You Cannot Trust Yourself either During Peace or During Temptations

Venerable Isaac the Syrian of Nineveh. "Spiritual Alphabet".

Venerable Isaac the Syrian (~ VI - VIII cent.)

Distrust. In yourself during peace of mind.

If before entering the city of humility you notice in yourself that you have calmed down from the rebellion of passions, then do not trust yourself: for the enemy is preparing some kind of net for you; on the contrary, after peace, expect great anxiety and great rebellion. If you do not pass through all the abodes of virtues, then you will not find peace from your labor and will not have rest from the enemy's wiles until you reach the abode of holy humility.

(Word 73, p. 370).

In temptations, do not trust yourself.

Do not trust yourself that you are strong until you are tempted and find yourself unchanged. So test yourself in everything.

(Word 57, p. 294).

Source 

Saint Macarius the Great Did Not Believe Himself Even After Death

From the life of Saint Macarius the Great.

Saint Macarius the Great (300 - 390)

Serapion, the writer of the life of the Saint, adds the following, which he heard from Saint Paphnutius, one of Saint Macarius’ disciples. When the holy soul of Macarius was taken by the Cherubim and was ascending to heaven, some of the fathers saw with their mental eyes that the demons of the air stood in the distance and cried out:

– What glory have you been granted, Macarius!

The saint answered the demons:

– I am afraid, for I do not know of anything good that I have done.

Then those of the demons who were still higher up on the path of Macarius' ascending soul cried out:

- You have truly escaped our hands, Macarius!

But he said:

- No, but I should escape even more.

And when the saint was already at the gates of paradise, the demons cried out with a loud cry:

- You have escaped us, you have escaped.

Then Macarius answered the demons with a loud voice:

- Yes! Protected by the power of my Christ, I have escaped your wiles.

Such is the life, death, and passage into eternal life of our venerable father Macarius.

Source 

Don’t Be Too Right

Schema-Archimandrite Michael (Krechetov) (1937 - 14.11.2025)

From a conversation with the elder Archpriest Valerian Krechetov (Schema-Archimandrite Michael).

When a person learns to think, reason and at the same time prays, relies on God, checks his feelings, thoughts and intentions with the commandments - this is the process of purifying his heart. This is a very big job. Here Abba Dorotheus said: "I do not know of any other fall for a monk, except when he believes his heart." Yes - until it is purified. And it also seems to me that this is said in the sense that one must always keep  such a thought - but maybe I am wrong. Allow such a possibility, recognizing the limitations of any private opinion. "Don't be too right" - there is such a saying. If Sisoes the Great, dying, said: "I do not know whether I have begun repentance," it means that he did not trust his heart to the end in this regard. Man is mistaken. Apostle Peter confessed Jesus Christ as the Son of God, but when Christ said that He must die on the cross, he retorted: “…May this not happen to You!” (Matthew 16:22).

Source

Do not Trust Yourself until You Go to Last Home

How to protect yourself from delusion?

Archpriest Basil Volskiy (village Polyarnye Zori, Murmansk region, Russia).

- The signs that you start to fall into delusion are numerous. They include self-righteousness, a desire to have own way by all means, disobedience and self-conceit, unwillingness to listen and take advice from other people, neglect to the authorities, officials, dreaminess, tendency to visions, dreams, delight in own righteousness. A deluded person likes to take excessive feats upon himself, for example, he can read akathists and canons for several hours a day. Imitating the righteous people outwardly, he does not realize that they were strengthened by love, while he is driven by vainglory, by the desire to rise above the people. I remember how one grandmother in the cathedral told someone, "You should pray, but not overpray." According to the remark of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), enthusiasm for external deeds creates voluptuousness. 

We are all in delusion. Adam was contaminated by it when he accepted a lie for the truth, and since that time we cannot get rid of it, but there are extreme states. In the world it is not understood at all. For example, in the Soviet dictionary by Ozhegov, delusion (“prelest”) is a good word such as "beauty" - means attractiveness, while its original meaning is not even considered. In Dahl's dictionary, the attitude to this word is more folk, the essence of "prelest" is revealed there – delusion, confusion, deception, temptation, seduction by the evil spirit. About a century separates the appearance of these two dictionaries but the difference is huge, the delusion, the lack of spiritual sobriety became something correct, up-to-date. In the Church, fortunately, there is at least an understanding that this is not the case. Another question is how to get rid of this disease. Here I am a bad adviser, a patient cannot help to a patient. A doctor is needed. And He comes, many times I have witnessed as the Lord helps, pulls people out of the deluded state. 

Neophytes are very prone to it. And I did not miss it, yet before ordination. Unfortunately, there were no people who would just tell me about it. But the Lord sent such grief that I was on the verge of death (I was dying, the blood pressure was 40x20) and through this I thought who I was, why would I have such a high opinion about myself. The Lord sent medicines, thank God! And He still sends, and when this will be over - I don’t know. But I will say that elderly people not less but more than neophytes are subjected to delusion. They no longer suffer from bodily passions and they take it for righteousness. They consider themselves to be very prayerful and good in fasting and it is especially difficult with those who have been in the Church for a long time and even spent the whole life at the Church. Here a person starts to think too much of himself. We should treat ourselves with caution.

Hegumen John (Alexeev) - Valaam elder, who was the hegumen of our Tryphon-Pechenga Monastery for some time, said well about delusion. When he arrived there, he found a terrible scene: many monks suffered from severe conceit, thought themselves men of prayer and miracle workers. They believed they could walk on thin ice without falling under it, and many died at that. So Fr. John gave a very wise advice: "Do not trust yourself until you go to last home." You cannot say better that that.

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