What the Heart Is: Grace Within, the Devil Without

What the video says

This chapter from the book Orthodox Psychotherapy, titled 'What the Heart Is', explains that after Holy Baptism the grace of God is present in the center of the heart while the devil works from outside. Scripture shows Satan invading hearts, as with Ananias and Judas, and the Lord teaches that evil thoughts, murders, adulteries and other evils proceed from the heart.

At the same time the heart is the supernatural center where the grace of Christ is active, as the Apostle Paul writes that God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying 'Abba Father'. Saint Thalassius and Saint Diadochus explain how the heart produces thoughts and how grace works in those baptized. The greatest battle takes place in the heart, and the most important work of the combatant is to enter his own heart and there wage war with Satan.

Key moments

1. 0:00 After Holy Baptism the grace of God is present in the center of the heart, while the devil works from the outside.
2. 0:00 The Apostle Peter asked Ananias why Satan filled his heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and the devil put into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray Christ.
3. 0:35 The Lord teaches that out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness and blasphemies.
4. 0:35 The heart is also the supernatural center where the grace of Christ is active: Paul writes that God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying 'Abba Father', and that the love of God has been poured out in our hearts.
5. 1:05 Saint Thalassius writes that a good heart produces good thoughts, because its thoughts correspond to its store of treasure.
6. 1:05 Good and evil thoughts come from the heart, but grace and Satan are not in the same place at the same time; evil ideas are born from the remembrance of evil and from the attacks of the demons, though we feel they arise from the heart.
7. 1:36 Saint Diadochus says the grace of God given at baptism conceals its presence in the baptized, waiting to see which way the soul inclines; when one keeps the commandments and remembers the name of Christ unceasingly, the fire of divine grace spreads to the outward organs of perception and burns up the tears in the field of the soul.
8. 2:07 The breath of the Holy Spirit extinguishes the fiery darts of the devil while they are still in mid-air; the greatest battle takes place in the heart, and when Christ conquers there, inner and outer peace comes, so the combatant's most important work is to enter his own heart and wage war with Satan.