The Philokalia

by Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

Reading serves as a reminder for those who know from experience about what is being said, while to those who lack experience it provides instruction. As St Basil remarks, when God finds a heart free from all worldly matters and worldly learning. He then writes on it His own thoughts as if it were a clean slate. I say this so that no one will read what does not assist him to conform to God's will. But if in ignorance of this he does, read something unprofitable, let him quickly try to erase it from his mind through spiritual reading in the Holy Scriptures, and especially in those that contribute to the salvation of his soul at the particular point which he has reached in his development. If he is still engaged in ascetic practice, let him read the lives and sayings of the fathers; if grace has raised him to the sphere of divine knowledge, let him read in all the Holy Scriptures, since, in the words of St Paul, this is able to destroy 'all the self-esteem that exalts itself against the knowledge of God' (2 Cor. 10:5), and to correct all disobedience and transgression through active virtue and true knowledge of the divine commandments and teachings of Christ. Read nothing other than these; for what is the use of giving admittance to an unclean spirit rather than to the Holy Spirit? For our aim is to grasp the spirit of whatever text we study, even though that does not appear so difficult to us as it does to those with experience.