On Discerning the Movements of the Heart

When a person receives something Divine, he rejoices in his heart; but when he receives something diabolical, he is troubled.

The Christian heart, having received something Divine, does not require further external convincing that it is truly from the Lord, but is convinced by the very action itself that it is heavenly, for it senses within itself the spiritual fruits: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, mercy, faith, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22–23).

On the contrary, “even if the devil transforms himself into an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14) or presents thoughts of the most plausible appearance, the heart will nevertheless feel some kind of obscurity, agitation of thoughts, and confusion of the senses. Explaining this, St. Macarius of Egypt says: “Even though he [Satan] presents bright visions, he cannot, as has been said, produce a good effect—and this serves as his unmistakable sign” (St. Macarius the Great, Discourse 4, ch. 13).

Thus, from these varied movements of the heart a person can discern what is Divine and what is diabolical, as St. Gregory of Sinai writes about this: “From the movement you will be able to discern whether the light that has shone in your soul is from God or from Satan” (Philokalia, vol. 5, St. Gregory of Sinai, On Stillness).