One time, when I was reading the Gospel, I read the phrase: “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life” (Matthew 7:14). I said, “What is this way?” Then I was taken in a spiritual manner to a place where there was a very narrow path, like a tube, and I had to go into it. I wondered, “How could a person fit through there? They would be squeezed.” Then I tried to go forward with unbearable difficulty, pulling myself forward with my hands and feet until I made it through that fearsome path. Only my elder and I were able to pass through this way.

Another time I found myself before a giant abyss, a bottomless chasm. Across this abyss there was a golden-white bridge that was no wider than a finger and I had to pass over this bridge to the other side. I made my way onto the bridge, walking very slowly and carefully, because if I fell into that chasm I surely would be lost. It was truly a struggle to do this; and then, suddenly, the golden bridge started to swing dangerously and to shake, putting me in danger of falling. I turned to see who was rocking the bridge, and what did I see? I saw the faces of some of the other fathers of the monastery rocking the bridge, and I asked them, “Fathers, why are you shaking the bridge? Don’t you see that if I fall into this abyss I will die?” In any case, I had passed over the great length of the bridge and had a only little bit left to get to the other side.

St. Iakovos of Evia
Source: Orthodox Ethos