Elder Ephraim of Philotheou. "My life with elder Joseph".
(translated from Russian)
The Elder [Joseph the Hesychast] told
us: "Have you seen the monk, who fell into sin, who became a deserter?
It happened to him because he concealed his thoughts. He did not
disclose them - and they killed him, like the snakes kill. Newly hatched
little snakes are small, but if you do not drive them away, they will
grow and become poisonous. One of them will bite you, and you will die.
Have you seen a man in delusion? It happened to him because of the
thoughts."
The Elder told us about some people who
concealed their thoughts and suffered from that, fell into delusion.
Such people quite often committed suicide because they believed that an
Angel appeared to them, whereas it was a demon. The delusion was in the
thought: "Do not tell that to the Elder".