External Noise and Internal Peace
Saint Paisios
Hell and the Love of God
Hell is to be away from God. Hell for a child is to be away from its mother.
Most people are so consumed by earthly concerns and possessions that they never get to feel the love of God.
God’s approach and Satan’s approach
God wants us, above all, to be happy and to enjoy inner peace. God is not a tyrant who pesters and intimidates us, but instead he wants us to be free.
The devil is very crafty. He is constantly trying to find a weak spot in everybody. Guarding your mind and your thoughts is the most important thing.
Satan’s handiwork is to constantly put malicious and damaging thoughts in people’s minds.
St. Paisios of Athos
From the book “From the Ascetic and Hesycastic Athonite Tradition” Translated by Anna Pipinos and Elias Pipinos.
Here is an excerpt from With Pain and Love for Contemporary Man
- Most of the devices that people use these days for their comfort are noisy. They have turned nature, which is always peaceful, crazy with all this noise!
- Using all these modern means they have managed to spoil it. Remember how serene it was before! How does man manage to destroy and be destroyed without even realizing it!