Letters to monks

“Letters to Monks” are 20 messages, of which only the first 7 belong to St. Anthony the Great. Researchers attribute the authorship of the remaining letters to St. Ammon (a student and associate of the monk), as well as other anonymous authors. 7 letters to St. Anthony are of paramount importance for characterizing his theological worldview. In the first letter, the monk speaks about three types of people (“souls”), “whom the Spirit of God calls to a holy and pious life,” as well as about three actions of the human body. “A person who desires salvation for himself tries to ensure that both his soul and body are perfect and submissive to grace.” Only in a “loving partnership with the Spirit” is the mind able to win victory in spiritual warfare and lead a person to salvation. To do this, you need to fast, abstain from lust, etc. The second letter is dedicated to the mystery of the Economy of God. God did not only reveal Himself to people once, but “reveals Himself to them at all times and will continue to reveal Himself to the end of the world.” Since the human soul, clothed with a crude and earthly body, was deprived of its original perfection, God gave His law to people and founded the true Church in order to “restore the human race to its primitive state.” In the third letter, the theme of the good Economy of God and the theme of “gnosis” continues to develop: the one who knows himself (that is, has known himself in his “mental or spiritual essence”) knows God, and, accordingly, knows about the Economy of the Creator, aimed at the good of creation. In the fourth letter of St. Anthony warns his children not to be tempted by the false teachings of Arius. The fifth letter talks about achieving righteousness through strict fulfillment of God's commandments. The message emphasizes the importance of human free will. The sixth letter contains two main themes: the theme of love and the theme of spiritual warfare, the common background for which is the doctrine of the Economy of Salvation. The seventh letter reflects the “Christocentrism” of St. Anthony: “We must cleanse ourselves from sins, conform our will to the will of God and sanctify all our feelings, which are capable of doing both good and evil; We must continually renew ourselves in order to be worthy of the visit of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, by His mercy towards us, freed us from slavery and became like us in everything except sin.” Contents Letter one. About withdrawal from the world Letter two. About the Sinai legislation, about the incarnation of God the Word and the obligation to fulfill the commandments of God, Letter Three. Letter Four shows that we are grateful to God for the redemption given to us by fulfilling God’s commandments. The fact that strict fulfillment of God’s law does not mean slavery, but true freedom is Letter Five. About the fact that both Angels and the souls of saints rejoice in heaven when a person fulfills the commandments of God. Letter six. That the spirits of evil always try to seduce pious people from the path of virtue and that humility is necessary for salvation. Letter seven. The fact that God’s benefits to man are countless and that man can only testify to God his gratitude through feasible exercise in virtues. Letter eight. About the fact that the grace of the Holy Spirit must be acquired through purity of heart and strict Christian life. Letter Nine. The fact that difficult feats of piety are made easier by the grace of God, which God sends down to those truly devoted to Him. Letter tenth. That virtue loses all its value and dignity from vanity. Letter Eleven. That the perfection of a Christian also includes the spiritual skill of distinguishing good from evil, truth from lies. Letter Twelfth. That the mutual love that unites spiritual fathers and children must be stronger than the mutual love that unites carnal parents and children. Letter thirteen. That the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven are revealed only to those who have achieved a high degree of spiritual perfection, and that these people on the last day of Judgment will judge the world. Letter fourteen. That every person must show filial obedience to God in order to receive a fatherly blessing from Him. Letter fifteen. That virtues are the fruits of spiritual life, and sins are the fruits of spiritual death. Letter sixteen. That the holy people mentioned in the Old and New Testaments showed deep humility before God in all their deeds and that we should imitate them. Letter seventeen. That in order to spiritually contemplate the Lord and be transformed into the glory of the Lord one must reach the measure of the age of Christ, mortify oneself and love solitude. Letter Eighteen. The fact that the deceits of evil spirits are manifold, that to protect oneself from them requires spiritual vigilance and imitation of the saints. Letter nineteen. That the Holy Spirit dwells in the human soul when it has worthily prepared itself for the church of God, and that only those people who are established in virtue are exposed to strong temptations. Letter Twentieth. To his spiritual son Vevnud: that a person who wants to lead a pious life, receive the grace of the Holy Spirit and be worthy of heavenly glory, must have all Christian virtues, and especially love for others, humility, patience in temptations, purity of heart and obedience to his spiritual mentors Letter one. About withdrawal from the world Beloved, first of all, I wish you salvation from the Lord, then I will show you various images of withdrawing from the world and turning to God. Those who are taught the truths of the gospel and whom the Spirit of God calls to a holy and godly life are of three kinds. Some, having heard the word of salvation, are convinced of its truth almost in the same way as they are convinced of the truth of the words of another person. Therefore, without any delay, they follow the call of God and try to conform their lives to the teachings of the Gospel. So once upon a time our father Abraham, having heard the command of God: get out from your land, and from your kindred, and from your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you (Gen. 12:1), willingly and immediately fulfilled this command, through which he became an example of obedience for all to whom the Gospel was preached. This image of withdrawing from the world and turning to God is always left to the freedom of every person. And now, if anyone opens the doors of his heart to Divine grace, together with this grace he receives a pledge of future blessings. Others are aroused to a pious life only because they learn from the Gospel teaching about the great punishments that await the sinner in the future life, and about the inexpressible bliss that is promised to the righteous. The fear of being subjected to the former and the hope of receiving the latter motivate them to do the will of God. Thus, the law of the Lord converts their souls (Ps. 19:8) and the manifestation of the words of the Lord enlightens and admonishes them (Ps. 119:130). Others, finally, due to the corruption and coarseness of their hearts, due to a strong and long-term habit of sins, cannot leave their vicious life in the first two ways. Therefore, the Merciful God plunges them into disasters and illnesses, so that their conscience awakens from sinful sleep, so that grave misfortunes prompt them to repent with all their hearts of their iniquities, follow the call of God and become participants in spiritual gifts, just like the first and second kind of people who turn to God. So, God shows people the way of salvation in three ways, so that they can appropriate for themselves the merits of the Redeemer, the Son of God. He who has completely withdrawn from the world and turned to God with all his heart must acquire spiritual courage and learn patience so that he can stand firmly against the enemy and repel his attacks. At first, the Holy Spirit usually makes all spiritual endeavors easy for him, so that repentance of sins is not difficult and unpleasant for him. He shows him the true path to piety, more and more strengthens the spirit of repentance in him, strengthens him in virtues, teaches him to bridle his body and purify his heart - and thus makes him an heir to eternal life. The body is usually mortified by long-term fasts, vigils and labors. If a person constantly nourishes the spirit of repentance and does not interfere with the action of the Spirit of God, then difficult feats of repentance give rise to spiritual consolation in him, and he already clearly feels that attachment to the vain pleasures of this world and a return to a vicious life are disastrous for him. Then a person’s spiritual gaze at the objects around him is enlightened, the soul and body are purified and act in harmony with each other in their purity. All this is accomplished by the Holy Spirit, who gradually destroys man’s natural damage in order to put him in a primitive state and so that nothing remains in him that actually belongs to his enemy. When the human soul returns to its original purity, the body already loses its dominance over it, for then it depends on the will of the soul, which prescribes to it the rules of abstinence in food and drink and controls it in all its actions, as the apostle says about himself: I mortify my body and enslave it (1 Cor. 9:27). The actions of the human body, in my opinion, are of three kinds. Some relate to the ordinary activities of human life, when a person carries out all his external affairs through the body. These actions always depend on the will of the soul. Other bodily activities make a person desire pleasant and luxurious food and drink. When he satisfies this desire, the abundance of blood and juices resulting from food produces excitement in the body and gives rise to various vicious desires. Therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ says to His disciples: take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be burdened with gluttony and drunkenness (Luke 21:34); and the Apostle Paul forbids: do not get drunk with wine, for in it there is fornication (Eph. 5:18). So, everyone who withdraws from the world and turns to God must observe strict abstinence in food and drink and thus mortify his body, so that in a clear conscience he can speak with the Apostle Paul: I mortify my body and enslave (1 Cor. 9:27). Finally, other actions in the human body occur from evil spirits who try to seduce those who have entered it from the path of purity. If the soul constantly nourishes within itself the spirit of repentance and constantly tries to strictly fulfill the Gospel commandments, then the Holy Spirit shows it the means to control the actions of its body or completely destroy them. But if a person does not pay attention to the commandments of the Lord and does not want to follow them, then his sensual desires intensify and his soul is enslaved to the rule of bodily passions, so that it does not know where it will receive help from. If a person resorts to God with prayer for help and in his affairs tries to be guided by the Spirit of God, then confrontation with his passions for him is spiritual peace and peace. From everything I have said, it is clear that true repentance and turning to God require purity not only of the soul, but also of the body. A person who wants to retire from the world must first of all turn to God with a prayer for Divine help. The Holy Spirit sends down His help to a person as he is zealous for piety, as he strongly feels the need for help and desires to receive it. When Divine grace does not find obstacles to its actions in the human heart, then it gradually eradicates all passions in it - both those whose seed is hidden in the human body, and those that are born in the heart itself. She enlightens a person’s gaze so that they are bright and pure and so that there is nothing in them that darkens or blinds them; corrects his hearing so that a person turns it only to the voice of truth, and not to slander or slander, and so that it is especially inclined to the cries of the oppressed and unfortunate; He also sanctifies his tongue, so that he always speaks the truth, what is useful and edifying to others. For a person often falls into many sins solely because he does not bridle his tongue. About this the Apostle James says this: If anyone imagines to be faithful in you and does not bridle his tongue, but flatters his heart, his faith is in vain (James 1:26); and in another place: the tongue is small, but it defiles the whole body (James 3:5). When a person is strengthened in grace, he pays attention to every word, so that no sensual desire is visible in his words, but so that all the verbs of his mouth, as Solomon says (Prov. 8:8), are with truth, and nothing in them is obstinate or corrupt, so that his tongue, like the tongue of the wise, heals others (Prov. 12:18). In a vicious person, the hands usually serve as instruments of sin; on the contrary, a pious person, whose all deeds are sanctified by his inner holiness, has hands that express the sublimity and aspiration of his spirit to heaven, for during prayer they are raised to heaven. Thus, the words of Scripture spoken about the strong and holy prayer of pious people are fulfilled on a pious person: lifting up my hand as an evening sacrifice (Ps. 141:2). Moreover, charity and almsgiving are one of the necessary duties, by the fulfillment of which the hands of righteous people are sanctified. A person who has truly withdrawn from the world and turned to God observes strict abstinence in food and drink and is never carried away by the example of those who do not preserve this virtue as the Psalmist speaks about this: with a proud eye and an unsatisfied heart, not eating with this (Ps. 100:5). For he fears that food and drink will not burden him and that intemperance will not weaken his spiritual strength and thus submit to the power of the enemy. Therefore, a person who loves abstinence fulfills the instruction of the Apostle Paul: whether you eat or drink, or do anything else, do everything for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). If sensual desires arise in him in order to seduce him from the path of truth, he calmly removes them and maintains himself in purity. His protection, help and strengthening is the Holy Spirit, who teaches him to overcome all evil and gives him the power to mortify his evils, even on earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil lust and covetousness, which is idolatry (Col. 3:5). Finally, a pious person directs his steps to the path of truth if they have deviated to the path of unrighteousness. But most of all, he maintains the purity of his heart, preserves the grace that dwells in it, and always disposes it to perform every good deed. So, a person who desires salvation for himself tries to ensure that both his soul and body are perfect and submissive to grace. His body in some way participates in the power and perfections of the future blessed body, which will be revealed in the resurrection of the dead. Everything we have said so far relates to those vicious desires of the soul that are born in it due to its union with the body. These wishes always tend to weaken the soul and subject it to the power of the spirit of malice. There are other vices in the soul, such as: pride, hatred, anger, cowardice, negligence and others like these. When the soul completely surrenders to God, then the Most Good God gives it the spirit of true repentance and cleanses it from all vices, so that the spirit of malice cannot have power over it, for it always tries to keep it in the slavery of passions and thereby dominate it. If the soul constantly obeys the promptings of the Holy Spirit and patiently endures the labors of repentance, then the Merciful Creator looks with a benevolent eye on all its deeds, such as: long-term and strict fasting, vigil, meditation while reading the word of God, unceasing prayer, sincere and sincere service to all people, and poverty of spirit. The Most Good God finally frees her from all temptations and pours out spiritual consolation to her, for He is a Lover of mankind. Glorification must be offered to Him and His Only Begotten Son and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen. Letter two. About the Sinai legislation, about the incarnation of God the Word and the obligation to fulfill the commandments of God Anthony wishes his beloved children salvation from the Lord. Beloved, God did not reveal Himself to people at one time, but He reveals Himself to them at all times and will continue to reveal Himself until the end of the world. So, whoever seeks the Lord with all his heart and searches as He Himself teaches in His word, to him God reveals Himself, to him He gives the grace of His Holy Spirit. Since the human soul, clothed with a rough and earthly body, for its sins was deprived of its original perfection and lost its primitive strength, since it died and could no longer restore itself to its primitive state, but became like dumb animals and began to serve creatures more than the Creator, then the Creator of all creatures, being prompted by His infinite goodness, gave His saving and life-giving laws to man, so that he, By fulfilling them, he made himself worthy of His goodness. So, whoever uses all his attention and all his strength to fulfill the law of God, he receives His grace from God, God gives him the spirit of adoption, and the Spirit of God teaches him to serve the Creator rather than creatures. God, in His infinite goodness, wanting to strengthen our weakness, chose Moses as our lawgiver; through him he revealed His law to us and thus laid the foundation of His true house - the Church of the elect, for God wanted to restore the human race to its primitive state. So, Moses, having laid the foundation of the house of God, began to build it, but without finishing it, he died. After Moses, God, by His Holy Spirit, sent many prophets who continued to build the house of God on the foundation laid by Moses; but they also, without finishing it, left their earthly life and passed on to eternal life. These builders of the Church of God, seeing that they could not heal the inveterate disease to which the human race was subjected to the sin of Adam, became convinced that no creature is capable of healing it, but that only the Only Begotten Son of God, Who is the image and perfect likeness of the being of the Father and by whom all creatures were created, can do this: so, in Him alone the prophets saw the future Physician and Savior of man family Therefore, each of them said in amazement: Or is there no ritina (balm) in Gilead? or is there a doctor there? Why is it that the wound of my people’s daughter has been healed? (Jer. 8:22). A physician, and you were not healed; let us leave (Jer. 51:9). So, God the Word, out of His ineffable love for us, came to earth to save us and created for Himself vessels of captivity (Ezek. 12:3). That is, the One who is in the image of God, who, not by the admiration of not being equal to God, exhausted Himself, took on the form of a servant, became in the likeness of humanity, and, having been found in the image, like a man, humbled Himself, becoming obedient even to the point of death, the death of the cross. Therefore God also highly exalted Him, and gave Him a name that is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:6–11). So, beloved, you must firmly believe that God the Father, in His infinite goodness, did not spare His only begotten Son, but gave Him up for us all (Rom. 8:32), so that He might deliver us from our sins. And He humbled himself for us, healed us with His wounds, with the word of His power gathered us to Himself from all the ends of the earth, united us in Himself, resurrected and saved us from our sins and showed us that we must be mysterious members of Him in order to be heirs of the good things that He has prepared for us. Therefore, beloved brethren, I ask you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, meditate on this great goodness of God to us, that is, that God the Word has become like us in everything, except sin (Heb. 4:15); as rational beings, avoid evil and love good, so that on the day of the last coming of the Son of God you may be free from sin and condemnation. He who tries to be truly free from sin and makes good use of the good deeds of God bestowed upon him, is a true servant of God. The name of a Christian does not justify a person before God, but his holy life justifies him, which honors him with Divine adoption. Therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that His disciples were worthy of adoption as sons of God and enlightenment from the Holy Spirit, said to them: I say that you are not servants, for a servant does not know what his Lord is doing; In the same way, people who have cleansed their souls from the poison of sin and received the grace of the Holy Spirit say about themselves: not having received the spirit of work or fear, but having received the Spirit of sonhood, and about Him we cry out: “Abba Father!” The Spirit itself obeys our spirit, for we are children of God (Rom. 8:15–16). If we have become children of God, then we have also become heirs of Jesus Christ. So, you must be sure that for a person who does not try with all his might to express his love and gratitude to God for His good deeds to us, the last coming of the Son of God will not be for salvation and justification, but for his destruction: for I have the stench of death in death, and I have the stench of animals in the stomach (2 Cor. 2:16) and Jesus Christ, as the righteous Simeon said, lies for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, and as a sign it is contradicted (Luke 2:34). Therefore, beloved brethren, I ask you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, take care of your salvation, rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God (Joel 2:13) and be careful lest you be condemned, despite the fact that you have put on the garments of repentance, for one day the time of judgment will come when God will reward everyone according to his deeds. I intended to write to you more about the good deeds of God, but, remembering the words of Scripture: give wine to the wise, and he will be the wisest (Proverbs 9:9), I abandoned my intention. I wish you all salvation from the Lord. May the grace of the Lord always be with you, my beloved children. Amen. Letter three. We must testify to the fact that we are grateful to God for the redemption given to us by fulfilling God’s commandments My children, if a person, as a rational being, does not want to be condemned on the last day of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, then he must try to recognize his spiritual shortcomings and, if possible, correct them; He must also acquire thorough and correct knowledge about the path to salvation that God opened to man through His Only Begotten Son, and about those gracious means that He offered to man to receive the inheritance of His eternal blessings. Therefore, I ask you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: fulfill your duties to God with zeal. If you have the ability to discern truth from falsehood, you can see that my request stems from true, spiritual love for you. Because of this spiritual love for you, I would like to call you not by your carnal and earthly names, but by spiritual names, which, without a doubt, you received from God. For each of you, in addition to the earthly name, must have a spiritual name from God, just as Jacob, after his nightly struggle with the Angel at the rising of the dawn, received from Him the name Israel, which means: “a mind that looks to God.” You know that the enemies of piety always oppose the spread of the truth and try to destroy it. But God has always been concerned about the salvation of man from the beginning of the world until now and will continue to do so until the end of the world. So, whoever wants to turn to God with all his heart, God Himself will teach him how he should serve Him. The human soul, being left to itself, is so weak that when either the spirit of malice attacks it, or sensual desires demand satisfaction, it can rarely resist them and is mostly enslaved by them, for it is closely connected with the body, although it is immortal. From this it is clearly clear that by itself it cannot restore itself to its primitive state. Therefore, God, out of His infinite goodness, Himself taught man how he could please Him. God is one: therefore, man must serve Him in unity and in the fullness of his spirit. Even if many people unite to serve God, they must have one spirit and one heart, otherwise they will be subject to temptation and prepare themselves for condemnation. When God saw that the illness of His creation had intensified and that a doctor was needed to heal it, He sent preachers of truth and piety to the people. Moses, the greatest of prophets and legislators, was one of these preachers. The Spirit of God, who acted in Moses, also acted in other holy prophets who appeared after Moses and who all preached about the Only Begotten Son of God. And John, the Forerunner of the Son of God, was also one of these preachers: for all the prophets and the law prophesied before John: from the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven will be received with need, and the needy will delight it (Matthew 11:12,13). All these preachers, invested with the power of God, saw that no created being is capable of healing the strong and inveterate illness of the human race, but that only the goodness of the Only Begotten Son of God can do this. That is why God the Father finally sent His Son into the world to save the world, for only He could heal the deep wounds of the human heart. So, God did not spare His Son, but gave Him up for us all (Rom. 8:32), in order to deliver us from our iniquities. The Son of God sacrificed Himself for us and with this sacrifice healed us from mental illness, by the power of His word He gathered us from all the ends of the earth and united us in Himself, revealed to our souls the means to spiritual resurrection from sinful death and showed us that we are members of one mysterious body, of which He Himself is the head. So, beloved in the Lord, I ask you to read the Holy Scriptures diligently and meditate on what you read. It offers the doctrine of our salvation. Meditate on the humility of our Lord, who took the form of a servant and became like us in everything except sin (Heb. 4:15). Try to cleanse your heart from all impurity, so that on the day of the Lord’s last coming you may enter into His joy. Only with this purity can we testify to Him our gratitude for His good deeds to us. Through the violence of His preaching we have become wise, through His poverty we have become rich, and through His weaknesses we have been strengthened. He is the Source of our resurrection. He destroyed the power of death. So, we are now calm and have no need for another savior to appear in the flesh. Our Lord Jesus Christ freed us from slavery, delivered us from all evil and fully revealed His will to us. “To whom I say you are not servants,” He tells us in the person of His disciples, “for a servant does not know what his Lord is doing; but you have been called others, for all that I have heard from My Father I have spoken to you (John 15:15). Since God decided to adopt us as sons to Himself, through His Holy Spirit He revealed to us how we, His sons, should serve Him as our Father. I, a servant of Jesus Christ, inform you, beloved, that, paying attention to the state of people living at the present time, I cannot help but feel both joy and sadness, and I cannot help but cry. Many have put on the clothes of repentance and try with all their hearts to please God - and thus become worthy of God’s mercy, which was revealed by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And these people bring joy to me. Others, on the contrary, move away from piety and live according to the will of their hearts, according to the lusts of their flesh. The coming of the Lord for them will not be for salvation, but for condemnation and destruction. And that’s what I’m sad about. Others, finally, being already on the path of salvation, because of the difficulty of this path, weakened, fell and, abandoning piety, became like dumb animals. And this is why I shed tears. The coming of the Lord for them will also not be a justification, but a condemnation. Beloved in the Lord, take advantage of the time given to you and continually offer your heart as a sacrifice to God. Beloved, I write to you as they write to wise men who can understand the words of the Holy Scriptures. He who understands the words of Scripture can easily know God; and whoever knows God will also know the ways of His Providence in saving people. What motivates me to write to you is not earthly, fleeting love for you, but spiritual love, which never passes away. Beloved, do not forget me in your prayers, because I also pray to the Lord Jesus Christ that He would bring down into your hearts that fire that He came to bring down to earth. Learn to position your bodies correctly and perform your duties sacredly. Gain experience in distinguishing good from evil, permanent from temporary, true from false. Do not cleave to earthly things, for our Lord said: do not hide for yourself treasures on earth; also: do not worry about the morning, for the morning takes care of itself: the day is sufficient for its care (Matthew 6:19, 34). My brothers, when the winds do not disturb the sea, then even not very skilled sailors can sail comfortably, but when the winds are strong and the sea is agitated, then the art of sailors is needed, and in this case it is clearly revealed. Learn from this example to use your quiet time wisely and not to slacken in works of piety, so that you can be skillful swimmers during worldly turmoil and storms. I could write more to you about this, but Scripture says: give wine to the wise, and he will be the wisest (Proverbs 9:9). I wish you all salvation from our Lord Jesus Christ. Glorification must be offered to Him always and forever. Amen. Letter four. That strict fulfillment of God's law does not mean slavery, but true freedom I never cease to remember you, members of the Church of Christ. I love you with true, spiritual love. Any other love is fickle and disappears like the wind. My children, whoever fears the Lord and fulfills His commandments is a true servant of God. But this slavery does not justify a person before God. It is the freedom of the sons of God. The apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ were imprisoned in chains and prison solely because they did not want to be unfaithful servants of God and tried to preserve spiritual freedom. Thus, the Apostle Paul says about himself: I am Paul a prisoner of Jesus Christ (Eph. 3:1). The law of God subjects us to slavery that saves us. He teaches us to curb passions and fulfill what virtue requires. If we constantly remain in this slavery, then we receive freedom of grace, so that the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, spoken by Him to His disciples, also apply to us: I say that you are not servants, for a servant does not know what his Lord is doing; and the words of the Apostle Paul, spoken to the Romans: not by receiving the spirit of work in fear, but by receiving the Spirit of sonhood, for whom we cry: “Abba Father!” (Rom. 8:15). So, let us recognize God’s love for us and let us correspond to it with our deeds. God has given us the right to be His sons and heirs and partakers of the inheritance of the saints. Beloved brethren and joint heirs of the saints! The virtues that God requires of you are not far from you. They are in you. You will find them in yourself when you do not get carried away by the objects of this fleeting world, but listen and follow the voice of grace in your heart. Grace, as you know, does not enter an evil soul and does not dwell in a body guilty of sin (Wis. 1:4). Beloved, I write to you as wise people who have right knowledge of themselves. He who knows himself knows God. He who knows God renders proper worship to Him. You know yourself; but he who knows himself does not get carried away by the circumstances of the time in which he lives, but always thinks and acts in accordance with the law of God. In our time, Arius appeared in Alexandria and invented an impious doctrine about the Only Begotten. He gave birth to the Beginningless, and to the Infinite and Unlimited he made finite and limited. We know that if a person commits a sin against another person, you can pray to God for him and ask for his forgiveness; but if a man sins against God, who will pray to God for him? Arius committed great iniquity. His sin is unforgivable, and condemnation is inevitable. If Arius had correct knowledge about himself, then his tongue would not begin to say what is hidden from the human mind. So, it is obvious that Arius did not know himself and therefore dared to change and pervert the sacrament of the eternal birth of the Only Begotten Son of God. To this eternal Son of God, with His Father and His Holy Spirit, praise must be sent, honor and worship must be offered always, now and forever. Amen. Letter five. That both Angels and the souls of saints rejoice in heaven when a person fulfills the commandments of God My children, holy and spiritual Israelites! I do not call you by your earthly names, because they are fleeting, but I call you Israelites. I love you with spiritual love and therefore I always pray to God for you, that He may enlighten your mind, so that you may know the great and numerous benefits He has shown to the human race. God gives His grace to those who ask Him. So, I ask you, cry to Him unceasingly day and night, so that He may show you His goodness, send down His help to you to facilitate your labors of repentance, and reveal to you what is pleasing to His holy will. My children, we live as if in a house of robbers, and the bonds of death burden us. So, protect yourself from all evil, do not let your eyes sleep and your eyelids slumber (Ps. 132:4), offer yourself to God as a living, holy, acceptable sacrifice (Rom. 12:1), cleanse your heart from all sin, because only the pure in heart... will see God (Matt. 5:8). Beloved, if you strictly keep the commandments of the Lord, the saints in heaven will rejoice over you. For their joy and peace cannot be perfect until we achieve spiritual perfection. And the Angels of God will rejoice over you on the day of the glorious coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Your holy life will bring consolation and joy to me, an unworthy servant of God, in this earthly, mortal life of mine. I know that the saints in heaven are sad when they see our laziness and carelessness in matters of piety. With tears they send prayers to the Creator for our salvation, and He, having heeded their tearful prayers, protects us from the temptations of evil spirits. When the saints see that we constantly keep God’s commandments and grow in spiritual life, then in joy they send thanks to God for us, and God graciously looks at our good deeds and gives us His gracious gifts. Our Lord Jesus Christ never deprives His help and protection from those people who lead a holy life, as I have already written to you about this before. So, let us thank the Lord for His endless goodness to us, let us say with the Psalmist: what will I repay the Lord for all that I have repaid to us? (Ps. 115:3). My children, be attentive to my next words and follow them. Whoever does not hate with all his heart the vicious desires born from a sinful body and does not resist them with all his strength, whoever does not forever turn his mind to the Heavenly Father, will not receive salvation. But whoever uses all his strength to overcome and eradicate in himself every inclination to sin, his labors will finally be blessed by God. God will finally send His immaterial, invisible and spiritual fire into his heart, which will burn and destroy all bodily passions in him and cleanse his mind from all vicious thoughts. The Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ will dwell in him and will show him what true service to the Heavenly Father consists of. But as long as a person follows the attraction of sensual desires, until then he is the enemy of God, the Angels and all the saints of God. Therefore, I ask you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: take care of your salvation and the acquisition of eternal life. Beware that the short time of your earthly life does not rob you of blissful eternity, so that this mortal body does not deprive you of the indescribable joy of the bright Kingdom of Heaven and does not remove you from conversations with the Angels. Beloved, my soul is sad and my spirit feels sorrow when I imagine that we are given the freedom to choose good and imitate the virtues of the saints, and we revel in our passions as we revel in wine; we do not want to awaken our souls from slumber, strive for heavenly glory, imitate the works of the saints and follow in their footsteps, in order to receive an eternal inheritance with them. Beloved, not only we, but all the bright, intelligent, holy Heavenly Powers were created in order to glorify God, their Creator. Some of the spiritual Powers, such as Angels, Archangels, Thrones and Dominions, constantly glorify God, but others, such as Satan, devils and princes of the air, became enemies of God and lost heavenly glory. But both of them are the creation of the Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Light Heavenly Forces received from God various names according to their properties and deeds. Those of them who have risen more in spiritual perfection are the more glorified by God, whose glory and majesty are eternal. Amen. Letter six. That spirits of evil always try to seduce pious people from the path of virtue and that humility is necessary for salvation Anthony wishes for his beloved children living in the Arsinoan monasteries 1 and for everyone who has turned to God with all their hearts salvation from the Lord. My children, you are true Israelis. Grace working in you shows you the way to eternal bliss. But to receive this bliss, you must constantly resist the power of sin, reduce and destroy it in yourself, you must prepare yourself as a pure and holy sacrifice to God in order to become worthy of God’s gracious mercy, with which the East has visited you from above (Luke 1:78). Our spiritual nature from the height of its glory and dignity fell into the abyss of ignominy and humiliation, but the Merciful God visited it with His goodness, giving us saving laws through His servant Moses and other prophets. In a special and clear way, God revealed His goodness to us in His Only Begotten Son, whom He sent to us on earth. This eternal Son of God is the true High Priest, the true Physician, who can heal all our diseases. He took on our body and gave Himself up as a sacrifice to God for our sins. Our weakness was the reason that He took upon Himself the image of weakness; our poverty caused Him to put on the image of poverty; our deadness subjected Him to a blasphemous death. He suffered severe torment for us, and His death revived us. So, we must try with all our might so that all the saints rejoice over us in heaven, so that the sower and the reaper rejoice together (John 4:36). When we are careless, the saints grieve for us and send prayers to God for our salvation. My children, I am in great anxiety because of you. I know that the saints in heaven also take great part in you. They constantly send up prayers to God with tears, so that He strengthens you in the deeds of piety. So, try to imitate their earthly life. The saints saw that in the incomprehensible incarnation of the Son of God, God revealed His infinite mercy to the human race, they saw all the labors that the Son of God undertook for our salvation, they also knew all the efforts and cunning of our spiritual enemy, which he uses for our destruction, and therefore, through unceasing prayer, vigil and constant fulfillment of God’s commandments, they tried to become worthy of God’s love. And I ask you, my beloved children: reflect on the great blessings given to us by our Savior. Due to our inclination to sin and our agreement with the will of the enemy of God, the father of lies, we from rational beings became unreasonable - but the goodness of God raised us from our fall and opened to us the source of wisdom in the Spirit of God. My children, you must know that evil spirits try in numerous and varied ways to seduce us from the path of virtue. But if they see that we already know the danger arising from sin, we do not allow ourselves to be dominated by our passions, we warn ourselves against those vicious deeds to which they try to attract us, and generally reject all their disastrous suggestions, then they leave us and do not dare to approach us anymore. Evil spirits know that when God allows them to tempt a person devoted to Him, He prepares for them greater punishment. They are already sure that their torment is inevitable, that their falling away from God and enmity against Him necessarily made them heirs of hell. My beloved children, day and night I pray to the Lord for you, that He will open the eyes of your heart, so that you can see all the deceits of evil spirits and all their hatred towards you; so that he strengthens your heart in spiritual vigil, gives you the spirit of wisdom and teaches you to offer yourself to Him as a living, pure and holy sacrifice and at all times to protect yourself from the seduction and destructive suggestions of evil spirits. They try in various ways to attract us to sin. They hide both their hatred towards us and hostile actions against us, instill in us blasphemous thoughts, encourage us to doubt the truths of faith in order to lead us to unbelief, darken our minds, give birth to vicious desires in our hearts, plunge us into despondency and despair, arouse anger in us, give birth and strengthen in us the tendency to condemn others, but always justify ourselves, teach us to slander our neighbors, speak kindly and friendly with those for whom we, by their own suggestion, harbor strong hatred, show us the external shortcomings of our neighbor, but hide from us our inner corruption, create strife and disagreement between us when, according to their suggestion, we consider ourselves better than others. Moreover, they encourage us to undertake things that exceed our strength, and deviate us from doing what is both useful and necessary for us. When we should cry, they make us laugh; when we should rejoice, they produce sadness in our hearts. In a word, they always try to seduce us from the path of truth and subjugate us to their power. It takes a lot of time to count all the vices and all the sins to which they try to attract us; I will only say that if we allow them to dominate us for a little while, then the seed of evil that they sow in our hearts will take root, grow and multiply, and we will become their prey and prepare for ourselves a terrible punishment. So, we must constantly resort in prayer to the goodness of our Heavenly Father, so that He would strengthen us with His power and His Divine help to assist us in all our affairs. For evil spirits use all their strength to destroy us. My children, a person who, seeing certain perfections in himself, is proud of them and tries to justify himself by his actions, is far from God. Vanity, arrogance and self-satisfaction make a person the dwelling place of the spirit of malice, which fills his soul with vicious thoughts and desires and uses his body as an instrument of sin. Passions dominate a proud person because he has not, through humility, alienated from himself the spirits of malice that arouse passions. So, we must acquire knowledge about the hostile actions of evil spirits against us and, with the help of God, reject or destroy them. Temptations arising from these spirits are all the more dangerous for us because spirits are invisible and act not in a physical, but in a spiritual way. We cannot see them as we see our body, but they see us. When they plant ungodly thoughts into our soul, then through this they seem to inhabit us and become visible in our body. My children, do not give them space in yourself and do not allow them to approach you, so as not to bring the wrath of God upon yourself and not give them an opportunity to rejoice and ridicule you. Be attentive to my instructions. Evil spirits know that mutual instruction strengthens believers in the fight against them. But temptations from evil spirits are inevitable. For until we are completely separated from the body, we cannot be completely free from the inclination to sin. Moreover, when evil spirits want to seduce us, we cannot see them in front of us, as we see a person standing in front of us, and therefore we cannot move away from them. Evil spirits are visible only in our sins. They are spiritual beings, but beings who have moved away from God and received different names in accordance with their lawless properties and deeds. These names are as follows: Satan, the devil, Beelzebub, the prince of the power of the air and others like these. But the names of the Heavenly Powers are as follows: Archangels, Thrones, Dominions, Powers, Cherubim, Seraphim and others. These names were given to them for the constant and faithful fulfillment of the will of their Creator. Likewise, people who, while living in body on earth, lived in heaven in spirit, are known under the names of patriarchs, kings, priests, judges and apostles. These names were given to people for their pious deeds and fulfillment of the commandments of God. But all these holy people came from the same Adam and had the same body and soul in essence as we have. My children, all people came from one beginning, and therefore whoever sins against his neighbor sins against himself, whoever does evil to his neighbor does evil to his soul. No matter how great the sins of a lawless person, they do not in the least violate the bliss of God. They always make the person himself unhappy. Likewise, no matter how great a person’s virtues may be, they do not in the least increase the blessedness of God. And can a person’s virtues be so great that he glorifies God with them in accordance with His infinite greatness, so that he brings Him reverence and service worthy of His holiness and goodness? The frailty of our body prevents us from serving God in a manner worthy of Him. So, we must use all our strength to multiply the grace of God in ourselves through good deeds and love for each other. We must not love only ourselves, so as not to become the prey of the enemy. We must first try to know ourselves. He who has correct knowledge about himself also has correct knowledge about the creatures that God made out of nothing; he also knows the dignity of the intelligent and immortal human spirit, imprisoned for a time in a mortal body, in order to perfect himself in virtue in it. He who knows this knows that he must love God, and he who loves God loves everyone. My beloved children, love one another sincerely. Make the body in which you are clothed an altar, place all unclean thoughts on this altar and, raising your heart and mind to God, ask Him to send down His immaterial fire to you from above and burn with it everything you have placed on the altar of your body. Then the priests of Baal will flee from before you, just as they once fled from the prophet Elijah. Then the Heavenly Divine Source will open for you, from which spiritual rain will pour on you - the grace of the Comforter Spirit. When you receive the Divine gifts of the Spirit, do not think that you acquired them through your own deeds, for the Heavenly Powers will always assist you in your pious deeds. My children, I ask you: do not weaken in the labors of your salvation, so that both the saints in heaven and I, the unworthy servant of God, may rejoice over you, for both you and I and the saints came from the same Adam and were created by the same Author of all creatures. He who knows himself knows that the human soul is immortal, that our Lord Jesus Christ is the true image of God the Father, that in the likeness of this eternal image of God all spiritual, rational beings were created. Since Jesus Christ is the head of the body, the head of the Church, as the Apostle Paul says (Col. 1:12), then we are all individually members and together we make up one body in Jesus Christ. It cannot, says the same apostle, by saying with the eye to the hand, “You do not need me,” or again the head of the foot, “You do not need me.” If one oud suffers, all ouds suffer with him: if one oud is glorified, all ouds rejoice with him (1 Cor. 12:21,26). Therefore, as members of one body, we must love each other. But whoever loves his brother loves God (1 John 4:21), and whoever loves God loves himself. My children, God has given us free will; Therefore, He allows evil spirits to tempt us, so that we ourselves can repel and defeat them. But you must remember that in the psalm (Ps. 33:8) it is written: The Angel of the Lord will encamp around those who fear Him, and will deliver them. If a person does not fear God and does not want to fulfill God’s law, then evil spirits very easily subjugate him to their power, and he, according to Scripture, becomes the son of the devil. The devil, having been cast out of heaven into hell for his pride, always seeks the destruction of those who remain faithful to their Lord, and tries to destroy them in the same way as he himself died - that is, with pride and love of glory. Evil spirits know that whoever loves his brother loves God. Therefore, they arouse in the hearts of people mutual hatred for each other, so that a person sometimes cannot tolerate the presence of another person and cannot say a single word to him. My children, I tell you that of the people who devoted themselves to serving God, there were many who had already traveled far on the path of spiritual perfection, but, due to their imprudence, fell and perished. This should not be surprising to you, because if you become proud and think that your virtues and holiness are already of great value before God, if, through self-delusion, you weaken in the performance of good deeds, then you will fall into the devil’s disease - into pride and forgetfulness of yourself. You will think that you are close to God and are in His light, while you will be in the darkness of sin. My children, what prompted our Lord Jesus Christ to get up from supper, take off His outer garment, take a towel, girdle with it, pour water into the laver and wash the feet of His disciples? What if not the desire to leave us an example of humility? Humility is a virtue necessary for anyone who wants to get closer to God. For pride first gave birth to sin. She cast down the devil from heaven and expelled Adam from paradise. If a person does not love humility with all his heart, with all his thoughts, with all his spirit and with all his soul, if he does not express humility in all his deeds, he will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. My beloved children, day and night I pray to my Creator that He may enlighten the eyes of your heart, so that you will know my love for you and be convinced of the necessity of a holy life for salvation. He who has correct knowledge of himself and feels the need to correct and improve himself, strives to acquire heavenly glory. He who knows his sinful deadness strives for eternal life. My children, I fear that on your way to heavenly treasures the labors of repentance will weaken you and destroy your hope of achieving eternal blessings. I would like to see you here on earth, in my mortal body, but I am already awaiting relocation to those blessed abodes where there is neither sorrow nor lamentation, but where all the saints unceasingly rejoice. I hope to see you there. There is much more I would like to write to you, my beloved children, but it’s time to end my letter and wish you all salvation from our Lord Jesus Christ. Glorification must be offered to Him forever and ever. Amen. Letter seven. The fact that God’s blessings to man are countless and that man can only testify to God his gratitude through feasible exercise in virtues We know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, for the sake of our poverty, that by His poverty we may be rich (2 Cor. 8:9), by His humility we may be exalted, by His violence we may be made wise, by His death we may be quickened. Therefore, we can speak with the apostle: even though we understood according to the flesh of Christ, but now we do not understand anyone. For those who are in Christ, there is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:16–17). Beloved, these words contain many meanings; I could tell you a lot about them, but time does not allow me to explain them. Now, my blessed children, firstly, I wish you salvation from the Lord, then I remind you that if we want to get closer to our Creator, we must, in accordance with spiritual law, try to free our souls from passions. Our unrighteous deeds, the dominance of passions over us and many devilish temptations have weakened us; the strength of our souls was almost completely destroyed; and we can no longer see the dignity of our spiritual nature due to the dominion of passions over us. We can receive salvation in no other way than through our Lord Jesus Christ. For the Apostle Paul wrote that just as in Adam all died, so in Christ all receive life (1 Cor. 15:2). So, our Lord Jesus Christ is Life for all rational creatures created in His likeness. He Himself is the true likeness and unchangeable image of the Father; but the image visible in creatures is changeable, and therefore we were subjected to death, although our spiritual nature is immortal. When we are born in the body, we are already a dwelling place of sin. When we were deprived of all our strength and God the Father saw our powerlessness, that we could not bear His appearance to us in His own and true image, He sent to us His Only Begotten Son, Who took on our body, visited His creation and blessed His holy servants with His gifts. So, my beloved children, I beg you with my love for you: turn to the Lord with all your heart and remember that all our deeds, which we bring to the Lord with God’s help given to us, cannot in any way equal the humility that He underwent for us. He has no need of us. He came to us not because our humility before Him prompted Him to do so, but He came out of His great goodness and incomprehensible love for us. He did not deal with us as our sins required, but commanded the moon and stars so that they would continue to serve the earth, our dark dwelling, for the benefit of our body. In addition to this, He gave us many things to serve that we cannot see with our bodily eyes. But through the multitude of our sins we have alienated the servants given to us from ourselves. What will we say to the Lord on the day of our judgment? For what benefits did He not show to us? It was not the patriarchs who labored for us, not the priests who taught us, not the judges and kings who interceded for us, not the apostles who suffered persecution for us, but the beloved Son of God and the Word died for us all. Therefore, we must cleanse ourselves from sins, conform our will to the will of God and sanctify all our feelings, which are capable of doing both good and evil; We must continually renew ourselves in order to be worthy of the visit of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, in His mercy toward us, freed us from slavery and became like us in everything except sin (Heb. 4:15). But His coming to earth - for some it became a temptation, for others - it turned into benefit, wisdom, strengthening, resurrection and life. So, my children, you must know that the coming of the Lord became condemnation for the first, and life for the last. Of these last, the prophet Jeremiah speaks thus: Behold, the days are coming, saith the Lord, giving My laws in their thoughts, and I will write on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be Me for men: and every man shall not teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know Me, from the least of them even to the greatest of them: for I will be merciful to their iniquities and I will not remember their sins (Jeremiah 31:31,33–34). And about the first, the apostle says: let every mouth be stopped, and the whole world be guilty of God (Rom. 3:19). He who knew God, but because of his madness, which cannot accept the wisdom of God, did not want to glorify Him as God, will be subject to the wrath of God. My children! Each of us voluntarily gave ourselves over to sin; sin intensified and, due to our madness, began to dominate us. To free us from his power, our Lord took on the form of a servant, fulfilled all His saving intentions for us, and finally suffered death on the cross. His death and resurrection laid the foundation for our resurrection and destroyed the power of death, that is, the devil; and we, moving away from sin and imitating the humility of the Lord, can become His true disciples. My beloved children in the Lord! My spirit and body are troubled when I imagine that we are honored with the names of saints and clothed in clothing with which we boast before the infidels, but despite this, we are not in the least adorned with good deeds. I am afraid that the words of the apostle will not be fulfilled on us: having the form of godliness, but denying its power (2 Tim. 3:5). Out of my love for you, I never cease to pray to God for you, that you may know the dignity of the hidden life in God and practice deeds that would make you worthy of the invisible inheritance. Beloved! You must know that exercise in good deeds that is feasible and in accordance with the will of God is our duty, necessary by the very nature of our nature; and therefore, no matter how great our virtues may be, they should never be considered an excess of our holiness. For whoever truly serves God and seeks Him with all his heart does this out of his duty. But if a person commits any sin, he is subject to punishment for this, because sinning is incongruous with the dignity of man’s spiritual nature. I do not hide anything and do not hide from you what you need to know for your salvation. I now also remind you of the words of the apostle that the body always resists the spirit (Gal. 5:17). Therefore, if you want to lead a holy life in Jesus Christ, you must expel from your heart all unclean desires that arise from the body; should send prayers to our Lord Jesus Christ, so that He, with His mercy and goodness, protects you from all disasters and temptations that come from the body. And our apostle fathers were subject to disasters, but with patience they overcame the power of the enemy and destroyed idolatry. The Lord had previously strengthened them for this and consoled them with the following words: you will be in a world of sorrow: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (John 16:33). Remember the word that I said to you: If a servant is a slave of his master, if you cast Me out, you will also be cast out; if you keep My word, they will keep yours (John 15:20). My blessed children! Remember these words of the Lord, as well as the words of the Apostle Paul: for the passions of this present time are unworthy of the glory that desires to be revealed in us (Rom. 8:18). I give you spiritual instructions and strengthen your spirit solely out of my love for you. My instructions are brief, because I know that a heart that is trying to cleanse itself from sin does not need many words. My beloved and spiritually holy children! I rejoice in the Lord over you and wish that you would become more and more aware of the many gifts that God bestows upon us for our strengthening and perfection in virtue, and that you would continually practice deeds that are consistent with the nature of the human soul, and avoid those things that are inconsistent with it. I, a sinner, reveal to you about myself that when God awakened my mind from the sleep of death, my entire rather long life after that was nothing more than incessant crying and groaning about my sins, for how can we thank the Lord for everything that He has done for us? He ordered His Angels to serve us; He sent His prophets to prophesy to us; He commanded the apostles to preach the gospel to us; and, most of all, He sent His Only Begotten Son to us for our salvation. Therefore, I ask you, keep the fear of the Lord in your heart. John, the Forerunner of the Lord, baptized with water those who came to him to confess their sins. His baptism was a preparation for the baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ, who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire, that is, the fire of good deeds. So, let us strive to cleanse our body and spirit, in order to thus prepare ourselves to receive the baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ and become a sacrifice acceptable to God. The Comforter Spirit, who descends on the baptized person, produces repentance for sins in his heart, restores him to his original state and gives him the right to an eternal inheritance. According to the testimony of the Apostle Paul, everyone who is baptized into Christ puts on Christ and receives the grace of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 3:27). Both slave and free, both male and female, having received this grace, already leave those vicious desires that are born from the body; accept the teaching of the Holy Spirit; receive the eternal inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven and worship the Father in spirit and truth. My children! None of you should doubt that on the day of the last coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, Judgment will be carried out on all people. The first coming of our Lord foreshadowed to us the Judgment of the last coming if we do not fulfill the commandments of the Lord. You should also know that all people who are clothed with the Spirit of God are constantly praying to the Lord for us, that we may be united with Him and become partakers of the inheritance that was offered to us in our primitive state, and that we may put on the primitive spiritual clothing that disobedience stripped us of. The Heavenly Father reveals to all of us, clothed in His Divine Spirit, His infinite goodness towards the human race and encourages us to fulfill the following words of Scripture: comfort, comfort, my people. Priests, speak in the heart of Jerusalem (Isaiah 40:1–2). I ask God, who visited creation with His goodness, to give you wisdom, knowledge, grace and the ability to understand what I have written, so that you know the commandments of God that have been taught to you and continually purify your heart. My beloved children in the Lord! I also pray to the Lord that He will accept the prayers that I send to Him for your salvation. Glorification must be offered to Him forever. Amen. Letter eight. That the grace of the Holy Spirit must be acquired through purity of heart and strict Christian life Beloved in the Lord! I am writing to you as one usually writes to children whom their parents love very much. If carnal children are obedient to their parents and willingly carry out their orders, then their parents love them with all their hearts and prefer them to disobedient children. If parents happen to have some beautiful or curious thing, they give it to their obedient and kind children. If carnal parents do this to their children, then much more do spiritual fathers love their obedient children, who try to imitate them in their deeds. Therefore, beloved in the Lord, I love you with all my heart and would like to be with you always, to see and bless you. I see that you are committed to me, imitate me in your deeds and have truly turned to God. You always live in my heart, and day and night I pray for you to my God, so that He would send down to you those gifts that He gave me solely out of His goodness, and not because of my merits. These gifts constitute the great wealth given to me by our Lord, and I pray to Him that He will enrich you with them too. But most of all, I wish and pray to God day and night that you will be in the same place with me when I leave this body. Our Lord from my very childhood to this day has listened to my prayers, and I am confident that in His mercy He will fulfill this prayer of mine. My children! I am writing this to you out of the strong love of my heart for you, because you are trying to imitate me in everything by deeds of piety. You should know that our Lord Jesus Christ, out of great love for His disciples, said to them: “I speak to you not for this, servants, for the servant does not know what his Lord is doing; but you have been called friends and sons, for all the things which I have heard from My Father have told you (John 17:23-24). So, consider this carefully: didn’t our Lord Jesus Christ pray for His disciples so that they would be where He Himself would be, because they were His friends and sons? In the same way, I pray for you, my beloved, that we may all be in that place where there is no sorrow, no sickness, no darkness, no evil spirits, but where there is unceasing joy, light, eternal life, unfading crowns and much more that human language does not dare to express. All this will continue there forever and ever. My children! Pray to the Lord that He will speed up and make my path to you easier, so that I can spend some time with you. I am confident that my coming will serve to edify you and increase your joy. I myself will rejoice when I come to you, to increase your joy and ensure your progress in faith. Then I will reveal to you many things that I cannot write to you about now in this letter. Your mother Sarah will also rejoice over you, that is, my soul, which is full of love for you, gave birth to the Divine spirit in you and constantly desires your perfection. This desire prompts me to pray to God that He would give you that fiery Divine Spirit that I received from Him. If you also want to receive this Spirit so that He will always abide in you, then sacrifice your body to God, try to acquire humility of heart, lift your thoughts to heaven day and night and seek this fiery Spirit with purity of heart. Then you will receive It. Thus Elijah the Tishbite, Elisha and the other prophets received this Spirit. Do not doubt that you will receive Him, do not think or say: how can we receive Him?! These doubts, my children, should not enter your hearts. Seek the Spirit in uprightness of heart, and you will surely receive Him. I am your father - through my prayers I try to help you receive Him. I know that you are perfect and capable of receiving Him. Whoever lives the kind of life you lead will have the Spirit of God sent down to him forever and for all eternity. However, I know some who, having received this Spirit, lost It, because they ceased to perfect themselves in holiness. My beloved! I want to see you because of the purity of your heart and I ask you: pray to the Lord unceasingly, attentively and with all your heart for sending down His Spirit to you, and you will receive Him. This Spirit dwells only in pure hearts. When He lives in you, He will reveal to you high secrets and many other things that I cannot put down with pen and ink on paper. He will destroy in you the fear that you sometimes feel towards people, animals and other things. He will be for you day and night a source of heavenly joy, and you will live in this body as if in heaven. You will then pray to God not only for your own souls, but also for others, because whoever has this Spirit no longer has the need to pray for himself, but for others. We see this in Moses. Having received this Spirit, he prayed to God for his people: if Thou wilt forgive them their sin, forgive them; and if Thou blot me out of Thy book, Thou hast written it down (Ex. 32:32). The same is the prayer of all the saints and other people who have reached a high degree of perfection and whom I cannot name by name. You yourselves have wisdom and know them. I pray for you day and night, that you too may have the same fullness of the Spirit that all the saints have received. My beloved children! When I wrote this letter to you, the Spirit of God prompted me to write to you at the end of this letter a little about this fiery Spirit and about Divine love. But when I come to you with God’s help, I will tell you many other things about this Spirit, so that you will know everything about Him. Just as at the beginning of this letter I wished you blessings and salvation from the Lord, so at the end of it I wish you salvation from the love of the Lord through this fiery Spirit, which both you and I received from God by His grace. Finally, I beg you: never follow your sensual will, but try in every possible way to acquire spiritual peace, so that through the action of the Holy Spirit all the Heavenly Powers may be established between you and strengthen you in deeds consistent with the will of the Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. May praise be brought to her forever! Amen! Letter nine. That difficult feats of piety are made easier by the grace of God, which God sends down to those truly devoted to Him Beloved in the Lord! If a person loves God with all his heart, with all his thoughts, with all his mind and with all his strength, then he acquires the fear of the Lord; Tears are born from fear, and courage is born from tears. The soul, strengthened by courage, bears spiritual fruits in everything, and God, seeing these fruits in it, attracts and elevates it to Himself, like the fragrance of pure incense. Then the soul, together with the Angels, enjoys heavenly joy, because God produces this joy in it and protects it on all its paths, so that it can easily reach its place of peace. The devil, seeing that it has an all-powerful guardian, can no longer overcome it and therefore is afraid to approach it. My beloved children in the Lord! I love you and am confident that you love God, and therefore I ask you: try to acquire spiritual courage so that evil spirits will fear you, your labors will seem easy to you, and everything Divine will become pleasant to you. Divine love is sweeter than honey. Many monks and virgins, who dedicated themselves to the service of God, without tasting any of the sweetness of Divine love and without acquiring Divine courage, thought that they already knew the sweetness of the former and had the latter. Since they did not try at all to acquire the power of God, God did not give it to them. Whoever tries to receive it, God gives it to him by His grace. God is no respecter of persons. He gives it to all who fulfill His commandments in different times and in different nations. Beloved in Christ! I know that you love God. Try to let this love flow from the depths of your heart. Then my heart will rejoice over you, that you will be able to receive the power of God. You will then spend the rest of your life in joy and joy, and the work you undertake for God will be easy for you, because the spiritual strength that God gives to man guides him to achieve blissful peace and protects him until he is perfected in all difficult virtues. My children! If a person, being in the light of God, despises both the glory and the ignominy of this world, hates everything that is in him, does not give rest to his body, cleanses his heart from all evil thoughts, fasts, sheds tears day and night and sends up pure prayers to God, then God gives him His Divine power. My blessed children! Try to acquire this power; with its help you will easily and calmly carry out your affairs. She will give you hope in God and fulfill all your requests. Out of my love for you, I intended to write to you a lot, but now I find this short letter sufficient. I am confident that it will bring you salvation and joy, because I pray for this to the Lord Jesus. To Him, His Father and the Holy Spirit, all rational creatures must eternally bring praise. Amen! Letter ten. That virtue loses all its value and dignity through vanity My blessed children! I am writing this letter to you in order to impress upon you that God listens to the prayers of only those people who love and seek Him with all their hearts. But He does not heed the prayers of those people who do not turn their whole heart to Him, but attach it to other objects, and in all their deeds seek glory and praise more from people than from God. He is angry with them because their deeds are vain. The words of the Psalmist are fulfilled on them: God scatters the bones of men-pleasers (Ps 52:6), because He is angry at their deeds, does not pay attention to their prayers and opposes their enterprises. Their deeds are not quickened by faith, because they are vain. Therefore, the power of God does not work in them and their heart is fickle in carrying out all their undertakings. They do not taste Divine sweetness, do not feel spiritual joy and strength. All their deeds, like a heavy burden, oppress their soul. Many of those people who have devoted themselves to serving God have not yet acquired this Divine power, which delights the soul, daily increases joy and cheerfulness in it and arouses Divine warmth in it. They are blinded by the spirit of vanity, and all their deeds are subject to human praise. As for you, my beloved, since you have decided to dedicate all the fruits of your labors to God, try to avoid the spirit of vanity and arm yourself against it, so that the Lord will graciously accept your fruits and you can receive that heavenly power that He gives to His chosen ones. My beloved! Concerning you, my heart is calm, because I know that you do not have the spirit of vanity and constantly resist it - and that is why your fruits are holy and pure before God. Continue to resist this spirit. When a person undertakes good deeds and begins to engage in deeds of piety, this spirit usually comes to him, takes part in his deeds or tries to divert him from fulfilling them. Since he is an evil spirit, he always opposes those people who want to be true believers. In general, he prevents them from doing every good work. There are many people who live truly by faith and show acts of mercy to the poor. The spirit of vanity uses all its strength to resist them. He comes to others during their very labors, destroys their fruits and thus encourages them to abandon their work or inspires them to practice virtues and show mercy to their neighbors, basing their deeds on vanity. People usually consider such hypocrites to be righteous, although they do not have any fruits of salvation. They are like those wild fig trees, which show to the eye of man that pleasant fruits grow on them, while these fruits are bitter when they are plucked and begin to eat them. Vain people are exactly like these trees. It is usually thought of such people that they bear fruits that are very pleasing to the Lord, whereas they do not have them. God finally dries them up because he sees no fruit in them. He deprives them of the inexpressible sweetness of His Divinity. But you, my children, remove the spirit of vanity from yourself, resist it and defeat it. To strengthen you, God will send down His strength to you. She will be with you and will help you. It will arouse in you spiritual zeal for goodness and spiritual warmth. If any of you has this warmth, then I pray to God that it will remain in him forever. This warmth is not fleeting and is not like earthly warmth. There is nothing in the world more precious than her. If any of you does not feel this warmth in yourself, he should try to acquire it. It is given to those who earnestly seek it. She is like fire hidden in sparks. If a person wants to cook some vegetables on the fire himself, then he fans it until it flares up, after which the fire already receives its natural strength and produces a boil in the water. In the same way, you, my children, if you notice that your souls are growing cold from laziness and negligence, try to warm them and awaken them with tears of repentance. Spiritual warmth will return to you, will enter the depths of your souls, and you, having then accepted the essence of this warmth and transformed into it, will be seething with good deeds. Thus, David, noticing that his soul had grown cold and burdened, said: My spirit is depressed within me, my heart is troubled within me. I have remembered the days of old, I have learned in all Your works, I have learned Your hand in all creation. My hands have lifted up to You, my soul, like a waterless land to You (Ps. 143:4–6). Notice, my beloved, what David did. He, seeing that his heart grew cold, grieved until the warmth in his heart again awakened so that he finally said to God: my heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready (Ps. 107:2). David, through prayers and repentance, which he offered to God day and night, returned God’s favor to himself. Do the same and be unanimous in serving God with a pure heart. Divine light and warmth will make this service easier for you, and God will reveal to you great secrets that cannot be explained by language. For my part, I pray to God that He will preserve your body, soul and spirit intact until He transfers you to the dwelling of His mercy, to the place where our holy fathers live. Rejoice in the joy of the Lord, whose glory is everlasting. Amen. Letter eleven. That the perfection of a Christian also includes the spiritual skill of distinguishing good from evil, truth from lies My blessed children! You must know that I am writing to you as children dear to me, worthy of the blessing and inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven. Since you have become worthy of the heavenly inheritance, you must constantly, day and night, remember the sons of the Kingdom of Heaven, if you want to be with them. Constant remembrance of this will make you worthy that God will protect you from all evil and you will learn to distinguish good from evil, choose what is more useful for you, and thus strive to acquire the blessings that are prepared for the righteous. Since you, my children, are very dear to me and have become sons of the Kingdom of Heaven, I constantly pray to God for you, that He will give you the grace to be discerning, judicious and to distinguish between good and evil. This grace, according to the Apostle Paul, is the solid food of the perfect. The perfect are those who have feelings and have been trained by long teaching in the judgment of good and evil (Heb. 5:14) and who therefore became sons of the Kingdom and received Divine adoption. They have the wisdom and skill to distinguish between good and bad in all their affairs, so that neither man nor the devil can deceive them. The devil often offers evil under the guise of good - and deceives many because they do not have the wisdom and skill to discover deception. Blessed Paul, knowing that this skill and wisdom are among those endless riches that God intends to give to those who truly believe in Him, out of his extreme love for the Ephesians, wrote to them about this when they had already become spiritually free and sons of the Kingdom of Heaven: the saints who are in Ephesus and the faithful in Christ Jesus. Having heard your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, making remembrance of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the enlightened aim of your heart, so that you may know the hope of His calling, and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints (Eph. 1:1,15–18). Also: I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from Whom is the whole fatherland in heaven and on earth called, that He may give you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened in your faith, to be strengthened by the help of His Spirit in you, to indwell Christ by faith in your inner man and in your hearts: rooted and founded in love, so that you may be able to understand with all the saints that the breadth and length and depth and height (Eph. 3:14–18). My children! Notice this great apostle. He, knowing how great that spiritual wealth was, about which the Ephesians, who became his sons through faith, had no idea, prayed to God for them, so that He would tell them the same amount of this wealth that he himself had, that is, to give them spiritual wisdom and the ability to distinguish good from evil, which is very important in the matter of faith. He prayed to God for this because of his great love for the Ephesians. He knew that if they received this gift from God, they would not feel any labor in their affairs, would not have any fear, would enjoy the joy of the Lord day and night, and the fulfillment of their deeds would be very pleasant for them; God will reveal to them the great mysteries of the coming age, which cannot be explained in carnal language. My beloved children in the Lord! Day and night I shed abundant tears in my prayers to God, so that He would send down to you wisdom and the ability to distinguish truth from lies, so that this gift would remain in you constantly and your glory would increase in everything, so that He would finally give you many other things that you now do not know. I, your father, pray to God for you, that He will help you achieve that measure of perfection that is predetermined for a true believer. Many monks and virgins who dedicated themselves to serving God have not yet reached this measure. If you want to achieve perfection, then avoid all such people who only bear the name of monks and virgins who have dedicated themselves to serving God, but do not have wisdom and the ability to correctly judge things. If you communicate with them, they will prevent you from striving for perfection and will destroy in you spiritual warmth, which they themselves do not have, but instead of which there is coldness in them, because they live according to their sensual desires. So, if they come to you and talk to you about the things of this age that are pleasing to their vicious will, then do not listen to them, because the Apostle Paul writes: Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies (1 Thess. 5:19–20). My children! The spirit is quenched by idle talk and many other things that I cannot now count. But when you move away from such people, do not show them contempt at all, but try to do them good, however, so as not to have communication with them: otherwise they will remove you from the path of truth. May the peace of our Lord dwell in your meek souls, my beloved children. May glory and honor be brought to the Lord forever from all creatures. Amen. Letter twelve. That mutual love connecting spiritual fathers and children should be stronger than mutual love connecting parents and carnal children My beloved in the Lord! The love of God is always ready to visit our souls and help in virtue those people who do not turn the thoughts of their hearts to vain objects, but constantly remember the church of the firstborn (Heb. 12:23). Since this remembrance is the action of the Spirit of God, He prays for them, because they became His sons and He begot them spiritually. And I also constantly remember you day and night in my prayers and ask our Lord to strengthen your faith, increase your virtues, confirm your wisdom and ability to distinguish truth from lies, and grant you spiritual courage more than you have. I pray for you unceasingly, because I gave birth to you in Christ and you became my sons. So the Apostle Paul, having given birth to Timothy spiritually, wrote the following words to him: I continually remember you in my prayers day and night: desiring to see you, remembering your tears, that I may be filled with joy (2 Tim. 1:3-4). My children, pay attention to this apostle. He dealt with the following three subjects in the reasoning of Timothy, whom he gave birth to spiritually and who became his son: firstly, he remembered him day and night, secondly, he prayed for him, thirdly, he wanted to see him. Mainly, I, my beloved, loving you for the rightness of your heart, in my consideration of you I do the same as the Apostle Paul did in his reasoning: I remember you, I pray for you and I wish to see you. I do all this because I recognize your labors, your groaning, the sorrow of your heart, your great patience and meekness, and all your deeds of piety, which you constantly and wisely engage in. For everyone who exercises himself in the works of God must exercise himself in them under the guidance of the spirit of wisdom, because the Apostle Paul said: God has not given us the spirit of fear (2 Tim. 1:7), but the spirit of wisdom and the power of love. Therefore, our Lord will demand from each of us an account of whether our deeds were inspired by spiritual wisdom. My children, I ask the Lord to make it easier for you so that I can come to you again and see you. I know that you want to see me as much as I want to see you. You know that nothing on earth can compare with the love of parents for children and children for parents: both of them always want to see each other. If carnal parents and children have such strong love for each other, then don’t spiritual fathers and children have much greater love for each other? Since spiritual fathers are more important than carnal fathers, the former always desire to see their children with the fear of God and love for God. Moreover, it is known that the love of parents for their children is stronger than the love of children for their parents. Therefore, the divine Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians: Our lips opened to you, Corinthians, our heart expanded. You are not crowded into us, but you are oppressed in your bellies (2 Cor. 6:11-12). In the same way, my love for you, children, is stronger than your love for me, because you are my children. So, let us pray to God together that He will allow us to see each other. I am sure that my coming to you will bring you great joy and gladness, just as the apostle once spoke about this to the Romans: I desire to see you, so that I may give you some spiritual gift for your strengthening. This is why you may be comforted by our common faith, yours and mine (Rom. 1:11-12). Having come to you, I will tell you many things that I cannot now reveal in writing and that will serve to your salvation from the Lord Jesus Christ. Glory, honor, worship and praise must be given to Him forever. Amen. Letter thirteen. That the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven are revealed only to those who have achieved a high degree of spiritual perfection, and that these people will judge the world on the last day of Judgment You know, my beloved in the Lord, that every person, whether male or female, has the ability to love either the Divine or the human. Divine people love the Divine, carnal people love the carnal. Since you have chosen the Divine, I love you with all my spirit. You have God within you and stand at a high degree of perfection; and I always pray to God for you, so that in your divine hearts the love for God will increase and the great mysteries of God will be revealed to you, which I cannot explain in my words, because they are very high. They are completely different from everything that is in this world. They do not open to unclean souls, but open to those people who have cleansed their hearts from everything unclean and have completely removed themselves from the vicious deeds of this fleeting world; are revealed to those people who hated both this world and their souls, took up the cross, followed the Lord and try to do His will in everything. Therefore, the Divine moved into them and gave them spiritual sweetness and joy, which nourish and nurture their souls. For just as trees cannot grow unless they are nourished by water, so the soul cannot grow and rise in virtues unless it drinks heavenly joy. On the contrary, those souls who have received the Spirit of God into themselves and are filled with heavenly joy have the power to grow, if only they holyly preserve the gifts of God within themselves. Although these souls are still in the body, the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven have already been revealed to them. They have such access to God that He fulfills all their requests. My beloved and revered, I unceasingly pray to God that you will reach that measure of perfection in which you can know the innumerable and endless riches of the Kingdom of God. I know that few of the monks and virgins have reached this degree of perfection. Seats have been prepared for such, on which they will sit to judge on the last day of Judgment. I know some who in our time have reached this stage of adoption to God. Not a single past century has had a shortage of such people who have achieved this perfection, and future centuries will also have them not only from among husbands, but also from among wives. When they sit on their seats on the last day of Judgment, each of them will judge the people of his age. This right will be given to them because they have overcome all obstacles in order to be perfect, because those who are perfect will judge the world. This is what I ask of God day and night, that is, that you achieve that measure of perfection that would make you capable of judging the people of your time on the Day of Judgment. This request and desire of mine stems from my great love for you, which neither I nor you can express in words. I love you, as the Apostle Paul loved the Thessalonians who became his sons. Give you good will,” he told them, “not just the gospel of God, but also your souls, which we have already loved (1 Thess. 