St. Paisios the Athonite is quoted as once saying:
“Some people tell me that they are scandalized because they see many things wrong in the Church. I tell them that if you ask a fly, ‘Are there any flowers in this area?’ it will say, ‘I don’t know about flowers, but over there in that heap of rubbish you can find all the filth you want.’ And it will go on to list all the unclean things it has been to.
“Now, if you ask a honeybee, ‘Have you seen any unclean things in this area?’ it will reply. ‘Unclean things? No, I have not seen any; the place here is full of the most fragrant flowers.’ And it will go on to name all the flowers of the garden or the meadow.
“You see, the fly only knows where the unclean things are, while the honeybee knows where the beautiful iris or hyacinth is. As I have come to understand, some people resemble the honeybee and some resemble the fly. Those who resemble the fly seek to find evil in every circumstance and are preoccupied with it; they see no good anywhere. But those who resemble the honeybee only see the good in everything they see.
“The stupid person thinks stupidly and takes everything in the wrong way, whereas the person who has good thoughts, no matter what he sees, no matter what you tell him, maintains a positive and good thought.”
Some have come to believe this quote means something it does not. St. Paisios explains that some people tell him they’re scandalized, or in other words, they are shocked, because of the things wrong they see in the Church. His allegory of flies and honeybees points out that there are two types of people as far as he can tell. There are people, like the flies from his story, who seek to find evil in every circumstance and are preoccupied or distracted with it. Then there are people, like the honeybee from his story, who only see the good in everything they see. He finished with stupid people think stupidly and take everything the wrong way whereas the person with good thoughts maintains a positive and good thought no matter what bad things they’ve seen. So, what can we gather from this quote?
The deviant, the stupid, and those who seek evil see the wrong that happens such as pedophilia in the Roman Catholic Church, focus on the evil, and are distracted and completely engrossed in thought of them, and because they only seek evil, they never see any good. The heavenly and good-minded see the heavenly works of the Church such as feeding the poor, healing, and ministering and focus on those good acts no matter what anyone says about the Church, and no matter how many bad things they see done by people in the Church. They keep the faith that Jesus is the head of the Church, He is still in control of His Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against His Church, as He stated in the scriptures (Ephesians 5:23; Matthew 16:18).
The fly, though focusing on rubbish, is still around flowers and the bee, though focusing on flowers, is still around the rubbish. The quote speaks about people’s reactions following their observance of the things they proclaim to see happening in the Church. If there is a lesson, then the notion is for the individual to change their mindset to see what is happening, not what could be happening if only they could attract it.