Слово 11. О ветхом старце

Another time I again went to one old, beautiful and virtuous old man. He loved me very much, and although ignorant in words, he was enlightened in knowledge and deep in heart, and said that grace inspired him; He did not often leave his cell, except for holy services; He was attentive to himself and lived in silence. I once told him: “Father, the thought came to me to go to the church porch on Sunday, sit there and eat early in the morning, so that everyone coming in and out, seeing me, would humiliate me.” To this the elder answered me like this: “It is written that anyone who causes offense to the laity will not see the light. But you are not known to anyone in this side, they don’t know your life, they will say that the monks eat in the morning; especially 97 the brethren here are beginners and weak in their thoughts; many of them, having faith in you and benefiting from you, will soon suffer harm as soon as they see that you have done this. The ancient fathers did this because of the many miracles they performed and because of the honor shown to them and the glorification of their name, and they did this in order to subject themselves to dishonor, to hide the glory of their life and to remove from themselves the reasons for pride. What makes you act like this? Don’t you know that every life has its order and its time? You do not have such an excellent life and such a name, but you live like other brothers. You will not benefit yourself, but you will harm others. Moreover, such action is not useful for everyone, but only for those who are perfect and great, because in this 98 there is a resolution of feelings 99 . For those who have only reached the middle and those who are new to the beginning, it is harmful, because they need greater caution and subjugation of the senses. The elders have already lived through the time of caution; they benefit from whatever they want. For inexperienced merchants in large transactions cause great losses to themselves, but in unimportant transactions they quickly move forward with success. And again, as I said, every task has its order, and every kind of life has a certain time. Whoever begins ahead of time, beyond his measure, gains nothing, but only aggravates his own harm. If this is what you desire, joyfully endure the dishonor that befalls you by God’s will, and not by your will, and do not be embarrassed, do not hate the one who dishonors you.” I once had another conversation with this prudent husband, who ate the fruit of the tree of life for the labors he endured from his early youth until the evening of his old age. And, having taught me many lessons of virtue, he also said this: “Every prayer in which the body did not tire and the heart did not grieve is counted as one with the unborn fruit of the womb, because such a prayer does not have a soul in itself,” and he also said to me: “To a man who is inquisitive, who wants to stand on his word, who is cunning in mind and shameless in his feelings, do not give anything, and he has nothing at all.” take it so that you do not remove from yourself the purity acquired with great difficulty, and fill your heart with darkness and confusion.” This should not be done because brothers... That is, in such action. Freedom to use feelings trained in goodness. You might be interested in: