Chapter 6 pages 167-171 Throughout his life Elder Joseph fought tooth and nail with the demons.Those apostates of Gods love fought against him in various ways;sometimes with thoughts,other times with illnesses that god allowed,and other times with their visible presence.Later they manipulated weaker brethren and disciples of his and made him bear the burden of their temptations. One winter night Geronda(Elder) and Fr.Arsenios were in their hut up in St.Basils Skete while a snowstorm raged outside.The wind was howling fiercely,and the cold pierced them to the bone. Even so,they followed their program and struggled with their vigil,the remembrance of death,tears of repentance,thousands of prostrations,and primarily noetic prayer. This did not please the jealous devil at all,so he raised a series of attacks against Geronda with thoughts,fantasies,distractions,noises,threats,and anything else he could think of. He tried three or four times to ruin Gerondas vigil,but all his attacks failed because by then Geronda was an experienced fighter. Finally,the devil became so infuriated with him that he entered through the door in the form of a violent burst of wind.He threw the door aside and then lifted the roof into the air. Geronda remained thunderstruck...more.... tokandylaki.blogspot.ca/2014/01/elder-joseph-hesychast-and-his-battles_17.html
Posted on: Fri, 17 Jan 2014 22:10:51 +0000
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