St Peter of Damascus | A weak person especially ought to pay attention to the promptings of his conscience...

A weak person especially ought to pay attention to the promptings of his conscience, so that he may free his soul from all condemnation. Otherwise at the end of his life he may repent in vain and mourn eternally. 

The person who cannot endure for Christ’s sake a physical death as Christ did, should at least be willing to endure death spiritually. 

Then he will be a martyr with respect to his conscience, in that he does not submit to the demons that assail him, or to their purposes, but conquers them, as did the holy martyrs and the holy fathers. The first were bodily martyrs, the latter spiritual martyrs. By forcing oneself slightly, one defeats the enemy; through slight negligence one is filled with darkness and destroyed.

St Peter of Damascus