—Geronta, many people return home from work stressed out.
—I suggest to men that if they can, they should find an open church after work, go in, light a candle and stay inside for ten to fifteen minutes. Or go sit in a park somewhere and read a small section of the Gospel, so as to quiet down a bit. Then they can go home in peace, smiling, instead of stressed out and ready to pick a fight. They shouldn’t bring work problems home with them—leave them at the door on the way out.
—But Geronta, some of them are justified, for their work responsibilities fill them with anxiety.
—It fills them with anxiety because they don’t involve God in their dealings. The sluggard who says “O, God will take care of things…” is better off than such people. I’d rather someone be an employee and do his work well, with philotimo—but simplifying his life, concentrating on the essentials and quieting his mind—rather than a factory owner and constantly whining and moaning because he is always in debt. Pride gets in and says, “I’ll borrow this amount, I’ll take care of this and that, and tidy things right up…”; but afterwards his business fails, he goes bankrupt, and then must sell everything, etc.
Many people don’t use their mind at work. They tire unnecessarily and thus no work gets done. Later they aren’t able to snap out of it, and get all stressed out. For example, someone wants to learn a certain trade and, because he doesn’t pay attention, for years he comes and goes, without making any progress, because he never uses his mind. He should observe what his work requires of him and do it. Look, when I worked in the world as a carpenter, I saw that the furniture I made required a lathe. What did I do? Did I go find someone to do the work for me? No, I got myself a lathe and learned how to use it. Next, I saw that I needed to make spiral staircases. So I sat down, called to mind the math and geometry I had learned, and figured out how to make them. If you don’t use your mind, you end up working too hard. What I want to emphasize is how one should use his mind, because at work one meets with a whole heap of challenges. In this way he will become a good craftsman; and from then on he will know what to do—he will make progress. Therein lies the entire foundation. The mind ought to be creative in all matters. Otherwise man remains an under-achiever and wastes his time.
Translation by Fr. Luke Hartung from the book Family Life [in Greek], by Elder Paisios the Athonite, published by the Sacred Hesychastirion of St. John the Evangelist, Souroti, Greece (2002).
