Watchfulness

[Nina]

Watchfulness (or nepsis in Greek) is the continuous vigilance and alertness of a person to keep the heart pure. The heart remains pure if only it contains the nous, but not thoughts, or fantasies from the environment.

There are many Holy Fathers who have written about this kind of watchfulness and they are called the 'Watchful Fathers' or 'Neptic Fathers' (neptic from nepsis in Greek). These are explanations from the book with the Letters of Elder Joseph the Hesychast, Monastic Wisdom.

Please, if we know, or come across a teaching regarding watchfulness from the Holy Fathers, consider posting it here.

[James Aubuchon]

"He who does not have attention in himself and does not guard his nous, cannot become pure in heart, and so cannot see God. "He who does not have attention in himself cannot be poor in spirit, cannot weep and be contrite, nor be gentle and meek, nor hunger and thirst after righteousness, nor be merciful, nor a peacemaker, nor suffer persecution for righteousness sake." (St. Symeon the New Theologian.)

[Nina]

"He who does not have attention in himself and does not guard his nous, cannot become pure in heart, and so cannot see God. "He who does not have attention in himself cannot be poor in spirit, cannot weep and be contrite, nor be gentle and meek, nor hunger and thirst after righteousness, nor be merciful, nor a peacemaker, nor suffer persecution for righteousness sake." (St. Symeon the New Theologian.)

Thank you for this! It is beautiful.

[Nina]

While looking for something else from Elder Paisios (for the 'Icon Corner' thread) I came across this saying of Elder Paisios about watchfulness:



“When our soul lives carelessly without watching over its thoughts, it will consequently fill up with dirty and sly thoughts. As a result, people start developing psychological problems which gradually pile up. Some people, while they are found in this situation and come face to face with the problem itself, they do not realise it, and thus are unable to humbly confess to their spiritual father their fall. Instead, they look for a “secular” solution and consult a psychiatrist, who will inevitably prescribe medication. Pills will not solve the problem, but will temporarily cover it. This is not an effective solution, as once they stop taking their medication, the problem will come to the surface again, and the person will be found in the same miserable condition. The only solution is to become aware of the problem and confess it to a spiritual father and then humbly follow his advice.
In our days, people have lost control over their lives, and they do not know what they are doing. The reason being, that they do not wish to be guided; they want to live undisturbed, following their own free will, which will eventually bring their total destruction. God gave man his freedom and independence to do as he likes, but He also gave him the knowledge, the ability to realise, that he is unable to achieve good acts by solely relying on himself, “… for apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5), “If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?” (Lk 12:26). Therefore, when man uses his freedom and independence without taking into consideration his human weakness, he becomes deceived; he experiences and interprets everything by using his own logic. Instead of God’s grace, human logic rules his life, and his mind is in confusion. This is terrible.”

Link (http://www.pigizois.net/agglika/paisios/08.htm).

[Andreas Moran]

Dear Nina,

Thank you for the link. I was especially struck by the Prophecies of Starets Lavrentii which may be found there. I have been thinking about repentance lately, and I offer the following quote from Starets Makarii of Optina:

'Repentance is sincere only when a person, feeling his sins by which he has angered his Creator, ceases from his sinful actions, grieves over them, repents, and is made worthy of forgiveness by the grace of Christ through absolution from a priest of the Church. However, when he does not cease from sinning, even though he is sorry, then this is not repentance, but rather a dangerous, excessive, and foolish hope in the goodness of God which, like despair, will be equally condemned before God.'

Clearly, vigilence is needed even for a contrite soul.

Sobering stuff!

In Christ,

Andreas.

[Nina]

Dear Nina,

Clearly, vigilence is needed even for a contrite soul.

Sobering stuff!

In Christ,

Andreas.

Of course. No person in this life is temptation-proof.

I came across another beautiful saying about watchfulness from Elder Joseph the Hesychast:


"In addition, learn this: with love towards Christ and the Panagia, you obtain more watchfulness and theoria than with other struggles. Everything else is also good, when done properly, but love surpasses them all. So when you venerate her icon, kiss it fervently with tears as if she were alive. "My dear Mother," cry out, "My Panagia, save me for I am lost if you leave me! O Lord my God, have mercy on me, through the intercessions of Thine All-immaculate Mother and of all Thy saints!"

[Nina]

"Where humility is combined with the remembrance of God that is established through watchfulness and attention, and also with recurrent prayer inflexible in its resistance to the enemy, there is the place of God, the heaven of the heart in which because of God's presence no demonic army dares to make a stand."
St. Philotheos of Sinai

[Victor Mihailoff]

Please, if we know, or come across a teaching regarding watchfulness from the Holy Fathers, consider posting it here.

St Hesychios the Priest said many things about watchfulness.

I quote below one of the shortest sayings of his at my disposal.

"Watchfulness is a way embracing every virtue, every commandment. It is the heart's stillness and, when free from mental images, it is the guarding of the intellect."

In Christ, Victor

[John]

I think one of Dr. Steenberg's talks about watchfulness in St. Hesychius is on Monachos.net.

John

[Nina]

Thank you Victor for the quote.

Thank you John for pointing us to this talk (http://www.monachos.net/library/Hesychios_the_Priest_on_Personal_Holiness).

[Nina]

"One type of watchfulness consists in closely scrutinizing every mental image or provocation; for only by means of a mental image can Satan fabricate an evil thought and insinuate this into the intellect in order to lead it astray. A second type of watchfulness consists in freeing the heart from all thoughts, keeping it profoundly silent and still, and in praying. A third type consists in continually and humbly calling upon the Lord Jesus Christ for help. A fourth type is always to have the thought of death in one's mind. These types of watchfulness, my child, act like doorkeepers and bar entry to evil thoughts."

St. Hesychios the Priest

[M.C. Steenberg]

I'm grateful for Nina's posting of the passage by St Hesychios. I wonder if there might be fruit in reflecting a little on those words.

St Hesychius wrote, on four types of watchfulness:


One type of watchfulness consists in closely scrutinizing every mental image or provocation; for only by means of a mental image can Satan fabricate an evil thought and insinuate this into the intellect in order to lead it astray.

I have always found this particular definition very helpful, inasmuch as it shows the nuance of the interaction between temptation and submission. It is easy, in the struggles of the spiritual life, to assign sin either to one's own debasement, or to the radical influence of another - either to my own personal wontonness, or to Satan's influence. One can lead to utter dejection, the other to spiritual apathy and irresponsibility. But St Hesychios' little comment reveals the interconnection of these. The devil may indeed tempt and mislead; but he does so through the 'insinuation into the intellect' of thoughts which lead the intellect astray. There is sin, yes, at the temptation of another; but I am always involved in transgression, even if it is 'committed willingly or unwillingly' (to paraphrase the pre-communion prayers). And so the responsive action to such transgression is neither to blame wholly myself, nor wholly another, but to become watchful for those provocations that tempt the will to act askew.


A second type of watchfulness consists in freeing the heart from all thoughts, keeping it profoundly silent and still, and in praying.

St Hesychios seems to articulate these four types in a manner that build on one another. This second type, of freeing the heart from thoughts, has to be crafted on the first. Only in seeing the true nature of our provocation and submission, and the manner in which it is the result of thoughts being acted on - rightly or wrongly - can we come to a point where we calm the heart into a life of stillness. The first step is a watchfulness that identifies rightly the good thoughts from the bad: the provocations of the devil from the movements of divine grace. The second is a heart that so watches the divine glory that it gives no room to the provocations of external thoughts.


A third type consists in continually and humbly calling upon the Lord Jesus Christ for help.

What has always struck me about this 'third type', is the manner in which it reveals the active nature of hesychia, of stillness. If the second type of watchfulness is the singular focus that enables the quieting of external thoughts and provocations, this third is one which sees that focus rise to active voice. The heart calls out to God without distraction.


A fourth type is always to have the thought of death in one's mind.

This fourth type is connected to the other three, grounding the quieted heart's communion in Christ in the authentic experience of frail life. Awareness and remembrance of death become tools to divine vision - this is St Hesychios' revelation.

INXC, Deacon Matthew

[Anna Stickles]

I've been reading Elder Paisios's With Pain and Love for Contemporary Man and he has a wonderful chapter on "External Noise and Internal Peace".

He stresses the need for external peace.



"External tranquility, living away from the world, along with discerning asceticism and unceasing prayer, will soon bring about inner tranquility, the peace of the soul which is the precondition for the more refined and profound prayer of the heart. When one attains this state he is no longer disturbed by any external distraction, since in reality it is only his body that is on earth while his mind is in Heaven."

He talks about how and why we avoid external peace, filling up our lives with all kinds of extraneous activities, noise etc. because we are so restless inside.



"In fact there are many children who cannot study without listening to rock and roll music. On other words, they find it more restful to study with music, rather then in peace and quiet. The reason this external unrest makes them comfortable is because they feel unrest inside."

"At any rate, I think that it's not so much the external noise that is disturbing, but one's internal concern's and anxieties."


He also has a whole section, very practical on the first type of watchfulness, talking about how when dealing with noise we cannot escape we can submit to it thinking good thoughts about whoeveror whatever is causing the disturbance.



"Once I was on a bus and the conductor turned the music on really loud. Some religious men pointed out to him that there was a monk on the bus and they repeatedly made signs to him to turn it off. They tried once or twice without result. He turned the music even louder. "Let him be." I told the young men, "it does not matter. It keeps the drone tone to my chanting."

...Our goal should be to take all that comes our way and make the best out of it for the sake of the spiritual struggle in which we are engaged. We must strive to aquire inner tranquility and to this end even noise can become a good thing if it is met with the right thought. ... When in the midst of noise, you manage to reach inner tranquility, you have achieved something of great value. If you cannot find tranquility in the midst of disturbance, you will not be tranquil even in the midst of tranquility. When inner tranquility comes to a man, everything inside him will be tranquil, and he will not be disturbed by anything. But if he requires external tranquility in order to find inner tranquility, then when he does find himself in such a place, he will want a cane to cahse away the cicadas by day and the jackal by night, so that they will not bother him!"


BTW Thanks Nina for starting so many good threads and posting so much Patristic wisdom. You are an example to all of us. An thanks you also Dcn Matthew for your helpful explication.

[M.C. Steenberg]

Dear Anna and others,

Thank you for adding this to the discussion. I found the examples given by Elder Porphyrios to be wonderful images of St Hesychios' points in practice.

The relationship between interior vigilance and exterior withdrawl is one of the great dynamics of the ascetical life. There is no constant in this: we see great ascetics living in the midst of the noise of the world, as well as in the silence of retreat; and we know that withdrawl brings temptations and trials anew to the one who flees external circumstances. This is precisely where watchfulness is a pastoral venture, engaged in in a relational way. How much, of what sort, to what end -- these are pastoral dimensions of ascesis in terms of withdrawl.

INXC, Dcn Matthew

[Nina]

Thank you for the priceless insights about the watchfulness, dear Father Matthew and dear Anna.

I just came across this other saying of St. Hesychios in my email today, and would like to add it here. I do understand it, but not fully. Therefore if you Fr. Matthew, Anna, or other friends here have some input I would appreciate any explanation. Why do trials come when we do not excercise nepsis? Is nepsis prohibitive of trials? Do these trials serve as a cathartic replacement instead of nepsis when we do not have the latter? When St. Hesychios says "if you fail to guard it" does this mean that we might never develop nepsis, or does it mean for short periods of time and later by the grace of God we can release our arrested watchfulness? Sorry for the many questions... maybe I am so confused and I am confusing everything.


Guard your mind and you will not be harassed by temptations. But if you fail to guard it, accept patiently whatever trial comes.

St. Hesychios the Priest.

[M.C. Steenberg]

Dear Nina and others,

Thank you for the additional quotation, as well as your comments and questions. I can offer a few of my own thoughts in response, and will look forward to the experiences and insights of others.

You offered this quotation from the writings of St Hesychius:


Guard your mind and you will not be harassed by temptations. But if you fail to guard it, accept patiently whatever trial comes.
And on this you wrote:


Why do trials come when we do not excercise nepsis? Is nepsis prohibitive of trials? Do these trials serve as a cathartic replacement instead of nepsis when we do not have the latter?

