Глава XXII. Собеседование святых старцев, в вопросах и ответах, весьма душеспасительное

1. Question. How should a monk stay in his cell? Answer. One must withdraw from acquaintance with many people, so that when thoughts are abolished from everything, the knowledge of the Lord will instill in him. 2. Question. Who is a monk? Answer. The monk is a dove. Just as a dove that at one time flies into the air and spreads its wings, if it lingers for a long time outside its nest, when beaten by bloodthirsty birds, it loses its beauty, so a monk who goes out to a church meeting and spreads his thoughts, if he lingers for a long time outside his cell, then the one beaten by demons is subject to the darkening of his thoughts and loses their brightness. 3. Question. With what thought does the devil cast out a monk from his cell? Answer. The devil is a charmer. Just as a charmer with charming words lures an animal out of its hole, having caught it, leads it through the streets of the city and betrays it to people, and then, when it grows old, burns or drowns it, so the thoughts of a monk attract him to leave his cell and subject him to the same thing. 4. Question. If a monk goes out in obedience and a woman meets him on the road, how can he avoid sexual immorality? Answer. He cannot avoid battle, but he can avoid business if he remains silent at the hour of the meeting, for just as the strike of a flint on a flint ignites a spark, so a conversation between a wife and her husband is a sin. 5. Question. By what thought does fornication descend into a person? Answer. Not one, not two, not five, not ten thoughts are defined for fornication, for all the thoughts of the devil have fornication hidden in them. 6. Question. Is it good to have two chitons? Answer. It is good to have two tunics and not have destructive malice. The body needs covering, but having what is necessary and sufficient, we will be satisfied with it. 7. Question. How should the service of psalmody be performed and what is the measure of fasting? Answer. One should not do anything more than what was commanded, for many, wanting more, were later unable to do even less. 8. Question. If my brother asks me to come to him to drink a cup of wine, is it good to go to him? Answer. Flee from drinking wine like a chamois from a snare, for many have fallen into a ditch of thoughts as a result. 9. Question. If my brother confuses me, do you want me to stop throwing him? Answer. Put him on the spot and cut yourself off from him, for we have Abba Arseny, who said: have love with everyone and move away from everyone. 10. Question. What does it mean for a person to bring a thanksgiving sacrifice to church? Answer. This work is a treasure laid before the face of God. And what you throw here, grief follows. 11. Question. I want to be a martyr for God's sake. Answer. If in time of need someone stands up for his neighbor, then this is equal to the cave of three youths. 12. Question. Why does fornication attract a person so much? Answer. Because the devil knows how fornication alienates us from the Holy Spirit, for he hears what the Lord says: My Spirit must not abide in these men... for they are flesh (Gen. 6:3). 13. Question. How should one remain silent in a cell? Answer. Sitting in a cell, one should by no means have any memory of a person. 14. Question. So, what kind of work should one have so that the heart is constantly occupied with it? Answer. This is the perfect work of a monk to always listen to God without distraction. 15. Question. How should the mind drive away evil thoughts? Answer. He cannot do this by himself and does not have such power, but as soon as the soul falls under thoughts, it must immediately resort to Him who created it, and He will melt them like wax, for our God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29). 16. Question. How did the monastery fathers use contradictory thoughts? Answer. And such work is great and excellent, but it takes work and is not reliably good for everyone. 17. Question. Why not for everyone? Answer. When a thought comes upon the soul, and after a long struggle it casts it out, another comes and occupies it, and, thus contradicting the thoughts, it is not for a moment abolished for the contemplation of God. 18. Question. By what art does thought resort to God? Answer. When the thought of fornication comes, immediately shake your mind, raise it with care and do not slow it down at all, for slowing down is concomitant with sexual intercourse. 19. Question. If a thought of vanity comes that has fulfilled virtue, should not this thought also contradict? Answer. As soon as someone begins to contradict him, he will suddenly become stronger and more ferocious, because he finds more ways to contradict you. Moreover, the Holy Spirit will no longer intercede for you, for he finds you highly intellectual, so that I can fight my thoughts on my own. Just as one who has a spiritual father leaves everything to his father and remains carefree, so one who devotes himself to God should not at all worry about a thought or contradict it, even if he enters. If he does come in, take him to the Father and tell him: I have nothing to do with this. Here is my Father! He knows. And when you still lift him up, in the middle of the way, he will leave you and run away, for he cannot come with you to God or stand before His face. There is no commandment in the church higher than this work and more careless than this. 20. Question. How did the skits please God by contradicting their thoughts? Answer. Since they work in simplicity and with the fear of God, God interceded for them, and after that the same work of contemplation came to them, by the good pleasure of God, for their labors and love of God. At the same time, the one who taught this said the following: while I was once in the Skete, I came to a certain wanderer who had been living there for a very long time. After kissing me, he sat down and didn’t say anything to me. I sat, indulging in contemplation, and he worked at the weaving and never once raised his head to look at me, forgetting about food. So he remained for six days without food, weaving all day long. The next day, around ten o'clock, he says to me: brother! Where did you get this from? I asked: how did you find it? We were taught this work by our fathers from spiritual childhood. The wanderer said to me: I did not accept this work from my fathers, but as you see me now, this is how I remained all my time - with little handicraft, with little teaching, with the feasible purification of my thoughts and the contradiction of the thoughts found. And thus the spirit of contemplation came to me, while I did not know about it, nor did I know whether anyone had such a practice. I answered him: I learned it from childhood. 21. Question. How should one listen to contemplation? Answer. As God's Scripture teaches us: Daniel beheld the Ancient of Days; Ezekiel - on a cherubic chariot; Isaiah - on a throne high and exalted; Moses - He who sees is invisible, but who endures (Heb. 11:27). 22. Question. How can the mind contemplate something it has never seen? Answer. You have never seen the Tsar sitting, as we see on the icons. 23. Question. Should the mind describe the Divine? Answer. There is no better way to describe it and not to associate it with unclean thoughts. 24. Question. Wouldn't this be considered a sin? Answer. Keep it for now, as the prophets saw historically, and then the perfect thing itself will come, as the Apostle says: now we see as with a mirror in fortune-telling, but then face to face (1 Cor. 13:12). Then - means when the thought is perfected, then it will mature with boldness. 25. Question. Won't this lead to a frenzy of mind? Answer. It will not lead at all if someone strives in truth. And one said at this: all day and all week I did not remember the man once. And the other said: I was once walking along a path, and two Angels of God, on one side and the other, walked with me, but I did not listen to them. 26. Question. Why didn't you listen? Answer. Because it is written that neither an angel nor a spirit can separate us from the love of Christ. 27. Question. Can the mind always contemplate? Answer. If not always, but when a thought is wrapped in passions, immediately resort to God in contemplative prayer, for if the thought succeeds in this, then it is more convenient to move a mountain than to bring it down from there. Just as a convict imprisoned in a dark prison, after he is released and sees the light, does not even want to remember that darkness, so is the thought when its own light begins to ripen. This is what one of the fathers said: one day, wanting to test his thoughts - whether he would bark if I let him go into the world, he let him go, but he stood in one place, not knowing where to go, until I took him again, grief, for he knew that I would torment him if he went to bark. What corrects this is the practice of silence with humility and prayer, for frequent prayer with humility soon brings the mind into good working order. 28. Question. How can one pray unceasingly, since the body is weak for such service? Answer. Not only is it called prayer when we stand in prayer, but also what happens always and everywhere. 29. Question. As always? Answer. Whether you eat, drink, walk on the road or sit at work, do not deviate from prayer. 30. Question. And if you are talking to someone, how can you fulfill the rule of unceasing prayer? Answer. That is why the Apostle said: with all prayer and supplication (Eph. 6:18). So, if you cannot stop yourself for prayer while talking with another, pray with prayer. 31. Question. What prayer should you pray? Answer. Our Father, like ecu in heaven... and so on. 32. Question. What measure should prayer have? Answer. No measure is shown, for the words: pray always and without ceasing (1 Thess. 6:17) exclude any measure. And at the same time he said that whoever wants to correct this must see all people as one and refrain from condemning. 33. Question. Why can't I live with my brothers? Answer. Because you are not afraid of God, for if you remembered the testimony of Scripture that Lot was saved among the Sodomites, without condemning anyone, you would agree to live even among animals. 34. Question. What is the sin of condemnation? Answer. The sin of condemnation will not allow a person to come before the face of God, for it is written: He who slanderes his sincere secret, he will drive out (Ps. 100:5). 35. Question. Why is my thought not abolished when I stand in prayer? Answer. The devil, who at first did not want to worship the God of all, was cast out of heaven and became a stranger to the kingdom of God, therefore he is trying to dispel our prayer in order to subject us to the same condemnation. 36. Question. How can a person cut off the demonic pretext? Answer. The fish cannot prevent the fisherman from throwing his fishing rod into the sea, but if, realizing the danger of the bait, it moves away, it is saved, and the fisherman’s work remains fruitless. This is what a person should do. 37. Question. Does remembrance make a person guilty of sin? Answer. Waves will not harm a stone, and an excuse that is not brought into action will not harm a person, as it is said that a sin not committed is not a sin. 38. Question. What does the word of Scripture mean: if you have faith like the grain of a mountain (Matthew 17:20)? Answer. When a farmer, having plowed and cleared the land, sows seeds, then the seed, finding space in the ground, sends roots deep and shoots upward, so that the birds of the air live on them, so a person, if he cleanses his heart, accepts the word of God, and it takes root in the heart and grows good thoughts, so that all the commandments of God dwell in him. 39. Question. Is it good to move into the desert? Answer. The sons of Israel, when they departed from the vanities of Egypt and dwelt in the tabernacles, then it was given to them to know how they should fear God; Likewise, ships, when carried by the waves in the middle of the sea, remain barren, and when they enter the pier, then their owners bargain and make a profit. Likewise, if a person does not remain patient in one place, he will not receive the knowledge of the truth. And God chose silence above all the virtues, for it is written: To whom will I look, only to him who is meek and silent and trembles at My words (Isa. 66:2). 40. Question. Why does the devil so strongly attract me to absent-mindedness and drive me away from needlework? Answer. Since the devil knows that handicraft produces the fruit of alms, he draws us to absent-mindedness, so that, by removing ourselves from handicraft, we can stop almsgiving. 41. Question. Is it good not to like the disputes of brothers? Answer. Flee them, for it is written: close your ears, lest you hear the judgment of blood, and close your eyes, lest you see iniquity (Isa. 33:15). 42. Question. How can a person live alone? Answer. A fighter, if he does not stay among people, cannot learn the art of winning, so that he can then engage in single combat with the enemy; so a monk will only then be able to resist thoughts, living alone, when first, living among the brethren, he will learn the art of conquering thoughts. 43. Question. If there is a need to enter into a conversation with your wife, how should you conduct it? Answer. This need comes from the devil and he has many other excuses for need. If you happen to enter into a conversation with your wife, do not allow her to say unnecessary things and, having finished the conversation in a short time, let her go quickly, but if you hesitate in the conversation, know that her stench will defile your thoughts. 44. Question. What thought can deviate a person from condemnation? Answer. Just as one who receives fire into the depths is burned, so one who receives human conversations will not be free from condemnation. 45. Question. What does it mean - the night dreams of the devil? Answer. Just as during the day he occupies us with extraneous thoughts in order to divert us from prayer, so at night he inspires the mind with dreams in order to take away the purity of our sleep. 46. ​​Question. What should a person do when he finds the temptation of the flesh in a dream? Answer. Just as one who finds his enemy sleeping and defeats him cannot boast of victory, because this is shameful, so the temptation that occurs in a dream is insignificant. 47. Question. How can a person receive the gift of loving God? Answer. When someone, seeing a brother in sin, cries out to God to help him, then he will receive knowledge of how he should love God. 48. Question. By keeping what commandments can a person be saved? Answer. Four virtues belong to man - fasting, prayer, handicraft and chastity of the body. Rebelling against these virtues, the devil cast Adam out of paradise, for, having seduced him with food and disgraced him, he drove him to hide and not go before the face of God, so as not to ask forgiveness for sin; when Adam was expelled from paradise, the devil wanted to cast him through idleness into another sin - despair. Therefore, the philanthropic Master, seeing the malice of the devil, gave Adam a task, saying: make the earth from which you were taken, so that he, busy with the work, would cut off the evil suggestions of the devil. So now the devil rebels against fasting, prayer and handicraft, which ruins all his intrigues, as well as against chastity. Whoever acquires these four virtues will prevail in all virtues. 49. Question. What must one do to receive the gift of these virtues? Answer. Anyone who wants to learn any art leaves all other concerns and humbles himself, and through humility acquires art. So, when a monk abandons all human concerns and humbles himself more than any other person, not thinking that he is better or equal to anyone, then the virtues, noticing his doing, come to him by themselves, for it is said: while I am still speaking, he says: behold, I have come (Is. 58:9). 50. Question. How can a person know that his prayer is favorable to God? Answer. If he is careful not to offend his neighbor in any matter, then he will abstain with the thought that his prayer is pleasing to God; if he offends his neighbor in anything, either physically or mentally, then his prayer is unpleasant and vile, for the groaning of the offended person does not allow the prayer of the offender to enter before God, moreover, if he does not hasten to be reconciled with his neighbor, he will never be cleansed of his sins, for it is written: if you bind them on earth, they will be bound in heaven (Matthew 18:18). 51. Question. Is it good to memorize the Holy Scriptures? Answer. The shepherd drives the sheep to the good grass, but, walking in the desert, they also attack the bitter herb. When this potion begins to burn, the sheep regurgitates the good grass and delights its taste. Likewise, it is good for a person to study God’s Scriptures against the pretexts of demons, for as soon as someone begins to sing psalmody and sweetens his lips with a cry to God, the demons, unable to bear the praise sent to God, immediately leave! singing. You might be interested in: