Do not speak unnecessary words, my child, for they chill your soul’s divine zeal. Love silence, which gives birth to all virtues and fences in the soul so that the devil’s evil does not approach it. “Better to fall from a height than with the tongue.” The tongue does the greatest harm to man. Salvation is not gained when we speak idly or when we pass our days without keeping accounts. Be careful with your tongue and your thoughts, for guarding them fills the soul with the light of God. But he whose mouth is unbridled deposits various impurities in his soul.
subm. no. 11 paragraphs: 5, 6 from pages 207-208 1-6 (sometimes paired in same posting) from pages 211-212
From the book
Councels from the Holy mountain
Selected from the letters and homilies of Elder Efraim of Arizona
Selection of passages from the book by Silviu Podariu
