Поучение 30. О всепагубной дерзости.

My spiritual children and most honest brothers! I am not lazy to often speak to you and confirm you with the words of truth, so that any of you, out of ignorance or negligence, would not be wounded in any way by the sting of death, that is, by sin, would not transgress the commandments and would not do anything improper, especially since the malicious Satan finds himself in other places even when I am doing my job. And for all your sins, no matter how you sin, I, the most accursed, must give an answer on the day of justice and revelation to the Lord God, unless I warn you, unless I confirm and teach you in advance. Woe is me! I am in the rank of shepherd, although I would not be worthy to be called a sheep. What will I answer? How will I justify it? I myself am in darkness, but I am trying to enlighten others; I myself am suffering from passions, but I want to heal the sick. But for the sake of love for you and for the sake of my father’s command, I alone want to suffer, just to avoid harm to you. For every day, my brethren, I think and reason about what the judgment seat of God is like, and how God seeks for man, and especially the minister of the word, to be whole and perfect in all virtue. So what should I do? Who should I contact? Whom to call for help? One thing remains, that with the prayers of our lord and father, you too support me with your prayers, so that, strengthened by them, I can instruct you as you should, to struggle against your passions, and to succeed in fulfilling the will of God. The kingdom of heaven is before us, my brethren, let us delight in it by fulfilling the commandments, we will not love pleasure, we will not be lazy, we will withdraw from the world and what is in the world, we will rise above the storm of passions, we will rise above the spirits of wickedness, we will save ourselves in the quiet haven of eternal life. What woeful torment awaits the lazy! What is the rage and wrath of every soul that does evil, every monk and Christian, and more so a monk, for to the extent that we are more venerable, the integrity of our lives will be required of us. Sorrow is temporary, from compulsion, but pleasure from this is eternal. So, let us accustom ourselves to good things, forcing ourselves in everything, in food, in sleep, in anger, in sinful thoughts, and in everything else. If we work in this way and force ourselves, then God will strengthen us, and the path of virtue will be even and smooth for us. Sin is grave, full of rapids, sorrowful, dark, vile and disastrous. So, listen to me, my children: let us walk the sorrowful and at the same time sorrowless, narrow and at the same time joyful path of God. Do not indulge in relaxation during your vigils. Have patience, good nature, and love for the brethren. Insolence is a great evil and a deadly thing; and if anyone is not attentive, he will immediately fall and be crushed: the multi-wily devil, with the arrows of his evil machinations, wounds our souls, showing the beautiful faces of young people, and with voluptuous laughter arouses impure desires in them, kindling passions on both sides and plunging them into confusion of thoughts. When impure love is aroused in one, then he tries to seduce the other, for whom he has passion, into mutual love; and then attracted to each other by gazes and glances and unclean touches 31, they kindle the furnace of voluptuousness. And if God does not help them soon, and there is no fatherly protection, so that they would experience temptation and move away from each other, then they are subject to the destruction of Sodom burning and Gomorrah consumption. But we will all run away from this. I am the first, who was tempted before others, and give my hand to you who are tempted. Great help in this is keeping your eyes open and sincere confession. Let us not even be shameless with ourselves, for here too there is death, which the ignorant do not need to know about. However, everyone must guard themselves, so that those who do not know this evil do not fall into the ditch of destruction through ignorance. Those who have stumbled understand what I am talking about. Do not touch or approach any of your members, and do not look at your nakedness, lest you suffer the curse of Canaan. This great pillar, as Anthony the Great said, fell in the desert, was defeated not by any other sin but by this one, although the wise did not explain the image of the fall; for fornication can occur without touching the body of another. Guard yourself reverently in all your actions, so that you do not in any way incur death. Do not abandon strict attention to yourself even in the fulfillment of bodily needs; and when you emit urine, observe both sight and touch chastely. O damned man! Or don’t you know what the Apostle says about this: “Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom. 7:24). You live with the beast, with the fierce lion - your flesh; If you do not raise a sword against him, he will kidnap you and kill you. Is it possible to touch the serpent and feel it with your hands? You will hardly remain unharmed standing among swords and spears. Have mercy on me, my children and brothers, have mercy, and do not lay another fire on my head, in addition to my countless evils. On the contrary, destroy with your good zeal the evil that is towards me; for the Scripture says: “A wise son makes his father glad” (Prov. 10:1), and corrects his foolishness. We need to talk about this, instruct each other and help each other in what we sin, and in secret; Let us reveal this; Let us not be ashamed to explain; for it is better to say something shameful than to do it. From this comes great strength and victory over the devil. Do not weaken in your obediences: be courageous in your deeds, Bear each other’s burdens in joyful hope and in piety of spiritual joy; grow and be strengthened every day in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. You might be interested in: