Guard yourself against the world?

*

Archbishop Averky also quoted often the words of St. Ignatius Brianchininov:

"Do not dare to raise your weak hand to stop the elemental tide of apostasy. Avoid it, protect yourself from it, and that is enough for you. Get to know the spirit of the times, study it so you can avoid its influence whenever possible."


Cited in http://startingontheroyalpath.blogspot.com/2011/02/one-man-in-face-of-apostasy.html

From its provenance, this must be taken as authoritative - assuming we can interpret it correctly.

*

The interesting thing is that the Saint's advice is the opposite from normal worldly advice which I used to follow. The worldly advice was that one had a kind of duty to expose oneself to the worst that the world could throw at you, otherwise you were shirking life, living in an ivory tower - otherwise you didn't truly know life.

The truly virtuous man could, and would, live among the seamiest characters and grossest experiences (whether actual or vicarious in art and the media) - and only by doing so would his virtue be proven.

Such was the worldly advice which I followed...

*

The worldly advisers knew what they were about, knew that if exposed to unrelieved and engineered temptation and horror 24/7 - then all but the most saintly would succomb to sin and despair; and that if everyone was exposed to incessant temptation and horror from an early age so that they never got clear of it, then there would be no saints.

*

H/T commenter Pierre.

*