“There are those who have soft souls and are easily convinced…”

There are those who have soft souls and are easily convinced. There are also those who have hard souls and don’t yield easily. The difference is as great as that between cotton and iron. The cotton requires only an anointing with words. The iron requires fire and a furnace of temptation to be worked. The man who has a hard character needs to be patient in enduring temptations for there to be a cleansing. When he isn’t patient he is like a lamp without oil, which quickly goes out, and is lost. 

– Elder Joseph the Hesychast (1898-1959)