Evil does not and cannot exist of itself but must live as a parasite on the body of good. Evil must find a justification, must appear as good, and often the highest good. Evil always and inevitably contains an element appearing to have a positive value, and it is this which seduces man. Evil strives to present its positive facet as a jewel so precious or desirable, that all means are justified to attain it.
Each of us must and can comprise all mankind in our own personal being. Thus we shall accept all the evil in the world not as something extraneous but as evil in which we too have our part, and contend with evil, with cosmic evil, beginning in our own selves.
From The Monk of Mount Athos by Archimandrite Sophrony.
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