The coming and going of grace also has a redeeming character.

"The coming and going of grace also has a redeeming character. It comes for a while, cleanses man of one passion, then leaves. It comes again to cleanse him of another passion, and so on, until man succeeds in purifying his will with the help of divine and life-giving grace. After much struggle and many sacrifices, a time comes when grace becomes established, more or less, within the heart, and then peace reigns undisturbed. Only silence and sweetness! Then the soul becomes a Thavor, Heaven descends to earth! The Kingdom of God descends into the heart! The Holy Trinity makes its home! Thus man becomes in the image and likeness of God!

I thought: how great is the love of God! I recently read something that fits perfectly with what the Elder said:

"If you are not tested in works, snares, and the attacks of the devil, you will not understand and will not be able to appreciate the gifts that the Holy Spirit gives you. If you do not recognize the spirit that kills, you will not come to the knowledge of the Spirit that gives life. You will not truly know the Giver of life - Christ”.

How great is the love of Christ! He knows how to turn the devil's crafts into good, how to extract sweetness from bitterness, how to change the devil's hatred into love for him. Then we understand that, whatever the devil does, in the end, he commits suicide; he destroys himself. Undoubtedly, he fights against people, and God allows him to do so because the devil is also a person, and therefore he has freedom, which the Creator honors; but, through His love and comfort, God restrains his destructive work. I once heard an ascetic say that God, through His love, transforms petty pride into humility that attracts His grace. That is to say: as soon as a Christian becomes proud, he falls; after falling, he repents, receiving divine grace and becoming even more humble. In this way, he is cleansed, little by little, even of the impure and devilish sin of pride. So we can rightly repeat that the devil destroys himself – he is defeated!"

Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos

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