Поучение 34. О том, чтобы с упованием на будущие блага переносить благодушно поношения и укоризны.

Fathers, brothers and children! Since you grow and multiply daily, since you spent a lot of time in exploits and acquired skill in active and speculative virtue, then I, a sinner, am drawn to goodness, and I will tell you truly, believe me, I am all in fear and trembling; for I pass from strength to strength, I stand in the high and exalted guardhouse, and I see to what height of superiority I have ascended, the accursed one, how great and wide is the mental sea of ​​our life, where the refuge of salvation is located - a mountain high in the heavens of heaven; There are so many cases, storms and waves from nasty spirits, so much confusion and confusion from human hostility and envy. This horrifies me, my children. And how can I, uncontrolled, guide you from earth to heaven and from the material to the Divine and eternal? Have mercy on me, help me, get down to business and work together with me, unite and do not be vain, and let everyone take something from spiritual weapons. Let one look forward, the other stand with me; Let one guard, another go around; let another watch the depth of sins, so as not to find an underwater stone, or aground, so that a storm does not overtake us, and this or that does not happen - which you know and see every day. We take these comparisons as an example, so that all of us, with the help of God and through the prayer of our father, can achieve the desired refuge. And do not think, my most honest brethren, that achieving the kingdom of heaven is a matter of little importance. For this reason, as the Scripture says, all the Saints “went... in goatskins, deprived, sorrowful, embittered: wandering in deserts and in mountains and in dens and in chasms and clefts of the earth, of whom (the whole) world is not worthy” (Heb. 11:37, 38). So Isaiah was sawed through with a saw; Jeremiah was cast into a pit of mud; Jonah was thrown into the sea and devoured by a whale; Daniel was given over to the lions so that they could devour him, he fasted there for three weeks, and the greedy did not eat bread; three youths were thrown into a fiery furnace; Zechariah, the father of the Forerunner, died by the sword; The Forerunner himself was beheaded. And I won’t have time to tell you about Paul, who, as he himself says, was “in hunger and thirst... in winter and nakedness... in labor and struggle” (2 Cor. 11:27); and leave him to count his other countless exploits. The First Martyr Stephen was stoned; James, the brother of God, was killed. But why should I go into countless examples, presenting other sorrows of the Apostles, the sufferings of the Holy Martyrs and the exploits of many reverend Fathers. This is how, my beloved brethren, as we said, they received the promised blessings and eternal and ineffable pleasure. So, my children, we too, the humble ones, will strive, I ask and implore you, like my fathers; for, as Basil the Great says 38, those who work are honored, and crowns are given to those who win. Let us work and strive always in the field (of our life), we will fight against the adversary, we will be tireless in the fight, we will not retreat; Let's fight, let's not turn back. Let there be zeal in our hearts like fire, and no one can stand before our eyes, and the demons themselves will take flight. For it is said that they melt like wax from such spiritual fire; People will fear us, or they will revere us. Having risen above everything, we will ascend to where our life and peace are indescribable. Woe, woe! Why are we so cowardly and impatient? “Go,” it is said, “to wickedness, O lazy one” (Proverbs 6:6). But I will tell you, brothers, differently: look at the one who is obsessed with shameful love, how he endures everything, endures everything, dreaming only of one person for whom he has an unclean desire; he neither eats nor drinks until he is full, has neither sleep nor rest, and does not desire anything else pleasant and sweet; but he, the accursed one, decides to endure other toils and sufferings, even if he has to shed blood, not in order to inherit or acquire anything, but in order to destroy his soul in the torment of eternal fire. Will we, with our holy love for the good, beautiful, inscrutable and longed for Christ our God, not remain in this blessed and holy obedience until old age, if it is for our benefit, and will we not endure all sorrow, arrows of thoughts, reproach and slander, hunger and thirst, poverty, reproaches, contempt, or anything else? You, children, are rational beings and should not imitate cattle and be like them, but just as we began, walked, succeeded and reached the middle of the path, so let us be diligent to the end and strive to complete our path in the Lord. So, let us rejoice, my brethren, let us be glad, let us be courageous and strong, strengthened and enlightened, let us embrace and kiss each other with love. Let us protect ourselves, arm ourselves, and receive salvation in Christ our Lord Himself, to whom belongs glory and power with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. See his “Design of Asceticism.” You might be interested in: