I imagine many of the people that wind up reading this may already get the title, but I thought I'd write something for the less informed. Logismoi (pronounced 'lo-yeez-mee', with the stress on the last syllable) is the Greek word for 'thoughts', but it also carries the connotation of 'temptations'. St Hesychios the Presbyter (8th or 9th c., according to the editors of the English Philokalia) writes, 'If we have not attained prayer that is free from thoughts [logismoi], we have no weapon to fight with. By this prayer I mean the prayer which is ever active in the inner shrine of the soul, and which by invoking Christ scourges and sears our secret enemy' ('On Watchfulness and Holiness' 21, The Philokalia, Vol. I, trans. G.E.H. Palmer, et al. [London: Faber, 1979], p. 165). I thought this fitting, since the posts will suggest my thoughts but also frequently represent distractions by which I am tempted. I certainly have not attained the prayer St Hesychios speaks of, and I think that will be evident in this blog.
[Addendum: There was already a blog with the simple http://logismoi.blogspot.com/, which is why I added 'touaaron'—'tou aaron' or, 'of Aaron'. But it seems this blog was begun with the sole purpose of taking the simpler URL so that I couldn't use it.]
[Further addendum: I have more recently written a much more extensive post on the concept of 'logismoi' to which I now refer anyone interested in greater detail on this subject. It can be found here.]
[Addendum: There was already a blog with the simple http://logismoi.blogspot.com/, which is why I added 'touaaron'—'tou aaron' or, 'of Aaron'. But it seems this blog was begun with the sole purpose of taking the simpler URL so that I couldn't use it.]
[Further addendum: I have more recently written a much more extensive post on the concept of 'logismoi' to which I now refer anyone interested in greater detail on this subject. It can be found here.]
Thank you for this post and all of your work, Father.
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