Archimandrite Ioanichie Balan:
What is the shortest definition of a good deed? And also of sin?
Elder Teofil:
Everyone knows that a good deed is a deed that conforms to God’s will and that “sin is the transgression of law.” This is how St. John the Evangelist defines sin in his First Epistle (1 John 3:4.) It is true that St. John doesn’t tell us which law he is referring to, and he also doesn’t specify whether he refers to a transgression of God’s law with “willingly and knowingly.” However, this can be considered the shortest definition of sin. But we need to specify that we are referring to God’s law, and that through sin, God’s law is transgressed “willingly and knowingly.” Otherwise, we couldn’t differentiate between sin and mistake.
Archimandrite Ioanichie Balan:
What should we understand by temptation? According to the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Fathers, how many kinds of temptation are there? When does temptation become sin?
Elder Teofil:
We have become accustomed to thinking that temptation is an urge toward something bad. In reality, temptation is a kind of trial, of verification, of examination. In this sense, there is the expression of “canonical temptation.” In the same sense, some theologians have tried to formulate the sixth request from the Lord’s Prayer: “Do not lead us into temptation.” However, temptation is generally regarded as an urge toward sin, as a negative urge. With this meaning, there are as many kinds of temptation as there are types of sin, and each sin has a temptation as its cause.
Even as a negative urge, as an urge toward sin, temptation doesn’t always cause sin, and in any case, it is not a sin in itself, because it is a simple thought. But temptation becomes sin, it turns into sin, when the one who receives it develops it in thoughts associated with images, when the soul accepts sin, and even commits the sin it was tempted with. Sin starts in our thoughts. The Lord tells this to us when He says: “Anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28.) That is why our primary concern should be to eliminate bad thoughts from the moment they occur in our mind.
Archimandrite Ioanichie Balan:
Can we be saved without temptations? What is the meaning of temptations in our lives?
Elder Teofil:
We find this saying in the Paterikon: “Take away temptations, and no one will be saved.” This refers to temptations as trials, as aids toward improvement, as hardships that strengthen our patience. The Paterikon also contains this saying of St. Anthony the Great: “This is the great work of man: always to take the blame for his own sins before God and to expect temptation to his last breath.” According to these words, temptations have a good role in man’s life.
Faithful persons need to withstand the temptations that come their way. They must prepare to resist these temptations: “Before you fall ill, seek out your physician; and before grievous things come upon you, pray, and in the time of your tribulations you will find Him, and He will listen to you.” (St. Isaac the Syrian)
“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” (Matthew 26:41)
Archimandrite Ioanichie Balan:
Is the devil the culprit for the temptations brought upon us?
Elder Teofil:
The devil is the culprit for the temptations he brings upon us, because he tempts us with the purpose of killing us through sin and of increasing evil in the world. So he is the one who spreads evil. When he tempts us, the devil doesn’t have a good purpose but a bad one: to increase evil and destroy us.
Archimandrite Ioanichie Balan:
What good deeds do monks, and Christians in general, need to overcome temptations?
Elder Teofil:
To overcome temptations, the monk, as well as any faithful Christian, needs humility that “burns the devils,” because we know well that the punishment of the proud is the fall. We also need watchfulness and continuous prayer: “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.” (Matthew 26:41). Most of all, we must avoid anything that might increase temptations, both inside and outside us.
We also see that any good deed performed positively strengthens the soul, which means that the more we progress in our good deeds, the more prepared we are to withstand temptations. The Holy Fathers say that the devil tempts people toward evil differently, according to their propensities.
Archimandrite Ioanichie Balan:
According to the Holy Fathers, how can we differentiate between mistake, sin, and passion?
Elder Teofil:
According to the Holy Fathers, a mistake is a transgression of God’s law, a deviation from the good, unwillingly and unknowingly. Someone makes a mistake when doing something evil without knowing it is evil. But when the deviation toward evil happens willingly and knowingly, it is no longer a simple mistake - it is a sin. Sin is “the transgression of God’s law willingly and knowingly.” A mistake that is repeated and thus becomes a habit, and is even justified, which means it is turned into a “truth” - that is not a mistake anymore, but a mortal sin, because you can never escape it. It is what St. Mark the Ascetic refers to when he says: “There is a sin which is always ‘unto death’ (1 John 5: 16): the sin for which we do not repent.”
