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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Roosh" data-source="post: 1472287" data-attributes="member: 1">Originally posted on <a href="https://www.rooshv.com" target="_blank">RooshV.com</a><img src="https://www.rooshv.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/archbishop-averky.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><a href="https://www.holytrinitypublications.com/the-struggle-for-virtue" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.rooshv.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/book-struggle.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a><a href="https://www.holytrinitypublications.com/the-struggle-for-virtue" target="_blank">The Struggle For Virtue</a> by Archbishop Averky of <a href="https://eadiocese.org/" target="_blank">ROCOR</a> came to me in two ways. First, by an online suggestion that was strong enough for me to order it. Second, by a monk who gifted it to me directly. I’m skeptical of believing in coincidences so I came to conclude that this was an important book for me to read.<h4>Christianity is asceticism</h4>Asceticism is not only for monks but for all Christians on the path to salvation. The teachings of scripture are clear on the matter:Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1 John 2:15)Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4)“If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (John 15:19)Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24)“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24)And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2)The “prosperity gospel,” a central tenet of some churches in the West, is therefore in flagrant opposition with Biblical teachings, which lay out a clear path for Christians to deny themselves the pleasures and attachments of this world to prepare for the Kingdom to come. You don’t have an excuse to forgo this path just because you live in a city or happen to be married—all are called to pick up and carry their cross of faith and tribulation, not a warm blanket of pleasure and comfort.<h4>Performing good works</h4>It’s unfortunate that so many modern Christians have put faith and works in opposition, as if they are mutually exclusive. In my life they have co-worked in a synergistic fashion: when my faith grows, I desire to perform more works, and when I perform more works, I put more faith in God. I would be skeptical of anyone who proclaims faith but does not perform works.<h4>Pride is weakness</h4>When I look at the personal accomplishments I made during the height of my pride and personal strength, they give me absolutely nothing today. The books I wrote… gone. The girls I slept with… forgotten. The innumerable cities I’ve been to… a blur. Upon repentance I essentially had to start life all over. My first book as a Christian, <a href="https://www.rooshvstore.com/books/american-pilgrim/" target="_blank">American Pilgrim</a>, feels like the first book I’ve ever written, and none of the “game” I valued in my past is useful in discerning whether a Christian woman I meet is suitable for marriage. Anything I’ve learned through my own pride had to be unlearned when I began to live with Christ.<h4>Criticism of Catholicism</h4><h4>Needs of the spirit</h4>I confess that I still seek fulfillment from worldly things. One example is through cooking. Starting in the spring of 2020, I’ve dedicated myself to making the perfect Italian pizza pie. I’ve spent many hours educating myself via YouTube tutorials and cooking blogs. I’ve tested many different kinds of flours and ingredients to bake well over 100 pizzas, even dessert pizzas. My craft has culminated in large dinner parties where, on one night, I made 16 pizzas. I’ve lost count of how many times I heard someone say, “This is the best pizza I’ve ever had!” With such a compliment, there is nowhere else to go. Sure, I can grow my own tomatoes and even my own mozzarella cheese upon procuring a cow, but ultimately my soul will never be fulfilled by making pizza.It’s no surprise that after my biggest pizza party, I started looking for new hobbies. I could hop from one hobby to the next knowing that they will never give everlasting satisfaction. If a hobby doesn’t grow my faith, aid my neighbor, or allow me to engage in Christian fellowship, I’m not sure if it’s worth doing.<h4>Don’t let the world take you</h4>A man’s spiritual state will match what he subjects his eyes and ears to. If he consumes mindless TikTok and hip-hop videos, we know where his heart lies. If he consumes self-help materials in order to increase his status before other people, we know that he has made gods of things in this world. Even the news is dangerous: it’s designed to make people anxious and upset so that they keep watching more news in the hope of receiving a positive feeling.My aim is to listen to music that makes me think of God—Orthodox hymns and classical. I temper my intake of news (though sometimes not) and try to read spiritual <a href="https://www.orthochristian.com" target="_blank">articles</a> and <a href="https://www.holytrinitypublications.com/catalog?sort=-Bestseller.desc" target="_blank">books</a>. I listen to Orthodox <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGF1y5bdq179GyorCnn4uRHhlXA_xehvr" target="_blank">podcasts</a> and <a href="https://thearena.sounder.fm/" target="_blank">sermons</a>. While most content on the internet seems to be made for evil, you can find enough Christian sources to completely replace all that is secular.<h4>Fear God, but don’t be motivated by fear alone</h4>It’s natural to fear hell, as you very well should, but it should not be your sole motivation for serving God. I am increasingly motivated by my love for Him, thanks to knowing His immense love for me, than severe punishment for breaking the rules. Like a child wants to please his parent, I want to please God by following His commandments.