While you repent, confess, and weep – deep inside you always have a reservation: a hidden hope and an attempt to salvage something from your old man. You say: “Alright, let me repent, blame, condemn myself, but may my self never be lost.” We should know that we have a fifth phalanx inside us, a traitor who collaborates with the enemy. Αs long as there is a trace of rebellion in you, any sign of the life of the old man – which shows that it still exists, moves around subtly and is doing things – we must not relax or be complacent that we are doing well. We should mercilessly condemn ourselves. It is not easy for our self to become holy from one moment to the next, with not the slightest resistance remaining. The grace of God will effect this, when He wants. The bad thing, though, is not that there is resistance within us, but that we ally ourselves with it and become friends with it.
Archimandrite Symeon Kragiopoulos (†)
From the book: Archimandrite Symeon Kragiopoulos, “SPIRITUAL MESSAGES” Panorama Thessaloniki, 2017
