Поучение 84 95 . О том, что по-видимому представляет великую скорбь в общежительной жизни, в сущности же составляет великую радость, ради уповаемых благ уготованных нам на небесах.

Brothers and Fathers! That the life of monks is cramped and sad, this is clear from the words spoken by Christ: “If anyone wants to walk after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and come after Me” (Matthew 16:24). However, worldly life is very sad and deplorable, just as the deeds themselves cry out and talk about this. And who can count them in detail, according to their number? Let's talk about those who escaped the war. What happened to them? Were they not all deprived and lost of their property, and naked were they saved from the hands of foreigners? Weren't some of them subjected to beatings and exile, even great dignitaries and rulers? Some deprived of their dignity, others hiding here and there out of fear, after all trembling at the death awaiting them; They sinned in that they did not resist in battle and did not dare to die. This is the kind of obedience and zeal that kings demand from their soldiers, so that for the royal service they would spare neither body nor soul. But for us, brethren, our sorrow is dissolved by the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that what is apparently sorrowful for us has joy, for the sake of the hope of the good things prepared for us in heaven. And aren’t we ashamed that they endure so much for the sake of insignificant glory and honor, and do not even dare to say a word to those who command; and for the sake of great and heavenly gifts we do not want to endure even small sorrows patiently? What kind of grief is this? That it is not according to our will that there can be either obedience and command, or food and drink, or a cassock and a robe, or shoes and sandals, or the place and type of obedience, or anything else similar that confuses the mind. But although this is difficult, it is not so difficult that you should shirk your due; “For the passions of this present time are unworthy of the glory that desires to be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18). For the sake of these benefits, even if they burn us every day, we must endure and not make empty excuses. I say this not to sadden you, but so that we may know the love with which God loved us and chose us from the world, so that we could abide in this sacred heavenly habitation, who, even what he seeks from us, seeks not for his own needs, like the all-satisfied and inexhaustible all-good Lord, but solely for our sake, in order to benefit and save us humble ones. Therefore, brethren, let us abandon all cowardice, and with patience we will gain our souls, we will remain above every temptation that occurs and we will not be captivated by a single thought, even if sorrows were allowed in our lives for temptation and testing, so that we too may say with the Apostle: “in everything we are sorrowful, but not cold; we are hopeless, but do not despair: we persecute, but we do not abandon: cast down, but not perishing: always bearing the death of the Lord Jesus in the body” (2 Cor. 4:8-10), so that we might become heirs of the kingdom of heaven and eternal life, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom belongs glory and dominion with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen. See Patrolology, vol. 99, p. 630. You might be interested in: