He will make a small concession, succumb to the enemy's suggestion, will not repent, and this small vice will linger and grow in him for a long time. After all, a small sin is not an orphan at all. He has a huge family, and he will gather it around him. Just click, as a sea of friends and acquaintances will arrive. It is necessary to take up arms and destroy a small sin with a fight, and then a person will preserve the measure he has achieved. If he violates his impassivity, it is only to the extent necessary to overcome the evil that has come. But if after this he interrupts the work of prayer and does not push the enemy further, he will be struck by the poisonous arrows of other passions. And so getting used to each subsequent passion, he will move further and further away from God, leaving himself without His help. He does not want it, but his enemies will force him.

The devil is trying to tell us that little sins are small things. After all, otherwise it cannot involve us in an even greater evil, which intensifies: one passion drags the other with it. In the same way, the good is strengthened with the help of all that is good, propelling forward the bearer of the good.

3. From St. Palladius

A certain monk, who loved silence, settled in the most remote corner of the desert. He sat in a cave and devoted himself to only one activity: prayer, singing, and contemplation of God. And the Lord in dreams and even in reality more than once honored him with many revelations. It can be said that he led an immortal and incorporeal life in everything: he did not think at all about food or bodily comforts. Once he surrendered himself to God, he lived in the desert from then on, leaving the world and not meeting people. Filled with hope in God, he did not admit anything bodily even in his thoughts.

For such steadfast faith, the Lord rewarded him. Once every two or three days, an angel brought him food. When the ascetic entered the cave, feeling hungry, he found bread. He thanked God and gave the body what was necessary. And then, according to his custom, he again turned to divine hymns, prayers and contemplations, constantly holding on to them, constantly enjoying them and rejoicing in them. Thus, day by day, he grew in spiritual achievements, showing his love and zeal for God. The ascetic had reached the point where he almost had the best end of his life in his hands.

But the ascetic began to rely on himself and slightly weakened the severity of his podvig, so confident was he in his impassivity. And immediately he was subjected to a demonic temptation, by which he was defeated. He would have remained a disfigured corpse if the incomparable Lord had not protected him by His mercy.

When the ascetic had reached such self-confidence, the thought crept imperceptibly into his heart that he was superior to others, and that he knew and had more than others, since he had already grown old in such a state. From this a carelessness was born in him, at first small, but gradually growing to noticeable proportions. Not as cheerfully as before, he began to get up from sleep to pray. He became lazy and his singing ceased to be long. His soul wanted peace, his mind sank to earthly things, and his thought became distracted.

Because of this, a kind of meaninglessness grew in the recesses of the hermit's soul, only the ancient habit of work still elevated his mind and directed his thoughts to divine work.

In the evenings, after the usual prayers, entering the cave, he would sometimes find bread on the table, sent to him by God, and would eat it, but he would not banish bad thoughts from his mind, and he would not think that inattention was ruining his labors, nor would he pay attention to the evil growing in him. A slight evasion of duties seemed to him unimportant.

7. And so a lustful passion, taking possession of his thoughts, began to call him into the world. But the ascetic still restrained himself. Once, having spent a day in the usual asceticism, he entered the cave after prayer and hymns, and there, as before, he found bread, but no longer so carefully cooked and not as clean as before, but with rubbish. He was surprised and somewhat saddened by this, but he refreshed himself with bread. Now the third evil night has come. His mind gave himself up even more to lustful thoughts, and his imagination presented him with impure dreams as vividly as if they were actually coming true. In spite of this, however, he continued his ascetic labors the next day: he prayed, sang psalms, but no longer with a pure disposition, and often turned around, looking around. His good deeds were interrupted by various thoughts.

In the evening, feeling the need for food, he entered the cave and, although he found bread in the usual place, it seemed to be eaten by dogs and mice, and outside the cave there were dry remains. Then he began to groan and weep, but not as much as would have been necessary to restrain the impure lust. Though not as much as he wished, he nevertheless ate the bread and began to calm down. Then a multitude of thoughts fell upon him, trampling his mind. They, like a prisoner, dragged the monk into the world. He left his wilderness and went to the village at night. The day found him still on the way, and the village was still far away. The ascetic, scorched by the heat, became exhausted and began to look around him to see if there was a monastery in which he could rest.

Ahead of him did indeed appear the monastery, where he directed his steps. The monastery brethren greeted him with joy, like a true father, and washed his face and feet, which were covered with dust after a long journey. After praying, they offered him a meal, asking him to accept with love what they had.

Then the brothers asked him to tell them the word of an ascetic about how to be saved, avoid the snares of the devil and remain above impure thoughts. The Elder instructed them with many examples from his ascetic life and told them about the struggle with thoughts, adding that they should zealously perform feats and endure sufferings with unshakable hope for future blessings and pleasures in heaven, where they will soon move. Having finished his instructions, the ascetic involuntarily thought about himself: how, while admonishing others, he himself remained incomprehensible. Realizing his fall, the ascetic immediately got up and returned to the wilderness, to that cave that had already become his home, to a burlap on the ground, in order to groan heavily and weep over his sins.

The ascetic did not cease his weeping until he heard the voice of an angel who said to him in a dream: "God has accepted your repentance and has had mercy on you; Just see that you don't flatter yourself. The brethren whom thou hast instructed shall come to visit thee, and bring thee loaves of bread for blessing; share them with them and always thank God."