These are some excellent reflections. Inherently, nepsis (watchfulness, in this context) enables the nous to see which attractions are temptations, and which are genuinely divine grace; and so this discernment allows one to avoid a great many temptations because one has the ability to 'see them' before they enter into the heart and will. Part of the manifestation of active temptation in the spiritual life is our willing granting of entrance to all manner of thoughts and provocations that should have been 'stopped at the door' of a truly watchful heart; and thus we give free reign to temptations by not 'guarding the walls' of the heart.

I read St Hesychios' words here as speaking to just this. A heart, a nous, that is 'well guarded' gives less entry to the thoughts and provocations which might become active temptations of allowed into the mind - and so those temptations are held at bay. An unguarded heart, however, allows entry to all manner of thoughts, provocations, influences, which well up to become active, tempting forces.

This is not to say that one who guards the heart is wholly free from temptation - of course this person is not, and I don't think Hesychios means to imply that. But there is a relationship between our watchfulness and the degree and manifestation of our temptations in the spiritual life. This is the dynamic he seems to be addressing.

You further wrote:


When St. Hesychios says "if you fail to guard it" does this mean that we might never develop nepsis, or does it mean for short periods of time and later by the grace of God we can release our arrested watchfulness?

I think you've provided a good insight in the latter part of your comments. It seems to me that St Hesychios' point is that nepsis, the practice of interior watchfulness, is not a static state that one either 'has' or 'doesn't have'. The more one matures in the ascetical life, the more stable and secure this watchfulness becomes; but it always ebbs and flows in relation to one's devotion, humility, obedience, love. Not all have reached the heights of perfection. And this is where his comment is, to me, filled with great hope. We ought to develop that watchfulness that holds the temptations at bay; but even when we do not, when we falter or are weak - even then, there is a venue for spiritual growth. In those moments, he says - which for some of us are most moments - then 'accept patiently whatever trial comes'. This, too, is a pathway to growth.

INXC, Dcn Matthew

[Anna Stickles]

Thanks Nina and Dcn Matthew for the continued discussion, I don't know if I can add much but here are some things I've garnered from my reading.


Elder Paisios always urged us to think positively. Our positive thinking however, should not be our ultimate aim; eventually our soul must be cleansed from our postitive thoughts as well, and be left bare having as its sole vestment divine grace granted to us through Holy Baptism. "This is our aim," he used to say, "to totally submit our mind to the grace of God. The only thing Christ is asking from us is our humility. The rest is taken care of by His grace.

In the beginning, we should willingly try to develop positive thoughts, which will gradually lead us to the perfect good, God, to whom belongs every glory, honor, and worship...."

Almost all of us consider our thoughts to be simple and natural, therefore we spontaneously rely on them. On the contrary we should neither trust nor accept them. We must not have nay thoughts in our mind or heart, neither positive ones, nor negative ones, for this space inside us belongs to the grace of God. We are obliged to keep it clean, not only of our various thoughts but also of the most elusive slip of the mind. We can only achieve this if we fervently love Christ and unhesitatinly trust Him."
Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain p.29


This in conjunction with other things I have read makes me think that for most of us watchfulness consists in trying to control how we think about things, ie if we start judging someone we can decide not to trust our judgement and think good things about that person instead. Often this consists in not believing what the rational mind tells us is 'true'. This is where reading the Bible and the Fathers can help. They sensitize our conscience to things that the culture would never see as wrong. Our culture teaches us how to think and tries to tell us what is true. An important part of watchfulness, at least for those of us living in the world rather then a monastery, is to guard against this.

From what I have read, though, for those like St Hesychius and Elder Paisios watchfulness consisted in actually keeping the mind clear of thoughts altogether. It all depends on what level of maturity we are at and how much faith and love we have. Growing our faith and love seems to be a prerequitsite to the degree of watchfulnes the Elder and St Hesychius achieved.


Why do trials come when we do not excercise nepsis? Is nepsis prohibitive of trials? Do these trials serve as a cathartic replacement instead of nepsis when we do not have the latter?

This is Dorotheos of Gaza's comment on this.

"For unless a man is tempted and sees the troubles which uncontrolled passions cause him, he will not at any time fight to be cleansed of them."

I included the context below because I found this section of his sayings so helpful.

It is my thought that God has two things He is dealing with in us. The first and most substantial is pride, the second is the passions. All the Teachers stress the need for humility. Not the kind of humility that puts oneself down, (this in its own way is a false humility) but the kind that allows us to be dependent on Him. I think that God allows temptations as a way of humbling us and teaching us to be dependent on Him because our natural tendency is to trust in our own strength, or to seek security in the world. (money, relationships, etc.) To get out of the first needs humility, the second faith. If right away God gave us the grace to keep our mind clear no doubt we would start thinking, "look what I can do." :) And pride and passions would still be hiding in the heart. Or if things always went well for us we would continue to trust the world. As it is when people let us down, or money issues arise, etc. these teach us that the world is 'passing away' and we learn to depend on God. Our problem is we can't just say -I'm going to have faith -faith has to be put to the test in real experience to grow.



Fix your attention on what has been said. Before a man gives way to his passions even if his thoughts mount an assault against him, he is always a free man in his own city and he has God as his ally. If therefore he humbles himself before God and bears the yoke of his trial and affliction with thanksgiving, and puts up a little fight, the help of God will deliver him. But if he flees labor and goes after bodily pleasures, then he is necessarily led into the land of the Egyptians and without wishing it becomes their slave.

...Whereas we were saying from his ignorance and pride a man is overcome when he is beset by his unruly passions, he ought after the humiliation of falling all the more correctly to take his own measure and to continue praying until God pours out His mercy upon him. For unless a man is tempted and sees the troubles which uncontrolled passions cause him, he will not at any time fight to be cleansed of them. ...When passionate thoughts arise in the soul therefore, they are brought to light; this means that the...inordinate passions appear in order that they can be completely destroyed for ever and ever. For whenever passionate desires reappear in the mind of those who put up a fight, they are utterly and immediately rejected.

Consider now the consequences of this saying. First passionate desires arise in the mind, and then the underlying passion comes to light and they are destroyed. All this applies to contestants. But we who give way to the sins and are always satisfying our passions, never recognize the passionate desires that spring up, or the underlying passions they reveal, so that we can combat them, but we remain under their sway, in Egypt in the pitiful brickfields of Egypt. Dorotheos of Gaza, Discourses and Sayings, p 196-7

[Rick H.]

In lieu of sending individual feedback to the participants, just a note to say thanks for this 5-star thread! Very helpful.

[Nina]

Dearest Father Matthew and dearest Anna,
thank you again for helping me with your insights and thoughts.

I really can see now more clear and Fr. Matthew you are so right that nepsis is not a static state. This was the main key that helped me unlock better the meaning of the saying of St.Hesychios.

[Nina]

On Thoughts, Fantasies, and Distractions

Do not talk a lot. Stay away from back talk, quarreling, loquacity, and everything that issues from a careless tongue. Drive away evil thoughts and filthy fantasies from your mind as soon as they appear. For when they linger inside the mind and heart, they create a grave condition. Whereas when we are careful at the first appearance of the filthy fantasy and the filthy thought that follows, we remain in peace and enjoy the mortal gratification of purity.

Therefore, my children, let us pay attention to ourselves everytime various bad thoughts enter, because the same approach applies for every bad thought. Whatever kind it may be, when it finds the nous careless, it enters and creates---corresponding to the passion---the aforementioned unhealthy condition.

Therefore, since a monk is fought primarily by thoughts, the thing that saves him is watchfulness! Watchfulness (nepsis) is derived from the verb "nefo," that is, to be careful, vigilant, alert, and on our guard. When we are careful, vigilant, alert, and on our guard, the house of our soul will be well-kept and we shall save our souls for which we struggle our whole life.




Selected from Counsels from the Holy Mountain from the Letters and Homilies of Elder Ephraim

PS This is advise for monastics however I liked it because it explains the meaning of watchfulness and also there are great thoughts for us lay people too.

[Nina]

On Prayer and Watchfulness


There was a holy man who cast out demons---the demons feared him. One of his disciples asked him, "Geronda, why are the demons afraid of you?"



"My child, I will tell you," said the Elder. "I had a mental war with carnal thoughts, but I never allowed myself to yield to them. I had always arranged the battle so that the war front was at the stage of assault, and I never allowed the devil to advance further than the stage of assault. And since I had a continuous warfare, God gave me this blessing, this grace that, in spite of my unworthiness, the demons fear me and are cast out."

Just think---he cut off temptations outside the door, as soon as they knocked; he did not open at all. Why didn't he open? What did he have within himself that hindered them? He had holy recollections which occupied his mind. Temptations knocked from the outside, trying to enter, but there was no place for them; they were given no room to put their own thoughts inside---he had stopped them with the remembrance of God. Through this continual victory this holy man received the grace to be feared by the demons and to cast them out of people. It is a great boast for someone to succeed, by the grace of God, in keeping the devil at the stage of assault.

There is no mortal, no spiritual man, no struggler who is not subject to the assaults of the enemy, that is, every human being should expect to be tempted. If people leave their doors and windows open---as people in the world usually do, who do not have the knowledge of God---then the enemy advances and conquers them. Spiritual people struggle not to open to the enemy a door, a window, or even a hole.



It is often difficult to commit a sin in deed---not a sin that is done in the heart, but a sin done by mouth or in deeds. Many things must coincide in order for this kind of sin to take place. To sin with the mind, however, is very, very easy. One is able at any hour, place and time to commit a sin in the mind without anybody knowing it. Outward deeds are often prevented from occurring, not only because many factors must coincide, but also because of shame. On the contrary, an inward sin, a sin done by the mind, can persuade a person to commit crimes inwardly, without being noticed.

This inward sin is not visible; people do not see it---but God does. And if we do not fear people and do not feel shame, because they do not see the sin, we should fear God, because this moral crime done with the mind takes place in His presence. Many people are deceived; deep down it is due to egotism---it is egotism that does most of the damage. This treason first occurs inwardly, and then it is expressed through the members of the body.

So we need intense and constant attentiveness, as we have said---intense vigilance. There should be a guard and sentry within us, which observes the thoughts coming and going and check their identities, so that spies do not enter and cause a civil war within the soul. The eye of the soul needs to be very clear and strong in order to see the enemy from afar and take suitable measures.

What a great variety of thoughts assail us all the time! Every passion attacks with its own thoughts. If the soul sees clearly, it cuts off the thoughts from afar. Even from their "smell" it realizes which passion is about to rise up and immediately prepares itself, posts sentries, sets up trenches, and gets ready to face the attack of that passion.



People become captives. Passion is like a snake that has poison within it. There are said to be big snakes with poisonous breath that poisons any living thing in the area so that they can devour it. The same holds true for the snake of sin: it spreads poison---pleasure---from afar, and the nous is paralyzed; its powers are paralyzed. The person is captured by the passion and involuntarily is carried toward evil.

When people are in this state of captivity, they protest and say, "But I am unable to resist; at that time I am unable to do anything." The answer is: they must take the proper measures, so that the mind and heart will not reach the point of being captured and disarmed. By experience, as soon as the spiritual serpent spreads its poison, while it is still far off and before it reaches us and poisons our mind and soul, we must take measures to escape the danger. For once we are poisoned, we are no longer able to act at all.

When a person yields to fantasies and is overcome by sinful thoughts, it is from there, from the imagination, that all evil comes! And when he has suffered many spiritual shipwrecks mentally and has been wounded repeatedly by hedonistic fantasies, then as soon as Satan comes back again with similar fantasies and shows them to the mind, immediately the person is captured. This is why one must not yield to them, so that passions and fantasies do not become firm and strong.






Selected from Counsels from the Holy Mountain from the Letters and Homilies of Elder Ephraim

[Jim Andersen]

Along my travels leading up to Eastern Orthodoxy, my question is what is the opinion of Orthodox Clergy regarding the man G.I. Gurdjieff and his Fourth Way work? This thread on Watchfulness reminds me of his work and I was wondering if the Eastern Orthodox would agree with it, or view it with caution, or not at all.

[Father David Moser]

These three threads might be of interest to you:

http://www.monachos.net/forum/showthread.php?2144-Books-on-Gnosis-and-related-themes
http://www.monachos.net/forum/showthread.php?1540-Personal-God
http://www.monachos.net/forum/showthread.php?2150-On-Boris-Mouravieff-s-Gnosis

[Despina K.]

Such a lovely quote, very inspiring... thank you

[Owen Jones]

Gurdjieff is a poser, a gnostic.