To Those Who Cannot Get Along in One Place and Are Looking for Something New
June 3
(The Teaching of Saint Ephraim on the Impropriety of a Monk Moving from Place to Place)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
June 3
(The Teaching of Saint Ephraim on the Impropriety of a Monk Moving from Place to Place)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
There are many, very many people in the world who live by the proverb, “It is better where we are not,” and who continually move from one place to another. In most cases, this is not praiseworthy. What most often compels us to change our place of residence? General dissatisfaction with life, laziness, the pursuit of gain, an inability to get along with others, or, finally, envy of our neighbors. All these are blameworthy motives. Only pressing necessity can justify the desire to change one's place. Therefore, if you wish to leave where you now live, first examine whether your motives are pure and whether necessity truly compels you to do so. Reflect carefully, reflect as a Christian; and if your motives are indeed pure and necessity genuinely requires it, then go. But if not, it is better to remain where you are, for otherwise you will not avoid sin, and you certainly will not receive God's blessing or happiness in a new place.
“We must,” says Saint Ephraim to the monks, “follow Christ alone, live in obedience, and not wander from place to place. Above all, if anyone desires to leave his place, let him examine himself: why does he wish to depart? Is it laziness that compels him? Is it the hope of finding better people than those among whom he now lives? Is it envy? Is it spiritual negligence? Is it a desire to avoid obedience? Or is it the love of wealth that drives him to leave his place? And if reflection reveals any of these motives, and if, upon self-examination, we discover that passions alone are urging us to flee, then let us strive through humility and patience to overcome this desire and remain where we are, in order to escape the snares of the enemy.”
Yes, brethren, if caution is required in all things, then it is especially necessary when changing one's place of residence. For a person who moves from place to place for impure reasons places himself in danger of spiritual ruin. The desire to relocate becomes a passion; dissatisfaction increases; laziness follows; and thus the person is lost. Therefore, unless there is a compelling necessity, it is better to remain where we are. “It is difficult,” some lazy person may say; but for such a person, wherever he goes, everything will remain difficult. “People are bad,” another may complain; yet people are people everywhere, not angels. Let us always remember that the earth is not paradise but an exile from paradise, and that true and everlasting peace exists only in heaven. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
