Christian faith is a state of brightness,
"diurnal." Belief in God, in the invisible spiritual world, in life
after physical death — is quite realistic, because experience has confirmed it
through received manifestations, spiritual occurrences and revelations, which
the Saints of the Holy Church were honoured with, as well as the faith’s beneficence,
felt by members of the Church. That’s why mysticism should be alien to a
Christian, because it differs through its departure from reality,
and its conviction in its extraordinary nearness to the spiritual world and its
ability to enter it. In this frame of mind, it is easy to be subjugated to
delusion and lose the correct orthodox constitution of the soul. Thus, the
workings of the imagination in a twilight state are capable of presenting to a
person, images that are far divorced from reality.
Authentic faith is staid, and all guides of the
genuine Christian life, place the "spiritual staidness" as the basis
of spiritual works. Staidness of the soul safeguards oneself from
self-delusion, from being self-opinionated, and equally, from being despondent
and having a self-evaluation of being hopeless. This is a direct and simple
outlook on life, on all those around — an outlook that is illuminated with the
light of faith. The Church asks in its prayers for the faithful, the granting
of "staidness of the soul, forgiveness of sins, communion
with the Holy Spirit." Father John titled his diary: "My life in
Christ, or, minutes on spiritual staidness and contemplations, reverend
feelings, spiritual reformation and serenity in God."
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