<h4>Listen to your conscience</h4>Even the smallest of sins, like a white lie, can be detrimental to your soul, because when you commit a little sin, you are actually training yourself to take on a sin that is slightly bigger. For example, it’s common that I want to read a news story but cannot because of a paywall. I know many ways to get around a paywall, but lately I’ve been allowing the paywall to stymy my efforts to read an article. A private corporation owns content and has dictated that they don’t want a person to read more than so-and-so pieces per month. Their property, their rules. The “crime” of circumventing a paywall will never be prosecuted, but what comes after that? You will steal other content, perhaps download torrented movies or software. It’s not so much going around the paywall that you should be concerned about, but what you will desensitize your conscience into doing after that.When you consider a harlot who sells pornographic images of herself online, she got there through a gradual process involving a multitude of decisions that trained her mind to ignore cries from her conscience about committing sins of pride and lust. If you’re not ready to tackle the tiny sins, which in some cases you can avoid on willpower alone, you will certainly fall to the big ones where willpower is no longer sufficient to resist.<h4>The mask of evil</h4>How can you repent if you don’t even know you committed evil? If you don’t even know the Ten Commandments or the Beatitudes? If you muted your conscience from a pornography habit that started as a teenager? Satan wants to condemn souls, and one way he does that is to delay or block repentance. Disguising evil as good is an ingenious way to do that, though many of us have seen through the tricks and repented anyway. I wonder if Satan is thinking of a new way to block repentance, perhaps by a genetic method that injects people with “vaccines” that knock out critical genes necessary for normal human functioning. We may live long enough to see.<h4>Bread and circuses</h4>I can’t help but be reminded of my obsession with making authentic Italian pizza to titillate the palates of my guests.<h4>Freedom from sin</h4>I am prone to falling into despair after committing a moderate sin because I want to believe I’m “growing” and “past that,” purely secular notions. The reality is that I have come into the existence after the Fall. The environment is such that my impulse is to commit sin and distance myself from God. It is demonic to beat yourself up over everything and think there is no hope for your salvation.I’ve since adopted a healthier approach in the aftermath of committing a sin: prayer. Ultimately, it’s up to God based on the labor and will I put into the matter that determines when or if I will overcome a sin. In fact, it’s even up to God if I will merely see sin as sin.<h4>Distraction</h4>I shut my phone off when I go to bed. I only turn it on when a good chunk of my workday is complete. When not using it during the day, I put it in silent mode. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to write articles like this. Perhaps I wouldn’t even be able to pray. I notice that most people don’t take these types of efforts to block out the effects of their “slot machine” device that is always ready to serve a new prize that causes distractions.<h4>How to fight evil</h4>When I meet a Christian man and one of the first things he says to me is, “Christ overturned the tables of the moneychangers! He said to carry a sword!”; I know that he had already decided to be violent, and is trying to pour his will into the Gospel to justify it. There is such a thing as righteous force, but outside the realm of self-defense, it’s best to receive the blessing of your spiritual elders (or merely consult with them) before enacting a plan that is probably more about trying to wrestle away some of Satan’s worldly power than defeating evil without passion.<h4>Spiritual warfare</h4>God didn’t intend us to be passive beings that simply sit around and only pray before awaiting a miracle. We’re creatures that are able to labor so we must labor for the good, and the more effort we put in using our own will, the more likely God will then lend us a hand to complete the task.In the Gospel, Christ multiplied the bread instead of creating it from thin air, which He could have easily done. He asked the Apostles how many loaves they had on hand and worked with that to feed the multitude. Even if the “labor” in this example is minor, the message is clear: we must do some work before we expect God to do any.Spiritual warfare is no different. If we don’t have a <a href="https://www.rooshv.com/how-i-pray" target="_blank">daily prayer rule</a>, if we don’t receive communion, if we don’t fast, if we don’t read the scripture, how much of a hand is God going to give us against the demons that are attempting to take our soul? Do as much as you can do, under the guidance of God, and when you can do no more, beg God for help.<h4>The consequence of feeding your passions</h4>I used to think that the old me was only committing the sins of fornication and lust. And then I realized I also had a lot of pride, and also continual anger, and sometimes wrath, and even gluttony. It turns out that when I was at my worst, it may be easier to identify which sins I didn’t commit. Within each person there will be a sin or two that is predominant, but if you’re willfully and eagerly committing one sin, chances are you’re committing many more, and will need to fully repent before even beginning to heal.Overall, <a href="https://www.holytrinitypublications.com/the-struggle-for-virtue" target="_blank">The Struggle For Virtue</a> by Archbishop Averky was a short but powerful book that helped summarize all the disparate Orthodox teachings I have encountered in various articles and sermons. While perhaps too potent for beginners, it should be on the list for every Christian who recognizes that the most rational solution in response to living in the evil modern world is to detach oneself from it through a life of repentance, asceticism, and faith.Learn More: <a href="https://www.holytrinitypublications.com/the-struggle-for-virtue" target="_blank">The Struggle For Virtue at Holy Trinity Publications</a><a href="https://www.rooshv.com/the-struggle-for-virtue" target="_blank">Permalink</a></blockquote>

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