“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” – Matthew 26:41
The spirit is willing to fight temptations, but the flesh is weak to withstand them.
Archbishop Averky (Taushev) wrote the following on this verse: “This means that although their souls are inclined to fight these temptations and are even able to overcome them, nevertheless, human nature is weak in essence, and when vigilance and prayer become weak, the flesh is capable of great falls into sin (The Four Gospels: Commentary on the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament, Vol. I, p. 214).”
The spirit is willing to fight. The spirit is willing to wait upon the Lord patiently, and seek Him even when we are tired. When we have nothing left to give, and all seems hopeless. Even when the world is crashing down on us and all we want to do is sleep through it all because of our great sorrow. Yes, the spirit is willing to cry out to God, and persevere through the confusion of the world. The spirit is willing to resist evil, deny itself worldly comforts, to grow closer to God. The spirit is willing to follow our Lord’s commandments even when they don’t make sense to us in the moment; even after we’ve lived contrarily for our whole lives; even when we fear we will lose the ones we love around us for changing.
The flesh is weak. The flesh gets tired, and weary from fighting the multitude of temptations that constantly come our way. The flesh is bombarded through the cunning of demons. The flesh is directed by our own habits; some we have chosen through our repeated actions, and others inherited from our family. The flesh tries to dictate to the spirit what our life focus should be, rather than being subjected to heavenly direction. Let us never forget that our bodies are made for the Lord, and the Lord for the body (see 1 Cor. 6:13-20).
Temptations
Temptations, or logismoi, are thoughts or urges that lead towards sin or away from God. They come in many ways, and for different reasons. Our struggles with them make us stronger, more like Christ, and help us on our path towards salvation. Our soul is inclined to fight the temptations, and with God’s help, they can be overcome. St. Nektarios of Aegina says:
“The purpose of temptations is to reveal hidden passions and to battle against them, and this is in order to heal the soul. They are examples of divine mercy. Therefore, leave yourself in God’s hands with confidence and ask for His help, so that He will strengthen you in your struggle.”
Everything is possible with God (Matt. 19:26). He gives us the strength to resist temptations. God knows our situation. He sees our weaknesses and understands why and where they come from. He takes all of it into account, and we are all given help accordingly. These struggles are how we are pruned to produce fruit (Jhn. 15:2). Our chastening is a good sign of God’s love for us, and we are promised that it because God loves us as His children (Heb. 12:6). Without chastening, we are not sons of God (Heb. 12: 7-1). St. Macarius of Optina says:
“Everyone needs the fire of temptations in order to be tried and instructed in patience. One must look at things with the point of view that Divine Providence is caring for our salvation: one person requires more, another requires less trials for patience and instruction, and another, the time has not yet come.”
Wisdom
This might be confusing for us who grew up in the West where, culturally, pain is evil and deprivation is hell. This philosophy has seeped into the spiritual zeitgeist of the various Western Christian sects; fearing the humility that God wants to give us in order to save our souls. We have been influenced to believe that trials and tribulations are a mark of our failure, rather than crosses to carry, and crowns to gain.
I’ll speak for myself and say that every church I was a part of before becoming Orthodox, whether it was the Nazarene church, the Pentecostal church, and various Non-Denominational churches (who are never truly non-denominational, but rather micro denominations made up of various combinations of other denominations) either implicitly or explicitly taught people that there should be no struggles with temptations after being “saved” and forgiven. Rather, we should be able to swiftly conquer a temptation. And if we fall to them, then we just say sorry to God and move on, because there is nothing more to it. No more harm, no more foul.
This leaves believers feeling confused, and can lead to despair. They may feel that if they are still struggling with sins, or the remembrance of sins, that they are failing as a Christian. They may think they haven’t been forgiven. They may think that God is not there. They think maybe they just aren’t praying correctly or hard enough. They will feel helpless, thinking there’s nothing they can truly do to conquer sin, and if we can’t conquer sins then we will go to Hell. As we Orthodox know from our Scriptures and Holy Traditions, that is not how the spiritual life works.
In the Orthodox Church, we know that there is no speaking of repentance (metanoia i.e. change of mind) without addressing the healing of the nous. Though this all may seem illogical, it is wisdom not of this world (1 Cor. 2:6-7). It is revealed to us by our Lord, and we see it lived in the Orthodox Church fully through the lives of Her Saints. We work together with God’s uncreated grace (synergeia) to overcome temptations, through watchfulness and prayer.
Watch & Pray
Our Lord said to watch and pray. Watchfulness, or nepsis, is spiritual alertness and attentiveness, not only physical alertness. We must watch for the tempting thoughts that come (logismoi) and not accept them. We don’t have to accept thoughts that are negative, harmful, sinful, blasphemous. We need to watch what things we focus on, what thoughts we enter conversation with.
