The Guardian Angel

Here is a beautiful piece "For Consideration" from today's reading in The Prologue from Ochrid by Saint Nikolai:

St Anastasius of Mount Sinai teaches: 'God give to each Christian an angel to care for him through his whole life, unless he drives him away by his evil doings. But as smoke drives away bees and an evil stench doves, so the guardian of our life, our angel, is driven away from us by our sins: drunkenness, debauchery, anger and the rest. An angel guides every faithful man in every good work, while the demons exert all their strength to disturb the faithful and deprive them of the heavenly Kingdom.' The angels are close to men and take care of them is testified to in the whole of Holy Scripture and especially in the New Testament. Besides this, there are in the Orthodox Church innumerable testimonies of holy men and women who witnessed to that which Anastasius emphasizes: that a gracious and powerful messenger of God, a soldier of the King of heaven, an angel of light, accompanies each one of us through this life. Who, other than the insane, would drive away such a good friend from himself? Indeed, only the insane and other ignoramuses drive away their greatest friend, their guardian angels.