Why do we not receive the God-Man Christ?
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The example of the people from the region of Gadarenes shows us that the swine were more important to them, i.e. the passions of covetousness and love of pleasures, rather than Christ. And those passions are the ones that are called ” rough (obvious) passions” through which the demon attacks first and holds every human being captive.
What can we say about the more subtle passion of the mind, such as demonic pride i.e. the high opinion of ourselves, that is, the vanity, through which the demon holds us captive and through which, at the end of the process of the purification of our heart, seriously attacks us.
Vanity (vainglory) is the last passion that is to be transfigured before passing from the first stage of spiritual growth (purification of the heart from the passions) onto the second – the enlightenment of the mind. Solely due to vainglory, our heart remains closed for the prayer of the mind in the heart (Jesus prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me”), and the mind stays unenlightened.
Vanity and pride should be adequately overcome in order to move from the unnatural to the natural way of life, that is, from religious neurosis to the first stage of spiritual development – purification of the heart from passions, i.e. to put the mind in the process of healing through obedience to the spiritual father.
According to the Holy Tradition of the Church, the demon occupies the centre of our hearts before Baptism. But when the man at the time of his Baptism receives the grace of God in the centre of the heart, then the demon is cast out of the centre and he places himself in the vicinity of the heart.
As long as the heart is held captive by the passions and until it is sufficiently purified, that is, until a person comes to the second stage of spiritual development – the prayer of the mind in the heart and the enlightenment, the demon remains in the vicinity of our heart, holds it captive through the passions and closed for the mind; whilst he is making every effort to return to the centre of our heart.
The impediment of the heart is a hidden form of demonization and therefore it is much more difficult to detect and not alarming for the man himself than the visible demonization. Visible illness everyone wants to heal, but for the invisible it is usually too late for healing – especially when someone thinks he is spiritually healthy.
We need to know that the demon attacks us through the thoughts, through the ideas of his mind, transmitted to our mind by his energy. If we accept in our mind what he proposes to us, that is, if we agree with his thought, we lose the grace and we become darkened. This means we lose the grace not when the demon attacks us with some kind of evil energy, but when we accept with our free will the evil that he proposes.
The swineherds (swine keepers) fled from Christ. They did not recognize the demons in themselves, and possessed by inner demonic fear, as well as in order to justify themselves for the loss of the property, they frightened the other like-minded inhabitants with the God-Man Jesus Christ.
Then all the people of the region of Gadarenes asked Jesus to depart from them; because they were overcome with fear – for their possessions and for the satisfaction of their passions. They were especially frightened by the healing of the demonized man. And, it is clear why: Because, the presence of a Man with authority and, the word of power accentuates the ones who seek vainglory; demons and demonized men.
It is because of this “swineherd identity,” that we do not receive Christ, and, we renounce the Christian identity.
Lord Jesus Christ, through Theotokos, reveal to us our hidden demonization and “swineherd identity”, and save us!
Metropolitan of Strumica Naum
(24.07.2021 11:47)
