Поучение 4. О любви во Христе, и о том, чтобы быть тщательными во всех псалмопениях и службах церковных.

My most desirable children and beloved brothers! since I am humble and insignificant, unworthy to be your father, I try, as much as I can, to speak to you about the God-loving salvation of your souls, then you too will open your ears and listen to the teachings of the Lord; listen to my words, so that I do not speak to you in vain, and do not throw seed as on barren ground; otherwise we will not reap anything, and you will remain barren, like an unkind land that grows thorn-bearing passions. All of you must be attentive and test yourself always, every hour, and especially on the day of teaching 5, because now is the time either for our salvation, if we want, or for destruction; days of thoroughness, fruitful life; the path is smooth; Let us flow and try to please the Lord in everything, because life and death are in us. We will always help one another in the obediences entrusted to us. Salvation and torment are in the works of your hands, in your good life, in pure love for each other; because where there is love, there is a union of peace, and all evil is driven away; and where there is no love, there is hatred, the devil, slander and other passions. Let us observe the rules and regulations (monastic), and the commandments of Spasov; Let us live according to the spiritual law, and not outside the rules, eating and drinking according to our own will, spending our lives in sins and lawlessness. Therefore, come here, everyone, and be like one soul, one heart and one will, and may we have orderliness in everything. So give me the answer: how do you live? How are you staying? How do you obey? Is it according to the will of the Lord, not wanting to do anything out of passion, and obeying as if you were fulfilling the commands of God Himself? If not so, then truly woe to us, who are preparing destruction for themselves for insignificant pleasure. Now is the time of wakefulness, the time of exploits and compulsion - compulsion to the point of shedding blood, as one of the reverend fathers actually showed, who spat out his bloody saliva on the ground 6 . So, we need compulsion, because the kingdom of heaven eats up those who are in need. So, force yourself to attend (church) services, and how? As soon as the beat strikes, all of you together, like a herd, rush, as if called by an Angel, to talk with God, serve Him with songs and receive gifts, imperishable and temporary, but Divine and eternal, which revive souls. Having come, cry out in song, trumpeting with one voice the praise of the Lord God. During kathismas and readings, everyone should stay awake. Through psalmody and songs, be enlightened in spiritual joy; and thus let us sing with zeal, shaming the devil; otherwise, obviously we please him. At the same time, let us be attentive to prayers, so that by purely praying to the Pure God, we will be more enlightened and not darkened. At the end of the service we will leave silently; and let one take up reading 7 so that by idle talk he does not destroy the profit collected from psalmody, and let him add reading to the other profit. The other, if he wants, let him rest a little on his bed; only there let him protect himself with the sign of the cross, and recline in order, studying the psalm, so as not to be tempted by the evil one; for demons have a custom after the service to confuse our souls. Since we fought against them with prayer during the service, they want to viciously squander the good things we have collected; For this purpose, they darken our mind, fight the body, already exhausted from psalmody, inflict unclean thoughts, and produce congestion 8 and, many times, discharges. The one who acts better is the one who abstains (from sleep), learns a psalm, or reads the Divine Scriptures, and does not immediately lie down on his bed unless sleep has already overcome him; for he is not tempted. And after this, all those who are diligent are innocent, even if they rest, but only very little; because what is the need for bribes to perish and for our conscience to mock us? After prayer, let us hasten to our handicrafts and pray; to spend the day in good deeds; let everyone go about his business; and if need requires, then all together; and there, go about your work while singing psalms, with prayer, and good thoughts: whether it be useful work, or cultivating grapes, or cooking, or some other kind of obedience, we will perform them at certain hours, keeping our conscience and singing psalms. Your conversation, as I have often noted to you, if it concerns physical objects, must be decent; and if spiritual, then it should consist of a discussion about church services and about some other correction. Be jealous of each other's talents; for everyone has something; and what he lacks, he acquires through his brother. So, everyone will be empty, like a good, hard-working bee collecting honey from flowers. You are all my friends, all my children, all my beloved: my heart, mind, joy, joy, crown, praise, strength, my body. Although I am not worthy to say such words, I still want you all to be saved; I love everyone, and I wish everyone success and well-being. Although I myself am not pure, I still want you to be pure and elevated. And I trust in the Lord our God, for whose sake we have all gathered to this place, that you are such now, and will remain such through the prayers of our holy father. Let negligence disappear, laziness be driven away; Let us have warm love for God and patience in our deeds. And let nothing remove us from the love of God, neither fasting, nor vigil, nor cold, nor heat, nor reproach, nor poverty of necessities; but we will consider all this to be of secondary importance, and prefer our salvation alone to everything. Let us leave rancor and reflect that God and the Master endured for us everything that we talked about before, and everything else that was bitter and dishonorable. What is the comparison between a slave and a Master? However, since He is good, in His goodness He accepts our small will, and, according to scripture, He is “near... those who endure Him” (Ps. 144:18), as well as those who seek Him. We will strike, and He will open for us; Let us be persistent, and He will appear to us 9 and lead us into His heavenly joy, and into the palace of the heavenly kingdom not made by hands. My word and my life are weak and poor, and I am not able to tell the greatness of God and His surpassing goodness towards us, and how He will glorify those who please Him, and how He will forever torment those who did not want to believe in Him. I tell you, and I present heaven and earth and the Holy Angels as witnesses: do not be lazy about your salvation; do not transgress a single, even small commandment, do not walk in the darkness of non-confession (thoughts), do not indulge in secret eating, do not get carried away by sinful pleasure; Do not bring a sword into your souls, i.e. the fire of insolence, not even (through touch) to your members, because they are the oaths of Christ and honorable. Do not slander each other, do not be malicious, do not envy, do not repay evil for evil. Do not seek prophecy 10, do not prematurely desire higher ranks, so that your thoughts are not confused through this, but confess all your thoughts, so that you may be healed and healed. Have humility and obedience: this is what the priesthood, the liturgy, and sanctification consist of. Many priests, performers of the sacraments, saints, prophets and wonderworkers, perhaps, will be sent to endless torment: for we hear the Lord saying: “Many people will say to Me that I did not do this and that in Your name? And they will hear that we do not know you...” (Matthew 7:22,23). “Depart from Me, O curse, into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angel” (Matthew 25:41). My priest, my teacher, my god - for even to this the word dares to extend, if we with reason hear this saying: “Az reh: you are God, and all are the sons of the Most High” (Ps. 81:6), there is one who confesses purely before our humility, who is humble in wisdom, who holds himself lower than every creature, and one who does not seek more than what he received from our humility, even if it were Ignatius. And talk about monastic affairs; or that I placed one in such and such obedience, another in another, gave one such a rank, and another another: this is not for your benefit, and this should not happen. May the Lord God, who removes the worthy from the unworthy, raises the poor from the pit of rot, and gives grace and understanding to the humble, 11 strengthen you, pacify you, 12 and grant you a good life, and establish you in everything; to do a perfect deed and to fulfill His commandments, to please God, to imitate the Angels, to inherit the kingdom of heaven, so that we all together with one mouth in an endless day can send up praise to God, where all those who rejoice dwell and rejoice in Christ Jesus our Lord. With Him be glory to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. The Monk Theodore spoke teachings to the brethren from the church pulpit three times a week. Remember. Tales of the basement, St. and blessed Fathers. Moscow. 1846, p. 49. According to Greek μάθημα, in glory. teaching. In addition to reading books, of course, there is memorization of psalms and so on. Acceptance and heartfelt delight in what thoughts represent. In Slav. will accept us. In Greek θἑλει μᾶς δειχθῆ. According to Greek προφητείαν. Maybe this is a typo instead of πρωτείαν: do not look for primacy. For here, to the end of the chapter, it is not about the search for spiritual gifts, but about the search for honor and primacy. According to glory. give grace to the humble and intelligent. According to Greek δίδει πχάριν τοτς ταπεινοτς και σύνεσιν. You might be interested in: