Teachings, words, charter and life of Elder Paisius (Velichkovsky)

A collection that includes the most complete patristic heritage of the Moldavian elder, St. Paisius Velichkovsky, who was called “the father of Russian eldership.” It was the Monk Paisius (Velichkovsky) who revived the mental monastic work - the Jesus Prayer. The history of eldership in Optina, Glinsk hermitages and other monasteries of the Russian Church is connected with the spiritual heritage of Paisius. The first Optina elders - the Monks Leo (Leonid), Macarius, Moses - were direct disciples of the disciples of the Monk Paisius, and Saint Ambrose of Optina appeared as their disciple. Teaching on mental or internal prayer Preface by Elder Paisius Rumor has reached me last that some of the monastic rank 1 dare to blaspheme the Divine, ever-memorable and God-created Jesus prayer, sacredly performed with the mind in the heart, building such their tongue-in-cheek on the sand of superstition without any evidence. The enemy, I dare say, is arming them for this, so that with their tongues, as their weapon, they can discredit this most immaculate and Divine cause and with the blindness of their minds they can darken this mental sun. Therefore, having mourned such wickedness of these, who go astray from the womb and speak lies (Ps. 57:4), and fearing that one of those not established in their minds, hearing such fables of theirs, would not fall into a ditch of blasphemy similar to them and mortally sin before God by blaspheming the teaching of many of our God-bearing fathers, who testify and teach about this Divine prayer out of the enlightenment of Divine grace, and, moreover, no longer tolerating hearing blasphemous speeches about this immaculate work, and, in addition, convinced by the request of the zealots of this soul-saving work - I decided, although this exceeds my weak mind and weak strength, calling on the help of my sweetest Jesus, without Whom no one can do anything, in refutation of the falsely named mind of the empty-minded and for the confirmation of God's chosen flock about the name of Christ of the brethren gathered in our monastery, to write a little something about the Divine mental prayer with extracts from the teachings of the holy fathers, for firm, unshakable and undoubted confirmation of it. Being dust and ashes, I bow the mental knees of my heart before the unapproachable majesty of Your Divine glory and pray to You, my all-sweet Jesus, the Only Begotten Son and Word of God, the radiance of glory and the image of the Father’s hypostasis! Enlighten my darkened mind and thoughts and grant Your grace to my accursed soul, so that this work of mine may serve for the glory of Your most holy name and for the benefit of those who want, through the intelligent and sacred practice of prayer, to intelligently cleave to You, our God, and You, the priceless bead, to constantly carry in their souls in their hearts and for the correction of those who, in their extreme ignorance, dared to blaspheme this Divine work! Chapter 1. Against the detractors of mental prayer. About the fact that mental prayer is the work of the ancient holy fathers, and against the detractors of this sacred and immaculate prayer Let it be known that this Divine work of sacred mental prayer was the constant work of our ancient God-bearing fathers, both in many desert places and in cenobitic monasteries, like the sun it shone among the monks: in Mount Sinai, in the Egyptian monastery, in Mount Nitria in Jerusalem and in the monasteries that are around Jerusalem, and simply to say - in the whole East, in Constantinople, on Mount Athos and on the sea islands; and in recent times, by the grace of Christ - also in Great Russia. With this intelligent attention to sacred prayer, many of our God-bearing fathers, kindled by the seraphic flame of love for God, and according to God for one’s neighbor, became the strictest keepers of God’s commandments and, having cleansed their souls and hearts from all the vices of the old man, were worthy to be chosen vessels of the Holy Spirit. Filled with His various Divine gifts, they appeared in their lives as luminaries and pillars of fire for the universe and, having performed countless miracles, in deed and word they led countless human souls to salvation. Many of them, moved by secret Divine inspiration, wrote books of their teachings about this Divine mental prayer, according to the power of the Divine Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, filled with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. And this was according to the special providence of God, so that somehow in recent times this Divine work would not fall into oblivion. Many of these books, God's forgiveness for our sins, were destroyed by the Saracens who conquered the Greek kingdom; some, by God’s providence, have survived to our times. None of the true believers ever dared to blaspheme the aforementioned Divine mental work and preservation of the paradise of the heart; but everyone always treated him with great honor and extreme reverence, as a thing full of all spiritual benefits. But the chief of evil and the adversary of every good deed - the devil - seeing that most through this practice of mental prayer the monastic order, choosing the good part, sits with unwavering love at the feet of Jesus, advancing in the perfection of His Divine commandments, and through this becomes light and enlightenment to the world - began to melt with envy and use all his intrigues to discredit and blaspheme this soul-saving work and, if possible, completely destroy from the face of the earth. And then, as said above, through the Saracens, who were similar to him in everything, he destroyed the books: then in the pure and heavenly work of this work he sowed the wheat with his choking tares, so that through the foolish he could bring blasphemy on this saving work by the fact that the arbitrators who touched this work, for the sake of their exaltation, instead of wheat, reaped thorns, and instead of salvation they found destruction. And the devil was not satisfied with this yet, but found in the Italian countries the Calabrian serpent, the forerunner of the Antichrist, with pride in everything similar to the devil, the heretic Barlaam and, settling in him with all his power, he inspired him to blaspheme our Orthodox faith, as this is written in detail in the Lenten Triodion, in the synaxarion of the second week of the holy Great Lent. By the way, he dared in various ways, both with tongue and with hand, to blaspheme and reject sacred mental prayer, as he writes about this in his holy book, in chapter 31, like our holy father Simeon, Archbishop of Thessalonites, whose original words I offer here, saying this: “This accursed Varlaam blasphemed a lot and wrote about both the sacred prayer and the Divine prayer that is on Tabor (Matthew 17:5), grace and illumination. Not understanding, and even unable to understand (and how can one comprehend this who is fussed with his mind, and in dreaming thoughts is united with the proud?) what the words mean: pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17) nor what the words mean: I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the mind (1 Cor. 14:15); also: making melody and singing in your hearts to the Lord (Col. 3:16); and that God sent the Spirit of His Son, that is, grace; in your hearts, crying: Abba, Father (Gal. 4:6); also: I want to speak five words with my mind, rather than ten thousand words with my tongue (1 Cor. 14:19), - he rejected both mental prayer, or better, the calling of the Lord, which is the confession of Peter, who confessed: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16), and the tradition of the Lord himself, who says in the Gospel: whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you (John. 15:16); also: In My Name the demons will be destroyed (Mark 16:17), and so on. For His name is eternal life: and this, he says, was written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that ye that believe may have life in His name (Jn. 20:31); and the Holy Spirit is taught by the invocation of Christ: no one can say the Lord Jesus, but by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3), and this has been said a thousand times.” What did the evil serpent accomplish with his undertaking with the son of perdition, the accursed heretic Varlaam, whom, as I said, he taught to blaspheme against sacred mental prayer? Could blasphemy darken the light of this clever work and, as he hoped, completely destroy him? No way. But his illness turned on his head. At that time, the great champion and representative of piety, the most luminous among the saints, our father Gregory, Archbishop of Thessalonites, Palamas, who, in perfect obedience and constant sacred exercise of mental prayer, like the sun, shone on the holy Mount Athos with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, even before his elevation to the episcopal throne of this church, during the reign of the most divine king Andronikos Palaiologos in the reigning city in the famous great church of the Wisdom of God. At the council that gathered against the above-mentioned heretic Barlaam, filled with the Spirit of God, having clothed himself with irresistible power from above, he stopped his mouth, which was open to God, and finally put him to shame, and burned his boastful heresies and all his blasphemies with fire-inspired words and writings and turned them to ashes. And by the entire Catholic Church of God this heretic Barlaam, with Akindinus and all his like-minded people, was thrice anathematized. But even to this day, every year on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, the same Church, together with other heretics, curses him as follows: Barlaam and Akindinus and their followers and successors are thrice anathema. Look here, friends, who dare to blaspheme mental prayer, and consider who its first blasphemer was: is not Barlaam the heretic, three times anathematized by the Church and subject to be cursed forever? Do you not also share in your blasphemy with this heretic and his like-minded people? Do you really not tremble in your soul to fall under a similar church curse and be alienated from God? Rising up for a most sacred cause and seducing with your blasphemy the souls of those who are not firmly established in the minds of your neighbors, are you not horrified by the terrible thunderstorm of God for this in the Gospel? Aren't you afraid, according to the apostolic word: it is terrible to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. 10:31), to fall for this, if you do not repent, of both temporary and eternal punishment? What plausible reason have you invented to blaspheme this immaculate and most blessed thing? I'm completely perplexed. Do you think that calling on the name of Jesus is unprofitable? But about anyone else there is no possibility, except about the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Is the human mind, by which prayer operates, vicious? But this is impossible. After all, God created man in His image and likeness: the image of God and this likeness is the soul of man, which, according to God’s creation, is pure and immaculate: this means that the mind, being the primary spiritual sense, like vision in the body, is also immaculate. But doesn’t the heart, on which, as on an altar, the mind sacredly performs the secret sacrifice of prayer to God, deserve blasphemy? No way. Being a creation of God, like the entire human body, it is beautiful. If the calling of Jesus is saving, and the mind and heart of a person are the work of God’s hands, then what vice is it for a person to send a prayer from the depths of his heart with his mind to the sweetest Jesus and ask for mercy from Him? Or is it not because you blaspheme and reject mental prayer because you think that God does not hear secret prayer made in the heart, but hears only that which is pronounced with the lips? But this is a blasphemy against God: after all, God is a knower of the heart and knows exactly all the most subtle thoughts of the heart, and even future ones, and knows everything as God and the All-Knower. Yes, and He Himself demands, as a pure and immaculate sacrifice, precisely such a secret prayer, sent from the depths of the heart, commanding: Whenever you pray, go into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you in reality (Matthew 6:6); that the lips of Christ, the universal luminary, the universal teacher, Saint John Chrysostom, in the nineteenth conversation on the Gospel of Matthew, by God-given wisdom of the Holy Spirit, refers not to that prayer that is pronounced only with the lips and tongue: but to the most secret, silent, prayer sent from the depths of the heart, which he teaches to perform not with the actions of the body and not with the cry of the voice, but with the most zealous will, with with all quietness, with contrition of thoughts and inner tears, with mental illness and the closing of mental doors. And he brings as testimony to this prayer from the Divine Scriptures Moses the Seer of God, and Saint Anna, and the righteous Abel, saying this. But are you sick in your soul? You cannot help but cry out, because praying and asking in the way I said is characteristic of someone who is very sick. And Moses, being sick, prayed like this and his illness was heard, which is why God said to him: Why did you cry out to Me? (Ex. 14:15). And Anna, again, fulfilled everything she wanted, but her voice was not heard, because her heart was crying out. Wasn’t Abel silent, and even after he died, he prayed? and his blood emitted a voice more excellent than the voice of a trumpet. You too, just like Saint Moses, do not forbid. Tear apart, as the prophet commanded, your heart, not your garments. From the depths, call on God: from the depths, he says, I called to You, Lord. From below, from the heart, attract a voice; make your prayer a sacrament. And below: “after all, you do not pray to people, but to the omnipresent God, who first hears voices and knows unspoken thoughts: if you pray like this, you will receive a great reward.” Your Father, he says, who sees in secret, will reward you in reality (Matthew 6:6). And below: “Since He is invisible, He wants your prayer to be the same.” You see, friends, that according to the testimony of the invincible pillar of Orthodoxy, there is another prayer, besides the one pronounced with the lips, secret, invisible, silent, from the depths of the heart raised to God, which, like a pure sacrifice, the Lord accepts in the stench of spiritual fragrance, rejoices over it and is glad, seeing that the mind, which should primarily be dedicated to God, is united to Him in prayer. Why, then, to this prayer, testified by the lips of Christ, I say to the saints, John Chrysostom; you arm your tongue with blasphemy, blaspheming, slandering, hating, swearing, rejecting and turning away as if it were some bad thing, and trembling overwhelms me because of such a wordless undertaking of yours. But also, seeking the reasons for your blasphemy, I ask you: is it not because you blaspheme this most saving prayer because perhaps you happened to see or hear that one of the practitioners of this prayer lost his mind, or accepted some delusion instead of the truth, or suffered some kind of spiritual harm, and therefore it seemed to you that mental prayer was the cause of such harm? But no, no! In fact, this is not true at all. Sacred mental prayer, according to the power of the writings of the God-bearing fathers, acted by God's grace, cleanses a person from all passions, arouses him to the most zealous keeping of God's commandments, and keeps him unharmed from all the enemy's arrows and charms. If anyone dares to act this prayer arbitrarily, not according to the strength of the teachings of the holy fathers, without questioning and the advice of experienced people, and, being arrogant, passionate and weak, lives without obedience and obedience, and, moreover, pursues only a desert life, which, for his self-rule, he is not worthy to see even a trace of: such, truly, and I affirm, conveniently falls into all the snares and delights diabolical. So what? Is this prayer the reason for such charm? No way. If you discredit mental prayer for this, then let the knife also be disgraceful for you if it happened to a small child, while playing, due to foolishness, to stab himself with it. Also, in your opinion, it is necessary for warriors to be prohibited from using a military sword, which they take against their enemies, if some crazy warrior happened to stab himself with his sword. But just as a knife and a sword do not serve as the cause of a single vice, but only expose the madness of those who have slain themselves with them: so the spiritual sword, sacred, I say, mental prayer is not guilty of a single vice; but the arbitrariness and pride of self-inflicted people serve as the cause of demonic charms and all kinds of mental harm. But why else, as if I had been perplexed until now, am I asking you the reasons for your blasphemy against this most significant reason for your pain in language! These reasons are the following: 1st, not according to the commandment of God, that is, not with testing, your reading of the Holy Scriptures; 2nd, distrust of the teaching of our holy fathers, who teach about this Divine mental prayer by the God-given wisdom of the Spirit, according to the power of the Holy Scriptures: 3rd, finally, your extreme ignorance: you either have never, perhaps, seen or heard about it in the writings of our God-bearing fathers; or, if not this, then you do not understand the power of their God-wise words - this is the most significant reason for such your wickedness. If you, with the fear of God and strong attention and undoubted faith, with diligent testing and humility, read the patristic books, which are most suitable for reading by monastics alone, containing in themselves the whole mind of the life of the Gospel - patristic books, I say, which are also necessary for monks for spiritual benefit and correction and for acquiring a true, healthy, unpretentious, and humble mind, as to constitute bodily life, breathing is necessary; If you had read these books like this, then God would never have allowed you to fall into such a ditch of blasphemy. Moreover: through this doing, He would kindle you with His Divine grace into His inexpressible love, so that you and the apostle would cry out: who will separate us from any of Christ (Rom. 8:35), which you would be honored to achieve by mentally doing this prayer? And you would not only not blaspheme her, but you would also strive to lay down your soul for her, feeling from this intelligent attention by deed and experience an indescribable benefit to your souls. And since you do not read the books of our reverend fathers with undoubted faith, or, even while reading, do not trust, as the fruits of your blasphemy show, or completely neglect to read: then you have fallen into such an ungodly wisdom that, as if you had never heard the Christian scriptures, you blaspheme and reject this sacred prayer, testified, according to the God-wise explanation of the holy fathers, to all Holy Scripture. And in order to get rid of you, and everyone who doubts about it, from such spiritual harm, I do not find any other decent cure, except that I will try, as much as the Lord with His grace will hasten and help me, to point out that our God-bearing fathers, enlightened by Divine grace, confirm the building of their soul-beneficial teaching about this all-sacred, secretly working prayer with the mind in the heart on the immovable stone of the Holy Scripture. But you, having seen for yourself openly and clearly, with the assistance of the grace of God that has secretly touched your souls, the truth of the teachings of the holy fathers, and having been healed of this spiritual illness of yours, bring to God the most sincere repentance for your attempt - and you will be worthy of His Divine mercy and perfect forgiveness of your sin. Chapter 2. Where does this Divine mental prayer begin, and what evidence do the God-bearing fathers give about it from the Holy Scriptures? Before indicating where this Divine prayer has its very first beginning, it is necessary to offer the following for your information: let it be known that according to the writings of our holy and God-bearing fathers, there are two mental prayers: one of beginners, belonging to action, and the other perfect, belonging to vision; that one is the beginning, and that one is the end, because action is the ascent of vision. You should know that according to Saint Gregory of Sinai, there are eight first visions, which, when counting, he says: “We say that there are eight first visions. The first is the vision of God, formless, beginningless and uncreated, the cause of everything, the one Trinity and the all-essential Divinity. The second is the rank and structure of the intelligent forces. The third is the dispensation of sensual creatures. The fourth is the watchful condescension of the Word. Fifth – General Resurrection. The sixth is the second and terrible coming of Christ. The seventh is eternal torment. Eighth – the Kingdom of Heaven, which has no end.” Having proposed this, I inform you, according to the thinness of my weak mind, in what strength the action and vision should be understood. Let it be known (I speak to simple ones like me) that the entire monastic feat, which, with the help of God, would force someone to love one’s neighbor and God, to meekness, humility and patience, and to all the other God’s and patristic commandments, to complete obedience by soul and body according to God, to fasting, vigil, tears, prostrations and other fatigues of the body, to diligently perform church and cell rule, to the smart secret exercise of prayer, to crying and thinking about death: all such feat, while the mind is still controlled by human autocracy and will, is reliably called an act: but not a vision. If such a mental feat of prayer were called vision somewhere in the writings of the holy fathers, then this is in common parlance, because the mind, like the spiritual eye, is called vision. When someone, with God's help and the above-mentioned feat, and most of all with the deepest humility, cleanses his soul and heart from all filthiness of mental and physical passions: then the grace of God, the common mother of all, taking the mind, purified by it, like a little child by the hand, leads him, as if by steps, to the above-mentioned spiritual visions, revealing to him, as he is purified, ineffable and incomprehensible to the mind Divine secrets. And this is truly called true spiritual vision, which is visual, or, according to St. Isaac, pure prayer, from which comes horror and vision. But no one can enter into these visions by his own arbitrary deed, unless God visits someone and leads him into them by His grace. If anyone, without the light of grace, dares to ascend to such visions: according to Saint Gregory of Sinaite, let him know that he is imagining dreams, not visions, dreaming and dreaming with a dreamy spirit (Grig. Sinait ch. 130). This is the reasoning about active and visual prayer. But it is time to show where Divine mental prayer has its beginning. Let it be known that, according to the unfaithful testimony of our God-wise, reverend and God-bearing father Nil, a faster of Sinai, even in paradise, God Himself gave to the first-created man intelligent Divine prayer befitting the perfect. Saint Nile, teaching those who prayed diligently to courageously preserve the fruit of prayer so that their work is not in vain, says this: “Having prayed as you should, expect what you should not, and become courageous, preserving your fruit. After all, this is what you were assigned to do from the beginning: to do and preserve. Therefore, having done, do not leave the work unrestricted: otherwise you will not receive any benefit from prayer” (chapter 49). Explaining these words, the Russian luminary, the Venerable Nile the Hermit of Sorsky, who shone like the sun in Great Russia through the intelligent practice of prayer, as is clear from his God-Wise Book, says this: “This saint brought this from antiquity to do and preserve, because the Scripture says that God, having created Adam, placed him in paradise to make and preserve paradise.” And here Saint Nile of Sinai called prayer a heavenly thing, and guarding against evil thoughts through prayer. Also, the Monk Dorotheos says that the primordial man, placed by God in paradise, remained in prayer, as he writes in his first teaching. From these testimonies it is clear that God, having created man in His image and likeness, introduced him into the paradise of sweetness, to make immortal gardens, that is, Divine thoughts, purest, highest and perfect, according to St. Gregory the Theologian. And this is nothing more than that he, as pure in soul and heart, should remain in visual, sacred, grace-filled prayer, that is, in the sweetest vision of God, and courageously, like the apple of his eye, preserve it, as a heavenly thing, so that it never diminishes in his soul and heart. Great, therefore, is the glory of sacred and Divine mental prayer, the edge and top of which, that is, the beginning and perfection, were given by God to man in paradise: from there it has its beginning. But she gained incomparably greater glory when, more holy than all the saints, more honorable than the Cherubim, and more glorious than the Seraphim, the Most Holy Virgin Theotokos, dwelling in the Holy of Holies, through mental prayer ascended to the extreme heights of the vision of God and was honored to be a spacious village inconceivable to all creation, the Word of God hypostatically contained in Her and from No, human salvation, born without seed, as evidenced by the invincible pillar of Orthodoxy, like our holy father Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonites in his homily on the Entry into the Church of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary. He says that the Most Holy Virgin Mother of God, being in the Holy of Holies and having understood completely from the Holy Scriptures, read every Saturday, about the destruction through disobedience of the human race, and being filled with extreme regret for it, received from God a mental prayer for a speedy pardon and salvation of the human race. I offer here the very words of this Saint Gregory, worthy of the angelic mind, a few of many: “This Virgin Mary, hearing and seeing, accepted regret of a general kind and considered how to find healing and healing equivalent to such suffering. Soon She was found - to turn with all her mind to God, and accepted this prayer for us in order to compel the Uncompelled One and quickly attract Him to us, so that He Himself would destroy the oath from among us, stop the fire that was corrupting the pasture of the soul, and bind the creature to Himself, healing the weak. Thus, the Blessed Virgin, seeing that which is most suitable and characteristic of all nature, considered mental prayer as wonderful and glorious and better than any word. Seeking the most artistic and natural way to converse with God, She came to Him, Self-Ordained, or better yet, God-chosen prayer book.” And below: “Not seeing anything that exists that is better than it for a person, he stretches out with diligence and strength to prayer, creates new things that are greater and more perfect, and invents, and acts, and teaches the action to those who follow this, as the highest ascent to vision: vision is so much greater than what was said above, as truth is higher than dreaming. But, having gathered everything into yourself and cleared your mind, hear the greatness of the sacrament: I want to say a word that, although the entire Christ-named assembly, is most relevant to those who have renounced the world. He who has already tasted for the sake of renunciation something of those future blessings that becomes with the Angels and acquires residence in heaven: let him desire to imitate in his strength the first and only one who renounced the world from infancy, the Ever-Virgin Bride.” And below: “searching for what prayer books need most for the interview, than prayer comes, the Virgin finds sacred silence - the silence of the mind, the remoteness of the world, the oblivion of the earthly and the secret places of higher understandings, a proposal for the best: this act, as truly an ascent to the vision of the truly Existent, or better, to say more fairly, to the vision of God, is, as it were, a brief indication for the soul of the one who has truly acquired it (the act). Every other virtue is like healing, in relation to mental ailments and evil passions rooted through despondency: The vision of God is the fruit of a healthy soul, as some final perfection and image of God’s deeds, and therefore a person is not idolized by words or judicious moderation regarding the visible - all this is earthly, low, human; but by remaining in silence, because by this we renounce and move away from the world, and ascend to God. Enduring day and night with prayers and supplications in the upper room of silent living, we somehow approach and approach this Inaccessible and Blessed Nature. Those who endure in this way, having purified their hearts with sacred silence and dissolved inexpressibly with Him who is Holy above feeling and mind, see God in themselves, as in a mirror. So, silence is a quick and shortened guide, as the most successful and uniting with God, especially for those who adhere to it completely in everything. And the Virgin, who from the soft, so to speak, nails dwelt in him, what - She? She, as one who was supernaturally silent from such a very childhood age, therefore, alone of all, gave birth to the unartifically God-man Word.” And below: “Therefore, the Most Pure One, renouncing the very, so to speak, worldly existence and rumor, moved away from people, and, having escaped a guilty life, chose a life invisible to anyone and uncommunicative, dwelling in the inaccessible. Here, having resolved every material union and shaken off all communication and love for everything and surpassing the very condescension to the body, She gathered the whole mind into one relationship with Him and abiding and attention in unceasing Divine prayer. And with it, being in Herself and having settled above the diverse rebellion and thoughts, and simply - every kind and thing, She made a new and ineffable path to Heaven, which is, I will say so, mental silence. And diligent to this and listening with the mind, all creatures and creatures fly, and much better than Moses, beholds the glory of God, and beholds Divine grace, which is not at all subject to the power of feeling, this joyful and sacred vision of undefiled souls and minds, having partaken of which, according to the Divine hymns, She becomes a bright cloud of living, truly water, and the dawn of the mental day and the fiery Chariot of the Word. (St. Gregory Palamas). From these words of the Divine Gregory Palamas, anyone with a mind can understand more clearly than the sun that the Most Pure Virgin Mother of God, dwelling in the Holy of Holies, through mental prayer ascended to the extreme heights of God-vision and renunciation for the world from the world, sacred silence of the mind, mental silence, gathering of the mind in unceasing Divine prayer and attention, and ascent through action to God-vision - gave herself The Divine monastic order is a model of attentive living according to the inner man, so that the monks who have renounced the world, looking at Her, diligently strive, as much as they can, through Her prayers, to be Her imitators in the above-mentioned monastic labors and sweats, and who can worthily praise the Divine mental prayer, the work of which, as an example of the benefit and success of the monks, is instructed by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, as it is said, was the Mother of God Herself? But in confirmation and undoubted confirmation of those who doubt about it, as if about an untestified and unreliable thing, the time has come to show what evidence the God-bearing fathers, who wrote from the enlightenment of Divine grace, bring about it from the Holy Scriptures. Divine mental prayer has an unshakable foundation in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: but whenever you pray, go into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret: and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you in reality (Matthew 6:6). These words, as already said in the first chapter, the world luminary, Saint John Chrysostom, with God-given wisdom explains the relatively silent, secret, from the depths of the heart of the prayer sent up, citing as evidence from the Holy Scriptures - Moses the Seer of God and Saint Anna, the mother of Samuel the prophet, and the righteous Abel and his blood crying out from the earth - that they in their prayer, without letting go of a single voices were heard by God. This great teacher of the universe, the mouth of Christ, Saint John Chrysostom, especially expounded in three words the teaching about this Divine prayer, as the unfalse witness, His Beatitude Simeon, Archbishop of Thessalonites, writes about this in the 294th chapter of his book 2, which the entire holy catholic Eastern Church has in great veneration as a pillar and affirmation of the truth. The pillar of fire and the fiery mouth of the Holy Spirit, the church eye, Basil the Great, explaining the saying of Divine Scripture: I will bless the Lord at all times, I will bring forth His praise in my mouth (Ps. 33:2), teaches beautifully about intelligent lips and intelligent action, citing evidence from the Holy Scriptures, of which the very words, filled with Divine wisdom, I present are the following: “I will bring out His praise in my mouth. It seems that the prophet is saying the impossible: how can the praise of God always be in the mouths of men? When a person talks about ordinary everyday things, then he does not have the praise of God in his mouth: when he sleeps, he is silent, of course; and when he eats and drinks, how can his lips offer praise? To this we answer that there are certain mental lips of the inner man, with which he feeds, partaking of the Word of the animal, which is the bread that came down from heaven (John 6:33). The prophet said about these lips: “My mouth was opened and the Spirit was drawn” (Ps. 119:131). The Lord encourages us to do this, so that we have these lips wide, so that we can sufficiently receive true food, saying: widen your mouth, and I will fill it (Ps. 80:11). Therefore, once inscribed and established in the mind of the soul, the thought of God can be called the praise of God, which is always present in the soul. And according to the apostolic word, someone who is careful can do everything for the glory of God, so that every deed, and every word, and every mental action has the meaning of praise. Whether he eats righteously, or drinks, or does anything else, he does everything for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). In such a person, even in a sleeping person, the heart is vigilant. This is what Saint Basil says. From his words it is clear that in addition to the bodily lips there are mental lips, and there is mental action and praise, which always occurs mentally in the inner man. The same name for beatitude, the Egyptian, or better to say, the universal sun, shone with the ineffable gifts of the Holy Spirit, the heavenly man, the Great Macarius, in his heavenly words about this holy prayer says this: “A Christian must always have the memory of God, because it is written: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart (Matthew 22:37). Not only then should he love the Lord when he enters the prayer church: but while walking, and talking, and eating, and drinking, let him have memory of God, and love, and desire; because He says: where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matthew 6:21) and so on. The reverend and God-bearing ancient holy father, Isaiah the Hermit, about the hidden teaching, that is, the Jesus Prayer, performed by thought in the heart, cites as evidence the words of Divine Scripture: my heart warms within me, and in my teaching a fire will burn (Ps. 39:4). The Venerable Simeon, testified in the above-mentioned book of the most blessed Simeon of Thessalonites, who, in the midst of the reigning city, shone like the sun with mental prayer in the ineffable gifts of the Holy Spirit and is therefore called the New Theologian by the entire Church - this one, in his Homily on the three types of prayer, writes about mental prayer and attention like this: “Our holy fathers, hearing the Lord speaking, that from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, blasphemy, and that is what defiles a person (Matthew 15:19-20): and again hearing that He teaches us to cleanse the inside of the glass, so that the outside may also be clean (Matthew 23:26), they left every other work and labored only in this guarding of the heart, knowing for certain, that along with this activity they will conveniently acquire every other virtue. Without this same doing, it is impossible to acquire and maintain a single virtue. These words of the monk clearly show that the Divine Fathers set the above words of the Lord as evidence and the basis for keeping the heart, that is, the mental invocation of Jesus. This monk also cites other sayings of Holy Scripture as evidence of Divine mental prayer. Speaking about this, Ecclesiastes also says: rejoice, young man, in your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart blameless, and put away wrath from your heart (Ecc. 11:9-10), and: if the spirit of the possessor comes upon you, do not leave your place (Ecc. 10:4): he calls the place the heart, as the Lord said: from the heart come evil thoughts ( Matthew 15:19). And again: do not be exalted (Luke 12:29), that is, do not waste your mind here and there. And again: bring the narrow gate and the sorrowful path into the stomach (Matthew 7:14); also: blessed are the poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3), that is, not having in themselves a single thought of this age” 3. And the Apostle Peter says: Be sober, be vigilant, for the devil is your adversary, like a lion that goes roaring, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. 5:8). And the Apostle Paul clearly writes to the Ephesians about guarding the heart, saying: our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the rulers and powers and rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph. 6:12). The Venerable Hesychius, presbyter, theologian and teacher of the Jerusalem Church, friend and interlocutor of our venerable and God-bearing father Euthymius the Great, who wrote with the wisdom of God from the enlightenment of Divine grace, about this sacred mental invocation in the heart of Jesus, that is, about mental prayer, a book of two hundred chapters, cites the following evidence of the Holy Scripture about this: the blessedness of the pure in heart, for they will see God ( Matthew 5:8); also: take heed to yourself, lest the word of iniquity be hidden in your heart (Deut. 15:9); also: I will appear in the morning, and you will see me (Ps. 5:4); also: blessed is he who has and will dash your babies against the stone (Ps. 137:9); also: in the morning you have slain all the sinners of the earth, who have consumed all the workers of iniquity from the city of the Lord (Ps. 100:8): also: prepare, O Israel, to call on the name of the Lord thy God (Am. 4:12). And the apostle: pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17); and the Lord Himself says: without Me you can do nothing. He who is in Me, and I in him, will produce much fruit. If anyone does not abide in Me, he will be cast out like a rod (Jn. 15:5–6); also: from the heart come evil thoughts: murder, adultery, these are the things that defile a person (Matthew 15:19): also: I have desired to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is in the midst of my womb (Ps. 39:9), and so on, which I have forsaken in abundance. Our Divine and God-bearing father John Climacus cites the testimony of Divine Scripture about this sacred prayer and true silence of the mind, saying: “The great worker of great and perfect prayer said: I want to speak five words with my mind (1 Cor. 14:19), and so on; and again: my heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready (Ps. 57:8); also: I sleep, but my heart watches (Song. 5:2); also: I cried with all my heart (Ps. 119:145), that is, body and soul, etc. Our Divine Father Philotheus, abbot of the monastery of the Bush of the Most Holy Theotokos, which is on Sinai, who compiled a small book of chapters on the mental guarding of the heart - priceless margaritas of Divine wisdom, filled with the ineffable heavenly sweetness of the Holy Spirit, places the sayings of the Holy Scripture as the unshakable foundation of his words: in the morning they slaughtered all the sinners of the earth (Ps. 100:8), and others; also: The Kingdom of God is within us (Luke 17:21); and: Be like the Kingdom of Heaven to pea grain, and beads, and kvass; and again: without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5); also: guard your heart with all care (Prov. 4:23); and: cleanse the inside of the glass, so that its outside will also be clean (Matthew 23:26); and: our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and authorities and rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph. 6:12); Also: be sober, be vigilant: the devil is your adversary, like a roaring lion he walks about, seeking whom he may devour, whom the firmament resisteth by faith (1 Pet. 5:8–9); also: I delight in the law of God according to the inner man: I see another law warring against the law of my mind and taking me captive (Rom. 7:22-23); and so on. Our Divine Father Diadochos, Bishop of Photiki, testified in the book of the above-mentioned Saint of Christ Simeon of Thessalonites, believes in his word, filled with spiritual wisdom, of which there are one hundred chapters in his Divine book, about the mental Jesus prayer, in the heart of sacred prayer, the following basis from the Divine Scripture: no one can speak the Lord Jesus, but by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3 ); and from the Gospel parable about a merchant looking for good beads, he quotes in the following words: these are valuable beads that can be acquired by those who sell their property and will have unspeakable joy in finding them, etc. Our venerable father Nicephorus the Faster, testified in the same book of the above-mentioned Saint Simeon, in his word about guarding the heart, filled with spiritual benefit, likens this Divine mental prayer in the heart to a treasure hidden in the village, and calls it a burning lamp, citing the sayings of the Holy Scripture: The Kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21), and: our struggle is not to the blood and flesh (Eph. 6:12); also: to do and keep (Gen. 2:15), and so on. Our blessed and God-bearing father Gregory of Sinai, who by doing this Divine prayer ascended into the utmost vision of God and, like the sun, shone with the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the holy Mount Athos and in other places, who compiled the “Trinity”, sung every week after the Trinity canon in the holy Catholic Eastern Church throughout the universe, also the canon of the Life-giving Cross, embracing the writings of all spirit-bearing Fathers, compiled a book full of all spiritual benefits, in which, more than all other saints, he teaches in subtlety about this Divine, sacred prayer performed with the mind in the heart, and cites the following from the Holy Scriptures to confirm his words: Remember the Lord your God (Deut. 8:18); also: in this morning let not your seed leave your seed, and in the evening let not your hand leave (Eccl. 11:6), and so on; also: if I pray with my tongue, that is, with my lips, my spirit will pray, that is, my voice (know that the lips and tongue, and spirit and voice are one and the same); but my mind is without fruit; I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the mind, and I want to speak five words with my mind (1 Cor. 14, 14:19), and so on, bringing as a witness the Climacus, who relates these words to prayer. Also: the Kingdom of Heaven is in need, and the needy delights it; also: no one can speak of the Lord Jesus except by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 13:3), and so on. Following the apostolic footsteps, the invincible pillar of the Orthodox faith, who destroyed the Doukhobor heresies of the Latins with the fiery sword of the Spirit and the truth of Orthodox dogmas at the Florence Council, like cobwebs, Marco, the most holy, wise and verbal, Metropolitan of Ephesus, at the beginning of the interpretation of church succession, writes about the Divine Jesus Prayer, performed secretly with the mind in the heart, using the testimony of Divine Scripture, of which I offer the most God-wise words: “One should, according to the commanding commandment, pray unceasingly, and offer worship to God in spirit and truth; but diligence about worldly thoughts and the bonds of care for the body lead many away and remove them from the Kingdom of God, which is within us, as the Word of God proclaims, and prevent us from remaining at the mental altar and offering spiritual and verbal sacrifices to God, according to the Divine Apostle, who says that we are the church of God living in us, and His Divine Spirit lives in us. And there is nothing surprising if this usually happens to many who live in the flesh; when we see that some of the monks who have renounced worldly things, due to mental warfare from the enterprise of passions and the resulting great rebellion that darkens the verbal part of the soul, cannot yet achieve pure prayer, although they strongly desire it. Delightful is the pure and unceasing memory of Jesus in the heart, and the ineffable enlightenment that comes from it.” Our venerable Russian father, St. Nil of Sora, who compiled his book on the mental guarding of the heart from the teachings of the God-bearing fathers, and especially from Gregory of Sinaite, uses the following evidence from the Holy Scriptures: evil thoughts come from the heart, and they defile a person (Matthew 15:19); and: cleanse the inside of the glass (Matthew 23:26); also: it is fitting to bow down to the Father in spirit and in truth; also: if I pray with my tongue, etc.; and: I want to speak five words with my mind rather than ten thousand words with my tongue (1 Cor. 14, 14:19), and so on. The Russian luminary, Saint Demetrius of Christ, Metropolitan of Rostov, who with the spiritual sword of the Word destroyed, like cobwebs, the errors of schismatics and their ungodly, corrupt, and contrary mind to the Holy Scriptures, who wrote many teachings for the benefit of the Holy Church, filled with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, and who composed the Word on the internal mental practice of prayer, filled with spiritual benefit, uses from The evidence from Holy Scripture is as follows: when you pray, go into your cell, and so on; also: my heart says to you: I will seek the Lord: I will seek your face, O Lord, I will seek your face; also: The Kingdom of God is within us, also: praying with all prayer and supplication at all times in the spirit, and: if I pray with my tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful: I will pray with the spirit, I will pray with the mind also, I will sing with the spirit, I will sing with the mind, and so on. These words, in agreement with Saint John of the Climacus, Gregory of Sinaite and Nilus of Sora, mean mental prayer. And the very church charter, printed in the reigning great city of Moscow, offering church legislation on bowing and prayer, also cites the following sayings of Holy Scripture about this Divine prayer: God is spirit: in spirit and in truth he seeks those who bow to Him (John 4:24). Also: if I pray with my tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. What then is, I will pray in the spirit, I will pray with the mind also, I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the mind too? (1 Cor. 14:14–15). And again: I want, he says, in the church to speak five words with my mind, rather than ten thousand words with my tongue (1 Cor. 14:19). And he brings the holy fathers into testimony: St. John Climacus, St. Gregory of Sinai and Saint Antiochus, and partly their Divine teachings about this mental prayer, and finally says: “And with this here we finish the word about sacred and ever-memorable mental prayer.” And then he speaks about the holy, common prayer of all, performed according to church rites. Here, by the grace of God, it is shown that the God-bearing Fathers, wise by the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, lay the foundation of their teaching about the mental sacred act of prayer, secretly performed in the inner man, on the immovable stone of the Divine Scripture of the New and Old Testaments, borrowing from there, as from an inexhaustible source, so much evidence. Which of the faithful Christians, seeing this, could have even the slightest doubt about this Divine thing? Perhaps only those who obey the spirit of insensibility, who hear and see, but do not want to understand and know. But those who have the fear of God and a sound mind, seeing such evidence from so many witnesses, unanimously recognize that this Divine work, above all monastic deeds, is more characteristic and more fitting of the angelic monastic order. About this work, the above-mentioned and many other Divine Fathers of ours in their writings offer many well-heard words, sweeter than honey and honeycomb, filled with spiritual wisdom, teaching inner, mental feat against mental enemies: how this spiritual sword and fiery invincible weapon of the name of Jesus, guarding the heart gates, should be turned on them, that is: how this Divine Jesus Prayer should be sacredly performed. mind in heart. About this sacred action of this sacred prayer, especially about its very beginnings, and about how beginners should learn it through experience, I am the last, according to the strength of my weak mind, with the help of God, to write at least something a little from the teachings of the holy fathers. And, firstly, it is necessary to express that this Divine prayer is a spiritual art; then - what kind of preparation is required to engage in it, according to the teachings of the holy fathers. Chapter 3. That this sacred mental prayer is spiritual art Let it be known that our Divine Fathers call this sacred mental practice of prayer art. Saint John Climacus in his 27th homily on silence, teaching about the sacrament of this mental prayer, says: “If you have thoroughly studied this art, then you cannot help but know what I am saying. Sitting on high, watch, if you only know how, and then you will see: how, when, and where, and how many, and what kind of thieves come to come in and steal your grapes. This guard, tired, gets up and prays; then he sits down again and courageously resumes his previous work.” Saint Hesychius, presbyter of Jerusalem, says about this sacred prayer: “Sobriety is a spiritual art, completely, with the help of God, freeing a person from passionate thoughts and words, and evil deeds” (chapter 1). Saint Nicephorus the Faster, teaching about it, says: “Come, and I will announce to you art, or better yet, science, eternal, or better yet, heavenly residence, leading its worker, without labor and safely, into the haven of fearlessness.” The holy fathers, as shown, call this holy prayer art, I think, because just as a person cannot learn art on his own without a skilled artist, so it is impossible to learn this mental practice of prayer, without a skillful mentor. But this matter, according to Saint Nicephorus, comes to many, or even to all, from teaching; the rare ones, without teaching, through the pain of doing and the warmth of faith, accepted it from God. The church rule according to the charter and sacred church books, which Orthodox Christians, lay and monks, must bring daily as tribute to the Heavenly King, can be read orally by anyone literate and performed without any teaching. And with the mind in the heart it is impossible to offer God the mysterious sacrifice of prayer, since this is a spiritual art without learning, as indicated above. Being a spiritual art, it also constitutes the constant work of monks; so that not only by renunciation of the world and those in the world, a change of name at tonsure, a peculiarity of clothing, celibacy, virginity, purity, spontaneous poverty, separateness of food and place of residence; but also with the most mental and spiritual attention and prayer in the inner man, the monks had excellent work that was superior to worldly people. Chapter 4. What kind of preparation is needed for someone who wants to undergo this Divine work? As much as this Divine prayer is greater than any other monastic feat, which, according to the holy fathers, is the pinnacle of all corrections, the source of virtues, the subtlest and invisible in the depths of the heart, the work of the mind: so the subtlest, invisible, barely comprehensible to the human mind, the networks of its manifold charms and dreams extend to it as an invisible enemy of our salvation. Therefore, he who is diligent in learning this Divine work must, according to Saint Simeon the New Theologian, surrender himself soul and body into obedience in accordance with the Holy Scriptures: that is, surrender himself to the complete cutting off of his will and his reasoning to a person who fears God, a zealous keeper of His Divine commandments and not inexperienced in this mental feat, who can, according to the writings of the Holy Fathers, show For those who obey, the unforgettable path to salvation is the path of mental prayer, secretly performed with the mind in the heart. This is necessary so that through true obedience in the mind he can become free from all rumors and cares and addictions of this world and body. How can someone who has entrusted all care for his soul and body to God and, according to God, to his father, not to be free? By humility, born from obedience, according to the testimony of St. John Climacus and many holy fathers, he will be able to avoid all the charms and snares of the devil and quietly, silently, without any harm, constantly exercise in this mental matter, with great spiritual success. If someone gave himself up to obedience, but did not find in his father by his very deed and experience a skillful mentor of this Divine mental prayer (at the present time - alas! worthy of much crying and sobbing - experienced mentors of this work completely disappear): then he should not therefore come to despair. But, remaining in true obedience according to the commandments of God (and not arbitrarily and especially, willfully, without obedience, which is usually followed by delusion), placing all hope in God, together with his father, let him, instead of a true mentor, obey with faith and love the teaching of the saints of our fathers, who expounded to the subtlety the doctrine of this Divine work from the enlightenment of Divine grace, and from here let him borrow instructions about this prayer. And, in any case, the grace of God, through the prayers of the holy fathers, will hasten and instruct - how, without any doubt, to learn this Divine work. Chapter 5. About what this sacred Jesus Prayer is in terms of its quality and action Having laid such a preliminary preparation, that is, blessed obedience, as the firm and unshakable foundation of this Divine prayer, it is now time to show from the teaching of the holy fathers what this sacred prayer is in terms of its quality and action. And this is so that anyone who wants to learn her spiritual work can see to what great and indescribable success she raises the ascetic in all sorts of virtues, and this would be encouraged in his desire to cleave to the sacred work of this mental prayer with great zeal and Divine zeal. Saint John Climacus in his Homily “On Prayer” says at the beginning: “Prayer, in its quality, is communication and union of man with God: and in action - the affirmation of peace, reconciliation with God, the mother and again the daughter of tears, the cleansing of sins, the bridge through temptation, the wall against sorrows, the destruction of wars, angelic work, the food of all bodiless, future joy, boundless work, the source of virtues, the reason talents, invisible prosperity, food for the soul, enlightenment of the mind, ax for despair, proof of hope, cessation of sorrow, wealth of monks, treasure of the silent, reduction of irritability, mirror of prosperity, indication of measure, detection of fortune, indication of the future, sign of glory. Prayer for the one who truly prays is the Judgment Seat, the Judgment and the Throne of the Lord, even before the future Judgment.” Saint Gregory of Sinai, in chapter 113, says: “Prayer in beginners is like the fire of joy emitted by the heart; in those who are perfect, it is like active, fragrant light.” Or again: “Prayer is the preaching of the apostles, an act of faith, or better yet, immediate faith, notification of those who hope, acting love, angelic movement, the power of the disembodied, their work and joy, the gospel of God, the notification of the heart, the hope of salvation, the sign of sanctification, the formation of holiness, the knowledge of God, the appearance of baptism, the cleansing of the font, the betrothal of the Holy Spirit, the joy of Jesus, the joy of the soul, the mercy of God, the sign of reconciliation, the seal of Christ, the ray of the mental sun, the day of hearts, the affirmation of Christianity, the appearance of reconciliation of God, the grace of God, the Wisdom of God, or better - the beginning of self-wisdom, the appearance of God, the work of monks, the residence of the silent, the cause of silence, the sign of the residence of angels.” Blessed Macarius the Great says: “The head of all good diligence and the summit of all corrections is to endure in prayer, which we can acquire through asking God and all other virtues. Through prayer we more worthily participate in the holiness of God and spiritual action, and the union of the mind with the Lord with ineffable love. He who always forces himself to endure in prayer is kindled with spiritual love into Divine zeal and a fiery desire for God, and accepts, to a certain extent, the grace of spiritual sanctifying perfection” (Conversation 40, Chapter 2). Saint Hesychius, presbyter of Jerusalem, says: “Light-bearing and lightning-giving, and light-emitting, and fiery-bearing, let the preservation of the mind be decently and by the same name. It surpasses, truly speaking, all the countless physical virtues. So, this virtue should be called by the most honest names because of the luminous light born from it. Having loved her, the sinful, the profane, the vile, the foolish, the foolish and the unrighteous can become righteous, wholesome, pure, holy and reasonable in Christ Jesus. And not only this, but also to contemplate the Divine sacraments and theology. And, having become visual, they swim to this purest and infinite Light, and touch It with ineffable touches, and live and abide with Him, since they have tasted that the Lord is good (Ps. 33:9), then this Divine Davidic word is clearly fulfilled in such first angels: both the righteous will confess to Your name, and the righteous will dwell with Your face (Ps. 139:14). Truly, these alone truly call and confess to God, and they always love to talk with Him, loving Him” (chapter 171). Saint Simeon, Archbishop of Thessalonites, says about this sacred prayer: “This Divine prayer, this invocation of our Savior: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me,” is both prayer and supplication, and confession of faith, and the giver of the Holy Spirit, and the giver of Divine gifts, and the purification of the heart, and the casting out of demons, and the indwelling of Jesus Christ, and the source of spiritual thoughts. and Divine thoughts, and deliverance from sins, and healing of souls and bodies, and the giver of Divine enlightenment, and the source of God’s mercy, and the giver of revelations of Divine mysteries to the humble, and salvation itself; because there is bearing the saving name of our God. This very thing is the naming of the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God upon us” (chapter 296). In exactly the same way, other God-bearing fathers, speaking about this sacred prayer, with their teachings filled with God’s wisdom, express its action, the ineffable benefits that come from it and the success through it in the Divine gifts of the Holy Spirit. Who, seeing that this most sacred prayer leads the ascetic to such a heavenly treasure of various virtues, will not be kindled by God’s zeal for the constant practice of prayer, so that through it he can constantly contain the All-Sweet Jesus in his soul and heart, constantly remembering within himself His most dear Name, and thereby become inflamed with His ineffable love? Is it only the one who, diligent with worldly thoughts, is bound by the chain of bodily cares, which lead many away and remove them from the Kingdom of God, which is within us. Isn’t he only going to be overzealous about touching on the mental doing of mental prayer, who by deed and experience has not tasted the spiritual throat of the ineffable Divine sweetness of this most useful work, and does not know how much this thing has hidden spiritual benefits within itself. And those who want to be united by love with the sweetest Jesus, having spat upon all the beauties of this world, all the pleasures and the most bodily peace, will want nothing else in this life but to constantly practice the heavenly practice of this prayer. Chapter 6. About how one should first learn to act with the mind in the heart of this Divine prayer In ancient times, this all-holy work of mental prayer shone forth in many places where the holy fathers stayed. That’s why there were many teachers of this spiritual work back then. For this reason, our holy fathers, speaking about it, expressed only the ineffable spiritual benefits that came from it, having, as I think, no need to write about the very experience of this work, which is befitting of beginners. If several have written about this, then this is only for those who know the experience of this doing - it is very clear; but for those who don’t know it is completely incomprehensible. Some of them, when they saw that the true and unpretentious teachers of this work began to completely diminish, and fearing that the true teaching about the beginning of this mental prayer would not be lost, wrote the very beginning and experience of how beginners should learn, and enter with their minds into the lands of the heart, and there truly and unpretentiously act prayer with their minds. It is these fathers who must present the most Divine teaching on this subject on Wednesday. Saint Simeon the New Theologian says about the beginning of this work: “True and unadulterated attention and prayer consists in the fact that during prayer the mind guards the heart and remains constantly inside it, and from there, that is, from the depths of the heart, sends prayers to God. And when the inside of the heart tastes that the Lord is good and delights, it will no longer come from the place of the heart. And together with the apostle he will say: it is good for us to be here (Matthew 17:4). And, constantly examining the places of the heart, he invents some way to drive away all the enemy thoughts that are there.” And below he speaks about this even more clearly: “As soon as the mind finds a place in the heart, it immediately sees something that it has never seen: it sees the air in the middle of the heart and itself, all bright and full of reasoning. And from then on, no matter where a thought appears, before it enters and is depicted, it immediately drives it away and destroys it by calling on Jesus Christ. Henceforth, the mind, having received the memory of malice towards demons, moves natural anger against them, drives out and overthrows mental adversaries. And you will learn other things with God’s help through mindfulness, holding Jesus in your heart” (A Homily on Three Types of Prayer). The Monk Nicephorus the Faster, teaching even more clearly about entering the heart with the mind, says: “First of all, let your life be silent, carefree and peaceful with everyone. Then, having entered your cage, shut yourself, and sitting down in some corner, do what I tell you. You know that the breath we breathe is this air; we exhale it with nothing other than the heart. It is the cause of life and warmth of the body. The heart attracts air in order to release its warmth through breathing and give itself coolness. The cause of this action, or better to say - the servant, is a lung, which, being created by the Creator - rare, like a pump, conveniently brings in and removes the surrounding environment, that is, air. Thus, the heart, attracting cold through the air and emitting warmth, continually performs the function for which it was designed to form life. You are together, and having collected your mind, force it to enter your heart along with your breath. When he enters there, what follows will no longer be gloomy or joyless.” And below: “Therefore, brother, train your mind not to leave there soon: because at first it gets very bored from the inner seclusion and cramped space.” When he gets used to it, he no longer tolerates wandering outside, because the Kingdom of Heaven is within us: when we consider it there and seek it with pure prayer, then everything external becomes vile and hateful. If, as has been said, you immediately enter with your mind the place of your heart that I showed you: then give thanks to God, and glorify, and leap, and stick to this doing constantly, and it will teach you what you do not know. You also need to know that the mind, while remaining there, should not stand silent or idle, but these words: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me!” have constant work and teaching, and never cease from this. This, keeping the mind low, keeps it elusive and impregnable to the enemy’s attacks and elevates it daily into love and desire of the Divine. If, after working hard, brother, you are not able to enter the lands of the heart, as we commanded you, then do what I tell you, and with the help of God you will find what you are looking for. You know that the literature of every person is in the Persians: here, inside the Persians, and with the silence of our lips, we speak and reason, and say prayers and psalms and so on. Having taken away every thought from this literature (you can do this if you want), let it say: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me,” and force this, instead of every other thought, to constantly cry out within. When you hold this for a while, then the heart’s entrance will be opened for you, as we wrote to you, without any doubt, as we ourselves have learned from experience. And the whole face of virtues will come to you, with much-desired and sweet attention: love, joy, peace and others.” The Divine Gregory of Sinai, also teaching how the most salvific invocation of the Lord should act in the heart with the mind, says: “Sitting in the morning on a seat of one quarter, bring the mind down from what is sovereign in the heart, and keep it in it. And bowing with difficulty, and feeling severe pain in the chest and shoulders and neck, constantly cry mentally or spiritually: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!” Then, if, perhaps, for the sake of crampedness and soreness and from frequent invocation, it becomes unsweetening for you (which does not happen because of the monotony of the food of the Triple Name, often poisonous, for those who eat Me, it is said, will still hunger - (Sir. 24:23): then changing your mind to the other half, saying: “Son of God, have mercy on me!” And repeatedly pronouncing this half, you should not, out of laziness, often change them: because trees, often transplanted, do not take root. Hold back the breath of your lungs, so that you do not breathe insolently; for the breath of spirits, coming from the heart, scatters the thought and darkens the mind and, returning it from there, either consigns it to oblivion as a captive, or forces it to learn from the other instead of one, and it turns out to be insensitive in what it should not. If you see the impurities of evil spirits, that is, thoughts arising or depicting in your mind, then do not be horrified: but if good understandings about certain things appear to you, do not listen to them: holding your breath as much as possible, and confining your mind in your heart, and constantly and often calling on the Lord Jesus, you will soon crush and destroy them, hurting them invisibly with the Divine name, as the Climacus says: “In the name of Jesus” beat the warriors, because there is no stronger weapon, neither in heaven nor on earth." And again the same saint, teaching about silence and prayer, how one should sit in it, says: “Sometimes one should sit on a chair for the sake of work; sometimes in bed a little before the time, for comfort. You must sit in patience, for the sake of those who said that you must endure in prayer (Luke 18:1), and not get up quickly, faint-hearted due to the difficulty of the illness and mental cries and frequent tension of the mind. This is what the prophet says: sickness has come upon me like a woman in labor (Jer. 8:21). So, bowing down and collecting your mind in your heart, if your heart has been opened to you, call on the Lord Jesus for help. If you have pain in your shoulders, often having headaches, endure it intensely and zealously, seeking in your heart the Lord: the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those in need, and the needy delights it (Matthew 11:12),” and so on. And also, as one should say a prayer, he says: “The fathers said this: another says: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me! - all: the other - half: Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me! - and this is more convenient, due to the weakness of the mind and infancy. No one can, of his own accord, without the Spirit, secretly call the Lord Jesus, purely and completely, precisely by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3): but, like a speechless baby, he cannot yet complete it with his members. Out of laziness, he should not often change the invocation of names; but rarely for retention. Again: some teach to pronounce it with the lips, others with the mind; and I admit both. Sometimes the mind becomes exhausted, bored with talking; sometimes - lips. Therefore, one must pray - both with the lips and with the mind; however, one must silently and unabashedly cry out so that the voice, confusing the feeling and attention of the mind, does not interfere, until the mind, having become accustomed to the task, succeeds and receives the strength from the Spirit to pray firmly and in every possible way. Then he no longer needs to speak with his lips, and even cannot, being able to do things completely with his mind.” And so the above-mentioned holy fathers, as shown, present a very clear teaching and experience of teaching smart doing for beginners. And from this teaching one can understand the teaching of other saints about this work, stated more secretly. To the most merciful God be glory, honor, worship and thanksgiving forever and ever. Amen. How can a layman be saved? I advise you to read more diligently the Divine Scripture and the teaching of our holy and God-bearing fathers, to whom it is given by the grace of the Most Holy Spirit to understand the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, that is, the true meaning of the Holy Scriptures; in their spiritually enlightened teaching you will find everything you need for salvation. And I, a sinner, in my feeble-mindedness, answer your question: God the Most Merciful makes our salvation through the Orthodox faith, good deeds and His grace. The Orthodox faith is that which is contained by the one holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of the East; Without this Orthodox faith, no one can be saved. Good deeds are the Gospel commandments, without the fulfillment of which, as without faith, it is also impossible for anyone to be saved. The Orthodox faith without good works is dead, and good works without faith are also dead. He who desires salvation must have both together: the Orthodox faith with good deeds, and good deeds with the Orthodox faith, and then, with the help of the grace of God promoting his good deeds, he will be saved according to the word of Christ, who said: “Without Me you cannot do wicked things.” And we should know that Christ the Savior, our True God, Who wants all man to be saved, has made good deeds into law, that is, His saving commandments of the Gospel, equally to all Orthodox Christians, both monks and laymen living with wives and children, and demands from all Orthodox Christians the most diligent fulfillment of them, because His holy commandments do not require great physical labor, but only the good will of the soul: “the yoke.” For” His holy commandments “are good and the burden” of doing them is “easy.” The holy commandments of Christ, with the help of God's grace, can easily be fulfilled by every Orthodox Christian, no matter what his rank, gender and age: old and young, healthy and sick, as long as his soul is disposed to do so. Therefore, those who transgress them and do not repent, at the Terrible Second Coming of Christ will be condemned along with demons to eternal torment. – The holy commandments of the Gospel, especially the most important ones, are so necessary for salvation that if a person lacks one, then there is no salvation of the soul. These are the commandments about love for God and neighbors, about meekness and humility, about peace with everyone and patience, about forgiving your neighbor’s offenses from the heart, not condemning anyone, not having hatred, loving enemies, doing alms, both spiritual and physical, to the best of your ability, and forcing yourself with all zeal to fulfill all the other commandments of Christ written in the Holy Gospel. And most of all, love God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your thoughts, and your neighbor as yourself, and, imitating the meekness of Christ, fight against the passion of anger until you bleed. And living in peace with everyone is so necessary that the Lord considered it necessary to repeat more than once to His holy disciples and apostles: “Peace be with you; I leave peace with you; My peace I give to you.” And where the peace of Christ is, there is Christ Himself; and if there is no peace in the soul, then Christ is not there. And patience is necessary for salvation. Christ says: “In your patience ye will gain your souls”; one must endure not until a certain time, but until death: “having endured to the end, he will be saved.” Whoever forgives his neighbor for his sins with all his heart, God forgives his sins. He who does not condemn his neighbor will not himself be condemned by God. And all the other commandments of the Gospel, whoever desires salvation, must observe them like the apple of his eye. Humility, which is the basis of all the commandments of the Gospel, is as necessary for salvation as breathing is for life: just as one cannot live without breathing, so without humility it is impossible to be saved. The saints of God were saved in various ways, but without humility none of them were saved, and this is impossible. Therefore, whoever wants to be saved must, with all his heart, consider himself before God a sinner, the most sinful of people, worse than any creation of God, count himself for dust and ashes, and in the secret of his heart reproach himself for everything, and blame only himself alone for every sin. By thus fulfilling all the commandments of the Gospel in humility of heart, often praying to God with contrition of heart for the forgiveness of his sins, a person is honored with the mercy of God and the forgiveness of sins, and the grace of God visits him, and he is saved by the grace of God undoubtedly. – In addition, an Orthodox Christian must also observe the church commandments set out in the book “Orthodox Confession.” They are also necessary for salvation. – The sacrament of repentance consists in repenting before God of your sins, throwing them away and making a firm intention, with God’s help, not to return to them. Then, before your spiritual father, as before God Himself, confess all your sins and receive permission from him for them. One must prepare oneself for Communion of the Divine Mysteries by fasting, tenderness, sincere confession of sins, perfect reconciliation with everyone, listening at the appointed time according to Christian custom to the entire rule of the church, and approach Holy Communion with fear and trembling, with faith and love, with worship befitting the only God. On how to behave in the family, as well as on other Christian duties, the most complete instruction can be found in the inspired writings of St. John Chrysostom and other holy men, reading their books with the fear of God and due attention. Kriny villages or beautiful flowers, collected briefly from the Divine Scriptures In the library of the Russian St. Elias monastery on Athos there is a manuscript written in the semi-Slavic dialect (similar to the dialect of the Chety-Minea of ​​St. Demetrius of Rostov), ​​in Church Slavonic letters. The following oral information has been preserved about this manuscript. In the twenties of the last century, a young novice of one of the Russian monasteries (a peasant from the Oryol province) moved to the German monastery in Moldova, which was then famous for the high spiritual life of its monks and the ascetic writings of its abbot, the famous elder Paisius (Velichkovsky), who died there in 1794. This novice, having taken monastic vows at his new place of residence with the name Sophronius, stayed for a long time in the monastery, in which he found many disciples of the great Elder Paisius, including the monk the eloquent writer Plato, who was copying his works and translations from Greek during the life of Elder Paisius. The artist Plato, in favor of the monk Sophronius for his skillful singing on the choir, presented him with the manuscript copied in his own hand and at the same time stated that the 45 ascetic words contained in it, imbued with a strictly patristic ascetic spirit, were compiled by Elder Paisius. In 1836, the monk Sofroniy, leaving the Moldavian German Monastery, entered the St. Elias Monastery on Mount Athos, founded by Elder Paisius Velichkovsky during his residence on the Holy Mountain. In this monastery, the monk Sophrony died in 1867, at the age of 72, leaving in this monastery the aforementioned manuscript, about which he informed many of the monastery’s brethren as explained above. In terms of the content of thoughts, imbued with a strict patristic spirit, and in terms of the nature of the presentation, distinguished by simplicity and extremely convincingness, the manuscript is very reminiscent of the well-known in print works of Elder Paisius, a zealot in word and deed of the inner spiritual monastic life, which serves as confirmation of the reliability of the aforementioned bibliographical oral reports about it. But it is impossible to affirmatively whether the manuscript belongs to the independent works of Father Paisius or to translations, or even to a simple extract from the patristic writings, for he was engaged in all this, and all this can be seen in the manuscript, which, translated into Russian, is published by the St. Elias Skete for the spiritual benefit of all monastics, especially those who are zealous for a solitary ascetic life; and some words in it are very useful for secular people. Word 1. Brief summary of thoughts conducive to repentance Remember, my soul, the terrible and terrible miracle that your Creator became a man for your sake and deigned to suffer for your salvation. His Angels tremble, the Cherubim are horrified, the Seraphim are afraid and all the heavenly ones constantly praise, but you, unfortunate soul, remain in laziness; although from now on, arise and do not put off, my dear soul, holy repentance, heartfelt contrition and satisfaction (penance) for your sins. By putting it off year after year, month after month, day after day, you will not at all want to repent from your heart and you will not find anyone who has compassion for yourself; Oh, with what torment you will begin to repent, but without success. Having the opportunity today to do some good, do not put off, my dear soul, until tomorrow your holy repentance, because you do not know what today will give rise to or what misfortune will happen to you this night; for you don’t know what day or night will bring you: will you have a long life ahead of you, or will you suddenly and unexpectedly receive a disastrous and quick death? Now, my dear soul, is the time of patience; now is the time to endure sorrow; now is the time to keep the commandments and fulfill virtues; Now is the time of crying, sweet and tearful sobbing. If you truly want to be saved, my soul, love sorrow and groaning, as before you loved peace; live as if dying daily; soon your life will pass like an ordinary shadow before the sun and you will remain without a trace; the days of our life seem to flow into the air; do not yield even in the face of the heaviest sorrow. In relation to people, not to mention unreasonable, but also in reasonable grief, do not indulge in sadness, do not be embarrassed, do not run away; but consider yourself as dust under their feet. Without this you cannot be saved and avoid eternal torment. For soon our life ends, as one day passes. If a person does not crush himself piously through virtues or does not sacrifice his life to fulfill the commandments of God and the traditions of his fathers, he cannot be saved. So, my dear soul, remember all the holy prophets, apostles, martyrs, saints, saints and saints, holy fools and all who have pleased God from the ages. Where did you find saints who did not subjugate the flesh to the spirit, or who did not suffer severe disasters and cruel tribulations? They accepted the darkness of troubles, endured hunger and thirst, performing vigil and prayer day and night, had humility and contrition of heart, childish kindness and all kinds of mercy, helped others in every sorrow and need, did various alms and alms according to the strength of their ability; what they did not want for themselves and what they hated, they did not do either of them, with obedience, like bought slaves, working not as a person, but as God, with wise simplicity - being not wise, not knowing anything, but only heeding their salvation. Oh man! death awaits you; If you strive, you will be honored with eternal life in the next century. Virtue is acquired by forcing oneself in every way. Therefore, if you want to conquer passions, then cut off sweets; if you chase food, you will spend your life in passions; the soul will not humble itself if the flesh is not deprived of bread; it is impossible to save the soul from destruction by protecting your body from trouble. Let us therefore turn to the first; if you want, my soul, to be saved, to go through that sorrowful path previously indicated, to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, to receive eternal life, then refine your flesh, taste free bitterness, suffer heavy sorrows, as all the saints have tasted and suffered. When a person prepares and makes a covenant to endure for God’s sake all the sorrows that come upon him, then sorrows and all troubles and attacks from demons and people seem easy and painless for him; he is not afraid of death, and nothing can separate him from the love of Christ. Have you heard, my dear soul, about how the holy fathers spent their lives! Ah, my soul! Although imitate them a little: didn’t they have tears? Oh, woe, my soul! Weren't they sad, thin and emaciated in body? Oh, woe, my soul! Didn’t they have physical illnesses, great wounds and mental lamentation with tears? Oh, woe, my soul! Were they surrounded by the same weak body as we are? Oh, woe, my soul! Didn’t they have wishes for the beautiful, sweet and light in this world and all bodily peace? Yes, they did; and their bodies truly ached; but they changed wishes for patience and sorrow for future joy. They cut everything off once and for all, considered themselves dead, and mercilessly tormented themselves in spiritual feats. You see, my soul, how the holy fathers worked, having no rest in all suffering, subjugated the flesh to the spirit, fulfilled all the other commandments of God and were saved. But you, pathetic one, do not want to force yourself at all, from small labors you become exhausted, despondent, and in no way remember the hour of death and do not cry about your sin; but my unfortunate soul is accustomed to overeating, getting drunk and being lazy; Don’t you know that you volunteered to suffer? And you don’t tolerate it at all; how do you want to be saved? At least from now on, arise, my dear soul, do what I tell you. If you cannot work like the holy fathers, then at least begin according to your strength; serve everyone with humility and simplicity of heart; contemplating your weakness and condemning yourself, say: woe to you, my accursed soul, woe to you, stingy; woe to you, all-nasty, lazy, careless, sleepy, cruel; woe to you who perished. So, little by little she will be touched, shed a tear, come to her senses and repent. Word 2. The fight against despondency, laziness and relaxation When it happens, then occupy your mind with thinking about death. Come mentally to the coffin, look at the four-day-old corpse there: how it turns black, swells, emits an unbearable stench, is devoured by worms, losing its appearance and beauty. Look elsewhere: here lie in the grave the bones of young and old, handsome and ugly, who was fasting, abstinent and ascetic or negligent, and whether it benefited the rich that they rested and enjoyed in this world. Remember the endless torment that the sacred books speak about: the fire of Gehenna, pitch darkness, the gnashing of teeth, the tartar of the underworld, the never-ending worm, and imagine how sinners cry out there with bitter tears, and no one delivers them, they weep, mourn themselves, and no one will take pity on them; they sigh from the depths of their hearts, and no one has compassion for them; they beg for help, complain about their sorrows, and no one listens to them. Think how every creature invariably serves the Lord, its Creator, in its time. Think about the glorious miracles of God from the beginning of the century performed on His servants, and especially about how the Lord, having humbled himself and suffered for our salvation, benefited and sanctified the human race, and for all this give thanks to God, the lover of mankind. Remember the endless future life and the Kingdom of Heaven, peace and unspeakable joy. Keep and do not abandon the Jesus Prayer. If you remember and reflect on all this, if you do all this, then despondency, laziness and relaxation will disappear, and your soul, as if from the dead, will be quickened by the grace of Christ. Word 3. Touching teaching, cutting off all human exaltation and pride and turning the soul into sources of tears If you are looking for such tenderness, then it is very sweet and spiritually beneficial to listen to the following teaching about the outcome of your soul. Now you, man, delight in beauty, beauty, glory, and spend your life in vain decoration, hoping to spend it hour after hour, day after day, month after month, year after year. Oh man! Your age is coming to an end, life is passing, time is passing little by little, the Terrible Throne of the Lord is preparing, the righteous Judge is approaching! Oh man! The court is at the door; expect a terrible answer! The fiery river, agitated, makes noise with crashing sounds and strong sparks!... Terrible torments are raging, awaiting the torment of sinners! Oh man! Work, try, strive; before death the messenger does not come! The reward of the saints is coming, the crowns of the righteous are being prepared; For those who work and endure sorrow, the Kingdom of Heaven is opened, endless peace awaits and unspeakable joy is prepared. The eye has not seen, the ear has not heard, and the heart of man has not entered into what God has prepared for those who love Him. Oh man! Have you heard of torment? Why don’t you tremble and be horrified?... Oh, man! Have you heard of endless joy? Why are you not striving, why are you wasting your life’s time in rumors and vanity? After another time you won’t find it, even if you search with tears. Oh man! If you live a hundred or a thousand years in this world in all food and pleasure, being nourished like a calf and preening like a fox; when the terrible death comes, our life will appear in one day, and all satiety and adornment will disappear without a trace, like the flower of grass that soon falls away. Oh man! It’s like one day of your birth and your age and old age, and after this the sudden unexpected end of your life. Oh man! Remember where your grandfathers and great-grandfathers are, where your father and mother and brothers are; where are your relatives and beloved friends? Hasn’t everyone departed from this life; didn’t they also want to live in this world – to enjoy, adorn themselves and have fun in their well-being? But against their will, they were kidnapped. Remember that you are the earth, you feed from the earth and you will go back to the earth: the flesh will collapse and decay, eaten by worms, and the bones will crumble like dust. Remember the eternal days and the summers of past births. How many kings and princes there were in every pleasure and adornment! What helped them as they departed from this temporary life, where is pleasure and decoration? Now they are earth and ashes! How many strong, rich, brave young men there were in this world, blooming with youth and beauty; How did the mighty force, the pleasant youth blooming with beauty, help and assist them? It was as if nothing had happened! There were thousands of thousands and darkness, or like the sand of the sea, of all kinds of people, and they all departed from this life. Some of them could not even give any answer in the hour of death, but unexpectedly, standing or sitting, they were abducted by death; some, having eaten and drunk, gave up the ghost; others died suddenly along the way; others, lying down on their beds, thinking of calming their bodies with a small, temporary sleep, and in this position fell asleep in eternal sleep; some in the last hour suffered great tortures, terrible, formidable intimidations, the very idea of ​​which can frighten us a lot. And others are different and there are sudden deaths! Oh, oh! Woe, woe! It is terrible and scary for everyone when the soul is forcibly separated from the body: the soul departs crying, and the body is consigned to the earth; then the hope for vain things, the beauty, glory and pleasure of earthly things turn into nothing. Oh, oh! Woe, woe! Great crying and weeping, great sighing and illness—separation of the soul. Oh! Woe, woe! This path that we walk with the body is short; smoke, steam, finger, ashes, dust, stench of this life; as smoke disperses in the air, as the flower of grass quickly falls away and withers, as a horse quickly runs, as water flows quickly, and as fog rises from the surface of the earth, and as the morning dew disappears, or as a bird flies by, so the life of this age passes; or as the wind passes, so time passes and passes by and the days of our life end. It is better to endure and love fierce and cruel sorrows in this world than a thousand years of joy and peace against one future day. For the path of earthly life is not long; appears for a short time and soon passes away. Truly all that is sweet, beautiful and glorious in this world is vanity and corruption; for like a changeable shadow everything passes, and like a dream it abides in this world; there is someone now; goes away a little later; today with us, and in the morning he is given over to the grave. Oh, oh! Woe, woe! It is truly in vain that every earthly being worries. Everything will change, we will all die: kings and princes, judges and strongmen, rich and poor and all human nature: today another person rejoices with us, has fun and shows off, and in the morning we cry, lament and weep for him. Oh man! Come to the tomb, look at the dead man lying there: not glorious, not visible, not beautiful; how it swells and emits a stench; the flesh rots and decays and is eaten by worms, the bones are exposed and the whole composition crumbles. Oh, oh! Woe, woe! Sinful soul, terrible vision! Woe, woe! Enriched with spiritual and physical feelings, wisely created, you have no splendor, no appearance, no beauty at all! Where has your physical beauty and beautiful youth gone? Where is the smiling face, where are the beautiful and bright eyes? Where is the Aristotelian (oratorical) eloquent language? Where is the breath, the sweet, thin and gentle voice? Where is the eloquence of wisdom, the stately walk, dreams and desires, and vain care? All this was lost and eaten by worms: some of them come out of the mouth and nostrils, others from the eyes and ears; others from the passage, and everything was filled with ugliness and vileness. Oh, oh! Woe, woe! Looking at the ashes lying in the tomb, let us say to ourselves: who is the king and the nobleman, or the beggar? Who is the lord or the unfree? Who is nice and not nice? Who is wise or foolish? Where is the beauty and pleasure of this world? Where is the strength and wisdom of this age? Where are the dreams and short-term delights? Where is the perishable and vain wealth? Where are the silver and gold jewelry? Where are the many upcoming slaves? Where is all the care of this vain world? But none of this is there anymore; a person is deprived of all this. Oh, oh! Woe, woe! It is truly in vain that every earthly being worries! “I look at you in the coffin and am horrified by your appearance; I look at you and tremble and shed tears from my heart. Oh, oh! Death is cruel and merciless! Who can escape you? You reap the human race like unripe wheat. So, brethren, realizing the brevity of our life and the vanity of this age, let us take care of the hour of death, leaving behind the rumors of this world and the unhelpful cares of life; for after death neither wealth, nor glory, nor pleasure will remain with us, and none of these will go with us to the grave, only good deeds will go and protect us and remain with us; We were born naked, naked again we go away. So, hearing this, we must not only sit silently in our cells, hold our tongues, worry about our souls and cry in prayer for our sins, but we must also hide underground, weep there alive for our sins and live, dying for God’s sake as a feat. Knowing our imminent departure, we will exhaust our corruptible body before death, because even after death it must remain corruptible until the Lord God raises us from the dead on the last day and gives us immortal life and an endless kingdom forever. Amen. Word 4. About the grace of God Question: Why can anyone know whether he has achieved perfect grace or not? Answer: Where grace is the source of life, there good deeds flow from the heart; when the Holy Spirit visits, then all work becomes easier, and unceasing prayer comes from the heart, and the eyes constantly shed tears, and all spiritual enlightenment occurs with this and pure, sober reasoning, for the Holy Spirit then acts inside a person. And whoever gives himself over to passions, his passions multiply; then through them the evil spirit takes possession of a person, then all darkness, gloom, and burden arise in his soul. The question is who is holy (i.e., has the specified properties of perfect grace)? Answer: the one who immaculately preserved and kept the commandments, who conquered passions and renounced all pleasure. Who gave up pleasure? One who has completely rejected self-love in all forms of his will; who hated himself in this short century for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven and endless life; who has acquired unshakable faith, firm and undoubted hope in God in all his sorrows and needs; such a one is truly holy and passionless. Word 5. About mental and physical feelings, about virtues and which virtue is born from which. On the major and initial virtues. If someone fulfills these virtues, everyone else will obey him. During the creation of man, God’s love for the human race was manifested inexpressibly and innumerably: for God gave man spiritual and physical feelings. Mental feelings or forces are: mind, meaning (reason), word, dreaming (imagination), feeling of the heart. The bodily senses are as follows: sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch. Through both of them we perform spiritual and physical virtues. It pleased Christ our God that books should be written, so that through them man might reason and learn the fear of God—the beginning of spiritual wisdom. The fear of God gives birth to faith; faith - hope; hope - love for God and people; love - patience and many other virtues; patience - obedience and every virtue; obedience is trust; hope - fasting; fasting – purity and silence; silence gives birth to abstinence, prayer, tears, vigil, crying, vigor, sobriety and many other things, and cuts off all evil tongues; crying gives birth to all non-covetousness; non-covetousness gives birth to truth and cuts off all dispute; prayer gives rise to reasoning, sobriety of mind, tears, joy, humility of heart, meekness; humility gives rise to humility and solitude; Humility cuts off pride and vanity and grows spiritual fruit. These virtues destroy all mental and physical passions, and little by little grace increases. These virtues are necessary for those who are healthy in body and possessed by carnal passions. The first virtue is faith, for by faith even mountains are overthrown and you will receive everything you want, said the Lord. Everyone is confirmed by his faith in all glorious and wondrous deeds. From our will, faith either decreases or increases. The second virtue is unfeigned love for God and people. Love embraces and binds together all virtues. By love alone the whole law is fulfilled and a life pleasing to God is accomplished. Love consists in laying down your life for your friend and what you don’t want for yourself, don’t do to another. For the sake of love, the Son of God became man. He who abides in love abides in God; where there is love, there is God. The third virtue is fasting. I call fasting eating a little one day during the day, while still being greedy, getting up from the meal; food to have bread and salt, and drink to have water, which the springs themselves supply. This is the royal way of eating, that is, many were saved this way, as the holy fathers said. A person cannot always abstain from food for a day, two, three, four, five and a week, but he can always do so in order to eat bread and drink water every day. Only after eating, one must be a little greedy, so that the body is submissive to the spirit, and capable of work, and sensitive to mental movements, and bodily passions are conquered; fasting cannot mortify bodily passions as much as meager food mortifies. Some people fast in the meantime and then indulge in sweet foods; for many begin fasting beyond their strength and other severe feats, and then weaken from immoderation and unevenness, and seek sweet foods and rest to strengthen the body. To do this is the same as creating, and then destroying again, since the body, through poverty from fasting, is forced to desire sweets and seeks consolation, and sweets kindle passions. If anyone sets a certain limit for himself, how much meager food to take per day, he receives great benefit. However, regarding the amount of food, it must be established how much is needed to strengthen strength; such a one can accomplish every spiritual work. If someone fasts more than that, then at another time he indulges in peace. Moderate feat has no price. For some great fathers took food in moderation and had moderation in everything - in exploits, in bodily needs and in cell supplies, and they used everything in due time and every thing according to a certain moderate rule. Therefore, the Holy Fathers do not command one to begin to fast beyond one’s strength and to weaken oneself. Make it a rule to eat every day, this way you can more firmly abstain; If someone fasts more, how can he then resist satiety and gluttony? No way. Such an immoderate undertaking arises either from vanity or from recklessness; whereas abstinence is one of the virtues that contributes to the curbing of the flesh; hunger and thirst are given to man to cleanse the body, to preserve him from bad thoughts and lust; Eating sparingly every day is a means to perfection, as some say; and the one who eats every day at a certain hour will not humiliate himself morally and will not suffer spiritual harm; Saint Theodore of Studite praises these in his Teaching on the heel of the first week of Great Lent, where he cites the words of the holy God-bearing fathers and the Lord Himself as confirmation. This is what we should do. The Lord endured a long fast; equally Moses and Elijah, but one day. And some others, sometimes, asking something from the Creator, imposed on themselves some burden of fasting, but in accordance with natural laws and the teaching of divine Scripture. From the activities of the saints, from the life of our Savior and from the rules of life for those living decently, it is clear that it is wonderful and useful to always be ready and to be in feat, work and patience; however, do not weaken yourself by excessive fasting and do not spend your body inactive. If the flesh is inflamed in youth, then much must be abstained; if she is weak, then you need to eat enough to be full, regardless of other ascetics - whether many or few people fast; look and reason according to your weakness, as much as you can accommodate: for each there is a measure and an inner teacher - his own conscience. We cannot all have one rule and one feat; because some are strong, others are weak; some are like iron, others are like copper, others are like wax. So, having well known your measure, take food once every day, except Saturdays, weeks and sovereign holidays. Moderate and reasonable fasting is the foundation and head of all virtues. Just as you fight a lion and a fierce serpent, so you must fight the enemy in bodily weakness and spiritual poverty. If anyone wants to have a strong mind from evil thoughts, let him refine his flesh by fasting. It is impossible to serve as a priest without fasting; Just as breathing is necessary, so is fasting. Fasting, entering the soul, kills the sin lying in its depths. The fourth virtue, temperance, is the mother and union of all virtues. If you control your belly, you will enter heaven, for abstinence is the murder of sin, removal from passions, the beginning of spiritual life and the intercessor of eternal blessings. On the contrary, satiety deprives a person of spiritual talent, because the satiety of the belly makes him sleepy and arouses bad thoughts in him, and he cannot keep a vigil, nor read, nor engage in handicrafts, nor perform any other good deed. Easily, beautifully, soberly and thirst-quenching for nourishment, bread and warm water. Without warm water, a fasting person's stomach dries up and it becomes difficult to defecate; and bread or crackers steamed in boiled water, or oatmeal, or jelly, are quickly digested; the latter is a particularly suitable food during a holiday or supper. The four orders of eating food are: fasting, abstinence, contentment and satiety. If anyone holds his womb, he will not lose his heavenly stay; whoever does not resist is the prey of death, is deprived of all virtues and is reproached. The fifth virtue is vigilance. With reasoning in moderation, novice monks should stay awake half the night and sleep half the night until the morning, that is, stay awake for six hours and sleep for six or five hours. The average measure is four or three hours to sleep and eight to stay awake. For the perfect, sleep for one hour, and the rest - all-night standing and attentive wakefulness. During the day, everyone should sleep for one hour. Vigil with reasoning clears the mind from the scattering of thoughts, makes it light and introduces it to prayer. Just as sensual eyes enlighten the body and illuminate all its members, so vigilant attention and wakefulness enlightens the soul with spiritual vision, for it reminds a person of the ineffable blessings that the Lord has prepared for those who love Him, and shows the eternal torment prepared for sinners; and a waking person is always amazed at the Creator, how day and night change, how the sun, moon and stars shine; how frost, snow, heat, thunder, rain are replaced, reminds a person of the transitory life of this age, of the end of death and draws from him abundant tears and, like a watchman in a high place, clearly illuminates to the spiritual eye the state of a person, how he lives - rightly or wrongly. Regular vigil gladdens the heart. Word 11. About the Jesus Prayer The sixth virtue is the Jesus Prayer. This is a common thing between people and angels; With this prayer people quickly approach angelic life. Prayer is the source of every good deed and virtue and drives away the darkness of passions from a person. Acquire it, and before death your soul will be equal to the angels. Prayer is divine joy. This is the only precious sword; There is no other weapon that can cut down demons more than this; it scorches them as fire scorches thorns. This prayer, like fire, kindles the whole person and brings him inexpressible joy and joy, so that with joy he forgets about this life and considers everything in this century to be rubbish and ashes. Word 12. About humility and humbleness of mind The seventh virtue is humility and humbleness of mind. Heartfelt humility easily saves an old, sick, wretched, poor and uneducated person; for his sake all sins are forgiven; it raises a person from the very abyss of sin. Through humility, all enemy networks and plans are destroyed, and it takes root in spiritual life and protects from falling. Word 13. About silence and silence The eighth virtue is silence, that is, removal from all worldly cares and confusion, or unrequited silence among crowds. He who bridles and restrains his tongue and his whole body will restrain himself. He who has a temperate tongue will avoid all evil that comes from him. Language is an uncontrollable evil; many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not as much as by their tongue, for the tongue is a two-edged sword, invisibly piercing the soul and body of those who talk idle in idle gatherings. O tongue, the enemy of my righteousness! O tongue, my destroyer and my satanic spirit! For with much labor man builds a spiritual building (salvation), and you, tongue, in a word, in one hour destroy and destroy it. A wise man leads in silence. Word 14. About non-covetousness The ninth virtue is non-covetousness of things and extreme poverty. A non-covetous monk, like a pompous eagle, remains elusive and invulnerable by any vain net of this age. We run, we run from the love of money and other things, as from a roaring lion, for it transforms a person’s meekness and humility into unmerciful anger and rancor and turns him into a fierce beast. The tenth virtue is reasoning, prudent in every matter; because recklessness and goodness lead to evil and therefore are not good. Without these ten virtues mentioned above, it is impossible to be saved. The holy fathers explained them in various extensive conversations; Here they are briefly discussed. Three of these virtues: first, fasting, that is, reasonable and unchanging abstinence; secondly, constant exercise in teaching the divine Scriptures with judicious vigil, that is, according to the conscience, strength and vigor of everyone; and thirdly, the Jesus Prayer is reasonable, that is, with the attention of the mind to the words of the prayer and the inner preservation of the heart - these virtues, the most fundamental, must be fulfilled rationally - before the face and for the sake of God, without any hypocrisy, man-pleasing and vanity; otherwise, the one who fulfills them is no different from the one who does not. It is better to abandon that virtue through which we arbitrarily become arrogant - the reward is given not so much for work, but for the sake of humility. It is better to be sinning and repentant than to be corrected and ascending. May the Lord God instruct and confirm us to do His will and sacred commandments and virtues, to Him be glory now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. Word 16. About passions and destructive vices and about which ones are born from which Before any fall, demons induce the following passions on a person: gloomy oblivion, cruel anger, that is, inhuman and brutal anger and ignorance, like hopeless darkness. These three passions precede all sin. For a person will not commit a single sin before he is first disposed to all evil, either by oblivion or anger or ignorance. From them comes spiritual insensibility, that is, the mind, the spiritual eye, becomes dark and is then captivated by all passions. First of all, lack of faith is born. Lack of faith gives rise to self-love - the beginning and end, the root and ancestor of all evil, it is senseless love for one’s body, when everywhere and in all things someone chooses for himself only what is useful. This evil root of passions is eradicated by love and mercy and renunciation of self-will. Self-love gives rise to unmercifulness and love of money - an unsatisfied womb, which is also the root and cause of all evil. From these two - pride and love of money - every misfortune and cruel crime occurs in every place. Both in the laity and in the monk, the love of money gives rise to pride, through which demons fell from holy glory and were cast out of heaven. Pride gives rise to the love of glory, with which Adam was seduced, wanting to be God and not being, and thus brought suffering and an oath to the entire human race. The love of glory gives rise to voluptuousness, through which Adam fell and was expelled from paradise. Lust gives rise to gluttony and various fornication. Fornication gives rise to anger, which extinguishes the warmth of the heart and is detrimental to all virtue. Anger gives rise to memory malice - cooling of spiritual warmth. Memory malice gives rise to gloomy and malicious blasphemy against one’s brother. Hula gives rise to untimely sadness, like rust consuming a person. Sadness breeds insane arrogance. Impudence gives rise to vanity, which flaunts virtues and through this leaves labors without reward. Vanity gives rise to intemperate eloquence. Polyphony gives rise to idle talk and captivity. Dejection gives rise to a dark dream. If someone conquers these passions, then others will submit to him - such as: insurance, horror, envy, hatred, hypocrisy, flattery, grumbling, unbelief, covetousness, addiction, love of things, cowardice, acute bile, conceit, lust, man-pleasing, insolence, laughter, complete fall, an inexpressible ditch and destruction through despair, in what state a person is in himself slays, not knowing God’s love for mankind and mercy, that He came to save sinners, and that there is no sin on earth that cannot be forgiven. Of the seven following passions - self-love, love of money, pride and vanity, rancor, condemnation, conceit - despair is the end of all passions. From these passions, if anyone does not protect himself and does not reject them, he will destroy the ten virtues mentioned above: faith, love, fasting, abstinence, vigil, prayer, humility with humility, silence with silence, non-covetousness and reasoning, and together will damage all other virtues. If anyone has even one of these main passions, he will not succeed at all, even if he strives against other passions, performs any virtue, and even sheds his blood for Christ; and the prayer of such a person is unpleasant to God. May the Lord God deliver us by His grace from all adversity and passions forever. Amen. Word 17. About bodily passions. Why do they occur and how are they overcome? Bodily lust in a person comes either from warm dissolution, or from eating a lot and immeasurable sleep, or from the action of Satan, or from judging others and one’s vanity, bodily beauty, or from idle conversations, panache and failure to guard the eyes. If lustful thoughts and dreaming come at night, sleepy or during the day, or carnal lust, then nothing can get rid of it except by fasting, abstinence and prayer with tears during the all-night vigil. When someone knows the mental and physical strength of exhaustion, he will soon receive peace from passions. Word 18. About always being attentive Every evening we should test ourselves how our day went, and every morning we should again test how the night went. And not only at a certain time, but at all times, in every place and about every thing, we must give ourselves an account and reason about the virtues and passions, in what state of life we ​​are in - at the beginning, in the middle or at the end; Do we work and perform virtues worthy of reward, or do we just work and not receive rewards? When we sin in any way, we will make up for the lack of virtue with tears and crying. We do not reach perfection and are poor in grace because we do not know what the beginning, middle and perfection of virtues are, what causes the impoverishment of virtue, and that with every virtue the vice of vanity is mixed in, which counteracts it. Without knowing this, we work in vain. Although virtues are called mental, the body suffers and is strengthened in all of them. Passions are different: some are called spiritual, and because they are loved or enjoyed by the soul alone, in addition to the body; others are bodily, because in them only the body luxuriates and becomes fat, that is, in both of them the soul and body do not sympathize with each other in anything. Word 19. A short speech about all mental and physical passions First of all, the royal house must be cleansed of all uncleanness and decorated with all beauty, and then the king can enter it. In the same way, one must first of all cleanse the soil of the heart and eradicate the thorns of sin - passionate deeds and soften it with sorrows and hardships, sow the seed of virtues on it, water it with lamentations and tears; and then the fruit of dispassion and eternal life will grow. For the Holy Spirit will not move in until a person is cleansed of mental and physical passions. Only one thing can dwell inside a person: either the Holy Spirit or the passions; where the Holy Spirit is, the passions do not approach, and where the passions are, the Holy Spirit does not dwell there, but the evil one. First of all, one must drive away from oneself self-love in all forms, desires for the objects of this world and destroy oneself in all types of repentance - in thought, in deed, in word, in food, clothing, in the home environment and internal things, in everything one must humble oneself and condemn; choose the worst for yourself in everything, and thus the passions of the soul will be silent. Humility never falls, because it lies below everyone. It is also necessary to pacify your flesh, depressing it with exploits of virtues and sorrows without peace, and bodily passions will be silent. You must also restrain your tongue, as the source of all evil and the destroyer of good, in this way all mental and physical passions will cease to act and will be pacified; the person will be dispassionate and begin to acquire eternal life; the enemy will be defeated, for he will be powerless and all his weapons and intrigues will fail. Dispassion consists not only in avoiding sinful, partial deeds, but in not having the desire for them. He is dispassionate who has overcome addiction in all circumstances, compelling or seducing, and, having become above all passions, is not indignant for any thing of this world, is not afraid of sorrows, troubles and misfortunes, is not afraid of even death itself, considering this a guarantee of eternal life. He is dispassionate who, suffering from demons and from evil people, does not pay attention to it and does not consider it evil; as if someone else is suffering; glorified he is not exalted and insulted he is not angry; but like a child who is punished, she cries and when she is consoled, she rejoices. Dispassion is not one virtue, but a collective name for all of them. Then a person is revived by the Holy Spirit; because without Him the entire spiritual body, the composition of virtues, is not strong. Until the Holy Spirit indwells a person, after being cleansed from passions, he cannot be called dispassionate, for until then he suffers in every place. When the Holy Spirit descends on a person, then He will ease all his burdens and sorrows and abide in everything without difficulty. Glory to our God forever. Amen. Word 21. About purity of heart and soul Through a difficult life, through our spiritual struggles, we enter into cardiac, mental and spiritual purity, for from sorrows, difficult spiritual and physical virtues: greed, thirst, vigil and others, the heart is cleansed... From bad passionate lusts, bodily passions are born, that is, fornication. Purity of heart and fasting with prayer cleanse the mind from bad thoughts and dreams. Through purity of mind the soul is freed from its passions and enlightened; from spiritual purity comes intelligent vision. Without heartfelt, mental and spiritual purity, that is, dispassion, demons dare to enter us, disturb us and show delusion instead of truth. For only with a pure heart, soul and mind can the Intelligent Sun be contemplated. One must be especially diligent in fasting and unceasing prayer, so that it descends into the depths of the heart and cleanses it of mental and physical passions and, delighting, softening, amusing and driving away bad thoughts and dreams of the mind, enlightens the soul. When a person’s heart, mind, soul and body are thus cleansed, then grace will infuse him; The entrance of the demon and passions is closed, and he begins to feel spiritual sweetness. Until a person’s natural movements in the body weaken, so that they do not arouse sinful pleasures in the heart, and all bodily feelings are purified during life; Until the mind is freed from dark, nasty dreams and the soul gets rid of addictions, until then the sweetness of grace will not be aroused in that person, and he will not see the Divine in his soul. The beginning of purity is disagreement with the sin of the mind, and the end is mortification—deadness to the sin of the body. Uncleanness of the heart - lustful passion and sinful fervor of the heart; uncleanness of the body is a fall into sin. Impurity of mind - bad thoughts; The impurity of the soul is various spiritual passions, when the soul loves something excessively and delights in it. If someone works with his body and performs some virtues, but does not care about the mood of his heart, does not diligently engage in mental work and attention, and does not care about spiritual sobriety, then he is like someone who collects with one hand and scatters with the other; inner heart sobriety, smart work and spiritual mood are the end of it. Bodily labor without inner mood and attention is like dry leaves. That is why we do not reach perfection and do not receive grace because we do not know where to start spiritual life, what constitutes the middle and end of it, and what is the essence and foundation of virtues - until we learn this, until then we work and ruin ourselves at the same time. Oh man! understand what the spiritual ascetic life begins with, where virtues are born, and through which passions easily enter into us, and then you will soon receive enlightenment to your soul; Without this same beginning, you are, as it were, sowing a seed in the sea, and it is destroyed. Word 22. About darkening of the mind, that is, unreasonableness Darkening of the mind comes from passions: from verbosity, from fussiness, from immeasurable care, from sorrow, from daydreaming, from overeating, from sleeping too much; often it happens from demons, that is, from their confusion when they approach us. From the entry of these passions into us, our spiritual eye closes, that is, the vision of the mind is dulled; and he no longer sees anything spiritual and has no reasoning, just as someone cannot see with a healthy bodily eye in the darkness of the night, sometimes he stumbles, and sometimes he falls into a hole; Likewise, a person, having a darkened mind, falls into the pit of various passions: he becomes depressed, dreams, indulges in a lot of sleep and completely forgets that he is walking the path of eternal destruction. Word 23. About sobriety of mind, that is, attentiveness Sobriety of mind - lightness of thought, comes from dispassion, that is, from purity, fasting, abstinence, unentertained silence, continuous stay in the cell, the Jesus Prayer, lack of sorrow, moderate sleep and from the action of the Holy Spirit, when grace is given to us from the Benefactor. With these virtues the mind is cleansed from darkness, rudeness, daydreaming and is enlightened, and then a person becomes intelligent, reasonable and cheerful. No one can stop the whirling of thoughts with anything, except the unceasing Jesus Prayer, the memory of death and future torment, the memory and desire for future blessings, attentive singing or reading alone. Most of all, prayer, fasting and the silence that never leaves the cell clears the mind from darkness, rudeness and daydreaming. Prayer and fasting drives away all sinful thoughts, stops the overheating of the brain, preserves the mind from rebellion, collects it from distraction and enlightens it. Prayer and fasting drives out unclean spirits from a person and heals those who are possessed, as the Lord said: this generation (demonic) does not come forth except through prayer and fasting (Matthew 17:21). Through prayer and fasting, the mind, which is often darkened by demons, is also cleansed. Prayer and fasting are weapons that block every entrance of demons into us. Prayer, as a gracious spirit, purifies our spirit, enlightens the mind and gives zeal. Prayer with sobriety of mind and heart is the protection of the mind and extinguishes its oblivion, like water fire. Therefore, the bright contemplations that arise from it should be called by an honest name. Having loved her, you obscene and vile sinners will become holy and worthy, the foolish and unreasonable will be reasonable and prudent, the unrighteous will be righteous; Moreover, you will also be contemplatives, theologians and witnesses of divine mysteries through invoking the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Many holy fathers said that the Jesus Prayer is the source of all good, a treasure of virtues, it quickly bestows the grace of the Holy Spirit, saves, explains and teaches the unknown. Just as a person sees his face in a mirror, so in sober and kind prayer he sees with his mind his whole life, whether he lives well or badly. This sober prayer drives away the darkness of passions from a person, frees him from all demonic networks, thoughts, words and deeds, conquers all natural desires, feelings and sorrows, helps and cleanses him from every temptation and, like a flaming sword, cuts them off, for God is the one called by this name, to whom everything is subordinate. Nothing can defeat the evil cunning cunning of demons like the sober, pure and attentive Jesus Prayer, performed with a pure mind and humility; It is impossible, and an ascetic cannot, besides this, rebel against demons and resist them. However, without a mentor in this prayer, he, the victim, dies; Having heard or learned from the words of the holy fathers that it is great, and not understanding its essence, it commits and foolishly thinks about it that it has achieved perfection, and begins to dream with its mind of having warriors inside, without first purifying it with sobriety, attention, wakefulness, and thus is cast down from demons. The beginning of this good and wonderful work is as follows: first, you must weaken your passions, not do what God does not want, and not do to your brother what you yourself hate; then keep your heart from lustful pleasures and evil desires, firmly guard your mind from thoughts, so that it always keeps your heart in humility. From this, prayer is already born, which conquers and destroys many passions and evil spirits, and grace multiplies. Just as fasting and the Jesus Prayer serve as purification and strength for sobriety and attention, so sobriety constitutes the dignity, holiness and support of prayer. Sobriety is otherwise called purity of mind, while impurity of the mind is bad thoughts, and impurity of the heart is lustfulness and lust. The heart cannot remain pure, so as not to become defiled, unless it is crushed by fasting; It is impossible to maintain holiness without fasting, and the flesh will not submit to the spirit for spiritual activity, and even prayer itself does not rise and does not work, because the natural need overcomes and the flesh is forced to be kindled; from the softening of the flesh, thoughts rebel and the mind becomes defiled; from thoughts the heart is excited and defiled, and through this grace is removed and unclean spirits have the audacity to rule over us as much as they want, forcing the flesh to passions and directing the mind wherever they want, or, as if tying it with a rope, keeping it incapable of spiritual desires and actions. Without this, the demons cannot defeat us; for the evil ones first try to lead our minds into darkness and oblivion, and then plunge us into the sinful abyss. But we will always keep fasting, as a quiet refuge from the enemy’s mental network; for fasting cleanses the body; nourishes and strengthens prayer, makes it strong, and like a flame of fire it rises from the lips. Combined with fasting, sober prayer scorches the demons, so that they, as if they were approaching a hot oven, cannot approach and harm a chaste soul. Homily 24. About the Jesus Prayer, which quickly instills grace and conveniently saves the soul “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me!” - if someone with desire and incessantly, like breathing from the nostrils, says this prayer, soon the Holy Trinity will dwell in him - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and will create an abode in him, and the prayer will devour the heart, and the heart - the prayer, and the person will begin to say this prayer day and night and will be freed from all the snares of the enemy. The Jesus Prayer should be said like this: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” Whether you are standing, sitting, eating, traveling, or whatever you are doing, constantly say this prayer, diligently forcing yourself to it, for it strikes invisible enemies, like a warrior with a strong spear. Imprint it in your thoughts; do not be embarrassed to do it secretly and in the right places. And when your tongue and lips become weak, then pray with your mind alone. From prayer pronounced over a long period of time with the tongue comes prayer of the mind, and from prayer of the mind comes prayer of the heart. When the mind is exhausted from constant tension and the heart is sick, then you can let them sing a little. Say the Jesus Prayer out loud, quietly, enough to hear yourself. During prayer, one should not deviate one’s thoughts here and there to the perishable things of life, but remain non-slothfully in the memory of this prayer alone; for prayer is nothing other than alienation from the visible and invisible world. Therefore, one must close one’s mind in prayer. Where the body stands, let the mind be with us, without having any thoughts during prayer. The Holy Fathers say: “If someone prays with his lips but neglects his mind, he works in vain, for God listens to the mind, and not to long speech; mental prayer does not allow the mind to have any dreams or impure thoughts.” If someone does not get used to the mental Jesus Prayer, he cannot have unceasing prayer. If someone becomes accustomed to the Jesus Prayer, and it connects with the heart, then, like a source, this prayer will flow in every place, in every case, at every time, and will always excite the person who is awake and sleeping; when the body begins to sleep or doze, and then it excites it, erupting from within and never being destroyed. Therefore, this prayer is great, never abandoned, so that with it, although the lips become weak and the body slumbers, the spirit never sleeps. When an urgent task is being diligently carried out, or the mind is strongly oppressed by thoughts, or sleep is overpowering, then one must pray diligently with the lips and tongue so that the mind will listen to the voice; when the mind is quiet and calm from thoughts, then you can pray to them alone. This prayer path is faster to salvation than through psalms, canons and ordinary prayers for the literate. What a perfect man is before a youth, this prayer is before literacy, that is, an artificially written prayer. Heartfelt prayer - for those who have succeeded; for the average - singing, i.e. ordinary church hymns and for beginners - obedience and work. This prayer requires sobriety, abstinence, withdrawal from people, all carelessness and serenity, from which true prayer grows and is established. If someone does not reject these obstacles, he cannot maintain unceasing prayer. Word 25. About never worrying about anything All annoyances and sorrows are caused to us by demons; they cunningly bring untimely worries and various snares in order to distract our mind from prayerful contemplation, that is, they try to make our mind idle, unoccupied with the work of salvation, to tear it away from the high prayerful love of God. If it were possible, they would be given the kingdom and wealth of the whole world, if only through solicitude they would distract our minds from the memory of love for God, that is, from unceasing prayerful memory, unceasing prayer, which is love for God. And we will be most concerned about this and will not abandon the sweetness of prayer. Let us entrust all care to God; He will provide for all our needs. Let us consign all the affairs of this world to oblivion and let us have no concern for anything in this age, for it binds the monk’s hands and feet and against his will draws him to the love of this world; just as water extinguishes fire, so the sorrow of this age is the love of God. Therefore, let us be attentive and always zealous for the love of God, and the Lord will take care of our needs; then the source of tears from this prayer will appear. If we distance ourselves from the embarrassment and excitement of the world, then through attention and care of the heart, prayer becomes sweet, and tears flow by themselves; Man no longer exudes them from himself under compulsion, but with joy. If anyone, with the above prayer, desires to be filled with ardent love for God even before the exodus of his soul, to live as an ascetic and in need, and to bear on his body the deadness of Jesus: to be always dead in the flesh and all the days of his life to work without embarrassment for God alone, then the beginning and end of all this is to cut off all addictions and lusts and all care and vanity of this world. Get away from every person, rumor and confusion, leading a bird's life and not at all worry about the vain; everything will remain on earth, for we live here as guests, as the apostle said: our life is in heaven (Phil. 3:20); Let us take care only of the soul, and in every need have God as your guardian; nowhere, never, in any need does God leave those who undoubtedly hope in Him completely and work for Him with all their hearts in love for Him. If we live in hope of God, even though we die for one day, then this is better than many years spent in double-mindedness; It is not written anywhere that those who trust in God should be abandoned. For it is impossible to be saved without tearing your mind away from vanity and all worries and collecting it in one place. One mind can either be given over entirely to Christ, or to vain care. Every thought and concern that is premature and distracts our mind from prayer comes from demons. Anyone who wants to be saved and please God should turn away from everything earthly and live like one of the birds; let him choose a separate suitable place and remain alone or with his spiritual child, suffer a lack of bodily needs - food, clothing and things; in lack, the soul is humbled and touched, and the mind is elevated; when a person sees nothing in himself, he endures more easily in his body, and his soul rejoices about future rewards. Where there is an abundance of all needs among many brothers, it is impossible to keep the mind unperturbed, because it requires obedience and abandonment of one’s will and fulfillment of one’s commands in everything. Homily 26. On unceasing prayer What should one do to keep the mind always occupied with God? If we do not acquire the following three virtues: love for God and people, abstinence and the Jesus Prayer, then our mind cannot be completely occupied with God; for love tames anger, abstinence weakens lust, and prayer distracts the mind from thoughts and drives away all hatred and arrogance. Be constantly occupied with God, for God will teach you everything and will reveal with the Holy Spirit the things above - the heavenly and the things below - the earthly. Amen. Prayer to the Life-Giving Trinity: Most Blessed Father, and Most Holy Son, and Holy Soul: Holy Trinity, Indivisible God, save me, a sinner! Word 27. Four connecting virtues The basis for all good things is the following: sit in your cell, practice unceasing prayer, control your stomach and tongue. Let anyone who neglects these four virtues know that he not only destroys these, but also destroys the foundation of all virtues and opens up the source of passions and the abyss of confusion. The cell of a monk is like a coffin for the dead: the dead never moves in the grave, and the monk, sitting in his cell, never sins, being free from three reasons for sin - sight, hearing and conversation; only God abides in him and good deeds. Prayer distracts from all thoughts, so that everything in this world is considered as dust and ashes. When the soul feels the sweetness of prayer, then it considers life to be nothing, does not desire beauty and sweets, and forgets about itself and everyone living on earth. Therefore, one must fulfill the prayer rule and strongly force oneself to pray. When we are exhausted, then we need to take up needlework so that sleep does not overtake us. If at night, during prayer, sleep comes over you, a burden on your eyes, then you should stay awake when the fire is on and not bend down, but look straight at the icon. Retaining the belly from food, that is, fasting and abstinence, gives vigor and ease to the body to perform virtues; the abstainer flies like an eagle without feeling the flesh. Abstinence of the tongue saves you from the following vices: slander, embarrassment, idle talk, lies, petrification of the heart without tenderness, despondency, vanity, showing off your feat. From verbosity comes the destruction of virtues, ruin, silence and other dishonorable passions. The silent one is terrible to demons, because they do not see the secrets of the heart of the perfect when they do not speak with their lips. He who loves verbosity will not avoid sin. If we put all the deeds of a sinful life on one side of the scale, and silence on the other, we will find that it will pull them away. You see how many virtues are helped by desert hermitage and abstinence of the tongue, and how many bad things they destroy! The beginning, strength and end, the root and foundation of a deserted silent life is a lot of prayer; and sobriety, non-dreaming of the mind and greed are helpers of this. Without this, a person is prone to getting carried away with thoughts, sleep, laziness, distraction, despondency, relaxation, and he wastes time in vain. In addition, he requires ardent, unshakable faith and trust in God, patience, constancy, confirmed by courage, care for all objects, blessed and unblessed, because the mind, occupied with objects, cares, dreams, scatters, clings to them, and this extinguishes the warmth of the heart, the sweetness of prayer, spiritual fervor and zeal; the mind in negligence dozes and is forgotten, and a person idly wastes time, forgets about death, torment and the Kingdom of Heaven, dozes both in body and sleeps in a dark sleep, and the soul alone cannot fight sleep, awakens and raises the flesh from sleep without excitement and assistance of the mind, that is, sobriety and heartfelt prayer. A person either strengthens and comes to perfection from mental excitement and heartfelt activity, or weakens and is overcome by passions and often suffers from demons. For whoever abides in the gums, that is, in the work of the heart, keeps the mind from evil thoughts and guards the heart, then the holy powers abide in him and help him; if anyone remains in the shuii, he is overcome by opposing forces. Many holy fathers spoke about it this way: “If you stay calmly in your cell (and your cell will teach you everything) with excitement and warming yourself up, soberly and diligently with all your soul, mind and heart be occupied with God alone, withdraw from everything and keep your mind sober and unreasonable in thoughts, abstain from food, constantly and diligently practice the Jesus Prayer - if you remain in this way in cells, then it’s as if the soul and heart will be wounded, and the mind will be illuminated with jealousy.” Silence is undistracted service and presence before God. If a person, having accomplished all this, which he has never experienced, tastes the sweetness of love for God, precisely from the Jesus Prayer, then he avoids the people like a wild donkey, and then he will experience desert silence and benefit from hermitage. Homily 28. About taking care of the inner, not going into unnecessary worries, but constantly praying to God Look, monk, be attentive to the cunning plans of crafty demons and be sober in mind! When crafty demons see a person in a good mood, doing prayers and doing virtues with tears, then they remind him of some work in his cell, saying: “this work is necessary, see that you do it”! Today this, tomorrow this, or that, or the tenth; or: “go and visit your brother,” or: “go here and there,” or they force him to stockpile excess food and offer him something else and something else in every possible way, bother and disturb him. They do this so that he would not be free for God and would not be satisfied with the tearful emotion of crying. You, an ascetic and warrior of Christ, recognize the deception of crafty demons and watch what they do, so that they do not deceive you in any way. For just as it is impossible to look at the sky with one eye and at the earth with the other, so it is impossible for a person to take care of soul and body. Just as a spring cannot pour out sweet and bitter water in one flow, so it is impossible for man and God to work and take care of the body; It is impossible for Mammon to work and please God, this is impossible, for you will hate one and love the other, just as a slave serving two masters cannot love both. Thus, we should not consider any other object eternal for ourselves, except for our immortal Creator: to work for Him, to use this little time for Him, to trust in the eternal. Therefore, the holy fathers themselves only cared about the present day; about tomorrow, regarding every thing and need, they entrusted care to God, committing soul and body into the hands of the Lord, so that He Himself provides for their lives and takes care of every need. Cast your sorrow upon the Lord, and He will nourish you (Ps. 54:23); Be constantly occupied with Him alone; for He always hears day and night those who cry to Him; especially looks at their unceasing prayer. If we take care of ourselves, then God does not take care of us; if we ourselves take revenge, then God does not avenge us; If we free ourselves from illnesses, then God does not heal us. When we accept hope, let go of prayer, give up care, then the memory of death and the coming of Christ come to our minds, and the warmth of the heart is kindled, the mind is purified and enlightened, and our soul delights in tenderness and remains in the fear of God. When we become attached to excessive handicraft and care, then we forget everything; and the memory of death and the coming of Christ, and the warmth of the heart is extinguished, and the brightness of the mind is darkened, and tenderness and fear of God depart from the soul, and it moves away from God through excessive handicraft and care. Therefore, we must place our trust in God, so that He will provide for our life, and then our life will agree with the apostolic word, as it is said: even if we live, even if we die; We are the Lord's (Rom. 14:8), that is, if we live in hope in God, as the Lord said: believe in Me, even if he dies, he will live: and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die (John 11:25–26). If we worry about tomorrow and worry about sweets and spend this little time in that, then when will we be free for God? It is clear that we will leave Him and fall away from His Divine love and will be deprived of all virtues, and we will be abandoned by Him Himself, deprived of His glory, and our life in hope for ourselves will be like this: either we live or we die, we live in sin and die to torment. Let us not somehow become tied up little by little with this most destructive concern; otherwise we will lose earthly blessings and will not receive future ones. One day we renounced earthly things and worldly wisdom forever; Let us consign to oblivion all worldly charms; let us despise all that is charming and despise all that is temporary of this age; and so let us approach the Lord alone, day and night we will serve Him in fear, from everyone in this world we will be naked and have the life of a bird. Oh, monk! Don’t you consider everything in the world to be nothing, but take care of the necessary bodily needs? Everything is perishable and has an end; the prosperity of this world or bodily peace is vanity of vanities. Oh, monk! I will tell you a useful word that there is nothing more necessary for everyone than his own soul; and we will have our very body as if it were someone else’s, for it is mortal and perishable. Besides God, only our soul is immortal and incorruptible. He who trusts in God truly does not care about the flesh - how to feed it, clothe it, does not collect property in case of famine and is not afraid of anything - neither being eaten by a beast, nor being killed, but leaves all this according to the commandment, for he has God as his guardian and helper in everything. If someone does not cast all of himself on God, and in necessary bodily needs and in all sorrow he does not say: “as God pleases,” he cannot be saved. He who endures sorrow will little by little rejoice at the departure of his soul, and at the end he will rejoice with indescribable joy. When we are sick, we receive wounds, or we approach death and die, or we suffer a lack of necessary needs and have no one to show mercy to us; and if at the same time we say: “As God wants, so let him do with us,” then by this alone the devil, our enemy, will be put to shame and defeated. Expect your death and the coming of Christ every hour and say: “Now I will try for my soul, in the evening I can die”; when evening comes, think: “Will I die on this night - or death will suddenly come, or a tree will strike me, or the house will collapse and kill me, or my breathing will suddenly stop and, like a flower falling away, I will wither and, like grass dries up, I will die and then remain without a trace; God alone knows where I will be then; for He judges each one according to his deeds, saying, “I will appoint him there.” Think like this every day and don’t worry about anything, only about your sins, and in this way your soul will enter into humility and weeping and you will consider yourself a terrible sinner and constantly shed sources of tears. In your needs, clothing, dishes and things, observe simplicity, thinness, modesty - not because there is nothing to buy, but because by this the soul humbles itself and does not move away from God - and it will conveniently find them everywhere; and simply say, in this act in such a way that your conscience does not convict you of anything. He who does not despise every thing, and glory, and bodily peace, and even self-justification in anything, cannot be saved. Oh man! Be attentive to your soul, because you have only one, and one time of your life, and the end is unknown - death, and the abyss of the air is impassable and filled with your enemies. Then there will be no other helper except good deeds; take heed to yourself, lest you repent for ever. Pray unceasingly and spend day after day paying attention to the salvation of your soul, providing for the most necessary of your bodily needs. I forgot, unfortunate one, your promise and your first zeal to pray unceasingly, and to entrust all care to God, so that He would provide for everything, about food and clothing, and in sorrows, when you were similarly incorporeally courageous. Don’t you know, poor one, that as much as the saints abandoned all the vanity and cares of this world, God fulfilled their needs and shortcomings; They had divine help like an inexhaustible treasure. As much as a person fusses, he is abandoned by God. Oh man! Remember the hour of death and eternal torment, remember endless life, indescribable beauty and glory, which God has prepared from time immemorial for those who love Him, His chosen ones. Remember your past time and the years that were lost in the vanity of this world; can you return even one day or night from them? equally, if the end of your life comes, can you add or ask for at least one hour of repentance? We want to recoup the wasted time of our lives and will not find it. So, know the charm of crafty demons; Let us be sober in mind and not worry about vanity; when the body is hungry, then it will find food, as well as for other needs; for as a bubble on water perishes, so every thing of this world perishes. It is impossible for God and Mammon to work. But the crafty demons carefully and relentlessly watch us, which we are inclined to do, and encourage us to do so; noticing our sinful desire, they darken our mind and steal our time day after day, and, like thieves, secretly penetrate our thoughts and force us to care about perishable things, and leave God and our soul, and put into our thoughts: “this or that thing is very necessary, do it today or tomorrow”; whereas it is not at all necessary. O man, be attentive to this and you will be blessed! Listen to the Apostle Paul, who says: pray without ceasing (Thessalonians 5:17), at all times and in all places. And if you say: “It is impossible to pray constantly, for the body will weaken in service.” He is not talking about the fact that only while standing is the time for prayer, but about always praying, such as: at night, during the day, in the evening, in the morning, at noon; and at every hour, working, eating, drinking, lying down, getting up, say: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me!” And do not wait for a certain time for prayer - a year, a month, a week, and do not discriminate between places, for the Divinity is represented not in place and time, but in the mind, and His dominion is in every place. Word 29. How does the sobriety of the mind remain, what causes drowsiness and coldness of our thoughts, quenching the holy warmth in the soul and zeal for God? This holy warmth is preserved by a sober, ardent thought, so as to courageously and patiently protect your soul from relaxation every hour with all your might. This zeal eliminates all resistance, slumber, laziness, heaviness, relaxation and despondency. This jealousy is strengthened, aroused, inflamed, and becomes the guardian of the house of virtues. At the same time, one should perform the usual bows, do handicrafts and cool off in the air, for this provides great help and strength against sleep, laziness, burden and relaxation. And to pray you need to stand in a fresh place, that is, cool, because then the blood does not flow to your feet, this is not only for the weak and sick in body, but for the healthy. In a warm room, drowsiness, sleep, laziness, heaviness, relaxation attack, and this constrains and overcomes the ascetic. Nothing torments solitary desert dwellers more than these infirmities. However, be attentive to yourself: verbosity is born from rumor; from verbosity - idle talk; from idle talk - idleness; from idleness - deprivation of good deeds, and then a person falls into all kinds of evil. Word 30. About sleep. How should those who want to work hard for God in a solitary life combat sleep? In the desert, in a solitary life, there are six strong struggles: laziness, despondency, sleep, despair, burden and fear. For the sake of these six passions, the holy fathers forbid living alone. Truly, sleep is more destructive than laziness, despondency, and despair, since these latter and many other passions arise from it. Heaviness and fear overcome time. As I call it (sleep), isn’t it laziness when someone sleeps unsatisfied. When a gloomy sleep overcomes, then the ascetic becomes despondent and mourns over the lost time; then comes despair about the loss of spiritual salvation; a conscience-piercing thought appears, saying: “Your labor is in vain, since sleep has taken possession of you.” The great, brethren, calamity is sleep: just as darkness covers the sun, so many sleep covers the contemplative power of the mind and, like a veil, imposes oblivion on the mind, which therefore becomes insensitive to everything good spiritual and unmemorable. The guard dozed off - the robbers attacked; when the mind does not feel, and everything is dark and passionate. Demons darken the mind with darkness and extinguish fire with water, so they overcome with drowsiness and sleep in order to be able to deprive the soul of all good deeds and induce passions in it. All the effort and diligence of demons against us is to distract our minds from God and unceasing achievement. For this purpose, they try in every way, with every pretext to keep us in the vanity of this age, or they want to plunge us into sleep in order to steal time through idle stay. One dream, but there are many reasons for it: from nature, when we have a need, from gluttony, dreaminess of the mind, rumors, embarrassment, grief, demonic envy, despondency, or from an excessively long fast, from which, exhausted, the flesh wants to calm itself with sleep. How does eating and drinking a lot become a habit - who, for example, learns to eat a lot, especially drink, nature asks for a lot; and whoever learns to eat little, then nature asks for little; - so is sleep: if someone becomes weak and does not fight sleep, but wants to sleep until he is full, then nature requires a lot of sleep. And such a person always spends his life as if in darkness, constantly having a gloomy mind, and is not busy doing virtues. If someone learns to sleep a little, then nature asks for it. The habit of excessive sleep is very harmful; whoever acquired this from youth, let him labor and force himself against it at the beginning of the rejection of the world. If someone wants to overcome sleep while standing, sitting and lying down and accustom himself to vigor, then a lot of abstinence, sobriety of mind, the unceasing Jesus Prayer, undisturbed silence, ardent zeal are required in order to protect your soul from relaxation with patience at every hour. Let mortal memory sleep and rise with you, then the body, against its will, will follow the soul. Nothing helps against sleep more than the following four virtues: abstinence, sobriety, the Jesus Prayer and mortal remembrance; these virtues are called a cheerful and sober guard. Without these four virtues, the soul becomes sleepy and daydreaming. A hungry belly does not tolerate lying on its bed all night, and one who has a sober mind does not fall into a deep sleep, and one who feels the sweetness of prayer on one’s bed does not hesitate, and one who remembers his position in the grave does not become lazy. The above four virtues always excite the spirit. Let us watch, abstain, be sober, say the Jesus Prayer and have mortal remembrance, and in this way let us arm ourselves against sleep; for if someone is awake during the day and does not have the indicated virtues, then he falls into many different evils. Therefore, prolonged wakefulness, abstinence, sobriety, a firm stand in prayer and the memory of death are required so that sleep is gradually destroyed. When, standing at prayer, you become exhausted, then sit down on a chair in the middle of the cell, and do not lean on the wall at all, because if you start to doze, you will begin to stagger and wake up. If you doze off while praying, then take up your books and fight; If sleep prevents you from reading books, then take up handicrafts and protect yourself with prayer. I know that with prayer alone without handicraft you will not overcome sleep, but you will be overcome by it. The demons force us to sit down unnecessarily, under the pretext of exhaustion, and forbid us to do handicrafts, and immediately after some little vigor they suddenly induce a deep sleep like darkness and thus darken us and plunge us into unconsciousness. Therefore, dear ascetic, do not listen to them; never sit down without a book or handicraft; not because handicraft is needed, but in order to counteract sleep. For the whole night in the crucifixion one should stand against sleepy sweetness, resist in every possible way, and not remain in laziness. First correct the usual prayer rule, forcing yourself to pray firmly, then rest a little while doing needlework so as not to indulge in sleep; For the sake of weakness, handicrafts are considered necessary. This is also why sleep takes root and grows so much that after the first awakening, a person, turning around, falls asleep again, like a lazy calf, or like a pig that always wants to wallow in the mud. Then the angel of God retreats from such a person, and he falls into the hands of nasty enemies, and they keep him outside as long as they want, showing him all sorts of dreams and ghosts. If you get up from your bed, and sleep again begins to torment you from demonic obsession, then jump up courageously, as from fire, or as from a poisonous snake, or as from a roaring lion wanting to devour you. Resist sleep, ascetic, and, having risen, refresh yourself in the wind, keeping up your prayer at the same time. A person living alone does not need to sleep at the end of the day or night, for this causes great burden to him and also because at the end of the day our holy Guardian Angel comes to worship God, giving an answer about our affairs, as one of the fathers writes about this. But one must rest either before or after dawn; like a bird, if it sleeps through the dawn, it cannot, as some say, fly. Enemies often force us to sleep at the wrong time, saying in our minds: “lie down for a little while and get up again,” so that through this there will be no time to read books or take up needlework. If you listen to them and lie down, you will waste a lot of time. This is the habit of sleep: when someone gets used to sleeping ahead of time, then sleep increases; when someone misses sleep time until he himself becomes weak, then sleep decreases and there is time left for needlework. From too much sleep and overeating, the body becomes weak, heavier and unhealthy. If you are very overcome by sleep, then sleep at one specific time, either in the evening or at night, in a warm or cold place where you sleep less, and in the warmth, be careful not to get acne; at other times, do not go to bed, but stay awake. The measure of sleep during the night, that is, per day: for beginners - seven hours, for average - four, for perfect - two hours and all-night standing. And always, day and night, you should stay awake and strong as much as possible. Here is an angelic vigil: having slept the first sleep, getting up at that time seems difficult and painful, as if all the limbs are sick and weakened, but when a person strengthens himself, gets up and walks a little in the wind, then all illnesses and hardships will disappear; and all day long he will be cheerful and joyful for not being lazy. Do this and you will conquer sleep. When you cannot do the above; for no one can defeat sleep, being alone, unless he resists it with all his strength - since such a person does not have an associate and mentor from among people, it is necessary to have courage and fear of God. Therefore, many saints took little sleep while sitting; some, standing in prayer, blinking their eyes, looked at or served the saints; and you, who love to sleep, want to overcome sleep; no, not like that! If we do not conquer sleep, our work will be in vain. Why is it that when we are together with the brethren, we are awake and strong because of shame, but when we are alone, then we are driven by sleep and are not strong? Obviously because we are empty and lack good deeds and the fear of God. Until then, the holy fathers were so strong from sleep that they almost fell to the ground. One of the fathers supplied a candle, tying a string with a weight near it; when the candle burned out, the string burned out and the weight hit the ringing copper thing and woke him up. Another had a very narrow bed and when he wanted to turn around (during sleep), he fell down. Someone put a stone on his hand, and when the stone fell, it awakened him. Courage and patience are the mother of every good deed. Therefore, brothers, we must take courage and endure, and the Lord God will strengthen us forever. Amen. Homily 31. On praying with great attention in psalms and prayers Doing, keeping, man! That is, when praying attentively, guard yourself with great care, so as to pray in psalms and prayers with fear, joy, ardent zeal and low bow to the divine icon. For you will find in the psalms both teaching and prayer, not only with the edge of your tongue, but pray with all your heart; unite into one: body and soul and mind. Even if someone worked recklessly, that is, without paying attention to himself, such a person does not have a reward from God, but even angers Him. Just as someone who fills a thin vessel with water can never fill it, so someone who prays without attention will not receive a reward. What is required is not just to say a psalm or say a prayer, as if to fulfill your usual lesson; but with a psalm and prayer one must pray to God with all the heart and constantly in spiritual tenderness, with a pure thought. God does not require the number of established psalms and prayers, but listens to our unconfused and firm mind. For many thousands of prayers are made with the tongue, but with the mind they think vain, nasty and unclean things; and how will God hear and listen to such? You yourself don’t know what you’re doing, oh man! God does not want many prayers from us, but that with the fear of God and tenderness we should begin to pray, as the angel of the Lord commanded the great Pachomius. Your efforts should not be about quantity, but about deep reasoning and attention, so that everything you do will be accepted by God. Not everything small is small, and not everything great is great and perfect. But acquire fasting and the fear of God, take on a sad and sorrowful appearance, that is, stand in prayer tenderly, modestly and, imagining yourself to be before the Throne of God and considering yourself to be earth and ashes, a spider and an ant, and your work - a cobweb, feel yourself as judged by God, having transgressed His commandments and done everything evil. Legs should be kept straight, feet pressed together and not move from place to place, hands should be placed decently on the chest. Just as someone condemned to death stands before the judge, not daring to look here and there, so you must stand before God, Whom the angels stand before with fear and glorify Him in unceasing songs. For the watchful Eye watches day and night what we do, what we think or how we live, on whom we place our hope in every sorrow and need - whether on a person or on His bounty. And as our Great Master and righteous Lord wants, Jesus Christ the Son of God, the true God, can deliver us from every misfortune and misfortune. Consider yourself worse than every person and every creature, and consider your work displeasing to God. Without this, secret fearlessness arouses blasphemous arrogance. According to our faith, God helps us in every need. If we hope and trust more, God helps us more. Word 32. About confusion and insurance of demons During times of mental storm and darkness, when it is a particularly difficult time for someone living alone, unceasing prayer is useful; handicraft with prayer also serves as a great help; or simply sleep through that difficult time, without thinking or sadness, and thereby get rid of the harm. During times of strong enemy confusion, when the soul is afraid, one should recite psalms and prayers out loud, or combine handicrafts with prayer, so that the mind listens to what it is doing, and not pay any attention to the confusion and not be afraid, for the Lord is with us and the angel of the Lord never yields from us; sometimes you can chill out in the wind, and the demons will immediately move away from all this. Demons are especially opposed to the Jesus Prayer, because nothing harms them and plunges them into despondency like this prayer. The Jesus Prayer is very terrible for demons, for just as fire burns thorns, so this prayer, combined with fasting, scorches and drives them away. That is why they strive to take it away, but after disturbing it a little, like smoke in the air, they disappear and become invisible. If you are preparing for prayer, prepare for the battle of demons and firmly arm yourself to courageously endure the battle that comes from them. Like wild beasts they will come against you and cause suffering to your whole body; for they cause great confusion to those who are awake and diligently engaged in prayer, since they see that weapon that destroys their strength and, not tolerating it, disappear with illness and trembling. May the Lord God help us and preserve us with His grace forever. Amen. Word 33. About tolerating lies and all reproach and annoyance Be strictly careful and be attentive, my soul, because the last times are already approaching, and you require a special feat and patience from demons and people - among people from visible ones, and in the desert from invisible enemies. No one ever accepts the crown of life without suffering, without defeating the enemy; if someone goes up against a fighter and defeats him with his courage and courage, then he receives honor and glory and a bright crown. So you, my soul, must be strong and endure all annoyance, dishonor and all reproach with joy, and not only without exaltation and self-justification, but even ask for forgiveness, since any insult, annoyance, reproach, slander, reproach and all contempt and vainness gives a person humility and grace. If you do not endure all this, but are upset, exalted and angry at the offenders, then you cannot come to perfection and be saved, for this is the work of beginners, passionate, cowardly and weak-minded; those who are perfect tend to accept all this with joy and endure with thanksgiving. When the enemy himself cannot annoy any of us in any way and prevent us from living a good life, then he inflicts unbearable sorrows - he instigates against us some people suitable for him, so that through them, as his weapon, he can defeat us, then against the enemy himself there will be a commendable victory for us - to endure for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven the sorrows he inflicts, through annoyance and lies and humiliation from people. Remember the saints from the ages, of whom the whole world is unworthy, who were in hardships, sorrows, persecutions, oppressions. What new path do you want to establish, by which you think to be saved? If you cannot work like a father, then at least endure wisely like a father. This is no small thing, or rather, greater than all the virtues: if someone endures falsehoods or annoyance for God’s sake with thanksgiving, he does no small deed. This is humility and love to endure sorrow from a brother. By this alone many have been saved, especially this path belongs to the holy fools, for they suffer many lies in vain. Foolishness for God’s sake is a great thing, for it embraces all virtues; Of all the things of life, they have nothing in themselves; they only earnestly acquire patience and thereby overcome all sorrows. So, my soul, at this time there is no better way to salvation than this. Be deaf, dumb, blind and, as it were, insensitive to everything in life and seclude yourself from people themselves like a madman, and consider yourself incapable of anything, as if you were a fool for God’s sake. He who wishes to be wise and reasonable in this world, let him be a servant of all before God. Solomon, reproaching himself for excessive philosophizing, said that it was vain, and that blessed is the man who has acquired the fear of God, humility and love, that is, unceasing prayer; such a one has acquired the true wisdom of the world and wealth. Faith, without any sinful vice, saves us. Just as faith without works is dead, so works without faith are dead; Where there is right faith and good deeds, there is complete righteousness. In modern times, a person needs to teach himself, to listen to himself in every virtue. He who sighs for one hour for his soul is better than he who benefits the whole world. If we save ourselves, we have enough to eat. Everyone, by doing something of the virtues, saves himself alone; If someone saves the whole world and destroys himself, then what good does it do him? We all know how to be saved, but out of laziness we don’t want to, save yourself! Not everyone will give the answer that they did not instruct others, but those to whom it is given must suffer until death and lay down their souls for the flock; Everyone will give an answer about themselves. If the great monks, out of humility, ran away from authority, and glory, and from teaching others and carrying other people’s burdens, as the sacred stories tell about them, but only cared about themselves, then all the more we, sinners and weaklings, need to avoid such a thing, for by doing this we will harm both ourselves and our neighbors. Instead of many, let's take care of ourselves. Nowadays some people do not accept the good teaching and fatherly life; but moreover, they also laugh at those who strive well: they live according to their own will and choose teachers similar to themselves. Therefore, some, by teaching others, thereby harmed themselves; From such a dispensation of others, we ruin our foundation and cool the warmth of our soul. It’s enough for us to only care about ourselves, about our salvation. When you see and hear, treat your brother’s shortcomings as if you were blind, deaf, and dumb—not seeing, not hearing, and not speaking, like someone who is coarse in mind, not understanding, not showing yourself to be wise; but be attentive, reasonable and perspicacious to yourself. If someone who wants to be saved, seeing and hearing every annoying word, does not make his eye blind, his ear deaf and his tongue dumb, he cannot be without confusion and in spiritual silence. When you are interrogated by someone, do not allow yourself to make excuses or contradict, but say with humility: “forgive me for God’s sake” and remain silent about the rest. For our Lord Jesus Christ set an example of humility, as it is written: Like a sheep that is led to the slaughter, and like a lamb that is silent before its shearers, so you do not open your mouth. In His humility His judgment is taken away: whoever confesses His generation (Isa. 53:7–8). Thus must you, man, imitate your Creator; So you should be unrequited before someone who insults you, as if you have water in your mouth or have no tongue; just say: “forgive”, considering yourself worthy of all torment, think within yourself: “if the whole world rises up against you, bringing reproach and grief to you for a whole year, then what do you care about people, you nasty one”? Do not think that you are harmed in any way by your brother. Without it, evil naturally arises in us. If you endure any sorrow for the sake of a future reward, then reproach yourself for everything, and not your brother. In every matter, try to reproach yourself, showing and considering yourself that you are earth and will go back to earth again. Acquire three words forever: “Forgive, bless and pray for me, a sinner.” Don't ask anyone about something you don't need. Learn to speak kindly about every person, but humiliate yourself. In this there is great humility that lifts the soul out of hell, the cutting off of passions and a great victory and weapon against the devil. May the Lord God strengthen us to endure lies in vain. Word 34. About enduring tribulations Anyone who wants to be saved should not be afraid and look at the fierce sorrows that come from demons or from people, because in human life there are many changes: people also change from evil to good and love. He who is afraid of sorrows usually becomes weak and cowardly. If someone gets used to running away or getting rid of sorrows, or moving from place to place, or choosing a time and then starting to struggle, he will not find the place and time to receive benefit all the days of his life. We must look and hope for the mercy of God and remember from time immemorial His glorious miracles and the help of His saints who trust in Him, that God does not leave in any need or sorrow and never allows temptation beyond our strength, and therefore we must, with thanksgiving for the sake of God and future eternal blessings, courageously bear our cross - endure everything sorrowful in a given time and place. According to the word of the Apostle: Through much tribulation we must enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Acts. 14:22); By this narrow, sorrowful path we will reach the highest perfection of patience and in every place we will not lose what is useful, but we will receive it by the grace of God and will not waste the time of our life in vain. Let us forget everything sorrowful from demons and people and let us not worry about any sorrow or food; Let us only take care that the present time does not pass idlely, that is, without spiritual achievement and prayer. When any sadness from demons or people, or sorrow, or illness, or misfortune comes upon us, then we will especially diligently pray to God, cry out with tears, not at all reasoning or worrying about how to get rid of that need, for no sorrow without God’s providence does not happen to us, therefore we will love the narrow and difficult path of a sorrowful life; for this narrow and sorrowful path leads to the Kingdom of Heaven, and therefore we will not avoid it in misfortunes, troubles, needs and sorrows, but we will courageously endure everything sorrowful, difficult, and unpleasant until we receive divine help... It is fitting for an ascetic, a servant of God, to be strong in all sorrow, to place his heart as if on a stronghold, and not to be weak like water. This life, like a spinning wheel, is not constant and not harmonious; sometimes there is prosperity for a person, some honor - don’t put your heart into it; sometimes there is persecution from people - then do not be sad; sometimes from demons there is grief, attack, passion - then don’t grieve. All this comes to us - and is allowed by God for our salvation, and again departs, as His grace arranges, in order to punish and have mercy on us. To him be glory now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. If you want not to be angry with your offender, then diligently pray to God for him with all your heart and give him some gift or small consolation; sometimes come to him yourself when you see that he has come to his senses from anger, and talk about forgiveness of sin, find out the reason and show him even greater love; when you meet, warn him with a low bow and tell everyone about him that he is kind; nothing brings him to tenderness and humility like this; and nothing arouses his anger more than the reproach of him by the offender, and disgust from him, and his slander in absentia, because the one who hears can tell him about everything. This evil is great, and the spiritual are affected by this passion. Such a one, who saves himself and his friend, is truly a wise and perfect ascetic and better than one who works hard. If anyone thinks that he has love, but not the same for everyone, but distinguishes, separates the poor from the rich, the weak from the healthy, the sinner from the righteous, the stranger from the neighbor, the enemy from the lover; then such love is imperfect, but partly. Real and perfect love consists in considering and loving everyone equally, both those who love and those who hate. Such love, and with it inseparable mercy, I will say briefly, is a net for all virtues, it embraces and contains all the commandments of God. If anyone can keep all the commandments, then only those who have kept this. That is why we do not reach perfection and do not receive grace because we do not fulfill the commandments perfectly. To the one who rests on the Lord’s pure breasts, it is said in Revelation: to the one who has overcome the world I will give an animal crown. To conquer the world means to overcome through patience its wisdom, passions, and all evil: that is, to suffer, to put aside your habits and will from worldly wisdom, a peaceful life, and turn to spiritual life, not to do any evil and to keep the commandments of God. For good deeds are a sacrifice to God, and God will not despise a contrite and humble heart, but human passions are a sacrifice to demons. However, man is created dispassionate; His passions come from arbitrariness - to do or not to do them. May the Lord save us from passions. Homily 35. About the variety of demonic warfare and how to cut off the beginning of every thought and lust Pay attention, monk, with a reasonable and diligently alert mind: when demons come, how they catch them and how they themselves are prompted. Guard yourself with great caution, because at every hour you walk among passions and snares: passions surround you everywhere, snares are placed everywhere, so that through passions and snares you will not be drawn by the enemy into his will. Great need will present itself and the need for the fleshly man to fight against the incorporeal, alone against the darkness of enemies; many tears, much patience, much suffering and fear and thousands of eyes are required everywhere. For evil spirits fly at us viciously, like a lion; would have destroyed us if the Lord had not been with us. They are highly experienced in the art of catching, for more than seven thousand years, without sleep, food and rest, always, at every hour, in every way they seek our destruction, with all cunning and with great diligence. Having found themselves powerless in one thing, they plot another, they also begin something else and look out for something else, and they scour around to do mischief and do evil. Or do you not know with whom you are fighting, what regiment of invisible enemies surrounds you and each of them is fighting their own battle, emitting countless voices, wanting to devour your soul - and you are not happy? Is it possible that, while being nourished, indulging in sleep, lying down and constantly being comforted, at the same time receive salvation? If you are not attentive to this, you will not escape the snares. As if to jump into the fire, we came to the feat. If we want to be real warriors of the Heavenly King and not false accomplices, then let us remove from ourselves all rumors and attachment to everything earthly, from which mental fumes arise and cover the soul like a dark fog. Let us throw off all carelessness, cowardice and feminine weakness, and thus resist the demonic cunning; Let us work in prayers and other virtues with all our zeal and strength, soul, heart, mind, just as someone quickly runs along the road without looking back, or a stingy person fasts. For such is the cunning of the crafty demons: they are constantly busy with us; how watchmen notice our inclinations and wishes: what we think about and what we love, what we do besides them; and whatever passion they notice in us, they encourage us to do so, and they set nets for us; Thus, we ourselves first arouse every passion against ourselves and become the cause of it. That’s why demons look for a reason in us, because through our inclination and desire we are more likely to get confused. They do not force us to do what we do not want, from which we deviate our minds, with which we do not agree of our own free will, knowing that we will not listen to them; they little by little test us: whether we will accept any passion, and already they add their intrigues to our desire and zeal; for in fact, the reason for sin belongs to us - addiction, weakness and negligence - we do not cut off the beginning of each passion; and the final cause of evil is demons; Through demons we fall into every sin, and apart from them no evil befalls us. Thus, demons plunge us into every passion, force us to fall into every sin, and we become entangled in every net. I call them snares the attachment of desires and bad thoughts, through which we are bound by every passion and fall into every sin; better to say, this is the door to demons and passions, through which they enter us and plunder our spiritual treasure. Excessive sleep, laziness, untimely eating are the reason for the entrance of demons. Having arrived, they first of all push the doors of the heart, that is, secretly, like thieves, they put in a thought and notice whether there is a guard or not, that is, whether the thought will be accepted or not; if accepted, then they begin to produce passion and encourage it and steal spiritual wealth. If they find a guard at the door of the heart, that is, when someone is accustomed to humiliating and driving away their thoughts, is turned away by the mind of the initial mental pretext, has his mind deaf and dumb to their barking, turned to the depths of the heart, that is, not at all agreeing with them, then they cannot do dirty tricks to such a person, since his mind is sober. Then they begin to invent and lay out various nets and catch in passion; which are: forgetfulness and rage, foolishness, self-love, pride, love of glory, lust, gluttony, gluttony, fornication, unmercifulness, anger, memory malice, blasphemy, sadness, impudence, vanity, verbosity, despondency, insurance, sleep, laziness, burden, horror, jealousy, envy, hatred, hypocrisy, flattery, murmuring, unbelief, disobedience, covetousness, love of things, money-grubbing, cowardice, double-mindedness, acute bile, lust, man-pleasing, insolence, laughter. Then they stir up a great storm of persistent prodigal and blasphemous thoughts, so that the ascetic becomes afraid and despairs, or so that he gives up his feat and prayer. If the enemies, erecting all this, cannot in any way restrain and turn away from the feat of a strong soul and an unshakable warrior of Christ, who has passionately laid his foundation on the rock of faith, so that even the rivers of sorrows do not shake him with their aspiration, then they rob him of some apparent good, considering it more convenient to offer something of their own under the guise of good, and thus deprive him of real, most perfect virtue, prayers and deeds. So they force us to have spiritual conversations, for the sake of love to teach people or to add something to food, for the sake of a friend or for a holiday to please a few, for the flattering ones know that Adam fell from voluptuousness; first they begin to darken mental purity and attention to themselves, and in this way they suddenly plunge into the ditch of fornication, or into some other passion. If in this way they do not sway the sober mind, then they arm themselves with false ghosts, excite people and arm themselves with them, insulting and confusing him with various diseases. The most skillful warrior lets all this pass by and puts it in nothing, as if it does not relate to him; for he knows that all this is a demonic thought. If they don’t win anyway, then they fight with arrogance, putting in the thought that he is holy, telling him secretly: “how many sorrows have you endured.” Demons, like a cunning hunter, when their first means prove powerless, then they leave them, retreat, hide and appear defeated. Look, man, pay attention, don’t make a mistake, they won’t leave even to your grave, but they are preparing a big ambush, looking carefully for how to start again and rise up, for they are not resting. When the warmth of zeal in the ascetic has cooled, they secretly, having prepared some kind of net, come again and spread it out and catch. In all the paths of virtue, demons arrange intrigues and obstacles when we carry out every task carefully for our own salvation, and not out of man-pleasing, or according to any plan. If some kind of impurity is hidden in virtue - pride, vanity and arrogance, then the demons do not hinder us in such a matter, but even force us to work without benefit. Demons try nothing so hard as they manage to steal the time of the idle in all sorts of ways. In everything that demons do, they try to dig us three holes: firstly, they oppose and interfere, so that there is no good in all types of virtue; secondly, they try to prevent good from happening for the sake of God, that is, not being able to deviate from good, they try through vanity to destroy all our works; thirdly, they please us, as if we were pleasing to God in everything, that is, being unable to entangle us with vanity, they try with their arrogance to ruin our labors and deprive us of rewards. All demonic warfare against us comes in three forms: first, demons darken our minds, and a person becomes forgetful and much distracted in every matter; then they put in an idle thought so that time is wasted through it; finally, they inflict various temptations and illnesses. Therefore, we need to be very sober in mind at all times; for the enemies constantly contrive to oppose us. If someone labors for many years, his enemies look for a convenient time to destroy his labors in one hour. Few people see the countless tricks, plans, and cunning of demons. As a disembodied spirit, it does not require rest and through a long life has learned to catch. Therefore, no one will escape deceit, destructive snares and their ambush, except one who is in bodily weakness from constant struggle and lives in spiritual poverty, that is, with a contrite heart and humble thoughts - such a one will defeat them. Most of all, divine help helps us. However, in us, as they said before, is the beginning of all passions: addiction, weakness and negligence, which we do not reject in soul and thought and do not cut off the original cause of each passion that finds itself, but the demons apply even more. Look within yourself for the cause of every passion and, having found it, arm yourself and dig out its root with a suffering sword; if you don’t eradicate it, it will again send out shoots and grow; Without this means you cannot overcome passions, come to purity and be saved. Therefore, if we want to be saved, we must cut off the original motive of thought and the desire of every passion; conquer the small so as not to fall into the great, and you will conquer everything that follows with this alone. Obviously, God allows one to be overwhelmed by demonic warfare or some other stubborn passion because of pride and arrogance, when someone considers himself holy or strong and relies on himself, but exalts himself over the weakest. Let such a person realize his weakness, recognize God’s help and understand that without God’s help he cannot do anything, and humble his thoughts. Or again he allows it as a punishment for sins, so that they will repent and be more experienced in feat; or - for the sake of crowns for victory. However, what you are defeated by, what you suffer from, arm yourself against that first of all passions - and use all your zeal for that. Every passion and suffering is prompted by undoubted faith, heartfelt labor and tears, ardent zeal and quick striving to resist real passion - this is a high and commendable fatherly struggle. Every demonic warfare against us arises and is confirmed from four reasons: from negligence and laziness, from pride, lust, and from demonic envy. The Lord will preserve us with His grace from all the snares of the enemy and passionate deeds forever. Amen. Word 36. About various sorrows and burdens from demons A monk should not begin silence before testing and much study of the passions. If he himself is not experienced and does not have a mentor and without such help begins to fight against evil demons, then he is soon killed by them. We need to learn about various demonic excuses, illnesses and burdens; for demons, for example, produce headaches, as if the whole brain were shaking and moving when it was necessary to make prostrations. It is the evil one who dares to enter through the ear canal and plots intrigues: he burdens the head, excites the brain and deters them from feats and bows, which are harmful to them. Sometimes a headache occurs from the mere approach of demons to us and the great spiritual confusion they cause; but it happens that they enter us through the ear and come out again, and this causes a headache. From embarrassment, the approach and entrance of the demonic, the head hurts and the mind becomes darkened, the heart aches and the lips close. Then we need to freshen up, and immediately the wind will carry them away without a trace, like a bunch of mosquitoes. The demons also cause deafness, heat in the head and ears, as if a leech is crawling on the head, or as if someone is tearing at the hair, so that one can hardly bear it, the head hurts, they produce severe darkness, so that it seems that part of the mind has been taken away, and writing and the book store are not understood; with this the demons want to drive us out of the desert silence; however, everything will be as before, as before; Do not be afraid, monk, just trust in God. They also induce forgetfulness and blindness, as if the eyes wanted to pop out; bring sluggishness in words and sickness to the tongue and lips, as if they were stuck together with glue when we pray; they let out hiccups, not the kind that happens during belching of the food that we ate, but another kind - only with air, so that the larynx really hurts; They also plague the neck, as if someone were squeezing the veins with pincers. If in these temptations we work earnestly and vigorously in prayer, then demons, like mice, fill the air, scream loudly in different voices, wanting to tear us to pieces or at least throw us down on a seat or on a bed, and barely leave. If we sit down, then the demons, standing nearby, play the flute and sniffles, which are called a buffoon bubble, and the soul, hearing this, relaxes with laziness, and like a fire lowered into water, it is extinguished and so falls asleep; and they hover over us so that we doze and sleep even more. The stench from them is much more disgusting than the stench of dogs, so that the lips are compressed; during the vigil they seem to scorch our faces with heat. Some believe that the flesh dries up from vigil, but this is incorrect, and from the demonic approach at that time; Also, from any stimulating food we experience double severe abuse. All this is caused by demons in a solitary life in order to drive us out of the desert. Since some saints experienced illness many times, we consider this to be a natural weakness and, as if out of need and weakness, lie down on the bed, wanting to get relief, not suspecting the cunning of crafty demons; They, noticing our negligence, that we do not even want to force ourselves against illness, take possession of us even more, so that all members weaken and get sick. If we strengthen ourselves, stand up, cool ourselves in the wind and pray fervently, then the disease disappears and remains without a trace. The demons also cause itching in the hands, illness in the legs - as if they were beating; itching all over the body; they cause distress and discontent, even touch all our bodily members, enter into them and cause dirty tricks to passionate people. And to say a lot, this all happens. Similarly, Macarius the Great, walking through the desert, saw a demon, instead of clothes hung with pumpkins, to whom he involuntarily revealed his deeds to the saint: “Pay attention,” he says, “to the vessels that you see on me; in which places which vessels hang, I anoint those places among people from the corresponding vessels, and they, being burdened, suffer.” Whatever sorrows the demons cause us, they all try to hide so that we do not know that they come from them; They look out for a special time and inflict illness or hardship, so that they are not considered the culprits, but would grumble for the time that it is difficult, and, not understanding their wickedness and not enduring with thanksgiving, they are deprived of the reward. When any illness or hardship happens to us, then with all our hearts we will stand on the rock of faith, like a brave warrior of Christ, and if it is demonic, it will soon begin to weaken and will soon disappear; if it is a natural disease, it will begin to intensify. And when we find out that it is demonic, then we will resist to death; if it is natural, then there is no need to force your nature. Nevertheless, we can endure and overcome all the sorrows brought by demons if we are forced, because God, who is greater than our strength, does not allow temptations to befall us, but makes it easier, if only we endure and do not come out of our silence and unanimously and undoubtedly rely on God. If anyone resists enemies, they run away from him; if someone does not force himself, he is overcome by them; God brings like-minded people into home and drives out those who are bound by courage (Ps. 67:7). Every day He expects patience from us and applies His help to our will, giving it to our every need. Until then, the ascetics suffer until grace visits them; for then thoughts are purified, and passions are then reduced and destroyed; then the suffering from illness and hardship are alleviated; then the entrances to demons and passions are blocked within us. Through prayer and fasting, tears and bows and the grace of God, demons are driven out of us; however, even then, before the departure of our souls, great caution is required, lest we unexpectedly, through our carelessness, do something displeasing to God; or lest the demons bring some misfortune upon us, and through this the grace of God would not depart from us. For the cunning and cunning of evilly cunning demons, and their countless evil deceits and plans are terrible. In all our intentions they hinder and oppose us. Few know their networks; but only courageous souls, to whom God reveals. May the Lord our God help us and strengthen us against all the sorrows of demons, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. If anyone is fearful, then do not be embarrassed at all, but be courageous and place your trust in God and do not pay attention to the embarrassment at all. Do not allow this childish mood to take root in you, as children are usually afraid of, but consider it as nothing, as demonic. The servant of God fears only his Master, Who created the body, put the soul into it and revived it; demons, without God's permission, cannot harm us, but only frighten us and threaten us with dreams. He who has acquired a courageous mind and placed his trust in God does not fear them, he has a strong helper and hope in the Lord; for what creature can harm us, when it is displeasing to God, will not allow this to happen against us. From his thoughts a person either strengthens or weakens, for every good and bad deed is born in him; through custom, every good and bad deed is instilled in a person; what a person gets used to, it seems to be his own. And be courageous, and let your heart be strong, and protect yourself with the sign of the cross when you find insurance. Fence the place where you enter with the sign of the cross, and when entering any empty church, cross yourself and, having said a prayer and saying: “Amen,” enter boldly. If the demons find that we are steadfast in the Lord, they are immediately put to shame and do not embarrass us. Let us keep in mind that we are in the hand of God. The Lord said: Behold, I give you power to tread on the serpent, and on the scorpion, and on all the power of the enemy: and nothing will harm you (Luke 10:19). Let us keep in mind that without the command of God, not the hair of our head will perish (Luke 21:18). We inflict insurance on ourselves with a fearful thought, saying: “What if a demon comes and hits me, or jumps up and frightens me.” Let us not think about this in any way, as if it were happening to us, and we will not be our own enemies, thinking about anything unexpected, but let us think that God is at our right hand, and we will not move. Demons watch us like fishers and carefully watch our thoughts; as we are in our thoughts, similar ones present us with their dreams. But the fear of God casts out the fear of demons. Word 38. About what demons are especially afraid of Demons are very afraid of six virtues: 1) hunger, 2) thirst, 3) the Jesus Prayer, 4) the image of the cross - who depicts the cross well on himself, on his face, 5) frequent Communion of the Most Pure Mysteries of Christ - who receives communion worthily - and 6) undoubted hope in God. There is no more terrible weapon against demons than this. Sermon 39. Brief selected patristic words on essential items When temptation comes upon you by God's permission, such as nakedness, illness, hunger, or some other temptation for your body, even the shedding of blood for the sake of God, then endure it for the glory of God, in the hope of the merciful God, so that you can boldly and unashamedly say: we have passed through fire and water, and are led into rest. If you want, man, to find out the will of God in anything, I will tell you briefly: in the continuation of all your deeds, in every deed, add, according to your strength, sorrow for the sake of God: this is God’s good will; for even a little sorrow for the sake of God is better than a great deed without sorrow. And to slacken yourself little by little is not from God, but from demons. If we are weak and unable to strive, then we will acquire humility, thanksgiving and the Jesus Prayer; if we are healthy, then we must push ourselves to the point of exhaustion; and so little by little our heart will strengthen and learn patience and virtues. Otherwise, it is impossible to be saved. If anyone lives inconsistently with the place, he persecutes himself. A skillful word is sweet and pleasant to everyone: “a gentle calf, they say, sucks two queens.” Do not consider this as flattery: a rude word incites anger. A dispute, although about a good deed, is a contradiction. If you do not have tenderness in your soul, then know that you have pride or anger at someone, or eat, drink, sleep a lot, or indulge in absent-mindedness and care, this does not allow your soul to be touched. If you are overcome by gluttony, then say to yourself: O man, you will be deprived of heavenly food and all heavenly pleasure and beauty, and this food will turn into worms. O minister of divine service, reflect and be attentive to yourself, because you are doing a great thing - you are standing in a holy place with angels, where everything is filled with fear and trembling. Oh, priest, get away from where they are in a hurry to please people. For what kind of tenderness will there be when you are in a hurry? and without tears one should not serve; if your conscience accuses you of anything, then do not dare to serve with it. If you want to learn something, then put in the effort and you will learn. Many were great theologians and writers of skillful words; however, only through wakefulness were we in a state of tenderness; because wakefulness and solitude gives meaning to reasoning and removes confusion, for this served them instead of handicraft. Those who are busy talking have no use for theology. But try every day to eradicate the sins you have committed through repentance and wash your face with tears. If your death happens on the day on which you shed tears, then you will be freed from eternal torment; this is true repentance. Likewise, the robber who wetted his handkerchief with his tears, and the monk who daily fell into fornication and daily repented before the image of Christ, and the publican who beat his breast and said with tears saying: God, be merciful to me a sinner (Luke 18:13), the harlot who wetted the most pure feet of Christ with her tears, and Manasiah, who cleansed himself, were delivered in the same way. tearful repentance. I truly think that if it were possible to wash one’s entire body with tears, it would be incorruptible. However, a person will cry if he does not have painful labor, that is, contrition from sinful inclination or joyful tenderness, or remembrance of the future fire, or reward to each according to his deeds. For the sake of these four virtues, the Holy Spirit does not leave a person, but always remains with him. And whoever remains in laziness for a long time, or has fallen into great sin, or does not care about the passion in which he is, the Holy Spirit departs from him. The beginning of obedience is the complete denial of one's will and justification, the denial of one's body. It is not an easy feat to conquer your will and your character; but no one can be saved without denying his will, even if he strives diligently; for our will and our character are like a copper wall between us and God. We cannot approach God until we abandon our character and will. If we ask for something of our own accord and our request is refused, next time you will find it stronger against you. For every good and bad deed grows through skill and is strengthened by custom (habit); in any case, remember this. If you want to know someone’s customs and deeds, then listen to what his mouth says: for the mouth does not say anything that was not first in the heart. A monk is a fulfiller of the commandments of Christ, a perfect Christian, an imitator and accomplice of the passions of Christ, an everyday martyr, a self-willed dead man, voluntarily dying in spiritual deeds. The monk is a pillar of patience, the depth of humility, a source of tears, a treasure of purity, a despiser of everything that is considered beautiful, sweet, glorious, charming in this world. A monk is a sick soul, constantly learning from mortal memory both in wakefulness and in sleep. A monk is a constant constraint of nature and an unflagging guarding of the senses. Monk is the rank and state of the incorporeal, preserved in a material body, at all times, in every place and in every deed, having in mind only the divine. It is impossible for one to constantly stand before God who has not relied on Him for every need with all his heart and has not cast aside all care. When you want to start some good deed, then first of all prepare yourself for the temptations that come your way, so that you can face them courageously and not waver in your hope in God. When a person begins to live well with warm faith, the enemy of good usually meets him with various and terrible temptations, so that he, frightened by this, stops the work of good desire. If you do not prepare yourself to face temptations, then beware of practicing virtue. A person who doubts God's help fears his shadow without temptation. Let each person have his own conscience as a teacher and witness. In any case, do not speak without discussing every word in advance. Every hasty task is not good. Without recognizing your friend, do not reveal the secret. A flattering friend turns away and becomes an enemy. Word 41. About the benefits of running away from the world It is better to fight alone with demons and die in hunger, nakedness and all sorrow with a small feat in the desert, avoiding the world, than to seek great feats of salvation in the midst of the world; for the flame of the passions of this world kindles and scorches the monk who turns in it. If anyone seems dispassionate, he will suffer harm in the world; and whoever is passionate will become entangled in every sinful network. Just as a fish, hastening to steal food on a fishing rod, is taken out of the water and dies, so a monk, being in the world, is attracted by his thoughts to worldly affairs and against his will, as if attracted by a fishing rod, falls into the enemy’s net and dies, falling away from the angelic life, he mortifies his soul and consigns himself to torment. Peace and voluptuousness are a demonic bait, with which demons catch the souls of monks for destruction. While we love bodily peace, sweetness and laziness, we still fight with the flesh, and not with demons; she fights us at all times and helps the demons against us. Laziness especially combats us while standing, sitting, and on the bed. That’s why we love peace, sweetness and laziness, because they naturally grow with the body, and that’s why they fight us so much. However, anyone who wants to live according to God must force himself to be above natural habit. Let us repent and exhaust ourselves in this world; we cannot avoid one death; Those who force themselves will receive a great reward after death, but those who love peace and pleasure in this short-lived life will receive eternal torment after death. What is better, man, to mourn for a few days and then reign forever, or to rest for a few days and suffer forever? From rest and pleasures comes laziness, from laziness comes idleness, from idleness comes despondency, from despondency - wandering of the body, from wandering of the body - incontinence of the senses, from incontinence of the senses and from the demonic excuse all passions rise together, from consent and permission the passions are strengthened. It is obvious that in a world where everyone is free to look at, listen and speak, there is incontinence of feelings and agreement with pretext. Therefore, let each person withdraw from bodily rest, from listening, seeing and talking. Human feelings are gullible, when the eyes see something, or the ears hear, or what we talk about, the mind listens to that, the soul strives for that, the heart desires, that’s what a person gets used to, that’s what takes root inside, then the demons constantly put it in the mind and remind them of all this; when our feelings enjoy the passions with pleasure, then sin already fully appears. A person cannot cleanse himself of passions until he cuts off the reason for passions. The following passions cause absent-mindedness of thoughts, darkening of the mind and entrance to demons: laziness, wandering of bad thoughts, insatiable sleep, frequent untimely eating, hot temper and bodily rest. Only internal work, that is, unceasing mental heartfelt prayer and fasting flowing from the heart, drives out demons, does not allow them, prepares a place inside for the Holy Spirit, and thus man is the church of God; Without this, a peace-loving evil spirit takes possession of the body. This generation, said the Lord, proceeds by nothing but prayer and fasting (Matthew 17:21); inner work is impregnable and terrifying for demons. Infatuation with bad thoughts gives them access inside. While a person is bound by passions and love of peace, until then demons dare to rule over his body, insult him, drag him into all passions, force him, as if he were submissive and subservient to himself; passions are the door to demons; They enter with them as if by a door; God allows them to arm themselves against us, so that we recognize our weakness and do not become arrogant. Only spiritual properties and strength cannot be directly perverted by demons, for the power of God does not allow them to do so. It happens that sometimes someone strives well, but allows demons to enter through these passions, then for him there is a double struggle and burden, and for a long time he cannot come to the initial zeal. “This once happened to me,” says one of the fasters, “I struggled very hard for three years.” From the scattering of thoughts comes drowsiness and gloomy, insatiable sleep; from darkness there is also a fall into sin; from the Fall—desperate torment of the soul. Since hovering and darkening of the mind, as said above, comes from wandering, absent-mindedness of thoughts and incontinence of feelings, then in every possible way one must avoid the temptations of the world, restrain the feelings and turn them away, like a horse with a bridle, from harmful cases, not giving them the will to avoid bad deeds by guarding them. A sober mind should be set as a good guardian of one’s soul, so that it does not allow feelings to become evil. When your mind abandons inner caution and prudence, then the passions rebel, and each of them, plundering your spiritual forces, like a weapon against you, directs them to their own actions; then the mind begins to be passionate, scattered in thoughts and gloomy, it casts off the shackles and the heaviness is broken, the ties are dissolved and the thing becomes free. Therefore, monk, be sober in mind, sober; find yourself a place that is deplorable and completely unnecessary to people, so as not to be kicked out, and removed from the world; there is your silent life, even if you desire any worldly matter, but not having the opportunity to do it, thanks to the distance you will not fall into it. In the desert, just by moving away from the world, a person is freed from passions. Word 42. About what is from God - suggestion or admonishment of the enemy Question: why was it possible to find out whether it was God’s favor or an enemy’s temptation when a dubious good deed happened, that is, one thought prompts one to do it, and another, on the contrary, prevents it? Answer: The enemy has a habit of hiding the truth and mixing good with evil. But why is it possible to know the truth? God's favor in all our intentions is meek, trustworthy and certain; not only in our good deeds, but also in our iniquity. God is patient with meekness and awaits our repentance. Why find out the enemy's pretext? The enemy usually hinders us and turns us away from good. However, if in something apparently good the mind is confused and upsets us, drives away the fear of God, deprives us of peace, so that without any reason the heart hurts and the mind hesitates, then know that this is an enemy excuse and reject it. The enemy is outrageous, restless and doubtful for the mind in all our intentions. We should not trust the disposition of our hearts in everything, but judge whether disposition is useful. When our mind is constrained from enemies by thoughts and darkness, then we must completely abandon all thought and reasoning, for we do not know the truth until the mind is cleansed by prayer, for then thoughts, like muddy water, rise into the mind, or, like a cloud, they wander, and spiritual feelings are insensitive to everything. Therefore, whoever wants to know the truth, let him motivate himself for a long time to fervent prayer and to the desired deed; during prayer, the enemy cannot hide the truth, since then he has no power; You can actually experience the truth of such faith. Glory to our God forever. Amen. Word 43. About undoubted faith Undoubtedly, a believer in God's thoughts does not decide what kind of death he will have to die: either from people, or from animals, or from hunger, or from the burden of great labor, or from any other cases. There will not be two deaths, but no one can avoid one. Having once relied on God for all your needs for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven and died for the world, then you no longer care about how you die. Once he has put his trust in God, he no longer cares about himself and no matter what he does, he will find the benefit of his soul in everything. But let him know that he who gives himself up to all sorrows for the sake of God will find salvation in every place. According to our faith, the grace of God is given to us; little faith, little is given; We believe more, we are awarded more grace for patience. Nothing will happen to us apart from God’s providence and His dispensation; God expects from us only the will of our mind. But the destinies of God are incomprehensible, and therefore we must save our souls through patience, and he who endures to the end will be saved through Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. I beg and exhort you, my beloved fathers, brothers, children in the following: love your Lord with all your soul and with all your heart, be just and truthful, submissive, with your head down, and your mind turned to heaven, have tenderness towards God and people, be a comforter of the sad, patient in temptations and not annoying, generous, merciful, a feeder of the poor, hospitable to strangers, sad for the sake of sins, joyful in God, greedy and thirsty, meek, patient, not a lover of glory, not a lover of gold, a lover of others, not hypocritical, not proud, hardworking for God, silent, pleasant in answers, diligent in fasting, frequent prayers, vigils and psalmody, reasonable; do not judge every person, but look down on yourself; - and for all this you will be a child of the Gospel, a son of the resurrection, an heir of life in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be honor and dominion and worship with the Father and the Most Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. Today, O beloved ones, collect crins and beautiful flowers, and compose a life of all good things about the Lord God. From those who are written, teach them (relatives) too. I also pray to you: do these works; For these sakes, gain eternal blessings; Yes, in the unflickering light from the angels you will receive eternal life. For there those who exist glorify God beyond measure, and praise the Trinity with its angelic faces forever. Oh, what a gift God grants to those on earth in heaven; if you please Him, they will accept Him for their needs! Dear King of all in Christ, grant us Thy love for mankind, so that we may be heirs of Thy kingdom! I kindly beg you, readers, for this: I wish for correction of my own rudeness; but even more so, with your prudence, correct us: humbly and mercifully leave Thy servant, O Master. Even if you love my zeal in this, do not put in my zealous labors in vain. Instruction for tonsure into the monastic order How monks should always fight against three enemies Just as the warriors of this world, coming together for battle, equip themselves with all kinds of weapons in order to be terrible for their enemies, and courageously take up arms against them, so Christ’s soldiers must also equip themselves with all kinds of spiritual weapons when they are going to go out to battle against invisible enemies. As it is written, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the dark principalities and powers and rulers of the world (Eph. 6:12), against three powerful enemies - the body, the world and the devil. Let us hear more clearly in the Gospel of Matthew in chapters 10 and 16, as the Lord said to His disciples: Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is worthy of Me. Whoever loves a son or daughter more than Me is worthy of Me. He who does not accept his cross and does not come after Me is worthy of carrying Me (Matthew 10:37–38). Whoever wants to save his soul will destroy it, and whoever destroys his soul for the sake of Me and the Gospel will save it. What good is it for a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul, or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:25–26). Part one. About daily warfare and how monks must take up arms against these three enemies and defeat them In the Holy Gospel, the Lord clearly indicated three enemies warring against our soul. The first and greatest enemy is the devil, against whom the Lord commands us to take up the cross. The second enemy - our body - resists him. He commanded the rejection of father, mother, son and daughter. The third enemy is the world; He said about this: If he gains the whole world, what good does it benefit him? (see Matthew 16:26). Monks must fight against three enemies and take up arms against them always when they run on the trail of this world (see 1 Cor. 9:24). The spectators of this battle are both God and His angels, and the devil and his angels. The place of battle is the distance between the righteous and the sinful. Horse - body. The horseman and rider is the soul, the leader of the army is the mind. The weapon of the soldiers of Christ is faith, like an invincible shield. Patience is like a strong helmet. Diligent prayer is like a sword. Unfeigned humility is like a bow and arrow. The devil is very afraid of such weapons. The regiments of Satan and the leaders of his army: the first regiment is pride, delicacy, uncleanness, murder, vanity, rage, anger. The devil rules over them and strikes the soul with sin like an arrow. The second regiment of satanic power is the malice of this world, for it fights with seduction and temporary sweetness and various beauties. Then our body itself wages its war on the soul through overeating, drunkenness and lust for fornication, laziness and other sinful passions. Indeed, our battle is very difficult against the first enemy: the visible nature with the invisible. Unless the Lord is our helper (see Ps. 93:17) against such an enemy, we will not be able to defeat him. But we will not overcome others without God’s help. The first step to warfare and militia against this world is when we move away from it, leaving voluptuousness and seductive dreams of its beauties, perishable wealth, temporary joy, and accept Christ’s image of voluntary poverty, so that through our poverty we glorify the wealth of Him who, being rich, became poor for our sake, so that we might be enriched by His poverty (see 2 Cor. 8:9) and draw closer to God. For the whole world lies in evil (1 John 5:19), and all that is in the world is carnal lust and worldly pride that deceives our eyes (see 1 John 2:16). Therefore, the apostle said: Love neither this world nor the things that are in the world (see 1 John 2:15), for if anyone wants to be a friend to the world, he becomes an enemy of God (James 4:4). Therefore, flee from this world, like Lot from the burning of Sodom, to the mountain of silent life Zoar, like Israel from Egypt. Hurry from the darkness of sin to the promised land, to a life pleasing to God, pure and sinless. Flee from Babylonian slavery to Sinai freedom. Reject the world and the seduction that is in it, get away from it on an irrevocable journey. And so you will defeat the regiments of the first enemy, and with your victory you will rejoice the Heavens, and you will bring sorrow to the demons. If he overcomes you and takes your souls captive, then, even if you acquire wealth and beauty for the whole world, there will be no benefit from it. For you cannot redeem your soul from captivity with any things - or what ransom will you give for it? (see Matthew 16:26) You will overcome the strength of the first strength of the body if you are separated from your relatives - father, mother, wife, children, brother and sister - for they remain in worldly earthly service, like dead men (cf. Matthew 8:21-22; Luke 9:59-60). You hurry to the service of God and move away from earthly wisdom to heavenly ones, to where Christ reigns forever. It is appropriate to separate not from all your relatives, but only from those who interfere with your salvation and philosophize about earthly things, saying: “Get married, son, and gather wealth in the world, work for property, acquire villages, plant vineyards, gather a multitude of slaves - and have fun in the midst of this all the days of your life, for you are the heir of our house.” It is appropriate to flee from those parents and separate from those who show darkness instead of light and death instead of life. If our parents advise us good and lead us to God and to serve Him, such parents should be deeply loved and revered as saints and their will and advice should be diligently followed. Once again you will overcome the body and destroy the strength of its second strength, if you refrain from eating too much sweet food and drinking immeasurably, then by fasting you will kill the lust of sin and kill the lust of the flesh. You will also overcome other passions or sinful motives: you will destroy laziness with vigor, the desire for fornication with the chastity of purity, for with such arrows the body fights against our soul. For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and so they oppose each other (Gal. 5:17). For our body itself, by its nature, is our enemy, since it fights with the soul through the lusts of its sin. But, on the contrary, it is also a friend, because it helps the soul in good ways. With my body, with God's help, I can fast, shed tears, kneel, give alms - we cannot do this with a naked soul, without a body. And the body also protects the soul from pride, for the soul is an essence of a high kind, like the image of God, and therefore is elevated by arrogance. If he turns his gaze to the body, then he humbles his arrogance and understands that the body originates from dirt, and man is dust. That is why Saint Gregory spoke about the union and alienation of soul and body: merciful enemy and slandering friend. For if a person looks at the lower world - the body, then he becomes temporary, mortal, the heir of fire and darkness. On the contrary, if he turns his rational eye to the heavenly world, then he will be a great, eternal, immortal and heir of the heavenly light. Therefore, I pray to you, as the servants of Christ: do not be captives of the earthly world - body and death, but move on to the heavenly world and the immortal limit, in order to appear as heirs of its light. And if you defeat the first regiments of your enemies, then you will be able to easily take up arms against the devil himself, the ruler of the world, the prince of darkness, his dark powers and the opposing forces and defeat their army. Just take on the whole armor of God, so that you can use it to repel and extinguish the kindled arrows of the evil one (see Eph. 6, 13 and 16). For with three weapons—faith, patience and prayer—all the warfare of the devil and his power is destroyed and easily driven away: pride—by humility, vanity—by self-denial, fornication—by purity. Especially with the cross you will defeat and overcome these three enemies of yours when you accept the cross of your patience and on it you mortify your body, crucify yourself to the world, and die to a sinful life. And, like a dead corpse, you will not look at sin or touch it. Then your victory will appear like the moon during the full moon, in the radiance of eternal glory, and the angels of God, rejoicing, will come out to meet you, and the King of eternal glory, Christ, will accept His victorious one, and will glorify him before the assembly of His bright angels, before the patriarchs, prophets and apostles, and will number him among the ranks of these righteous people, and will grant him a place in His Heavenly Kingdom. Part two. About the beginning of monasticism and what it means to be a monk The monk is the fulfiller of all the commandments of Christ, the perfection of Christianity, the abyss of humility, the pillar of patience, the unceasing remembrance of death, the never-failing source of tears, the treasure of purity, the mocker of everything corruptible, the trampler of everything pleasant and seductive in this world, voluntary self-mortification. He is an everyday martyr and enforcer of his nature, a God-pleasing sacrifice, an ever-burning lamp of spiritual wisdom, an enlightened mind, a contemplator of everything visible and invisible, quickly ascending prayers, contemplation of God, a pure heart, unceasing lips of God’s praise, the dwelling of the Holy Trinity, a spectacle for angels and people, a terror for demons. He is called a monk because he has a different residence, not physical, but spiritual, he has a different activity, a different age, different food, different clothing and work. He is also called a monk because of his black and deplorable clothes; is also called a monk, or solitary, carefree - one with the One God must have communion. Lawmakers and teachers of monastic life: the first is Melchizedek, a priest of the Most High God, who lived without a wife, without relatives in the desert (see Heb. 7, 1 and 3). The second is the wonderful Elijah, who lived without a wife in the wilderness of Horeb. The third is John the Baptist, who lived in the Jordanian desert without a wife, without any property, who did not eat meat or drink wine, and wore a garment of mourning - a hair shirt. We clearly testify about the law and antiquity of the monastic order that it was legitimized and approved by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. For the Lord Himself lived without a wife in virginity, a pure life, in poverty and lack of wealth. Likewise, His apostles, leaving father and mother, wife and children and everything in the world, followed Christ. Therefore, the monks follow Christ’s teaching and advice and imitate the life of the apostles. For they abandon everything that is pleasant and tempting in the world, the pride of life and the lust for everything sweet. They leave marriage, fun, bodily peace and temporary wealth, but they themselves follow Christ, taking up their cross: voluntary patience, poverty and virginity, wandering in the deserts and mountains. Instead of bright houses there are dark caves, dens and abysses of the earth (see Heb. 11:38). Instead of a wife and children, there are beasts of the earth and birds of the air in the deserts. Instead of light clothes and sweet food and drink - hair shirt, thin clothes, hunger and a little water to quench thirst. Instead of drunkenness and fun - crying, sighing and shedding tears. Their bed is the earth, and their cover is the sky. All this is their free cross of everyday patience. For this reason, the monks hated the vanity of life and did not bind themselves to worldly purchases (see 2 Tim. 2:4), wives, children and houses. They do not burden themselves with wealth in order to more conveniently serve the Lord and please Him, and therefore choose the best bliss for themselves. After all, every married man worries about how to please his wife, and the wife also worries about how to please her husband, and an unmarried man worries about how to please his God (see 1 Cor. 7:32:33) and serve Him faithfully. In addition, they also know that living with a wife is by nature, this is how both animals and pagans live. But to live without a wife, in virginity and purity, is above nature, for it is the work of angels and the life of the holy saints of God who always serve the Lord. As the apostle says, if anyone fasts and prays, let him separate from his wife for a while (cf. 1 Cor. 7:5). But monks always remain in fasting and prayer until their death, which is why they do not have wives. Yes, and in the Old Law it was commanded that those who approach to serve the Lord should be separated from their wives (cf. Ex. 19:15). Monks always work for God, always stand in His service, therefore they are separated from their wives until death and so serve Him in purity as His faithful servants. Although the heretics disparage the monks for allegedly abhorring marriage and food, and cite the apostolic word against them: The Spirit clearly said that in the last times some will depart from the faith, heeding the teachings of demons, forbidding marriage and eating what God created (see 1 Tim. 4, 1 and 3), however, the apostle prophesied about various heretics who will come after apostles: about the Manichaeans, Marcionites, Ebionites and God-abhorrent Eutychians. Those who were called Manichaeans recognized two different gods: one god in heaven - the good one, and the other on earth - the evil ruler of the world. And in this form, misunderstanding the apostolic word, they spread their damned heresy and abhorred food prepared on earth. Therefore, not eating meat and not drinking wine is not contempt, but a form of abstinence. And from the very beginning, from the creation of the world until the flood, they did not eat meat or drink wine. And in the Law of Moses, the Nazirites did not drink wine (cf.: Numbers 6:3) and did not eat any vegetables and meat, as well as pork (cf.: Lev. 11:7; Deut. 14:8). Also, Daniel and the three youths abhorred the meat food of King Nebuchadnezzar. Moses, Elijah and the Lord Himself fasted, not eating meat or drinking wine for forty days and nights. Saint John the Baptist did not eat meat or drink wine all the days of his life. And did he really adhere to the demonic teachings? Tell me, heretic! You, now reproaching fasters! But the whole universe knows that they were filled with the Holy Spirit, since they abstained from good meat, wine and wife. The ancient theologians say the same thing about Matthew the Evangelist and James Alphaeus: they did not eat meat or drink wine all the days of their lives. They did not disdain what was created by God, but abstained and killed sinful passions in their bodies by fasting. For fasting is a terrible thing for demons, but for God it is a beloved and most honest gift, as evidenced by the fifth canon of the Council of Nicaea. The monastic rite and law for those who truly worship God (see John 4:23) and fasters were established by the apostles after the Ascension of the Lord, as the Evangelist Luke writes in Acts: The multitude of those who believed in Jerusalem had one heart and one soul. For they, selling their estates, had everything in common (see Acts 4:32), except their wives. So Ananias and his wife Sapphira lied about the price and died because they did not make the money common, hiding from the price. Therefore, the apostles, having sworn an oath and a promise to certain faithful young men from among the people, begged them and taught them to live without wives, in purity, voluntary poverty and obedience, remaining in this until their death. Then many followed their advice and favorably accepted this honest deed. And so the apostles legitimized the monastic order, tonsuring the heads of these young men in Cenchrea for a monastic, celibate and pure life. Saint Paul did the same when he tonsured four men and Aquila and Priscilla (see Acts 21, 23–26 and Acts 18:18). Those who took monastic vows were called not monks, but servants of God, as evidenced by Dionysius the Areopagite, the eighth disciple of the holy Apostle Paul, in a letter to one monk Dimophilus, calling him a servant of God and a slave, who had completely cut off his own will and surrendered himself entirely to the will of God. And just as a slave is not free from his master, so a monk is never idle in serving God, but incessantly serves Him day and night - with praise, thanksgiving, prayer, singing, vigil, fasting and contemplation of God. These are the true deeds of the servant of the Lord. The whole virtue of Christian perfection and all the commandments and perfections of God in monastic life lies in voluntary squalor, purity, and obedience. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the mirror of all virtue and its teacher, the light of perfection, the source of purity. For He Himself was born of the Most Pure Virgin and He Himself lived in virginity and purity until His free death. And when he was hanging on the Cross, he entrusted the Most Pure Virgin, His Mother, to a disciple and a virgin. He himself loved voluntary poverty: the rich God was born in a wretched manger, from a wretched Virgin, He lived wretchedly in the world and had no place to lay his head (see Matt. 8:20). He died poor and naked on the Cross, He who dresses “in light like a robe” (Ps. 103:2). He spent his life in obedience from his birth, “he was obedient even to death, death on the cross” (Phil. 2:8). And since then, obedience in the glorious Church of Christ has been legitimized by God Himself. Monks make a vow before God and with an oath undertake to preserve these three virtues of Christian perfection: purity and true virginity, voluntary poverty and unhypocritical obedience, as well as to fulfill other virtues that are born from these three, as the most important ones. Monastic life is divided into three parts, or three ranks: the first - communal monks, the second - monastic ones; and the third are solitary desert dwellers. There is also a fourth one between them, called “fallen”. These are self-willed people who live like robbers; each of them has his own property and acts according to the impulses of his will. They live without any rank and law, they are hypocrites, and do not practice monasticism, as Cassian said. Monks who live according to rank must adorn themselves with every virtue: humility, chastity, patience, love, fasting and prayer. Therefore, I pray to those who are monastic: do not be slaves to laziness and vileness, but, working out your salvation in fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12), decorate your mind with the thought of God, for this is a truly honest deed and is characteristic of truly monastics. Do not love slumber and dreams, but create diligent prayer with your lips. Seek not the perishable blessings of the present age, but the eternal blessings of the future. If you do this, then you will be a true servant of God. And your Lord says: where I am, there will My servant also reign with Me in the glory of My Kingdom (see John 12:26). Grant us all this Kingdom, O Christ our God, that we may praise You together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. Your Eminence, God-elected and appointed archpastor and you, most God-loving bishops, whom God appointed to shepherd His Church in this Orthodox Christian Moldova land! I, the last servant of Your Eminences, standing before the sacred faces of Your Eminences and the entire cathedral and wishing to tell in this shortest and most unreasonable word about myself, the last one, about how all the brothers gathered about the name of Christ to me and to each other, and about our life, I beg Your Eminence to patiently listen to my story, imitating the benevolence and long-suffering of God, condescending with the wisdom given to you by God to my rudeness, a simple and ignorant person. In my youth I had great zeal and love for the monastic life and, leaving the world and everything in the world, I accepted the beginning of the monastic image in my fatherland - Little Russia. Then he felt jealous of wandering in order to serve God with greater convenience. Leaving my fatherland, I came to the famous Holy Mount Athos and settled under the Pantokrator monastery in a certain kaliva in silence, where I was honored to take on the mantle. When I was there for some time, one Romanian brother from Nemul, who, through the zeal of God, came to the Holy Mountain, began to force me with his strong requests to accept him as an apprentice, but I, seeing the weakness and foolishness of my soul, refused many times. However, then, on the one hand, seeing how he diligently begged me to accept him, and on the other hand, reasoning that Holy Scripture does not approve of a passionate person living on his own and forbids him to do so, I decided with that brother, as like-minded and unanimous, to choose the middle path of monastic life, that is, life with one or two brothers, since this path is approved and praised by both the Holy Scripture and the inspired fathers. Therefore, despising my weakness and foolishness, placing all hope in God for my and my brother’s correction, offering the Holy Scripture as an unerring guide to the salvation of myself and my brother, I dared to accept it, revealing to him from the Holy Scripture that it is not proper to have one’s own property, even the smallest thing, to do one’s own will or follow one’s own reasoning, but must, with the fear of God, according to one’s strength, perform obedience with soul and body. Obeying this teaching, the brother fulfilled it with all diligence. When I lived such a life unanimously with this brother, other brothers began to greatly disturb me with their pleas to accept them into obedience. But I refused for a long time, afraid to take upon myself such a burden of care for the souls of the brothers, which belongs to the dispassionate alone. Seeing their diligent prayer to accept them into obedience, he was distressed in heart and regretted them, not knowing what to do. Therefore, not being able to get rid of their diligent prayer, I began to accept those brothers one by one into obedience. Due to the increase in the number of brothers, we moved from that kaliva to the monastery of St. Constantine. When twelve brothers gathered there, I began to reason that our life from the middle path (that is, staying with one or two brothers), due to the multiplication of the brethren, changes to a common life, which, according to the definition of St. Basil the Great, should begin with no less than twelve brothers. Since we did not fit in the small hermitage of St. Constantine, then with the support of the lovers of Christ, and to a greater extent with the labors of the brothers, we rebuilt from the very foundation a more spacious hermitage of the holy prophet Elijah in order to accommodate us there, and we thought only with such a number of brothers to complete our lives. But when the construction of the monastery was completed and we saw that the number of brothers in this monastery began to increase even more, coming from the world, from these countries and from my fatherland, to the Holy Mountain and who had a zeal for such a life, so that in a few years the number of brothers increased to fifty (since I could in no way get rid of their pleas to accept them into obedience), I began to reason that the Holy Mountain, as a place, although holy, was very severe, will not contribute to an even greater strengthening of such a unanimous and like-minded assembly of brothers about the name of Christ, but due to extreme needs, without the satisfaction of which it is impossible for common life to take place, it will lead it over time to ruin. Therefore, I decided to move with all my brothers to this God-protected Orthodox land for the sake of greater strengthening of our common life. I revealed this thought many times to His Holiness Patriarch Seraphim, who, regretting our departure, wanted to establish our life in one Svyatogorsk monastery called Simonopetra. However, even this good intention of His Holiness was not fulfilled by God, so we suffered considerable losses, since, being innocent of anything, we were forced by the creditors of that monastery to pay up to seven hundred leva. Reasoning about all this and fearing that there might be an extreme ruin of our life, which with God’s help, thanks to considerable labor and sweat, achieved such a unanimous stay together with each other, we held a council and all together unanimously and unanimously decided to move from the Holy Mountain to this Orthodox and God-protected Christian land in order to look for a suitable place for our life. Having made this decision, we left the Holy Mountain and came to this God-protected land, placing all our hope for the arrangement of our life on the common Provider and Creator of all, God, who, out of His greatest and ineffable mercy, breathed His grace into the hearts of the pious and Christ-loving, cross-bearing and imitating Christ in the mercy of our ruler, governor John Gregory Ioannovich, and our Most Reverend Great Master Cyrus Gabriel, Archbishop and Metropolitan of this God-protected land, and they, becoming like God in their mercy, gave us for our common life the beautiful monastery of Dragomirna, built of blessed memory by the Most Reverend Archbishop and Metropolitan of Sochava, Cyrus Anastasius Krimkovich. We attribute this event, first of all, to the special, ineffable Providence of God for our common life, as well as to the Christ-imitating mercy of the most pious governor and the Most Reverend Metropolitan, who served such Providence and the will of the Divine, and we consider this a great miracle for ourselves. For who among us could hope that we, the poor, the beggars and strangers, who had no place to lay our heads, would be given such a place and such a beautiful monastery with all its grounds, suitable for our community, and moreover, that it would also be delivered, freed forever from all the usual tributes, which the pious ruler approved by the grant of his Majesty's charter. Glory to the One Trinitarian God, who gave His Trinity Monastery to our community through the most pious governor and His Eminence the Metropolitan. We also thank our most pious, Christ-loving and most merciful ruler, Governor John Grigory Ioannovich, for this highest mercy of His Majesty shown to us, for which we must, until our last breath, pray to the great God in the mercy of His Majesty, may he grant him, the ruler of the power entrusted to him by God, according to His mercy and truth, according to His Divine will in this life, peace, health, longevity, victory over visible and invisible enemies, and in the future bliss for the wise and faithful management of the power entrusted to him by God, may he be worthy to receive, together with our pious lady Elena Domna, his God-loving children and the entire God-glorified family, the crown of the Kingdom of Heaven, which pious kings who have pleased God have. We also thank our Most Reverend Archbishop and Metropolitan, the Great Lord Cyrus Gabriel, with the God-loving bishops for their greatest mercy shown to us, for which in our unceasing weak prayers we wish that they, the flock of Christ’s verbal sheep entrusted to them by God, having fed in the meadow of His Divine teachings, will be honored with future bliss from The Chief Shepherd (see 1 Pet. 5:4), the Great Bishop who passed through the heavens (see Heb. 4:14), Christ, the Son of God, together with all the shepherds and teachers of the Holy Church, to receive the blessings prepared for those who love (see 1 Cor. 2:9) our God, the angels desire to come into the Lord (1 Pet. 1:12). We also thank the noble gentlemen of the boyars for their mercies and all the benefactors of this holy monastery, praying to God that He will reward them with His merciful reward both in the present and in the future life with temporary and eternal benefits for their good deeds to us and this monastery. Having offered Your Eminence such a brief, ignorance-filled story about the beginning of our common life and about the reason for our exit from the Holy Mountain to this God-protected land, we, in addition, thanked our most pious and Christ-loving ruler, governor John Gregory Ioannovich, and our Most Reverend Great Master Cyrus Gabriel, appointed by God. archbishop and metropolitan of this Orthodox land, who, beyond our hopes, received us with love and kindness and gave us a wonderful monastery for our common life. In addition, we thanked the God-loving bishops of this God-protected land and the noble boyars, who in word and deed helped us in our extreme need and provide all kindness and assistance to our holy monastery. Now let’s get to the word about what kind of communal rite, according to the charter of the God-bearing fathers, this common life should, as far as possible, be observed and preserved, without transgressing or changing it. And since God has vouchsafed us, by the highest mercy of our most pious sovereign and His Eminence, our Metropolitan, to inherit such a monastery, which, as we hear, was created with that intention of blessed memory by Cyrus Anastasius, Archbishop and Metropolitan of Sochava, so that life in it would be common in everything, according to Scripture (see Ps. 133:1; Acts. 2:44), and not special, then we extremely desired to preserve the rite taught by him for common life, as the rank of our father and ktitor. But, having diligently searched for that rite everywhere and among the books donated by the ktitor (of which a small number are in the monastery), we did not find it, therefore, placing hope in God and in God on the prayers of Your Eminences and our blessed ktitor, having also examined the meaning of the Holy Scriptures and the communal rules taught by God of St. Basil the Great and other holy and spirit-bearing fathers, we want, upon completion of this study, to offer your To the Eminence and to the entire God-assembled and chosen spiritual council, the rite that befits common life is necessary for salvation and can be observed in this last time. And if in this cenobitic rite that we have written, anything turns out to be pleasing to God and in accordance with the Holy Scriptures, then we pray to Your Eminences and the entire spiritual consecrated council to approve this rite with the authority given to you by God, so that it is observed inviolably. If anything turns out to be contrary to God and the Holy Scriptures, then we beg you, like our sheep-shepherds, to correct them with a spirit of meekness (see Gal. 6:1) our ignorance according to the spiritual wisdom given to you by God and guide us to the pasture of a godly communal order. So, first we want to tell Your Eminence and the entire consecrated cathedral not about the rite that we now want to establish in our community as new and not previously existing, but about the one that was previously established in our life, even on the Holy Mountain, and by the grace of God and through your powerful prayers, as far as possible to our weakness, is inviolably observed. 1. The first charter and order of our community, which we carefully observed both with a small and large number of brothers and still observe by the grace of God, is as follows. Not a single brother should in any way have any movable or immovable property, even the smallest thing, and not call anything his own, but have in common everything sent by God for the organization of common life. For the sake of deanery, the abbot, seeing the need of each brother for food, clothing and other necessary things, must, like a father who, according to God, cares for his spiritual children, supply them, giving each what is necessary in accordance with his needs, so that each brother receives what is necessary by obedience and with the rejection of his will, and not by arbitrary choice. By the grace of Christ, we accepted this rite and charter as the root and foundation of our common life, knowing for sure that from this in brothers living together grows sincere love for God and neighbor, meekness, humility, peace, unanimity and cutting off their own will in everything. And such brothers can undergo obedience not for the sake of some temporary acquisition, not for the sake of glory, honor and bodily peace, and not for any other human consideration, but only for the sake of their salvation. And therefore, they can have one heart and soul (Acts 4:32), and worldly pride, hatred of one’s neighbor, envy, enmity, rancor and other evils have no place to lay their heads among brothers who move away from the possession of special property. For because of property in the common life, every malice is born, every crime of the commandments of God, and the one who dares to have some, even the slightest, personal acquisition in the common life becomes, according to the Great Basil, a second Judas, turning out to be a traitor to the truth, like Judas - the Lord. Seeing from the God-inspired writings of the God-bearing fathers that such evil and spiritual harm occur in common life due to the possession of special property, I was very horrified in my soul, lest such a soul-destroying illness would someday take root in our common life and lead it to complete desolation. Therefore, I was most diligent in making sure that every brother who enters into common life and gives himself up to obedience is especially explained, on the basis of Holy Scripture, that in no way should he have any property of his own until his last breath. All the brothers, unanimously obeying this teaching, follow it with great care, so that it never occurs to any of them to acquire anything for themselves personally, and all are content with what is sent from God and necessary for the maintenance of life. 2. The second order, which we, by the grace of Christ, established for this common life and which, we think, elevates all monastic life, is as follows. All the brothers, who have gathered in this community with one mind and one accord for the name of Christ, must first of all and most of all, according to the word of the fathers, acquire obedience, as the path that steadily leads to the Kingdom of Heaven. Having spat upon and discarded all his own will, reasoning and arbitrariness, he must with all diligence try to do and fulfill the will, judgment and commandments of his father, if they agree with the meaning of the Holy Scriptures, and according to his strength, soul and body and all his good will, serve until death with the fear of God and humility of the brethren, as the Lord Himself, and not people. 3. The abbot, knowing for sure that for the souls of his brothers he will be tortured on the day of the Terrible Second Coming of Christ, must diligently study the Holy Scriptures and the teachings of the spiritual fathers, and without their testimony he should not offer the teaching of the brethren, nor the commandments to teach or establish anything, but he must, according to the meaning of the Holy Scriptures and the teaching of the holy fathers, often teach and instruct the brethren, reveal the will of God and according to the reason of the commandments of Christ, to assign monastic obedience to the brothers, fearing and trembling to offer them anything from himself, and not according to the reason of Scripture, knowing for sure that the Holy Scripture and the teaching of the holy fathers, both for himself and for the brethren, are a mentor and a faithful guide to salvation. The rector, presenting to the entire cathedral an image of humility and an all-consensual and like-minded union of spiritual love, must begin and do every work not on his own, without advice, but by gathering together the brothers who are most skilled in spiritual reasoning and in consultation with them, studying the Scriptures, so that nothing will be contrary to God, the Divine commandments and the Scriptures - this is how one should begin and do many important things. If some necessary matter arises, which must be announced before the whole council, then it is appropriate, having gathered the whole council, with the knowledge of the whole council and general consideration, to begin and do such a thing. So between brothers there can be constant peace, like-mindedness and an indestructible union of spiritual love. 4. The conciliar rule of the Holy Eastern Church: Vespers, Compline, Midnight Office, Matins, the Hours and the Divine Liturgy, as well as all-night vigils with readings for all the Lord's, Theotokos and great holy feasts, and for lesser feasts - polyeleos and doxology, also with readings, and all other church rites and adherence to the conciliar Rule, as we are accustomed to on Holy Mount Athos, must do everything in this monastery of ours without any retreat, without omission, without any haste, in due time. The patrons and benefactors of the holy monastery must be strictly remembered at divine services according to the rites and Rules of the Holy Church, both living and deceased. The leader and all the brothers, each according to their rank, must always be in the cathedral church rule in robes, cassocks and hoods, and no one should ever deviate from this, except for a blessed reason, for example, because of an illness or due to necessary obedience. If one of the brothers does not follow the church rule, the abbot must ask him about this in the refectory in front of all the brethren, and if he does not provide a blessed reason, the abbot, with his usual spiritual verbal instruction, must give such a brother the appropriate penance - to bow throughout the meal or not eat that day. 5. The abbot and all the brethren must gather every day in the refectory and all together eat for the glory of God the food and drink sent by God, common to all, not denigrating the monastic vow, strictly observing the general Charter of the Holy Church on permission and non-permission 7 . At the meal, the brothers must sit according to their rank in robes, cassocks and hoods, eat their food with great and extreme silence and fear of God, listening to the reading, which must be in the refectory every day without fail, from the lives of the saints, from paternal and instructive books according to the Church Rule. And on all Sundays throughout the year, on the Lord's great holidays, on the days of celebrated saints, and if possible, even better, then every day there must certainly be a Panagia 8. The entire order of meals in our hostel must be performed according to the Svyatogorsk custom, and in no way will either the abbot or the brothers be allowed to eat in cells, except in case of illness or extreme old age, and let everyone eat one common food. If one of the brothers has a sick stomach and he cannot eat common food, he, according to the teaching of the holy fathers and according to the reasoning of the abbot, should be given food that is useful to him in such extreme need, however, he should also take it together with all the brothers in the refectory, and not in the cell. 6. According to the tradition of the holy fathers, brothers should remain in their cells with the fear of God, preferring mental prayer to any feat - as the love of God and the source of virtues - artistically performed in the heart with the mind, as many God-bearing fathers teach about it: Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Simeon, Metropolitan of Thessalonica, Saint Callistos, Patriarch of Constantinople, Saint Hesychius of Jerusalem, Saint Simeon the New Theologian, Saint John Climacus, Saint Maximus the Confessor, Saint Gregory of Sinai, Peter of Damascus, Saint Nile of Sinai and Saint Diadochos, Bishop of Photikie - all of them, as well as other God-bearing holy fathers, teach this spiritual work, that is, mental prayer. And more time should be devoted to it, and after it, engage in the singing of psalms and moderate reading of the Old and New Testaments, instructive and patristic books. Everyone, according to his strength, must always have the memory of death, of his sins, of the Last Judgment of God, of eternal torment, of the Kingdom of Heaven and self-reproach, both in his cell and in every place, in every work, and in the handicraft or craft assigned to him by the abbot, but not to sit idle in the cell, for idleness teaches the monk all kinds of evil, and from untimely exits from cells and useless conversations must be run away and turned away, as if from a deadly poison. 7. For the sake of testing in humility, true obedience and cutting off all of his will and reasoning (which is the ladder that raises novices to the Kingdom of Heaven), for a certain time he must send the brothers to the kitchen, bakery, cellar room and refectory and, more simply, to all obediences within the monastery, without using monastic workers for such obediences. And the brothers, looking at the hero and finisher of faith Jesus (see Heb. 12:2), Who showed Himself the image of obedience and true humility when he washed the feet of the disciples, should not refuse what seems to them the very last obedience, believing that it will bring about the Kingdom of Heaven, if they, with humility and fear of God, serve the brothers not as people, but as God Himself. The abbot must assign monastery workers to tasks that are impossible for the brothers to do without distraction of mind, without leaving the monastery and without remaining silent. 8. The abbot himself must have equal love for all the brothers, as for his spiritual children close to the Lord, and must also very carefully ensure that the brothers equally have true and unfeigned spiritual love for each other as a sign of Christ’s discipleship. Exceptional love and friendship that is special in the community, as the cause of suspicion and envy and the destroyer of true love, he must try in every possible way to eradicate from the community. He should, in a fatherly, long-suffering manner, endure all the weaknesses and failures of his weak children with the hope of their correction and true repentance, and correct the weak with the spirit of meekness, always instructing with words what is useful, and not remove them from the community because of their spiritual weakness, especially if it does not cause harm to others. People living spontaneously, following their own will and reasoning, rejecting the good yoke of obedience and bringing harm to society with such their evil example should not be tolerated in any way, but after sufficient spiritual verbal instruction and teaching (in private, with two or three brothers and before the council) those who are in the same or even worse dispensation and do not want to correct themselves should, although with many tears, regret and mental pain, be expelled and cut off from the common the bodies of the brotherhood, like members damaged by a destructive illness, so that others are not damaged by such a stifling illness. And he must accept those who have come to their senses and turned to true repentance with joy, like a loving father, and show them all mercy and compassion and forgive their sins, having spiritual joy with all the brothers about their conversion. 9 . To manage the estates and monastic workers, the abbot must have a brother experienced in everything, capable of managing these affairs well without transgressing the commandments of God and without ruining his soul, so that the abbot himself, being free from everything, can with greater convenience engage in spiritual care for the spiritual salvation of the brothers and for all church and communal deanery. Also, in the spiritual care of the brothers, the abbot must have an assistant who is experienced in the mind of a spiritual brother, and during his absence for the sake of general monastic needs, he must leave him with the brothers in his place for the sake of deanery and spiritual guidance of the brothers. The abbot, wishing to go somewhere for a general monastic need and stay there for a while, must gather the entire council of brothers into the church and, having kissed the holy icons and taking a prayer for the journey from the priest, announce his intention to the whole cathedral and humbly pray to the entire fraternal council to pray for him to God, so that he can return to them healthily and safely, and thus all the brothers Having asked for forgiveness and given everyone your blessing, hit the road. Having returned from the journey with God's help, do not immediately go to the cell, but, having gathered all the brothers, first go to church and, in front of the whole cathedral, having given due thanks to God for the fact that he was preserved on the road through the prayers of the brothers, thank the brothers for their prayers, tell about the mercy of God shown to him for the common benefit of the brotherhood, for which he was absent, and then go to his cell. About the acceptance of brothers into monasticism, about the hospital, about the host, about crafts 10. When a brother is brought by God from the world to monasticism, the abbot must first of all privately examine his conscience and sufficiently reveal to such a brother, on the basis of Scripture, the essence of the common monastic life and according to God’s obedience, to the point of death, cutting off and mortifying his will and reasoning, and if he sees in him a true, and not a feigned, desire for monasticism and divine zeal, then before the whole council of brothers, again revealing to him the essence of the common monastic life and obedience, to accept this brother into common life and obedience and not immediately tonsure him into monasticism, but after keeping him in training in worldly clothing for the time established by the rules: for some three years, and for others six months, depending on the fruit of obedience. After this, tonsure one into monasticism - one in a cassock, and another in a mantle - and join the brethren. If, having kept him in the trial for a set time, he does not see true obedience in everything and the cutting off of the will in him, even after three years of trial he should not be tonsured, but released into the world, so that there will be no embarrassment to the general life from such arbitrators. 11. If it happens that a brother coming from the world to become a monk brings some property to the monastery, the abbot must store such property in the common monastic storeroom and not waste it until this brother is tonsured into monasticism, but after tonsure he can spend it on the general needs of the monastery and brothers. If someone who is under trial before tonsure regrets his departure from the world and wants to return from the monastery to the world or go to another monastery, such a person must be released, giving him intact all the property he brought to the monastery, so that there will be no monastery for such a brother because of this embarrassment. 12. A hospital must certainly be set up in the monastery for the sake of brothers suffering from various diseases, so that the sick person will have special care and have food, drink and all peace. In it, the abbot must appoint an experienced brother who could, with spiritual reasoning, serve the sick and, if one were found, would have at least some experience in the art of medicine. Serving the sick with reason, he must serve each of them with suitable food, useful for their illness, and drink, and give them peace in everything, serving them with the fear of God as the Lord Himself, so that the one who serves has a reward from the Lord, who said: I was sick, and you visited Me (Matthew 25:36), and the sick, finding proper peace for themselves in everything, thanked God and received a reward from Him for suffer illness with thanksgiving. 13. The abbot must ensure that there are various crafts in the monastery, and especially those without which it is impossible for human life to settle, and distribute them among the brethren, and teach those who cannot teach them, so that, thanks to the fact that the brothers themselves engage in such crafts for the common benefit, the entire community of brothers can satisfy their necessary needs without confusion and avoid inappropriate exit into the world for the sake of these needs and the mental harm that follows from this exit. 14. It is necessary that two hospices be established: one inside the monastery, for honest clergy and lay persons coming to the monastery, and the other outside the monastery, so that those who come to the monastery find proper peace and service for themselves - inside the monastery, and for their livestock - outside the monastery. And in this service the abbot must appoint experienced brothers who are capable of serving the pilgrims with spiritual discernment, so that they themselves may receive rewards from God for their reasonable service to the pilgrims, and the entire community, seeing how the pilgrims receive the food and service due to them, will remain without confusion or any anxiety. The abbot must have God-spiritual love for his spiritual brethren, and for all those who come to the monastery, the poor, the sick, who have nowhere to lay their heads, according to the commandments of God, show the same love, receive with love some in the hospice, others in the hospital, according to his strength, take care of their bodily needs and, according to the capabilities of the monastery, having provided them with what they need for the journey, let them go in peace. All these and other communal rules of the holy fathers, both in the Holy Mount Athos, we preserved according to our strength, and here, as far as possible, by the grace of Christ in our life they are preserved, only we do not yet have ready-made hosts for receiving those who come to the monastery, as well as a sufficient number of cells for the repose of the brothers, and we are in great cramped conditions and therefore we cannot yet have the all-perfect order that should be observed in common life. But to the extent possible, since the Lord gives us a helping hand, by the grace of Christ we adhere to it, until the Lord fulfills this need of ours with His ineffable Providence (just as He arranges for us everything else necessary to support our life), so that every brother, after the labors of church rule and various obediences, for the sake of mental work and physical feat, as well as peace, has his own separate cell as quiet and calm refuge - why there can be a better spiritual order and prosperity in the brethren, and a better deanery can be established in every matter. We showed this order and the structure of our community, although not with all the details, so as not to disturb your prudence with our unreasonableness, to Your Eminence and the entire God-chosen council and, if there is the will of God and something serves for the benefit of the soul, we pray to your Eminences with the entire God-chosen council with your God-given authority and charter to approve this. If this is inconsistent with Scripture and contrary to the salvation of souls, then let it be what pleases God and is in accordance with Holy Scripture. 15. At the same time, we also pray to your Eminences and the entire spiritual council that the female sex be prohibited from entering the monastery by your God-given authority, except in cases of a common disaster for Christians, which happens during times of war and strife. We also pray that the monastery, which even before the monastery was created by our all-blessed ktitor in honor of the three saints Enoch, Elijah and John the Theologian, will never be in any way excommunicated or separated from the monastery; and may the rector and the entire cathedral determine and settle in the skete out of obedience, abandoning their will, brothers who regularly observe the rites and rules of the community, and may they receive everything necessary to support life from the community; Any wandering monks and those who have their own special property will in no way be allowed to live there, so that this does not cause general embarrassment to the cathedral. The brothers, directed by the council to live there out of obedience, must always perform the church rule according to the rules, and the Divine Liturgy for the sake of commemorating the patrons and benefactors. 16. We also pray to our Most Reverend Great Master, Archbishop and Metropolitan, that, if God wills, when spring comes, with his God-given authority he commands the monastery workers to move to the monastery 9, and that there, with the blessing of his Eminence, to the church, created with the help of God, for the sake of the people living on the monastery and the monastery workers, a lay priest will be appointed who will listen to their Christian needs and served the salvation of their souls, so that the monastery would not experience any concern about this and the entire council of brothers in the monastery and monastery would have a quiet and silent life. 17. And I, the last one, with my entire cathedral, pray to our Most Reverend Great Master, the archbishop and metropolitan, the God-loving bishops and the entire consecrated cathedral, that in our community this order will be firmly and unshakably established and that after the death of one rector, another from the outside will not be sent to the position of rector. But by the unanimous, unanimous election of the entire council, on the advice of the dying rector and with the blessing of the Most Reverend Metropolitan, a brother must be chosen from the society of brothers and appointed 10 who in spiritual intelligence, in knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and communal rules, as well as in obedience and cutting off his own will and reasoning, in love, meekness, humility and in all virtues surpasses the rest of the brethren, can himself, in word and deed, set an example for the benefit of the brothers, is honored with the rank of the priesthood and, since our society consists of three peoples, knows three languages well: Greek, Slavic and Moldavian - or at least, for the sake of necessity, two: Moldavian and Slavic, so that the entire community of brothers in spiritual needs will always find ready spiritual healing from him. If such a leader is elected by the general decision of the entire council from the same cenobitic cathedral and installed with the blessing of the Metropolitan, then the entire cenobitic meeting in the Lord and the life of the brothers can, by the grace of Christ, remain indestructible and well-governed, like a ship skillfully steered by a skillful helmsman. If, from the outside, and not from the council of brothers, some leader is appointed who has not in fact acquired complete poverty, obedience, cutting off his own will and reasoning, has not suffered reproaches and dishonor in common life, does not know the essence of Scripture and communal regulations, and also has his own special property and has accepted leadership not with the intention of laying down his life for the brothers (see John 15:13), but in order to only to give peace to himself and increase his property, then how can such a flock of the verbal sheep of Christ well and diligently shepherd the pasture of the Word of God and the Divine commandments and faithfully steer the ship of common life, when he himself has not yet been guided by anyone according to God? And the fraternal council, which has gathered voluntarily for the sake of its salvation for a common life in the Lord, how can it submit to such a mentor? And if it ever happened that a leader was placed over the brethren by force, without a conciliar election, then this would lead to nothing other than the complete and complete dispersion of the fraternity and the ruin of common life. Therefore, we again pray to your Eminence to approve by your God-given authority that the leader be elected from the council of brothers, and not sent from outside, for we do not know of any other more serious reason for the desolation of common life than this. Unless in the entire assembly of brothers there is not a single brother who could, in word, deed, and example, be a mentor for the brethren to salvation, and in another place there would be such a father who knew the essence of the Holy Scriptures and communal rules, acquired complete non-covetousness, mortified his will and reasoning in obedience to his spiritual father in common life and could, according to the word of Scripture, shepherd the flock of Christ well (see. 1 Pet. 5:2). But even such a father, in the event of such an extreme need, may he be made a leader over the brethren only with the voluntary will of the entire council, with the blessing of His Eminence the Metropolitan, and first of all, let him, according to his very Christian and monastic conscience, before the entire council, promise to God in no way until his death not to have or acquire any of his movable property in the common life, but together with the brethren, to have all the necessary things sent from God for the organization of the common life general. If such a leader is placed in this way over the communal brethren, then we believe that by the grace of Christ there will also be no desolation of common life. Therefore, we think that the ktitor of this sacred monastery of blessed memory, who established a common life in it, therefore commanded and confirmed with terrible oaths the prohibition to appoint an abbot to this monastery from another monastery, so that, as we think, the desolation of the common life would not occur. Therefore, we pray to your Eminences: confirm this humble prayer of ours and the blessed ktitor’s law with your God-given authority, so that this will be firmly and unshakably held in our common life, so that this common life itself, by the grace of Christ and your many powerful prayers, will constantly remain intact and indestructible. 18. And again we pray to your Eminences and the entire spiritual consecrated cathedral: confirm with your God-given authority that this monastery will never be subordinate to anyone (about which we found a terrible oath of blessed memory by the ktitor of this holy monastery), since this will result in complete ruin of the common life. And if the monastery is not subordinate to anyone, then the common fraternal life in it can, by the grace of Christ, remain indestructible and unshakable. Having offered this rite of our common life and humble prayer for our needs in the shortest form to your Eminence and the entire consecrated cathedral, we rely on the divinely inspired spiritual reasoning of your Eminence and the entire consecrated cathedral, which the Holy Spirit, always invisibly present at the meeting of Orthodox bishops and other clergy, will breathe into you; and as you command us to observe the order in our community: either to observe this, which we have observed until now and are observing (although we have not written and declared everything to your love for God, but only about what we considered most necessary), or as you command and as is most pleasing to God and necessary for salvation - so let it be. Or if, in addition to the rite that we adhere to until now, something is established and added by your love for God, then we, as from God, accept and kiss it, obeying in everything, like sheep, our shepherds appointed by God, and we remain obedient novices to your Eminence and the entire consecrated spiritual council. The last of the hieromonks Paisios with all his brethren in Christ Answer to Fathers Dorotheus and Gerontius about not eating meat The same answer to his students, Fathers Dorotheus and Gerontius, who are in Bucharest, sent by his reverence to school to teach the Greek language. About not eating meat. Dear brother Dorotheos, save yourself in the Lord. Do not be surprised, my dear, that I did not quickly send an answer to your letters, for you are well aware of what serves as an obstacle for me, especially about the distance of the journey and the incidents on the border, since here the region is not free. This prevents me from fulfilling my desire - only the Lord knows what it is for me - to take care of you in your needs. I'm talking about sending food. It would be a small matter for our vineyards to send you what you need for food, but the border is not a free land. And if you were in school in Iasi, it would be possible for you to receive sufficient help from the monastery. But now, as for helping you, the only hope left, according to Bose, is in Father Matthew, whom I asked quite a lot in a letter written to his shrine, so that he would take upon himself the trouble of helping you with what is required for food. I hope that after this request of mine, help will follow, since I promised in a letter to reimburse his shrine in money for everything that he spends on you. Now I am sending you a small amount of money, for you know our former poverty, but now even greater poverty has befallen us. However, I trust in God that we will not be abandoned until the end. At the same time, of necessity, I should give an answer to the question about meat-eating, which is advised to you (that is, they are advised to allow meat) by those who dream of being rulers. It seems to me that, according to the rightful meaning and establishment of the entire Holy Orthodox Church, even the angel himself should not obey in this, and to refute the advice of those people and your statement, the essay on meat-eating of the blessed memory of Elder Basil, who composed it not without the assistance of the grace of the Divine Spirit, is sufficient. I think that you have read it yourself; it is filled with much power and Divine wisdom. In it, Elder Vasily shows well, as far as I can remember, that from the beginning of the creation of the world and man there was no true and perfect will of God for people to eat meat; It is also true that not only in paradise, but even before the flood there was no meat-eating among people. And after the flood, the omniscient God foresaw and foresaw that people (humanity) would reach such weakness that if they were not given freedom through blessing, they would begin to eat without blessing, therefore the All-Bountiful and All-Good God, knowing the weakness of human nature, showed condescension and blessed 11 . But the order of monastic life in everything, as far as possible, depicts being in paradise, corresponds to it and is subject to the perfect will of God. There was no meat-eating then - and monks were not supposed to eat meat. In paradise there was a special life, different from life after breaking the law - in the same way, monastic life in everything, as far as possible, in justice should differ from the worldly one. At the beginning of monastic life, at a time when it was not yet fully established by the traditions and statutes of the holy fathers and, in general, the entire Orthodox Church, they had the custom of eating meat in some monasteries, especially those located in large cities - at that time, monastic life was like a young woman who had not yet reached the proper age. And in the deserts and hermitages, as well as in the great Egyptian Skete, there was no custom of eating meat. But after our reverend and God-bearing father Savva the Sanctified established that monks should not eat meat at all, all the holy fathers accepted and approved this establishment, and it was accepted as an unshakable and inviolable church law and order by all true monks everywhere with great zeal: in Jerusalem, throughout Palestine, in Mount Sinai, in Mount Athos, in Constantinople and throughout Greece, as well as in other empires, in the East and West, in Georgia and Bulgaria. Subsequently, in Russia, with the adoption of the holy faith, it was accepted and is still observed by everyone, because nowhere do they eat meat at meals. The same institution in these two countries 12 was introduced and accepted in all monasteries, and it is still observed in many monasteries by the grace of God. If it were only in one country or only in some of the monasteries, then someone could say that this institution is only local or of a certain country. And since in all Orthodox countries, in all monasteries and Churches, it was legalized and in all types 13 it was approved that monks should not eat meat, who would ever dare to violate this Church institution? And it is not left to anyone’s discretion whether to eat meat or not, but it is fitting for everyone to act exactly as the God-bearing fathers established for monks in the Church’s typologies. And those who, in physical weakness, find a reason to allow themselves to eat meat - they themselves, and anyone else, could find out after a thorough test that this is not a reason, for on fast days they are stronger and healthier than on days of meat-eating (although it seems to them that without eating meat for one day, they cannot remain in full health), and all their affairs are arranged both on the days of meat-eating and on fasting days, and sometimes on these last and better than the first. But if anyone is ashamed of the reproach of those who advise him to eat meat and whose advice he will not follow, then let him be ashamed of such an honest monastic image, for one is connected with the other. If someone has entered the monastic order with good will, he is charged with the duty of observing everything related to the monastic form and in any other place until his very last breath, without violating it under any pretext. And this is very appropriate, for we should seek glory not from people, but from God (see John 5:44) and again we should not please people, but first of all God (cf. Gal. 1:10), and this is the best deed, in the accomplishment of which nothing is impossible (see Mark 10:27). But even those who, as you wrote, reproach you, if they see and find out that you have left the order of the monastic image, then, I believe, if not openly, they will be greatly tempted within themselves; They will consider, perhaps, that you are not studying what you are studying out of divine jealousy, but for the sake of the most short-term benefit, honor and human glory. And when they see that you actually adhere to the monastic rules in everything, they themselves will praise and please you and, thanks to this order of yours, will receive considerable benefit. For a good deed tends to glorify those who love it, and it always brings more benefit than temptation. In addition to this, the following must be reported: I communicated the answer to your questions regarding such subjects only to Brother Honorius, who should rewrite this answer for you. If the brothers of our cathedral, which includes those who live in the desert, knew and heard about such a question, they would be much tempted, since they consider you angels of God, believing that while you are there, you in no way deviated from your feat, which you had before, as you yourself wrote in the answer sent to me, that God Himself gave you a similar comrade, a saint from the Holy Mountain, from whom you receive a lot of benefit, living with him as you lived before you are in the desert, which I rejoiced at a lot and for which I glorified God. ABOUT! If again I heard good news about you and this would make me happy the Savior, Christ our true God, who preserved three beautiful youths healthy and unharmed in the oven of Babylon, they ate seeds and turned out to be more beautiful than those who abounded in many luxuries. Like them, children who trust in His Providence and gratefully accept every shortcoming, may He keep you healthy and unharmed physically and mentally, and may He grant you good success in your studies, which you have begun to undergo for the common spiritual benefit. Tell this answer to brother Gerontius. Your spiritual father, Elder Paisios First letter to Priest Demetrius An imitator of Abraham's deeds, a diligent worker of God's commandments, my dearest friend, Mr. Father Demetrius the Priest - rejoice in the Lord! About the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (after all, it is fitting, as St. John Climacus said, to begin a word from God to God’s saint) I thought of you, my dearest friend, the true servant of Christ, calling on His Divine grace to help the weakness of my mind - after all, without Him, according to His false word, you cannot do anything (John 15:5), - at least write something small in my shortest word about common life and blessed obedience, which for common life, or better yet, for all monasticism is the root and foundation; I believe that such a letter of mine to you will be most favorable for your all-loving and all-sacred soul, which even to this day has within itself an unquenchable fire of love for monastic life, cast by God, and preserves it in a God-pleasing manner. Know, my all-beloved friend, that the Holy Spirit, through the holy fathers, determined and established that all monastic life is divided into three orders: solitary solitary sojourn, cohabitation with one or two brothers, and common life. Hermit life is like this: someone far from people in the desert remains alone and in everything that concerns his soul, as well as food, clothing and other bodily needs, he has hope in God alone, in his battles and infirmities of soul and body, having Him alone as an assistant and consolation, alienating and avoiding all consolation of this world for the sake of the love of God. Living with one or two consists of the following: an elder, skilled in the Holy Scriptures, remains in silence and has one disciple or two living with him in obedience and obedience to him in soul and body. The common life, which, according to Saint Basil the Great, begins (following the example of the life of the Lord with the disciples) with no less than twelve brothers and then, as far as God helps, grows and becomes a crowded meeting consisting of people of one or, more often, many nations, is as follows: all the brothers gathered together in the name of Christ have one soul, one heart, one thought and one will to serve Christ by doing His Divine commandments and friends bear each other's burdens, obeying each other in the love of God, for this they have as their father and mentor the abbot of the monastery, skilled in the understanding of Divine Scripture, instructing in word and deed, and in everything they obey him, as the Lord Himself, with extreme and complete cutting off and mortification of their will and reasoning, that is, his commandments and teaching, if they agree with the commandments of God and teaching fathers, not resisting at all, but diligently trying to fulfill what was commanded to them with the fear of God, faith and love. Having everything in common to satisfy bodily needs, they should not have their own property, movable and immovable, in any form (cf. Acts 2:44, 4:32). In all these three orders, as established by the Holy Spirit, many of the holy fathers perfectly pleased God and shone with spiritual gifts like the sun. And about all these three orders and dispensations of monastic life, the holy fathers give evidence from Divine Scripture. About the first rite, that is, about solitary life, they, on the one hand, discussing the height of such a life, which befits only those who are perfect and dispassionate and those who are miraculously called by God’s vision to such a life, on the other hand, considering the weakness inherent in us, beginners and passionate ones, and the manifold deceptions of the enemy that follow an unauthorized life, they cite evidence from Scripture: Woe to one! If he falls into despondency, or sleep, or laziness, or despair, there is no one among the people who would raise him up (Ecc. 4:10). The holy fathers praise living with one or two, calling it a highly praised angelic stay and a royal path, and cite the testimony of the Lord from Scripture: For where there are two or three congregations in My name, I am in the midst of them (Matthew 18:20). About common life they cite evidence from Holy Scripture: Behold, whatever is good, or whatever is good, but let the brethren live together (Ps. 133:1). Since monastic life is divided into three orders, St. John Climacus gives advice to those coming out of the world into monasticism not to deviate either to the right or to the left, but to follow the royal path (see Numbers 20:17), that is, not to go into the desert, since the solitary desert life requires angelic strength. And the novice, and especially those overcome by such spiritual passions as anger, rage, vanity, envy, conceit and others, even a trace of such a deserted life, said John Climacus, should not dare to see, lest he suffer from a frenzy of mind, and let him not dare to enter the community - not because it is unhelpful (for what is more useful than such a life, praising which, Saint Basil The Great One says that his words lack the power to praise the height and greatness of such a life), but because it requires great patience. The saint advises to walk the royal path, that is, to live with one or two, since such a life is most convenient for many, as it does not require such great patience as is needed in a community, and as a life a little more enjoyable. After all, obeying your father alone or your brother still living with him in everything is not so surprising and requires less patience. In community with numerous brethren, not only to your father, but also to all your brothers, and to the very last, and to endure from them annoyance, dishonor, reproach and every kind of temptation, and to be dust and ashes under the feet of everyone, and, like a bought slave, to serve everyone with humility and fear of God, and to endure with reason the constant extreme poverty inherent in common life, and the scarcity of food and clothing required for the body is a matter of great, extreme and suffering patience; and those who endure to the end in such a God-pleasing community are honored with such a great reward in future bliss from the Ascetic Christ our God that it is impossible for the human mind to comprehend and express it in words. And therefore, according to the reasoning of the holy fathers, these two orders of monastic life, that is, staying with one or two and living in common, are offered to those coming out of the world into monasticism to choose in which one, having renounced the world, serve Christ: in the first, as the most joyful according to what has been said, or in the second, passion-bearing community, so that a special crown, according to the word Ladder, to receive reward from God on the day of righteousness according to deeds. The third rite, that is, the desert, is not at all commanded and advised by the Holy Fathers to be chosen for living by newcomers coming out of the world for the reason that they liken the desert life to Christ’s crucifixion on the Cross, and the common life to the passion of Christ, which He endured for our salvation before the Cross. After all, just as Christ, our Savior and the Hero of our salvation, Who in everything with Himself, His most pure life in the world presented the image and mark for us to please Him, not first endured the crucifixion on the Cross, and then His most pure Passion, but first the Passion, and then the Cross, so one who wants to please God in monasticism must, as the Holy Fathers command, follow the example of the Lord to begin one’s life from a common life, which corresponds to the passions of Christ, and to suffer in it together with Christ with the complete cutting off of one’s will and reasoning; to endure dishonor, reproach, reproach and every kind of temptation with great and inexpressible joy until he becomes blameless in humility. Namely, he must endure all these temptations with great and inexpressible joy and, like a heavenly drink, desire them at every hour, and he must honor those who tempt him as his great benefactors and intercessors of his salvation, having himself under the feet of everyone, like dust and ashes, with all his soul considering himself unworthy to live with them and look at anyone’s face. And from such a long-term and deep humility of his, which in his common life he acquired with the help of the queen of virtues - the required obedience, the flame of the inexpressible love of God kindles in his blessed soul, and he can no longer, according to Saint Arsenius, be with God and with people; and such, on the advice of the fathers, can go into the desert, which corresponds to the crucifixion of Christ on the Cross, in order to completely kill himself for this world, and be crucified with Christ. It is precisely such a skillful true warrior of Christ, who first learned among the multitude of Christ’s warriors to skillfully fight with invisible enemies with his spiritual weapons, and then went out into single combat, that God helps to win a glorious victory over his enemies; and He crowns such a one with His ineffable Divine gifts, as His perfect saint and sufferer, duly struggling. And for such a person, the desert is an increase in Divine love, since he is vouchsafed to be entirely in God and God is in him. After all this was so wonderfully established and arranged by the Holy Spirit through the Holy Fathers, if anyone, having left the world for monasticism and despising such a law of the Holy Spirit, instead of committing himself in the community to the holy and blessed, according to the word, that is, according to reason, the Scriptures, obedience (through which he could, by the grace of Christ, acquire true humility, and through it get rid of his passions, especially spiritual ones), out of arrogant zeal, he will rush into the desert, being passionate and weak in soul and unskilled in spiritual exploits, and will choose for himself a silent and solitary life, wanting, instead of imitating the passions of Christ in the community, to immediately, ahead of time, ascend to the Cross of Christ by retiring into the desert, to such a person the wrath of God comes for his contempt, and he, like an unskilled warrior who did not learn the art of mental warfare in the community and does not yet even know how to hold a spiritual weapon in his hands, but who dared to leave the camp of Christ’s skilled warriors for single combat in order to fight his enemies - demons - alone, instead of winning, by God’s permission for his contempt, he is defeated, falls before his enemies and is soon killed by them. For, the fathers say, this is the work of the strong and perfect - to fight alone with demons and to draw the sword..., which is the word of God (Eph. 6:17), against them. The impudent and disdainful one, who rushes prematurely into the desert, will reap thorns instead of wheat and will find destruction instead of salvation. Why? Because he becomes a despiser and destroyer of such a God-given rite, which, as was said before, Christ our God established for us by His immaculate and most pure life in the flesh; and instead of suffering with Christ in the community, he dared in his pride to ascend to His Cross, choosing the desert for himself before the community. And such a person is not a hermit, but an autocrat, and the life of such a person is not a desert and a solitary silent stay, but an autocrat. And such an unauthorized life usually will not be followed by any good, but only one deception of the devil, and from such an arbitrary and disorderly life and stay, both in ancient times and in the present, many monks perished, being seduced by the devil, losing their minds and killing themselves in various and terrible ways. May Christ our Savior deliver us all from such delusion with His grace. What will I say and what will I proclaim about the earthly heaven - the common life - and about the tree of life planted in it by God - the blessed obedience to which the weak and beginners resort, not daring to fight their enemies alone ahead of time, and, eating from the immortal fruit of this tree, by the extreme and passion-bearing cutting off of their will and reasoning, they avoid death and all delights diabolical, who persecute self-inflicted people. The fence and cover for such living is the Holy Spirit; and such a life is a quiet and storm-free haven for everyone who wants to get rid of the worries of this vain world. It is a ship, well-governed by the Holy Spirit, safely transporting those who entered it and no doubt obey such good governance, to the pier of the Kingdom of Heaven through the salty sea of ​​this life, not afraid of the mental flood of passions. It is a general medicine and true healing for all those possessed by mental and physical passions and truly wanting to be cured of them. It is a legitimate training in mental warfare against a mental enemy for the soldiers of Christ who want to win a glorious and soul-saving victory over him, and for them the invincible weapon against him is the Most Holy and Worshiped Spirit Himself. Christ our Savior Himself, by His example, established a common life and the holy obedience in it on earth for people and offered it as an example of the most perfect pleasing to God, spending life in a common life with His disciples and apostles, who obeyed His Divine commandments in everything. For He, having first planted in heaven among the angels and in paradise among people the root and foundation of common life - divine obedience, as the most important of all virtues and His most beloved virtue, then, destroyed by the devil's envy and our weakness, out of His extreme and ineffable love for mankind and compassion, He Himself renewed and restored it, being obedient to His Father even to death (Phil. 2:8), and, having healed our disobedience by His obedience, opened the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven to all who truly believe in Him and obey His Divine commandments. Following this example of Christ, in the primal Church eight thousand Christians lived communally, having nothing of their own, but having everything in common, and thanks to such a life they were honored to acquire one heart and soul (Acts 4:32). In such a community, the ancient reverend fathers throughout the universe, in Lavras and monasteries, spent their lives, having adopted the law 14, which was written down by the mouth of Christ - Saint Basil the Great, and they shone more than the sun. For no other life brings prosperity to a person as much as does living together with blessed obedience, carried out with reason, quickly freeing him from all mental and physical passions for the sake of humility, which is born from blessed obedience; it also leads to a primitive state - so that man would truly be in the image and likeness of God, as he was created from the beginning; and the gift of God, received in divine Baptism, allows it to shine in a person more than other spiritual gifts, of which, for the sake of the grace of God, a true novice is honored to be a partaker through his true humility, as he himself can many times mentally feel with his spiritual sense. Such a common residence of all the brothers gathered in it in the name of Christ, even if they were from different peoples and countries, binds them with such great love that they all become one body, and members of each other (1 Cor. 12:27); all together have one head - Christ, all burn with love for God, for their God-father and for each other, all unanimously and unanimously have a single intention - to diligently fulfill and keep God's commandments, they encourage each other to do this, they obey each other with such a thought, they bear each other's burdens, they are each other's masters and each other's slaves. And for such their true, spiritual and like-minded love, they become imitators of the life of the Lord, the apostles and angels, with faith and love obeying in everything their father according to God and mentor, as God Himself, they confess all the secrets of their hearts to him, they never hide anything, they accept the word and commandment from him, as from the mouth of God, with confidence; their will and reasoning, contrary to their father, like bad clothes, spitting and cursing, they throw away from themselves, avoiding it as the charms of the devil, fearing it as if it were fiery hell, and they constantly pray to God to get rid of such a burden by His grace. And they make every effort to cleave to their father, as a child cleaves to its mother, and to follow him, as sheep follow their shepherd, and, as a tool obeys its master, and as cattle obeys its master, so to obey their father in everything, without any reasoning of their own that is contrary to him. For this divine obedience, being the root and foundation of common life and all monasticism, is as connected and united with common life as if the soul were with the body, and one does not exist without the other. Here is the shortest staircase to heaven, which has only one step of cutting off the will; by stepping on it, the novice quickly ascends to heaven. Obedience is also a ready-made path that leads to God; whoever follows it until the end of his life, rightly and without deviation, is honored to become a son of God by grace, an heir of God and a joint heir of Christ in His Heavenly Kingdom. After all, common life is heaven, and holy obedience is the heaven of heavens. Therefore, if anyone falls away from obedience, he is rejected from God and heaven, as determined by the God-bearing fathers, in the words of the great Gregory of Sinaite. The mentors of such a common life and all-blessed obedience in ancient times were the great God-bearing fathers, who themselves, for the sake of the purity of their souls and perfect pleasing in the commandments of God, were honored to become the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit and, thanks to Him, like the sun shining with spiritual gifts, they came to extreme dispassion and perfect love of God, guided by the Holy Spirit; and by word, and deed, and by the example of their godly life, they showed the true path to salvation to their God-gathered flock, directing them to vigilantly keep the commandments of God. Therefore, their disciples, as if at an animated pillar and a luminous sun, looked at their holy mentors, and they themselves were instructed and enlightened in all virtues by the light of their teachings and good deeds, and came to the highest pleasing to God, and many, countless and countless, many of them were saved. In these fierce times, when the number of such mentors has become extremely scarce - which is worthy of much crying and sobbing - if any zealous monks wanted to please God in such a communal life, then their teacher and mentor is God Himself and the word of those reverend fathers, communal mentors, intended for reading, has been preserved even to this day by God's Providence. Looking at this readable word, as at those fathers themselves, those who read with the fear of God and reasoning can, in part, with God’s help and the very godly life of those fathers, be imitators, being guided and admonished by their father, who gathered them in the name of Christ or who was chosen by them with one mind - one who is not from himself, but from the Holy Scripture and from the same teaching of the holy fathers of his spiritual children teaches. Indeed, in ancient times, many of the holy fathers, being themselves illiterate, taught their disciples from enlightenment by the grace of God. In modern times, the holy fathers do not at all command anyone to teach the brethren on their own behalf, but only from the Holy Scripture and from the teaching of the venerable fathers, who, by the Holy Spirit, having learned the mysteries and power of the Holy Scripture and by the grace of the Spirit, foreknowledge of the considerable scarcity of sound teaching and true mentors among the monks in these last times, being prompted by the same Holy Spirit, wrote their holy and soulful teaching for our eternal benefit and edification, for confirmation and guidance on the path of salvation. And in modern times, the mentors of monks and their disciples themselves, adhering to this teaching with humility and fear of God, will not sin in relation to their salvation, nor will those who listen to them. So, after all these three rites and orders of monastic life, their properties and the benefit that comes from them are presented to your love for God in my shortest and meager word, I, knowing your strong love for me according to God and faithful friendship, I want to inform you about myself and about our poor life, at least in my shortest word, even if you know about it. May your love for God know that when I left the world with indescribable zeal - which you yourself are not unaware of - in order to diligently serve God in monasticism (God knows, Father, I am not lying), I was not vouchsafed in my youth and at the beginning of my monasticism even a trace of anyone’s sound and right reasoning, advice and teaching, in agreement with the teaching of the holy fathers, about how How should I, a beginner and inexperienced, begin my poor monasticism and with what way of thinking. Then, since the Lord enlightened me, a blind man, I saw, as if in a mirror, how and in what manner it would be fitting for me to begin my poor monasticism, and I realized how great the grace of God I had lost through my ignorance, not having surrendered myself soul and body to some skilled father in obedience, and not having been worthy to receive instructions from anyone for such a holy work. And I realized that my poor imaginary silence was not my measure, but living alone is the work of the perfect and dispassionate, and then I was at a loss about where I could surrender myself to obedience, about which many times, like a child for a dead mother, I sighed and cried. But not finding, for many blessed reasons, where to live in obedience, I decided to go through my life in the royal way with one like-minded and unanimous brother: instead of my father, we should have God and the teaching of the holy fathers as our mentor, obey and serve each other, have one soul and one heart, have everything in common to support our life, knowing that this path of monasticism is attested by the holy fathers on the basis of Holy Scripture. And since God helped my good intention, a brother who was of one mind with me in everything, the first in our community, who even to this day, by the grace of Christ, remains alive, came to the Holy Mountain, and began to live with me in one accord. And thus, by the grace of Christ, my soul partly found a certain consolation and much-desired peace, since I, the accursed one, was honored to see at least some trace of benefit from the holy obedience that we had to each other through the cutting off of our will, instead of a father and mentor, having the teaching of our holy fathers and obeying each other in the love of God. But I did not enjoy such a life for long, because other brothers who came from the world into monasticism, seeing such a loving life together with my brother, became jealous with jealousy to join the same life and began to persistently beg me with their zealous prayer to accept them into cohabitation and discipleship. I refused for a long time, fearing and trembling, to accept anyone into discipleship, considering this to be the work of the perfect and dispassionate, but being weak and passionate myself, I did not accept them - one for four years, another for three, another for two, and for others for a certain long time. However, after, convinced, on the one hand, by the great anxiety that they caused me with their prayers, on the other hand, by the tearful prayer of the brother living with me, who was very brotherly, I began and reluctantly accepted into my cohabitation one by one, revealing to each of them, according to my strength, on the basis of Holy Scripture and the teachings of the holy fathers, the power of holy obedience. And seeing that they had ineffable faith and love for the Holy Scripture and for me, the unworthy, and with each other - peace and like-mindedness, I greatly rejoiced at their good will and glorified God, relying on the ineffable Providence of God for their spiritual and physical care, and accepted one by one those who surrendered themselves with all the zeal of soul and body into blessed obedience. And thus, from the royal path, that is, from cohabitation with one or two brothers, by the grace of Christ, our common life was formed, since the number of brothers increased significantly. This life on the Holy Mount Athos was not facilitated by the very place itself, which is extremely harsh and presents difficulties, where even two or three, living together, can hardly, with bloody sweat, I will say, with difficulty satisfy their bodily needs, much less so many. We were also afraid of the Turkish authorities, lest they impose tributes on our wretched society, similar to those paid by other Svyatogorsk monasteries, and this, as I have already heard from many, was what was supposed to happen. For these and many other reasons, about which I have already written to your shrine, we were afraid that the extreme and final, much crying and worthy sobbing, the ruin of this life, compiled with considerable sweat and labor, would happen. Therefore, trusting in God, who is omnipresent and fulfills everything and is blessed in every place by His dominion, we all moved together from the Holy Mountain to the Orthodox Moldova land, where in the monastery of Dragomirna, given to us by the pious ruler and His Eminence Metropolitan, even better than in the Holy Mountain, this our residence was established by the grace of Christ, until the time the Lord wants it, since this land is partly suitable for such residence promotes. And there were already gathered in our hostel the brothers who, unanimously in holy obedience to the Lord, wished to serve, about a hundred monks, in addition to lay novices; they all have one common good desire - to serve God by diligently observing His Divine commandments. Firstly, the brothers do not have any property of their own, even down to the smallest thing, for this, according to Saint Basil the Great, is the first condition of common life, which is very carefully observed in our community, and so much so that it cannot even come to the mind of any of the brethren to acquire anything for themselves in the community, since they know that this is the way of Judas the traitor. For everyone, when he is accepted into our common residence, his property, if it happened to anyone to have anything, and things, even the smallest little thing, laying everything before my feet and the brethren, he commits it to the Lord, and at the same time he commits himself, soul and body, into holy obedience until death; Otherwise, it is impossible for anyone to be accepted into our society. Secondly, they force themselves not even to have their own will and reasoning, but to strictly observe prudent obedience. For this is the second condition of common life, its root and foundation, as has already been said many times; and this condition, by the grace of God, as far as is possible for our human weakness at this time, is strictly observed in our community. After all, it is even impossible for anyone to be accepted into our society if he does not have the intention of soul and body and with all his will to surrender himself into the holy and blessed obedience certified by Holy Scripture, so that henceforth he will no longer do his own will, adhere to his own reasoning and not guide himself, but be guided and guided by the teaching of our reverend fathers. This teaching for our life according to God is the helmsman, mentor and guide to salvation, I offer it to everyone together and to each individual through my sinful lips, I dare to condemn my accursed soul on the day of judgment, for I speak and offer soul-helping advice to the brethren, but I myself do not do a single good deed. Since our life has such a foundation, namely non-covetousness and obedience, then all other communal rules, about which there is no time to write to you in detail now, in our community by the grace of Christ are observed as far as possible, and the brothers force themselves to acquire the true and unfeigned love of God for each other. For they, firstly, having loved the Lord and for the sake of love for Him, considering everything beautiful and sweet in this world to be unclean, they left it all and followed their Lord, taking up their cross, and went; They also force themselves to bear each other’s burdens, to have one heart and soul, encouraging each other to good deeds, trying to surpass each other with faith and love for me, the unworthy, as children of God; and I, seeing them laboring in this way, rejoice in my soul and glorify God with tears for the fact that the Lord has vouchsafed me to see such His servants, and to live with them, and to be comforted by the sight of them. After all, I, like the angels of God, seeing brothers forcing themselves to holy obedience, consider myself unworthy to even follow their trail, seeing myself deprived of such God's grace, that is, holy obedience. Not everyone in our community has achieved the same level of success, but this is also impossible. Some of the brothers - which are the majority - have completely killed their will and reasoning, obeying me and the brethren in everything, and, as if to the Lord Himself, they show obedience to the brethren in the fear of God and with much humility endure dishonor, reproach, reproach and every kind of temptation with such great joy as anyone experiences who has been honored with some great grace of God, and this 15 always insatiably desires, They always and incessantly reproach themselves before God in the secret of their hearts and consider themselves the least and the least of all. Others - again, not a small number - falling and rising, sinning and repenting, enduring reproach and temptation, although with difficulty, still force themselves with all their souls to become equal to the first and earnestly pray to God for this with tears. Others - few in number - are weak and infirm, like babies, cannot yet take solid food, that is, endure reproaches and temptations; they still need to be fed the milk of mercy, love for mankind and condescension to their weaknesses until they reach the spiritual age of patience; They make up for their poverty with good will and constant self-reproach alone. Repeatedly and beyond their strength, to the point of bleeding, they force themselves to endure dishonor and abandon their will, that is, they perform great work, as if they were pouring out blood before God, praying with tears to God to help them. And such, although they are the weakest, will nevertheless be counted as needy (Matthew 11:12) of the Kingdom of Heaven before God. All of them, although not to the same extent, as has been said, nevertheless all together force themselves to keep God’s and the Patristic commandments and, being bound to each other by the indestructible union of God’s love, for the sake of God’s love and their salvation, they endure constant poverty in bodily needs with generosity and unceasing thanksgiving to God, pinning their hope on God alone both for their salvation and for the satisfaction of bodily needs, to support life’s necessary needs. Having presented in this letter to you the much-desired, as I think, news about the three dispensations of monastic life, and together about our many-poor and wretched community of life, which, although it is separated from the common life that existed in the days of our holy fathers, like earth from heaven, however, as far as possible, especially in these poor times, it was formed and maintained with the help of the grace of God, I also inform you about myself. By the generosity of God, although I am in bodily weakness, I am still in this life. I have constant sorrow and mental illness about the face with which I will appear before the terrible Judge at His terrible and impartial Judgment Seat and what kind of account I will give about so many souls of the brothers who have given themselves up to me in obedience, because I cannot even give an answer about one of my damned souls, seeing my spiritual weakness and infirmity in everything, and I cannot set an example for the brethren in any good deed, which my position in this residence requires. After God and the Mother of God, only on the prayers of the brothers living with me do I place undoubted hope for my salvation, although I am unworthy, and I do not despair that God’s ineffable and incomprehensible mercy will be poured out on my sinful soul; if not, but by the righteous justice of God I will be condemned for my evil deeds to eternal torment, blessed be God, for I am worthy of this for my negligence about His Divine commandments. Only for this I always pray to His mercy, that He, by His mercy, for the smallest labor of mine that I have ever had or am having about this community, gathered in His Most Holy Name, would at least deign me with His mercy, so that I would be worthy to see in His Heavenly Kingdom - as that rich man saw Lazarus in Abraham's bosom - that my spiritual children are true slaves and sufferers Those of Christ, for their present short-term suffering, in obedience, are satisfied with the angels and saints, who in obedience pleased Him, with the divine sight of Him. And this would be enough for me instead of any reward; however, through their holy prayers I, the accursed one, hope to be saved, for which I beseech your sanctuary to pray to God for me, I humbly remain your sincere friend who desires salvation for you. I sincerely wish you the greatest contemplation. Unfailing friend, in the name of Christ, the unworthy primate of the assembled brotherhood, Hieromonk Paisius. May 16, 1766, Moldovlachia hostel monastery Dragomirna This letter was sent with Fathers Gabriel and Spiridon Second letter to Priest Demetrius To my all-beloved friend, zealous worker of Christ’s commandments, Father Demetrius, the most reverent among the priests, rejoice in the Lord! I thank Christ God for the fact that the spark of the Divine fire, even in your youth He cast into your blessed heart, you, by diligently doing His soul-saving commandments, kept unquenchable and want to kindle it into the flame of perfect love for Him by receiving, if the Lord wants, an angelic image. But you have a great obstacle to this, my favorite, for the one who gets married, according to the Climacus, has become like one who has his hands and feet tied, and even if he wants to go into monasticism, he cannot. Secondly, you have committed yourself to shepherding the flock of Christ’s verbal sheep, which is not safe to be left just as it happens. Thirdly, a habit acquired in worldly life over such a long time and turned almost into nature, and also an ingrained natural love for one’s wife and children, as well as an attachment to the world and the things existing in the world, is very difficult to leave behind. Being in such a position, how can you free yourself from these intractable bonds and overcome these obstacles? Firstly, beloved, you should have spiritual advice about this with the helper God has given you, doing this with her permission. Secondly, one must arrange one’s children legally and according to God. Thirdly, and most importantly, you need to ask His Eminence the Archpastor, if the Holy Spirit inspired consent to this in his holy heart: for you - a blessing for such a holy work, and for your flock - after you - a skilled shepherd. Sow a blessing, and you will reap a blessing (1 Cor. 9:6). And since you begin to do your work according to the order, your desire for monasticism according to God will be strong and unshakable, praiseworthy before God and people. But if by God’s grace you were easily granted these above-described means* and got rid of every obstacle, then you would also have to count your spiritual possessions with great consideration and thus begin to build the pillar of monasticism, so that your work, because of the reckless start of construction and its incompleteness, would not be a laughing stock and a reproach, according to the Gospel (Luke 14:28–29); May this cup with tears, and the bread of monasticism with bitterness, not be condemned to us on the Day of Judgment because of folly. “For no one,” says Climacus, “will enter To receive tonsure, to the heavenly palace with a crown, if he does not commit the first, second and third renunciation. The first is renunciation of the world and what is in the world; second - renunciation of one's will and reasoning; third - renunciation of vanity, which follows obedience. Of these, the first is the most convenient, but for lovers of God. The second requires heroism and bloody labor to death. The third is achieved by constantly reproaching oneself. All of them are accompanied by God’s invisible help, without which it is impossible for any of them to be fulfilled.” Therefore, all-desired, if you, with the assistance of God’s grace helping you, hope that you can, having freed yourself from the previously mentioned obstacles, truly renounce the world and everything in the world, also renounce your will and reasoning, and surrender yourself to true obedience according to God and God’s commandments until death, and not have any of your property, even the smallest thing, and consider yourself the least and the last of all and to endure generously the mental abuse constantly inflicted on the servants of God by the invisible enemy of our souls, if you still have the will to death of love for the sake of God with sweetness to endure hunger and thirst and poverty in the necessities of the body, reproach and dishonor and all the oppression and sorrow that characterize monastic life - rejoice and be glad, glorify God and undoubtedly believe that God, through His wondrous destinies, will transform your godly intention into action. And may you, even in the eleventh hour of your life, be vouchsafed to serve God in angelic form, but do not doubt, for equal with the first, who from your youth to old age served God in monasticism, from the all-generous right hand of God you will receive a reward in Heaven—the ineffable blessings prepared for the lovers of God, which you will be vouchsafed for in Christ Jesus our Lord, in a pilgrimage. Desiring, I appear to the sight of your honored face, a sincere wisher and unfailing friend, in the name of Christ, the unworthy primate of the assembled brotherhood, Hieromonk Paisius. March 18, 1772, Moldovlachia monastery of Dragomirna Sent with Father Spiridon Letter to the abbess of the Arzamas Alekseevskaya community The Most Reverend Lady Mary is 16 with her God-gathered sisters - rejoice in the Lord! Christ, our true God, says: Fire has come to burn on the earth, and what do I want, even if it is already on fire? (Luke 12:49). Having received from Him this Divine fire, cast onto the earth of their hearts, the holy apostles and disciples of the Lord immediately kindled with the flame of love for Him, left the world and everything in the world, and, coming to Him as to their Lord and Teacher and true Mentor on the path of salvation, they surrendered themselves soul and body into true obedience and cutting off their will and understanding until their last breath and with great and inscrutable joy they said to Him: behold, we have left everything and died after You (Matthew 19:27). Always having this Divine fire in their hearts and in everything following the Divine will of their Lord and Teacher, they purely and immaculately, like the apple of their eye, preserved obedience until the end of their lives, confirming it through the patience of countless temptations and varied deaths and the shedding of their blood, which they shed to the last drop for their faith and love for Christ God, in order to preserve their obedience to Him as a pure and immaculate sacrifice until death. Having accepted this Divine fire of God’s love, the holy martyrs with indescribable joy endured many and varied torments and most violent deaths for Christ God and received from Him the crown of His Divine glory in the Kingdom of Heaven. Having accepted this Divine fire, all our reverend and God-bearing fathers fled from the world and everything in the world, and some of them, remaining in the community in perfect obedience and cutting off their will until their last breath, accepted the martyr’s crown from the right hand of the Lord; others, laboring in the deserts and in the mountains and in dens and in the abysses of the earth (see Heb. 11:38), walked the narrow and narrow path, always bearing the death of the Lord Jesus in their body (see 2 Cor. 4:10), crucifying Christ, being in hunger, and thirst, and all suffering, in unceasing prayer, and supplications, and tears; They spent their lives in extreme poverty, imitating Christ and the holy apostles, and kept the Gospel commandments like the apple of their eye, pure and immaculate, and were honored with the Kingdom of Heaven. And why say too much? Having accepted this Divine fire of God's grace, all the saints, true servants of Christ, of every rank and title and in every place of His dominion (see Ps. 102:22), received salvation, for they diligently kept the soul-saving Gospel commandments, without the fulfillment of which it is impossible to be saved by the Orthodox faith alone. Having received from His goodness this fire of the divine love of Christ, through the action of His grace cast into the earth of your heart, thanks to the diligent and attentive reading of a certain soul-helping book, you immediately hated the world and everything in it, and had the intention, leaving the world, to silently serve God day and night in a single life. Your parent, having learned about your intention, although he tried in every possible way to turn you away from it and instigated various persecutions against you, wanting to quench the fire of God’s jealousy in your soul, but you, with the assistance of God’s grace, overcame all this with your patience. So your parent himself, no longer having hope of keeping you in the world and seeing your firm intention to serve God, leaving the world, sent you to the monastery located in Kostroma. Having stayed here for four years, you were honored, prompted by the grace of God, to read many fatherly books, from reading which you received such spiritual benefit that you desired a common residence and asked Christ the Savior to give you a true mentor. And she made such a promise that if you find a perfect mentor, then, according to the teachings of Basil the Great, Saint John of the Climacus and Saint Simeon the New Theologian, you will surrender yourself to him in perfect, soul and body, obedience, hating and rejecting all your desires and will, and you will be trampled upon by everyone in your common life (see 1 Cor. 4:13). Fulfilling your desire and request for it, as good and pleasing in everything, Christ, the knower of the heart, gave you a true mentor for salvation, the late Father Theodore of blessed memory, having heard about whom you went to see him on Solovetsky Island and whom the Lord returned to his common monastery. And since he also had another cenobitic monastery, a female one, a hundred miles away from his male one, you moved from Kostroma to Arzamas, from the previous staff monastery to the cenobitic one. And there she remained with the holy sisters of the above-mentioned holy man in perfect obedience, according to the Divine Scripture and Tradition and the teaching of our holy fathers, and in cutting off her will and understanding in everything, accepting teaching from him as if from the mouth of God, and obeying him in everything not as a man, but as Christ God himself, with all the sisters confessing to him, as to God himself, the secrets of his heart, when he came from his monastery to visit you, and receiving spiritual instruction from him in everything, down to the smallest thing. During the three years of your stay in the monastery in such obedience, your father and mentor loved you according to God, and all your sisters also loved you. And your spiritual father wanted, for your holy obedience, to entrust you with the holy sisters to your care for them. You did not seek this at all and did not want it, but knowing the power of holy and divine obedience and the fact that obedience is life, and disobedience is death, you reluctantly bowed your neck under the good yoke of Christ’s obedience and took upon yourself the light burden of Christ - care for the salvation of the souls of the holy sisters who gathered in the name of Christ and voluntarily gave themselves to you in holy obedience. Having accepted this burden, you had the sure hope that it was not you, but your spiritual father who governed you and all the sisters, and it was on him, and not on you, that the whole burden of governing the souls of the holy council lay. And therefore you underwent holy obedience with inscrutable joy, obeying the holy father in everything as God Himself. And when you lived for two years after receiving the leadership, by God’s permission various spiritual temptations and various spiritual infirmities came upon you, and a diminishment of faith and love for your spiritual father, and so on, all the details of which you are explaining to me. After you had lived in such varied spiritual devastation for two years, your spiritual father and teacher passed away from temporary life to eternal life. And then the eyes of your soul were opened, and you began to recognize the futility of your soul and what kind of mentor you had lost according to God. Remembering the destruction of your soul that followed temptation, you cry and sob, and almost come to despair from the intense grief and sadness of your heart, and you write to me, and ask, and pray with many tears, that I write to you something for spiritual consolation. Without despising your prayer about this - although I am not at all trained in the art of writing to anyone and am inexperienced in it - I write to your honesty and pray and advise about the past temptation and weakness of your soul not to grieve beyond measure and not to despair, but with undoubted hope in God's mercy to place before God the true beginning of true repentance for past infirmities and with all your heart and with all your soul to repent and ask for forgiveness from His goodness. He, as a good and humane God, rejoicing over your true repentance, just as He forgave all the sinners who repented, will forgive you all your sins, without any doubt. It also comes to me, honest lady, that Christ the Savior, our true God, when He intended to entrust the universe to the saints, His chief disciples and apostles Peter and Paul, so that they would preach His gospel in it and instruct those who believed in Him from their preaching to the true knowledge of God and keep His commandments, allowed them to follow His Divine and incomprehensible destinies Peter should deny Him three times, and Paul should persecute and destroy the Church of God, so that they would become merciful to those who sin and more easily forgive the sins of those who repent. After the true repentance of Peter and the miraculous conversion to faith in Christ of Paul, both of these holy apostles, since they themselves knew the weakness of human nature, were, like Christ the Lord, most merciful to those who sin and those who truly repent. And just as they themselves bore everyone’s burdens, so they encourage everyone to do the same, saying: Bear one another’s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2). Is it not in this way, through unknown destinies, that Christ the Savior allowed the above-mentioned spiritual temptations and weaknesses to come upon you, so that after a long time, having fully seen, as in a mirror, the weakness of your soul and the weakness of human nature, you would learn to bear the weaknesses of the weak and be willing to show mercy to those who sin through weakness and those who repent, and correct such with the spirit of meekness (see Gal. 6:1). Therefore, repenting before God, glorify His incomprehensible Providence, which wonderfully arranges the salvation of those who fear Him and repent. And since, most honorable lady, from reading the books of the fathers, you longed to find a true mentor who would guide you on the path of salvation, and since, with God’s help, having found one, you remained with him in true obedience and you keep the saints’ sisters in the same obedience, and by deed and experience you learned the fruits of both blessed obedience and cursed disobedience, then it behooves me to write a little about holy obedience to your honesty. Divine obedience is a thing so necessary for true pleasing God that without it it is completely impossible to please God. Therefore, most holy obedience was planted by God in three places: in heaven, in paradise and on earth. In heaven - among the powers of heaven, in paradise - among the pristine people, on earth - among the holy disciples and apostles of the Lord. And in these three places the fruit of blessed obedience and the fruit of damned disobedience appeared. In heaven, all the powers of heaven, having, by their good will, preserved obedience to God, were made worthy, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, to dwell eternally in Him. The devil, belonging to the angelic order, by his own autocratic will fell from obedience and, becoming proud, was cast out of heaven with all the retreating forces of the same angelic order, who voluntarily obeyed his wicked advice and, deprived of the Divine light, by their own will forever became darkness, the enemies of God and the salvation of faithful Christians. So the fruit of both obedience and disobedience appeared in heaven. In paradise, pristine people, while they remained in true obedience to God, enjoyed the vision of God and the manifold gifts of the Holy Spirit; when they voluntarily obeyed the advice of the devil and, falling from obedience and becoming proud, wanted to be equal to God, then, hearing from Him condemnation to death, they were expelled from paradise and became guilty of the death of the entire human race. And if the Son of God, by His obedience to God and the Father until death, had not destroyed Adam’s disobedience, then there would have been no other hope left for the human race for salvation from death and eternal destruction. So in paradise, among the primordial, the fruit of obedience and disobedience appeared. On earth, Christ, the Son of God, who came down from heaven to do not His will, but the will of the Father who sent Him (see John 6:38), to whom He was obedient to death, the death of the cross (see Phil. 2:8), implanted His Divine obedience in His holy disciples and apostles. Those who remained in it even until death were honored with their preaching to lead the entire universe to the knowledge of God and now reign in heaven with Christ, their Lord and Teacher. And the most damned Judas, who fell away from obedience and, instead of obeying the Lord, obeyed the devil in everything, fell into despair, hanged himself and died forever in soul and body. So the fruit of obedience and disobedience appeared on earth. This divine obedience, planted by Christ the Lord Himself in His holy disciples, passed on to the holy, angelic monastic order, in which many in holy obedience shone like the sun and completely pleased God. And the entire monastic order is based on holy obedience. And in ancient times, the fathers either stayed in hostels, or followed the royal path, that is, they lived together or in threes, and if they stayed in the deserts, then for the most part they began their lives in obedience and thereby, by the grace of God, avoided the delusion of demons. And those who spontaneously began the monastic life many times happened to fall into various demonic delusions, from which may the Lord deliver us with His grace. Divine obedience also has great praise because, according to the teaching of Saint John Climacus and other holy fathers, it is the mother of the foundation of all the commandments of the Gospel, that is, love, which is achieved by obedience, as the Lord said: if you love Me, keep My commandments (John 14:15), and also: if you have My commandments and keep them, that is, you love Me (John 14:15). 14:21), and also: if you do not love Me, you will not keep My words (John 14:24). Keeping the commandments of Christ and His words is nothing other than perfect obedience to Christ the Lord. Divine obedience is such a great virtue before God that, according to the consistent teaching of many saints, true novices who remain in true obedience until the end of their lives receive a martyr’s crown from Christ God, since the cutting off before the superior of all their will and understanding will be imputed to them on the day of righteous reward for our deeds in the mental and spontaneous shedding of blood for the name of Christ. In such divine, holy and blessed obedience, honorable lady, maintaining a council of holy sisters, gathered in the name of Christ, instruct them on the path of salvation no other way than according to the true reason of Divine Scripture, as our reverend and God-bearing fathers conveyed and teach. Strengthened by God's help, present yourself to them as an example of every good deed by diligently fulfilling the commandments of the Gospel, love for God and neighbor, meekness and humility, always the deepest and towards the whole world of Christ, maternal mercy towards them, patience and long-suffering, prayer with tears, consolation and motivation for every good deed, bearing with the love of God all their burdens and infirmities, burning with God’s love for them, as for the sisters and disciples of Christ, diligently instructing them in true obedience to God in everything and in cutting off, or rather, killing their opposing will, in renouncing their opinions and reasoning. In the secret of your heart and soul, consider yourself before God to be dust and ashes, worse and more sinful than all people. Try to present an image to the holy sisters: both by observing the commandments of the holy fathers, and by physical labor according to your strength, if you can, by standing on the rule of the church, by bowing big and small. Also, carry out the cell rule established by the holy fathers with the fear of God in prayers, psalmody and reading. Also diligently and with great attention and study, read in the books of the fathers about prayer, performed with one mind in the heart; it is the truest monastic feat, most pleasing to God. And if, with God’s help, you acquire true understanding about it from the teachings of the holy fathers, then force yourself to do it, calling on God for help, and you will gain great benefit from it for your soul. Force yourself not to condemn anyone, for there is only one righteous Judge - Christ the Lord, Who will reward everyone according to their deeds, but only condemn yourself, and you will not be condemned during His Terrible Second Coming. Forgive everyone who sins against you from your heart, so that your Heavenly Father may also forgive you your sins (see Matthew 6:14). And what more can I say? Always force yourself to all the commandments of the Gospel with all your soul, and place all your hope for the salvation of your soul without any doubt in God’s mercy alone. For your former weaknesses and spiritual sins, which God allowed, may God forgive you according to His grace and love for mankind, and may He bless you both in this century and in the future. Write to me - write with all boldness, and for the Lord’s sake I beg you to write in detail to me, unworthy, about your community life and church order and refectory, about your food and the whole structure of your life. Our Lord Jesus Christ, our true God, said: Where there are two or three gathered in My name, I am in the midst of them (Matthew 18:20), through the prayers of His Most Holy Mother, our Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary and all the saints, may He be among you, gathered in His most holy name, forever. Amen. I earnestly wish your honor with all the saints, the sisters gathered in the name of Christ in the commandments of the Gospel, to achieve perfect success. Unworthy pilgrim of the Holy Ascension Nyametsky and Predtechev Sekulsky Moldovlakhian monasteries, Archimandrite Paisius Letter to the Fathers of the Polyanomerul Monastery To the most honorable fathers of the Polyanomerul monastery of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, rejoice in the Lord! Our holy and God-bearing fathers in the writings of their saints bequeathed that it is not appropriate for brothers, some of whom have gathered in the name of Christ, to live without an abbot, but the brothers must certainly have one experienced in spiritual reasoning, to whom they would give all their will and obey in everything, as the Lord Himself. Fulfilling this, of blessed memory, our reposed common father 17 did not leave his flock, established by God, without a shepherd after his death, but, going to the Lord, he put in his place the all-honorable father Theodosius, who could guide and instruct the souls of the brothers on the path of salvation. But the most merciful God, whose fate is incomprehensible, loving His servant 18, visited him as His beloved child, for the sake of greater reward for such a bodily illness that it was difficult for him to leave his cell, as he reported in his letter. His shrine, seeing that due to such a serious illness he could no longer bear the leadership of the monastery and all the brethren, and also following the desire of the blessed memory of our late father, put the all-honorable father Alexy in his place. Having learned about his appointment, I greatly rejoiced in my soul and thanked the Almighty Lord that He had revealed such a man to His servants. And I think that this was accomplished in no other way than by the grace of the Most Holy Spirit, which overshadowed the heart of the all-honorable elder Father Theodosius and brought the entire community of brothers into unanimity, so that, by common good will, they would choose as their superior this worthy man, Father Alexy, about whom my soul is convinced that he will be strong, according to the spiritual mind given to him by God, to instruct and shepherd the souls of the brothers in the pastures of salvation. As for the fact, holy fathers and beloved brothers, that you, knowing the humble disposition and extreme gentleness of Father Alexy, given to him by God from childhood, also acquired through labor, and his inexperience in management, doubt whether because of this he will be able to manage the monastery and the brethren, and ask me for advice and help in this - may the Lord tell you about this. For if you want to listen to me and obey my advice in everything, as you promise, then I give you this advice according to God: do not want to elect anyone else to be your abbot except Father Alexy, let him be your mentor and father according to God, obey him as the Lord Himself, and from his mouth, as from the mouth of God, accept the word for the benefit of your souls. After all, judge for yourself who is more appropriate to rule the souls of the brothers if not such a spiritual husband? Firstly, he is one of the oldest disciples of our late father of blessed memory, tonsured and spiritually adopted by him in your monastery, awarded the priesthood and an experienced confessor. Secondly, and most importantly, he has acquired love for God and neighbor, has a right mind and sound reasoning, and benefits everyone by living a virtuous life. Do not doubt because of his humility and gentleness, for this is the root and foundation of every abbot, as the holy fathers write: “Let the abbot with his brothers be humble, meek, kind, quiet, able to easily endure all sorts of reproaches himself, if they happened from someone at the slander of an enemy, so that he could also show his brothers an example of patience and chaste living.” Do not doubt because he apparently cannot know the government well: God is able to arrange this through other brothers. The most necessary thing for common salvation is to be able to well order the souls of brothers according to the commandments of the Lord and the teachings of the holy fathers. There is no need to doubt because he is weak in body, while he is sound in spirit, sound in spiritual reasoning. Therefore, most honorable fathers and beloved brothers in the Lord, mentally falling at the feet of all of you, I pray with tears: do not despise my advice, although I am unworthy, but accept the shepherd and mentor God has given you, the all-honorable Father Alexy, and do not desire anyone else until the end of his life. Even if he himself did not want the leadership and refused to be in charge, with all humility beg him and against his wishes; Knowing the weakness of his health, do not demand from him physical labor beyond his strength, but rest in everything, so that he does not prematurely exhaust the strength of his physical health and the brethren are deprived of the benefit. It is enough for him to sit more in his cell, maintaining his health, and reading books that are beneficial to the soul, so that he can give the brethren appropriate advice, sound and soul-saving, in time. Also, in the external management of the household, do not despise him as someone who knows little, but in every undertaking, for every undertaking, always accept his blessing and advice with all humility and inform him about the matter, even if it seems to some brother in this or that matter that there is no need to ask the father, since the brother himself knows and can. For it is from the enemy. It is from God and from the holy fathers that in any matter, even if the brother is very experienced, first ask the abbot and not force him to consent, but leave everything to his reasoning and will, for it is fitting for a brother to completely humble his thoughts and, like an extreme ignoramus, approach his father and ask if there is his permission and blessing for this, and so, according to his will, begin the work. Then God, seeing the brother’s humility and true obedience (without humility there is no obedience), will instruct the abbot’s heart with His Holy Spirit to give an answer and useful advice, and will help the novice with His invisible grace in the work begun. If the abbot voluntarily answers: “Do as you know,” then with the fear of God, relying on his prayers, one must begin as God instructs. Having fulfilled obedience, inside or outside the monastery, or having returned from absence, one must again come to the father and, having confessed to the subtleties of everything that has been done, fall at his feet, asking forgiveness for what he has sinned in holy obedience, for it is characteristic of only angels not to sin in anything. Also, you should humble yourself before each other, and prefer each other, and have love according to God among yourself - and may you, by the grace of Christ, have one soul and one heart. If I hear and learn about such a dispensation of yours, I will rejoice and glorify the Most Good God, and I will pray to the Lord that He, in His innumerable mercy, will give you strength and strength to preserve His Divine commandments in perfection, and I will do everything, as much as I can, to help you in your spiritual and physical needs and, according to your common desire, consider your abode as if it were my own. For economic management, I am now sending two brothers to Father Alexy: Father Matthew and Father Dionysius, who, I hope, will be a great help for the entire holy monastery. Having offered this to your love with the hope of your godly success in fulfilling the commandments of the Lord, I wish you health and salvation, Hieromonk Paisius, Elder of Dragomirn. Message to Hieromonk Agathon, abbot of the Polyanovoronsk monastery All-honorable sir, Hieroschemamonk Father Agathon, head of the holy Polyanovoronsk monastery, with all the brethren in Christ, save yourself in the Lord! The scripture of your shrine, together with the report of the holy fathers of your council against the hieromonk Theopemptos, a blasphemer of the paternal books of our reverend and God-bearing fathers, teaching mental work, that is, the Jesus Prayer, I joyfully received through our beloved brother in the Lord, our confessor Jakinthos. And, having understood everything written in them, he glorified God for the fact that even in these last, worthy times of crying and sobbing, in which the divine zeal and love for the books of the fathers, teaching the true practice of the Divine Gospel commandments and the sacred Jesus Prayer, performed with one mind in the heart, almost completely died out in the monks, according to Divine vision, you still have the mentioned zeal and love for books fathers and their soul-saving teaching about this prayer. Prompted by this divine jealousy, you, having gathered in the holy church, called on that blasphemer so that he would give an answer for his blasphemies. But, since he did not listen and did not want to come to church, you were forced to go to his cell and ask him why he calls you heretics. He, answering all of you, called all the books of the fathers chimeras, all of you - seduced, and the Jesus Prayer - heresy, which allegedly originated from the Moshensky mountains, and other blasphemous and deceitful, senseless and insane his fornication. And in response to the spiritual admonition of our confessor Iacinthos to stop blaspheming the teachings of the holy fathers and the sacred Jesus Prayer, he repeated the same blasphemies. You, your holiness, seeing his unrepentant disposition and incessant blasphemy, with the permission of the holy fathers and brothers, write to me, calling yourself orphans, and ask not to leave you in this matter. Although this matter does not apply to me, because your holy monastery does not depend on me, but for the sake of the love of God, seeing your faith and love for me, unworthy according to God, seeing your divine zeal for this all-holy prayer and the books of the fathers, and also condoling the grief and sadness inflicted on the souls by your blasphemy against such a shrine, I decided to tell you something about this blasphemy, where it comes from in our times beginning. When we just came from the Holy Mount Athos to this Orthodox, Christian and more than other lands, the hospitable and hospitable land of Moldova, then I, while still in the Dragomirna monastery, heard that from the Moshen mountains from a certain superstitious philosopher-monk the Jesus Prayer, holy and sacred, did not flow, which he blasphemes for his eternal (if he does not repent) condemnation and heresy calls, but a most disgusting, and all-abominable, and hitherto unheard of, unbearable blasphemy appeared to our ears against this all-holy and immaculate Jesus Prayer, performed with the mind in the heart, and against all the holy fathers, and against their holy books that teach about this holy prayer. With that blasphemy - for the devil spoke through his mouth - he damaged some of the feeble-minded monks so much that they dared to drown the books of their fathers, having tied bricks to them, in the Tyasmin River. Also, not content with uttering blasphemy with his foul tongue alone, he had the intention of using his hand, in writing, to blaspheme and refute this divine work, the prayers and books of the fathers teaching about it, but he immediately became blind, because God did not allow his evil intention to be realized in practice. But from that time even to this day, as we see, this blasphemy that came from this blasphemer has not yet been completely eradicated. May God turn him to true repentance, so that he does not perish forever with the damned heretic Barlaam of Calabria, the first blasphemer of this sacred Jesus Prayer, whom the Church of God collectively anathematized three times and still betrays every year on the Holy Sunday of Orthodoxy, and until the end of the world he will betray with these words: “To Barlaam, and Akindinos, and followers, and to their successors anathema (three times).” Just as Christ Himself, our true God, from the beginning of the Orthodox faith to the present time has been a stone of stumbling and a stone of temptation for unbelievers (1 Pet. 2:7; Rom. 9:33), and for believers - salvation for souls (1 Pet. 1:9), and also the saving sermon of the Gospel itself, according to the Apostle, is the stench of death to death, for the sheep - the stench of an animal in the stomach (1 Cor. 2:16), and this sacred prayer, although for some who did not believe and doubted it, was a stumbling block and a stone of temptation (as we see in the newly printed, according to the Providence of God, Greek books of our reverend fathers Simeon the New Theologian and his disciple Nikita Stifat), however, until the time of the mentioned heretic, no one dared openly, both in language and in writing, to blaspheme the mental doing of this prayer and its practitioners. He showed himself to be the first detractor of this divine prayer. Like a serpent from the abyss, coming out of Calabria, the country of Italy, he came to the Greek land and first settled in Thessaloniki, where, while staying, he heard (since he was not far from the Holy Mount Athos) about the Svyatogorsk monks and about this sacred prayer. And, proud of his philosophical wisdom and knowledge of astronomy, he immediately opened his vile lips and began to emit a deadly poison of blasphemy - first against prayer performed with the mind, and against monks, blaspheming and calling them Euchites, umbilicals and Messalians, then he turned his blasphemy on the entire Church of God and on its dogmas, calling him an uncreated creature and the ever-present light of the Divinity of Christ, shining on Tabor from His most holy face to His holy disciples and apostles. In addition, this heretic, his disciple Akindinus and other followers and successors of theirs called creation and creation everything essential and natural in common, from the same being and nature of the Most Holy Trinity, like from the sun the rays, light and radiance that naturally and essentially occur, that is, action, power, grace, light and radiance, gifts and talents, and other things that are innumerable. And all Orthodox Christians, who profess that in God there is nothing created, but everything is uncreated and ever-present, dared to be called two-theists and polytheists, although they themselves were atheists. For this purpose, first, against Varlaam, who did not listen to the repeated verbal and written admonitions of Saint Gregory Palamas and did not want to repent and stop his blasphemies, the Council of the Holy Fathers of Svyatogorsk gathered on Holy Mount Athos, who collectively anathematized him with all blasphemies. Also against these heretics and their followers, at various times, four great Councils gathered in Constantinople in the great Church of the Wisdom of God. At two of them, Saint Gregory Palamas was still in the hieromonastic rank, and at the third he was already the Archbishop of Thessaloniki, while the fourth Council took place after the saint’s repose to the Lord. At all these Councils, irrefutable evidence was presented from the entire Divine Scripture, from the decrees of the holy Ecumenical Councils and the teachings of all the holy fathers, shepherds and teachers of the universe. And after the truth shone brighter than the sun, and these heretics, that is, Varlaam, Akindinus, the philosopher Gregory and all their followers and successors, did not want to repent and curse their heresies and blasphemies, but remained in stubbornness and obvious opposition to the Church of God, the Divine Church collectively anathematized them all three times. And thus, after their many years of attack on the Church, she found complete silence, having collectively declared the purity and innocence of the monks against all heretical blasphemies and slander against them. And the divine prayer of Jesus, performed not only with the lips, but also with the mind in the heart, the immaculate sun, remains the sun, not darkened by the darkness of heretical blasphemies and glorified by the entire Holy Church as a divine work. Therefore, I pray and ask your shrine, the entire council of your holy monastery: have Divine zeal and undoubted faith in the books of the Fathers and in the teaching found in them, that is, in the Divine Scripture, and in the mind of all the universal teachers and the entire Holy Church; be in agreement with them in everything without any doubt, since the same Holy Spirit acted both in the universal teachers and in the holy fathers, teachers and mentors of monastic life, and with both, for their perfect pleasing to God, he equally revealed the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, that is, the depth of Divine Scripture. And this teaching, found in the books of the fathers, is for monks who want to be saved a true instruction on the path of salvation, which, holding with all your soul, run and move away from the blasphemy of this blasphemer against the holy books and against our God-bearing fathers. For such a one and others - if those like him could be found - cannot at all have among the saints a single witness to their wickedness and blasphemies, but they have a foundation in the sand of their corrupt and ungodly mind (Matt. 7:26), for they are deceived from the belly and speak lies (Ps. 57:4), by the father of lies, the devil (John 8:44), being instigated to blaspheme against the truth. But you, faithful and true sons of the Orthodox Church of God, adhering to the truth, are founded on the immovable stone of faith (Matthew 7:24) and have such a great multitude of witnesses about the true doing of the commandments of Christ and this all-sacred prayer of our reverend and God-bearing fathers, whose names I report with this message. Follow their holy teaching with all diligence, compelling your soul and body to do every good work pleasing to God according to your strength, with the assistance of God’s grace. With this blasphemer, if he does not want to repent, I ask and pray, do not have any communication and, if possible, remove him from yourself with love, so that your life may be quiet and peaceful, without any embarrassment, for the glory of God and for the salvation of your souls, which I earnestly desire for you, I remain your holiness and all your brethren in Christ, the most zealous desire for perfect prosperity in every good deed. and for me, a sinner, your favorable prayers to God. Elder and Archimandrite Paisius of the Holy and Honorable Monasteries of the Holy Ascension Nyametsky and Predtechev Sekulsky Message to the abbot of the monastery Tsybukan Feodosius To the most dishonest of fathers, Theodosius, abbot of the Tsybukan monastery, with his beloved children - rejoice in the Lord! I thank the Lord and God and our Savior Jesus Christ, who preserves the health of your shrine for the benefit and edification of the brothers of the Lord, whom the Holy Spirit has bound with an indestructible union of love for your shrine. And I greatly rejoiced in spirit, sensing in your writing the fragrance of the humility of your God-loving soul, for by the grace of God you can, in word and deed, show the flock of God’s verbal sheep entrusted to you the unmistakable path to salvation, according to such a gift given to you from God. And in the pasture of the Divine commandments you can feed them, giving them the restful and flowing water of the words of God for drinking and eternal flowing water (see John 4:14) - right and true, according to the power of Scripture, spiritual reasoning. By imitating the hero of true and perfect obedience - Christ the Lord (see Rom. 5:19; Phil. 2:8; Heb. 5:7-9), you desire to give yourself up, according to the word of the Apostle (see 2 Cor. 10:5; Rom. 6:16; Rom. 6:22), into obedience, and in him to complete your life. And you greatly grieve that you have lost such a steady and sure path to salvation. Seeing, dear God, in your blessed soul such a godly intention of yours - a clear sign of the foundation of all virtues, that is, humility, without which no one can be saved - I greatly rejoice in my soul, since with it you will save yourself and those who follow you, with the assistance of the grace of God. Therefore, I admonish you, blessed one, not to grieve too much about this and not to be exhausted in soul, as if you were deprived of obedience, for the Lord is able to transform a good will into a deed; after all, it is not because of contempt that you are deprived of this, but because of God’s love for the brethren, for the sake of their common benefit, which, more than all the virtues, is pleasing to Christ God, who laid down His soul for us (see Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45; John 10:11; John 10:15). Just try, strengthened by the grace of God, by your true instruction on God’s commandments, to present the souls who have entrusted themselves to you to Christ God as pure and undefiled sacrifices, worthy of the mental altar, through the complete mortification of their will and reasoning. And not only will you not be deprived of the reward of obedience for your good will towards him, but you will also receive a special crown for the true instruction of God’s children on the path of God from Christ God (see 1 Pet. 5:4), as one who laid down his life for his friends (see John 15, 13; 1 John 3:16). Epistle to Nikephoros Theotoki To the Most Reverend Teacher, Hieromonk Nicephorus of Cyrus - rejoice in the Lord! Out of love, the foundation of which is God Himself (see 1 John 4:16), out of true and unfeigned love, you thought of us, O my sacred and honest head, much more than was fitting. You considered that we have many such men who, along with literacy, could teach children the commandments of the Lord and virtue in both deed and word, being an example and mark for them thanks to their honest, chaste and sober life; which you ask, and even more are asked of us for this work by the lovers of Christ from the mother of cities 19 of this land. Calling our conscience as a witness to your love for God, we inform you that to this day we do not have such men fit for this work as the word addressed to us and you ask for. For although we have come together in the name of Christ to a doctor’s clinic, that is, to a hostel, to the true physician of souls and bodies, Christ God, with the hope of healing, we are still sick and weak, we have not yet been healed of our illness, our spiritual wounds still stink and rot because of our negligence, we have not yet achieved the desired health to be able to heal others. We are salt taken from water, and if we are thrown into water again, we will overflow with passions. The brick of our inner man has not yet been burned by the fire of the Spirit, so that we can withstand the pressure of the water of passions and not crumble. We have not yet received the krill, like a dove (Ps. 54:7), the Spirit so that we could, having plunged ourselves into the abyss of sinful irritations, which are before our eyes, fly to the heavenly haven without getting bogged down in passions. We are terrified and trembling, not daring to enter the Babylonian furnace of passions and lusts, which the mental Babylonian tormentor could kindle for us among the people, because of the weakness of our feelings, since we have not yet been granted the dew of dispassion - let us not be burned, like those who stood around the Chaldean furnace (see Dan. 3:19-50). We know - oh blessed one! - although in part what the world is, from the teaching of our blessed fathers: it is (I borrow your words) the lust of the flesh, the vanity of acquisition and the will of the devil. We also know from the teachings of the same fathers that it is useful for monks who are weak in soul to escape from the world and from worldly people, from seeing them, and hearing them, and talking with them, and even more so from being with them. We are not worthy to think about the height of perfection of the shrine of those who are in the world, but with a mind outside the world, for we regard such as equal to the angels. We, being outside the world, are in the world, damned, - we confess this before God and people. You know, God-wise one, how great the evil of the devil is, and you know that his mental warfare extends to all people, especially to Orthodox Christians. How much more does it extend to monks, who, by the supernatural virtue of virginity and purity, force themselves in the flesh to imitate the incorporeal. And if such fierce, constant and unceasing abuse is raised against those who are outside the world, in the desert, the sufferers of Christ, then how much more so against the monks who are in the world. How much great spiritual strength and perfect dispassion is required for such people, as well as extreme love for God and faith and the grace of the Holy Spirit, so that they, like the three youths, in the midst of the flames of such fierce enemy warfare and temptations, can keep their virginity and purity of soul and body, like the church of God (see 1 Cor. 3:16), unburnt. We, being fearful and weak at heart, from such superior strength of our mental warfare of our enemy, according to the word of the teaching of our holy fathers, we leave and return to the house of our inner man (and, sitting in it, we cry about our weakness), fearing and trembling, lest, due to the weakness and weakness of our soul, we should succumb to our enemies, crawling into carnal lusts and passions, and not frighten the hearts of our brothers who want to be saved by becoming a temptation and stumbling block for them through our harmful example. We know that teaching children is a divine work and a work of love, but it exceeds our strength, therefore we believe that the Lord, the Knower of the Heart (see Acts 1:24; 15:8), will not require such an act of love from us, weak ones, knowing our weakness. Who knows all this as thoroughly as your godly wisdom? After all, to our detriment, you wrote the letter as if on behalf of the school caretakers. Therefore, we pray to your love for God to have mercy on our weakness and leave us to cry over our sins; we also pray that you will notify the caretakers, according to the wisdom given to you by God, of our inability to do such a thing. For such good deeds of yours, which will be shown to our souls, you will have reward in the Kingdom of Heaven - the blessings prepared for those who love God from the righteous Rewarder, Christ our God, to whom we, the last, constantly pray for your health and salvation. Message to the fathers remaining in Dragomirna Another message after moving to the Sekul Monastery, to the fathers who remained in Dragomirna. My spiritual brothers and fathers and children, I know that lust, love not according to God, effeminacy and especially self-love, like other passions, always overcome us and change us so much and give us a different appearance that we begin to look down at the earth, become flesh and blood (see 1 Cor. 15:50) and from this we are completely alienated from the good God, and therefore it has always been in my mind to write at least briefly and in the simplest words, a small lesson to encourage you to fulfill the commandments of God and preserve the commandments of the holy fathers, and also in order to advise you in the Lord how you should walk the field of holy obedience and remain in it, performing deeds of piety. And until now I could not write, being burdened both by my physical weakness and by many other responsibilities and concerns that always lie before me. But now, with all the infirmity and weakness that I have, receiving great help from your holy prayers, I read three or four times here in the assembly to the fathers, who in the name of the Lord gathered under the yoke of holy and divine obedience, something from the words of our holy father Abba Dorotheos, explaining to the fathers in detail the teachings of the saint, which speak about humility and, I will say briefly, about doing every commandment of God and about how to perform deeds of piety. And the souls of many brothers were resurrected, for they all immediately began to follow in practice the teachings of the saint, or, more truly, the Holy and Life-giving Spirit. Therefore, now I have considerable joy in my soul on the occasion of this, for which I glorify the most merciful God every hour with tears. It is also true that, due to the duty I have, I did not shy away from writing to you, my dear brothers and children, these simple and small instructive words, since I have the duty of both the brothers who are here * and you to teach and encourage you with God’s advice to every good deed. For although we are separated so much that we live in these two holy monasteries, our cathedral is one and all of it is connected by the same bonds of love for God, as if we all lived together inseparably. I also learned about your life, especially about some of the brothers - I’m not talking about all of them - that they are easily inclined to violate the commandments, which the holy fathers command to observe and fulfill with all attention, so that good reverence is preserved among us: they walk with all sorts of debauchery from cell to cell, spending time in vain conversations and laughter. And not only this, but they also go out openly to the gates of the holy monastery and sit idly without the fear of God, and from idleness some of these, having become irreverent, reached the point of complete inattention and insensibility, becoming obstinate, disobedient, quick-tempered, angry, disobedient, arguing, murmuring, That is, in the Sekul Monastery. ungrateful and lazy in every good work of God. For what else can idleness teach, if only not all evil, as the Holy Fathers testify. Therefore, my dear fathers and brothers and children, with the pain of my heart I beg you: be sober, all those who have fallen into such sins, and, with the help of God, make the beginning of correction, spitting on every habit and evil, cursed disposition, and make your members, as the Apostle says, slaves of justice in holiness (see Rom. 6:19). Accept Divine understanding (cf. 1 Cor. 2:16). Turn away from evil and do good (see Ps. 33:15). Love the world and cultivate it. Flee from the corrupt advice that our enemy, the devil, pours out through the unsteady and frivolous, as he once poured out in paradise through the serpent on Eve, our foremother. For many, including some of our brothers, listening to corrupt advice and following their own will and opinion, not only did not succeed in any virtue and living according to the will of God, but also fell away from the common fraternal life, renounced their vows, which they made when taking tonsure before God and the holy angels, and now they do everything according to their will to ignite the eternal fire. May the Holy God, through your prayers, give them the knowledge of justice and correction. However, you yourself have known what darkness and burden appears in the soul from contempt and non-observance of the holy commandments and the Divine Gospel, advice and decisions left by the holy fathers through enlightenment from the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I, the unworthy one, advise and command in the Lord: from now onwards, lay the beginning of correction and in particular, with the help of God, destroy from your midst idle talk, which secretly kills your souls, as well as going from cell to cell unnecessarily, and if the need arises for one to go to another, then let this also be with the knowledge and blessing of the confessor. Be meek and humble towards everyone, following the meekness and humility of Christ, Who, during all His sufferings, which He voluntarily endured for our salvation, was not angry, did not contradict those who dishonored and reviled Him, but also prayed to His Heavenly Father for them, so that He would forgive them these sins. Be submissive, quick to obey, unquestioning, and besides all this, acquire humility in your hearts, with which you can quench all the fiery arrows of the devil (see Eph. 6:16), who, like a lion, walks around, roaring and looking around for someone to devour (1 Pet. 5:8). Always confess all your thoughts to your confessor, for through pure confession all the advice of the enemy will fall apart. And do not like to sit in your cells for even one hour without handicraft and idly, since idleness, as I have already said, teaches a monk all kinds of evil. Be occupied with the work of your hands, and with all the public works which you are commanded to do. And maintain the order and rule of the Holy Church, especially since you also have a warm church there. Those who know how to read and write should read with attention the books of the Holy Fathers, since thanks to books a person’s mind is enlightened, and he acquires zeal to fulfill the commandments of the Holy Gospel, for without doing the commandments of God, it is impossible to be saved by naked Christian faith alone. After all, as the apostle says, faith without good works is dead (see James 2:20), and works without faith are also dead (cf. 1 Pet. 1:9; Rom. 1:17; 3:28). Therefore, combine both, that is, faith and doing the commandments of God, so that that prophetic voice, saying: this people is close to Me with their lips, but far in heart (see Isa. 29:13; Matt. 15:8; Mark 7:6). And in another place it is also said: there are some who bless God with their lips, but deny God with their deeds (see Titus 1:16). Therefore, be sober, children, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers of darkness (see Eph. 6:12). May God, who rests on the cherubim in the highest, seeing your feat and zeal, strengthen you with His grace to fulfill His holy commandments and to perform every good deed. In particular, I am writing to you that everyone should keep inviolably the following commandments every day (for this is what I commanded all the brothers here): everyone should bring a tub or at least a bowl of water to the kitchen and help at least a little with washing the dishes, and help with anything else that is needed. The same is true in the bakery - let him sift one or two sifters of flour and help knead the dough (whoever is stronger in body), because the brothers assigned to those obediences should have relief. Also, every brother should clean the chimney of his stove every week, and let no one put wood or chips on the stove or between the stove and the wall, so that all worries about a fire will disappear. In the monastery, everyone should walk with reverence, keeping their hands folded at their waists. No one should visit each other’s cells unnecessarily, and if necessary, the visit should be with the knowledge and blessing of the confessor, as I have already said. Likewise, there will be no gatherings, whether at the gates or in any other place, and especially with idle talk. I have also prescribed penance for those who do not observe and fulfill these commandments: they should not drink wine. And since those here 20 have learned to do and observe this with great attention, I beg you also, my honest and most kind children - since here and there, without distinction, everything is one council - that you too there observe and fulfill this with all zeal and diligence. No matter how great and difficult these commandments may be, if you only show your will, all of you, except the sick and old, will be able to fulfill them, so that both there and here there will be the same order everywhere. Also the church brothers 21 - and they should try to follow all this, since they too can find time, especially after the church service; and let everyone know that if anyone, due to laziness or neglect, does not observe this, then I gave a firm, special command to the stewards who were appointed there in my place, not to give wine to any of them. With all this, I still beg you with tears, my dear children and brothers, that each of you persevere in your service with courage, in every good deed, so that your bodily deeds may be united with your other virtues. Because in the place where this is and is fulfilled, there God rests, there the light shines, there the world appears, there Satan has no place for himself, passions run far away from there. And where there is no care about this, everything is the opposite: instead of good there is evil, instead of light there is darkness, instead of Christ there is the devil. Therefore, be vigilant, you, my child, confessor Narcissus, stay awake, examine the hearts of the brothers through confession and instruct them in every good deed, so that they, along with everyone else, receive a reward from the hero of God. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ always be with you, my most honorable brothers. Amen. Written by the Monk Paisius after he moved with part of the brethren from the Dragomirn Monastery to Sekulsky Message to the disciples at the Nekshany farm Message from our venerable father, Elder Paisius, from the holy monastery of Dragomirna to his disciples who were at the harvest on the farmstead (metokha) of Nekshany. My dear ones, all those who are in holy obedience in the harvest, my spiritual children and brothers and fathers in Christ, rejoice in the Lord! The most merciful God knows how glad I would be to send you another priest to help you, for order. But believe me, my children, that then there will be no one to serve in the holy church the Divine service, on which, according to God, we place all our hope and hope with the good news of mercy, life, peace, health, salvation, visitation, forgiveness and forgiveness of our sins, firmly in the Christian faith. Therefore, I decided to send you, my dear children, this edifying teaching to support you in your labors. My dear and dear children, sufferers of Christ, partakers of the crown of martyrdom and heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven, stand bravely in holy obedience, stand firmly in faith in God and in trust in me; according to the holy Apostle Paul, do not weaken, be unanimous, peaceful, treat one another and everyone with love and reverence (see Phil. 2:2-3; 1 Thess. 3:12; Rom. 12:9-12). Since the enemy is the accursed devil, who always lies in wait for us, he walks around us day and night, seeking among those who struggle, whom to devour (see 1 Peter 5:8) and to cast down to the bottom of hell with him forever and ever, and especially in these troubled times. But you, children of holy and blessed obedience and my dear children, be wise and skillful, trample with your spiritual reasoning his head, which causes confusion, and all his evil power; For the sake of the Lord, try as much as you can, just as you work physically, work spiritually, especially not to follow your will, opinion and not resist each other - such things are hateful to God, and hostile and alien to me and all my brothers. Beware of murmuring, because the wrath of God descends on those who grumble, and the earth swallows them up alive (see Numbers 16:23–34). And most of all, brothers, humble yourself and love one another with spiritual love, and may the God of peace and love be with you (see Phil. 4:9); and from this everyone will know that you are disciples of Christ if you have true love among yourself (see John 13:35). Since the one who loves a brother remains in the light, and the one who hates is in darkness (see 1 John 2:10–11). Beware, brothers, of envy, the snare of the devil, because where envy and malice reside, there is no visitation of Divine grace, but everything is a reason for blasphemy, the devil’s remembrance and an open pit of destruction. During the holy deed, that is, obedience, keep your tongue from evil (see Ps. 33:14) so ​​that it does not speak idle words, since everyone will be fearfully and menacingly interrogated by the Lord about everything, even about idle words, on the day of the terrible trial. Guard your lips (see Ps. 140:3), tongue and thoughts, if you deign to lead this life according to the Christian faith, because the lips of the silent man flow out good (see Proverbs 10:31). For whoever preserves the tongue preserves his soul from sorrows (see Proverbs 21:23), since death and life are in the hand of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). James, the brother of God, teaches us this, saying: Let every man be quick to listen and slow to speak, for whoever does not lose his tongue is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body from evil (see James 1:19; 3:2). Observe this, do not gather in the kitchen, in the tent, in the bakery and in any place unnecessarily, because with too much talk we cannot avoid idle talk, laughter and slander. Let one not go to one another in the huts without a blessed need and without the blessing of the confessor, especially after Compline, for this is strictly forbidden by the Holy Fathers. And in particular, beware with caution of such a trap of the devil - insolence among yourself, for this network of the devil, brothers, is fierce and terrible, it can throw any monk, both old and young, headfirst into all the abysses. And you, older brothers, more experienced in concepts and reasoning, by your deeds that are approved, set an example for the younger ones, still inexperienced in concepts, and teach instruction. For the Lord requires more from you. While in huts or at work, do not give up your attention as if you were in a monastery. Learn the Divine commandments, that is, humility, meekness and love, since the Lord Himself says in the Gospel: Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:29). And in order to learn humility, it is useful for everyone to have a hidden lesson in his soul: to reproach himself, to have himself under everyone’s feet, to consider himself dust and ashes. Also, at meals, in the sowings and everywhere in the fear of God, in the memory of death, in the remembrance of eternal torment, let everyone constantly affirm himself and abstain: let him not look here and there with his eyes, but look down, and think about his sins, and cleanse his conscience with daily true confession, and endure the various temptations that come from weak brothers with joy and thanksgiving. One such teaching and attention described above dries up bad thoughts, wounds mental and physical passions, illuminates the mind, enlightens the thoughts and brings joy to the heart. Secret teaching and reading is the home of the soul, which cannot be penetrated and which opposing forces cannot approach - it is an unshakable pillar, a quiet, serene, motionless refuge that saves the soul. Because the demons rebel and make a lot of noise when a monk arms himself with secret teaching and at the same time the incessant repetition: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner” - and with special reading. And if you do this, my dear children, then, having heard about this, I will rejoice for you for the sake of your godly work, since you and my sinner’s labors did not despise. For just as in the beginning I fed you with spiritual milk and instructed you, so now I am instructing you not on anything else, but on the path leading to the Kingdom of Heaven. And I expect to have relief for myself, at least in the years of my old age, with the weakness of my health, - your divine and true holy obedience and, like some very expensive and valuable pearl, the salvation of your souls and my soul, a sinner, and I intercede for it. And you, my dear and spiritual sons, open your ears and listen to what follows. Do not repay me with evil for good. Instead of joy, do not cause trouble, instead of pure wheat - tares, thorns and thistles, instead of enjoying the mercy of God in the Kingdom of Heaven and inexpressible joy in the same place with you - eternal torment and unspeakable sorrows because of your disobedience, from which may God deliver us. But, truly, I say, offer to the Lord God a pure sacrifice, without blemish, with a fragrant scent, according to your Christian vow - holy obedience, throwing out the foul and stinking sacrifice - that dead and stinking dog, that is, disobedience. Offer your labors and bloody sweat as a whole burnt offering, your stay under the burning sun and hardships as martyrdom, and yourself and your soul as a living offering, acceptable to God, into a fragrant aroma (see Eph. 5:2). And as for your good deeds, I entrust you, my dear children, to the Lord God for protection and protection, so that He will protect you from all evil of soul and body, and cover you from all embarrassment of the enemy, and grant you one such godly deed - holy obedience - with the fear of God, according to my spiritual teaching given above, based on the Holy Gospel and attested by the saints, with perform soul-saving deeds with patience. Know that the Christ-hating Jews heard the preaching of the prophets and holy apostles and saw many miracles of Christ our Savior, but they were not given preference and did not agree to walk on the path of God, but still - alas! - The innocent Christ our God was tortured and put to death by the accursed. And the pagans, not knowing the truth, believed and were called blessed sons of God (see John 20:29). May God honor you, both in this short life in your souls to receive peace and divine joy from Christ the Savior, and after this life in the Kingdom of Heaven, together with the faces of the angels, enjoy eternally inexpressible joy and be called sons of God (see Matt. 5:9). In a fatherly way, your prayer book to God and your zealous well-wisher, your spiritual father Paisius July 21, 1775 Word to Father Theodosius, Archimandrite of the Sofronieva Hermitage About your love for him. And about not seeking honor and wealth. And what kind of fatherly love a rector should have. About a quiet and silent stay in the monastery. About having time to read fatherly books and pray in the cell. About the books of the Fathers, translated from Greek. And also about a certain detractor of mental prayer. The scripture of your shrine, sent to me, unworthy, through the honest fathers, the monks Clement and Ioannikis, I joyfully received and glorified God for your health and godly stay, and after careful reading I understood what was written to me. First of all, you tell me about your inexpressible suffering and sadness, which happened for the following reason: some, not heeding their salvation, with their strong false words, seemed to have so confused my soul and turned my heart against you, who have sincere love for me, that they completely broke the union of love on my part. And you tell me in detail what concern you had for the liberation of our brothers and what advice you gave them about this, which would truly help them obtain liberation if they followed it. But since they, believing their own opinion, rejected your care for them, that’s why they were imprisoned. Holy Father, believe me, not only this news of yours, but also your unceasing love for me confirms to me that you are by no means to blame for what happened to our brothers. And they in no way mention your shrine when they write their letters, but they cry and weep and with all their hearts and with all their souls they confess before God and before me that they themselves are to blame for everything that happened because of their disobedience to me. For to some extent they violated my will. For Athanasius, an elderly mother, and Theophan, an elderly father, wrote and tearfully prayed that they would bother to visit them and lead them to monastic life. The brothers, showing me their letters, with many tears, asked me for a long time for permission to go to their parents and actually fulfill their request. With many tears I exhorted them to abandon such an intention and entrust this matter to the almighty Providence of God. However, after some time, condescending to their diligent request, I allowed them to go, sending Brother Ambrose with them for spiritual guidance. Giving them a blessing on the way, I said with tears: “No longer, my beloved brothers, in this life we ​​will not see each other, unless Almighty God shows a miracle, so that I, the accursed one, will be honored to see you again in this short life.” And in fact, God allowed me to endure this for my unworthiness and to lose the sight of my most beloved spiritual children. And they, remembering this and crying, place the blame on themselves, and not on someone else, and with much humility, generosity and gratitude endure this temptation, which was allowed to them by the inscrutable destinies of God. One person told me in words about our brothers the same thing that you tell me about them in your letter: as if they complained to him that they suffered from you what they suffered. But since I did not find this in their letters, I did not believe this message of his at all and considered this message to be some kind of idle words. Therefore, I pray to your holiness: do not have such an opinion about me that I have completely broken the union of love with you - may the good God not allow me, the accursed one, to endure this. After all, although I by no means acquired love for God and neighbor through my negligence, I know and firmly believe that without love for God and neighbor it is absolutely impossible to be saved by Orthodox faith alone, for faith without works, according to Scripture, is dead (James 2:20 and 26). I must, if I want to have even the slightest hope of salvation, with God’s help, force myself to it at least partially and for no reason violate love for my neighbor, therefore, according to the commandment of God (see Matt. 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27), I must have constant and never violated love for your shrine. For the sake of greater assurance of your shrine, by the love of God I present to you the guarantee of my spiritual love, which I previously had for you and now have, which only God knows. When your shrine was still in the Tsybukan monastery, I had such a notification about you in my soul that in these last days God, by His grace, revealed such a man (that is, your shrine), who can guide those who want to be saved both in word and deed on the true path of salvation. When your shrine had the intention of moving to the Dolzheshti monastery and asked me for advice about this, I did not advise you to do this, fearing the complete destruction of your soul and body, and told you that if you do this, you will go to that monastery with indescribable joy, and from there you will come out with indescribable sorrow, which is what actually happened to you. After this, you had the intention of taking the Berzunets monastery, came to me at the Dragomirna monastery and diligently begged me to write a petition to the patrons so that they would give you that monastery. And according to your good will, according to your Christian conscience, your shrine made a vow before God and our Savior Jesus Christ, taking as witnesses our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, that in everything according to God you will consult with me and without my advice you will not begin or create anything, but will have spiritual unanimity and unanimity with me in governing your brothers and will follow the right mind in everything. Holy Scripture and the teachings of our holy fathers. I, the accursed one, having heard such a vow of your holiness, given voluntarily before Christ God, rejoiced with inexpressible joy, hoping that this vow of yours will remain forever inviolable. And at my diligent request from those persons, that monastery was given to you for permanent residence, into which your shrine and the brethren moved joyfully, and there for some time, according to your vow, you consulted with me. But after a short time you completely stopped having spiritual advice with me, breaking your promise before Christ God. And from that time on, it became as if natural in my soul about your shrine, such a conviction that even before my death your shrine would not accept spiritual advice from me and your life would not be governed by the will of God, since you began to follow your will and reasoning in everything, and not the teaching of the holy fathers, and from then on you began to govern the brethren with a strange and unusual government. In times of danger, you began to defend yourself with weapons, rather than turning to God’s all-powerful help. During the attack of the enemies, you did not come with the brethren and with all the movable property of the monastery to me in Dragomirna (where you would have stayed for a short time and would have returned with joy to your monastery), but without informing me either in words or in a letter, you left this land and suffered considerable spiritual and physical ruin. Then again, at my request, you were given the Snagov monastery in the Moldavian land for your permanent residence in it - having moved into it, you ruled the brethren in such a way that horror attacks me even at the very memory. For, instead of correcting sinners with paternal mercy, love, meekness, humility, patience, long-suffering and kindness, your shrine sought to correct them with severity, cruelty, merciless and inhuman beatings, bonds, prisons and other punishments appropriate to civil authority, and not to the monastic rank. You were tonsured to the monastic rank at an untimely rate and elevated to the diaconate and priestly ranks beyond your age - you did both of these contrary to the sacred rules of the Holy Church. And although our blessed and eternally worthy of memory elders and God’s spiritual fathers and mentors of our salvation, Basil and Michael, and other zealots and true followers of the Word of God and the teachings of the books of the fathers all the days of their lives ran and avoided the evil gain, your shrine, on the contrary, with all your soul and with an insatiable desire rushes to the acquisition of silver and property. In all this, when you came from Snagov to me in Dragomirna, I spiritually denounced your shrine with all the boldness of my position, but I achieved nothing. For although your shrine, after my denunciation, called God as a witness, and promised to correct itself in everything, that promise was given out of mere pretense, and not according to the Christian truth itself. I did not believe this promise at all, but considered it a lie and not only secretly kept my disbelief in my soul, but also said to the face of your shrine that I did not believe such a promise of yours at all. And I was not mistaken in this. Because, truly, not only did no correction follow my loving reproof of your shrine, but you also succeeded in the worst. For after some time, a rumor reached me that your shrine is using all sorts of methods and turning to glorious and powerful persons in order to take the most famous and rich monastery of Tisman, which is the first in the Moldavian land. And this rumor struck my soul so much with an ulcer of sadness and regret for your shrine that, from the unbearable suffering and sadness of my heart, I began to think the following about you. Your shrine, through a frantic desire for vain glory and through an insatiable and money-loving passion for collecting money, no longer exploring either the reason of Divine Scripture or the teachings of the holy fathers, but, having darkened and closed the spiritual eye with the mentioned passions, without any reasoning, blindly plunges itself and those who follow you into the abyss of your and your brethren’s extreme and final spiritual and physical ruin. And you voluntarily inflict a storm of unbearable troubles and temptations, hatred and envy and rebellion on the part of everyone on yourself, without at all considering what end will follow this matter. And out of great regret for you, I and some brothers, unanimous with me, repeatedly said that the damned devil, jealous of the salvation of God’s servants, invented this intrigue to the detriment of Father Theodosius, with the help of which not only his soul, but also the residence of his entire cathedral would be completely ruined and, by God’s permission, he would inflict such terrible persecutions on him that even from these lands their residence would be completely destroyed. Which is actually what happened. Then some other reasons arose for the complete ruin of your residence, as you told me. The primary reason for the ruin of your residence in these countries is that you began such a great undertaking without advice. Because if at your shrine, for a blessed reason - because of the damage that you suffered in Snagov from the air - and the necessary need arose to ask for other monasteries for your residence, and you, knowing your limits, would look for monasteries similar to Snagov, then the Lord, the knower of the heart, seeing your need, would put it in the heart of the authorities to give you such a monastery for your stay with all joy. And since you, exceeding your measure, sought a superior abode, what followed followed. After your resettlement from here to your fatherland, in that monastery (which you liken to the Holy Mount Athos), which was given to you by God-governed authority, you and your brethren could truly spend your life in extreme silence, running and moving away from all the cares and rumors of this world, if your shrine had the true zeal of God for salvation. But at least now, does your shrine govern the brethren with meekness, humility and fatherly mercy, so that my damned soul, hearing this, could receive at least the slightest consolation and some kind of notification that your shrine governs the brethren according to the will of God and according to the reason of the Holy Gospel? But alas for me, alas for me! Truly, even now I am not worthy to hear at least partly this much-desired message, but I hear only everything opposite. Because many of your brothers, having left you, in good conscience tell me that because of your immeasurable cruelty they cannot live with you, for they do not deserve to love you as their most merciful father, but they fear and tremble as some terrible and cruel worldly ruler. They are also horrified by your punishments, not of the monastic rank, but of those befitting worldly authority: bonds, chains, dark locks, menacing and impudent reproaches that exceed the measure of patience, and other similar cruel punishments. Therefore, having escaped from you to freedom, they believe that they have escaped from some terrible captivity and enslavement, and they do not dare to return to you, although I exhort them a lot. After all, if you always ruled them with meekness, humility and fatherly mercy, then after they left you again with inexpressible joy they would return to you, as to their most beloved and child-loving father. And since they do not have the slightest hope of your merciful management of them, then, like sheep without a shepherd, they remain in a foreign country, not without spiritual sadness. Father Theodosius, if you, out of the true zeal of God, strived for silence, then you could, with the brethren in your monastery, with the help of the grace of God, practice perfect silence, removal from all the cares of this world, staying in your cell in sobriety and mental attention and in the unceasing calling of the Lord Jesus, that is, in sacred and God-creating prayer, performed with the mind in the heart, as if in a second paradise and desert Jordanian. You would have your food and clothing from the monastery parishes, from mills, apiaries and alms sent by the lovers of Christ according to God's Providence, so that you would not know any cares of this world. But where is your jealousy? Where is this attention to your salvation? Where is the true desire to practice unceasing prayer? Where is the zeal that comes from the whole soul to flee from the rumors and cares of this world and remain in extreme silence? I don’t see anything like that in your shrine. But I see what is happening, as I believe, due to the enemy’s delusion, everything is the opposite: rumor and care, the establishment of monasteries, or rather, farms, diligent care for the reproduction of various livestock, frequent, without any necessary reason and for a long time, your departures from the monastery and abandonment of the brethren, because of which, in the absence of the abbot, there is such devastation to the souls of the brothers that it is impossible to express. After all, if there were a true desire in your soul to force yourself with all your heart and soul to do the good deeds mentioned, then you would strive in the monastery and in the cell, as in a tomb, to remain hopelessly, day and night, constantly worrying about your own and your brothers’ salvation. And since the most beloved thing for your shrine is frequent and long-term exits from the monastery, associated with considerable destruction of your soul and the souls of your brothers, then why do you write to me in vain, as a small and senseless youth, about your zeal for silence, prayer and the books of the fathers? I, holy father, do not look at your words, but at your fruits, and from the fruits, according to the commandment of the Lord (see Matt. 7:20), I recognize that your words do not at all agree with the fruits, but in them there is only pretense, and not the most real, true, zeal of God that occurs from the inner disposition of the soul for the mentioned good deeds and for the books of the fathers. Everything that I have written up to this point to your shrine, I did not write with the purpose of condemning you, let it not be so. For I believe and confess that there is only one true and righteous Judge of the living and the dead (see Acts 10:42) - Christ our God, who will reward everyone according to his deeds (see Matt. 16:27; Rom. 2:6), and that he who condemns his neighbor appropriates the authority of Christ to himself. But I wrote this with that intention and, out of God’s love, with all the details, as in a mirror, your shrine, so that it would be clear that for the reason mentioned, it was not I who finally broke the union of love with your shrine on my part, but your shrine: you, as you write, completely broke the union of your sincere love for me from the time when the vow you voluntarily made before God to consult with me was completely trampled and rejected from your soul - and even until this day. My spiritual love, which I had for you by God when you were still in Tsybukany, I have the same love by the grace of God now, but only in its action it has changed. Then I loved you as a true servant of God and a follower of His soul-saving commandments, and I rejoiced in my soul and glorified God for your spiritual success in all good deeds. Now, after you have rejected your vow made before God, I sigh from the depths of my soul for your state of mind, and I cry with my heart, and sob, and with all earnestness I pray to the most merciful God, so that He, who wants everyone to be saved and receive the knowledge of the truth (see 1 Tim. 2:4), would touch your soul with His grace, and give it complete correction in everything, and return it to the almighty With your strength into the first, and moreover, into an incomparably better state and spiritual success in all good deeds. Here, holy father, according to my conscience, I informed your shrine that I always have the same love for you according to God, but only in my action, as I said, changed. Therefore, I pray to your holiness: never have the slightest doubt about my love for you, but firmly believe that I always have the same love for you according to God. But since your shrine considers the sending of fatherly books to you for rewriting to be a clear sign of my reconciliation and love with you, then, consequently, the refusal to send you these books will, in your opinion, be a sign of my enmity with you and dislike for you. Therefore, I considered it necessary to announce this in detail to your shrine, so that, with the assistance of God’s grace, such an inappropriate opinion about me would disappear from your soul. After all, it is not because I have not reconciled with you and do not have love for you, as you imagine, that I have not yet sent you the books of my fathers at your request for rewriting. But I didn’t send it because my work, both in correcting and translating the books of the fathers, although it is truly long-suffering and great, and incomparably surpasses my much-infirm physical and mental strength, it is still lame and imperfect, for a blessed reason, which will be discussed below. For the sake of greater persuasiveness, I must tell your shrine in detail for what reason and with what thoughts and intentions this work was begun by me - so that one of the two will come true: either your shrine, having completely understood this matter from my story, will cease to bother me with this any more, or at least now will agree with my advice about the books of the fathers for the common benefit of the monastics. But I'll start from the very beginning. When I was still on the Holy Mount Athos with a small number of brothers, then, knowing reliably from the teachings and commandments of our God-bearing fathers, that it is not appropriate for one who has brothers under his leadership to instruct and teach them according to his own reason and reasoning, but should be instructed according to the true and right reason of the Divine Scripture, as taught by the divine fathers, universal teachers, as well as teachers and mentors of monastic life, enlightened by grace Holy Spirit; knowing also my own weakness, and fearing and trembling, lest, because of my inexperience, I myself fall like a blind man into the pit of destruction, according to the word of the Lord (see Lk. 6:39), and did not plunge those who followed me into it, I therefore laid the unshakable foundation of true, undelusional and not leading away from the true path of God's instructions both for my poor soul and for the holy brethren - the Divine Scripture of the Old and New Testaments and its true interpretation by the grace of the Most Holy Spirit, that is, the teaching of our God-bearing fathers, ecumenical teachers, and saints fathers, teachers and mentors of monastic life, as well as the decrees of the holy Councils and all the apostolic, conciliar and patristic rules that the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Eastern Church contains, all its commandments and statutes. All this, as I said, I offered as an instruction to myself and the holy brethren, so that both I and the brethren living with me, being instructed by this with the assistance of God’s admonishing grace, would not sin against the true and conciliar mind of the Holy Orthodox Church. And first of all, I began diligently, with God’s help, with considerable labor and expense, to acquire fatherly books teaching about obedience and sobriety, attention and prayer: I either copied them with my own hand, or even bought them with the money that we earned by the labor of our hands for our necessary needs. Many times, agreeing to endure poverty in food and clothing, we bought with this money the mentioned books in the Slavic language and revered them as a heavenly treasure, given to us by God. After reading them diligently for several years, in very many places I found incomprehensible ambiguities in them, and in many places I did not even gain the most grammatical meaning; and although I read it many times with indescribable difficulty and inquisitiveness, I still did not acquire the said meaning. God alone knows what sadness my soul was filled with, and, wondering what to do, I thought that the Slavic fatherly books could be at least slightly corrected using other Slavic books. And I began with four books to copy in my own hand the book of Saint Hesychius, Presbyter of Jerusalem, Saint Philotheus of Sinai and Saint Theodore of Edessa, so that, by comparing at least four with each other, I would be able to see the grammatical meaning. But all this work of mine was in vain, because even in those four books, when comparing them, I was not able to see that perfect meaning. When I suffered so many times, then I realized that I was working in vain in the imaginary correction of Slavic books on Slavic ones, and I began to diligently investigate why there was such unintelligible obscurity and lack of grammatical meaning in Slavic books. And by comprehending my weak mind, I found that there were two reasons for this: the first was the lack of skill of the ancient translators of books from Hellenic into the Slavic language, the second was the lack of skill and negligence of inexperienced copyists. And then I completely despaired of seeing in the Slavic fatherly books the right and true meaning that is contained in the same Hellenistic books. After my many years of stay on the Holy Mountain, when I partially learned to speak Greek, I had a diligent intention with heart disease to look for Hellenic Greek paternal books in the hope of correcting the Slavic ones from them, and, having searched in many places and more than once, I could not find. Then I went to the Great Lavra monastery of St. Anna, and to Kapsokaliva, and to the Vatopedi monastery of St. Demetrius, and to other laurels and monasteries and, everywhere asking eminent persons, experienced and elderly confessors and honest monks about the books of the fathers by the names of their authors, nowhere was I able to find such, but from everyone I received such a unanimous answer: “Even to this day, we are not the only ones We don’t know the books, but we haven’t even heard the names of these saints.” Having received such an answer, God knows what bewilderment I fell into, reasoning that in this holy place, chosen by God for the quiet and silent stay of monks, where many great and perfect saints lived, I was not privileged not only to find the holy books that I so desired, but even to hear the names of those saints from anyone. And therefore I fell into considerable sadness about this, but I placed all my hope for acquiring such books on God and prayed to His ineffable mercy, so that “in the same way as the Almighty and Almighty” would grant me the ability to acquire such books. The Most Merciful God, not despising my zealous desire to acquire paternal books in Hellenic, granted me, through His ineffable Providence, to find such books and acquire some of them in the following way. Once I walked with two brothers from the Holy Great Lavra of St. Athanasius of Athos to the Great Lavra monastery of St. Anna, and we came to the high hill of the holy prophet Elijah, which in height is equal to the third part of the great most exalted Holy Athos and under which, on a high place from the sea side, is the monastery of St. Basil the Great, created in recent times by monks who came from Caesarea Cappadocia, in a very harsh place, which has neither a stream nor a source of flowing water, which is why that monastery has neither vineyards, nor olive trees, nor figs, nor gardens, nor any other consolation of this world, but with rainwater alone it satisfies the necessary needs of the brethren. And we had a desire to go to that monastery, partly for the sake of worship, and partly in order to see a place that we had never been to before. When we came to that monastery and sat down near the holy church, one reverent monk saw us, who opened it to us, and after we bowed to the holy icons in that church and left it, he called us with love to his cell and went out to prepare food for us in order to give us peace from the labor of the journey. Looking at the table by the window, I saw an open book lying on it, from which he was copying another, for his trade was an eloquent writer. And when I looked into it, I saw that it was the book of St. Peter of Damascus; Having seen her, I cannot express what indescribable spiritual joy I was filled with, for it seemed to me that I was privileged to see a heavenly treasure on earth. When he returned to his cell, I began to ask him with great joy and inexpressible surprise, where did such a book come from at his shrine beyond my expectations? He told me that he also has another book of the same saint, which has twenty-four words according to the letters of the alphabet. When I asked him if they had other such books, he replied that they had the following: St. Anthony the Great, St. Gregory of Sinaite (but not all), St. Philotheus, St. Hesychius, St. Diadochos, St. Thalassius, St. Simeon the New Theologian “Tale of Prayer,” St. Nikephoros the monk “Tale of Prayer,” the book of St. Isaiah and other such books, but St. Nicetas Stiphatus only Twenty-two chapters, but a whole book, he said, they don’t have, unless the libraries of large monasteries have one. When I asked him why I, who had been looking for such books for so long with heart disease, did not find them and, having diligently asked many honest people, was not even deigned to hear about them, he answered me: “The reason for this, in my opinion, is that these books were written in the purest Hellenistic language, which now, except for learned people, hardly any of the Greeks understands at least a little, and many do not know at all, and therefore these books have come to almost complete perfection.” oblivion, because of which you were not worthy, asking about such books, to even hear about them. The monks living in this monastery, even when they were in their country, Caesarea of Cappadocia, heard a lot about such books, and after they came to the Holy Mountain, thanks to a lot of work, over a long time and at considerable expense, earning by their handicrafts, for a fee they learned from knowledgeable persons not only the simple, but also the Hellenic Greek language itself, and, with God’s help, finding in some monasteries such books, they are copied, they are read, they benefit, and by their strength they force themselves to do what these books teach.” Hearing this and extremely rejoicing with the inexpressible joy of finding such a heavenly treasure on earth, I began to diligently pray to this eloquent writer to copy such books for me for the love of God, promising to give him whatever price he wanted for his work. He, since he had a lot of copying work to do, refused and took me to another red-writer, who was in the same monastery and whom I also prayed with great zeal to copy the books of the fathers, promising to give him triple the price for the work. But he, seeing my considerable desire to purchase such books, did not want the triple price for the love of God and, despite the fact that he himself had a lot of work to do with rewriting, he promised me, for the usual price, as much as he could and as much strength as God would give his hand, to rewrite some of these books. So, a little over two years before our departure from the Holy Mountain, the red writer began to rewrite how much strength God had given to his hand, and he rewrote some of the books that I longed for. Having received them with all joy, as a gift of God sent to us from heaven, we left the Holy Mount Athos so that in these countries we would have greater convenience in taking care of the necessary needs of our cathedral. When we moved into the holy Dragomirn monastery, I began to diligently think and worry about how I could either correct the Slavic books of my fathers, or even begin a new translation of them from Hellenic Greek, and I began this work in the following way. I took for my guidance the translated books of the Fathers in the Moldavian language, which were translated from Hellenic Greek, copied for me on the Holy Mountain, into their natural Moldovan language by our beloved brothers, hieromonks Macarius and Hilarion Daskal, skilled in translating books and learned men. Brother Macarius translated some of them on Holy Mount Athos, and some in Dragomirna, and Father Hilarion also translated some of them in our cathedral. Considering that their translation, without any doubt, was correct in all respects, I began to correct the books I had, translated in ancient times into the Slavic language from Hellenic Greek, and to translate others again, diligently looking at those Hellenistic books that were copied for me on the Holy Mountain. And he translated again the books of the following saints: St. Anthony the Great, St. John Climacus, St. Hesychius, St. Philotheus, St. Nilus of Sinai “On Prayer,” St. Isaiah the Hermit’s chapter on prayer, and St. Thalassius. In ancient times, the translated books were corrected by the following: St. Diadochos, St. Macarius the second book, St. Isaac, St. Gregory the Sinaite, St. Simeon the New Theologian “A Sermon on Prayer and Attention,” St. Cassian the Roman “On Eight Thoughts” and “A Sermon on Reasoning” and others. In 1774, a Greek monk named Constantius came from the Holy Mountain to us in Dragomirna, while we were still there. He brought with him a Hellenic book, copied in his own hand and containing many of his father’s works. Some works were discovered in it, which I had not yet seen in the Slavic language until that time, and which, through my diligent prayer, he copied for us in his own hand. But since he did not know grammatical teaching at all, because of his complete lack of skill in spelling, he introduced many and countless errors both into his book and from his into what was copied for us. And, truly, we found the gold of the words of the saints wallowing in the mud of irregular spelling, from which even among well-educated persons who can cleanse it without reliable Hellenistic originals? From these books rewritten by the aforementioned Constantius, I again translated the following: St. Mark the Faster, St. Theodore of Edessa, and St. Nicetas Stiphatus, “Three Hundred Chapters.” These books, more than all those mentioned, not only for printing, but also for rewriting now in another monastery, are completely unsuitable until they are corrected according to reliable printed or even handwritten originals. This is how in the mirror I showed your shrine what my work was like in correcting the Slavic books of my fathers according to Hellenic Greek or in a new translation of the latter into the Slavic language. For this work was beyond my strength, but it was also imperfect for the mentioned blessed reason, for which now these books are completely unsuitable not only for printing, but also for rewriting in another monastery until they are completely corrected according to the most reliable Hellenic Greek originals. Therefore, I could not in any way send such books to your shrine for rewriting or printing, fearing to violate my Christian and monastic conscience and fearing the eternal condemnation of my soul on the day of the Last Judgment of God for this lame and imperfect work. Your shrine, even if to this day it still has at least one unquenched spark of true love for me according to the commandment of Christ, should not consider my refusal to send you these books as a sign that I have not reconciled with you, or am at enmity with you, or as if I was jealous of the common benefit of those who want to be saved and benefit from such books - may Christ the Savior not allow me such madness! By the grace of God, I don’t see any other reason in my soul for refusing to send you such books than the one mentioned. Therefore, I pray to your holiness: after you understand my such clear assurance regarding the reasons for refusing to send you such books, destroy any inappropriate opinion about me because of this matter in your soul and do not bother me with this anymore, for no matter how much work you put into this, it will be in vain. After all, until these books are completely corrected according to the true Hellenistic originals, according to my spiritual vow they will not leave our cathedral. If your sanctity is truly of God, and not feigned zeal for the acquisition of these soul-saving books, it has in its soul, then it cannot assure my soul of this in any other way than by accepting my sound advice about the much-desired acquisition of such books for you. If at least now you listen to him with all your soul, I believe in the Lord and have no doubt that you will not be deceived in this long-term desire of yours, but with God’s help, without any doubt, you will be honored to see it actually come true. The Most Reverend Cyrus Macarius, the former Metropolitan of Corinth, from a young age acquired such an indescribable, by God’s action, love for the books of the fathers, teaching sobriety, attention of the mind, silence and mental prayer, that is, performed with the mind in the heart, that he devoted his entire life to diligently searching for them and copying them, as hardworking with his own hand (for he was skilled in secular sciences), and expensive - by the hands of red-letters. Arriving at the Holy Mount Athos, with indescribable zeal and great diligence, in all the libraries of the great holy monasteries, he found many paternal books that he had not yet had in his possession until that time. On top of all this, in the library of the glorious and great monastery of Vatopedi, he found a priceless treasure - a book about uniting the mind with God, collected by great zealots in ancient times from the teachings of all the saints, and other books about prayer, which we had not yet heard about. With the help of many skilled writers, having rewritten these books at considerable expense several years later, he himself diligently compared them with the originals, corrected them authentically, and placed the lives of all the holy authors of these books at the beginning of their works, after which he left the Holy Mount Athos with indescribable joy, as if he had found a heavenly treasure on earth. Having arrived in the glorious Asian city of Smyrna, he sent to Venice, with a considerable sum collected from the alms of Christ-lovers, thirty-six paternal books, among which was the book of St. Callistus the Second, which is testified by St. Simeon of Thessalonica, and in addition to this number, the great “Paterikon” of the Skete of Egypt, for publication with printed embossing. He intends to send to print in a short time the large book of Saint Simeon the New Theologian, which is completely ready for this purpose. And after some time, as one person recently informed me about all this in writing, with God’s help the mentioned books will be published. This truly blessed Metropolitan Cyrus Macarius, from a long time ago, had the desire to print such books with the intention that these holy books would not fall into complete oblivion and be destroyed from the face of the earth, which almost did not happen. For he himself actually knew what kind of work he had undertaken, and spent almost his entire life searching for those books, and, after having searched with indescribable diligence everywhere, and especially on Holy Mount Athos, diligently and in every way, he barely found such a spiritual treasure, buried, as if in the ground, in long-term oblivion and extreme ignorance - a treasure, more than anything, and even more than breath itself, I dare say, necessary ascetics of the monastic order to instruct them in mental warfare with invisible spirits, which is also necessary so that zealots can purchase these printed books with greater convenience and less expense than handwritten ones. I announced all this to your shrine in advance, little by little beginning to give you my advice on how your shrine and the brethren, and we with our cathedral, could be worthy of acquiring true, without any errors, Slavic paternal books. Your shrine knows that by God’s ineffable mercy in recent times, our Orthodox All-Russian Church was honored to receive from the Greek Orthodox Church the Holy Orthodox Faith and Holy Baptism. With holy faith she accepted the Divine Scriptures, and all the holy church books, and the books of the holy teachers, and the patristic books translated from Hellenic Greek, which are the sources of the Slavic books, for from them the Slavic ones received their beginning. Over time, the Divine Scripture and all church books, by God's grace, were corrected according to Hellenic texts, as according to their sources, but the patristic ones remained in their ancient translation and have not yet been corrected according to their Hellenic sources; moreover, due to the fault of inexperienced copyists, they acquired countless errors. Therefore, there is an urgent need for these books to be corrected according to their own sources. Therefore, father, as I often repeat, if you have in your soul truly true and not feigned zeal of God for the acquisition of such books, then listen to my sound advice in this, and such obedience will be a true sign of your sincere love for me and a true, not feigned desire to acquire fatherly books. I pray to you, holy father, for the Lord’s sake and advise you: with all your heart and with all your soul, try to acquire the mentioned sources, that is, the Hellenic Greek books of the Fathers, for there is an undoubted hope in God that the Slavic books of the Fathers, translated from them in ancient times, will be reliably corrected from them, and others will be translated again. And in order to acquire these books, do not spare not only perishable and insignificant, short-lived and transitory property, but also your very soul. And if God wills, and we will be alive, and there will be a time of peace, then next year in the spring, choosing from the cathedral your brother who deserves the most trust and giving him, from where God’s Providence will give you, no less than a thousand leva, send him to me. And I, having also chosen from the cathedral our brother similar to him, who knows a little Greek, will send him, at your full expense, with your brother to the Holy Mountain, where those books, after being published, will most likely be brought for sale. Without any difficulty, having easily bought at least two collections of such books there, or, if you wish, more, the brothers will return to us with God’s help. Having left one meeting with us as a sign of your true love for me according to God and for the sake of eternal memory of you and your salvation, they will happily return to you with another meeting. You, having received such holy books, will take them yourself to those God-chosen and inspired persons about whom you proclaim to me that they burn with God’s ineffable love for such books and have an inexpressible and great zeal to publish them in printed form. Having joyfully accepted these much-desired books from your hands, they, prompted by the action of the Holy Spirit, will command the teachers, who have completed all the secular teaching of the Hellenic Greek language to perfection and have not even touched theology itself, to translate them into the purest Slavic language, into which the Divine Scripture and all church books were translated, and those translated in antiquity - to truly and authentically correct them. After a new translation of those books or after a true and reliable correction of those translated in antiquity, they will fulfill their soul-saving desire if they take care with their blessing and support to print them for the common benefit of monastics (for it is most fitting for monks to study the books of the fathers), so that all monks, and especially those of them who are true ascetics in their inner man, not only from our Orthodox fatherland, but also from all Orthodox the Slavic language of the peoples: Serbs, Bulgarians and others - they were honored to receive benefits from reading them. Then not only would the long-term and long-standing desire of your shrine to acquire such books be fulfilled, since you would already be worthy of having them, but we ourselves, if we were worthy of receiving them, would put those we have for good preservation, and from reading those books, as trustworthy, we would receive benefit, glorifying God. This advice of mine to purchase such books will be valid if the news turns out to be all true (which seems to me reliable) that the mentioned books have definitely been sent to Venice for printing. Then, for the indicated amount, with all the expenses at both ends of the journey, it will be possible to buy two collections of such books. If, as God forbids, this news does not turn out to be true, there will be a need to rewrite these books on the Holy Mountain, which is completely impossible to do with the amount mentioned, but incomparably more money will be required. Because it will be necessary to give to the Svyatogorsk Jewish Cathedral, that is, to all the holy Svyatogorsk monasteries, no less than a thousand leva of alms, so that everyone will react kindly to this matter and give a helping hand. After all, the whole world knows that all holy places, and with them the Holy Mountain, are supported most of all by the alms of Christ-lovers, especially in these difficult times, and without alms it is shameful and indecent, and even impossible, to begin such a great undertaking. Also, especially to the holy monasteries, three or four, in which such books are located, you need to give at least five hundred leva in alms, so that the rulers in them with all joy agree, having opened their libraries, to give out such books from them for copying. It is also appropriate to try to give the copyists not only the usual, but also an incomparably greater payment for copying, so that with all joy and diligent zeal they strive to copy those books correctly, without any errors, and after copying, compare them with the originals and correct them correctly. It is certainly appropriate to rewrite two collections of such books, so that one remains with us, and the other is attributed to you. Just for this rewriting itself you should spend at least two thousand leva. It will take about five hundred leva to feed the brothers sent to copy books on the Holy Mountain for one or even two years, as well as expenses for both ends of the journey. So, holy father, if the necessary need arises to rewrite the mentioned books, thanks to which the souls of those who want to be saved hope to find eternal benefit, then for your shrine, as having God’s zeal for this, is it not appropriate for such a large amount of money to be spent with all diligence on the acquisition of such a priceless spiritual treasure? And not only this, but if the need arises, is it not appropriate to lay down one’s soul for the acquisition of those books for the benefit of one’s neighbor? Truly fitting. And if you have incurred so many expenses on the creation of a stone hospice with an iron roof, then is it not appropriate to incur incomparably greater expenses on the acquisition of the mentioned books for the sake of the eternal benefit of yourself and your neighbor? But since I do not consider the news about the printing of the mentioned books to be untrue, but all-true, your shrine will also be freed from such great expenses for rewriting them, but you should only use the smaller amount mentioned for their purchase, as I wrote about this in detail. If in no way, even if you wanted with all your heart, it is impossible to make your shrine (either due to your extreme and final, perfect monastic, Christ-like poverty, or for some other blessed reasons, or due to the misfortune of the time), then the Lord will not condemn you, for you had the will to do it with all your zeal, but could not. And if this happens, then with all my zeal I beg you not to despise the Lord for the sake of at least this, my last piece of advice: convey the news that the fatherly books in Hellenic have been sent to Venice for printing, to those persons about whom you inform me. They, as God-inspired men and having an inexpressible zeal of God for such books, after their release from the press, can conveniently receive them, as persons possessing great power, and after the most true translation into the Slavic language, publish the translated books. And then your shrine, having gotten rid of the mentioned expenses, will be able, with God’s help, to acquire those books with great convenience, and in this way your great desire to acquire them will actually be fulfilled. I pray to your holiness: my response letter to His Eminence, if God gives you strength, take it yourself. It contains the reason for the refusal to send your shrine books, the aforementioned message regarding the sending of those books for printing, and a petition to His Eminence, may he deign to exhort your shrine to listen to my advice written to you - and nothing else. Therefore, do not hesitate, take this letter yourself and hand it over to His Eminence, at whose holy feet having fallen in thought, I most humbly bow with all my congregation and kiss his holy and blessing right hand. I inform your spiritual shrine that because of the printed edition of the books of the Fathers, both in Hellenic and Slavic languages, I am overcome with both joy and fear. Joy, since these books will no longer be consigned to complete oblivion and zealots will be able to acquire them with greater convenience; fear, because I am afraid and trembling, so that when they are offered not only to monks, but also to all Orthodox Christians in general, as a thing for sale, like other books, the consequence of this will not be the delusion of those who willfully, without the instruction of experienced ones, learn from them how to do mental prayer, and because of the delusion - the blasphemy of the vain-minded against this holy and immaculate, by many and great holy fathers certified matter. Which actually happened in our days. One monk, a vain-minded philosopher, staying in the Moshensky mountains, seeing that some zealots, however not according to reason, of this prayer fell into delusion because of their self-instruction and from the ignorant instructions of the unskillful teachers of this prayer, and without laying the blame on the arbitrariness and unskillful instruction, by the action of the devil he armed himself so strongly with blasphemy against this holy prayer that the ancient damned He incomparably surpassed the heretics, Varlaam and Akindinus, who blasphemed this prayer. For he, neither fearing God nor ashamed of people, directed such terrible, shameful and nasty blasphemies at this holy prayer, at its zealots and practitioners, that even for the ears of a chaste person they are intolerable. In addition, he instigated such great persecution against the zealots of this prayer that others, leaving everything, ran to this country and live in it in deserted places, pleasing to God. Others, being feeble-minded, became so mad from his depraved words that, as we heard, they drowned some of their fatherly books in the Tyasmin River, tying bricks to them. And his blasphemies gained such great power that some, under the threat of depriving him of his blessing, forbade reading his father’s books. When, not content with verbal blasphemy, he decided to write it down, then, by God’s punishment, he became blind in both eyes, and his godless intention was stopped. As I said above, I am afraid and trembling, lest the self-initiators fall into delusion, and that delusion is followed by blasphemy, and blasphemy is followed by doubt in the teaching of our God-bearing fathers, in which the fathers, after they themselves have learned this prayer by the grace of the Most Holy Spirit through work and experience, God-wise teach it to ascetics who are zealous with all humility to force themselves to it. doing. The books of the fathers, especially those that teach true obedience, sobriety of mind and silence, attention and mental prayer, that is, done with the mind in the heart, are suitable only for the monastic rank, and not in general for all Orthodox Christians. Therefore, the God-bearing fathers, who teach this prayer, call true obedience its beginning and unshakable foundation, from which true humility is born, and humility protects the one who strives in prayer from all delusion that arises among self-righteous people. And how will it be possible for worldly people, out of self-indulgence, followed by delusion, to force themselves to such a terrible and terrible task, that is, such prayer, without any instruction, and at the same time avoid the manifold and varied seductions of the enemy, who are subtly led to this prayer and its ascetics? For this matter is so terrible, that is, mental prayer, that true novices, who not only cut off their will and reasoning before their fathers, the true and most skillful mentors of doing this prayer, but also completely killed them, always remain in fear and trembling, fearing and trembling, lest they be subjected to this certain charm in prayer, although they are always protected by God from it for their true humility, which by the grace of God they acquired through their true obedience. This prayer by the saints is called the art of art, and who can learn it without an artist, that is, without a skilled mentor? This prayer is a spiritual sword, given to us by God to slay the enemy, but for those who act unskillfully, there is a danger - lest it turn him to slaughter himself. By this prayer I mean not just intelligent, that is, not simply performed with the mind and lips - for such prayer befits every Christian who wants to be saved - but artistically performed with the mind in the heart and invisibly piercing the enemy with the Divine name. This prayer, or rather, an act of the heart, shone like the sun only among the monks, especially in the countries of Egypt, also in the countries of Jerusalem, on the mountains of Sinai and Nitria, in Palestine and in many other places. And if it was performed somewhere and shone among the monks, then even there the doing of this prayer was kept as a great and ineffable secret, known only to God and its practitioners; The making of this prayer was completely unknown to the worldly people. Now, thanks to the printing of the patristic books, not only the monks, but also the entire Christian people will become aware of it. And therefore, as I said, I fear and tremble, lest for the reason mentioned, that is, because of the unauthorized, without a mentor, beginning of this prayer, such self-initiated people will not fall into some kind of delusion, from which may Christ the Savior deliver by His grace all who want to be saved. Having spiritually informed your shrine of all this, as if for the sake of warning, I remain in all the commandments of God, desiring your perfect success. May the God of love and peace be with you (see 2 Cor. 13:11). Amen. Life of the Moldavian Elder Paisius Velichkovsky The impetus for compiling the biography of Elder Paisius was, first of all, his own desire. In his own story the following is written: “If it would be desirable for my spiritual children, who have acquired true love for me through God, who have recently heard about my birth and upbringing and departure from the world, and in the monastic way of being.” The biography writer added to these words of the elder: obviously in order to imitate your zeal and godly deeds, especially your deep humility. And together this will be for the common benefit of all Christians who are zealous for piety. But it was not immediately after the death of Elder Paisius that they began to compile his biography. More than twenty years after that passed in silence, if not neglect. Finally, the Lord warmed the hearts of the oldest and most devoted disciples of the blessed elder, so that he would certainly write his life. And they entrusted this matter to one of the oldest disciples of Elder Paisius, schemamonk Mitrofan, who, having collected information about him, wrote the life of the elder in the Slavic language, but due to old age and weakness of strength, especially due to weakness of vision, he could not correct it. After the death of Fr. Mitrofan, the schema-monk John, seeing the uncorrected biography of the elder compiled by Mitrofan, himself, on the advice of other spiritual fathers, became jealous of compiling his biography again and compiled it more extensively than before in the Moldavian language. But only these two biographies were dissimilar to each other and converged only in the most important parts. In addition, readers did not like what Fr. John's biography for its length. And therefore, the brethren of the Neamtsa monastery asked Hierodeacon Gregory, who was living in the Neamtsa monastery at that time (who was later the Metropolitan of Bukurest and all Wallachia), to compose a short biography of Elder Paisius, which he did. The work of Hierodeacon Gregory was read to Metropolitan Benjamin of Iasi and the then prince, and with their permission it was printed in the Neamtse Monastery and sold in many copies. Subsequently, the brethren of the Neamtsa monastery began to grieve over the discrepancy between the two biographies of Elder Paisius; and therefore, having examined them carefully and adhering to the biography compiled by Schemamonk Mitrofan, collecting them into one more important and necessary one, they decided to publish the biography of Elder Paisius in the second edition in the Slavic and Moldavian languages. Now this biography is published by the Optina Vvedenskaya Hermitage in Russian with the most minor changes. I. From the birth to the installation of Elder Paisios on Mount Athos The great elder, schemamonk, Archimandrite Paisius in the world Peter Velichkovsky, was born in Little Russia, in the city of Poltava, in 1722, from pious parents: Archpriest of the Cathedral Church of the Assumption John and mother Irina Velichkovsky. In the fourth year, after the birth of Peter, his parent died; and the youth remained in the care of his mother and his elder brother John, who, after the death of his father, was in his place also the rector of the cathedral church, where both his grandfather and great-grandfather had previously served as priests. The mother took care of teaching the boy to read and write. With God's help, after a little over two years, he learned to read the Primer, Book of Hours and Psalter. I learned to write from my older brother. From that time on, he began to read books freely and partially understand. With great diligence he read the books of the Divine Scripture, the Old and especially the New Testaments, the Lives of the Saints, the teachings of the Venerable Fathers Ephraim and Dorotheus, St. John Chrysostom and others. From reading such books, and mainly the lives of our reverend fathers, who shone in the monastic rank, jealousy began to appear in the soul of the youth Peter to leave the world and perceive the holy monastic, angelic image. Why did he retire into solitude and read insatiably. And he loved silence so much that even his mother rarely heard him speak; for he was meek, very bashful and reserved not only in relation to strangers, but also towards his own. Such was the zeal for God in this wondrous ten-year-old boy! All the prudent people who saw and heard about him were amazed at his kindness, zeal and zeal, and glorified God, saying: Glory to Thee, Christ God, that Thou hast exalted the chosen one from Thy people! At the age of thirteen, Peter lost his elder brother John, who reposed in the Lord after serving as a priest for only five years. As a result of this, need forced the boy’s mother, taking him with her, to go to Kyiv to Archpastor Raphael and ask him to enroll his son in his father’s place in the above-mentioned cathedral church. She was also supplied with a letter of petition to the Bishop about this matter from the boy’s godfather, a Poltava colonel, and respectable citizens. This was in 1734. When Peter, standing before the saint, sensibly and with appropriate reverence pronounced the verses prepared for this occasion by one learned man, the bishop rejoiced, blessed him, and said: “You will be the heir (of your parent’s place).” He gave his mother a letter and, ordering him to send the boy to the Kiev school, he released them with a blessing. Returning home, the mother immediately sent her son to Kyiv for schooling, where he studied for only four years. At this time he practiced with ardent zeal more in reading spiritual books. This strengthened his indispensable intention to be a monk. Moreover, he had like-minded friends who also had the same desire for monasticism. In the evenings, they gathered in a hidden and secluded place and all night until the morning bell rang, they discussed how it would be more convenient for them to fulfill their intention, and where they could find a place in which, with the help of God, having taken monastic vows, they could truly spend their lives in accordance with monastic vows. After repeated consultations, with careful consideration, they laid down a firm and indispensable intention in their souls: for the sake of renouncing the world and taking monastic vows, not to enter such monasteries where they spend their lives in sweet food, in possible bodily pleasure, peace and glory. In confirmation of this intention, they pointed to the holy writings of all the ancient saints who spent their monastic lives in poverty, and to St. Simeon the New Theologian, who says this: “Having the intention of withdrawing from the world, be careful not to give your soul into carnal consolations,” and so on. For if we, they said, take monastic vows in such monasteries, then it will be inconvenient, according to the monastic vow, to imitate the poverty of Christ and lead a life of abstinence, that is, in the poverty of necessary needs and in all bodily suffering, for the sake of spiritual salvation. But due to our weakness and complaisant will and unsteady, unsteady spiritual zeal, and more from vanity and communication with others, we will inevitably have to deviate from the narrow path that leads to eternal life, and enter the wide one, which, according to the word of the Lord, leads to destruction. In this case, they thought that it was better to remain in the world than, having renounced the world and everything worldly, to spend their lives in all peace and contentment for the sake of pleasing the flesh, to the temptation of the world and the reproach of the monastic image and to the eternal condemnation of their souls on the Day of Judgment. In addition, the reverent youth Peter, from the Divine Gospel and the patristic writings, thoroughly learned that whoever wants to become a monk without obedience, humility, impartiality (towards things) and patience, without fidelity and love and the complete cutting off of his will and his reasoning, and in general, without carefully fulfilling all of Christ’s commandments, it is by no means possible to be saved by the Orthodox faith alone. Therefore, he laid down in his soul before God a firm determination, for the sake of fulfilling the commandments of Christ, together with faith, to be compelled in every possible way to do good deeds. Like, for example: do not judge your neighbor, even if you see with your own eyes that he is sinning; for he who condemns his neighbor appropriates to himself the dignity of God; Is there anything worse than this? Also, do not at all have hatred towards your neighbor; for, according to the testimony of Holy Scripture, hatred and malice are graver than all sins (1 John 3:15). With all your heart and with all your soul, forgive your neighbor every insult, in the hope of remission of your sins; for whoever does not forgive his neighbor for his misdeeds or any offense will not himself receive remission of his sins from the Heavenly Father. He actually fulfilled this vow given to God throughout his entire life, with the help of God’s grace. Thus the youth remained, practicing his reading and the spoken teaching. In particular, he grieved and cried, wondering what to do. And so, with a contrite heart and many bitter tears, beating his chest, he began to fall to Christ God and pray that He would put him on the path of salvation. While crying, I thought: what should I do and where should I go? Feeling in his soul a strong zeal for wandering, he immediately left the school, withdrew from the city of Kyiv and, like a certain beggar and wanderer, wandered in spiritual sadness, seeking the Heavenly Fatherland. For even in his youth the Lord gave him the gifts of reason, wisdom and humility. He also left his friends, who were preventing his quick departure, and went, according to God’s instructions, to the holy Lyubitsky monastery, which is located near the city of Lyubich above the Dnieper River. When he came to the monastery, one monk told him: “Here stands our abbot Nikifor,” and brought him to him. Peter fell at his feet and asked for a blessing. And the abbot, having blessed the newcomer as usual, began to ask: “Where are you from, brother? What's your name? and why did you come to our monastery?” The young man replied: “I am from the Kyiv side, I came to this holy monastery for obedience, and my name is Peter.” Hearing this, the abbot received him with love, gave him a cell and assigned him the obedience of a cellarer. Having bowed at the feet of the abbot, the stranger accepted his blessing and began to fulfill his obedience with zeal. While staying in this monastery, Peter felt great consolation in his soul. For he saw that the venerable abbot, like a loving father, ruled the brethren with great love and meekness, humility and patience. And if one of the brethren, as a person, happened to be guilty of anything, then when the guilty one asked for forgiveness, the abbot immediately forgave him, correcting him with the spirit of meekness and teaching him with soul-helping instructions. He also assigned him some kind of penitential rule according to its strength, depending on his guilt. Therefore, all the brothers were in deep peace and love for their father and for each other. But three months later, after Peter entered this monastery, another abbot, a learned man, German Zagorovsky, was appointed to it. Arriving at the Lyubitsky Monastery, he began to rule it not like the aforementioned blessed abbot, with love, but with authority. Realizing his mental state, the brethren came into great confusion; so some out of fear scattered from the monastery to God knows where. Peter continued to obey the cellarer, being in great fear and fear of not being guilty of anything; however, even so I was not protected from temptation. One day the abbot called him and ordered cabbage to be served at his table. Not understanding the order because of its brevity and not daring to ask the abbot again, he conveyed the order to his cooks; and what they knew better, they prepared for him. The abbot called Peter to his cell, stood up from the table and said: “Did you order such and such food to be served to me?” Having said this, he hit the young man so hard on the cheek that he could hardly stand on his feet; and then he pushed him so hard that he fell over the threshold of his cell. When he stood up, the abbot shouted at him: “Get out, you slacker!” In fear and trembling, the humble Peter went out, thinking like this: if for this he was angry with me, poor man, then if I happen to be guilty of anything more than that, what will I not have to endure? In addition, he heard from his spiritual father that the abbot threatened to subject him to even more severe punishment. Therefore, Peter decided to go beyond the Dnieper. And that same night, secretly, praying to the Lord with tears, he went down to the Dnieper and, with the help of God, crossed to the other side of the river on the ice. Having thanked God with joyful tears, he went down the Dnieper to Ukraine to the monasteries. Having reached the monastery of St. Nicholas of Christ, called Medvedovsky, which stands on an island in the Tyasmina River, where the abbot was the all-honorable hieromonk Nikifor (different from the aforementioned Nikifor), Peter approached him, bowed at his feet, received a blessing and began to ask him to be accepted into the monastery in obedience. The abbot received him with love, gave him a cell and the obedience to work at meals and go to the choir. When the fast of the Dormition of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos began, the abbot tonsured him into a ryassophore on the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, renaming him from Peter Plato. Then he was 19 years old. While in this monastery, he diligently passed through obedience at meals. He tried in every possible way to fulfill the church rules; during the day as much as obedience allowed, and at night he never had any lapses. By order of the abbot, I also went to the choir. In addition, due to his zeal, he helped the cook a lot. Plato labored quietly and peacefully in the indicated monastery. But by God's permission, the Uniates initiated a persecution of the Orthodox faith in Ukraine, who tried to seduce the Orthodox to their wickedness. As a result, great unrest and bitterness occurred in this monastery. And when the monks who lived there saw that their church had been locked and sealed for more than a month, some of them began to disperse, whoever wanted to go where they wanted. With some of the brothers who went to Kyiv, Plato also went; for, due to persecution from the Poles (Papists), it was then impossible to go to Moldavia. Meanwhile, this happened according to God’s will, so that the faithful servant of the Lord would learn about the circumstances of his mother. Arriving at the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Plato was received there and assigned to the printing house, under the supervision of Hieromonk Macarius, to learn how to depict icons on copper. While he was in the Lavra, a relative of his, the wife of his late brother Archpriest John, came from Poltava to Kyiv to venerate the shrine. Having seen him, she began to tell him the following about his mother. “After you left Kyiv, your mother gave herself up to such great sorrow that she cried inconsolably with bitter sobs. Then, due to immense sadness, she decided not to eat or drink anything until she died. And after a few days she began to get confused in her mind. Feeling some fear and horror, she began to read the Akathist to the Mother of God. Then, having gone into a frenzy, she fell silent; and so, as if half an hour later, she loudly exclaimed: “If this is the will of God, then I will no longer grieve for my son.” When she came to her senses, she told this in front of her spiritual father and in front of everyone: “When I was completely weakened from long-term abstinence and sadness, and was expecting imminent death, I saw many very gloomy and terrible demons trying to attack me, from which I came into great fear and horror. Then she asked you for a book and began to diligently read the akathist to the Most Holy Theotokos continuously all day and night. This reading protected me from demons; for hearing me read the akathist, they were in fear and trembling and could not at all approach me. Then I went into a frenzy and, looking up, I saw the heavens open and the bright angel of God descending from heaven like lightning. He stood near me and began to speak to me like this: “Oh, wretched one! what did you do? instead of loving with all your soul and with all your heart the Lord God, your Creator, you loved His creation, your son, more than your Creator; and because of her reckless and ungodly love, she decided to starve herself to death, and for this be subject to eternal condemnation. Know for sure that your son, with the help of God’s grace, will certainly become a monk. You too, imitating your son, should renounce the world and everything in the world, and be a nun. For this is the will of God. If you resist this will of God, then I bear witness to Christ, my Lord God and Creator, that this very hour I will hand you over to the demons who are waiting to seize you for desecration of your soul and body; so that through this other parents will learn not to love their children more than God.” As soon as the angel of God spoke to me of this and similar things, I exclaimed: “If this is the will of God, then from now on I will no longer grieve for my son.” And immediately the demons disappeared; The angel of the Lord, rejoicing, flew into heaven. And your confessor and your mother’s relatives, having heard this from her, with fear, and at the same time with joy, glorifying God, went to their homes.” Plato was horrified when he heard from his relative that by his departure he had caused such great sadness to his mother’s soul. However, he was consoled by the fact that, obeying the will of God, she decided to become a nun, which came true. Having entered the nunnery, she was tonsured and renamed Iuliania from Irina. She lived in the monastery, striving as a monk for the salvation of her soul, for ten years or more, and reposed in the Lord. Staying, as was said above, in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Fr. Plato often went to the holy caves, and with ardent love and tears kissed the holy relics, asking for help from the saints of God and guidance on the path of salvation. For he burned with the desire to spend a desert, silent and solitary life with a spiritual father, who would be versed in all the Divine and paternal writings, and would be compelled and successful in spiritual work, and would be experienced in monastic warfare with demons and passions, while at the same time being in the desert in poverty and scarcity, and doing with his own hands everything he needed. A little time passed and, by God’s will, he had to find two venerable monks who were going to go to Wallachia. He began to ask them to take him with them on the journey. Having thus agreed, they prepared for the journey, and, having prayed to the Lord, they set off. Having successfully passed Ukraine and then Moldavia, after a long time, with the help of God, they reached Wallachia and came to the monastery of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, called Treistena, whose head, Hieromonk Demetrius, received them with love and gave them shelter. The elder of the onago monastery, Hieroschemamonk Mikhail, was absent this time. He went for a while on business to a monastery in Ukraine. When Fr. Plato stayed in this monastery, fulfilling common obediences with the brethren; the common teacher and mentor of monastic life for all those staying there, the reverend elder Schemamonk Vasily, arrived there to visit the brethren from the monastery of Merlopolyana, about whose high life and mind Elder Paisius (at that time still Plato) wrote a little - which is given here verbatim: “First he (Schimonk Vasily) lived out of the zeal of God a considerable time in Russia and in the Moshen mountains and other deserts with the great zealots of monastic life, and then, together with his disciple, the aforementioned Hieroschemamonk Michael, he arrived in the God-protected Wallachian land. This God-pleasing man, in the knowledge of Divine Scripture and the teachings of the God-bearing fathers, and in spiritual reasoning and all-perfect knowledge of the sacred rules of St. The Eastern Church and their interpretations are very skillful, incomparably superior to all the former fathers of his time. The glory of his teaching and God-pleasing instruction on the path of salvation spread everywhere.” This elder of holy life, having spent several days in the monastery of Treistena, taught the brethren many soul-helping instructions. Hearing them, Fr. Plato rejoiced with indescribable joy, and with tears glorified God that he had been worthy to see such a man and hear words of edification from him. This elder, through the chief Dometius, invited Fr. Plato to live with him. But he (having been warned by one father) was afraid that he would be forced there and against his will to accept the rank of priesthood, and so through his superior he answered: “I do not intend to accept such a high and terrible rank until my death.” This was the reason that Fr. Plato was not honored to live in the monastery of Merlopolyane with such a holy elder, but remained in the monastery of Treistena. For this monastery, like the monastery of Dolgoutsa, was under the spiritual care of Elder Vasily. And that’s why some said that Fr. Plato spent some time in obedience to Elder Vasily. But although he did not live with him, he was honored to be his disciple, as will be discussed below. After Elder Vasily’s departure, the joyful news soon came that Elder Michael was returning from Ukraine and was already approaching the monastery. Hearing about this, the chief and all the brothers were filled with joy, went out to meet him and received his blessing. And everyone was consoled by this. O. Plato, who was undergoing general obedience, was given a cell by the chief not far from the monastery above the stream, from where the church was not visible. It happened one day that, while staying in this cell, he slept at night and did not hear the bell being struck for Matins; and the day was Sunday. When he woke up, he immediately ran to the church; but when he heard that the Gospel had already been read and the canon had begun to be sung, he became very sad, and because of shame and embarrassment, he did not enter the church, but returned to his cell, grieving and crying about the temptation that happened to him. And he became so sad, and felt such indescribable fear and shame that he was completely unable to come to the Divine Liturgy; but going not far from the cell, he sat down on the ground under a tree and wept bitterly. When the hour for lunch came after the Liturgy, the elder, the chief and the brethren were surprised that they did not see him either at Matins or at the Liturgy. And the elder said to the brothers: “I ask you, for the Lord’s sake, wait a little for lunch; Let us first find out what happened to our brother Plato.” Having said this, he sent one brother, named Athanasius, a copyist of his father's books, to look for him. It was not without difficulty that the messenger found Fr. Plato, who sat on the ground and wept bitterly. He began to inquire into the reasons for his crying; and out of shame he could not answer him, but cried even more and was barely able, being very convinced of this, to reveal the cause of his grief. Comforting him spiritually, Athanasius begged him in every possible way not to grieve excessively about the temptation that had happened, and to immediately go to the monastery to the holy fathers, who, while waiting for him, had not yet had dinner. He was barely able to say to him: “How, Holy Father, can I come to the holy fathers, and with what face will I appear to them, having committed such a sin for my eternal shame before God and before them?” And he asked Athanasius with tears to leave him and not force him to go to his fathers. Meanwhile, Athanasius, without ceasing, begged him even more and exhorted him not to grieve and to go, and barely forced him against his will to go with him to the monastery. Then, getting up, he went away weeping and sobbing. When he came to the monastery and saw the elder with all the brothers sitting before the meal, oh, what fear and immeasurable shame fell upon him then even more! He fell to the ground in front of them, crying bitterly and sobbing inconsolably, and asked for forgiveness. Everyone was horrified. And immediately the elder, the chief and the brothers stood up and lifted him up from the ground. When all the brothers learned from the monk who brought him to them the reason for his sorrow and tears, they were surprised and, each sighing for himself, fell silent. The elder, like a loving father, began to console him with his spiritual conversation. He begged, begged and exhorted him not to grieve excessively over such an involuntary incident that happened to him. Having consoled him a little, everyone gave thanks to God that they found him healthy in soul and body. Then they entered the meal and began to eat the food. They ordered him to sit with them and eat. However, due to the sadness and shame that surrounded him then, he could not taste any of the food; and only then did he taste a little. From that time on, throughout his entire stay there, he no longer went to bed at night, but slept sitting on a bench. Having left the meal, the elder and the other elder spiritual fathers with him sat down under the garden trees, and, talking, glorified God the Giver, marveling at such Divine zeal in the young. When did Fr. Plato was still at the meal, the elder said to all the brothers present and especially the younger ones: “You see, brother, what zeal for God and fiery sadness this brother has. May he be an example and imitation for all of you, so that you can rise up with zeal and follow the church rule. For he, and because of the omission of prayer that involuntarily happened to him, was so saddened in soul and suffered so much pain and crying that he deprived himself of bread and did not want to see the light of the sun, due to great heart disease and contrition. You too pray with all your soul to Christ God, being compelled to fulfill all His commandments, that the Lord may give you all the same zeal and fiery sadness, kindled by God, for which the Divine Isaac (Sirin) in many places and other holy fathers command to pray and ask God for yourself.” Having said this, the elder fell silent. The brethren, having bowed to him, each went to their cells. Staying, as it is said, in this monastery in obedience, Fr. Plato listened with great attention to the spiritual instructions that Elder Michael taught the brethren. For this man also succeeded so much in humility, love and spiritual intelligence, and received from God the gift of the revelation of the mysteries contained in the Holy Scriptures, that he became like his elder Basil. For he was jealous by the very act of imitating all his labors and exploits. That is why he shone with gifts of the Holy Spirit similar to him, perhaps not all of them. Often this elder, teaching the brethren about various spiritual, very necessary circumstances, said: “It is fitting for us, brethren, in these calamitous times, with the complete impoverishment of the true mentors of monastic spiritual work and mind, to wholeheartedly, even to death, adhere to the teachings and instructions of our holy and God-bearing fathers and faithfully follow them in words and deeds.” And this blessed elder, with sighs and tears, spoke to the brethren about the careful and faithful fulfillment of the soul-saving Gospel commandments of Christ, also about the preservation of the rules, traditions and teachings of the apostles and all the holy Orthodox ecumenical and local Councils of the Eastern Church and the great God-bearing fathers, and also about the urgent observance of holy fasts and other orders of the church, devoted to all Christians from holy apostles and great God-bearing fathers. “Let us not get carried away,” he said, “by the spirit of these difficult times and the weaknesses of people living in fearlessness, but let us adhere to the traditions of the holy apostles and holy fathers who were at the councils. For St. Basil the Great says: everything handed down from ancient times by the saints and spiritual fathers is worthy of veneration; again, what comes is very inappropriate and powerless.” Seeing and hearing all this, oh. Plato rejoiced with indescribable joy and with many tears thanked God that he had been worthy to hear such instructions from the lips of such men - Vasily and Mikhail, and to use them. In time, the all-honorable elder, Schemamonk Onufriy, arrived at this monastery from the monastery called Kyrkul, and visited Elder Michael and the brethren. And after the spiritual conversation about the Lord, with the blessing of Elder Michael, to all the brethren from Father Onuphry, this elder spoke about the location of his Kyrkul monastery, that it was very beautiful, that there was good water and healthy air and many different fruits and vegetables and other things necessary for monastic life, and that there was great silence and silence there. This speech of the elder aroused Fr. Plato desires to see this place. Therefore, having thanked the most honest elder Michael for his fatherly love and guidance and having received his blessing, he went with Fr. Onuphrius on the road ahead, which ran among the greatest forests and through beautiful valleys and through high mountains. On the third day, with the help of God, they came to the said monastery, the head of which, the all-honorable hieromonk Theodosius, received Fr. Plato with love. The very next day after his arrival, he also gave him a hermit cell. And he became Fr. Plato stayed in his cell, rejoicing and glorifying God with tears, learning true monastic silence, according to St. Isaac, mother of repentance and prayer. To satisfy the necessary needs, he initially received help from his superior, Fr. Feodosia. The order of the onago monastery was established in the likeness of the monasteries of the Holy Mountain. For only on Sundays and holidays did all the brethren come together for church prayer; and after the Divine Liturgy a common meal was offered to everyone. During the meal, they talked with each other, giving each other spiritual advice and strengthening each other with sighs and tears, begging them to courageously and with gratitude endure various severe mental and physical temptations and sorrows and to pray often, falling with tears to Christ God. This is how they spent their time until Vespers; and after Vespers, all the hermits went to their cells. So is Fr. Plato remained in silence in his cell, doing some small handicraft - making spoons. Diligently listening to prayer and reading the paternal writings, reaching out to the love of God and remembering his sins and everyday shortcomings, suddenly finding death, the Last Judgment of God and the cruel and eternal torment prepared for demons and unrepentant sinners, he wept bitterly and sobbed daily, laying the beginning of correction before God; and confessing his sins with tears, he eased his conscience and found peace and joy in the Lord and some consolation of the soul. Also keeping his thoughts from wandering and his mind from evil thoughts, he remained for the time being with humility and hope in Christ God his Savior. Went about. Plato and to the above-mentioned desert dweller Onuphrius, who lived on a high mountain, about an hour’s walk from the monastery. His cell was at the very top of the mountain, from there beautiful deserted places, mountains, hills and valleys, all covered with a great forest, were visible in the distance; and below, under the mountain, where the cell is, there is a source of water flowing incessantly. The elder practiced prayer, reading, psalmody and handicrafts. Through his conversations he gave great consolation and with zeal to those who questioned him he spoke in detail about the passions of the soul and body, about the terrible mental battle with demons, about their ambushes, attacks and unimaginable temptations. “And if,” he said, “the true Savior had not defended His people, according to His love for mankind, and if Christ had not fought for His faithful, then truly not a single person among the saints would have been saved, as His Holiness Patriarch Callistos II of Constantinople clearly testifies to this. He also said: “But to the one who falls to Christ God with faith and love, with humility and tears, the soul soon receives inexpressible consolations, peace, joy in the Lord and ardent love for God. The signs of all this are unlovely tears poured out abundantly from love, self-reproach, and insatiable thanksgiving to Christ God. At this hour, the whole person, out of love for God, becomes insensitive to this world. Anyone who has achieved this, even in part, knows that I am telling the truth.” Blessed Onuphry clearly expressed all this from the bottom of his heart to Fr. Plato. From this holy conversation of his, the listener’s heart became so inflamed and blazing like fire with Divine love, having great zeal for spiritual exploits, that, hiding somewhere, he fell prostrate to the ground, beating his breasts and praying to Christ God with bitter tears, asking for His help. And this was the beginning of the fulfillment of his vows made to God in childhood. However, he could not betray himself into obedience to these God-inspired fathers, for they lived not in the desert, but in monasteries. But he was afraid to live in a monastery, lest they force him, as said above, and against his will, to accept the terrible yoke of the priesthood. Blessed Plato stayed only three years and a little more in Wallachia, with the goal of learning the Moldavian-Wallachian language, especially so that, seeing a favorable time, he could collect from these holy fathers the spiritual honey that flowed from their lips. Having enjoyed it to satiety, he kept it in the cage of his heart and sealed it with silence for the time being, so that he could subsequently delight with it the souls of those who had to join him, and satisfy them and excite them to virtues. For he learned from these fathers that there is true obedience, from which true humility is born and the mortification of one’s will and reasoning and everything that is in this world is accomplished. And this is the beginning and the endless end of true monastic work. And that there is vision, and mental true silence, and attention to prayer performed with the mind in the heart, he not only understood, but partly enjoyed the action of its Divine power, ever moving in the heart. For he could not have endured such poverty and sorrow, and rejoiced with thanksgiving in all temptations and hardships, and for all sorrowful things glorified God, that he was honored in some way to be an imitator of his Master Christ, who became poor for our sake, if his heart had not been kindled by Divine prayer into love for God and neighbor. The love of God began in him even in adolescence from reading books, which was the Divine seed that fell, according to the word of the Lord, on the good earth, and subsequently bore a hundredfold the fruits of the Spirit. For there, among these monastic ascetics, through fulfilling the commandments of God and practicing the virtues of morality, this seed, strengthened by unceasing mental prayer, created in his heart the fragrance of Christ; being watered with many tears, with the assistance of God, it grew and flourished. So oh. Plato, strengthened by divine intelligent diligence, succeeded in the grace of Christ, which filled his soul with perfect love for God and neighbor and inexpressible joy in the Lord, and kindled it with zeal, as it is said, for spiritual exploits, like a deer running to sources of water. II. Stay of Elder Paisius at St. Mount Athos The time has come, Fr. Plato see and St. Mount Athos. Therefore, having visited all the holy fathers in his monastery and in other monasteries, and especially those staying, he with tears asked them for forgiveness, prayers and blessings on the way, thanking them for their great mercy, love and spiritual fatherly guidance towards him. These holy fathers Vasily, Michael and Onufry - what words, what prayers, what advice did they not use, not wanting to lose such a companion! For, talking among themselves and marveling at the grace of God and good character in him, they called him a young old man. Then the blessed one was only 24 years old. But they could not hold him, they prayed, blessed him and sent him away in peace, entrusting him to the will of God. Having left them, he began to look for a companion to the holy Mount Athos. Meanwhile, he had nothing on the way as soon as 20 pairs. However, he did not care about this, for he placed all his hope in the almighty Providence of God. He also found a companion for himself, Hieromonk Tryphon. Having agreed together, giving thanks to God, they set off. But what troubles from pestilence and hunger, and what fears from deaths, most of all from the Turks, did the young old man endure! Only God's help from above gave him the strength to endure all this. However, they still reached Holy Mount Athos with joy and complacency. Here, stepping back a little from the subject, I will say briefly something worthy of crying and sobbing. Having reached the refuge of the monastic dwellings, the young elder rejoiced in spirit, seeing the holy place, where since ancient times they cared about spiritual salvation, there was an incessant battle with demons, there was a helicopter city and the lot of the Most Pure Mother of God. And at that time, this Holy Mountain, which in ancient times, like paradise, blossomed with God-like and spiritual elders and virtuous ascetics, was no longer seen as a heliport, but as a den of disaster and the dwelling of robbers. For the enemy and hater of all good and the destroyer of Christian salvation, the ancient sower of tares among the wheat, the atheist devil, arranged it in such a way that where there was great holiness and reverence, where the whole world, especially the Christian peoples, looked at those who lived in this Mountain as a pillar and confirmation of the Orthodox faith, as an image of piety and salvation, reverence and all spiritual benefit; there the evil one tried to sow his tares, which began especially in 1721. He arranged this through certain people who came, wise and without the fear of God, who, considering themselves wise and first, went astray from the womb and became mad. Being infected with pride, they caused unrest and confusion, and for many they were a great temptation and spiritual ruin. For this reason, as the apostle says, God gave them over to an unskilled mind to do things unlike them (Rom. 11:28). Seeing all this, the reverent and God-fearing men who lived there wept bitterly with sighs and prayed to the Lord, so that the guilty would recognize their error and their destructive passions - pride and vanity. For they knew that God, angered by this, would bring His righteous wrath on them, and with them on the innocent, for demonic deception, especially for the negligence of deceived people. This soon happened. And in truth, at that time the Holy Mountain stood in disgrace to the whole world. In particular, it aroused crying in all those who loved a quiet and silent life according to God, leading to prosperity, that is, in the true zealots of piety - in the monks. There was a Mountain humiliated, desecrated, plundered, and with dispersed monks, and just to say - it was under the rule of the Turks. For all the holy monasteries, monasteries and cells were filled with Turks. And only a few, some of the most courageous in spirit, but already weak in body, remained there as captives, serving the barbarians, daily suffering all sorts of disasters and death itself, blessed, faithful servants of Christ God in their vows, being convinced that they were suffering this from the barbarians for the sake of their salvation. Having said this briefly, I return to my subject. Having reached the Holy Mount Athos and leaving the ship, Fathers Plato and Tryphon entered St. Lavra of St. Athanasius, and rested a little from the journey, with tears giving thanks to Christ God and His Most Pure Mother, that the Queen of Heaven had vouchsafed them to come to Her holy lot. Setting off from the Lavra to his brothers, the Slavs, who lived under the authority of the monastery of Pantocrator, the companion of Fr. Plato's hieromonk Tryphon caught a severe cold and fell into an incurable illness. After being ill for four days, he died. And o. Plato settled near his brothers, the Slavs, in one calibre, called Caparis. From there he walked around hermits and desert dwellers, looking, according to his intention, for a certain spiritual father, successful in monastic work and knowledgeable in the Divine and paternal scriptures, staying alone in silence, silence and poverty, to whom he could devote himself in obedience. But, according to the judgment of the Lord, he did not find such, and did not achieve the obedience desired by his soul. Therefore, relying on the Providence of God, he began to remain alone. Then the blessed one was 25 years old (1747). But who can express all his exploits when he was alone with the One Lord, enveloped in a kindled zeal for God? Who could count his genuflections and exercises in psalmody and insatiable reading of the Holy Scriptures? What he did not show - self-compulsion, abstinence, fasting, hunger and thirst, sighing, lamentation! What prayers, bitter tears and lamentations he did not let out from the depths of his heart! What battles have you not overcome from anger, lust, God’s heaping on the mind, and cruel despondency for the silent, and from other evil passions! What temptations and sufferings, illnesses and infirmities and sorrows of soul and body did not endure! To all this were attached the attacks of bewilderment, hopelessness and despair, and terrible and fierce mental struggles inflicted from demonic envy. But, clinging by faith and love to Christ God, the young old man overcame all this through the Lord who strengthened him. And for the victory, with all his heart and with all his soul, how much he poured out and brought warm tears and thanksgiving to Christ God! His abstinence was as follows: except for Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, he ate food once every other day and only crackers with water. His poverty and lack of wealth were immeasurable; for he didn’t even have a shirt, but he only had a cassock and duckweed - all in patches. But he was as comforted by his poverty as another was by his wealth. And when he went somewhere, he did not lock the doors of his cell; since there was nothing in it except books that he took from Bulgarian monasteries and read diligently with great attention. However, he grieved and wept bitterly because he had lost the grace of God - holy obedience. So the young elder lived in solitude, struggling and advancing from strength to spiritual strength, setting daily ascensions in his heart and inflamed by Divine zeal for great exploits, and at the same time enjoying the fiery Divine love in the quietest soul-saving and joyful silence for three and a half years. Such were the exploits and sufferings of the young old man! For this is the feat and warfare of true monks against the apostate forces of the devil, so that a sinful soul, wanting to be saved, is forced even to the point of blood and death to resist and with the help of God defeat them. At that time, according to God's will, the above-mentioned elder, schemamonk Fr. Vasily, having been summoned by some important person. He found Fr. staying there in silence. Plato and spent several days with him, teaching him and revealing to him about all three orders of monastic life, and about all the Christian Sacraments from the Holy Scriptures. And o. Plato with tears asked the blessed elder to clothe him in a mantle, which the elder did, renaming him from Plato Paisius. And Paisiy became a student of Fr. Vasily. He was 28 years old then. Having betrayed him to Christ God and the Most Pure Virgin Mother of God, the elder returned to Wallachia, to his monastery of Merlopolyana. Then, as if three months later, a young monk named Vissarion arrived from Wallachia to the Holy Mountain. Having visited some of the fathers there, he looked for a mentor and did not find one. He also came to Fr. Paisius and with tears asked him to tell him a word about the salvation of the soul and about what a mentor should be like to whom one could entrust one’s soul. Sighing from the heart, the blessed one began to cry, and after a short silence, praying in his mind, he said: “Brother! You force me to tell you about a sad matter, so that the disease of my heart may be renewed. For I, too, with great diligence and sorrow, sought a mentor and did not find one. And I have endured many sorrows, and even now I still endure. Therefore, sympathizing with you (for I see that you are overwhelmed by excessive sadness, and I am afraid that you may fall into despair), I will tell you a little, according to the strength of my weak mind. The salvation of the soul, about which you are asking me, cannot conveniently be accomplished otherwise than through a true spiritual mentor, who himself forces himself to fulfill all the commandments of the Lord, according to the word of the Lord, who says: “Whoever does and teaches, this one will be called great” (Matthew 5:19). For how can anyone instruct another on the path that he himself has not walked? He must first struggle until he bleeds against all passions of the soul and body, and with the help of Christ overcome lust and rage, and through humility and prayer heal the rationality of his soul from madness and pride; also to subdue the soul of voluptuousness, love of glory and fierce love of money - these evil vipers of this world, and all other evil passions, against which the Lord Jesus Himself was the leader of the war and the first leader of the victory over them, according to what was said: being led into the wilderness, Jesus, by fasting, humility, poverty, vigil, prayer and resistance from the Divine Scriptures, repelled Satan and gave a crown this victory falls on the head of our nature, teaching us to conquer it in the same way, giving us the strength to do so. And so, whoever follows his Lord with all these virtues and receives service from Him in order to heal other souls and instruct in His commandments, for his humility he will receive from the Lord, together with the power to overcome and all the above-mentioned passions (completely); and then, by the grace of Christ, such a gift of the Spirit will shine in him, according to the word of the Lord: Thus let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:16). Such a mentor, by his very deeds, can unmistakably teach his disciple all the commandments of Christ and all the virtues, especially these all-encompassing ones: humility, meekness, the poverty of Christ, long-suffering in everything, mercy even beyond strength, and burning love for God and for neighbor from an unfeigned heart, from which true spiritual reasoning is born. Such a mentor will teach you to lay down your soul for all the commandments of Christ. Seeing and hearing all this, learning from him, following him with faith and love, can, with the help of God and through his instruction, succeed and receive salvation. This is the kind of mentor we should have, brother. But, alas, what a time it is! Foreseeing by the Holy Spirit the misfortune of this time, the God-bearing fathers, out of pity for us as their children, left us everything we need in their holy writings to help us. According to the Divine Simeon the New Theologian, there are truly few, especially now, who would be able to properly shepherd and heal rational souls. Fasting, vigil and the image of reverence can be shown feignedly or actually learned by many, and many can speak and teach in words conveniently; and in order to cut off passions through humility and constant weeping and tears, and to assimilate for oneself inherently comprehensive virtues, there are very few of them. In support of his words, Simeon cites the testimony of the ancient Holy Fathers: for our most Divine Fathers say: he who wants to cut off passions by crying cuts them off; and he who wants to acquire virtues by crying acquires them. And it is so obvious from here that a monk who does not cry every day does not cut off passions, does not perform virtues, and is never a communicant of gifts. For there is another virtue, and another talent. That is why our God-bearing father, the Russian luminary, Nil Sorsky, who is closest to us, having examined all this with great attention in the Divine Scriptures, and foreseeing our disastrous times and the current human negligence, in his preface to his book advises zealots, saying this: they must look with special diligence for an unlost mentor. If one is not found, then the holy fathers commanded us to learn from the Divine scriptures and instructions of the God-bearing fathers, hearing the Lord Himself saying: try the scriptures and in them you will find eternal life (John 5:39). And if this saint says this only about smart work, then it is all the more necessary to find an experienced worker and a non-lost mentor in order to receive deliverance of the soul from all evil passions, and to be guided on the right path of doing the commandments of God. From here, brother, follows the extreme necessity for us, with great care and with many tears, to study day and night in the Divine and Fatherly writings, and with the advice of like-minded elder fathers, to learn to fulfill the commandments of God and the work of our Holy Fathers. And thus, by the grace of God, with our self-compulsion, we can receive salvation.” Hearing all this from Fr. Paisiya, the monk Vissarion thought to himself then: what else to look for. And he immediately fell with tears at the feet of Fr. Paisius, begging him to accept him into obedience. But oh. Paisiy did not even want to hear about having someone to rule over, since he himself wanted to live in a subordinate position. And he, with great zeal, fell to him with many tears, and for three days persistently asked him to accept him. Seeing this brother's humility and tears, Fr. Paisius was touched and decided to accept him, however, not as a student, but as a friend, in order to live the middle way together. And to whom God will give more understanding of the Holy Scriptures, in order to reveal the will of God to each other, and to arouse each other to fulfill the commandments of God and to every good deed; also cut off your will and reasoning from each other, obey each other in good things, have one soul and one will, and have in common everything necessary for life. And thus, having determined the beginning, they began to live unanimously according to the rules of the holy fathers. And the young old man was comforted in his soul that by the grace of God he had found peace of mind in cohabitation with a like-minded brother, for the sake of cutting off his will and reasoning from each other - which, according to the definition of the fathers, is obedience. Instead of a father and mentor, they had the teaching of our holy and God-bearing fathers. And they remained in deep peace, striving, burning in spirit and daily laying down a good beginning, in order to progress into perfect humility and love for God and neighbor and for each other through the fulfillment of God’s Holy Commandments. But they did not enjoy such a quiet, sweet life about God, a silent life comforting for the soul for long - only four years and a little more (1754). For the other brothers of the Holy Mountain and those coming from the world, hearing and seeing their peaceful and loving life in God and, themselves having great zeal for this, began to persuade the elder with their persistent prayer to accept them as disciples. He refused this for many years and did not accept another for four years, and another for three. Finally, being convinced either by their incessantly strengthened petition, or by the lamentable prayer of the very brotherly-loving monk Vissarion, who lived with him, he began to accept one at a time, even against his will, relying on the almighty Providence of God for their spiritual and physical care. And soon brothers of eight people of Moldavian origin gathered around him. since they did not fit in two cells, it was necessary for them to purchase a cell from the Church of St. Constantine. Then the brethren of the Slavic people began to join the company of Elder Paisius. And all twelve brothers gathered. And they began to read and sing the rule in church in Moldavian and Slavic. There was now an urgent need for a hieromonk and confessor. And so, having agreed, all the brethren began with intense, humble prayer to beg the elder to accept the priesthood and clergy. But he didn’t want to hear about it, saying that for this reason he left Wallachia. However, as he did not refuse this with tears, they more and more fell at his feet with tears, asking and begging him not to despise their request, offering him many important and blessed reasons, especially the following. When we go to confession with other confessors, they said, then the advice and commandments appropriate for our life, which we receive from you, they refute with their advice; and from this we receive great spiritual harm. For many of the spiritual, either in years or in mind, are young. And the Divine Scripture says: Woe to your city, in it your king is young (Ecc. 10:16). Having cited these words, the holy fathers say: woe to the brethren whose leader or confessor is young and with a flourishing body, especially if he is inexperienced in spiritual life, who has not acquired the right mind and spiritual reasoning according to God, and does not know the variety of passions and infirmities of the soul and body. For if he had been a diligent follower of the commandments of Christ, then, according to his measure, he would not have been deprived of gifts from the Lord, such as: spiritual intelligence and reasoning, mercy, humility and love for God and neighbor - which are all-embracing or main and primary virtues. This is also confirmed by Simeon the New Theologian, saying that it is impossible for someone who searches and interprets with all his heart not to receive and be enriched with gifts according to the word of the Lord. This and much more was expressed by the brethren, falling weeping to the blessed one. And besides, the venerable elder fathers of the Holy Mountain in every possible way asked and exhorted him not to renounce the priesthood; for they knew that he was worthy of this, and could, with the help of God, lead many souls to the Lord through his instructions, especially through his love and humility. And therefore they relentlessly advised him, even threatening him for disobedience, to accept holy orders, saying: how will you teach the brethren obedience and cutting off your will and reasoning, being yourself a disobedient and despiser of the tearful prayer of so many petitioners and us? Do you not know what gave rise to disobedience? Then the elder, seeing himself in such inconvenient cramped conditions on all sides, submitted against his will, saying with tears: “God’s will be done!” And he was ordained a priest and appointed confessor. And there was great joy for his spiritual children. Then, when the Lord multiplied the brethren, so that they did not fit in the church and cells of St. Constantine, then Elder Paisius, in consultation with his brethren, asked for an old and idle cell of St. Prophet Elijah of the Pandocrator Monastery, and together with a blessing from His Holiness Patriarch Seraphim, who was at that time in the same monastery. And they began from the ground up to build a monastery in the name of St. Prophet Elijah. They built a church, a refectory, a bakery, a cookhouse, a hospice and sixteen cells. For the elder had no intention of accepting more than fifteen brothers; That’s why the cell was prepared for that number. Then they all joyfully moved to the monastery, thanking and glorifying God for the fact that He had favored them to change the middle path of monastic life to a hostel. Then the elder more strictly established the rule of the church according to the order of the Holy Mountain, dividing the brethren into two parts, Slavs and Moldovans. Then he had the hope that after such labors he could live more peacefully; and meanwhile fell under even greater labor. For many of the brethren of the Holy Mountain and of the newcomers, seeing such deanery in his church, that is, in singing and reading, as well as humility, quietness and reverence, and the presence of all the brethren in the church with reverence and fear of God, the word in the work of the priests and ecclesiarchs is most necessary, and the services they performed with reverence and meekness, and outside the church in general obediences they were manual labors with humility and silence, and between the brethren there is always peace from the heart, love and cutting off one’s will, reverent obedience to the elder with faith and love, and on the part of the elder to his spiritual children, fatherly mercy, prudent distribution according to obedience, compassion and unfeigned love for all in all bodily needs - seeing all this, they became jealous with ardent jealousy to join such a life. And therefore, with their persistent request, with tears and frequent bows, they convinced him even against his desire to accept them. In the absence of cells, of necessity, two or three cells were attached below the cells to the stone wall. All the brothers generally worked in handicrafts. The elder himself, together with his brothers, made spoons during the day, and at night he copied his father’s books. For his whole life was spent in all-night vigil, and he could not sleep for more than three hours a day. The writing of the father's books actually consisted of translating them from Greek into the Slavic language. For the elder, with the help of God, soon learned not only simple Greek, but also the Hellenic language from one of his brothers, named Macarius, who knew this language well, and at first translated books under his guidance. As a result, good rumors about Elder Paisius spread throughout the Holy Mountain, and everyone treated him with respect and love; for they were amazed at the many gifts of God in him and glorified God. He was a confessor there to many great fathers, as well as to the aforementioned His Holiness Patriarch Seraphim himself. And this saint often visited him, sometimes due to weakness on a donkey, and sometimes on foot he came to the monastery, which was about half an hour’s walk from the monastery. Here they talked with pleasure about spiritual and soul-saving subjects and about faith, and about spiritual reason, about courageous asceticism and about the gifts of our God-bearing fathers, who were mentors in reason and teaching, together comforting their souls and burning in spirit to imitate their faith. More than once a year it happened that His Holiness the Patriarch and the leading fathers of the monastery of Pandocrator, out of their love for the elder, asked him to come to them in the monastery, and on Sunday or some holiday to serve the Divine Liturgy himself with the monastery deacon in the great church. He served there in Greek, slowly and reverently, with the fear of God, constantly wetting his cheeks with tears; for he could never serve the Holy Liturgy without tears throughout his life. Seeing this, His Holiness the Patriarch, also standing with tears, said: “Glory to Thee, Lord, glory to Thee!” And those standing in the altar, seeing him all so prostrated to God and as if changed and crying, barely able to speak exclamations, were so touched and wept that others could not even stand in the altar because of tears, came out from there and, marveling at the grace of God, glorified God. At the same time as Elder Paisius lived on the Holy Mountain in the Kapsokalivsky monastery, another Moldavian elder named Athanasius lived with his disciples. In years he was older than Fr. Paisia. This Athanasius, according to the slander of the evil one, envious of the glory of Elder Paisius, began to loudly spread slander against him to many, calling him not only a flatterer and a deceived person, but also a heretic. He also blasphemed the sacred mental prayer that Elder Paisius taught to his brothers. Hearing all this, oh. Paisiy endured for a long time as if he had not heard anything. But Athanasius, inflamed with intolerable envy, wrote and sent a letter to him. At the beginning it had the appearance of a friendly instruction, and then it contained a lot of blasphemy, reproach and many wrong wisdom. Having received this letter, Elder Paisios, having examined everything exactly, went to his confessor, explained and read it. Then, together with their confessor, they went to other elders and confessors of the cathedral regarding this matter. All of them, having examined this scripture, were offended and ordered Fr. Paisius write a response to him, exposing his delusion and wrong wisdom. At the same time, they agreed that if Elder Athanasius did not repent and ask for forgiveness, they would expose him at the Cathedral of the Holy Mountain. As the spiritual fathers commanded the blessed one, so he did. Having exposed the ignorance of Athanasius with fourteen chapters, in which his error was clarified and blasphemies and slander were refuted, he sent these chapters to him. Having read them, Afanasy realized his mistake, matured himself, repented, and came to Elder Paisius and asked him for forgiveness. Elder Paisios joyfully forgave him and, having a friendly conversation with him, revealed to him with love the will of God about his residence with the brethren, and sent him away in peace. This is how Elder Paisius stayed in his monastery. His brothers were increasing from day to day. More than fifty people have already gathered. And in no way could he avoid accepting with tears and earnest prayer those who asked him to accept them into obedience. What didn't he say? And why didn’t you expose it to them? And the lack of cells, and the difficulty of obedience, and the need for bodily needs, and poverty in everything. But the more he meekly refused them, the more and more they, falling at his feet, weeping and sobbing, begged him to accept them. And, being convinced by their tears, as a merciful father and filled with love for his neighbors, the elder accepted, relying on the almighty Providence of God for their mental and physical care, as was said above. Therefore, many venerable fathers advised Fr. Paisia ​​to take over the monastery called Simonopetra; for he was idle because he was in debt. The elder submitted a request for this to the Cathedral of the Holy Mountain, and a blessing was immediately given to him for this. And so, taking with him half of the brethren, the elder moved to the monastery. He heard a little something about monastic debt. But he only had to live in this monastery for three months. For the Turks, the moneylenders, having heard that a society of monks had gathered in the monastery, immediately came to demand the debt; and they forcibly took seven hundred leva from the innocent old man. As a result of this, being afraid of other lenders, he returned to the monastery. While staying in the monastery and seeing such great crowding and sorrow of the brethren, Elder Paisios was distressed and greatly grieved in soul, imagining the inconvenience of the place and the complete impossibility of living on the Holy Mountain to such a unanimous society and seeing no hope ahead for the improvement of the monastery. And so, with a general council, they began to prepare to move to Wallachia to the country of Muntyan. Having learned about this, His Holiness Patriarch Seraphim and other venerable fathers of the Holy Mountain began to greatly regret that the elder intended to leave them. Having come to him at the monastery, they exhorted him a lot and asked him not to leave the Holy Mountain. But when they recognized their extreme need and great oppression for the brotherhood and the sadness of the elder himself, they said: God’s will be done! And the old man fell at the feet of His Holiness the Patriarch, kissing them with many tears and asking him for his last blessing. Likewise, His Holiness the Patriarch wept, and with much regret blessed him, hugging and kissing his head, and with sorrow returned to his monastery. The elder said goodbye to all the spiritual fathers, asking everyone for prayers and blessings along the way. III. Return of Elder Paisios and his disciples to Wallachia When everything was ready to depart, the elder hired two ships and entered one himself with his Slavic disciples, and Father Vissarion with the Moldovans entered the other. All his brothers then were sixty-four. With God's help, they sailed safely to Constantinople, and from Constantinople to Galati; and, having reached land, they arrived in Wallachia, to a monastery called Varzaregita. But since there was no place for them to live in the country, Elder Paisios arrived in Iasi on this occasion, where he was received with love by Metropolitan Gabriel and the pious ruler Gregory Callimachus, the commander. To satisfy the needs of the elder and his brethren, the Monastery of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, called Dragomirna, with all its estates, was given to him at his disposal. The pious governor approved by letter that this monastery, with all its brotherhood, should be free from all taxes; and the Right Reverend Metropolitan asked Bishop Radoutsky to hand over the monastery to Elder Paisius with all love and due honor. And the elder settled there with the entire congregation of his brotherhood, thanking and glorifying God, with joyful tears, about His incomprehensible destinies and endless mercy, which inclined the hearts of everyone to love and mercy for them strange. After a little time, Hieromonk Father Alexey, also a student of Elder Vasily, came to visit Elder Paisius with his brethren from the monastery of Merlopolyana in the Wallachian country, and lived in the Dragomirna monastery all winter, being detained here by the love of the elder, for they often enjoyed spiritual conversations. And Elder Paisius desired that Father Alexy tonsure him into the schema, since both of them were disciples of the same elder. Desire o. Paisius was executed, but his name was not changed; and as he was called Paisius when he was tonsured into the mantle by Elder Vasily, such a name was left to him in the schema. From this incident the whole brotherhood was in indescribable joy. After the feast of the blessed Resurrection of Christ, when Fr. Alexy returned home, Elder Paisy and all the brothers saw him off with great love and reverence. This is what. Alexy, after the elders Fathers Vasily and Theodosius, was an elder in the monastery of Merlopolyan. After this, the blessed elder Paisius, having rested a little from his labors, began to renew and establish the order of his hostel according to the rules of our God-bearing fathers, Basil the Great and Theodosius the Great and Theodore the Studite, the heads of the hostel, who learned from him. This did not mean that this rank was just beginning; for even on the Holy Mountain he was introduced by Elder Paisius among his brotherhood and was observed; but after the movement, combined with vanity, it really seemed to begin again, and, being renewed, was established. Firstly, in the church it was necessary to observe the rite of the Holy Mountain, according to the charter of the Orthodox Catholic Eastern Church, as before. It was decided to sing on the right choir in Slavic, and on the left - in Moldavian. Secondly, it was decreed that none of the brothers under any circumstances should dare to call any of the things: this is mine, and this is yours; but to have everything sent from God in common, with the will to strictly observe the rule of community life. And whatever anyone needed was given to everyone from the elder. The meal was common for everyone, except for the sick, very elderly and crippled. Obediences within the monastery, such as in the cookery, bakery, and others, had to be performed by the brethren themselves. The brethren must do various handicrafts needed in the community with the fear of God, each according to his own strength, and not by force or with embarrassment. In some general obediences, disobedience, disobedience and arbitrariness, which destroy the commandments of God, were to be expelled from the soul of every brother; and so that instead of this, obedience, humility, patience and peace, love and fear of God, and above all this, the all-perfect cutting off of one’s will and one’s reasoning, should take precedence and reign in the brotherhood. During general obediences it was necessary to maintain the silence of the lips; Let the prayer act secretly and be stored in the mind. And the elder himself often went out with the brethren to common obediences, and together with everyone he worked with all humility, silence and prayer, giving everyone an example of humility and love, and saying: “Brothers! none of you should remain idle, except those who are extremely infirm and aged; for from idleness all evil is born.” In single cells, the brethren should practice reading the writings of the God-bearing fathers and prayer, artistically performed with the mind in the heart, according to each person’s success, relying on frequent bows with tears. All the brethren, and especially the novices, had to open their thoughts to their spiritual fathers every evening. For revelation is the basis of true repentance and forgiveness of sins, and the hope of salvation for a soul that truly repents of sins with sadness. And if any displeasure happened between some brethren, then a sincere reconciliation would certainly follow on the same day, according to the Scripture: let not the sun go down on your anger (Eph. 4:26). If anyone became so hardened that he did not want to be reconciled, the elder would excommunicate him, so that he would not enter the church threshold or read the Lord’s Prayer until he reconciled. For obedience outside the monastery, the elder identified and sent such brethren from whom no temptation could arise for the laity, nor harm to their souls. If any deed was inevitably followed by something leading to a violation of the commandment, then the commanded deed had to be abandoned. It is better, the elder said, to leave the matter unfulfilled than to despise the commandment of God and be subject to eternal condemnation. In general, to say: in the monastery, both inside and outside, in all obediences, Elder Paisius always tried to ensure that among all the brethren there was peace and love according to God, reverence and fear of God, humility and obedience with the all-perfect cutting off of their will and their reasoning before the elder and before each other. Elder Paisios also introduced all other orders in his monastery, according to the charter of St. Basil the Great and other God-bearing fathers, commanding them to be kept inviolably, and concluding with the threat of spiritual penances for crimes, at the same time pouring out his fatherly mercy on all his spiritual children, and with unfeigned love, embracing and warming and teaching everyone, prudently determining obedience to each according to his strength, so that everyone would work complacently and with diligence. The elder ordered the sick, very infirm and elderly to be treated in the hospital and to be reassured in every possible way by his beloved brother Honorius, who was somewhat familiar with the art of medicine. This husband could console both with spiritual conversation and was very merciful in bodily needs; for through his holy and zealous obedience and humility he succeeded in ardent love for God and neighbor and in spiritual intelligence. That is why the blessed elder had this most kindly brother over the sick as his own eye. He alone was given the freedom, for the sake of the sick, to take money from the elder’s cell himself, no matter how much he wanted. After his death, after one year (1795), the elder, by the will of God, took him to himself and into heavenly rest. Then, living all the time with the natural Moldavian brothers, the aforementioned Macarius and Illarion Daskal and with others who knew Greek, Elder Paisius worked in translating fatherly and theological books into Moldavian and Slavic languages. And when, in winter, all the brethren gathered from non-monastic obediences, and the fast of the Nativity of Christ began: then the elder began, from the books he translated, to speak teachings to the entire brotherhood in general from the first week of fasting and continued until Lazarus Saturday. Every day, except Sundays and holidays, all the brethren gathered in the evenings for a meal, candles were lit, and the elder came. He sat in his usual place and read either the ascetic book of St. Basil the Great, or St. John Climacus, or St. Dorotheus, or St. Theodore the Studite, or St. Simeon the New Theologian, or another of one of the God-bearing fathers. One evening he read the lesson in Slavic, and the other in Moldavian. And when there was a teaching in one language, then the brethren of another language read Compline for themselves. And the elder, reading the teaching, at the same time interpreted, citing evidence from the Holy Scriptures of both Testaments and from the teachings of the God-bearing fathers, and said (approximately) like this: Brothers and fathers! With heart disease, we must take care of spiritual salvation, as the Divine Fathers teach. For St. John Climacus says: even though we have undergone great deeds in our lives, if we have not acquired a sick heart, then they are all feigned and vain. And Gregory of Sinai says: heartache and humility and the work of obedience, according to the strength of each, with the rightness of the heart, usually do the work as it is in truth. And he also says: every work, physical and spiritual, that does not have pain or labor, will never bear fruit to the one who goes through it; because the Kingdom of Heaven is received from need, says the Lord, and those in need delight it (Matthew 11:12). Many have been doing or are doing painlessly for many years, and since painlessly, with ardent zeal of the heart, they have raised and are lifting up the works of repentance, they turned out to be alien to purity and not involved in the Holy Spirit. And one more thing: those who do it with carelessness, laziness and weakness, perhaps, as they think, work hard; but they never collect the fruit. And besides this, painless monastics from despondency fall into unhelpful cares and become darkened. And St. Simeon the New Theologian says: therefore I say that those who did not imitate the passions of Christ through repentance and tears, humility, obedience and patience, and even more so through poverty and suffering, and enduring ridicule and reproach, and were not partakers of His blasphemous death, are not here partakers of His spiritual resurrection, and do not receive the grace of the Holy Spirit. For what other deeds shall we be glorified with Him? For the Divine Paul says: if we suffer with Him, we will also be glorified with Him (Rom. 8:17). If we are ashamed to imitate His passions, which He endured for us, and there lives in us an unwillingness to endure this, that is, the earthly wisdom of the flesh, then it is obvious that we will not be partakers of His glory. And one more thing: without repentance and tears, as we said, not one of these (gifts), either in ourselves or in some others, has ever been or will be. For even from the Divine Scriptures no one can prove that any of the people can, without tears and constant tenderness, be cleansed from passions, or become holy, or receive the Holy Spirit, or see God, or feel His visit within themselves, or when accepting Him as a complete dweller in their hearts - unless they are preceded by repentance and tenderness. All this will be accomplished by the Divine fire of tenderness together with tears, or better yet, through tears. And he also says: be careful lest you be deceived by the opinion that you have Christ in you, having nothing, and so as not to depart from this life empty-handed. Then you will weep and lament. Elder Paisios spoke all this from the God-bearing fathers to the brethren with tears, convincing them to be forced with ardent zeal to fulfill the commandments of Christ. For all his teaching, sickness and care (for the brethren) were directed towards the goal that everyone in general, with all their heart and with all their soul, would keep the commandments of God, so that the time given by God for repentance would not be lived in negligence and would not remain fruitless. At the end of the teaching, the elder always included some moral teaching about correcting the mistakes that happened between the brethren. For he, more than other passions, was especially afraid of seduction from the path of truth and the fall of the young and the evil passion of the love of money, or better yet, the love of money and the love of substances - the root of all evil, as it is said in the Divine Scripture (1 Tim. 6:10); why, in almost every teaching, he cited Ananias and Sapphira as an example. For he reliably knew in advance - about which he grieved greatly - that if this evil passion of covetousness stealthily entered his brotherhood, and if her lovers were carried away by it, then the hostel he had established would immediately be ruined to the ground; which subsequently happened. In fact, to speak openly and boldly - this is yours, and this is mine, and to have property, and for everyone to take care of himself and eat, isn’t this the complete ruin of a unanimous community. Therefore, for a long time in the monasteries of Dragomirna and Sekule, protecting the brethren (from the mentioned passion), he secretly denounced them; and, showing the way to do the commandments of Christ, he often exhorted them with tears, saying: Brothers! if you are diligently forced to read the books of the Fathers, and through the teaching contained in them, always correct yourself and warm up (your souls), according to what has been said: my heart warms itself in me, and in my teaching a fire will burn (Ps. 38:4): also if you force yourself to diligently pray every day with tears before God and to do His holy commandments, then warm zeal and zeal will be given to you from Christ God. And let no one say that it is impossible to cry every day. For he who says this also says that it is impossible to repent every day. And such pervert the very commandment of the Lord, as the Divine Simeon the New Theologian says. First of all this, brethren, you must, undoubtedly, with firm faith and warm love, approach the Lord, and, according to His word, completely renounce this world and all its beauties and sweets, and also your will, and your reasoning, and be poor in spirit and body. And thus holy zeal will be kindled in the souls of the perfect. Over time, as this work grows, the Lord will give you, as you do it, tears, crying and some small hope to console the soul; and then hunger and thirst for righteousness, that is, kindled zeal, in order to be guided towards all His commandments (Ps. 119:128), such as: humility, patience, mercy and love for everyone, especially for those in spiritual distress, also for the sick (physically), the suffering and the elderly, which all, according to the Divine Apostle, are the fruits of the Spirit. And to bear the infirmities of your neighbor, and to lay down your life for your brother, and to endure the temptations that happen, that is, insults, reproaches, reproaches, annoyances, and to forgive each other with all your heart all sorts of griefs and insults, and to love your enemies, to bless those who curse you, to do good to those who hate you, and to pray for those who bring misfortune to you - all these are the supreme commandments of Christ. To all this and to courageously and with gratitude endure the various temptations found in the body: infirmities, illnesses, wounds, fierce and inconsolable temporary suffering for the sake of the eternal salvation of their souls. And in this way you will reach a perfect husband, according to the measure of your spiritual age, the fulfillment of Christ (Eph. 4:13). And if you continue in such self-compulsion, then this community will stand as long as the Lord pleases. If you neglect to pay attention to yourself and to read the books of the Fathers, then you will fall away from the peace of Christ and love, that is, from doing the commandments of Christ, and rebellion, rumors and disorder, mental confusion, cowardice and hopelessness, murmuring and condemnation will arise among you. And for the increase of these iniquities, the love of many will dry up (Matthew 24:12), or rather, it will be a few and not all. And if this happens, then this hostel will soon go bankrupt, first mentally, and eventually physically. With these and many similar instructions, Elder Paisius has long been, as it is said, with tears protecting everyone, small and great, begging and exhorting firmly and with all his soul to adhere to a quiet, peaceful and loving life, according to the commandments of Christ. And he had such a gift that with his words he could arouse even the saddest to jealousy, and comfort the sad. And when he could not pacify someone who was very confused and grieving in soul with words, he assured him, exhorted and consoled him with tears, saying that the Lord rejoiced at his repentance, and convinced him to have firm hope in the mercy of Christ; He finally consoled others in their needs with his generosity. And where necessary, he rebuked, forbade, begged, excommunicated and was patient. After repeated repetition of these methods, if another did not correct himself, he removed him (from the monastery). And so, with the rebuke of the wrath of God, he treated only those who were bitter, arbitrary and corrupt, with strict strictness, as briefly described above. Here he appeared as some kind of formidable judge, angry with him until he humbled himself and repented; and then he consoled him, instructing and admonishing him for correction with love and tears. And no one left him unhealed. About his anger, the elder himself answered one spiritual brother’s question like this: and that I reproach you with anger, the Lord would grant that you too have such anger! For I am forced to resist the aspirations of each of you; and before others appear to have anger, which, by the grace of God, I never have, and before others to weep, so that both of them, or, as the apostle says, with your gums and neck, may benefit you. Let me not be a slave to angry passion! In the same way, when he said that as a moral lesson to the brethren, arousing in them love and boldness towards him, he often talked like this: I don’t want, brethren, for anyone to fear me, as if I were some terrible ruler; but so that everyone loves me, just as I love you in the Lord, as my spiritual children. Let’s also talk about the reasoning of this spiritual shepherd. Such an order was established in his brotherhood, so that every spiritual father would explain to him about every brother whom he himself could not pacify, and about the reason for his confusion. The causes of sorrows that befell the brethren, as people, were as follows: contradictions, reproaches and annoyances to each other, and the like. And when any brother, overcome with grief, entered the elder’s cell, the elder already understood what was in his heart; and soon, having given him a blessing, he himself, anticipating it, began to continuously talk to him, not allowing him to speak; and with his sweetest and most consoling words he took his mind far away from the sorrow that had befallen him. During his conversation, the elder peered into the face of his brother and noticed the structure of his character, intelligence and obedience. And if the brother was a reasonable man, then the elder used to express something lofty to him, and then give the interpretation of it by the God-bearing fathers. To this he added something even higher, and so surprised and consoled his soul that, out of spiritual joy, he changed everything worldly - glory, joy and sorrow - into abomination and a dream. If the brother was a simpleton, then the elder borrowed his speech to him either from ordinary affairs, or from holy obedience, and with his wondrous words he delighted his mind from sorrow, and again consoled him so much that from spiritual joy he reproached both himself and the sorrow that had befallen him. And then the brother, either this one or that one, having entered into himself, and feeling his soul filled with peace and spiritual joy, the former confusion and sorrow disappeared like smoke from the wind, no longer remembering anything, but having received the blessing from the elder, he departed in joy, thanking God. Oh, Divine wisdom and love of this blessed father! He called his brother not in order to reproach him or scold him, or subject him to prohibition, but in order to console him and pacify his soul and heart. How and what can you say about his sweetness of speech? For all his spiritual children were ready to stand before him relentlessly every day in order to enjoy the sight of his bright face and his sweet conversation. That is why all the brothers, small and great, spent their days in deep peace, love and spiritual joy. Until the ninth hour (evening) the elder’s doors were never closed. For some came to him because of bodily needs, and others with spiritual needs. And with one the old man cried; and having consoled him, he rejoiced with the other, as if he had no sorrow. In terms of his spiritual makeup, the elder was like a gentle child, truly an impassive and holy man. They never saw him grieve over anything material, no matter how important the loss occurred. Then only he grieved when he saw any brother transgressing the commandment of God in any way, especially by will. For even for one slightest commandment of the Lord Christ, the elder was ready to lay down his soul and said: let all our (acquisition) be ruined, let some business perish; If only we kept the commandments of God, and for their sake our souls. Elder Paisios repeatedly said this to his spiritual children: “When I see my spiritual children struggling and forced to keep the commandments of God, and cutting off their own will, and not believing in their own reasoning, and living in the fear of God, and humbly undergoing holy obedience: then I feel such an inexpressible joy in my soul that I do not want to have greater joy in the Kingdom of Heaven. If I see some who are negligent of God’s commandments, and who adhere to their own will, who believe in their own reasoning, and who live without the fear of God, and who despise holy obedience, who, out of self-indulgence and self-indulgence, are overcome by laziness and who grumble, then such sadness envelops my soul that there cannot be greater sadness for me, even in hell, until I see them truly repentant.” And the brethren, from the teachings of their father and from reading the Divine Scriptures, began to warm up (with their hearts) and to prosper in the love of God and in the patience commanded by Jesus Christ, although not all to the same extent. Because this is impossible. But some of them, who were in large numbers, achieved great love for God and neighbor, and through obedience and humility they completely killed their will and reasoning, considering themselves dust and dirt and the footstool of all brothers, and even the most damned of all creation. For constantly, in the secret of their hearts, reproaching themselves before God, they endured reproach, dishonor, reproach, annoyance and every kind of temptation with great joy and great gratitude to God, accepting all this as the grace of God, and always desiring this. Others, in smaller numbers, fell and rose up, that is, they sinned (small sins), and immediately repented, also enduring reproaches, reproaches, and temptations, although with difficulty and bitterness; however, they were wholeheartedly urged to reach the first, and for this they fervently and with tears continually prayed to God. And others, few in number, were weak and feeble in soul, like babies, not yet having the opportunity to take solid food, that is, to endure reproaches and reproaches. For their upbringing, they still required the milk of mercy and philanthropy and condescension to their weaknesses, until they reached the spiritual age of patience. They made up for their poverty only by good will and constant self-reproach, repeatedly and beyond their strength being forced to endure reproaches and reproaches and abandon their will, great work and sweat, pouring out blood like blood before God, and in this constantly asking for help from God. Although such were the weakest, they will be counted by God as forcing themselves for the sake of obtaining the Kingdom of Heaven. In general, everyone, although, as has been said, not to the same extent, forced themselves to fulfill the commandments of Christ our God and to live according to the teachings of the God-bearing fathers. For, as St. Isaac, doing the commandments in secret heals spiritual strength. And this did not happen simply and no matter how it is, since it is written that without bloodshed there is no abandonment (Heb. 9:22). The blessed elder rejoiced, seeing his spiritual children labor so diligently; he thanked and glorified God with tears, and at the same time prayed to Him to strengthen them with His grace for a greater feat; and constantly teaching, he excited them to greater zeal, saying: children! do not be discouraged, I will buy it with earnestness (Luke 19:13). For now is the time acceptable, now is the day of salvation, says the apostle (2 Cor. 6:2). And then one could see monastic residence in the Dragomirna Monastery as a new miracle, or a God-planted earthly paradise. For people, being alive, having cut off their will for the sake of the love of God, by their will and with all their feelings were dead to this world, that is, like blind, dumb and deaf. But how can one express in detail their secret doing? Let's just say a little, like this: about their contrition of heart, deep humility, about the fear of God and reverence, about the attention and silence of thought, about the prayer that moves in the heart, burning with ineffable love for Christ God and neighbor; so that many of them, not only alone in their cells, but also in church and in the assembly during obediences, and during spiritual conversation, constantly shed tears. And this showed the fruits of the Spirit in them, that is, faith, meekness and their heart’s love for the Lord. Saint Isaac rightly said: the assembly of the humble is loved by God, like the assembly of the Seraphim. During such a peaceful stay of the brotherhood in the Dragomirna monastery, grief happened to the blessed elder and all the brothers. His first unanimous friend, Fr. Vissarion, by God's grace, went to the Lord for eternal rest. Both the elder and all the brothers wept bitterly for him. And the elder established an annual cathedral memorial service in his memory and a festive meal for the entire brotherhood. This continued until the death of Elder Paisius. Such was the reverent and sacred brotherhood in the Dragomirna monastery, in which Elder Paisios, with many labors and tears, renewed the ancient monastic rite of unanimous consent. For by God’s vision, having united many souls in unanimity and like-mindedness and binding them with the love of God and the humility of Christ, he set himself first in everything as an example for everyone, and established a common life, which had all the similarity of the common lives of the Holy Fathers. And all the brethren were forced, as much as possible, to follow and imitate this life and preserve its rites and statutes in those (as a contemporary put it) disastrous times worthy of tears and sobs. But while the brotherhood of Elder Paisius, staying in the Dragomirna monastery, enjoyed deep peace, achieving their spiritual salvation, a terrible storm and mortal fear suddenly arose. War broke out between two empires, Russian and Turkish (1768). In addition to this, by God's permission, another destruction and fear of death occurred - pestilence and famine (1771). But these last sorrowful troubles, by the mercy of Christ, soon passed. And after a six-year battle, peace was concluded between Russia and the Ottoman Empire (1774). When the Russian army returned from Moldova to its fatherland, the Roman state began to demand from the Turkish Sultan the part of the Moldavian principality that had been promised to it. And the Catholics took the Dragomirna monastery under their authority. Then the elder shed many tears; for he wept bitterly over the spiritual ruin of his brothers, and also lamented that his monastery had passed into the possession of the papists, with whom the Eastern Church could never have spiritual peace. The brethren also grieved greatly and wept bitterly. When the elder himself calmed down somewhat from sadness and crying, and consoled the brethren with hope in God, he unexpectedly received a letter from the abbot of Sekul, with a loving invitation to his entire brotherhood. The elder rejoiced and glorified God, and, placing all his sorrow on the Almighty, he sent petitions to the pious ruler Gregory Ghika and to the metropolitan. In them he wrote with sorrow that he could not live under the rule of the papists, and asked them for mercy so that the monastery of the Beheading would be given to him to manage the venerable heads of St. John the Baptist, called Sekul. He also attached a letter he received from the abbot of Sekul. The ruler and the metropolitan were very sorry for the elder and his brotherhood and gave him the management of the monastery, which he asked for, having approved it with a letter. Having received the letter, the elder began to worry about moving to Sekul; and ordered the brethren to prepare and gather near the monastery mills that stood on the way. All the brothers he had at that time, including the untonsured novices, were three hundred and fifty people. The elder left a large part of the brethren and two confessors in Dragomirna until the monastery was handed over, as it should have been; and he himself went to church and there he prayed to the Lord with bitter tears, since he was separated from this monastery forever. He gave peace and blessing to all the remaining weeping brothers, consoling them by coming to him soon. And leaving the church and monastery, he arrived at the place where the brethren were gathering. Having gathered in this way, they all set off together and arrived at the Sekul monastery, thanking God with tears, and settled there in 1775. This monastery stood in a cramped place, covered on both sides by the forest of a high mountain, on a small valley, near a small source of water, which was located under the mountain. Therefore, the approach to the monastery was very rocky and inconvenient, due to the source, with all its aspiration - flowing in one direction or the other, and especially when it was flooded from the rains. But the place was quiet and silent, and most beloved for monks and zealots for God. Therefore, the elder and the brethren were very happy about this place, and consoled from their sorrow about the Dragomirn monastery, and with tears they sent thanks to God. However, they decided to endure all other needs and inconveniences for the sake of the silence and silence they loved. And Elder Paisios established in Sekula all the rules of community life according to the rank that was in the Dragomirna monastery. Every winter (in the evenings) he called all the brethren to a meal and taught them from the Divine and paternal writings about doing the commandments of God - about obedience, humility, the fear of God and about all God-pleasing deeds and deeds. With such cares and labors of the elder for the brethren, they began again little by little, through his instruction, to achieve the same dispensation as in Dragomirna, struggling and succeeding by the grace of Christ, through the prayers of their father. And he rejoiced and thanked God with tears that, according to his desire, the Lord had given him a quiet and silent place, and had no intention of looking for another monastery that was more spacious and with greater amenities. On the contrary, he was glad for the silence and closeness, which from his youth he loved for Christ’s sake and to which he became accustomed. Therefore, he taught and exhorted his brotherhood, for the love of God, to endure all sorrows courageously and with thanksgiving. However, the needs of the brethren, the great poverty and lack of cells, as well as the prayers and advice of the spiritual fathers prompted the elder to write a petition to Prince Konstantin Muruz, in which the extreme need for cells was exposed. The pious prince, having received the petition, turned to his senate with a question: what is the monastery of Sekul, in which Elder Paisius and his brethren reside. Then one of the main senators, who had once been in the Sekule monastery and knew everything well, answered: the Sekule monastery is cramped, and the church there is small. It was not built for such a large brotherhood. And he stands in an uncomfortable place; for the road to it is rocky, very difficult and inconvenient for transporting the necessary necessities of life. Hearing this, the Christ-loving prince said with condolences to the senators: is there no such monastery in our principality in which this elder Paisius could be reassured? They answered: in our entire principality there is no more spacious monastery than the Neamet monastery. It has a large church, and the road to it is very convenient; It is only two hours away from Sekul. The prince was delighted at this and ordered the elder, commanding him, without any reasoning and without looking at anyone, to go to the Nyamets monastery: it has a large church, and the road to it is very convenient. When the elder received this order and learned from it an unexpected command, he was greatly indignant in spirit. His peace disappeared, immeasurable sorrow seized his soul. He cried bitter and inconsolable tears to the point of exhaustion and was at a loss what to do. The brethren were also very confused, especially the spiritual fathers - true zealots for God, who loved the quiet and humble monastic life and with heartfelt condolences wished for the prosperity of the souls of the brethren, for which they worked hard. They alone, with great sorrow, sympathized with the elder about the spiritual ruin of his brothers. What happened next? The old man’s sadness and sorrow intensified so much that he had never experienced it since his birth. He wept bitterly and painfully inconsolably sobbed because he foresaw the ruin and destruction of the spiritual structure of the brethren; also about the fact that his general teachings to the brethren, which he spoke to them at the general meeting at the meal, had to stop - on the one hand, because it would be impossible for all of them to gather together, since they would be divided (one part in Neamtsa, and the other in Sekule), on the other hand, because guests, laymen and important persons would come, and it would be impossible to forbid them not to come to listen to the teachings. And through this, his moral teaching will be stopped, which he always attached at the end of his teaching regarding the correction of the inclinations that happened between the brethren, in which it is appropriate, according to Scripture, to reprove sinners in front of the whole assembly (1 Tim. 5:20), without pointing out their faces, frightening them with the wrath of God, so that those who sinned would be ashamed, and being afraid, they would be corrected, and those who were innocent would have greater fear and protection from sin. The elder grieved inconsolably about this and cried incessantly day and night. When he was about to write a petition to the prince to leave him in Sekule, the authorities from the Neamtsa monastery came here. Falling to him with many tears, they began to beg him with humble petition and persistent prayer so that he would not offend them and not upset them in their old age, adding to this - so that they would not cry at him until he died. The elder could hardly bear it with pity, listening to these words, which stung his holy soul, God-loving and truly brotherly, meek and desiring peace, benefit and salvation for everyone. Having shown them the prince’s order, he said with bitter tears: You see, holy fathers! This is the reason for our and your confusion and sorrow. But may Christ the Lord inform you that it never even occurred to me to commit such lawlessness and violence and to sadden your souls, and for transgressing the commandment of God to fall into eternal condemnation. You yourself know that we did not occupy Sekul because of our violence. But the abbot there, Father Niphon of blessed memory, seeing our embarrassment as a result of dependence on the papists, himself, out of his love for us, invited us to his place, since he wanted to live with us, ending his life here piously. Then, by loving agreement, we wrote about this to the authorities and received what we asked for. And he said to them again: how could I dare to commit such an atrocity? With what eyes would I look at your holy faces, having my conscience as a judge and accuser of the offense I caused you? How could I approach the Throne of God in order to partake of the terrible and Divine Mysteries, having those crying and accusing me before the Lord for my violence? Let this not happen, let it not happen! On the contrary, I will write to the prince and with tears ask and pray for him to leave us and you to remain peacefully in our abodes. For here, by the grace of God, we have deep peace. In the manuscript it is written in the margin: Woe is me! how many mourners and sighers are there for us! Having been calmed by this and similar more extensive conversation by Elder Paisius, the leaders of the Nyametsky monastery returned to their monastery. The blessed elder wrote a very deplorable petition to the prince. For what touching and convincing words did he not use in it? What blessed reasons did you not present? What petitions and tearful prayers did he not express in this scripture from his entire brotherhood, wanting to abandon the Nyametsky monastery and together giving thanks to God for his silent and quiet stay in the Sekule monastery? He wrote with humility, with many tears, about the spiritual harm that followed for the brethren and about the ruin of their silence and silence, and about many other reasons that were similar to these reasons. Having written the petition in this way, the elder sent it with the first confessor of his monastery, the Moldavian, reverent Fr. Irinarch, who also knew Greek, adding another confessor to him! And he waited for an answer in the hope that the prince would fulfill his request. The messengers came with a petition to the prince. After reading this petition, they began to verbally explain everything to him in detail, and with tears falling at his feet, and presenting many spiritually harmful reasons, they begged him to leave the elder and the brotherhood to stay in Sekula without embarrassment and temptations, but they could not beg the prince. For he ordered the elder to prepare an order, in which, to everything written with his own hand, he added the following words: “Be obedient, go to Nyamets, without reasoning at all.” Having approved this paper with his own signature and seal, he gave it to the confessors and sent them away in peace. IV. Translation of Elder Paisios to Neamets and his blessed death The messengers returned with a letter from the prince. And when the elder read and saw what was written in it with the command: “Do obedience, go to Neamets,” he cried bitterly and did not know what to do. And the immeasurable sadness intensified and seized his soul so much that he could neither eat, nor drink, nor sleep, and became very weak in body; for he foresaw the final ruin of the souls of his brothers. For their part, all the brothers were in fear, grief and great confusion, lest the elder die from immeasurable sadness. Therefore, the oldest of the confessors and brethren, having gathered together, came to him sick, and began with tears to ask him to leave such immeasurable sadness and refresh himself with food. They told him: what good will it do us if you die untimely, and we will remain orphans without you? What should we do then? He, like a prudent husband, seeing his spiritual children so deeply sorry for him, crying, embarrassed, and considering his death a great disastrous loss for themselves more than any of their ruin, was silent for a while and, raising the eye of his mind to the Lord, sighed heavily, wept bitterly and said: “We are cramped, brethren, from everywhere.” Then he got out of bed, made the sign of the cross, bowed to the icon of the Most Pure Mother of God and said: “God’s will be done! Let’s go reluctantly.” He had some nourishment from food, but could not sleep. Then, calling three confessors and several other brothers, he sent them to the Neamets monastery, handing them an order from the prince, so that they would read it there, and prepare a cell for him and for other more necessary priests and singers. The brothers did as they were commanded and returned back. Then the elder distributed all the brothers - which ones should go with him to Neamets, and which ones should stay in Sekule. He also appointed one confessor, named Hilarion, to take charge here. And having entered the church with tears, he prayed to the Lord, venerated the holy icons and gave a blessing to all those who remained crying, comforting them with these words: let every brother in all mental and physical sorrow come to me without any obstacle. For the distance from Sekul to Neamts was only two hours' journey. Finally, with bitter tears, the elder left the church and set off on his way. Due to his already extreme old age and infirmity, he took, when necessary, only a horse for help; for until his death he abhorred all love of glory. The brothers, like bees surrounding his one-horse chariot, walked slowly on foot, enjoying his spiritual conversation. Some accompanied him, and others walked with him; and thus arrived at the Neamets monastery, on the very evening of the feast of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1779. There, entering the church while singing “It is worthy to eat,” the elder bowed to the holy icons. He also approached the miraculous icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, wept a lot before Her and entrusted himself and the brethren to Her intercession, preservation, protection and nourishment, kissed it with tears, placing all his hope in the Lady of God in everything. Then, leaving the church, he came to his cell and rested a little; but I could not sleep from great sadness. Thus, he had already spent five days without sleep. When the time for the vigil came, the elder, although with great difficulty from illness and weakness, came to church and listened to the Divine service, sitting, praying at the same time to the Most Pure Mother of God so that he could fall asleep at least a little. At the end of Vespers and the beginning of Matins I began to feel sleepy. Therefore, he left the church, came to his cell, hurriedly lay down and fell asleep and slept for three hours. When I woke up, I felt lightness in my head and a slight strengthening in my body, completely freed from sadness. Therefore, with tears, he offered thanks to Christ God and the Most Pure Mother of God. After the liturgy, the elder summoned those in charge of the Neamtse monastery and kindly talked with them in private, promising to calm them to death in everything and not to take away their will. At the same time, he accepted from them some of the monastery property that they themselves gave him, without investigating anything. Thus they were sincerely reconciled; After several years, they were tonsured into the schema and, having lived piously, reposed in the Lord. Only a few brothers who lived there before left there. The rest joined the brotherhood of Elder Paisius, and thus the two formed one brotherhood, and spiritual peace was established. Then the elder wrote a report to the prince about the acceptance of the Neamtsa monastery and about the reconciliation and union of the two brotherhoods into one. At the same time, he notified him of the dire need for cells. When this report was read to the prince, the prince was very happy and ordered that a letter be written (that Nyamets should be transferred to the management of Elder Paisius) and approved with the handwritten signatures and seals of the prince, the metropolitan and the senate. I also wrote a letter to the elder on my own behalf, thanking him for his obedience and promising to help him in his cells and in all other needs. And he gave the letter with the letter to the brethren sent by the elder. Having received this charter and letter from the prince, the elder began to manage both monasteries, according to the prudence given to him by God, with love and meekness. But now his labors have worsened. By the mercy of the prince, he set up hospitals and other necessary cells in Neamtsa; since their brothers and wandering monks, the elderly, the lame, the blind and the paralytic, who had no place to lay their heads, came to him, asking him with tears and sobbing for the sake of Christ to show them mercy. And the elder sent them to the hospital and commanded brother Honorius, who was mentioned above, so that he had all the care and care for them, and took care of their comfort. He commanded the ministers to serve the sick as to the Lord himself, to wash their heads every Saturday and change their shirts, to cleanse their clothes, beds and bedding from everything, especially from insects; and in the summer, so that clothes are often dried out in the sun and weathered. Inside the hospital, it was commanded to maintain all possible cleanliness, to fumigate it daily with incense or other useful smoking, so that there would be no heavy air; prepare the best food, as well as bread and wine. And everyone was grateful - they glorified God with tears, always thanking the elder for his mercy and care for them. The wandering monks who came, also calmed down, stayed in the hospital for as long as they wanted, a week, two and a month. And no one ever said a single word to them - why are you sitting idle? And others asked the elder to bless them to survive the winter, and he blessed; He gave those who did not have clothes and shirts according to their needs. When summer came and the wanderers left, he gave them what they needed for the journey in large quantities, and thus sent them away in peace. The elder also received male laymen who suffered from various illnesses and from unclean spirits, and had no place to lay their heads. Food was served to them from the common meal, only in another hospital. And they lived there as long as they wanted, some even until death. Then the composition of the brotherhood also increased. In the Neamtse monastery, with its nearby monasteries, there were up to four hundred brethren, except for those who lived in Sekule, where there were always up to a hundred people. The elder took some of them to his place in Neamets, and from Neamets he also sent some to Sekul. He visited all of them who lived there only once a year, on the feast of the Beheading of the venerable heads of St. Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John; and after the holiday, as was his custom before, he spoke there a teaching from the Holy Scriptures, adding to this some (private) moral teaching. And one evening he spoke Slavic, and the other in Moldavian. He stayed in Sekula for nine days. At this time, all the brethren, from small to great, could freely come to him and explain all their physical and spiritual needs; and he calmed everyone down. And to those who were not at all able to come to him from the hospital, he taught a blessing through the spiritual father Dosifei, and gave them all in abundance everything they needed to satisfy their bodily needs and to calm them down. This spiritual father Dosifei surpassed everyone in the brotherhood both in his care for the sick, mercy and compassion, and in meekness and humility, quietness and love for everyone. For they often saw how this compassionate father spent the whole night sitting around the seriously ill with compassion and sighs, comforting some with the hope of recovery, and others with the receipt of salvation, thus giving them considerable consolation in serious illnesses. Having celebrated the Sekul holiday, the blessed elder Paisius returned to the Neamets monastery, bearing in his old age intense labors, that is, care and heartache for the salvation of the souls of all the brethren of both monasteries, and for everything sending thanks to the most merciful God. In the Neamtse Monastery, the church holiday in the great church was the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord. By this time, countless people of both sexes and different ranks have been gathering here for a long time, that is, gentlemen and villagers, rich and poor, not only from Moldavia and Wallachia, but also from other countries who come to venerate the miraculous icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. And Elder Paisios, due to Abraham’s love of strangeness, tried to calm them all down as much as possible. Then he had no rest for four days in a row. From morning to evening the doors of his cell were open; and there was no obstacle to everyone, rich and poor, who wanted to come in to him. He kindly greeted everyone who came, thanking them for their efforts along the way and promising them from the Lord and the Mother of God, for their faith and love for Her, a spiritual and physical reward. Having given them the blessing, he sent them to the hotel and to other cells prepared for that purpose. Moreover, the God-wise and God-blessed elder used such precautions. At the beginning of the holiday, he appointed some reverent brethren, filled with years, reason and the fear of God, to supervise the weak brethren, walking around and inspecting them day and night, lest any temptation occur. And the brothers, knowing the will of their father, themselves protected each other. At the end of the holiday, everyone sent thanks to Christ God and His Most Pure Mother, who enabled them to peacefully and successfully celebrate the Lord’s bright holiday. This is how the elder lived with his brotherhood in the Neamtse monastery. But then a terrible storm and mortal fear arose. The brutal war of the three empires broke out again. The cities and villages of Moldova are deserted; for all the inhabitants fled to the mountains and forests, where only who could hide from the fury of the Turks. When, after a short time, the German army appeared and settled at the foot of the Moldavian mountains; then all the inhabitants returned home. The Russian army also entered Moldova; and with him Prince Potemkin, with Archbishop Ambrose accompanying him, arrived in the city of Iasi. And the fury of the Turks immediately disappeared. This archbishop, staying in Iasi, and hearing about the blessed elder Paisius and his brotherhood, had an irresistible desire to see him with his own eyes. Having explained this to the higher authorities and received permission, he arrived at the Neamets monastery and was received by the elder with great honor and reverence. Having rested from the journey, the guest of honor spent two days in spiritual conversations with the elder; and on Sunday day the cathedral served the Divine Liturgy and promoted the elder to archimandrite. This was in 1790. Having stayed in the monastery for two more days, and having taught peace and blessing to everyone, he retired comforted. The entire brotherhood saw him off with great honor and love. Having received, albeit against his will, the degree of archimandrite, the elder was not at all carried away even in thought by the glory of this world, and did not exchange anything even the slightest from his dispensation and humility for worldly pride, which was exposed by the Divine confidant of Christ, saying: Do not love the world, neither those in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him: for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of selfishness, and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but is of this world (1 John 2:15-16). Thus imitating his Lord, Elder Paisios, through humility and ardent love for God and neighbor and through the exact fulfillment of all the commandments of the Lord, remained unharmed from this high degree of priesthood and honor; but remained the same as before, in deeds, words and thoughts, even until death. Then all the brethren in the Neamtse monastery, outwardly, lived in peace. But their spiritual residence, in comparison with the first unanimous, peaceful and God-loving stay in Dragomirna and Sekula, finally and irrevocably weakened. The reasons for this were: rumor, security, confusion and everyone caring about themselves, and as a result of this abandonment of reading the Divine and paternal scriptures and attentiveness to themselves. The old man had cried and grieved mortally about this before, as if he had foreseen all this that was about to happen. Fearing this throughout his life, he was sick in heart and instructed all the brothers, younger and older, to copy and reread the paternal writings, so that, jealous of the life of the ancient saints, they would adhere to the narrow path of the Gospel and avoid the careless and feigned monastic peace-loving life. Therefore, the elder himself, until his death, with great diligence was engaged in translating patristic and theological books from Greek into Slavic, in order to provide benefit and nourishment to souls who, after him, would want to strive, be zealous and heed the teachings of our God-bearing fathers. And one must be amazed at his written works. His body was completely weak. He had wounds all over his right side. On the bed where he slept, he surrounded himself with books. Here he had multilingual dictionaries, a Greek and Slavic Bible, a Greek and Slavic grammar and a book that he translated; and among the books there are lit candles. He himself, like a little child, sitting bent over, wrote the whole night, forgetting the weakness of the body and serious illnesses and labor. O most impassive holy man! Oh, pure soul, united with God! He was all attached to God with love; he was all ablaze with love for his neighbor. – Who of those with a sound mind can doubt, and who does not recognize and glorify the Creator, the Giver, hearing about this blessed man, the former chosen one from infancy? For although he was not taught external sciences from people, he came to be a perfect man (Eph. 4:13), and, being made wise through the fulfillment of the commandments of Christ, he became a chosen vessel, having been taught from above by the grace of God, with the most careful reading of the Divine and Fatherly writings throughout his life. And since, according to the word of Saint Isaac, secrets are revealed to the humble, the word of Elder Paisius, filled with grace, was strong and effective. It eradicated passions and implanted virtues in the souls of those who listened to it with faith and love. For the Divine Scripture says: I have lifted up the chosen one from my people (Ps. 89:20). Thus, whomever the Lord chose, he raised him to the heights of the Divine mind and, after many of his labors, enlightened his mind to the knowledge of all the Divine Scriptures. Moreover, God adorned him with all divine gifts. Those who saw all this in him with their own eyes and heard with their own ears (contemporaries) undoubtedly testify to the following about him: 1) In it, as in the purest monastery, lived the Hypostatic Wisdom of God with His Beginningless Father and the Divine Spirit. And from this Wisdom, a honey-flowing source of Divine teachings flowed through his lips, delighting souls and drying up evil passions. 2) He had Divine reason, through which he rightly understood the dogmas of our Orthodox faith contained in the Holy Symbol, also the Gospel testaments and commandments, threats and promises, as well as the rules of the holy apostles and all holy Ecumenical Councils and great church teachers and saints, and their interpretations, at the same time the teachings and instructions of our Reverend and God-bearing fathers, and with all my heart he firmly defended them, and kept them intact, like the apple of his eye. 3) He had the gift of advice, through which he taught right and truly, according to the teaching and instruction of our holy and God-bearing fathers, to everyone who asked for instruction from him. And whoever accepted them with faith and practiced doing the commandments of God according to his teaching and advice, succeeded in humility, patience and love. 4) He had the gift of strength, remaining firm in faith, love and hope in God’s Providence in all sorrows and temptations. 5) Had the fear of God, keeping the commandments of the Lord like the apple of his eye; for even for one smallest commandment he was ready to lay down his life. He taught the same to his entire brotherhood. 6) There was a fiery love in him, with which from his youth he wholeheartedly loved his Lord, and which, prospering, became more and more inflamed, and spread equally to all his neighbors. For he warmed everyone with his love and jealousy, sympathized with everyone, had compassion for everyone, embracing with his soul especially his spiritual children. However, he did not turn away from every person who came to him and asked him for alms, whether mental or physical, and did not let him go without satisfaction, 7) He always had peace with everyone; for he never grieved for anyone and did not despise anyone, even if he suffered something from anyone. He also instructed all his spiritual children to live in peace. 8) Long-suffering and meekness were inseparably united in him and, as it were, fused together. For they never saw anger or embarrassment in him, except for the transgression of God’s commandment; but he always appeared meek and patient. For he rebuked and rebuked with meekness, instructed and taught with love, had mercy and was patient with the hope of correcting those who had sinned. 9) The kindness and simplicity in him were infantile; the mind and understanding are Divine and lofty, and not infantile. 10) His humility was great and known (fully) only to God alone. For this blessed elder imitated our venerable and God-bearing fathers with spiritual exploits and supernatural labors. For the sake of the love of God, from his youth, resisting all passions to the point of bleeding, he despised, according to the word of the Lord, everything in the world, race, glory and wealth; He did not spare his soul, but loved the narrow and sorrowful path of the Gospel. Therefore, the Lord, by His grace, subdued him under his feet and gave him rage and lust and all evil mental and physical passions to trample underfoot. When he reached the level of a perfect man, the Lord adorned him with all the spoken gifts of the Holy Spirit. This holy man was adorned with all external virtues. His face was white and bright, like the face of an angel of God. The gaze is quiet, the word is humble and alien to boldness. He attracted everyone to himself with love, like an iron magnet; for he was all filled with grace, pouring out mercy on everyone. His mind was always united in love with God. Tears were a witness to this. For when he spoke to the brethren from the Holy Scriptures, affirming the truth, his heart burned with love for the Lord, his face bloomed with spiritual joy and shone with love for his neighbor, and his eyes shed tears. But what labors and exploits the blessed elder undertook, with diligence and great zeal, regarding the knowledge (of his pure understanding) of the right Gospel and true monastic path and regarding the knowledge of his pure understanding, safe from subterfuges and attacks (enemies) from the right and left side, which (the understanding of the true path) encourages every soul to do all good deeds according to God, and especially the one who compels yourself to keep the commandments of the Lord, as Saint Peter of Damascus clearly speaks about this. And what bitter tears he shed, with sadness and sighs, and in what bewilderment he was, humbly falling to God to find what he was looking for! For whole days and nights he studied the Divine and paternal writings, clinging to God with faith, hope and love for Him burning in his heart, searching and pressing with humility, fasting and unceasing prayers with tears, at all times. And by the grace of God, he found in his heart, according to the word of the Lord, a source of living water, from which he himself drank until he was full, and gave it to all who sought it unapologetically. What monasticism is and what is the essence of its practice, and what kind of secret of communal monastic obedience is this, and what success it brings to the novice who goes through it with spiritual intelligence, Elder Paisios explained and taught all this from the Divine Scriptures. And one more thing: that there is vision and intelligent heartfelt prayer, that is, performed with the mind in the heart, as he was taught by the above-mentioned holy fathers and learned by his own experience with the help of the grace of God - he revealed everything infallibly to all who seek, not only verbally, but also through the scriptures. However, he only revealed it there where he received a command or was convinced by extreme necessity; for he was very humble in wisdom and shunned praise as if it were some kind of stench. But as much as he, from his very youth, ran away and moved away from the honor and glory of man, just as much in many countries God glorified him; and his name was and is respectable before everyone, both lower and higher. And a conversation about him leads those talking to the glorification of God. For by glorifying him, people glorify God, who in recent disastrous and cruel times revealed His true saint and the unforgettable mentor of the monastic community. The elder was not without the gift of foresight. And what he foresaw came true. So he predicted a fierce death for the pious commander Gregory Gipa; for many times in a dream he saw a sword hanging over his head by one thread. This is what the governor soon suffered. By order of the Turkish Sultan, his head was cut off; and the old man cried a lot for him. The elder often wept with sighs for one brother of his community, and admonished him a lot so that he would correct some of his mistakes; but this brother did not obey and postponed his correction. On the third day after the admonition, he drowned. The elder also asked a lot and exhorted one brother not to leave the monastery; and finally told him with tears: “Brother! listen to me; for you will not see the place where you want to go.” But he did not listen and on the fourth day he died on the way. The blessed elder cried a lot for him. There were many more similar predictions of the elder due to his foresight. There is no need to write about the miracles and healings of Elder Paisius; for holiness is not recognized by miracles alone, by the truth of holy men, that they are holy and blameless before God, but by the true Orthodox faith and by the exact knowledge of the dogmas about God, and by the strict keeping of all the Apostolic and Council rules and traditions of the Orthodox Eastern Church, and by an immaculate life, in agreement with all the Gospel and patristic commandments. For many, both wicked and heretics, with the permission of God and the assistance of the devil, work miracles. The Lord said about them: Many will say to Me in that day: Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, and in Your Name have we done many mighty works (Matthew 7:22). And he answered and said to them: We don’t know where you come from. Depart from Me, all workers of unrighteousness (Luke 13:25.27), who have despised and mocked My holy commandments. To the right believers he says: If you love Me, keep My commandments. And again: If you have My commandments and keep them, you will love Me. And: if you do not love Me, you will not keep My words (John 14, 15. 21. 24). And St. John Chrysostom also teaches about this, saying: to recognize a righteous man, that he is holy, should not be by miracles and prophecies, but by his good life, as the Lord said: by their fruit you will know them (Matthew 7:16). The great apostle pointed out the fruits of a righteous man, saying: spiritual fruit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, and so on. And those who are Christ's are the flesh crucified with passions and lusts (Gal. 5:22–24). With these words the Divine Apostle depicted the life, prosperity and fruits of a Christian living in the world and a monk, so that each of them tried to acquire their own fruits. And the success of a Christian (layman) is that he only abandons all evil and acquires the above-mentioned fruits. The success of a monk is if he crucifies himself to everything, that is, to this world, passions and lusts. Whether such a one works miracles or not, it will become known that he is a saint and a friend of God. Therefore, Elder Paisius attributed all the miracles and healings that happened through his prayers, as it should, to the Mother of God. Now, having reviewed the entire life of Elder Paisius, as far as this was possible in his time, and having presented his secret deeds to the One All-Knowing Lord, we have already approached his blessed death. Among the usual labors of Elder Paisius, the time had finally come for him to pay off his common inevitable debt - the separation of the soul from the body was approaching. And, according to those who were with him, even before many days he received notification from the Lord of his death. For he had already abandoned the translation of books, but only read and corrected the places that required correction. Then the old man fell into a serious illness, fell ill and was so ill for four days. On Sunday he felt better; and he expressed a desire to listen to the Divine Liturgy; came to church and sat. Before the beginning of the sacramental verse, he entered the altar and received Holy Communion. And at the end of the Liturgy, the elder could barely come to his cell. He was led and supported by his brother, who served him. Since then he was even more seriously ill for three days. At this time, Fathers Honorius and Martyrius, who followed him, did not allow anyone to see him except the spiritual, most reverent and oldest of the brethren; for the elder wanted to die in silence. On the fourth day, when the hour of death approached, he still received communion of the Divine Mysteries and then, calling two confessors Sophronius the Slav and Sylvester the Moldavian, through them he imparted peace and blessing to the entire brotherhood. He said nothing about the election of the rector. And so he died, as if he had fallen asleep, betraying his holy soul into the hands of God on the 15th day of November 1794, having lived 72 years from birth. A messenger was immediately sent from the entire brotherhood with a letter to Iasi to Metropolitan Jacob about the death of the elder. The Metropolitan asked the God-loving Bishop of Tuma Benjamin, who later became the Metropolitan of all Moldavia, to go to the Neamets Monastery for burial. When the rumor about the death of Elder Paisius spread everywhere, countless people, monks and laymen, priests, gentlemen and commoners of both sexes gathered at the monastery. And they all mourned his death with bitter tears. They waited for the bishop for three days for burial, but on the fourth the whole cathedral honestly buried his body in the great church, on the right side. And the next day after the burial, the God-loving bishop arrived at night, and in the morning he celebrated the Divine Liturgy and requiem service at the cathedral. Soon after this, this God-loving saint, with the consent of the Council and with the blessing of the Metropolitan, made the first confessor in the brotherhood, Father Sophrony, elder and archimandrite of the monastery. Therefore, all the brothers who were in sorrow received some kind of consolation, having peace of mind; for all the brothers of the Moldavian and Slavic family loved him for his love for everyone and humility, especially for his extreme mercy. After Father Sophrony, Father Dorotheus was an elder; and behind Father Dorotheus is Father Dositheus. Both of these elders, before their death, retired due to weakness from old age. After Father Dosifei, Father John was the elder. All these four elders were of Slavic origin. After the death of Father John, the first elder of Moldavian origin was Father Sylvester. All these spiritual men and others like them were sacred disciples of Elder Paisius. Having said a little something about the chosen disciples of the blessed elder, let us again turn to him himself, and we will finish this story about him like this: Oh, humble and meek soul! O man, filled with Divine reasoning! All his life he thought about this only, so that he could have himself lower than all people, as an ignorant and insolent person, as a slave and debtor to all his brothers. For he learned this well from the Divine Apostle, who says: If anyone thinks that he will be wise in you in this matter, let him be, for he will be wise (1 Cor. 3:18). And from the Lord Himself, who said: if anyone wants to be old, let him be a servant to everyone (Mark 9:35). This is what he did at his death, not daring to appoint anyone as an elder after himself, as was said above, but leaving it to Christ God and the God-loving bishop and the holy Council of brethren to choose an elder and mentor whom they themselves would judge. And he himself, as having fulfilled the duty of his service, went to the Lord. Life of the Moldavian Elder Paisius (Velichkovsky), compiled by Schemamonk Mitrofan During the time of Elder Paisius, a certain superstitious philosopher-monk who lived in the Loshen Mountains in Moldova appeared as a particular detractor of mental prayer. This “Scroll” was written against him in particular, as Elder Paisius called his article. When Elder Paisius wrote this, he himself, perhaps, had not yet seen these words of the saint. John Chrysostom on mental prayer; because this Scroll was written in the Dragmir monastery, that is, soon after the elder moved from Athos to Moldavia. But subsequently the blessed elder translated these words into the Slavic language, and they were published, among other articles on this subject, in a separate book entitled: “Enraptured Classes.” Also, other paternal books mentioned here were translated by him and published in a collection called “Philokalia”. It is in this sense that St. Basil the Great explains poverty of spirit, saying: “Contrition of the heart is the destruction of human thoughts: whoever has despised the present, dedicated himself to the Word of God, and established his mind in thoughts Divine and superior to man, he actually has a contrite heart, having made it a sacrifice, despised by the Lord, because God will not despise a contrite and humble heart ( Ps. 50:19)... He who does not have any arrogance, is not proud of any human thing, is contrite in heart and humble in spirit... The Lord pleases such people, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Conversations on Psalms 33). “Conclusion”, written in poetic form, we have placed literally from the original, without translation into Russian. The Charter was drawn up by the Monk Paisius after his relocation with the brotherhood to the Dragomirna Monastery and submitted for consideration and approval to the Moldavian Metropolitan and his Synod. Cyrus is a contraction of the Greek word κύριος (kyrios), which means “lord.” Respectful treatment. This refers to allowing and not allowing certain foods. This refers to a special rite performed in monasteries after the liturgy during a meal - the rite of Panagia. From the Greek Μετοχιού - monastery courtyard, a village belonging to a monastery. This means he was appointed abbot. Probably, the Monk Paisius means Moldavia and Wallachia. Typic (from Greek) - charter. This refers to the charter of St. Basil for cenobitic monasteries. That is, dishonor and desecration. The letter is addressed to Maria Petrovna Protasyeva, abbess of the Arzamas Alekseevskaya community. Reverend Vasily Polyanomerulsky. This refers to Iasi, the capital of the Moldavian principality at that time. That is, the brothers of the Sekul Monastery. That is, clergy and brothers who bear obedience in the church during divine services.