Elder Emilianos of Simonopetra
When one sees himself and the years passing by, when he sees his failures, his wounds, his sins, his internal wounds, his infidelities, the debris of his being, the corpses of his mind, of his heart, with which he filled his life, when he sees how many times he regreted and did nothing, he is overwhelmed by sadness.
This sadness may even come from our instinctive self, that is, from our selfishness, from our pride, because we would like to be great, to have no sense, not to fail. Countless unfulfilled desires make us sad.
Better to fall into the hands of cunning demons, legions of demons, rather than fall into the hand of sadness because it is hard to overcome it.
You can overcome sense, you defeat sin, and the devil likewise, but you cannot come through sadness.
Therefore, “remain sober”, keep your eyes open and don’t let yourself to be overwhelmed by sadness. Otherwise your success becomes problematic.
“The prey”; every sadness reveals an ambush. How many people became prey to the demon of sadness, who sets up his ambushes everywhere?
The more souls worship God, the more networks the demon of sadness casts, and catches endless prey.
Because sadness is hidden under ostensibly humility, under false repentance, under the illusion of God’s love, under a thousand things, thus man, without realizing it, is caught “with all four” and becomes utterly useless.
Sadness is able to break man’s powers. It stops only when it nails you, when you become overwhelmingly weak to do anything.
And the smartest way he uses (the demon-sense) is the word of the Lord “blessed are the mourners”. “No” says Abba Isaiah. He tells us to not be fooled, these things are satanic, they are not of God.
“Sadness acoording to God is joy, the joy of seeing yourself in God’s will,” says Abba Isaiah.
Let us assume that I have sinned, like Mary of Egypt, that I have so far lived (forty-seven years) in corruption, and that at this moment I say, Lord, I will be risen.
How will I know if I’m sad? If I continue to think of my sin, my thought is demonic.
If I contemplate repentance, it means I want the will of God, and I immediately have the joy of the protaste of God’s will; I immediately put myself among those who are modest, pure, who have repented; I place myself amondg the clouds of saints.
Thus, do not confuse the satanic, demonic sadness with that of God.
God’s sadness is joy, for you are looking ahead and see God before you, for whom your heart lives, and therefore the Lord, Jesus Christ, reigns within you. This is the real (godly) sadness!
