Do not think that the word that escapes from the mouth is scattered in the air, and that nothing remains of the word. This is not true. Words are alive, rushing like radio waves, rushing through space and pouring into people’s hearts and minds. Words are a huge force that connects or separates people. The words spoken by the great Old Testament prophets, the apostles of Christ and the ascetics of God are still alive. Every good, wise word lives in people’s hearts and bears good fruit for many years. But every evil word poisons people, who imitate it and emit the same evil, poisonous words.
“O Lord and Master of my life, Take from me the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power and idle talk.
Thus Saint Ephraim the Syrian prayed, and the holy prophet David says in his psalm: “Set a watch, O Lord, at my tongue, keep the gates of my mouth” (Ps. 141: 3).
The Lord Jesus Christ himself said that we will give an answer for every empty word at the last judgment (Matt. 12:36). Think about how serious it is, how difficult it is: to give an answer for every empty word. It is amazing, amazing how people do not understand the huge, colossal significance of the human word.
Our ability to speak makes us like God Himself. God created the whole world by word (Gen. 1: 1), the word of God has great, powerful power. You know that the prophet Elijah raised the dead with the word (1 Sam. 17: 21-22), stopped the rain with the word, closed the sky and caused famine (1 Sam. 17: 1).
Do not think that the word that escapes from the mouth is scattered in the air, and that nothing remains of the word. This is not true. The word lives, lives for centuries, thousands of years. The words spoken by the great prophets of God, many centuries before the birth of Christ, are still alive. The great words of Moses, the great words that were once spoken by the holy apostles, those words that came from the lips of the ascetics of God, the teachings of the Church of God, live for thousands of years.
And if the word lives for thousands of years, it means that it is something extremely important. The word that comes out of our mouths always has an extremely profound effect on the people around us, even on people far away from us.
Every good, wise word lives in people’s hearts and bears good fruit for many years. Every evil word also lives for many years, it is implanted in the minds, in the hearts of people near and far, it directs their thoughts, their desires. Hearing our evil words, they are poisoned by them, imitate us and emit the same evil, poisonous words.
The gracious and wise words of the saints create truth in the world, do eternal good, and evil, sinful words bring shame, hatred, bring great harm to the people around them, and even to all humanity.
Words are alive, rushing like radio waves, rushing through space and pouring into people’s hearts and minds. Words are a huge force that connects or separates people. That’s how great it is, how deep the meaning of the human word is. That is why St. Ephraim prays for deliverance from idle talk.
You have all met a lot of people in your life, especially women, who chatter, chatter and chatter endlessly, and at the same time their language does not know of any fatigue: talk, talk and talk. Everything they say is empty, nobody needs it. And Ephraim the Syrian prays to God to deliver him from nonsense. He was afraid that he would fall, that his tongue would destroy him, and these unfortunate speakers were not afraid of anything.
Wise people who live a spiritual life never talk nonsense, they are always quiet and concentrated. In ancient Greece, philosophers and sages were highly esteemed. Philosophers never accepted him as their student before a man proved that he could be silent. And would any of the lazy speakers now pass the silence test? Of course not.
If talking idly is so dangerous, how to get rid of it, what should we do with our unruly tongue? We need to do what Saint Ephraim the Syrian did: to pray to God for deliverance from this vice, and the Lord Jesus Christ will give us what we ask for. It is necessary to avoid communication with people who talk too much, to be far from them, to seek the company of a few wise people who open their mouths just to say something useful, from which lazy, useless words will not be heard.
Get in the habit of being careful what you say, and what your tongue does, and get used to keeping your tongue under control. Don’t let it talk idly. Remember in the evening what you said during the day, whether you chatted, whether you insulted someone, whether you lied, whether you were insidious. If you acquire this habit, you will know how to pay attention to your tongue, to its every movement, and keep it.
Remember, the more the person is focused on the main, inner, truth, the more time he/she reads the Gospels, the Holy Scriptures, the works of the holy fathers, the more he/she is imbued with their wisdom and the more he/she loses the desire to chat. Gaining power over our tongue is a big deal.
The Apostle James says in his epistle: “If anyone does not err in his word, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body” (James 3: 2).
Do you understand what it means to restrain the whole body? This means subordinating the body to the highest goals of the spiritual life, restraining all lusts, passions, everything bad that attracts the body. Start by restraining your tongue, and if you achieve this goal, you will reach perfection and be able to restrain your whole body. And if you restrain your whole body, you will be pure and righteous before God.
May the Lord grant you all this purity and righteousness, and may the prayer of Ephraim the Syrian always remind you of that. Amen.
Saint Luke, Archbishop of Crimea
