Let's give an example. A man sits at home, drinks tea and looks out the window. And at some point, a thought comes to his mind "from nowhere" - he suddenly remembers that construction began not far from the house and yesterday a brick was brought there. And he just needs bricks for repairs. "Maybe I should go there tonight and take it? — says the thought. "Especially since we need only a hundred pieces, no more." And a person begins to ponder these thoughts brought by the evil spirit. The human mind, according to the Holy Fathers, is like continuously rotating millstones, which grind everything that will be thrown into them. Like millstones, the mind analyzes and ponders all the thoughts that fall into it. And so, gradually, a person matures a plan on how best to take a brick from a construction site and deliver it home. And if a person is not careful, then in the end he will indeed fulfill the suggestion of the demon – he will fall into the sin of theft. Speaking in the semi-criminal language of our time, the demon conducted a special operation to seduce a person into sin, the special operation was successful...

It should also be said that the time that passes from the appearance of a thought in the mind to the commission of a sin in action can be very different. The Holy Fathers say that the demon sometimes with the greatest patience for many years inclines the ascetic to some passion or sin – until he sees the result of his labors. Sometimes it happens that all five stages of thought pass almost instantly. This often happens, for example, when a person falls into the sin of fornication or adultery.

It should also be remembered that if a person is enslaved to sin, then he is a miserable slave of sin and the devil. At the same time, the external freedom of a person does not matter. If, for example, some king, or president, or boss, or simply a great talented person – a writer, a scientist, an artist – is enslaved to sin, then he is not a king, not a ruler, not a great, but a miserable and contemptible slave of sin. And vice versa, often poor and humble monks, who have neither money, nor power, nor special talents, have the highest freedom – freedom from sin and the devil.

To illustrate this idea, we can point to the incident that happened to St. Barsanuphius of Optina, who was sent to the dying Leo Tolstoy. Tolstoy was known for his anti-church blasphemous speeches and was in a break with the Church. Father Varsonofy went to him with the hope that, perhaps, before his death he would want to repent and return to the Church. Moreover, in the last period of his life, Tolstoy himself seemed to be burdened by such a rupture and tossed about in search of a solution to the problems that tormented him. However, as can be seen, the great writer gave the devil too many rights over himself by all his previous activities, and he no longer wanted to part with his booty. Nothing came of Father Varsonofy's mission – Tolstoy's entourage did not allow him to see the writer, and he died without repentance and in a break with the Church. When the elder came out of there, he was surrounded by correspondents. "Here is my interview," he told them, "write it down! Though he was a Lion, he could not break the rings of the chain with which Satan bound him."

From this case it is clearly seen that through sin the devil acquires rights over man, and the more sins we commit, the more rights the devil has. Accordingly, the less freedom we have. Sometimes this is obvious to everyone, when, for example, a person becomes possessed. But this rarely happens, for the most part the devil tries not to show his power for a while. However, sooner or later, there comes a moment (as a rule, when the soul is separated from the body) when this power rises to its full height and asserts its rights to the human soul, and then there is nothing to oppose to it...

A person who has freed himself from the power of sin and the devil receives another, highest freedom – freedom from death. After all, according to the words of the Apostle Paul, the devil has the power of death, and therefore deliverance from the devil is also deliverance from death. St. Silouan the Athonite says that true freedom can only exist where there is immortality, because if there is none, then a person is inevitably a slave to death.

It is to this true, great, and eternal freedom that all Christians are called. And they were redeemed from the slavery of the devil not with money, not with silver and gold, but with the precious Blood of the Most Pure Lamb of Christ. If this is so, if we have been redeemed by the Blood of the Son of God, then, brothers and sisters, let us not again give ourselves over to shameful slavery to sin, let us not voluntarily enslave ourselves to the devil. Let it not happen to us, according to the well-known proverb: a washed pig goes to roll in the mud. On the contrary, let us resist the evil tempter with firmness, let us struggle against sin, and our enemies will not stand, for they have already been overcome by Christ. We only need to assimilate this victory. The weapons by which the enemy is defeated are known: prayer, repentance, Confession, Communion and life according to the Gospel commandments. If we are able to wage such a battle, then little by little we will begin to free ourselves from the bonds of sin and from the power of the bloodsucker of the devil, we will begin to acquire the freedom of the children of God, and in this way in due time we will certainly appear as children of the Resurrection, a holy people, heirs of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

A means of combating despondency and despair