you brim-full with spiritual delight. So do not from
light-mindedness speedily surrender yourself to the visitations of
spirits, even if they are heavenly angels, but be wary, submitting them
to the most careful scrutiny. Thus you will welcome the good and repel
the evil. In this way you will increase in yourself the workings of
grace, which sin, however much it may assume the appearance of the good,
cannot altogether simulate. According to St Paul, Satan can even change
himself into an angel of light in order to practice his deceptions (cf.
2 Cor. 11:14); yet though he may manifest himself in such a glorious
manner, he cannot, as we said, produce within us the effects of grace,
and so it becomes quite clear that the vision is counterfeit. For the
devil cannot bring about love either for God or for one’s neighbor, or
gentleness, or humility, or joy, or peace, or equilibrium in one’s
thoughts, or hatred of the world, or spiritual repose, or desire for
celestial things; nor can he quell passions and sensual pleasure. These
things are clearly the workings of grace. For the fruits of the Spirit
are love, joy, peace, and so on (cf. Gal. 5:22), while the devil is most
apt and powerful in promoting vanity and haughtiness. You may know from
its effect whether the intellectual light shining in your soul is from
God or from Satan. Indeed, once it has developed its powers of
discrimination, the distinction is immediately clear to the soul itself
through intellectual perception. Just as the throat through its sense of
taste distinguishes the difference between vinegar and wine, although
they look alike, so the soul through its intellectual sense and energy
can distinguish the gifts of the Spirit from the fantasies of the devil.
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