The Philokalia

by Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

For God loves, knows and has the power to effect what is profitable for every created being. If God only knew what is profitable but did not love it. He might have left unfinished what He knew to be good. Again, if He loved what is profitable but did not know it or was unable to accomplish it, perhaps against His will what He loved and knew would have remained unaccomplished. But since to the highest possible degree He loves, knows and is able to effect what is profitable for us, everything that comes to us from Him, even though it be without our wanting it, will certainly prove to be to our profit. On the other hand, it is greatly to be feared that whatever we engage in on our own initiative, as creatures endowed with free will, will prove to be unprofitable for us. When, however. God in His providence has plainly forbidden something, whether speaking directly, as He does in paradise and in the Gospel, or else speaking through the prophets, as He does to the Israelites, or through the apostles and their successors, as He does in the law of grace, it is clearly most unprofitable and destructive for us to desire and pursue it. And if someone proffers it to us and induces us to seek it, either by persuasive words or by enchanting us with apparent friendship, he is manifestly an enemy and hostile to our life.