Thoughts can come from above which are good and luminous. Thoughts can come from our own mind, as the mind stores up all the things it has seen, both good and bad. These thoughts can be neutral. Some thoughts are our imagination, and our fantasy. Then there are the thoughts from below, fiery darts, inspired by the devils. They make us think certain evil thoughts are our own. These thoughts can seem impossible to ignore, again, as the flesh is weak, but the Church teaches the way. Metropolitan Jonah said of this of watchfulness:
“However, our [inner] watchfulness does not need to be focused on our thoughts. Our watchfulness needs to be focused on God. We need to maintain the conscious awareness of God’s presence. If we can maintain the conscious awareness of His presence, our thoughts will have no power over us. We can, to paraphrase St. Benedict, dash our thoughts against the presence of God. This is a very ancient patristic teaching. We focus our attention on the remembrance of God. If we can do that, we will begin to control our troubling thoughts… But keeping watch over our minds so that we maintain that living communion with God leaves no room for distracting thoughts.”
The Lord also said to pray. God helps us resist temptations through prayer. Without Him, we cannot stand against the temptations of the passions, which have dug themselves so deeply into us, as Metropolitan Neophytos of Morphou says, both our inherited passions and passions we’ve formed on our own.
We repel the temptations by praying with our focus on our Lord, His mercy and His love; His crucifixion; the final judgment; remembrance of death. Though we are not supposed to solidly imagine it in our minds, rather, we enclose our words in the prayer, as St. Ignatius Brianchaninov would say, and know that we are in the presence of the Lord.
Through prayer, we have a relationship with God. We pray from the heart, and we know that God hears our every word. He is closer to us than the air in our lungs. He is always waiting for us to turn to Him, and when we do, He will always embrace us, giving us our daily bread.
There are so many prayers of the Church, and different services for different needs. One of the most helpful prayers we have been given in the Church is the Jesus prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” We also have this petition to the Holy Spirit in our daily prayers, and it is quick to ease our minds: “O Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere present and fillest all things, Treasury of good things and Giver of life: Come and dwell in us, and cleanse us of all impurity, O Good one.” We also have endless help from the Mother of God; the most holy, most pure, most blessed and glorious Lady Theotokos, and Ever-Virgin Mary, who quickly hears us as we cry out in times of need: “O most holy Theotokos, save us.”
Don’t forget your Holy Guardian Angel, and pray that they give you good thoughts, and shield you from the darts of the devils (Eph. 6:16). Pray also to your patron Saint, whom you were named for, and who is a quick intercessor for your soul. Not to mention all the myriad of Saints, that cloud of witnesses (Heb.12:1), who are alive in Christ (Mk. 12:27), and hear you through the Holy Spirit.
Despair Not
The Orthodox Church is the hospital for our souls. Sin is spiritual sickness, not existing in and of itself, not merely a breaking of God’s law; but a movement away from God’s will. The sacraments are our medicine. We Orthodox Christians are certain that within the boundaries of our One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, there is true healing. It is a lifelong process of picking up our crosses, denying ourselves and dying daily to our own will. We cannot even do this without God; we cannot fight temptations without His help. St. Joseph the Hesychast wrote in one of his letters, “Only when the grace of God comes does a person stand on his feet. Otherwise, without grace, he always changes and always falls. So be a man and don’t be afraid at all.”
We must realize, too, that when we fall into temptation, and we do sin, these passions are not us. St. Nikon of Optina says: “We must consider all evil things, even the passions which war against us, to be not our own, but of our enemy the devil. This is very important. You can only conquer a passion when you do not consider it as part of you.”
When we do fall into temptation, it can lead us to despair or it can lead us to humility. St. Macarius of Optina says: “Do not despair when you experience severe trials: these are necessary for instruction in the spiritual life. Strive to find blame in yourself, but do not blame any of your neighbors.” Additionally, St. Nektarios says: “Hope in God never leads to despair. Temptations bring humility. God knows what each one of us can bear and He allows temptations according to our strength. We should also take care to be vigilant and cautious, so as not to place ourselves into temptation on our own.”
Struggling and suffering for Christ’s sake in this life makes us spiritually stronger. We will have peace in the next life, but in this life, “the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” It’s all for our salvation. God will never forsake us, or leave us with too much to handle. St. Nektarios also says: “Place your trust in God who is good, who is strong who is the living One, and He will lead you to rest. After the test spiritual joy follows. The Lord watches over those who endure the trials and tribulations for His love. So do not despair and do not be afraid.”
I’ll end with one last quote from St. Joseph the Hesychast:
“So every time you fall, get up again and at once seek forgiveness. Don’t hide sorrow in your heart, because sorrow and despondency are the joy of the evil one. They fill one’s soul with bitterness and give birth to many evils. Whereas the frame of mind of someone who repents says, “I have sinned! Forgive me Father!” and he expels the sorrow. He says, “Am I not a weak human? So what do I expect?” Truly, my child this is how it is. So take courage.”
Glory to God for all things.
-R.P.D. Sanders