The sin for which we do not repent is a mortal sin because repentance - which in its essence means detesting sin - is the only way we escape sin. If we don’t repent, which means we don’t hate sin, we don’t detest sin, then we cannot escape sin.
When sin becomes a habit, it creates a propensity toward evil in the soul, a disposition toward evil, which is passion. But passion can also be the mechanism that triggers sin, that is to say, the psychological and physiological basis for sins and passions considered as habits. In any case, it is essential to distinguish between sin as an isolated act and habitual sin, or sinful passion. Some passions belong to our nature and are given to us for a good purpose, so they are not sins. In this case, these passions become negative only if we use their inclinations in ways that are against our nature. It is not passion itself that is evil, because it can be used for good, positively. It was given to us for doing good: “Be angry and do not sin” (Psalm 4:4). Or maybe “Be angry so you do not sin!” - meaning, extract from your soul, through anger, sinful deeds and vile passions. Put order in your souls through anger. Or use the reproduction instinct for reproduction: “Who through Your unspeakable Grace and plentiful goodness were present in Cana of Galilee, and blessed the marriage there, that You might show a lawful union, and a generation there from, is according to Your Will” as we see in a prayer said during the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony.
Archimandrite Ioanichie Balan:
How can we be delivered from sin?
Elder Teofil:
We can be delivered from any sin with God’s help, but only if we hate sin, avoid the sources of sin, and use all the means in our power to eradicate sin. A very good way to be delivered from sin, other than avoiding its sources and confessing - which, after all, means repentance - is continual prayer and humility.
Archimandrite Ioanichie Balan:
What are the most necessary good deeds for monastics to save their souls?
Elder Teofil:
Everything we do for good is necessary. Our rule of prayer, participation in the services of the Church, confession of our thoughts, obedience, daily work, silence, watchfulness, fasting, humility, and everything else similar to these are all necessary. Each in its own way, and all together are “the most necessary.”
“Let us commend ourselves and one another, and our whole life to Christ our God.”
Archimandrite Ioanichie Balan:
Can a Christian faithful be saved by a single good deed?
Elder Teofil:
A single good deed can save neither the monk nor the layperson. “Let us commend ourselves and one another, and our whole life to Christ our God.” This prayer from our Church services gives us clear and comprehensive guidance. If some people seek a specific good deed to redeem their sins and strengthen the good in their souls, they are like merchants and relate to God as they would relate to another man, not God. We do good deeds not as a price for our salvation but to help ourselves through them for our improvement - because no matter what we do, we will still go before God with an unfulfilled debt, and we will only be able to say: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
We are indebted for everything and expect no reward, but we only ask for God’s mercy. We are indebted for everything because we do everything by God’s grace. In fact, even the fact that we can do anything good makes us even more indebted because God receives us as His collaborators - and this indebts us even more. This is how St. Peter of Damascus sees progression in humility. Whoever wants to tell God: “Lord, I have done this and that good deed, now give me Your kingdom!” doesn’t know how to stand before the face of God.
Archimandrite Ioanichie Balan:
Which passion should we fight against first, and how can we be delivered from it faster?
Elder Teofil:
The human being is not a stencil, so we cannot say with precision which passion we should fight against first and which last. Every person has a primary passion, a particular vice, or else is subjugated by several passions. People often don’t even know which passions are ruling them. Only a skilled spiritual father can determine which passion a certain Christian faithful should fight against first, how this fight should be conducted, and through which means.
There is a case in the Paterikon where a monk didn’t eat meat at all and didn’t drink any wine; he didn’t even eat bread, but because of his asceticism, he came to be ruled by vainglory and pride, which were pulling him like chains. His spiritual father, to whom he went for guidance, eliminated the reasons for the monk’s conceit, forcing him to eat bread and meat and drink wine. This is how we defeat our passions - through the help of those who give us the right advice.
Archimandrite Ioanichie Balan:
Which form of ascesis is the most within reach for monastics? And for laypeople, what is the easiest way of salvation?
Elder Teofil:
The form of ascesis most within reach for both monastics and laypeople is continual prayer and watchfulness.
Archimandrite Ioanichie Balan:
Can monastics lose their souls through a single sin if they don’t repent? How about laypeople?
Elder Teofil:
Both monastics and laypeople can lose their souls through a single sin if they don’t repent - especially if it is a state of sin, a state of inattention to salvation. I have said before that sin must not be considered an isolated action or something separated from the human soul, but it needs to be seen as something that represents man with all his states of being, with all his internal mechanisms. For example, according to St. Mark the Ascetic, anger is caused by pride. It is proof of pride in the soul. In its turn, pride can manifest a lack of faith in God; in any case, it is proof of a lack of humility. And so on. Therefore, we never find just one sin in a human being.
Archimandrite Ioanichie Balan:
By which good deeds can monastics be most helpful to their neighbors? How about laypeople?
Elder Teofil:
Both monastics and laypeople can be helpful to their neighbors by doing the good deeds they are asked to do. It is pointless to want to win people over through deeds that they didn't ask for. People need us for a specific problem, in a particular direction. If we are not helpful to them the way they want it, then we are not beneficial to them at all.
We can also be helpful to our neighbors indirectly, when they don't need our help through our actions, by our good example, and our love.
Archimandrite Ioanichie Balan:
What good deeds does the gift of the Holy Spirit bring most of all into our hearts, according to the Holy Fathers? And which of these deeds keeps this gift continually in our hearts?
Elder Teofil:
We can’t say that a specific good deed brings the Holy Spirit into our souls or keeps it there. We serve God with “our whole life,” or else we don’t serve Him at all. And so, the Holy Spirit, the communion with the Holy Spirit, comes to us only if we “commend ourselves and one another, and our whole life to Christ our God.” Indeed, the Christian faithful often ask themselves: “What prayers should I say? How should I fast? How strictly should I fast?” I tell everyone: “Let us commend our whole life to Christ our God.” This is what brings and keeps the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
Archimandrite Ioanichie Balan:
Which sins cast out the gift of the Holy Spirit the quickest from our hearts, and how can we obtain this gift again?
Elder Teofil:
I don’t think we can determine precisely which sin casts out the gift of the Holy Spirit from our souls. Any sin, and most of all carelessness toward the spiritual life, makes us insensitive toward the Holy Spirit. During the Divine Liturgy, the precious gifts are sanctified “so that they may be for those who partake of them for vigilance of soul, remission of sins, communion of Your Holy Spirit” - which means that only those who are vigilant, who have been awakened from carelessness and insensitivity, can commune with the Holy Spirit. We should note that the prayer asks for “remission of sins” and doesn’t specify which particular sin must be forgiven. This means that all sins need to be cleansed from our souls so that we can receive the Holy Spirit; implicitly, this also means that any sin can prevent the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in our souls.
Archimandrite Ioanichie Balan:
What does God ask of us first: to do a good deed and then teach others, or the other way around?
Elder Teofil:
It is good for people who teach to teach with both their words and their lives. St. Isidore of Pelusium says: "To live without speaking is better than to speak without living. For the former who lives rightly does good even by his silence, but the latter does no good even when he speaks. When words and life correspond to one another they are together the whole of divine philosophy."
Archimandrite Ioanichie Balan:
Which good deed comes first: knowledge or purification of sins?
Elder Teofil:
There are two types of knowledge: knowledge that leads to action and knowledge that comes from action. We first know from listening and learning, then we accomplish and know from doing. Elder Arsenie Boca used to say: "The longest path is the path that leads from the ears to the heart." Knowledge from listening and learning is informative, rational knowledge. Accomplishing through action what we know rationally leads us to intuitive knowledge, to more complete knowledge, because by doing, knowledge becomes embodied in us, becomes part of our nature.
True knowledge is achieved by action. "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world." (John 4:42) said to the Samaritan woman the people of Sychar who had personally experienced a relationship with Christ, of Whom they had just heard about before from the Samaritan woman. We should note that we only arrive at the second type of knowledge through the first one.
Archimandrite Ioanichie Balan:
Is the purification of our hearts possible without knowing the Holy Scripture?
Elder Teofil:
Knowledge of the Holy Scripture is very important in our work toward purifying the heart and shunning passions. However, as Orthodox Christians, even though we treasure the Holy Scripture, we have as our starting point and primary method of instruction the divine services of the Church, which are “Scripture in action” or “Scripture with commentary.” We receive the words of our Savior and of the Holy Apostles in the divine services, in the pericopes ordained to be read during the Divine Liturgy and the other divine services. And so, we receive our instruction to purify our hearts from the divine services, even concerning knowledge of the Bible.
It is not absolutely necessary to know the Holy Scripture in its entirety and in detail so it can help our work of purification. All the more because not every word in the Holy Gospels was said for everyone, but our Lord Jesus Christ had a particular word for one person or another who asked for His guidance. The most important thing is to know what words suit us in particular and to keep those words that belong to us and use them to shun our passions and purify our hearts.
It is said that some saints read often and much from the Holy Scripture, especially from the New Testament. However, we can’t say that this is necessary for all Orthodox faithful to the same degree attained by these saints. A spiritual father told a monk who said he learned the Old and the New Testament by heart: “You have filled the air with words!” Another spiritual father told a chaste young woman who had learned the Holy Scripture by heart: “Is defamation the same as praise for you? Is lack or plenty the same for you? Is loss or gain the same? Are foreigners the same as your relatives?” When she confessed that she hadn’t reached such a measure, the spiritual father told her: “Go and make a good beginning from now on.”
It is good, without a doubt, to know the Holy Scripture, especially the Holy Gospels, so we have in our minds the Word of the Lord that will renew our minds, but it is not necessary to attain performances in this matter. We can work to purify our hearts with less knowledge but great zeal in doing good deeds.
Archimandrite Ioanichie Balan:
What is the shortest definition of theology, according to the Holy Fathers? And who can be truly called a theologian?
Elder Teofil:
The Orthodox Church has three theologians in the true meaning of the word: St. John the Evangelist, St. Gregory of Nazianz, and St. Symeon the New Theologian. Theology is living the religious life in its profundity and the knowledge that comes from it. Or, theology is union with God and contemplation of God. Who can say, however, where the limit of theology is?
Translated from “Ne vorbeste Parintele Teofil (Father Teofil speaks to us)”, 1997.
Elder Teofil Paraian - A short biography
Father Teofil Paraian (1929-2009) has been and still is a shining light and a great spiritual father who embodied the joy and certainty of faith, a preacher of the faith that works through love. Father Teofil built up many souls and brought many people to spiritual rebirth through his sermons, conferences, and personal guidance.
Father Teofil was born on March 3, 1929, in a family of peasant plowers in Toparcea village, close to Sibiu, in Romania. His baptismal name was Ioan, and he was the oldest of four brothers. He was born blind, so he attended a special elementary school for blind children in Cluj-Napoca between 1935 and 1940. He continued his education at a school for blind students in Timisoara in 1942-1943 and then attended a regular high school in Timisoara until 1948.
During this time, he met Father Arsenie Boca, from whom he learned the Prayer of the heart: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” a prayer that he continued to practice even before entering the monastic life.
His preoccupation with religious life and the wish to deepen his theological knowledge determined him to attend the School of Theology in Sibiu between 1948 and 1952. On April 1, 1953, he joined the monastic community at Brancoveanu Monastery at Sambata de Sus. After four months, he was tonsured as a monk on the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos and was given the name Teofil (Theophilus in Greek), meaning “friend or lover of God.”
Father Teofil was ordained as a Deacon after seven years, again on the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, by Metropolitan Nicolae Colan. After 23 years of Diaconate, on May 13, 1983, he was ordained as a Priest by Metropolitan Antonie Plamadeala. He received the blessing to be a spiritual father at the same time.
Father Teofil received the title of Archimandrite in 1988. He reposed in Cluj-Napoca on October 29, 2009, and was buried at Sambata de Sus Monastery.
Father Teofil is known through his tireless theological and cultural activity expressed through conferences held in more than 80 cities in Romania, the 38 books he wrote, and many interviews and talks.
(Translated from doxologia.ro)
