Поучение 24. Об окормлении словесных овец Христовых.

Brothers and fathers! Can a helmsman be calm when he is at sea, steering the ship and watching the winds, or a good shepherd when he sees that wolves are coming to steal the sheep? No way; but both are awake, attentive, baking and watching, and walking around, to and fro, in order to save the ship from the waves, and the sheep from the wolves. This is how the leader of souls and the shepherd of verbal sheep works, and even more so, how much higher his superiors are, and how much more important is loss or salvation. Therefore, I, the humble one, tremble, am afraid, groan and mourn, seeing the difficulty of being the leader and the inconvenience of correcting the duty. For in truth it is difficult to be a leader of souls and to instruct people. What meets us and happens every day, you know this, even if you don’t talk about it: for how can you not see the rising storm in the community and the rocks in the depths, when the winds of wickedness blow, and disorder arises in the brotherhood through the most insane, careless and lazy? If someone becomes unzealous in his service, disobedient in obedience, inflexible in obedience, self-righteous and insubordinate, and through the assistance of demons finds a place and time convenient for his apostasy - for the prince of this world fulfills the desires of those who submit to him - then, having come to such a state, he makes not only himself, but also another brother, an apostate. Oh trouble, trouble! What's wrong with us? What is being done? How does a demon win? How do we put our holy guardian angels to shame? How do we choose the lot of the devil to shame the great God, our good Shepherd, Who through His cross and death gave us salvation? How will we see His face? How can we bear His wrath? Does not our evil exceed all the torments to which we will be condemned, to which we, the accursed, bestial, poor and full of evil, will be subjected for eternal punishment? Others delight in the kingdom of heaven, but we are kidnapped by the flatterer. Others perform the works of martyrs, but we are condemned for falling into apostasy. Others ascend to heaven, but we are cast down to the underworld of the earth. Others believe in their hearts the ascent of virtues, but we arrange the descent to our destruction. If we never turn back, if we don’t rise up, if we don’t say the prophetic word: “Thou hast attracted our heart... Thou hast attracted our heart” (Song. 4:9)! To her, I ask you, to force yourself, let us raise ourselves up; avoiding the wines of sin, we strive to do godly and reverent things: obedience without reasoning and obedience, thoroughness in our affairs, humility with humility, so as to reveal everything through confession, and immediately, as soon as the devil instills in us evil thoughts, contradict him and say: “follow me, Satan” (Matthew 16:23): is he drawing us to carnal lust, or prompts us to apostasy, or plunges us into despondency, or captivates us with impatience, or ensnares us in unbelief; for he always lays out his snares, nets and snares, and serves food and deadly potions; never knows peace, does not sleep, does not eat, does not drink, and has no other business than trying day and night for the destruction of our souls. Therefore, the only and main help against him is to strengthen yourself through confession, with the help and intercession of God. So, let's not be lazy and fall. Although his power to destroy is great, although he is cunning in the variety of his malice, although he is merciless by nature and the inventor of our destruction, we will not be afraid of him. For from the time that Christ and our God took flesh and became man, he lost his strength and strength. Let us sing: “the enemy is running out of weapons to the end” (Ps. 9:7); for the Lord, who conquered him, has given us power to tread on his head. Strengthened by faith, we will not consider him even an insignificant bird; but let us trample upon him like a viper in Christ our God, to whom belongs glory and dominion with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. You might be interested in: