Слово 40. О молитве, поклонах, слезах, чтении, молчании и псалмопении

Do not call the duration of a simple, collected and long prayer idleness because you left out the psalms. But more than exercises in poetry, love bowing in prayer. Prayer, when he gives you his hand, replaces God’s service. And when during the service itself you are given the gift of tears, do not call the enjoyment of them idleness in prayer; because the grace of tears is the fullness of prayer. While your mind is distracted, read instead of praying. But, as has been said, not all writing is useful. Love silence much more than action. If possible, prefer reading to standing. For reading is the source of pure prayer. Do not indulge in negligence under any circumstances; sober up from the soaring of your mind. For psalmody is the root of life. However, know also that physical deeds are much more useful than poetry, performed with the soaring of the mind. And mental sadness 236 surpasses bodily labor. During times of negligence, be sober and arouse jealousy in yourself little by little; because it greatly excites the heart and warms the thoughts of the soul. Against lust, in times of negligence, irritability helps nature, for it stops the coldness of the soul. Negligence usually comes to us for these reasons: either from the burden of the belly, or from a multitude of affairs. Dignity in doing is the light of wisdom. This is nothing more than leading. Let every prayer that we perform at night be more honorable in your eyes than all the deeds of the day. Do not burden your belly, so that your mind does not become clouded, and you do not be in confusion from the soaring of thoughts when you get up at night, and your limbs do not relax, and you yourself do not find yourself filled with female relaxation, and on top of this, so that your soul does not become darkened, and your understanding does not become clouded, and so that, due to darkening, you do not find it completely impossible to gather them together for poetry, and so that you do not your taste for everything has dulled, and the verse of psalmody has not ceased to delight you, while the mind, with the lightness and brightness of thought, usually savors its diversity with pleasure. For when nighttime orderliness is disturbed, then in daytime work the mind is confused, and walks in darkness, and does not, as usual, enjoy reading, because whether the mind turns to prayer or to teaching, a storm appears on the thoughts. The sweetness given to ascetics during the day flows into a pure mind from the light of night’s work. Every person who has not experienced prolonged silence by experience should not expect to learn anything more about the benefits of asceticism, although he is great, wise, and teaching, and has many merits. Be careful that your body does not become too weak, and this causes negligence to grow stronger against you and cool the taste for doing it in your soul. Everyone should weigh his life, as it were, on a scale. At a time when you are full, beware of giving yourself freedom even in small things. Let your sitting be chaste while satisfying your natural needs. Most importantly, during your sleep, be chaste and pure and strictly observe not only your thoughts, but also your members. Keep yourself from conceit during good changes in you. Diligently reveal your weakness and ignorance regarding the subtlety of this conceit to the Lord in prayer, so as not to be abandoned and not to be tempted in anything shameful, because fornication follows pride, and deception follows conceit. Do handicrafts according to your needs, or better yet, to keep you in your silence. Do not faint in your trust in your Provider, for His economy among His relatives is marvelous. For in the uninhabited desert, it is not with human hands that He arranges the affairs of those who live by trusting in Him. If the Lord visited you in the physical without your labor, when you strive to care for your soul, then, through the trick of the murderer - the devil - then the thought arises in you that the reason for all this providence, without a doubt, is in you 237. And then, along with this thought, God’s providence for you ceases, and at that very hour very many temptations rush at you: either from the abandonment of you by the Provider, or from the resumption of illnesses and ailments that arise in your body. God stops His care not just because a thought arises, but because the mind stops on this thought. For God does not punish or judge a person for an involuntary movement, even if we temporarily agree with the thought. If at that very hour we pierce our passion and contrition appears in us, then the Lord will not punish us for such negligence; He punishes for negligence, to which the mind really indulges in such a way that it looks at it insensitively and recognizes it as something proper and useful, and does not consider it a dangerous concern for itself. Let us always pray to the Lord like this: “Christ, fullness of truth, may Your truth shine in our hearts, and may we learn how to walk in Your way according to Your will!” When a certain evil thought sows in you, either from among those who come from afar, or from among those who have occupied you before, and often appears in your mind, then recognize it as true that it is hiding a net for you. But you wake up and sober up in time. And if the thought is from the right side and good, then know that God wants to give you a certain way of life, and therefore this thought, beyond the usual, is aroused in you. If the thought is darkened, and you doubt it, and cannot clearly comprehend whether it is your own or a thief, a helper or a slanderer hiding under a good guise, then arm yourself with diligent, quick prayer against it with much vigil, day and night. Don’t tear him away from you, and don’t agree with him; but with diligence and fervor, make a prayer for him and do not be silent, calling on the Lord. He will show you where this thought comes from. About your sins and shortcomings. You might be interested in: