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'''''Logismoi''''' ('{{lang-el|λογίσμοι lo-yeez-mee'}}, {{lang-ru|помыслы}}) is a term used to describe assaultive or tempting thoughts.
==<i>Logismoi</i> in the Writing of the Fathers==
===Evagrius Ponticus===
[[Evagrius Ponticus]] (c.346-399), originally from Pontus, on the southern coast of the Black sea in what is modern-day Turkey. He served as a [[Reader|lector ]] under St. [[Basil the Great]] and was made [[deacon]] and [[archdeacon]] under St. [[Gregory the Theologian]]. In order to deal with his sin, Evagrius retreated to the Egyptian desert and joined a cenobitic community. As a classically-trained scholar, Evagrius recorded the sayings of the desert monks and developed his own theological writings.
Evagrius developed a comprehensive list in 375 AD of eight evil thoughts (λογισμοι), or eight terrible temptations, from which all sinful behavior springs. This list was intended to serve a diagnostic purpose: to help readers identify the process of temptation, their own strengths and weaknesses, and the remedies available for overcoming temptation.
The eight patterns of evil thought are : *gluttony, *fornication, *avarice, *sorrow, *discouragement, *anger, *vainglory, *and pride. While he Evagrius did not create the list from scratch, he certainly refined it. Some two centuries later in 590 AD, Pope [[Gregory I, "Pope Gregory The Great" the Dialogist]] would revise this list to form the more commonly known Seven Deadly Sins, where Pope St. Gregory the Great rolled Acedia <i>acedia</i> (discouragement) & Tristitia <i>tristitia</i> (sorrow) into a newly defined sin of Sloth; Vainglory a part of Pride; and added Envy to the newly defined "Seven Deadly Sins".
===St. Hesychios the Priest ===
St. [[Hesychios the Priest]] writes the following in the [[Philokalia]]:
'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>Logismoi</i> in Modern Teaching ==
Fr. Maximos teaches that the best way to combat <i>logismoi</i> is to be indifferent, to ignore them. He suggests that a person should pray to combat <i>logismoi</i>, but only when not overcome by fear.
===Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos===
[[Hierotheos (Vlachos) of Nafpaktos]] writing in <i>Orthodox Psychotherapy</i> says:
'When the Fathers speak of `thoughts'(logismoi), they do not mean simple thoughts, but the images and representations behind which there are always appropriate thoughts.'
Referring to an impressive list of patristic writers--including [[Hesychios the Priest]], [[Gregory of Sinai]], [[Maximus the Confessor]], [[Evagrius Ponticus]], [[Isaac the Syrian]], [[Diadochos of Photiki]], St. Thalassios, [[John Climacus]], and [[Barsanuphius of Optina]]--explains the concept of <i>logismoi</i>, the difference between simple thoughts and "images with thoughts," that <i>logismoi</i> are caused by warfare with the devil, consequences of evil thoughts, and the cure for evil thoughts.
Met. Hierotheos' project in <i>Orthodox Psychotherapy</i> is bound up with battling and curing evil thoughts. He outlines a preventative plan that includes "watchfulness, attentiveness, hesychia, and cutting off evil thoughts." For a person already ill with evil thoughts Met. Hierotheos outlines a program of avoiding agitation, cutting off evil thoughts, not letting thoughts persist, chasing them away by prayer, the reading of Scripture and lives of the saints, and creating good thoughts.
==Sources==
*[[Wikipedia:Pontus]]
*'On Watchfulness and Holiness' 21, <i>The Philokalia</i>, Vol. I, trans. G.E.H. Palmer, et al. London: Faber, 1979, p. 165.
* [http://www.pelagia.org/htm/b02.en.orthodox_psychotherapy.03.htm#th Orthodox Psychotherapy - Logismoi], Met. Hierotheos Nafpaktos
==External Links==
