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What a needed message for our present times. When psychologists and psychoterapists encourage us to acknowledge our negative feelings and thoughts and accept them as an integral and perfectly normal part of our being. When we are encouraged to not 'label' thoughts as good nor bad, but just accept everything as 'serving us' and having a purpose for our growth, you clarified that it's actually the opposite. Modern therapy is all about digging into our past, reliving the traumatic episodes (which are often the result of sin), bringing to the surface deep, hidden, unprocessed emotions and making peace with it all. The only real therapy is, as you say, living with Christ, and asking for Him to heal us and restore us. Thank you, father! You are a beacon of light in this world full of traps and illusions.

The Jesus prayer is my shield from the arrows of unwanted thoughts. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God; have mercy on me, a sinner.

"When a bad or gloomy thought, fear or temptation threatens to afflict you, don't fight it to try and get rid of it. Open your arms to Christ's love and He will embrace you, then it will vanish by itself. " - St. Porphyrios

Catholic from Italy here. God bless you father! God bless us all!

"Run away with courage" I'll take that, thank you, Father

Hello, im a catechumen from Norway and im becoming Orthodox during easter. I appreciate your videos a lot, youve been a massive support for me.

"He has already won" That is powerful.

Timely message, Father.

I've been trapped in my anger for longer than I can remember. Thank you for your message Father. Your caring towards us is a blessing.❤

Thank you, Father! This is a constant struggle. Please pray for me, everyone. I am a relatively new convert to Catholicism from evangelical protestantism. However, for the past 8 months I've been studying/praying about Orthodoxy. I want to ensure I am doing the right thing. My fear is that I become one of those typically modern people who jumps from one church to another.

I suffer from PTSD, and I find if I fight this fear with faith, it works every time. I have to do this many times a day, especially these days. Put your faith in Jesus. Jesus, I trust in you, Jesus I trust in you. Jesus, I trust in you. The chaplet of Divine Mercy, the rosary, the eucharist and studying the word of God. Thank You father Seraphim. God Bless You. Let Christ fight your battles because in him the battle is already won. The rosary works every time. St Michael, the archangel defend us in battle..

I needed to hear his. Thank you, my brother. God bless you.

To pray indirectly through Psalms! That's brilliant! Thank you Fr. Seraphim.

Speaking to my soul🙏🏽🌹💙😇

Perfect advise! Thank you dear Brother! I give praise to the Perfect All Good Holy Spirit Who gave you this message. May God give me perfect repentance once and for all. We can do nothing without Christ and His Holy Spirit. I have been fighting alone for 20 years.

God bless you father seraphim

Thank you so much, Father. I've been in a deep struggle, and without your words, I never would have learned how horribly I've been approaching and dealing with it.

Hi folks ❤, may the Lord bless us all amen 🙏

Father, thank you so much for today's "sermon/ lecture". For me it was perfectly timed, and has given me exactly the help and support that I need, as I continue my journey as a hopefully devout Orthodox Christian. Glory to God

Thank you Father for this great message, this is exactly what I needed to hear as a catechumen coming from a Protestant background. May the Lord have mercy on us all! ☦️

“Wasting months to even years of our time trying to fight it” who’s here because of pornography. This video feels like it was made for me, I try so hard to fight it and end up losing the fight ever time

“Do not focus on your old sins, lest the war will be renewed on you.” +St. Anthony the Great

Found this today, oh father what a great timing. I'm implementing this now, we shouldnt be afraid of unning away from the devil and run towards Christ himself

I love your beautiful videos full of wisdom

God bless you Father

This Video was very timely for me as I just woke up from one of the spiritual attacks which has been happening to me for the past few months .Dear father I thank God for for your advice.

@mullmonastery Thank you so much Father, that was just what my heart needed to hear. Have been struggling with Anxiety & Depression and needed to be reminded to run to Christ's Love. God bless you all

New glasses Dear Father! 🤓😎 🙏

Thank you for this video, Father Seraphim. There is so much wisdom in this. I love the humility and simplicity of the idea that the only escape from sin is to run straight to Christ like little children. Thank you for your prayers.

This video was a God sent,I have been struggling with bad thoughts and this video helped me understand what I am doing wrong.Thank you and may God bless you!😄

Thank you, I really needed this. All glory to God amen☦️☝🏽✝️ God bless.

Blessings, Father. This message spoke to me, directly! I am so grateful for your teaching on this subject. I was doing everything wrong! I will now work at correcting the mistake and working on the battle properly!

You ask if this may have reached or not to people. I tell you what my beloved brother, I woke up in the morning and fell on my knees asking the Lord to forgive me my sins and my weakness against the evil one and his polluted thoughts that puts in my head. I told the Lord that I'm lost and I need His guidance. Next I felt His presence and as soon as I left home and go to work This video popped up first in my phone as a recommendation to watch. And then, you explained so perfectly like I never heard before. The way you approach this I have never heard or thought. God bless you and yes, I'll pray for you and even donate from heart to your monastery and all of us should do doesn't matter the amount but the pure hearted intentions. Keep the fresh videos up, I'll watch all of them

I am Catholic and I like your advices, I trust you more than many nowadays Catholic priests.

Truly the Holy Spirit works through you, Father Seraphim Aldea. I am trying to quit watching pornography and today i had a relapse. This brought me back into sanity. I know Book of Psalms: 116 by heart. I will recite it.

❤ A method that helps me is similar: the evil thought 💭 is a cloud ☁️ that passes by, nothing more. I interrupt a repetitive thought with singing 🎵. I sing to God a favorite comforting song like Be Still My Soul or Praise God from whom All Blessings Flow. I have several. Singing helps me return to joy. Singing lightens my heart and my grief disappears. Psalm 91 is always there to further comfort me. ❤

Thank you so much for your advice, God bless you Father ❤

Father, your message is well received by me, and the timing is impeccable. Speaking for myself, I have been wrestling so many wicked thoughts for quite a long time for years, and it's a real struggle. Your words today give me a pause and to regroup for a better way of dealing with this better. I am going to begin cutting off the sources of these thoughts and temptations, literally run away. This is the best advice yet. Thank you and God bless. I would like to add that your love for people is truly felt through these videos, your caring is touching. Thank you. Patrick

Thank for your powerful words. They spoke to me deeply. 🙏

Thank you. I am working on a couple different addictions and you are easy to listen to. I feel like I’m actually hearing what your saying

Dear Father..... I pray to God to bless you and your community. This idea of not engaging with the bad thoughts is what I desperately needed to hear. I will work on this. This is the only way to deal with my problem Resentment and Anger. Thank you for simplifying our task as followers of Christ.

Thank you and be blessed in Christ, Dear Father Seraphim, for being vis-a-vis us in order to draw us in to the divine magnet of Christ's great glory intended to be contemplated by man through the inspired, godly communication and communion in the time of human life! Be blessed for bringing us close and closer to Christ's love and power and to the healing order of The Trinity which restores life. You words reach us through the shared gift of your videos shared with us for the three years or so now - in such profound openness of heart for the glorification of God ! Thank God for your sacrificial actions! May you rejoice in the growth to fruition of the Word-seeds you sow!

I remember when I first started believing and had these intrusive thoughts. The most useful thing for me was identifying Them and knowing that they were not from me. So this message just being here and exposing the thoughts as they are is probably quite helpfull. Then it was so much easier to ignore them.

Amen 🙏😊

God bless you father praise be to god thank you for this message.

May God bless all of you and the monasteries, Father.

Thank you for this! Beautiful message and powerful! Very much in need for many, myself included. May the Lord bless you!

Fill oneself with the Holy Spirit when confronted with evil.

Praise the Lord, thank you my dear friend for your kind message, God bless you.. Amen and Amen.

Thank you Father. Very helpful and timely. Thank you and God bless you.

Boy I needed this today. All day long I was beating myself up for having such negative, nasty thoughts.

Im so greatful to find this channel ❤❤❤❤😊 thankyou jesusxxxxxxx

Thank you, Father. My husband ordered a prayer rope for me from your website. I had wanted one for awhile! It is so beautiful and such a spiritual treasure for me! Thank you so much for all you do and for the work of prayer at Mull and Iona.

This video has truly been a blessing. Thank you father. Peace and love, Christopher.

Thank you so much! God bless.

One way I look at what you are saying, I think of it as not running away in battle, but instead, retreating to gather your forces in Christ Wonderful message

Sterling, Kansas here Thank you for your videos

Thank you so much. Jesus bless you.

Thank you… so bad this days with dreams, I had no idea what to do… ☦️😞❤️

Thank you father for the good advice, this is one of the things i struggle with, the thoughts come so bad theres like temptations to hit my head and punch objects and nearly every night i try sleep but im tempted with alot of things, i will remember this and this will be helpful now and hopefully when i join a monastery in the future. God bless.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! I needed your words so much. So much. Thank you. God bless you.

This was exactly the message I needed to hear tonight. Thank you.

Multumim frumos, parinte! A ajuns mesajul la noi, cum sa nu ajunga... Ne luptam zilnic cu asa ceva. Chiar aveam nevoie de niste incurajari. Salutari din Bucuresti! Doamne ajuta!

I complete my RCIA at Easter. Your videos are a true inspiration and the Holy Spirit is very clearly deeply within you. May He bless your spirit brother

Thank you Father for your advice, it has gotten through to me. It IS a continual race to run away from the thoughts the devil puts in one’s mind. I like that “run away with courage.” St Sophrony says, “true contemplation begins the moment we become aware of sin in us.” Then, as you say, we don’t allow it to land. In another video you say it’s like swatting away a persistent fly buzzing around your head. God bless you Father and I will keep you in my prayers.

goodness!! this video was exactly what i needed to hear. thank you so much. i felt your spiritual authority in this video. God bless you from a pentecostal teen

❤father

Thank You.

Father, this has been a very beneficial weapon in fighting sinful thoughts! Thank you so much for sharing, glory to God and thank God for your obedience to his calling.

Thank you so much for these videos, Father. They have been incredibly helpful for me. I converted last year from atheism when the Lord blessed me with a truck driving job and I found His peace on the road. He is saving me from so much, but I struggle on a deeper and deeper level daily. I love my parish priest, but have not yet developed the relationship with him that I would like. God willing it will be so. I have an incredible amount of time to contemplate the Lord and to study the Scriptures and the Fathers as long as I can find them in audio format, which it turns out is the best way for me to learn. The problem I am having is, because I have devoted nearly every minute of the last year to the Lord (I am very alone in this world, so there is nobody to distract me) when I do speak to others, even other Christians, I feel like we speak different languages. I feel like I am in limbo. Like I am in this strange in-between state between monastic, hermit, and... whatever we call normies, but I never fit in with them, though I will say I love them with all my heart now that the Lord has made me see His Light in them. I find it amazing to try to draw that Light out in the people I meet. They respond so well when they notice you treat them like they have unimaginable value. It's sad that so many are so starved for that feeling. It's so easy to make them light up with just a little attention. It's a shame that it isn't how we treat each other by default. The world could be a much better place. My parish priest is very busy and I feel as though I am taking too much of his attention away from people who are far more important than myself if I were to ask for his time. I love the people of my parish. I love my priest. I don't want to take from them, so I suffer in silence and nearly absolute solitude. I have the company of our Lord. His Grace is sufficient, and He has taught me everything I know. Is it wrong of me to desire human relationships when I feel so close to the Lord? Is it the Lord's plan to isolate me for the moment or is it my sin that keeps me alone, as it always has in the past? I'm thinking of visiting a local monastery when I recover from my upcoming surgery. Maybe spend the weekend if they'll have me. I could use the company. It could only be good for me. When I hear you speak of your relationships with your spiritual father and your fellow monks I yearn for relationships like those. I haven't had friends since I was young and those didn't turn out to be very good friends. Or I wasn't a good friend, more precisely. Most of my family have passed on or live far away and haven't acted like family for many years anyway. I did my share of contributing to that trend, as well. The cross sure gets heavy sometimes, though. It would be nice to share the weight and to help others bear theirs. I guess I don't really have any questions. I just wanted to thank you for what you do.

So needed to hear this, thank you!

Almost always a right advice at the right time. God bless you father Seraphim.

Thank you so much. I needed this message.

I do admit that I pray a lot, but I'm just human and evil temptations hit me from time to time and I do my best to resist whether its not to get angry, swear, or whatever. I came up with a sort of bumper sticker slogan that I keep repeating to myself and it appears to repel evil temptations. It goes like this, "MY FAITH! - MY SHIELD!".

Thank you Father, I can't count how many times I've heard this message and forgotten it. I am grateful to have been reminded once again.

IN MY LIFE THE LORD HAS BROUGHT ME HERE. YOU ARE A BLESSING! MY HOPE IS IN CHRIST WHEN THE EVIL ONE PUTS NEGATIVE THOUGHTS IN MY MIND, TELLNG ME GOD DOES NOT LOVE ME. IN CHRIST I FIND HOPE, HE ALONE HELPS ME. MY PSALM OF COMFORT, IT BRINGS PEACE. Psalms 28:7-8 7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him. 8 The LORD is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.

Thank You, this is very helpful.

Thank you!

Thanks for lovely msg

Thank you very much, dear Fr. Seraphim. This video is very helpful!

This video is a recipe to remove evil thoughts and temptations totally from our lives. In the beginning it will be hard to wrench our eyes and ears away, but I am sure with practice it can be attained. Thank you dear Father Aldea for these wise and helpful words especially in these times we live in. I am convinced that wisdom comes from monasteries in a clear pure stream. God Bless you for passing on this wisdom. The new glasses suit your face well.

Today is Ash Wednesday, also 14 February, St. Valentine's Day according to the secular world. The Gospel of today really Jesus is telling us how to run to him. I went to Mass this morning. The homily I heard was very helpful. Prayer ai asking, fasting is begging and in almsgiving you receive from God all kinds of graces. The 3 weapons against evil we are given by the church as we prepare for Easter. Also, I was reminded this morning, by another very wise priest, that our ego is always there. This is the most difficult. From there comes my pride. Hope this helps people struggling like me. Courage, God loves me as I am, even with this very large ego I have. Thanks Fr. Seraphim for preparing my heart so I could hear these messages this morning. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My Dad's anniversary yesterday. We miss him so much. Addition. Fasting is not just from food, but anything at all. The fruit of the tree that is forbidden. Our scripture doesn't say apple. It says fruit. Jesus, the new Adam. Mary the new Eve, who help us run away from this tempting fruit.

Thank you so much for your videos, they have helped me so much. I recently became aware of a local Orthodox monestary in Oklahoma City of all places! I have been going to the last few days, and already it's been so helpful in my battle with my lust!

Your videos are truly a blessing to me, father. May Almighty God bless you.

❤️💚💙🌹

thank you, I love you. your videos have helped me and my friends so much. May God bless u .

Sage advice from - a sage.

God Bless You i really really you have no idea needed this, GOD led me here everything happened for two days to lead me here, God truly hears and sees us i am beyond overwhelmed by his infinite Love, God Bless you I tryly thankyou for caring enough to speak on here, God Bless you for eternity🖤☦️

Thank you so much for this father - I really needed to hear this! I am living through a very dark and difficult time in my life - ending a very long emotionally abusive marriage - dealing with adult children who are angry and impatient with me and i am quite terrified about my future - both financially and where I will go when I am able to leave. So I am sure you can imagine it takes the turkey about a nano second to start me off on a spiral of dark thoughts and despair! I have an evangelical and then Catholic background and so “fight” is the response I tend to take and of course that fails right away and then the hopeless and overwhelmed feelings are on steroids! I have been trying to practice the Jesus prayer at those moments but the emotional waves knock out any hope of concentration - so it really isn’t prayer. Thank you for suggesting the psalms! I think this will be so helpful to break the thought patterns with something so different and attention changing. I want so much to make progress in the spiritual life - and it seems that’s a pretty good way to land flat on your face…sigh! In any case I have ordered a small pocket sized psalter so I can always have it with me. Thank you again so much - may God bless you and your work

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Amen and amen.❤❤❤

I recently read "Wounded By Love" by St Porphyrios, and he discusses exactly this. It's very powerful: do not take an adversarial approach to the adversary, he will beat you with experience; or, to put it in the vulgar words of the younger generations, "dude just ignore your temptations lmao"

Running away from the people and places that led Christians into sin and sinful thoughts is what brought about the birth of the Monasticism...

Every word got to me, and every word feels so true, I've heard the Holy Spirit, Amen❤

Father many thks for your thoughts and short homilys. Glory to God for all.❤☦🕊

I needed too hear this. Bless you. Please pray for me.

Thank you!! Very helpful!!

I'll be watching this every day

Thank you Fr. Seraphim, often I must think of myself as a vulnerable lamb, fleeing from the wolf running to my Shephard. "But I am poor and needy; Make haste to me, O God! You are my help and deliverer; O Lord do not delay." Psalm 69 (70) : 5. Do not rely on your own strength. God will answer those who call upon Him with a pure heart.

Lord I pray that you protect this monastery and all around the world for they are your soldiers of you who serve you to pass your message of truth surround them with your love Amen 🙏