Слово 41. О молчании

Love silence above all, because it brings you closer to fruition; the tongue is weak to depict it. First, let us force ourselves to silence, and then from silence something will be born in us that will lead to silence itself. May God grant you to feel something born of silence. If you begin with this life, I cannot even say how much light will shine for you from here. Don’t think, brother, that - as they say about the wonderful Arseny, when his fathers and brothers visited him, who came to see him, and he sat with them in silence and in silence let them go from him - he did all this completely of his own free will and that at first he did not force himself to do it. From practice in this activity, over time, a certain sweetness is born and forces the body to remain silent. And many tears are born in us in this life, and in wonderful contemplation the heart feels something different in them - at other times with difficulty, and at others with surprise, because the heart diminishes, becomes like a baby, and as soon as it begins to pray, tears flow. Great is the man who, through the patience of his members, acquired this wonderful skill internally in his soul. When you put all the deeds of this life on one side, and silence on the other, then you will find that it outweighs on the scales. There is a lot of human advice, but when someone approaches silence, it will be unnecessary for him to keep them and his previous deeds will turn out to be unnecessary, and he himself will turn out to have surpassed these deeds, because he has approached perfection. Silence helps silence. How is this possible? Living in a crowded monastery, it is impossible for us not to meet someone. And the equal-angel Arseny, who loved silence most of all, could not avoid this. For it is impossible not to meet with the fathers and brothers who live with us, and this meeting happens unexpectedly: a person needs to go to church or another place. This blessed man saw all this, and namely, that it was impossible for him to avoid this while he lived near the human monastery. And when I often found it impossible, at my place of residence, to avoid getting close to people and monks living in those places, then I was taught by grace this method - unceasing silence. And if, out of necessity, he opened his door to some of them, they were amused only by the sight of him, and verbal conversation and the need for it became unnecessary for them. Many of the fathers, by seeing this, were brought into a position to protect themselves and increase spiritual wealth, taking advantage of the lesson that the sight of the blessed one served for them. And some of them tied themselves to a stone, or tied themselves with a rope, or tormented themselves with hunger while the desire to go to people was born in them; because hunger helps a lot in taming the senses. I have found, brother, many fathers, great and wonderful, who, more than about deeds, took care of the orderliness of feelings and bodily habits; because this is where decency of thoughts comes from. Many reasons occur to a person outside of his will, which force him to go beyond the limits of his freedom. And if he is not protected in his feelings by a previously acquired unrelenting skill, then it may happen that for a long time he will not enter into himself and will not find his original peaceful state. Prosperity of the heart is constant thinking about your hope. Prosperity in life is renunciation of everything. Remembrance of death is a good bond for external members. The bait for the soul is the joy produced by hope flourishing in the heart. The increment of knowledge is the constant tests to which the mind is daily subjected internally as a result of twofold changes 241. For if from solitude sometimes despondency is born in us (and this, perhaps, is allowed at God’s discretion), then we have the excellent consolation of hope - the word of faith, which is in our hearts. And one of the God-bearing men said well that for a believer, love for God is sufficient consolation even in the event of the destruction of his soul. For, he says, what harm will sorrow cause to one who, for the sake of future benefits, neglects pleasure and peace? I give you, brother, this commandment: let alms always take precedence over you, until in yourself you feel the alms that God has for the world 242 . Let our mercy be a mirror so that we can see in ourselves that likeness and that true image that exists in God’s nature and in the essence of God. Let us be enlightened by this and similar things, so that with enlightened will we may move toward living according to God. A cruel and unmerciful heart will never be cleansed. A merciful person is the doctor of his soul, because, as if with a strong wind, he disperses the darkness of passions from his insides. This, according to the Gospel word of life, is a good debt given by us to God 243. When you approach your bed, tell her: “This night, perhaps, you will be my coffin, bed; and I don’t know if this night, instead of a temporary sleep, an eternal, future dream will come to me.” Therefore, while you have legs, follow the doing, before you are bound by bonds that can no longer be resolved. While you have fingers, crucify yourself in prayer before death comes. While you have eyes, fill them with tears before they are covered with dust. Like a rose, as soon as the wind blows on it, it fades, so if within you you breathe on one of the elements that make up your composition, you will die. Put it into your heart, man, that a departure awaits you 244, and constantly say to yourself: “Behold, a messenger has already come to the door, who will go behind me. Why am I sitting here? My exile is eternal, there will be no return.” He who loves conversation with Christ loves to be alone. And whoever loves to stay with many is a friend of this world. If you love repentance, love silence. For without silence, repentance does not reach perfection, and if anyone contradicts this, do not enter into competition with him. If you love silence - the mother of repentance, then love with pleasure the small physical deprivations 245 and the reproaches and insults that will be poured on you for silence. Without this preparation you will not be able to live freely and unperturbed in silence. If you neglect the above, 246 you will become a partaker of silence, as long as it pleases God. The love of silence is an incessant expectation of death. Whoever enters into silence without this thought cannot bear what we must endure and endure by all means. Understand also, O prudent one, that we choose solitary living with our souls, silence and seclusion, not for deeds that go beyond the rules, not in order to do them. For it is known that this, due to bodily zeal, is facilitated by more communication with many. And if this had been necessary, then some of the fathers would not have given up living and communicating with people, and others would not have begun to live in tombs, and others would not have chosen to seclude themselves in a solitary house, where, having weakened their body most of all and leaving it unable to fulfill the rules they had imposed on themselves, with all kinds of weakness and bodily exhaustion, they happily endured throughout their whole lives the still serious illnesses that befell them, from which they could not stand on your feet, or say the usual prayer, or praise with your lips, but did not even perform a psalm or anything else performed with the body; and instead of all the rules, only bodily weakness and silence were enough for them. This is how they behaved all the days of their lives. And with all this imaginary idleness, none of them wanted to leave their cells and, due to their failure to fulfill their rules, go somewhere else, or to church - to cheer themselves with the voices and services of others. He who has felt his sins is better than he who through his prayer raises the dead when his abode is among a crowd of people. He who spends one hour sighing for his soul is better than the one who benefits the whole world with his vision. He who is worthy to see himself is better than he who is worthy to see Angels. For the latter enters into communication with the eyes of the body, and the former with the eyes of the soul. He who follows Christ in solitary weeping is better than he who boasts of himself in assemblies. Let no one expose what the apostle said: “I prayed, for I myself was excommunicated from Christ” (Rom. 9:3). Anyone who has accepted Pavlov’s power is commanded to do so. And Paul, for the benefit of the world, was given water by the indwelling Spirit, as he himself testified that he did this not of his own free will. For he says: “For I have need; woe is it to me if I do not preach the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:16). And Paul's election was not to show him an image of his repentance, but to preach the gospel to mankind; For this purpose he also received superabundant strength. However, we, brothers, will love silence until peace is killed in our hearts. Let us always remember death, and in this thought draw closer to God with our hearts, and despise the vanity of the world, and worldly pleasures will become despicable in our eyes; with pleasure in a sick body let us endure the everlasting idleness of silence in order to be worthy of pleasure with those who “in the dens and pits of the earth” (Heb. 11:38) look forward to the glorious revelation of our Lord from heaven. To Him and His Father and His Holy Spirit be glory, and honor, and power, and splendor forever and ever! Amen. So according to the Greek text; in Paisius: “in itself.” So with Rev. Paisia. According to the Greek text: “what kindness you have for the world”; but this reading, although confirmed by the ancient Slavic translation, gives a worse meaning. See Matthew 25:40; Proverbs 19:17. Deprivation of something required by the body. That is, deprivations, reproaches and insults. You might be interested in: