Слово 21. О разных предметах. В вопросах и ответах

Question. By what ties is the human heart bound so that it does not strive for evil? Answer. Those who constantly follow wisdom and abound in the teachings of life. For there are no other stronger bonds to restrain the disorder of thought. Question. Where is the limit of aspiration for a follower of wisdom and how does this training end? Answer. It is truly impossible to reach your limit in your journey, because even the saints did not reach perfection in this. The path of wisdom has no end; she moves higher and higher until she unites her follower with God. This is its sign that its comprehension is undivided, because Wisdom is God Himself. Question. What is the first path that brings us closer to wisdom, and what is its beginning? Answer. In striving with all our might to follow the Wisdom of God, and in this striving with all our soul to hasten to the very end of life, even out of love for God we should not neglect to, if necessary, become distracted by life and reject it from ourselves. Question. Who deserves to be called intelligent? Answer. The one who truly understood that there is a limit to this life. He can put a limit to his sins. For what knowledge or understanding is higher than this - for a person to manage to emerge from this life in uncorruption, without having a single part defiled by the stench of lust, and no defilement in the soul left by the sweetness of lust. For if a person refines his thoughts in order to penetrate into the secrets of all natures, and is enriched by inventions and observations in all knowledge, but his soul is defiled by sinful filth, and he has not acquired evidence of the hope of his soul, but nevertheless thinks that he has safely entered the harbor of hope; then there is no more unreasonable person in the world than him, because his deeds, in his continuous striving for peace, brought him only to worldly hope. Question. Who is truly the strongest? Answer. He who is content in temporary sorrows, in which the life and glory of his victory are hidden, did not desire the breadth in which the stench of shame is hidden and which at all times gives drink to the one who finds it from the cup of sighing. Question. What harm is there in the procession to God if someone, due to temptation, deviates from good deeds? Answer. It is impossible to approach God without sorrow; without it, human righteousness does not remain unchanged. And if a person abandons deeds that increase righteousness, then he also abandons deeds that protect it. And he becomes like an unguarded treasure, and a fighter from whom his weapons were taken away when the regiments of his enemies surrounded him, and a ship that does not have its rigging, and a garden from which the source of water is diverted. Question. Who is enlightened in their concepts? Answer. He who knew how to find the bitterness hidden in the sweetness of the world, forbade his lips to drink from this cup, always seeks how to save his soul, does not stop in his quest until he renounces this world, and closes the doors of his feelings so that commitment to this life does not enter him and steal his secret treasures. Question. What is peace? How do we recognize him and how does he harm his lovers? Answer. The world is a harlot, who attracts those who look at her with lust for beauty into love for herself. And whoever, at least partially, has prevailed in love for the world, whoever is entangled in it, cannot get out of its hands until the world takes his life. And when the world strips a person of everything and carries him out of his house on the day of death, then the person will know that the world is truly a flatterer and a deceiver. When someone strives to come out of the darkness of this world, while he is still hidden in it, he will not be able to see his ways. And thus, the world holds within itself not only its disciples and children and those who are bound by it, but also those who are not covetous, and ascetics, and those who broke its bonds and one day became higher than it. Behold, in various ways he begins to entrap them in his deeds, throws them under his feet and tramples them underfoot. Question. What should we do with the body when illness and heaviness surround it, and with it the will becomes weak in wishing good and in its first strength? Answer. It often happens to others that one half of them followed the Lord, and the other half remained in the world, and their hearts did not renounce this world, but they were divided within themselves and sometimes look forward and sometimes look back. And I think that the Wise One gives advice to those who are divided in themselves and approaching the path of God, saying: “Do not approach it with a divided heart” (Sir.1:28), but approach as one who sows and as one who reaps (see Sir.6:19). And the Lord, knowing that these who imperfectly renounce the world, but are divided within themselves, are turning back in word or, more accurately, in thought, due to fear of sorrows and because they have not yet rejected carnal lust, then, wanting to overthrow from them this relaxation of the mind, he spoke to them a specific word: “Whoever wants to come after Me must first deny himself,” etc. (Matthew 16:24). Question. What does it mean to deny yourself? Answer. Just as someone who is preparing to ascend to the cross has one thought about death in his mind and thus ascends to the cross, like a person who does not think that he will again have a part in the life of this century, so he wants to fulfill what has been said. For the cross is the will, ready for any sorrow. And the Lord, when he wanted to teach why this is so, said: whoever wants to live in this world will destroy himself for the true life; and whoever destroys himself here “for my sake” (Matthew 10:39) will find himself there, that is, he who walks the path of the cross and who has established his feet on it will find himself. If anyone cares about this life again, then he has deprived himself of the hope for which he went out into trouble. For this care does not allow him to approach sorrow for the sake of God, and by the very fact that he indulges in this care, it gradually carries him away and takes him away from the midst of the struggle of a truly Divine and blessed life, and this thought grows in him until it overcomes him. “Whoever” in his mind “will destroy his soul for My sake,” out of love for Me, he will be preserved blameless and unharmed into eternal life. This means what was said: “Whoever loses his soul for My sake will find it.” Therefore, here you yourself prepare your soul for complete destruction for this life. And if you destroy yourself for this life, then the Lord will say to you, who thinks this way: “I will give” you “eternal life,” as I promised you (John 10:28). If you remain in this life, then here in this very deed I will show you My promise and proof of future blessings. And then you will gain eternal life when you neglect this life. And when, thus prepared, you set out for the feat, then in your eyes everything that is considered sad and mournful will become worthy of contempt. For when the mind is prepared in this way, then there is no struggle or sorrow for it during mortal danger. Therefore, one must know exactly that if a person does not hate his life in the world, because of the desire for the future and blessed life, then he cannot fully endure all kinds of sorrows and sorrows that befall him every hour. Question. How does a person cut off his previous habit and become accustomed to shortcomings and asceticism in life? Answer. The body does not agree to live without satisfying its needs while it is surrounded by what serves for pleasure and relaxation, and the mind cannot keep it from this until this body is removed from everything that produces relaxation. For when the spectacle of pleasure and vanity is open to him and every almost hour he sees something that leads to relaxation, then a fiery desire for this awakens in him and, as if inciting it, irritates him. That is why the Lord, the Redeemer, gave the all-wise and very good commandment to those who undertook to follow Him: to be naked and come out of the world (see Matt. 19:21), because a person must first reject everything that serves to weaken him, and then get down to business. And the Lord Himself, when he began his battle with the devil, waged it in the driest desert. And Paul advises those who accept the cross of Christ to leave the city. “Let us come to Him,” he says, “outside the city, and let us accept His reproach” (Heb. 13:12–13), because He suffered outside the city. For if a person separates himself from the world and from everything in the world, he soon forgets his former habit and his former way of life and does not work on it for a long time. And as he approaches the world and worldly things, the strength of his mind soon weakens. Therefore, one must know what is especially helpful and leads to success in this painful and saving battle. So, it is suitable and helpful in this battle for the monastic cell to be in a meager and insufficient condition, so that the monk’s cell is empty and does not contain anything that arouses in him the desire for peace. For when relaxing causes are removed from a person, there is no danger for him in a double battle - internal and external. And thus, a person who has something that serves him for pleasure at a distance, easily wins, in comparison with someone who has something close to him that excites him to lust. For this is a great feat. When a person wants to have only what is necessary to support his body, then his needs become conveniently neglected, and even in the necessary time of moderate satisfaction of his needs, he does not look at this with lust, and with a small something 121 subjugates the body, and looks at it as something conveniently neglected, and approaches food not because of its sweetness, but in order to help nature and strengthen it. Such means soon bring a person to the point where he begins asceticism with a non-sorrowful and carefree thought. So, it is appropriate for a zealous monk to run quickly, without turning back, from everything that is at war with the monk, not to enter into communication with those who are fighting with him, but to refrain from even looking at them and, as far as possible, move away from their approach. And I say this not only about the womb, but also about everything that leads into temptation and battle, with which the monk’s freedom is tempted and tested. For a person, when he comes to God, makes a covenant with God to abstain from all this, namely not to look at a woman’s face, not to look at beautiful faces, not to lust for anything, not to be luxurious, not to look at elegant clothes, not to look at any order established by the laity, not to listen to their words and not to be curious about them, because passions acquire greater strength from drawing closer to everything like this, as it weakens the ascetic and changes his thoughts and intentions. And if the view of something good excites the will of a true zealot and inclines him to do good, then it is clear that the opposite of this also has the power to captivate the mind. And if nothing more happens to a silent mind, but only plunges itself into a violent feat, then this is already a great loss - to arbitrarily plunge oneself from a peaceful state into confusion. And if one of the elders, ascetics and fighters, seeing a young man who had no beard and looked like a woman, considered this harmful to his thoughts and disastrous for his feat, then can anyone be remiss in anything other than 122 when this saint did not dare to enter and kiss his brother? For the wise old man reasoned: “If I think just this night that there is something like that here, then this too will be a great harm to me.” That is why he did not enter and said to them: “I am not afraid, child; but why should I want to swear in vain against myself? The recollection of any such thing produces useless confusion in the mind. There is a bait hidden in every member of this body. A person faces a great battle from this, and he must protect himself and ease the battle that threatens him by fleeing from it; and as soon as something like this approaches, a person, although he forces himself to do good, is nevertheless in danger from this, always seeing it and desiring it.” We see many hidden poisons in the earth, and in the summer, due to the heat, no one knows them; when they are humidified and feel the power of the cooled air, then it turns out where each poison was buried in the ground. So a person, when he is in the grace of silence and in the warmth of abstinence, then he really is at peace from many passions; if he enters into worldly affairs, then he sees how each passion grows, lifts its head, especially if he feels the stench of peace. I said this so that no one would indulge in arrogance while he lives in this body and until he dies; I also wanted to show that running away and moving away from everything that leads to a vicious life helps a person a lot in the ascetic struggle. We should always be afraid of what one memory causes us shame, and also not trample on our conscience or neglect it. So, let's try to remove the body into the desert for a while and force it to acquire patience. And what is most important, let everyone (even if it was regrettable for him, he will no longer have anything to fear) try, wherever he is, to move away from the causes of war, so that when the need comes, he will not fall from the proximity of them. Question. Whoever has cast aside all care and embarked on a feat, what is the beginning of his battle with sin and how does he begin this struggle? Answer. Everyone knows that every struggle against sin and lust begins with the work of vigil and fasting, especially if someone is struggling with the sin that resides within us. This is seen as a sign of hatred of sin and its lust in those leading this invisible war; They begin with fasting, and after it a night vigil promotes asceticism. Whoever loves conversation with this couple throughout his entire life becomes a friend of chastity. Just as the beginning of all evil is resting the belly and relaxing oneself with sleep, which kindles lust, so the holy path of God and the foundation of all virtues is fasting. Vigil, wakefulness in the service of God, in crucifying the body all day and night, in contrast to the sweetness of sleep. Fasting is the guardianship of all virtue, the beginning of achievement, the crown of abstinence, the beauty of virginity and holiness, the lordship of chastity, the beginning of the Christian path, the mother of prayer, the source of chastity and reason, the teacher of silence, the predecessor of all good deeds. Just as healthy eyes are characterized by a desire for light, so a fast observed with prudence is characterized by a desire for prayer. As soon as someone begins to fast, from that time on his mind desires to come to a desire for conversation with God, for the body that is fasting does not tolerate sleeping the whole night on its bed. When the seal of fasting is placed on a person’s lips, then his thoughts are taught in tenderness, his heart exudes prayer, there is sadness on his face, and shameful thoughts are far from him, joy is not visible in his eyes, he is the enemy of lusts and vain conversations. No one has ever seen a prudent faster become a slave to evil lust. Fasting with prudence is a vast abode for all good things. And whoever is negligent about fasting causes everything that is good to waver, because fasting was a commandment initially given to our nature as a warning against eating food, and the beginning of our creation fell by violating fasting. But what was the first humiliation, from that the ascetics begin to succeed in the fear of God, as soon as they begin to keep the law of God. Where did the Savior begin when he appeared to the world on the Jordan. For after His baptism the Spirit led Him into the desert, and He fasted there for forty days and forty nights. Likewise, all those who follow the Savior on this basis affirm the beginning of their feat, because fasting is a weapon prepared by God. And who, if he neglects him, will not be reproached for this? If the Lawgiver Himself fasts, how can anyone who keeps the law not fast? That is why, before fasting, the human race did not know victory, and the devil never experienced his defeat from our nature: but from this weapon he was exhausted at the very beginning. And our Lord was the leader and firstborn of this victory, in order to place the first victorious crown on the head of our nature. And as soon as the devil sees this weapon on one of the people, this enemy and tormentor immediately comes into fear, immediately thinks and remembers his defeat in the desert by the Savior, and his strength is crushed, and the sight of the weapon given to us by our Leader burns him. What weapon is stronger than this? And what gives so much courage to the heart in the fight against the spirits of evil as greed for Christ? For to the extent that the body is weary and suffers while a demonic army surrounds a person, to that extent the heart is filled with hope. He who is clothed in the weapon of fasting is at all times inflamed with jealousy. For even the zealot Elijah, when he became zealous for the law of God, remained in this matter - in fasting. Fasting reminds the one who has acquired it the commandments of the Spirit. He is the mediator of the Old Law and the grace given to us by Christ. He who is negligent about fasting is also weakened in other exploits, negligent, weak, thereby showing the beginning and a bad sign of relaxation of his soul and giving the one who fights with him an opportunity for victory, since he goes naked and unarmed to the feat, and therefore it is obvious that he will come out of the fight without victory, because his members have not been clothed in the warmth of greed in fasting. This is the post. Whoever abides in it has an unshakable mind and is ready to meet and repel all fierce passions. They say about many martyrs that on the day on which they expected to receive the crown of martyrdom, if they knew about it either by revelation or by information from one of their friends, they did not eat anything all night, but from evening until morning they stood vigilantly in prayer. Glorifying God in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, with joy and joy they awaited that hour, like others preparing for marriage, to meet the sword in fasting. Therefore, we too, who have been called to invisible martyrdom in order to receive the crowns of holiness, will be sober, and let not a single member or part of our body give a sign of renunciation to our enemies. Question. Why often do others, and even many, even having these things, do not feel silence, and calming of passions, and peace of thoughts? Answer. The passions hidden in the soul are not corrected, brother, only by bodily labor; they do not even hold back thoughts about what is always awakened by feelings. These works protect a person from desires, so as not to be overcome by them, and from demonic seduction, but they do not bring peace and silence to the soul. For deeds and labors then bring dispassion to the soul, mortify the evils “that are on the earth” (Col. 3:5), and give peace to thoughts, when we partake of silence, when confusion ceases in external feelings and they remain for some time in the work of wisdom 123. And until a person is deprived of the opportunity to be in community with people and gathers his members and himself from the entertainment of thoughts into himself, until then he will not be able to recognize his passions. Silence, as Saint Basil said, is the beginning of the purification of the soul. For, when external rebellion and concern for external things cease in the external members, then the mind from external worries and soaring returns to itself and rests in itself, and the heart awakens to explore internal spiritual thoughts. And if a person persists well in this, then he gradually comes to the state of moving toward spiritual purity. Question. Can't the soul be cleansed even while outside the door? 124 Answer. If a tree is watered daily, does its root ever dry up? Does it ever decrease in a vessel to which you add daily? And if purity is nothing other than moving away from free life and abandoning this habit, then how and when does someone who actively, by himself or others, through feelings, renew in himself the remembrance of the old habit, that is, the knowledge of vice again, want to cleanse his soul? When can one cleanse one’s soul from this or free oneself from external oppositions in order to at least see oneself? If the heart is defiled daily, then when is it cleansed from defilement? He is not able to withstand the action of external force, and all the more so he cannot cleanse his hearts when he stands in the midst of a military camp and expects to hear frequent news of battle every day? And how dare he proclaim peace to his soul? If you move away from this, then you can gradually stop the internal unrest. As long as the river is not blocked at the top, its waters below do not dry up. When a person comes into silence, then the soul can discern passions and intelligently explore its wisdom. Then the inner man awakens to spiritual work and day by day he feels more deeply the hidden wisdom blooming in his soul. Question. What are the exact indications and close signs by which a person feels that he has begun to see in himself the fruit hidden in his soul? Answer. When someone is worthy of the grace of many tears, shed without compulsion, because tears are placed in the mind as a kind of limit between the physical and the spiritual, between a passionate state and purity. Until a person accepts this gift, his work is still accomplished in the outer man only, and he has not yet at all felt the effectiveness of the secrets of the spiritual man. For when a person begins to leave the physical body of the present age and finds himself crossing this limit of what is in nature, then he soon reaches this grace of tears. And these tears begin from the first abode of hidden life and raise a person to the perfection of God’s love. And the further he succeeds, the more he is enriched by this grace, until, from a continuous outpouring of tears, he begins to drink them both in his food and in his drink. And this is a clear sign that the mind has come out of this world and felt this spiritual world. But to the extent that a person approaches this world with his mind, to the same extent these tears diminish. And when the mind is completely in this world, then it is completely deprived of these tears. And this is a sign that a person is buried in passions. There are burning tears, and there are fattening tears. Therefore, all those tears that come from the essence of the heart from contrition for sins dry up and burn the body; and often the most sovereign thing in the soul, during the outpouring of tears, feels harm from them. And first, a person, under compulsion, enters this stage of tears, and with them the door is opened for him to enter the second stage, better than the first; and this is the land of joy in which man receives mercy. These are tears shed out of prudence: they both decorate and fatten the body, and flow naturally by themselves; and not only, as has been said, do they make the human body fat, but also the appearance of the person changes. For it is said: “The heart that rejoices, the face blossoms: but the sorrowful one laments” (Prov. 15:13). Question. What does the resurrection of the soul mean, about which the apostle speaks: “if you rise with Christ” (Col. 3:1)? Answer. The Apostle, saying: “God, who made light shine out of darkness, Who is bright in our hearts” (2 Cor. 4:6), showed that the resurrection of the soul should be called the coming out of oldness, namely, so that a new man may arise, in whom there is nothing of the old man, according to what was said: “And I will give them a new heart, and a new spirit” (Ezek. 36:26). For then Christ is imagined in us by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation of the knowledge of Him. Question. What is (to put it briefly) the power of doing silence? Answer. Silence mortifies outer feelings and resurrects inner movements. But preoccupation with the external produces the opposite of this: it excites external feelings and kills internal movements. Question. What is the cause of visions 126 and revelations, for some have visions, and others work more than them, but the vision does not act as much in them? Answer. There are many reasons for this. Some of them are economic, aiming at the common good, while others are consolation, boldness and teaching the weak. And firstly, all this is arranged by the grace of God towards people; For the most part, this is done for the sake of three kinds of people: either for the sake of simple and extremely gentle people, or for the sake of some perfect and saints, or for the sake of those who have a fiery zeal for God, have renounced and completely renounced the world, withdrawn from cohabitation with people, leaving everything, not expecting any help from the visible, and followed God. They are attacked by fear as a result of their solitude, or they are surrounded by mortal danger from hunger, from illness, or from some circumstance and from grief, so that they approach despair. Therefore, if there are such consolations, but there are no consolations for those who surpass them with labors, then the first reason for this is innocence and depravity, and precisely conscience 127. The second reason is probably the following: as soon as someone has human consolation or consolation from something visible, then there is no such consolation for him, except for some kind of economy, for the sake of the common good. We have a word about hermits; and a witness to what was said was one of the fathers, who prayed for consolation and heard: “Human consolation and conversation with people is sufficient for you.” And someone else, like this, when he was in seclusion and led a hermit’s life, hourly enjoyed the grace-filled consolation; and when he became close to the world, he sought consolation according to custom - and did not find it, and prayed to God to reveal to him the reason, saying: “It was not for the sake of bishopric, Lord, that grace departed from me?” And he was told: “No, but because God provides for those living in the desert, and deigns them to receive such consolations.” For it is impossible for any of the people to have visible consolation, and at the same time receive the invisible from grace, the Divine and the mysterious, 128 unless by some kind of secret economy mentioned above, which is known in such cases only to the House-builder. Question. Are vision and revelation the same thing, or not? Answer. No. They are different from each other. Revelation 129 is often called both. For since it is revealed in secret 130, every vision is called revelation. Revelation is not called a vision. The word “revelation” is mostly used about the knowable, about what is experienced and understood by the mind. Vision happens in all sorts of ways, for example, in images and images, as it happened in ancient times in the Old Testament, in deep sleep or in a waking state, and sometimes with all accuracy, and sometimes as if in a ghost and somewhat indistinctly; why even the one who has a vision often does not know whether he sees in a waking state or in a sleepy state. You can hear about the intercession through a voice, and sometimes you can see some image, sometimes you can see it more clearly, face to face. And vision, and being together, and questioning, and with it conversation, are holy powers, visible to the worthy and creating revelations. And such visions happen in places that are most deserted and remote from people, where a person necessarily needs them; because he has no other help and consolation from the place itself. Revelations, felt by the mind, when pure, are acceptable, and are only available to those who are perfect and capable of understanding. Question. If someone has achieved purity of heart, what is its sign? And when does a person know that his heart has achieved purity? Answer. When someone sees all people as good, and no one seems unclean and defiled to him, then he is truly pure in heart. For how can the word of the apostle be fulfilled, according to which everyone should equally from a sincere heart do great honor for themselves (see Phil. 2:3), if a person does not achieve what is said, that the good eye will not see evil (see Hab. 1:13)? Question. What is purity and where is its limit? Answer. Purity is oblivion of the ways of leading through nature, borrowed from nature in the world 131. And in order to free yourself from them and become outside of them, this is the limit: for a person to come to the original simplicity and original gentleness of his nature and become like a baby, only without infantile shortcomings. Question. Can anyone ascend to this degree? Answer. Yes. For, behold, others came to this measure, just as Abba Sisoes came to this measure, so that he asked the disciple: “Have I eaten or not?” And another one of the fathers came to such simplicity and almost infantile innocence that he completely forgot everything here, so that he would have eaten before Communion if his disciples had not prevented him from doing so; and, like a baby, his disciples brought him to Communion. So, to the world he was a baby, but to God he was a perfect soul. Question. What thoughts and reflections should an ascetic who remains in silence, in his silent cell, have? And what should he constantly do so that his mind has no leisure for vain thoughts? Answer. You ask about thoughts and reflections, how does a person become dead in his cell? Does a person who is zealous and sober in soul really need to ask how he should behave when he is alone with himself? What other activity does a monk have in his cell other than crying? Does he ever have time to turn to another thought from crying? And what activity is better than this? The very stay of the monk and his loneliness, like being in a tomb, far from human joy, teach him that his activity is lamentation. And the very meaning of his name also calls and convinces, because he is called lamenting, that is, filled with sorrow in his heart. And all the saints moved from this life in tears. If the saints wept, and until they moved from this life, their eyes were always filled with tears, then who will not cry? The monk's consolation comes from his crying. And if the perfect and victorious here wept, how can he who is filled with plagues endure so that he may remain without weeping? Whoever has his dead body lying before him and sees that he himself has been killed by sins, should he be taught with what thought to use his tears? Your soul, which is dearer to you than the whole world, has been killed by sins and lies before you; Doesn't she really require crying? Therefore, if we enter into silence and remain patiently in it, then, of course, we will be able to remain in tears. Therefore, let us constantly pray to the Lord in our minds to grant us weeping. For if we accept this grace, which is better and more excellent than other gifts, then with its help we will achieve purity. And as soon as we achieve it, purity will not be taken away from us until our very departure from this life. Therefore, blessed are the pure in heart, because there is no time when they do not enjoy this sweetness of tears, and in it they always see the Lord. While there are still tears in their eyes, they are granted the vision of His revelations at the height of their prayer; and they have no prayer without tears. This is what the Lord said: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). For from crying a person comes to spiritual purity. Therefore, the Lord, having said: “as they will be comforted,” did not explain by what consolation. For when a monk has been vouchsafed, with the help of tears, to cross the realm of passions and enter the plain of spiritual purity, then he receives such consolation. Therefore, if one of those who received consolation here stretches out onto this plain, then on it he will encounter consolation that is not found here, and then he understands what kind of consolation he receives at the end of crying, which God gives to those who cry for their purity; because he who weeps incessantly cannot be disturbed by passions. Shedding tears and crying is the gift of the dispassionate. And if the tears of someone who temporarily weeps and laments can not only guide him to dispassion, but also completely cleanse and free his mind from the remembrance of passions, then what can we say about those who practice this activity with knowledge day and night? Therefore, no one knows the help that comes from crying, except those alone who have devoted their souls to this cause. All saints strive for this entrance 132 because with tears the door is opened for them to enter the land of consolation; and in this country the most good and saving traces of God are depicted in revelations. Question. Since some, due to the weakness of the body, are not able to cry incessantly, what should they do to protect their mind so that passions do not rebel against it when it is not busy with anything? Answer. Passions cannot rise up in the soul and confuse the ascetic if, in his hermitage, removed from all distraction, his heart is not occupied with the things of life, unless he is lazy and careless in his duty. And mainly, if he exercises himself in the study of the Divine Scriptures, then, while searching for their meaning, he remains in no way disturbed by passions. For, with the understanding of the Divine Scriptures growing and taking root in him, vain thoughts flee from him, and his mind cannot lag behind the desire to read the Scriptures or reflect on what he has read, and he does not pay the slightest attention to real life, due to the very great pleasure of his occupation, rising above it 133 in deep desert silence. Therefore, he forgets himself and his nature and becomes as if a person who has gone into a frenzy, does not remember this age at all, is mainly occupied with the thought of the greatness of God and, immersing himself in this with his mind, says: “Glory to His Divinity!” and again: “Glory to His miracles! To what height has He elevated my misery: what has He vouchsafed me to learn, what thoughts to dare, how to delight my soul!” Turning his thoughts to these miracles and always amazed by them, he remains in constant rapture and, as it were, already tastes life after the resurrection, because silence greatly contributes to this grace. For his mind finds the opportunity to remain in itself with the peace that it acquired in silence. And at the same time, he is stimulated to remember what is in accordance with the order of his life. For, mentally imagining the glory of the future age and the good things, according to the hope, prepared for the righteous who abid in this spiritual life and in God, and this new restoration, does not contain either in thought or in memory what is in this world. And when he is intoxicated with this, he is again transported from there by contemplation to this age in which he still lives, and in amazement says: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom,” knowledge, meaning, rationality and economy of the unsearchable God, “for His judgment has not been tried and His ways have not been explored” (Rom. 11:33)! For, when He prepared another such a wonderful age to introduce into it all rational beings and preserve them in endless life, what was the reason for Him to create this first world, to expand it, and to enrich it so much with the fullness and multitude of species and natures, and to give place in it the causes of many passions, and what feeds them and what opposes them? And why did he first place us in this world, plant in us the love for a long life in it and suddenly abduct us from it by death, keep us insensible and immobile for a considerable time, destroy our image, pour out our dissolution, mix it with the earth, allow our composition to collapse, decay and disappear and so that nothing at all remains of human nature; and then, at the time that He has determined by His venerable wisdom, when He desires, He will raise us up in another image, which He only knows, and will lead us into a different state? Not only do we, humans, hope for this, but also the holy Angels themselves, who have no need in this world, and, due to the extraordinary nature of their nature, have achieved little less than perfection, await our rise from corruption, when our race will rise from the dust and its corruption will be renewed. For for our sake the entry is denied to them, and they are waiting for the one-time opening of the door of the new age. And this creation (Angels) rests with us from the weight of the body that burdens us, as the apostle says: “For the creation itself longs for the revelation of the sons of God, that it may be freed from the work of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8:19,21), after the complete destruction of this age in its entire structure and after the restoration of our nature to its original state.” And from here he already ascends with his mind to what preceded the creation of the world, when there was no creation, no heaven, no earth, no Angels, nothing that was brought into being, and to how God, by His sole good pleasure, suddenly brought everything from non-existence into existence, and every thing appeared before Him in perfection. And again he descends with his mind to all God’s creatures, pays attention to the wonder of God’s creatures and the wisdom of His works, reasoning with himself in amazement: “What a miracle! How much His economy and Providence exceed all understanding, how much His wondrous power is stronger than all His creations! How did He bring this creation - this innumerable multitude of different things - into existence from non-existence? And how will he ruin it again, destroying this wonderful arrangement, this beauty of nature, this orderly flow of creatures, hours and time, this combination of night and day, annual changes, these various flowers growing from the earth, these beautiful city buildings and the embellished palaces in them, this rapid movement of people, this existence, burdened with labor from their entry into the world until their departure? And how suddenly this wonderful order will cease, and another age will come, and the memory of this first creation will not enter anyone’s heart at all, and there will be another modification, other thoughts, other concerns! And human nature will also not remember at all about this world and about its first way of life, because the human mind will cling to the contemplation of this state, and the minds of people will not have the leisure to return again to warfare with flesh and blood. For with the destruction of this age the future age will immediately begin. And every person will then say the following: “O mother, forgotten by her children, whom she gave birth to, raised and made wise, and who in the blink of an eye were gathered into someone else’s womb and became the true children of the barren woman who never gave birth! “Rejoice, you barren ones, you who do not give birth” (Is. 54:1) for the children whom the earth has given birth to you.” And then, as if in a frenzy, he reflects and says: “How long will this age last? And when will the future age begin? How much longer will these churches sleep in this form, and their bodies be mixed with dust? What will this life be like? In what form will this nature arise and be composed? How will it pass into a new creation? And when he reflects on this and the like, he comes into delight, amazement and silent silence, and he rises at this hour, and kneels, and with abundant tears sends thanks and praise to the One Wise God, always glorified in His all-wise deeds. So blessed is he who is worthy of this! Blessed is he who has such a thought day and night! Blessed is he who meditates on this and the like all the days of his life! And if a person at the beginning of his silence does not feel the power of such contemplations, due to the soaring of his mind, and cannot yet ascend to the powers of the above-mentioned miracles of God, then let him not become despondent and let him not leave the silence of his silent life! For even the farmer, when he sows, does not immediately see the ear of grain with the sowing of the seed; but sowing is followed by despondency, labor, exhaustion of his own members, the removal of comrades, separation from loved ones. And when he endures this, another time comes, in which the worker delights, and jumps, and rejoices, and is glad. What time is it? When he tastes the bread 136 obtained by his own sweat, and his meditation will be kept in silence. For great and endless sweetness arouses in the heart and brings the mind into indescribable wonder - silence and this, said above, patient meditation in silence. And blessed is he who patiently abides in it, because this Bountiful spring opened before him, and he drank from it, and enjoyed it, and will not stop drinking from it always, at all times, at every hour of the day and night, until the end and the last limit of his entire temporary life. Question. What is the main thing in all the labors of this matter, that is, silence, so that a person who has reached this point can know that he has already achieved perfection in life? Answer. That is when a person is honored to remain in constant prayer. For, as soon as he achieved this, he ascended to the height of all virtues and already became the abode of the Holy Spirit. And if someone has not undoubtedly accepted this grace of the Comforter, then he cannot freely continue in this prayer, because, as it is said, when the Spirit dwells in one of the people, then he will not stop praying, for the Spirit himself always prays (see Rom. 8:26). Then, both in the sleepy and waking state of a person, prayer is not stopped in his soul, but whether he eats, drinks, sleeps, or does anything, even in deep sleep, the fragrance and evaporation of prayer are easily emitted by his heart. Then prayer does not separate from him, but every hour, although it is not revealed in him outwardly, at the same time it performs God’s service in him in secret. For one of the Christ-bearing men calls the silence of the pure prayer, because their thoughts are meek voices with which they secretly sing of the Hidden One. Question. What is spiritual prayer? And how can an ascetic be worthy of it? Answer. Spiritual movements for strict purity and purity become partakers of the activity of the Holy Spirit. And one out of many thousands of people is granted it, because this is the secret of the future state and life. For he ascends, and the nature remains inactive, without any movement or remembrance of what is here. The soul does not pray through prayer, but through feeling it senses the spiritual things of this age, surpassing human understanding, the understanding of which is possible only by the power of the Holy Spirit. And this is mental contemplation, but not the movement and not the seeking of prayer, although it borrowed its origin from prayer. For through this, some of these people have already achieved the perfection of purity. And there is no hour in which their inner movement is not in prayer, as we said above. And when the Holy Spirit comes, he always finds them in prayer; and from this prayer lifts them to contemplation, which is called spiritual vision. For they do not need the form of prolonged prayer, nor the standing and rite of prolonged service. For them it is enough to remember God, and they are immediately captivated by His love. However, they do not completely neglect standing in prayer, when they give honor to prayer, and, in addition to unceasing prayer, stand on their feet at the appointed hours. For we see Saint Anthony standing at the ninth hour of prayer and feeling the elevation of his mind. And another of the fathers, standing in prayer with his hands raised, went into rapture for four days. And many others, during such prayer, were captivated by a strong remembrance of God and great love for Him, and came into admiration. A person is worthy of it when, by keeping the commandments of the Lord, which resist sin, he is freed from sin both internally and externally. Whoever loves these commandments and uses them according to order, it will become necessary for him to free himself from many human affairs, that is, to be stripped of the body and to be outside of it, so to speak, not by nature, but by necessity. He who leads life in the image of the Lawmaker and is guided by His commandments, it is impossible for sin to remain in him. Therefore, the Lord promised in the Gospel to the one who kept the commandments to create a monastery with him (see John 14:23). Question. What is the perfection of the many fruits of the Spirit? Answer. It is when someone is worthy of the perfect love of God. Question. And how does a person know that he has achieved it? Answer. When the remembrance of God is aroused in his mind, then his heart is immediately aroused by love for God, and his eyes flow abundantly with tears. For love usually brings tears to the memory of loved ones. And he who abides in the love of God never lacks tears, because he never lacks that which nourishes in him the remembrance of God; why even in his sleep he talks with God. For love usually produces something like this, and it is the perfection of people in this life. Question. If, after a lot of work, suffering, and struggle that a person has undergone, the thought of pride is not ashamed to attack him, because it borrows food for itself from the beauty of his virtues and counts on the greatness of the labor he has endured, then how can a person overcome his thought and acquire such firmness in his soul that it does not submit to the thought? Answer. When someone realizes that he falls away from God, like a dry leaf falling from a tree, then he understands the strength of his soul: that is, did he acquire these virtues by his own strength and endure all the struggles for them, while the Lord withheld His help and allowed him to enter into the struggle with the devil alone and not walk with him, as He usually participates in the struggle with those who strive and assists them; then its strength is revealed; better to say, the defeat and its difficulty become clear. For the Providence of God always happens to the saints, protecting and strengthening them. Through it he overcomes every rank of people, if it happens in feat and in the suffering of martyrdom and in other disasters that befall those who suffer for God and for His sake. And this is clear, obvious and undeniable. For how can nature overcome the power of tickling, which is constantly aroused in the members of people, causing them grief and very strong in order to overcome them? And why do others desire victory and love it, but cannot achieve it despite their strong opposition, on the contrary, every day they suffer defeat from bodily tickles and remain in labor, in crying and in exhaustion, working for their souls, while you can comfortably bear the claims of the body, which are so fierce, and not be in great confusion as a result? And how can a body, which in other cases is sensitive to suffering and does not tolerate being stung by a thorn that has pricked its nail, can overcome cutting with iron, endure crushing of the limbs and all kinds of torment and not be overcome by suffering, without feeling, as is usual for nature, even the difference in this torment, if, in addition to natural force, another force does not come from somewhere [from everywhere, from all sides] that reflects the cruelty from it torment? And since we started talking about God’s Providence, we will not be too lazy to bring to mind one soulful story that elevates a person in his struggles. One young man, named Theodore, whose whole body was subjected to torment, asked by someone: “Do you feel torment?”, answered: “At first I felt it, and then I saw a certain young man who wiped away the sweat of my struggle, strengthened me and gave me coolness during my suffering.” Oh, how great are God's mercies! How close is the grace of God to those who struggle for the name of God, so that they may joyfully endure suffering for Him! Therefore, man, do not be ungrateful to God’s providence for you. If, finally, it is obvious that you are not a winner, but only, as it were, an instrument, the Lord wins in you and you still receive the name of victory, who forbids you at all times to ask for the same strength, and to win, and to accept praise, and to confess 138 to God? Haven't you heard, man, how many ascetics from the foundation of the world, being unappreciative of this grace, fell from the heights of life and from the heights of their exploits? Just as many and varied are the gifts of God to the human race in themselves, there is just as much difference in the acceptable gifts and, accordingly, in the degree of those who receive them. There are smaller and greater gifts of God; although they are all lofty and wonderful, one surpasses the other in glory and honor, and the degree of degree is higher. And also: to devote oneself to God and live virtuously is one of the great gifts of Christ. For many, having forgotten that by this grace they were vouchsafed to become excommunicated from people and dedicated to God, partakers and successors of His gifts, chosen and awarded the service and sacrament of God, instead of constantly thanking God for this with their lips, they turned into pride and arrogance and think of themselves not as those who have received the grace of sacrament, in order to serve God with pure life and spiritual work, but as those who render mercy to God, when they should have judged that God had taken them out from among people and made them His own to know His mysteries. And they do not tremble with all their souls, reasoning in this way, especially when they see how the dignity of those who reasoned like this before them was suddenly taken away and how the Lord in the blink of an eye overthrew them from the high glory and honor that they had; and they strayed into uncleanness, lasciviousness and filthiness, like cattle. Since they did not recognize their strength and did not constantly keep in mind the One who gave them grace - to perform service before Him, to become included in His Kingdom, to be cohabitants of Angels and to approach Him with angelic life, then God removed them from their work, and by leaving silence and changing their way of life, He showed them that the power was not theirs if they observed decorum in life and did not disturb their compulsions. nature, demons and other other resistances, on the contrary, it was the power of God’s grace, which produced in them that which the world, due to the difficulty of it, cannot accommodate or hear, and in which they remained for a long time and were not overcome; why, of course, there was in them a certain power accompanying them, sufficient to help them in everything and protect them. But since they forgot about this power, the word spoken by the Apostle was fulfilled on them: “Because they had not been tempted to have God in their minds,” their Master, who had collected dust for spiritual service, “he gave them over to an unskilled mind” (Rom. 1:27-28), and, as was proper, they received dishonor for their error. Question. Does it ever happen that someone who suddenly dares to completely renounce cohabitation with people and, out of good jealousy, suddenly goes into an uninhabited and terrible desert, dies of hunger, due to lack of cover and other necessities? Answer. Whoever, before their creation, prepared a home for dumb animals and takes care of their needs, He will not despise His creation, especially those who fear Him and follow Him in simplicity, without inquisitiveness. He who betrays his will in everything to God no longer cares about the needs of his body, about its misfortune and suffering, but wants to remain in the hidden life and lead a humiliating life, is not afraid of sorrows, but considers alienation from the whole world pleasant and sweet for the purity of life, exhausting himself among the hills and mountains, lives like a wanderer in the circle of dumb animals, does not agree to rest bodily and spend a life full of filth. And when he gives himself up to death, cries and prays hourly so as not to be deprived of God’s pure life, then he receives help from God. Glory and honor to him! May He preserve us in His purity and may He sanctify us with the holiness of the grace of the Holy Spirit, in honor of His name, so that His holy name may be glorified in purity forever and ever! Amen. “All-Wise” is not in the Greek edition; inserted by us from the translation of Rev. Paisia. That is, a small amount of food. That is, the wisdom of silence. To these words, the publisher of the Greek text, Nikephoros Theotokis, made the following note: “This is either chastity from bodily passions, but not spiritual and conscience; or integrity, but not perfect and complete; or so-called purity, but not really existing.” The words “invisible - mysterious” are not in the Greek text (only the word “it” is there); but they are in the translation by Rev. Paisia. Instead of “revelation,” perhaps we should read “vision,” as Nikephoros Theotokis suggests. The Monk Isaac distinguishes here between the type of knowledge of those who exist by nature and the type of knowledge of those who exist through nature. The first is contrary to purity, and the second must be forgotten in order to achieve purity. The type of knowledge of beings through nature is knowledge of things not simply by nature, but with the admixture of thoughts resulting from the use of things not by nature, but by passion. Thus, the mental representation of gold as a creation of God is knowledge of what exists by nature; and the presentation of gold with selfish lust is knowledge of existence through nature. That is, to receive the gift of crying. That is, over the vain thoughts of this life. In Greek there is no negation; but here the ancient Slavic and Serbian translations are preferred. You might be interested in: