Abomination for God is the Sacrifice Brought by a Man with Self-assurance and Proud Arrogance

St Ignatius (Brianchaninov). "On Prelest". On Loving God.

St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) (1807-1867)

Love God in the way that He commanded us to love Him, not in the way that the deluded dreamers think to love Him.

Do not invent ecstasies for yourself, do not agitate your nerves, do not inflame yourself with a sensual fire, a fire of your blood. The sacrifice that pleases God is humility of heart, compunction of soul. God angrily turns away from a sacrifice brought with self-assurance and proud arrogance, even if it were a whole-burnt offering.

Pride agitates the nerves, inflames the blood, awakens the imagination, and stimulates a fallen life. Humility calms the nerves, cools the blood, destroys imagination, eradicates the fallen life, and awakens life in Jesus Christ.

"To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rums," said the prophet to the king of Israel, who dared to offer God an unlawful sacrifice (1 Sam 15:22). If you desire to bring God a sacrifice of love, do not bring it willingly, without preparing it thoughtfully. Bring it with humility, in the time and place that God Himself commanded.

The spiritual place where God commanded us to bring spiritual sacrifices is humility (Alphabetical Patericon. About Abba Poemen the Great).

Falling into Fornication Happens to a Monk for Disobedience and Unconfessed Sins

Archimandrite Raphael (Karelin)

Archimandrite Raphael. "From time to eternity. Sayings of the Fathers".

Hieromonk Vasily (Pirtskhalava) said: “The worst sin for a monk is fornication. Other sins, compared to it, are dust that can be easily blown away.”

He said: “I heard from an elder who lived for many years on Mount Athos that a priest who commits fornication and at the same time serves Liturgies is in hell even before death. When he proclaims: "Peace to all" and "The blessing of the Lord is upon you," the Angel of the altar says: "Blessing from God to the people, and to you - a curse." When he takes communion, his soul turns black, like burnt coal. When he finishes serving the Liturgy, the devil comes up to him and kisses him on the lips as his friend.”

He said: “Two monk brothers lived not far from each other. One went to the city on some business and fell there. And the other saw in a dream: a seething sea, his brother-monk was walking on a slippery rock and suddenly fell into the abyss. He began to scream in his sleep: “Help!”, but the sea drowned out his voice.”

I asked Hieromonk Vasily: “Is there a sin worse than this sin?”—“Despair and suicide,” he answered.—But most often it is fornication that leads a monk to despair.” “And why is a monk allowed to fall into fornication, because he prays to God and wants to be saved?” — “For disobedience and unconfessed sins.” I asked again: “Can this sin be forgiven for the priest?” “Let the bishop decide this,” he replied.

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Father John did not Advise Family People to Introduce Elements of Monasticism into their Lives

Elder John (Krestiankin) (1910 - 5.2.2006)

From the memoirs about Archimandrite John (Krestiankin).

Alevtina recalls.

And another letter in which we kept our dream to visit Solovetsky Monastery, and another letter from the father in return.

"You have just begun to embark on the path of Christian understanding of life, so do not deviate into selfishness and egoism from the very beginning. And yet, do not forget that we ourselves, pursuing the best goals, cannot do anything good. And it is impossible now to hide from the human race anywhere, except in your heart, having erected a throne to the living God. Here is the goal. Dismiss the thoughts about Solovetsky Monastery completely. You are family people, and live in a new way, a life blessed by the Lord. Don’t proudly think of bringing elements of monasticism into your life."

I would like to emphasize this phrase once again – “do not proudly think of introducing elements of monasticism into your life”, because this, it seems to me, is the trend of the present time. When many people who come to church, Christians, laymen, begin to bring into their lives these very elements of monasticism. And at that time, I can honestly admit, I did not immediately obey the elder. Only over the years, only after “getting hit hard on the head”, having gone through some trials, did I understand what I was told a long time ago, that the main thing is that these are two completely different paths, and there is no need to mix anything here. Not even to play - it was not a game, it was a sincere desire, but coming from inability and inexperience.

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