Слово 72. О хранении сердца и о тончайшем созерцании

If you are alone in your cell and have not yet acquired the power of true contemplation, then always learn from the reading of troparions and kathismas, the remembrance of death and the hope of the future. All this brings the mind together and does not allow it to spin until true contemplation comes; because the strength of the spirit is more powerful than passions. Learn about the hope of the future, remembering God; try to understand well the meaning of the troparia and beware of everything external that prompts you to lust. And at the same time, keep that little 585 that you do in your cell. Always test your thoughts and pray so that in all your life I may gain the eyes of you: from this joy will begin to flow out to you; and then you will find sorrows that are sweeter than honey. No one can overcome passions, except through tangible, visible virtues; and no one can overcome the soaring of the mind, except by immersion in spiritual knowledge. Our mind is light and, if not bound by any thought, does not stop floating. And without improvement in the above-mentioned virtues, it is impossible to acquire this preservation; because if someone does not defeat his enemies, there cannot be peace, and if peace does not reign, how can one find what is stored inside the world? Passions serve as an obstacle to the hidden virtues of the soul, and if they are not overthrown first by the obvious virtues, then the inner virtues are invisible behind them. For he who is outside the wall cannot live with him who is inside the walls. No one sees the sun in darkness, and no one sees virtue in the nature of the soul, with the ongoing rebellion of passions. Pray to God to make you feel the desire of the Spirit and His lust. For when this feeling and desire of the Spirit come to you, then you will retreat from the world, and the world will retreat from you. It is impossible for anyone to feel this without silence, asceticism and staying in the reading designated for this. Without this, do not look for that either, for if you look, then it gradually changes and becomes corporeal. He who understands, yes, he understands. The all-wise Lord deigned that we should eat this bread in sweat; And he did this not out of malice, but so that we would not have indigestion and die. For each virtue is the mother of the next virtue. Therefore, if you leave your mother, who gives birth to virtues, and go to look for daughters before you find their mother, then these virtues turn out to be vipers for the soul. If you do not reject them from yourself, you will soon die. You might be interested in: