ST. PAISIOS ON ANXIETY AND SIMPLIFYING LIFE

Worldly happiness causes worldly anxiety. The more people distance themselves from a natural, simple life and embrace luxury, the more they suffer from anxiety. As they distance themselves from God, they naturally cannot find rest in anything they do. This is why they go around restless; they even spin around the moon like the belt of an engine spinning around that crazy wheel. Since Earth cannot contain all their restlessness, worldly stress is a result of worldly happiness, of worldly pleasures and self-indulgence.

Educated externally and being full of anxiety, hundreds of people—even young children—are driven by psychoanalysis and psychiatrists. New psychiatric hospitals are being built, and young psychiatrists go on for postgraduate studies. Many of them do not even believe in God or accept the existence of the soul. How can these people help the human soul when they themselves are full of anxiety? How can one feel truly comforted if he does not believe in God and in the true eternal life after death?

When man grasps the deeper meaning of this true life, stress goes away, divine consolation comes, and he is healed. If someone went to a psychiatric hospital and read Abba Isaac[^1] to the patients, those who believe in God would get well because they would come to understand the deeper meaning of life.

People try to calm themselves with tranquillisers or the theories of yoga. They neglect altogether the true serenity that comes when the soul is humble and God fills it with divine consolation.

Imagine how all the tourists must suffer who come from other countries to Greece and walk the streets in the hot summer sun, in the dusty, noisy streets. What great pressure they must feel inside! How stressed they must be if they need all this heat and noise to find comfort. It’s like their own selves are driving them away, and all they can see is this trouble as rest.

When we see a person who has everything—be it wealth, free time, numerous houses—and is still stressed, anxious, and sad, we must know that God is missing from their life. In the end, even wealth will make some people suffer, because material goods cannot really satisfy them. Theirs is a double affliction. I know wealthy people who have everything and are miserable. They do not even have children, but they are still miserable. They are too lazy to lie down or take a walk.

I told someone, “Since you have some free time, do something spiritual: read one of the hours of prayer[^2], read a passage from the Gospel.”

“I cannot,” he said.

Then I told him, “Try doing something good: go to the hospital, visit some sick person.”

“Why should I go all the way there?” he says. “What will become of it?”

“Go help some poor person in your neighbourhood.”

“No,” he says, “that does not please me either.”

Can you believe that this person is miserable despite the fact that he has everything—free time, numerous houses, and so on? Do you know how many people like this are in society? These people suffer to the point that they lose their mind. What a dreadful thing! If they happen to be independently wealthy and do not work, then they are the most miserable of all. If they at least had a job, they would feel somewhat better.

People are always in a hurry, rushing from one place to another. They have to be here the next hour; they must be there the hour after that; they will have to be somewhere else. To remind themselves of their many obligations, they have to write them down. With all this running around, it is a good thing that they still remember their names. They do not even recognize themselves. No wonder it’s so difficult to see yourself mirrored in murky waters. May God forgive me, but the world has become a huge madhouse. No one thinks of the next life anymore; all they want is more and more material goods. This is why they cannot find peace and run around constantly.

Fortunately, the other life exists. Considering what they have done in their lives, if people lived eternally in this life, there would be no greater hell. With the stress they have, if they lasted eight or nine hundred years like people did in Noah’s time[^3], their lives would be hell. In Noah’s time, they lived simple and long lives; that’s how tradition was preserved. What is happening now is what we read in the psalm: “The years of our life are three score and ten, and even by reason of strength, four score; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.”[^4] Seventy years is barely enough time for people to provide for their children.

One day, an American doctor stopped by Michael Evie[^5], and he was telling me about life over there and how people have turned into machines. All they do is work. Each member of the family must have their own car. At home, to accommodate everyone, there must be four television sets, and they continue to work and to wear themselves out in pursuit of money so that one day they can say that they are comfortable and happy. But what do all these things have to do with happiness? Such a life filled with stress and anxiety is not a life, but hell. What’s the use of a life full of anxiety? If we all had to live this way, I would not want this life.

If God were to say to these people, “I will not punish you for the life you lead, but I will let you live this way forever,” this for me would be pure hell. For this reason, so many people cannot stand life under these conditions and go away to the countryside, not quite knowing where they are headed and why. They form groups in nature, take part in exercises or other programs. They told me about some people who ran away and climbed a 6,000-meter-high mountain. They would hold their breath, then exhale, and then inhale again more deeply. They are not getting anywhere this way. This only serves to show that their heart is overwhelmed by stress and is looking for a way out.

I said to one of them, “You’re just taking a pit, making it larger and larger, and admiring its depth, and then you fall in and down you go.” We monastics are also digging, but in our pits we find precious metals. Our exercise, our asceticism, has meaning because it is for a higher purpose.

People who live in a spiritual way say that when they return home at night, all tired, they have difficulty saying the “Hymn of Dismissal,”[^6] and that upsets them. This is the church service for after the evening meal. When they return late at night from work and feel tired, they should never pressure themselves into anxiety, but should always say to themselves with philoponia[^7] (loving effort), “If you can, read. Or if you cannot read the entire service, read one half or one third of it.” Next time, they should try not to get too tired during the day. They should struggle as much as they can with love and trust everything to God, and God will intervene. The mind should always be close to God; this is the best kind of study.

Elder, what does excessive spiritual asceticism look like in the eyes of God? If it happens with philoponia, with love, man rejoices and God rejoices too for his love for his child. If the heart is bursting with love, it drips honey. But if the heart is bursting with selfishness, it suffers. Someone who had been trying with egoism and was stressed with anxiety said, “Oh Christ, how narrow have you made the gates! I don’t fit through.” But if he were trying humbly, he would have no problem fitting.

Those who try fasting, vigils, and so on, but do so without getting rid of their egoism, end up making all this effort without spiritual benefit, because they are punching the air rather than the demons. Instead of chasing away temptations, they end up becoming receptive to them, and naturally they encounter a lot of difficulty in their struggle and feel oppressed by anxiety. But those who strive greatly with humility and great trust in God rejoice in their heart, and their soul soars.

We need to be careful in our spiritual life. When spiritual people are affected by vainglory, they feel very little satisfaction, and they are left with a sense of emptiness in their heart. There is no fulfillment, no rejoicing of the heart, and as their vanity increases, the emptiness inside makes them suffer even more.

Where there is anxiety and despair, there is a demonic spiritual life. You should not feel anxiety over anything at all; anxiety comes from the devil. Wherever you see anxiety, you must know that the devil has been at work. The devil will not go against the current; if there is a predisposition, he will push in that direction in order to cause us trouble and deceive us. For example, he makes a sensitive person hypersensitive. When you feel like making prostrations, the devil pushes you to make more than you can endure, and if you are not very strong, you become nervous because you go through with them. Then you feel anxious and desperation sets in—mild at first, but then worse.

I remember when I was a novice, before I would go to bed, temptation would tell me, “Are you falling asleep? Get up! So many people are suffering and so many are in need.” I used to get up and start my prostrations. As soon as I would try to sleep again, it would start: “Others are suffering and you’re sleeping? Get up!” I would get up again. I’d reached the point where I said, “I wish I would lose my legs. I would then be justified, since I could not do prostrations.” Once, during Great Lent[^8], I barely made it because I tried to push myself more than I could endure.

When in the course of our spiritual struggle we feel anxiety, we must know that we are not moving within the realm of God. God is not stifling, the tyrant. Each one of us should struggle according to his strengths and cultivate his love, so that he grows in love for God. Pressed by love, his struggle—all those prostrations, fastings, and so on—will be nothing else than pure outburst of his love, and his path would be a path of spiritual valor.

In other words, one should not strive with an unhealthy fastidiousness, with the stifling stress brought about by the struggle with all kinds of doubtful thoughts. He should rather simplify his struggle and put all his hope in Christ rather than himself. Christ is full of love, kindness, and consolation, and he never stifles but gives abundant oxygen and divine consolation.

There is a difference between discreet spiritual work and unhealthy fastidiousness. Fastidiousness stifles the person with the eternal stress it creates and a lack of discernment so severe that one feels his head bursting with pain.

Elder, how can a person who naturally thinks a lot and strains his mind deal with things so as not to get overwhelmed? If he moves in a simple way, he will not get tired. But when even a little egoism comes in, then he struggles to avoid making a mistake, and this makes him tired. It’s all right; a mistake here and there will not hurt, even if he gets reprimanded for it.

This, for instance, would also apply to a judge who constantly has to face difficult cases and is afraid that he might give the wrong judgment and cause innocent souls to be punished. In the spiritual life, a headache is created when someone has a lot of responsibility and runs into an impasse because he has to make decisions against some people while also making sure that no one is wronged. In other words, this happens when the conscience is constantly being challenged.

You must be careful, sister, to live the spiritual life not with your mind but with your heart, and never do a job without putting your trust in God with great humility, because otherwise you will agonize and you will tire your mind and soul. It is lack of faith that hides behind anxiety, but pride can cause anxiety too.

By the prayers of our Holy Father Paisios, O Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and save us.

[^1]: Abba Isaac refers to Saint Isaac the Syrian, a 7th-century Christian monk and mystic whose writings on asceticism and spiritual life are revered in Orthodox Christianity for their depth and insight.
[^2]: The hours of prayer are a set of daily prayers in the Orthodox Christian tradition, typically divided into specific times of the day, such as Matins, Vespers, and Compline.
[^3]: Noah’s time refers to the biblical era described in Genesis, where people like Noah lived for centuries, symbolizing a simpler, more spiritually grounded life.
[^4]: This quote is from Psalm 90:10 (LXX, or Septuagint numbering), reflecting on the brevity and toil of human life.
[^5]: Michael Evie is likely a reference to a person or place known to Elder Paisios, possibly a friend or a location where he had this conversation.
[^6]: The “Hymn of Dismissal” refers to a prayer or hymn in the Orthodox Christian tradition, often said at the end of a liturgical service, such as Compline, after the evening meal.
[^7]: Philoponia is a Greek term meaning “loving effort” or “zeal,” used here to describe spiritual work done with love and devotion rather than obligation or stress.
[^8]: Great Lent is the 40-day period of fasting and repentance in the Orthodox Christian calendar, leading up to Pascha (Easter).

Paisios of Mount Athos. With Pain and Love for Contemporary Man. Spiritual Counsels I. Souroti, Thessaloniki: Holy Monastery of Evangelist John the Theologian, 2006. https://www.holycross.org/products/with-pain-and-love-for-contemporary-man-elder-paisios