2:8). Hoping that God will deign me to see you while still in this body and to bring you joy for the joy that you give me, I sent my beloved son to you. The Lord, seeing that I love you like the father of his children, in my absence He Himself will be consolation and joy for you, He Himself will give you spiritual strength and peace in your solitude. This world is that eternal Kingdom which you hope to receive through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose glory and majesty are eternal. Amen. Letter fourteen. That every person must show filial obedience to God in order to receive a fatherly blessing from Him Children, I love you spiritually because you have prepared yourselves for the Kingdom of Heaven and begged God to be the same to you as He is to your father, to move you to the same place to which your father moved, to give you the same blessing that he gave to your father, and, finally, to honor you with the same glory that he honored your father. Because of your obedience, you became sons of God and received blessings through true adoption, because obedient children, by right of inheritance, usually receive from their parents wealth, blessings, and even their very virtues. The prayers that obedient children send to God are similar to the prayers of their parents: they make them heirs of the virtues with which their parents are adorned. Thus, Jacob’s prayers were in all respects similar to the prayers of his parents, and therefore the blessing of God given to his parents passed on to him, and he was honored to see that spiritual ladder along which the Angels ascended and descended. But before he received the blessing of his parents, he did not see a single Angel; having received a parental blessing, he saw the Angels and was blessed by them. True and prudent children know that they cannot have any virtue unless they receive blessings from their parents. Therefore, they try to obey their parents and ask them to bless them, because the parental blessing gives them the opportunity to see the regiments of Angels and through this be strengthened forever in virtue. Thus, the Apostle Paul, through a vision of Angels, was confirmed in his love for Jesus Christ. Who will separate us from the love of God? - he said. - Is it tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or trouble, or the sword?.. Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers below, nor present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:35,38–39 ). See, my beloved, how those people who are established in the love of God cannot be separated from God in any way. I want you to be like the Apostle Paul. Out of my great love for you, I wish to see you and constantly ask God that the blessing given both to your spiritual fathers and to me, an unworthy servant of God, would pass to you, so that you too would be adorned with all spiritual virtues and spend the rest of your life in every joy. For whoever does not have these virtues does not enjoy heavenly joy. My children, know that the commandments are not burdensome or difficult: they bring true light and unceasing joy to those people who fulfill them. I repeat to you that I constantly pray for you, so that you will be with me where I will be, because you are my children and obedient to me in everything. And our Lord Jesus Christ, when he saw that His disciples were obedient to Him in everything, prayed thus to His Father for them: Father, these things which you have given me, I will, that where I am, they also may be with me; like the verbs that you gave to me, I gave to them, and they received them. And for them I will sanctify Myself, so that they too will be sanctified in truth. I am in them, and You are in Me. Let them be one, as We are one (John 17:24, 8, 19, 23, 22). My children, you see that our Lord Jesus Christ prayed for His disciples, so that they would be in the same place where He Himself would be. He asked His Father to preserve them from all evil until they moved to a place of rest - he prayed for them because they were His friends. Know that I also pray to God for you, that He will preserve you from all evil until you move to a place of rest, and that He will grant you the blessing of our fathers. If you receive this blessing, then the grace of God will increase in you. Jacob, having received the blessing, saw angels on the way to Mesopotamia, and God blessed him both because of the obedience he showed to his parents and because his parents were blessed. Jacob saw the Angels face to face and kept one of them with him until he received a blessing from him, with which he later blessed his sons. In the same way, I, insignificant, pray to my God, Whom I have served to this day from my youth, that He will bless you and that you, both in spirit and in body, will be like our father Jacob, who was enriched by the blessing of God. Finally, you should know that our father Jacob, being in Mesopotamia, remembered his parents, went to his fatherland and, fearing his brother, sent gifts to meet him, not because his brother needed them when he was very rich, but in order to destroy the enmity that his brother had towards him, and to receive the blessing of his parents. He knew that the power of parental blessing is very great, as it is said about this in the Holy Scriptures: the father’s blessing establishes the homes of children (Sir. 4:9). My beloved, you will bring me joy if you remember my insignificance and remember your carnal parents, so that their blessing will always be truly in you. You must remember everything I told you. May the peace of the Lord protect your hearts and may His grace be your help. All rational creatures must eternally send praise to him. Amen. Letter fifteen. That virtues are the fruits of spiritual life, and sins are the fruits of spiritual death My blessed children, first of all I pray to God that He would grant you the invisible, for the visible is temporary, but the invisible is eternal (2 Cor. 4:18). I pray to God for you because I see your living and intelligent fruits and because you have become heirs of God the Word and participants in His gifts. Therefore, my heart rejoices over you, just as God rejoices over those people who bear living and intelligent fruit, and makes them heirs and participants in His gifts. On the contrary, those people whose fruits are dead will not be partakers of His gifts. He will convict them of unrighteousness, as He once commanded the prophet to convict the Jews of their iniquities. “Cry out loudly,” He said to the prophet, “and have no mercy; Like a trumpet, lift up your voice, and tell my people their sins and the house of Jacob their iniquities. They seek Me day by day and desire to understand My ways, as if people have created righteousness and have not forsaken the judgments of their God: they now ask Me for righteous judgment and desire to draw closer to the Lord, saying: Why have we been silent and have not seen? have we humbled our souls, and havest thou not led us away? In the days of your fastings you find your wills, and all your helpers languish. Do you fast in trials and quarrels and beat the humble with your metacarpals, fasting to Me as I did today, when I heard your voice cry out? I did not choose this fasting, and the day is to humble a person’s soul: even if you wear a cloak like your sickle, and put on sackcloth and ashes, then you will call the fast pleasant. This is not the fast I have chosen, says the Lord (Isa. 58:1-6). My children, the sins described here are dead fruits. God does not pay attention to the prayers of those people who commit these sins. He will expose them to their lies. And the Holy Gospel tells us the following words about human sins: if there is darkness in the light, then how much darkness is there? (Matthew 6:23). Likewise, the prophet on behalf of God says: all your righteousness is before Me, like a harbor of uncleanness (Isa. 64:6). So, my beloved children, knowing what dead fruits are, beware of growing them, lest they harm your living and intelligent fruits. I earnestly pray to God for you, that He will protect your fruits from damage, multiply them both for your own benefit and joy, and for the benefit of your brothers and poor people, and continually perfect your holy virtues and true fruits, until you move from this dwelling to that place where there is no sickness, no sorrow, no evil, but where there is joy, gladness, glory, crowns, pure fruits, the council of saints, eternal inheritance and other blessings which the eye has not seen, the ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man (1 Cor. 2:9). My blessed children, I wish that your constant and heartfelt performance of the works of the Lord will correspond to my prayers for you and my great love for you. Moreover, I ask the Lord that in this dangerous time He would strengthen you with His grace, preserve your whole body, soul and spirit, give you His wisdom, protect you from all the deceptions of this age, give you peace and joy and remove you from those disastrous and dead fruits, the seed of which is vanity and bodily laziness. May the peace of Jesus Christ our Lord, whose glory be eternal, dwell in you all. Amen. Letter sixteen. That the holy people mentioned in the Old and New Testaments showed deep humility before God in all their deeds and that we should imitate them My beloved children, I want to tell you a little about the life of the holy and righteous fathers, whom God exalted for their humility and constant remembrance of their former poverty. He gave them glory and wealth because they humbled themselves with all their hearts before He exalted them. I will first tell you about the father of fathers Abraham, whom God raised from poverty to wealth, from obscurity to glory. However, this wealth and glory were earthly. Having become rich and famous, Abraham did not forget his poverty, but lived in tents, in which Isaac and Jacob imitated him. Abraham, although he had great wealth, such as gold, silver, slaves, female slaves and cattle, and could build himself huge chambers everywhere, but, knowing that if he always remembered his former poverty, he would never forget the great benefits shown to him by God, he did not build himself a rich house, but lived in tents. As a reward for this humility, God Himself appeared to him with two Angels when he was sitting at the Oak of Mamre. When Abraham wanted to treat our Lord and His Angels, so as not to forget the blessings of God shown to him for his humility and poverty, he did not order any of his servants to do what was necessary to treat the visitors - but he himself, in his extreme old age, already more than a hundred years old, went to his herds, brought a calf and slaughtered it, he himself hastily went to Sarah and ordered her to take three measures of pure flour, knead it and make pies, while his male and female slaves were ready to carry out his orders. Then, when he served food to his guests, he himself served them, like a poor man who has no slaves. The Lord, seeing his humility, revealed Himself to him, fulfilled his desire to have a son and said to him: I will come back to you at this time at this hour, and your wife Sarah will give birth to a son (Gen. 18:10). This prediction was fulfilled, and Abraham had a son, Isaac. Isaac was very rich, but in his heart he was poor, so that the inhabitants of the land of Canaan consoled him as if he were poor; but he did not quarrel with them, and therefore his wealth increased more than their wealth. In the same way, Jacob, having received a blessing from his father Isaac and intending to go to Mesopotamia, did not take anything from his father’s wealth, but went poor, with only a staff and food needed on the way. During the journey, when he went to bed, he put a stone under his head. For this humility and arbitrary poverty, God enriched him more and more in the house of his uncle Laban. Wanting to return to his father’s house, Jacob, although he was already rich, did not forget his former poverty, but always loved it and remembered it. The Jordan passed away with this rod, he said to God, returning to his fatherland, but now he fled into two regiments (Gen. 32:10). He loved poverty until his death. At the time of his death, leaning on the end of his staff, he said to his children around him: “My children, seeing the great wealth you have, do not forget your former poverty.” He always carried a staff in his hand, so that, seeing his great wealth, he would not become proud of it and would always remember the slavery in which he was in the house of his uncle Laban, for he then tended his flocks and carried a staff in his hand. In the same way, Joseph, reigning over Egypt, did not forget himself and was not ashamed to reveal to Pharaoh that his brothers tended the flocks. If Pharaoh calls you, he said to his brothers, and says to you: What is your business? Say: We are men who feed cattle, your servants, from childhood even to this day (Genesis 46:33–34). Joseph did this so as not to become proud before Pharaoh. The kingdom and wealth did not blind him so much that he could forget about his former insignificance and poverty. In the same way, Moses, the greatest of the prophets, being adopted by the daughter of Pharaoh and having all the Egyptian treasures in his power, did not forget his brothers descended from Abraham, whom God exalted for his humility and poverty. Moses decided to lead the same life that they led: he left Egypt and was a stranger in the land of Midian for forty years. There he tended sheep and carried his food on himself - bread and water. God, seeing his great humility, finally said to him: Come, that I may send you to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of the land of Egypt (Ex. 3:10). Moses spoke to the Lord: I pray to You, Lord, choose another who is mighty after him... I am unkind... I am weak-voiced and tongue-tied (Exodus 4:13, 10). Although Moses angered the Lord with these words, he said them because he despised himself, did not want the honor that God bestowed upon him, and deeply humbled himself before Him. God turned the very rod of Moses for him as a sign so that he would not forget his poverty, but so that he would thank his Benefactor. God ordered Moses to perform miracles with the rod he carried in his hand. Thus, Moses performed all the miracles by the power of God through his rod, which, moreover, reminded him of his poverty. With his rod he divided the sea, with his rod he performed all the miracles in Egypt. The sea has never been divided before. It seems that he then had to split up and open a place for the Israelites to cross, when a pillar of fire appeared before him, preceding the people of Israel, but that did not happen. God commanded Moses to divide the sea with the rod that he had in his hand, so that if during this miracle Moses’ heart became proud because the sea was afraid of him, Moses, looking at the rod in his hand, should have remembered that this is the same rod with which he once tended sheep in the desert, when he was a stranger and poor in the land of Midian and when he had no glory. The rod brought Moses twofold benefit: firstly, it showed the glory of Moses, because with this rod he performed many miracles; secondly, he reminded him of his former poverty, so that he would not be proud in his heart, but would say: the power with which I perform miracles is not mine, but the Lord’s. And Deborah also did not become proud at all when she received from God the power to rule the whole people. She remembered her female gender and knew that the head was her husband. Therefore, when she set out to defeat Sisera, she called Barak and gave him the power to lead troops to war to attack Sisera. And Saint Barak was not blinded by the honor offered to him and did not forget that victory over enemies depends on God, but said to Devorah: if you go with me, I will go (Judges 4:8). He knew that the Lord was with her and that He had given her the strength to defeat the enemy. Deborah answered Barak: “If I go with you, then the glory of victory will not belong to you, but afterwards they will say that Sisera was delivered into the hands of a woman.” My children, let us pay attention to the humility and modesty of Deborah and Barak. Deborah could have said, “The Lord gives me the glory of victory; I won’t give it to anyone,” but she loved humility and remembered her female state. In the same way, Barak, having received power from Deborah, could go to war alone, so that afterward he alone would have the glory of victory and he could say: “I defeated Sisera,” but he also loved humility in order to receive Divine help through it. Gideon also did not become proud when the Angel of the Lord said to him: “Behold, I am sending you to defeat the king of Midian.” Gideon remembered his unworthiness and, in order to protect himself from pride, confessed his powerlessness to the Angel and said to him: “Lord, may Your power be with me, so that I can deliver Israel from slavery; This people is oppressed, and I am the youngest in my father’s house, which belongs to the tribe of Manasseh.” Although the Angel said to him: “Go, I will be with you,” yet Gideon, in the humility of his heart, did not become careless, but asked the Angel for a sign that would show the necessity and truthfulness of the duty assigned to him, because he considered himself unworthy of the honor of being the leader of Israel. Therefore, with the help and assistance of God, he defeated Midian, and despite this, afterward he always remembered his former poverty and moved away from pride. When the Israelites asked him to take power over them, he humbly answered them: I will not prevail over you, neither will my son prevail over you: let the Lord rule over you (Judges 8:23). Thus, Gideon did not accept power and was not seduced by the honor offered to him. Anna, the mother of the prophet Samuel, every year brought him to the church clothes that her condition allowed her to sew; but it is known that the church did not require that the mother of the prophet living at the church bring him clothes sewn with her own income. Anna did this so that Samuel, having lived at the church from infancy and having received some revelations here, would not think of himself that he was already an Angel or Heavenly Power. She brought him clothes every year so that he would know whose son he was and remember his origins and ignorance. Anna herself was meek and humble. Likewise, David was meek and humble. Beloved, let us try, like them, to be meek and humble. David in his prayer to God said about himself: remember, O Lord, David and all his meekness (Ps. 132:1). When he tended his father's sheep, God preferred him to all his brothers and chose him as king to the people of Israel. When he wanted to fight Goliath, he took three stones from the stream, put them in his bag, also took his staff, with which he tended the sheep, went out against the giant Goliath, struck and, with the help of God, defeated him. For this he was taken to the court of Saul and was there in great honor. Despite this, he did not throw away his staff and bag, but kept them with him in order to both maintain humility and leave us an example for our instruction. Finally, being anointed with oil and becoming a king, he did not forget his former poverty and ignorance and was not at all proud. Lord, he said in his prayer to God, my heart has not been lifted up, but my eyes have been lifted lower: lower we walk in the great, lower in the wondrous than me. Even if I did not humble myself, but lifted up my soul, like what was given to my mother, so reward my soul (Ps. 131:1-2). David wrote this psalm when he was already a king. He did not forget his poverty, but said: little among my brethren and a youth in my father’s house, he tended my father’s sheep (Ps. 152:1). With these words he teaches the whole world meekness and humility. And the prophet Elijah, having performed many miracles and, finally, ascending to heaven into paradise, did not leave his mantle, so that his heart would not become proud of the many miracles that he did. He threw his mantle to his disciple Elisha already when he ascended high on a fiery chariot. Elijah girded himself with a leather belt in order to remember his poverty and, at the sight of his belt, not to forget humility. Our apostle fathers, accompanying our Lord Jesus Christ everywhere, always also remembered their poverty. For example, when in Capernaum they demanded a tax from our Lord, He said to the Supreme Apostle Peter: when you go to the sea, cast a line, and if you first have a fish, take it and open its mouth, and you will find a statir: give it to them for Me and for you (Matthew 17:27). My children, look, the Apostle Peter did not refuse to throw his hook into the sea, so as not to forget his poverty and humility, and our Lord with that intention gave Peter this order to teach us humility and show us how we should shame the devil and quench his fiery arrows. Not only did the saints we mentioned not forget their unworthiness and poverty, but our Lord Himself called Himself the son of David and said about Himself: The Son of man did not come and let them serve Him, but serve (Matthew 30:28). When the evil spirits, expelled by Him from people, said to Him: You are the Christ the Son of God, then He forbade them to say this (Luke 4:41). Also, having healed the leper, He said to him: watch out for the gods of no one (Mark 1:44). Our Lord humbled himself for us. He did not need to be afraid of pride and vanity, because He could reveal His Divinity wherever He pleased, but with His humility He taught us humility, so that we would imitate Him and not be proud. For it is known that no one can have true humility of heart if his soul does not look at the Lord as an image of perfect humility. My children, many, apparently have humility, but it is not true and heartfelt: they seem humble only in appearance before people, but not before God. The glory of true humility cannot be acquired either with gold, or silver, or copper; it cannot be replaced either by approaching the king of the earth, or by respect from military leaders and his troops. They tell us about our holy and righteous fathers that they tried more and more to humble themselves when they were worthy to see the Lord. This is how it is told about Job that he, seeing the Lord in the storm and clouds (Job 38:1), seeing Him with the open eyes of his heart and speaking with Him, called himself dust and ashes and repented that he had spoken with the Lord. “I am worthless,” Job said afterward, “I will put my hand on my lips.” I will use only one verb, but I will not add a second one (Job 39:34–35). In the same way, the prophet Isaiah at first denounced the people of Israel for their sins, but afterward, when he saw the Lord of Hosts and the Seraphim standing near Him, he began to humble himself more than before. O accursed one, said Isaiah, as a man of unclean speech, I have seen the King of the Lord of Hosts before my eyes (Isa. 6:5). And the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ first ate and drank with Him and were not afraid to speak with Him, but when He was transfigured on Mount Tabor and when the appearance of His clothing changed, they fell on their faces, recognizing their unworthiness and poverty, and saw that they meant nothing in the glory of the Lord Jesus. Many other similar examples can be given that the saints were much more humble when they were worthy to see the glory of the Lord. But even that one action that our Lord performed in the reasoning of His disciples before His suffering reveals to us quite clearly that the soul in this world can have true humility if it only looks at its future glory from afar. For the Holy Gospel says that our Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that the Father had given everything into His hands, rose from supper, took off His outer garment, and, taking a towel, girded Himself. Then he poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel with which he was girded. The Lord did this to the disciples because they already loved humility. Beloved in the Lord, when you too are worthy to see the glory of the Lord and recognize the inheritance that is prepared for you in heaven, do not desire to gain glory from people, but constantly remain in deep humility and do not move from one place to another in order to gain glory from people, because then you will forget your former unworthiness. I see that some of the monks try to gain fame from people, so that when they receive it in one society of monks, they move to another in order to receive it there too. Know, my children, that this is bad, and do not move from one society of monks to another in order to gain only glory from people, but be simple in heart, like children, and imitate those two disciples of John the Baptist, who until then did not leave him and did not seek glory from another teacher, until they learned from the testimony of John that the Lord Jesus Christ was greater than John. Then they already followed Jesus Christ and, like children, became His disciples. You always do the same when you want to move to another mentor who is greater than your first mentor. Then the words of Scripture will be fulfilled on you: your youth will be renewed like an eagle (Ps. 102:5). My children, admit to everyone that you are sinners, and mourn yourselves when you do something bad. After this, the power of the Lord will dwell and act in you, because the Lord is Merciful: He forgives the sins of those people who turn to Him and does not remember them. But He wants people themselves to remember their sins, not to forget them, and to try to give an account of them, although they have already been forgiven them. You know what happened to that slave to whom the master forgave his debt, which consisted of talents. When he forgot the mercy of his master and treated his comrade cruelly, the master again demanded from him the debt, which he had previously forgiven him, because this servant had no compassion for his comrade and did not want to forgive him one hundred denarii, which was a very small amount in comparison with the one that was forgiven to him (Matthew 18:23 ff.). Moses also commanded his people that, having settled in the land of Canaan, they should not forget their former sins. And it shall come to pass, Moses said to the people, when the Lord thy God bringeth thee into the land, thou shalt go in there to inherit it (Deut. 7:1); Take heed to yourself, and do not forget the Lord your God, lest you keep His commandments and destiny and His justification, lest you be filled with food and build good houses and dwell in yourself, exalting yourself in your heart, and forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of work: who led you through the great desert (Deut. 8:11–12, 14–15). Remember, do not forget, how much you angered the Lord your God in the wilderness (Deut. 9:7). This is said, my children, for our instruction, because we were in Egypt for a long time, that is, in sin, to which we voluntarily enslaved ourselves. So, let us try to enter the land promised to us and, having entered it, let us not forget our slavery, but let us remember it, so as not to become ungrateful to God. Not only Moses teaches us this, but also other prophets tell us not to forget our sins, which are forgiven to us and forgotten by God, but to always remember them and humble ourselves before God, like people burdened with debts to their creditors. Look at the prophet David: when he fell into lawlessness with the wife of Uriah and was convicted by the prophet Nathan of both this crime and the fact that he had killed her husband, then, having heard the reproof, he immediately humbled himself and began to repent. Therefore Nathan said to him: The Lord has taken away your sin (2 Samuel 12:13). David, having received forgiveness of his sin, remembered it and left the memory of it in posterity, so that everyone would know about it from one generation to the next. Having received forgiveness, he said to the Lord: I will teach the wicked in Your way, and the wicked will turn to You (Ps. 50:15). From these words of David, all sinners should learn to repent of their sins following his example. They must never forget the sins that are forgiven them, but must remember them. About this God, through the prophet Isaiah, said this: I am, I am, who atone for your iniquities for my sake, and your sins, and I will not remember, but remember, that you may be justified (Is. 43:25-26). So, a sinner must not forget his sins when God forgives them, but must remember them in order to be justified before God. In a similar way, God speaks through the prophet Jeremiah: turn to Me, the house of Israel, and I will not set My face against you, for I am merciful, and I will not be angry with you forever. Moreover, know your iniquity, for you have transgressed against the Lord your God (Jer. 3:12–13). And we, my children, should not forgive ourselves our sins when God forgives them to us, but by constant repentance we should renew them in memory. That is why John the Baptist, baptizing the Jews who came to him and forgiving their sins, said: “Having received the forgiveness of sins, do not be careless, but produce fruits worthy of repentance. Even the ax lies at the root of the tree: every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Luke 3:8-9). I remind you of this, beloved, because I know your great virtues and protect you from weakening, so that your light is not darkened, but so that your fruits multiply according to the angelic image in which you are clothed. Remember the man who, having found treasure hidden in a field, sold all his possessions and bought that field (Matthew 13:44). Your virtues, beloved in the Lord, are known to everyone; but do not think about this, so as not to become proud, but with humility remember your former unworthiness and poverty. Then you will not be subject to vanity. When Moses was glorified by God, then, because of humility and meekness, he did not seem to know about the light that came from his face, but the people saw this and were afraid of his gaze, which is why Moses covered his face. If you, my beloved, do not cleave to the objects of this fickle world, which is the dwelling of the dead, since the holy people I mentioned did not cleave to them, then be sure that you will receive a reward from God in the land of the living. So, do not be anxious, my blessed children, to please the people who live in the region of the dead, otherwise you will not be pleasing to God in the region of the living. If you receive forgiveness from God for your sins, then do not forget yourself, so that the fruits of your repentance do not become useless for you, but imitate the teacher of the universe, the Apostle Paul, who, having been worthy of seeing God who appeared to him and hearing His voice, did not forget himself and remembered his former foolishness, already forgotten by the Merciful God, but openly said: persecute the church of God (1 Cor. 15:9). He has other similar confessions. May our Lord Jesus Christ keep you in obedience to Him. Amen. Letter seventeen. That for spiritual contemplation of the Lord and transformation into the glory of the Lord one must reach the measure of the age of Christ, mortify oneself and love solitude You should know, my children, that one cannot yet be called a pious person who constantly performs only one virtue, although this fulfillment is not contrary to piety. If the head of any virtue depends on the totality of all virtues or on the fullness of piety, then many do not have it. He who wants to have perfect piety must not be subject to any vice. Anyone who is subject to any vice is far from perfect. A person is perfect when he can say with the apostle: I am free from everyone, having made myself a slave to everyone, so that I may gain abundance (1 Cor. 9:19). These words were spoken by the apostle when he was free from sin and did not feel the weight of the crime that had already been forgiven him. When he became free from sin and could no longer fear it, he tried to free others from it, who were enslaved to him and could not free themselves from it, because they did not have the strength and courage in themselves that could say about sins: let us break their bonds and cast away their yoke from us (Ps. 2:3). After the Apostle Paul was worthy to see our Lord Jesus Christ, he achieved perfection and began to help weak people so that they would strive for their intended goal and also achieve perfection. He worked in this matter with the greatest humility, following the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who, in His deep humility, clothed His Divinity in humanity and took on the image of a man, while He was not only Man, but also God incarnate, as it is written about this in the Gospel: and the Word became flesh, and dwelt in us (John 1:14). The Apostle Paul, having achieved perfection by fulfilling those commandments that were given to him by the Lord, said with humility: I was... lawless as one who is lawless, not a lawless one to God, but a lawyer to Christ, that I might gain the lawless (1 Cor. 9:21). The Apostle, having become, as it were, a lawless man for the lawless, did not thereby lose his spiritual perfection, just as our Lord, having taken upon Himself humanity, did not thereby lose His Divinity, which necessarily belonged to Him. He has always been God, as it is said in the Gospel: The Word became flesh and dwelt in us (John 1:14). So, the Apostle Paul maintained his spiritual perfection because he was free from all sins and, being completely devoted to God, was not carried away by any sensual desires. He was freed from sins when he was worthy to see the Lord Jesus Christ appear to him. After this incident, he immediately began to fulfill the commandments of the Lord and became extremely humble. In the same way, every person, if he fulfills the commandments, will come to know the truth. The truth frees him and protects him from all sin, as it happened with the Apostle Paul. Our Divine Liberator freed him, so that the apostle said about himself: is there no freedom? Haven't you seen Jesus Christ our Lord? (1 Cor. 9:1). Many, out of their stupidity, say: we saw the Lord Jesus Christ, as the apostles saw Him. But, my children, these people are being deceived. They do not have the kind of eyes with which one can see the Lord in the same way as the apostle saw Him. The Apostle Paul saw the Lord in the same way as the other apostles saw Him, who accompanied Him and believed in Him when He walked through Judea, surrounded by people who saw Him simply as a Man. But when a certain woman, suffering from bleeding, saw Him with the eyes of her heart and was convinced that He was God, and with faith touched the hem of His robe, she was healed. Jesus Christ asked then: who is it that touched Me? He asked about this not because he did not know that a woman had touched him, but because he wanted to reveal her faith to everyone. Peter answered him: Master, the people will conquer and oppress You, and say: Who is it that touched Me? When the woman herself confessed to Him that by touching His clothes she was completely healed, the Lord said to her: Your faith has saved you; go in peace (Luke 8:45,48). Pilate, Anna, and Caiaphas saw the Lord, but they saw Him like the people who saw Him not with the eyes of faith, as the apostles saw Him, and therefore Pilate, Anna and Caiaphas did not receive any benefit from seeing Him. But the Apostle Paul saw Him with the eyes of his heart and the eyes of firm faith, just as the woman who suffered from bleeding saw Him, touched Him with faith and was healed. Just as the Apostle Paul saw our Lord Jesus Christ after His suffering, resurrection and ascension into heaven and received from Him liberation from sins, so every person freed from his passions will see the Lord with the eyes of faith and be freed from sins, but with his bodily eyes he will not see that brilliant light that the Apostle Paul saw. People who think that they have seen the Lord deceive themselves, cannot receive the bread of life, because the eyes of their hearts are darkened; they do not please God, whom all saints worship in their hearts and whom they contemplate with the eyes of faith. Only to such worshipers and others like them does God reveal Himself - because they are free from passions. The Scripture says about the prophet Isaiah that the Lord stopped appearing to him and forbade him to prophesy because he did not expose King Hosea of ​​his untruth. But after the death of Hosea, the Angel of the Lord appeared to Isaiah and cleansed him with hot coals, which were taken with tongs from the altar. So, you should know that when the kingdom of sin is destroyed in a person, God appears to his soul and cleanses everything along with his body. But if sin reigns in the body, then a person cannot see God, because his soul is in darkness and there is no light in it by which it could see God. David says: in Your light we will see light (Ps. 35:10). What kind of light is it in which we can see light? This is the light that our Lord Jesus Christ mentions in the Gospel (Luke 11:35–36) and which he commands to keep within himself, so that the whole person will be bright and there will not be a single dark part in him. Our Lord said: no one knows the Father, but the Son, and whom the Son wills to reveal (Matthew 11:27). But the Son, my children, does not reveal His Father to the sons of darkness, but to the sons of light, who remain in the light and whose eyes of heart are illuminated by the knowledge of His commandments. To see the glory of the invisible God, we must imitate the great prophet Moses. Although he was the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he decided to suffer with the people of God (Heb. 11:25), and cast off his shameful slavery. Previously, being in slavery, he was not worthy to see God, but, freed from the slavery of Pharaoh and becoming completely free, he was worthy to see a burning but unburnt thorn bush. This vision was very important. It contained three parts: the beginning, the middle and the end. Just as Moses, in order to accomplish the work of God, contrary to the will of Pharaoh, had to withdraw from Pharaoh in the fortieth year of his life, leave Egypt and spend a solitary life in the desert of Midian, or, as the meaning of this word shows, in the desert of the place of God, so the human mind, in order to accept the power of God into itself, must remove itself from the multitude of objects surrounding it and retire into itself. Then God will strengthen him so that he will correctly seek and find everything Divine. Then he will see the Divinity of the Lord, the greatness of His power and His radiance in creatures. The beginning of Moses’ wonderful vision consisted in the fact that he only saw from afar a burning but unburnt thorn bush. This first vision was still imperfect and unimportant. Moses wanted to approach the bush and said: as I pass by I will see this great vision (Ex. 3:3). As he approached, he heard a voice from the bush and was honored to speak with God. The end of the vision was that Moses, after finishing his conversation with God and performing miracles at the thorn bush, became humble before God. You should know, my children, that all the sensory manifestations of God show people only imperfections and the inability to see God openly, as in a mirror (2 Cor. 3:18), but those people who have achieved perfection have their heart eyes opened, with which they can calmly and easily look at the abundant spiritual light, because in the spiritual eyes of people who have perfected themselves in virtue, there is no darkness of sin. If this darkness is in a person’s heart, then it does not allow him to see as people who have perfected themselves in virtue see, and as the Apostle Paul and others like him saw. We behold the glory of the Lord with revealed face, says the apostle, and we are transformed into the same image from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18). Moses was not transformed in any sensual way, but was transformed by a spiritual transformation. He saw a burning but unburnt thorn bush and was honored to speak with God. This wonderful vision is an image of an incomprehensible mystery. This vision means that transformation from glory to glory, from faith to faith, from imperfection to perfection, which the Apostle Paul mentions. This transformation brings us closer to the Lord and makes us able to see and know His power. For God, through the mouth of His prophet, said: “Those who come to Me will know My power” (Ps. 33:6). So, whoever draws close to the Lord will know His power; but in the soul of one who has not yet approached the Lord, the wicked, that is, the devil, dwells and rises in it like the cedar of Lebanon. The prophet David reveals this to us. I saw, he says, the wicked exalting himself and towering like the cedars of Lebanon: and he died, and behold, he was not, and he sought him, and his place was not found (Ps. 37:35-36). David did not find the wicked man or his place, because he sought the knowledge of God. In the same way, every person who tries to know God will never see the wicked in himself. The word spoken by David: and I passed by, has similarities with his following words spoken in another psalm: I will go to the place of the wondrous settlement, even to the house of God (Ps. 42:5). This passage means spiritual success in virtue, and the prophet with these words shows his intention to be spiritually perfect, because before his life’s path was far from God. Do not be surprised, my children, that the path of our life is far from God. We are still in spiritual adolescence. We must remember what was said to the great prophet Elijah. Arise, he was told, eat and drink, and be strong, for the road ahead is long for you (1 Kings 19:7). About this long journey the prophet David said: who will give me wings like a dove? and I will fly and rest (Ps 54:7). From these words of the prophet we must see that our life is filled with sorrow and the path that we must go through is difficult. So, we must follow this path not with laziness, carelessness and absent-mindedness, but with great caution and constancy. The teacher of the whole world, the Apostle Paul, advises us that we constantly continue our path in order to achieve our intended goal. He says about himself that to achieve this goal he killed his body and enslaved him (1 Cor. 9:27). So, my children, we will constantly continue our path while, being in this body, we still have time to do so. In this way we will achieve perfection, as the holy Apostle Paul achieved it, who said about himself: I have fought the good fight, I have finished my life, I have kept the faith: and so I will be kept a crown of righteousness (2 Tim. 4:7-8). When the Apostle Paul reached perfection, while still in his body, he wanted to leave it and therefore said: for me to live, Christ, and to die, there is gain. Even if I live with my body, this is the fruit of my work: and I do not know what I want. Let us restrain from both our desire to be resolved and to be with Christ; it is much better: but to remain in the flesh, it is most necessary to eat for your sake. And we know this, for I will and will remain with you all in your success and joy of faith, for your praise abounds in Christ Jesus in me, by my coming again to you. Live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ (Phil. 1:21–27). And you, my children, live according to the example of the Apostle Paul, because whoever lives carelessly and carelessly suffers death before he reaches perfection in Christ. Solomon assures us of this, who says in his parables that the wicked lose their lives before they turn to the fear of God (Eccl. 7:18). It so happened to King Hezekiah that the approach of his death was announced to him when he had not yet prepared for it. Therefore, he turned to the Lord in repentance and begged Him to prolong his days, in order to become more strengthened in piety. After the years given to him, when he had achieved great perfection in the service of God, his death followed (Isa. 33). You should also know that just as the body, while the soul is in it, goes through three states: adolescence, manhood and senility, so the soul, while in the body, successively has three states - that is, the state of faith being born, perfected and perfected. When faith begins in the soul, then a person is born spiritually, as the Gospel says about this. The Apostle John, in order to show us all three states of the soul - that is, the state of faith that is born, strengthened and strengthened - says this in his epistle: I write to you, young men - I write to you, children... I write to you, fathers (1 John 2:13-14). He wrote this message to believers who were of a threefold state and who had a need for verbal milk and strived for perfection in order to receive grace from God. And the prophet David knew that the soul here on earth has different degrees of perfection. Being already in old age, he did not yet want to be separated from the body, because he had not yet reached spiritual adulthood. Do not lead me, so he prayed to the Lord, at the end of my days (Ps. 101:25). He feared that the Lord would not take him to Himself, not because the days of his earthly life were still few, but because the days of his spiritual life had not yet been fulfilled. With words at the end of my days, he shows his fear that his soul would not be taken from him before the fulfillment of its spiritual days and that death would not befall him when he had not yet reached perfection. It is said of Abraham that he was old and full of spiritual days (Gen. 25:8). In a similar way, all the New Testament saints killed and enslaved their bodies and, having reached old age, together achieved perfection in piety. Look, my children, at Daniel. He was young in years, but old in mind; on the contrary, those two elders who accused Susanna, although they were abundant in the years of their lives, were in their deeds like youths, because they were carried away by youthful passions. Daniel clearly convicted them of a crime unbecoming of their old age, and of the lawless accusation of the holy, righteous and chaste Susanna and said to them: worn out by evil days and so on (Dan. 13:52). He who loves piety must imitate the chastity and purity of Joseph, engage in pious thoughts, strengthen himself and arm himself against all the strong sensual desires that the cunning enemy produces in us, must try to be able to say to him along with Job: all my strength is destroyed in my loins (Job 40:11). My children, whoever wants to have strength in the fight against sensual desires born from excess food and drink must arm himself with the word of God in order to gird his loins with purity. Gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty one, says the psalm (Ps. 44:4). These words show that the word of God, by which purity is acquired, is a two-edged sword, as the apostle says (Heb. 4:12). This sword, without a doubt, can cut off all impure desires from the human soul. The angel who wrestled with Jacob touched the joint of his thigh, so that the thigh was damaged and his whole body became weak. Jacob after this is called Israel, that is, seeing God. And we, children, must weaken our body, but weaken it wisely and prudently: in order to simultaneously weaken and extinguish sensual desires in ourselves, because weakening perfects the virtue of chastity in us. That is why the apostle says: when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Cor. 12:10). And the prophet David boasted about this weakness. There is no healing in my flesh, he said (Ps. 39:4). These words of the prophet show that he weakened his body very much in order to receive salvation, which is no longer weakness and illness, but strength and health, because with the weakening of the body the soul is strengthened. So, let us wisely and prudently weaken our body in order to gain spiritual strength. If we mortify and enslave our body to the soul, then with this mortification and enslavement of the body, carnal thoughts that are hostile to God will also be mortified; our soul will be enlightened and become the church of God. Whoever strives to be clean in all members of his body, who is truly pious and shuns everything that defiles the body, he can say with David: all my bones say: Lord, Lord, who is like You? (Ps. 34:10). Such a person curbs all his feelings, does not allow them to dominate him, and places the yoke of the Lord on them. He does not allow his eyes to turn to evil, does not look at a woman with lust (Matthew 5:28), does not turn his ears to slander, to the suggestions of the devil and to all his thoughts that he puts into his soul - and therefore the famous words are fulfilled on him: “His hearing never turns to empty words.” On the contrary, he is always attentive to the saving instructions of Jesus Christ and brings with him a pleasant fragrance to Him. He places a seal of silence on his lips and does not allow them to utter foolish words. He turns his hands to works of mercy and truth. His feet do not walk to shed blood, but to fulfill the commandment of the Lord: if anyone understands you by strength in one race, go with him two (Matthew 5:41). He pays attention to his belly and chest, so that they do not humiliate him to the ground and so that he does not walk on the earth on his belly and chest, like a serpent. This, brethren, is the life of a pious man. But about the wicked people who hurry to drink wine early in the morning, the prophet says this: drinking strained wine, and being the first to smell the stench. They sleep on their beds of ivory bones, and are kind in their beds, they eat the goats of the flock, and the bulls are fed with milk from the midst of the flocks (Amos 6:6, 4). These people consider themselves wise, while they are enemies of wisdom and are like serpents, because the serpent is their teacher. They crawl on the earth on their bellies and breasts, considering themselves wise and experienced in explaining Scripture, while they form the breast of the serpent and pervert the meaning of Scripture. You must know, my children, that the people mentioned by the prophet are transgressors of the true faith and teaching. They introduce false teaching into the Divine faith and oppose constant and true truths with fickle and incorrect opinions. Claiming that the Creator of creatures was created, they do not know that God created everything with His Word, as the Evangelist John says: in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. All things were made by Him, and without Him nothing came into being (John 1:1, 3) So, if it is true that everything was created by the Word: both heavenly and earthly, both visible and invisible, as a true witness testifies to this, then is it not impudent to say that the Word, after being united with the body, became a creature, because the body with which It was united was created? The heart of those people who say this lies in the heart of the serpent, or, better said, the serpent dwells in their belly and heart. But those people, my children, who have raised their minds from earth to heaven and contemplate there Jesus Christ sitting at the right hand of God, and who do not want to satisfy the evil desires of their womb, are pleasing to our Lord Jesus Christ, and He will present them to His Father as a kind of treasure. Knowing all this, my beloved, each of us who wants to be pious must move away from worldly noise, so that in body, heart, and mind we can be free from the vanity that is usually found between people. Our Lord showed us in Himself an example of this solitude when He alone went up the mountain to pray. In solitude, in the desert, He defeated the devil, who tempted Him. He could defeat him while living among people, but he defeated him in solitude in order to show us that in solitude we can more easily defeat our spiritual enemy and achieve perfection. Our Lord also did not reveal His glory to His disciples before people, but, having removed them from people, He ascended the mountain with them and there showed them His glory. And John the Baptist lived in the desert before he appeared to Israel. So, you, my children, should know that when we live in peace between people, our enemy attacks us with both internal and external weapons; As a weapon of his hatred towards us, he uses against us the very people who obey him, and with their help he arms himself against the faithful. Thus, a vicious woman who shamelessly spreads her wings to ensnare others is the surest weapon for our enemy. The Supreme Apostle Peter also shows us the benefits of solitude. When he was in solitude, he saw the open sky, the tablecloth descending towards him and heard the voice of God, after which the tablecloth was soon taken up to heaven again (Acts 10:11-17). In the same way, the prophet Ezekiel, when he saw the animals, each of which had four faces to signify the glory of God, was not in a city or in some village, but in a field, because God ordered him to go out there and showed him His glory there. In a word, Divine visions and appearances to saints always happened on the mountains and in the deserts. The Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews says this about these holy people and their pious way of life: the whole world is not worthy of them, wandering in the deserts and in the mountains and in dens and in the pits of the earth (Heb. 11:38). The prophet Jeremiah, knowing that solitude is pleasing to God, speaks about it this way: it is good for a man who has taken the yoke in his youth: he will sit alone and be silent (Lam. 3:27–28). This prophet, seeing that the vicious deeds of people prevent pious people from freely serving God, says this: who will give me the last vital place in the desert; and will I leave my people and go away from them? (Jer. 9:2). So, my children, learn the benefits of solitude. Our Lord often retired into solitude and showed Himself an example of love for solitude. The prophet David speaks to God about solitude: You, Lord, have given me the only hope (Ps. 4:9). And the prophet Elijah received spiritual food from the Angels not among a large crowd, not in some city or village, but in the desert. All the extraordinary incidents that happened to the saints in the deserts are described and handed down to us for our instruction, so that we too would imitate them and love solitude, which brings us closer to the Lord, makes us perfect and gives us spiritual consolation. Those people who seclude themselves and love humility with all their hearts and with all their strength receive more glory and respect than those living in cities and villages. So, my beloved children in the Lord, try as you should to establish yourself in solitude. It will make you worthy to see God, to see Him in a spiritual way, by the grace of our Lord and our God Jesus Christ, the eternal Word, who quickens our souls and our bodies. His glory is eternal. Amen. Letter eighteen. That the deceits of evil spirits are manifold, that to protect oneself from them one needs spiritual vigilance and imitation of saints Know, my beloved children, that in the beginning, when the human soul deviated from fulfilling the commandments of God, disobedience to God appeared in the world, and for disobedience all souls began to move to hell, as the Apostle Paul says about this: in Adam all die (1 Cor. 15:22). But God the Word, having mercy on us, in an incomprehensible way incarnated among us, fulfilled the entire work of our salvation, descended into hell, captured it, brought out all the souls that were kept there, freed them from the power of the devil until the Last Day and the Last Judgment of those of them who were obedient to God and fulfilled His commandments, and ascended to heaven, where paradise is located. The reason for their ascension to heaven was the invisible fire that burned within them, that is, the warmth of their good deeds. I don’t want to tell you simply about the ascension of the soul to heaven, but I will also explain to you what the soul in which the Divine Fire is located is like. She is like a bird having two wings, by means of which she flies and rises into the air. Of all creatures, only birds have wings. The wings of a soul submissive to the Lord, with which it can fly to Heaven, consist in the power of the fire of God. If the soul does not have the wings characteristic of it, it will not have the ability to rise to heaven, because it will not have Divine fire and will be like a bird that does not have wings and cannot fly. Moreover, the human soul is like a bird because both of them receive life through warmth. If the bird did not warm its eggs with its warmth, it could not produce chicks, because they receive their life only through warmth. This is shown to us in the Holy Gospel with these words: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, having beaten the prophets and stoned those who were sent to you, your fellow children were delighted, just as your chicks gather kokosh under the wing (Matthew 23:37). So, my children, having recognized the similarity between a soul devoted and submissive to God, and between a bird that receives and preserves its life only through warmth, beware lest you lose Divine warmth, because the devil uses great efforts to deprive you of this fire given to you by God. The devil knows that he cannot defeat you as long as this fire remains in you. So, resist him and try to learn his tricks. In order not to appear before you in his own form, he hides his hatred of you under the guise of love and shows you various pleasant ghosts, which, without a doubt, are not such that with their false and deceptive appearance they could seduce your hearts from the path of truth. All the efforts of the devil tend to hinder the pious pursuits of those souls who truly serve God. In order to extinguish the fire in the soul, which feeds all virtues, the devil arouses many different passions in it and especially produces in the body laziness and an inclination towards pleasure. If he notices that a person does not carry out his suggestions and does not accept his advice in his affairs, then he uses another trick, which has the appearance of truth: he appears in the likeness of a bright Angel, as the Apostle Paul says (2 Cor. 11:14); He also uses other means to win our hearts towards himself. If he sees that a person is protecting himself from his deceptions, and does not accept his suggestions, and does not want to follow his advice at all, he withdraws from him in shame, after which the Spirit of God dwells in the person. When the Spirit of God dwells in a person, it makes all his affairs easier; The yoke of God becomes easy for him, as it is written in the Gospel: take My yoke upon you: for My yoke is easy (Matthew 12:29–30). Then a person does not feel weakened either in the performance of virtues, or in serving God, or in night vigils; he is not angry when others insult him, and has no fear of any person, nor of animals, nor of spirits, because the joy of the Lord is with him day and night: it feeds him and enlightens his mind. This joy grows the human soul, perfects it and lifts it to heaven, just as the human body is always nourished and strengthened by bread and water or other food. We see that a person feeds on mother’s milk, then on liquid food, and finally on ordinary food, consumed by everyone; strengthened by it and made courageous in overcoming various difficulties of life. If he is exposed to some disease that prevents him from eating food, then his weakness intensifies and deprives him of courage, and he can only free himself from the disease and return to health except with the help and efforts of a doctor. Likewise, the human soul, if there is no Divine joy in it, becomes weak and falls into a cruel illness. But if she finds a servant of God who knows how to heal spiritual illnesses and resorts to his help, then he will cure her of passions, restore her health, show her the path of truth, and she will receive Divine joy, which constitutes spiritual food and will have sufficient strength to resist her enemies, evil spirits, defeat them, destroy their treachery and thus acquire spiritual peace. Having learned all this, my beloved, protect yourself from the deceit of the devil, who, in order to tempt and attract a person to himself, often appears under the guise of a true mentor. When he comes to you in the likeness of a bright Angel, then do not believe him and do not follow his advice, because he deceives pious people with plausible reasons. People who have not yet been established in holiness cannot know the tricks of the devil and the ways in which he ensnares those devoted to God; but people who are established in virtue know his deceits, as the Apostle Paul says: those who are perfect have solid food, those who have feelings are trained by long teaching in the reasoning of good and evil (Heb. 5:14). The enemy cannot deceive these people, but believers, who have not yet achieved perfection and little protect themselves from the attacks of the enemy, are deceived by his pleasant-looking bait, which in itself is not so. He attracts them to himself, just as a fisherman, having hung a bait on the hook, entices the fish with deception, which, not knowing that there is bait on the hook, approaches it, takes it and is caught. If the fish knew that they wanted to catch it with bait, it would not approach the hook, but would move away from it. Likewise, the enemy, with a similar bait, catches those believers who have not yet achieved perfection. Therefore, the words of Solomon can be said about the deceits of the devil: they are the ones who imagine that they will be ruled by a husband, otherwise they will end up in the depths of hell (Proverbs 16:25). The Prophet Amos wrote about himself: and the Lord said: What do you see, Amos? And reh: the fowler's vessel (Amos 8:2). You know that a bird, fearing that it will not be caught on the ground, flies more at the top and makes its nest in high places; there she sits down, rests from fatigue and sleeps peacefully without any fear, because no one can go up to her and catch her. Despite this, the bird catcher uses cunning to catch it: he places a net near its nest, places food near the net, and thus encourages the bird to fly from above to the ground and catches it here. In the same way, the devil catches all believers who have not yet achieved perfection. He causes them to fall from the heights on which they stand. This is what he did when, hiding under the image of the serpent, he said to Eve: in the same day you cut down from it (the tree), your eyes will be opened (Gen. 3:5). Eve, having heard these words, believed the devil, because she did not delve into his words and considered them to be the truth. But when she tasted the apple and gave it to Adam so that he could eat, both were subjected to great disaster and fell from their height. As the devil did with Adam and Eve, so he does with those believers who have not yet reached perfection, cannot distinguish good from evil, follow their own inclinations, are content with their own opinion and judgment in everything, do not want to follow the instructions of their fathers, who are more perfect than them and know how to distinguish good from evil. Those people, my children, who fulfill the desires of their hearts and think that they have achieved perfection because of the blessing of their fathers, are like birds that make their nests on high, but fly to the ground and here are caught in a net by bird catchers. The same thing happens to those people who, relying on themselves, live according to the will of their hearts, fulfill their own desires and do not want to obey their fathers. The devil presents them with various visions and ghosts, arouses pride in their hearts and shows them dreams at night, which he justifies during the day, in order to better deceive them in this way; At night it appears to them in the light, illuminates their location and produces many other similar phenomena and false miracles, which I cannot describe and count here. He does all this in order to remove any suspicion of deception from people who have not yet perfected themselves in virtue, so that they would honor him as an Angel of God and accept him to themselves. When they accept him, then for the pride that dominates them, he overthrows them from the heights on which they stand, just as those birds we talked about fly from high places. The devil is trying to create in these people the confidence that they are great and glorious in spirit, superior to many other people; therefore, they do not want to obey their fathers, so that one can say about them that they are like bitter, unripe grapes. They are really like him, because the instructions of their fathers are unpleasant for them and they think of themselves that they already know everything. So, my blessed children, understand what I am telling you, that is, that you will not succeed, grow and improve in virtue, you will not distinguish between good and evil, if you do not obey your fathers, who have already achieved perfection. And our fathers themselves obeyed their fathers and followed their instructions, and therefore grew and became perfect in piety and became teachers of others. They remembered the words written in the Wisdom of the son of Sirach: do not deviate from the story of the elders: for they have learned from their fathers (Sir. 8:11). So, imitate them, my children: because they too obeyed their fathers and followed their instructions in everything, and they, with the help of God, learned everything from their fathers and, like children, obediently listened to their instructions. Isaac obeyed Abraham, Jacob obeyed Isaac, Joseph obeyed Jacob, Elisha obeyed Elijah, Paul obeyed Ananias, and Timothy obeyed Paul. All these people and others like them obeyed their fathers, did their will, followed their instructions in everything, and thus came to know the truth, learned the truth, were worthy to receive the Holy Spirit and became teachers of the truth, as it is written in the prophet Ezekiel: I have given you a guard to the house of Israel (Ezek. 5:17). So, beloved in the Lord and pure in heart, if you want to succeed and grow in virtue, have peace of mind in your heart and be safe from the deceits of the devil, then obey your fathers and follow their instructions - and you will not sin forever. I will now show you another duty of a pious person, which strengthens him throughout his life. It consists in loving God with all your soul, with all your heart and with all your thought and obeying Him in everything. Whoever loves God, God gives him spiritual strength and joy, for which all pious activities become pleasant, like honey; also all bodily labors, pious meditations, night vigils and the burden of God become pleasant and light. The Lord, out of His love for a pious person, sometimes subjects him to misfortune, so that he would not be proud, but would constantly work and grow in virtue. If a person is strong and courageous, then God places the burden of labor on him or plunges him into powerlessness, instead of joy he gives him sadness, instead of peace - anxiety, instead of sweetness - sorrow. A person who loves God is subject to many other disasters. Trying to overcome these, he becomes stronger. When he overcomes them, the Holy Spirit helps him in everything, so that the person is no longer afraid of any evil. I pray to my Lord that He will give you His grace for your obedience to Him. All rational creatures must forever bring glory and honor to Him and His good Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Letter nineteen. That the Holy Spirit dwells in the human soul when it has worthily prepared itself for the church of God, and that only those people who are established in virtue are exposed to strong temptations My children, you should know that the most pleasant and sweet fragrance always flows from the Holy Spirit, which cannot be expressed in words. No one knows this sweetness of the Spirit except those people who are worthy to have Him dwell in them. Many are not worthy of this because there is not yet a spirit of repentance in their souls. This spirit enters the human soul after long-term labors. When he dwells in her, he hands her over to the Holy Spirit so that He may dwell in her. We see, my children, that in this world, too, labor is required to obtain many things. So, pearls are obtained with great difficulty. That is why it is not found among village residents and is rarely seen among city residents. It is found almost exclusively in the royal chambers. Likewise, the Holy Spirit does not dwell in the souls of the proud, but in the souls of the humble, all of whose thoughts strive for perfection. When the Holy Spirit dwells in them, they bring gratitude to God and glorify Him that He deigned to send the Holy Spirit to them so that He might dwell in them; They thank Him, as all the saints thanked and glorified God for this. They said: “We bless You, Lord, that You have enlightened us with Your Spirit. Blessed are You, O Lord, that you have given to Your saints an honor that is greater than all riches, for we cannot understand how great is the riches of Your Spirit, which You have given to Your saints.” Since the saints sought this Spirit, my children, they found Him. He is the precious stone that the Gospel mentions. One merchant, the Gospel says, was looking for good pearls and, having found one precious pearl, went, sold everything he had, and bought it (Matthew 13:45–46). It is also written in the Gospel that a treasure was hidden in a certain field, but a certain man, having found it, hid it and, out of joy over it, went, sold everything he had, and bought that field. So the holy people of all times, my beloved children, sought and found the Holy Spirit: He dwelt in them, and they brought thanks to God for this. The Holy Spirit dwells only in blessed souls, reveals great secrets to them, gives them joy and peace in this world and makes night like day for them. Having shown you, my children, some of the actions of the Holy Spirit, I want to show you some temptations arising from the evil spirit. Having said goodbye to you and departed from you, I, with the help of God, reached my home and remained in my solitude, so as to be completely free from worldly worries. I only wished that you would always be with me, so that I could reveal to you everything that the Holy Spirit always reveals to me, and also tell you about the temptations that I endured after being separated from you. Only those people who have received the Holy Spirit are exposed to dangerous and powerful temptations. The devil tempts them only when the Spirit Himself instructs him to do so. If the Holy Spirit does not allow him, then he cannot tempt anyone. Our Lord, being in the flesh, was a model for us in everything. He always taught us the truth. During His Baptism, the Holy Spirit descended on Him in the form of a dove, then this Spirit prompted Him to go into the desert in order to subject Him there to temptation from the devil. The devil tempted Him in various ways, but could not defeat Him, as is said about this in the Gospel of Luke: and having finished all temptation, the devil departed from Him for a time (Luke 4:13). Then the Lord Jesus, being prompted by the Spirit, returned to Galilee. The Holy Spirit strengthens those who have accepted Him into themselves, resist the power of sin and overcome temptations. He gives them strength, exalts them and protects them from all evil. My beloved children, I would like you to be with me so that I can tell you about the temptation that recently happened to me and which is similar to that last temptation of our Lord Jesus Christ, when He said in prayer to His Father: My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me: not as I will, but as You will (Matthew 26:39). He brought this prayer to God not because he was afraid of torment or because he did not hope to endure it, but because by His example he wanted to teach us devotion to the will of God, just as He taught us humility through His first temptations, for He came down from heaven without leaving it, dwelt among us on earth and became like us in order to redeem us with His humility and His life. He died for us, was buried, rose again, freed the captives of hell and ascended to the heights of heaven where He had previously been. So, you see, my children, how much God the Word loved us. He brought us out of hell and raised us to the heights of heaven. The upper heaven is different from the lower and visible heaven, and the visible heaven is different from the airy sky. This latter is the wind, which, due to its lightness, rushes over the earth. The air is different from this rough earth on which we now live and which we must soon leave. You should also know that the actions that take place in heaven are different from the actions that take place on earth, and that there is still a region that is below our earth. This region is dark, there is no light or beauty in it - it is called hell. The temptation, my children, which recently happened to me, almost brought me to hell. The enemies of all good wanted to overthrow me there with their cunning. For this reason, I had to endure many labors, exploits, worries and disasters. But I thank and glorify my God, Whom I have served from my youth until now with all my heart and always obey: He did not abandon me, but gave me His help, freed me from the darkness of my enemies and raised me to my former height, just as He redeemed Adam and his sons and returned them to their former state, as the Scripture says about this: You ascended on high, you took captivity captive: Thou hast accepted the giving of men (Ps. 67:19). Moreover, I tell you that my last temptation was similar to the last temptation of Joseph. Blessed righteous Joseph did not weaken under the many temptations with which he was tempted: only when he was imprisoned, which is a semblance of hell, could this last temptation weaken his patience. Our Lord, seeing that his temptation and patience were great, gave him, in His mercy, great glory, made him a king and freed him from all temptations. And I, my children, will not hide from you that my temptation was great, but the Lord freed me from it. I am sure that your prayers and remembrance of me helped me endure my temptation. You have endured a lot of hardships with me. The Lord will give you the spirit of salvation for this, as He gave to me, the weak one. He once said to His disciples: You have been with Me in My adversity, and I bequeath to you, as My Father has bequeathed to Me, a Kingdom, that you may eat and drink at My table in My Kingdom (Luke 22:28–30). My children, pay attention to these words. He who humbly participates in the sufferings of the Lord Christ will also participate in His rest. He who shares in His contempt will also share in His glory. He who endures toil, reproach, insults and contempt will become glorified. The good son, becoming the heir of the labors of his parents, becomes the heir and their blessings, but the bad son receives a curse from his parents. My beloved children, when I wrote this letter, the Spirit prompted me to write to you something about those Seraphim whom the prophet Ezekiel saw (Ezekiel 1). They depict souls faithful to God who strive to achieve perfection. Each Seraphim had six wings, in which there were many eyes; each had four faces facing in four directions. One face was like the face of a man, another like the face of an ox, the third like the face of a lion, and the fourth like the face of an eagle. The Prophet also mentions other accessories of the Seraphim, which time does not allow me to explain to you. Now I will only briefly explain to you the meaning of the faces of Seraphim; When, with the help of Christ, I come to you, I will verbally explain to you other things that I cannot write about now. So, know: the first face of Seraphim, that is, the human face, means those believers who, while in the world, try to fulfill their duties. If anyone living in the world enters the monastic state, he is likened to an ox, because he must fulfill the duties of the monastic title, must work and endure bodily labors. But if someone fulfills all the duties of a monastic community and retires into the desert in order to defeat invisible enemies there, he will become like a lion, who is the king of the wild beasts. When he conquers both invisible enemies and his passions and completely subdues them to his power, he will be ascended by the Holy Spirit to the heights of perfection, will be worthy of having Divine visions and will become like an eagle, so that the words of Scripture will be fulfilled on him: your youth will be renewed like an eagle (Ps. 102:5). Then the mind of this person will have, as it were, six wings, in which there are many eyes, and will examine objects from six sides. Man will become a spiritual Seraphim and inherit an eternal inheritance, because he obeyed his spiritual fathers. My children, I know that all of us who live in the desert have received spiritual strength from God because we obeyed our fathers and received their blessing. And you, for obedience and service to your fathers, will receive spiritual strength from God and inherit the blessing of your fathers. I always remember you and see you in my spirit, just as a child-loving mother always remembers her little children and always wants to have them with her. God often wanted to calm me down from the labors of my body and take my soul to Himself, but He left my spirit in my body so that I would educate you and so that the Spirit of the Lord might dwell in you. God told me: you are a child-loving mother and a caring nurse, therefore I am saving your life so that you can raise your children. My children, blessed with a new blessing, I send this letter to you and along with my blessing. Keep this letter: it is a true inheritance that you can receive from your spiritual fathers. They do not leave their children an inheritance of gold, silver or anything like that, but they leave a true inheritance. Gold, and silver, and similar things are left to their children as inheritance only by carnal parents. Look at the patriarchs: they were rich in gold, silver, and other property, but they never reminded their children of this wealth, because it was temporary and accidental. They left them an inheritance of their blessing, which continues forever, prepares for man heavenly peace and remains with man forever. Know that the blessing that your father gives you has the same power as the blessing of the patriarchs. I pray to our Lord that He will give you salvation in God and send down to you the Spirit of Truth, who would guide you until you are removed from this fleeting world and through the prayers of all our fathers receive eternal peace as an inheritance. The Most Holy Trinity, the Lady of the Ages, must forever be given honor and glory. Amen. Letter twentieth. To his spiritual son Vevnud: that a person who wants to lead a pious life, receive the grace of the Holy Spirit and be worthy of heavenly glory, must have all Christian virtues, and especially love for others, humility, patience in temptations, purity of heart and obedience to his spiritual mentors My beloved and venerable Vevnud in the Lord, peace be with you! First of all, I pray to the Lord for your salvation and the salvation of all souls entrusted to you, and all those living a peaceful life with you in our Lord Jesus Christ. These people, through their lives, bring peace to the souls of their fathers. For this, may our Lord Jesus Christ rest them in the Kingdom of Heaven. You must know that every person who calms one of the Lord’s servants, even if it were with a cup of water, will not lose his reward, because our Lord said with His mouth: whoever gives one of these little ones a cup of cold water to drink only in the name of the disciple, Amen I say to you, he will not lose his reward (Matthew 10:42). Also, about those who seduce His disciples with their vices and cause grief to their spirit, the Lord said: if he seduces one of these little ones who believe in Me, he will not eat, so that a millstone of an ass may be crushed on his neck, and he will drown in the abyss of the sea (Matthew 18:6). Also: measure accordingly, it will be measured back to you (Matthew 7:2). So, look, my beloved, God loves nothing on earth as much as His disciples doing His will. He is angry at those people who despise them. As someone does to the servants of God, so the Lord will do to him, because He Himself said: “Whoever accepts you, accepts Me” (Matthew 10:40). Also: because ye have not made the least of these, neither have ye made them unto Me (Matthew 25:45). So, my beloved, do not despise anyone. The root of contempt is pride: it once brought the wrath of God upon people. Therefore, the prophet Isaiah said: the day of the Lord of hosts is on everyone who is annoying and proud, and on everyone who is high and majestic (Is. 2:12). See, my beloved, how great grief awaits the proud. So we must weep for ourselves in brokenness of heart. I saw that many monks and virgins fell into the disastrous passion of pride, because they falsely had a high opinion of themselves and said: “We are great, and no one can compare with us.” Truly I tell you, my beloved, that such an opinion of oneself is pride. It gives rise to contempt and hatred of others, envy and quarrels, because proud people do not want to repent and have a correct understanding of themselves. Pride does not allow them to distinguish between good and evil and sweet and bitter. The evil spirits in the air cause them to cry when they should laugh, and to laugh when they should cry. Therefore, the words of Scripture can be applied to these people: woe to those who say evil good, and evil good, who put light into darkness and light into darkness, who put bitter sweet and sweet bitter (Isa. 5:20). They need to remember the words of Saint John: do not believe every spirit, but tempt the spirits if they are from God (1 John 4:1). We must weep for these people who, throughout their lives, do not abandon their vices, but love them more than necessary bodily food, and, despising the commandments of the living God, follow the suggestions of wicked spirits. The commandments of God teach us purity, provide us with constant and unchangeable peace, which is born in us when we perform works of mercy and bear the fruits of righteousness, for which God rewards us with His blessing. So, my beloved, try to acquire spiritual virtues, because our souls are enlivened by them and through them we receive the Lord into ourselves. Virtues will make the path of our life safe, and on this path we will not meet any robber or any evil. Know that without mental and physical purity, no one can be perfect before God, as it is written about this in the Holy Gospel: Blessed are the pure in heart, that they will see God (Matthew 5:8). Spiritual perfection lies in purity of heart. The heart has a twofold quality: good, which is in accordance with its nature, and evil, which is contrary to its nature. From this last quality spiritual passions are born, such as: the tendency to slander or ridicule another, envy and other vices. But by the good quality of his heart, a person knows God, who frees his soul from all passions, as David says about this: bless the Lord, my soul... who cleanses all your iniquities, who heals all your ailments (Ps. 103:2-3). My beloved, when a person tries to eradicate evil in himself, puts his trust in God, removes all sins and through tears, contrition of heart, sighs, fasting, vigil, humility, warm and frequent prayers to God, strives for perfection, then God, in His goodness, helps him and cleanses him from all spiritual passions, as David says: The Lord is near to those who are broken in heart and humble in spirit will save (Ps. 33:19). Having shown you, my beloved, by what deeds a person cleanses his soul from passions, I will tell you that many monks and virgins, despite the fact that they have been in a state of monasticism and virginity for a long time, have not yet acquired spiritual purity, because they despise the instructions of their fathers and follow the sensual desires of their hearts. Therefore, they are under the control of the evil spirits living in the air. The spirits secretly throw their arrows at them day and night, do not give them peace anywhere and put pride, vanity, envy, a tendency to slander and condemn others, anger, hot temper and many other passions into their hearts. All this and the like is produced in us by evil spirits in order to prepare for us not life, but death. My beloved, the words that I spoke to you are not mine, but those of the Apostle James. He says: if you have bitter envy and zeal in your hearts, do not boast or lie about the truth: this wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, spiritual, demonic (James 3:14-15). Also, the Apostle John wrote: sin to commit is of the devil (1 John 3:8). So, my beloved, having learned that in those people who are in vices, the power of God does not work, but that they are participants in the works of the devil and belong to the devils, let us weep for ourselves, for the time of our life is a time of tears. Let us recognize the importance of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and say with the Psalmist: come, let us worship and fall down before Him, and let us mourn before the Lord who created us (Ps. 94:6). Let us also repeat the words of the Psalmist: save me, O Lord, for I am in need of the venerable one: for the truth has fallen away from the sons of men. Every one speaks vainly to his sincere: flattering lips into hearts, and evil words into hearts. These words of David should arouse tears in us, because he further says: The Lord will consume all flattering lips, a lofty tongue (Ps. 11:2-4). My children, people living in their passions, are like five foolish virgins, because they spend the time of their lives in stupidity, do not bridle their tongues, do not remove unclean desires from their eyes and from their bodies, do not cleanse their hearts from the vices that defile them, are content only with visible clothing, showing their virginity, but do not care about acquiring heavenly grace in order to mourn themselves and kindle their lamps. Therefore, the Bridegroom will not open the doors for them, but will say to them the same thing that he said to the foolish virgins: Amen, I say to you, I know you not (Matthew 25:12), and the same thing that he will say to those condemned at the last Judgment: go away from Me, the curse, into eternal fire (Matthew 25:41), where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 25:30). My beloved, I am writing this letter to you solely because I desire your salvation, so that you will be free from vices, faithful to the Lord and become the pure bride of Christ, Who is the Bridegroom of all holy souls, as the Apostle Paul says: I have betrothed you to one husband to present a pure virgin to Christ (2 Cor. 11:2). I know, my beloved, that you have had many temptations, but with the help of our Lord, Who guides you, you have overcome them. God is faithful. He strengthens both you and all who serve Him, and does not allow anyone to fall into temptations that exceed the strength of man. My children, think about the many temptations to which you have been exposed, and about the great glory that God will give you for courageously enduring them, and be strong in future temptations. Gold is usually refined by fire to make it better and more perfect. So our Lord purifies a person with many temptations, tests him, perfects him with them, as gold is perfected with fire, teaches him to fight with his internal enemies, so that a person does not think or remember the many insults that people inflict on him, and the contempt that they show him; so that he would not be afraid of the devil, would humble himself before God, hope for His help, and would always be ready to do every good deed before God, as the prophet David was ready. My heart is ready, O God, he said, my heart is ready; I will sing and sing in my glory (Ps. 107:2). You, without a doubt, are tempted by some of your brothers and suffer reproach, insult and contempt from them. When all this happens to you, then be courageous, do not be afraid of anything, do not be sad, but thank the Lord for everything, because without His will nothing can happen to you and because the servants of the Lord must necessarily be subject to temptation. Whoever the goodness of God does not test with temptations, labors, sorrow and misfortunes in order to teach him patience and perfect him in virtue, will not receive glory from God. So, my beloved, endure with courage all the labors and disasters that come your way, and in deep humility thank God for them. You will one day receive the fruits of your labors, just as blessed Susanna received them, who firmly resisted two old men who wanted to break the law by satisfying their passion, slandering her and causing her great grief. For her patience and firmness, God glorified her and put her enemies to shame. Also, Thekla, strong in spirit, was not afraid of either parental threats and punishments, or fire, or the executioner, or cruel animals. God gave her heartfelt joy as a reward for her labors, for the firmness of her faith in God extinguished the burning fire, stopped the mouths of cruel lions, and all her enemies (were) put to shame. Remember also about Joseph, who was humble both before God and before people. When his brothers, out of hatred and envy of him, wanted to shed his blood, because his father preferred him to them, Divine help saved him from death. His brothers, out of hatred for him, raised their hands against him and sold him as a slave to Egypt. Here his master's wife caused him a lot of anxiety and sadness, so that he was finally imprisoned. Since he was chaste, meek, pure and immaculate in soul and body, he was not afraid of any misfortunes, but, with trust in God and with God’s help, he endured them courageously. Finally, God glorified Joseph by making him king over all the regions of Egypt. The Lord brought all his brothers, who had previously hated him out of envy, under Joseph’s feet. My beloved! The righteous people I mentioned, and others like them, received glory from God not at the beginning of their spiritual exploits and temptations, but when God tested them, perfected them through misfortunes and labors, and taught them to be courageous in spiritual warfare. When God saw that they placed their trust in Him and constantly endured misfortunes and labors, He gave them the glory of His Divinity, and they subdued their enemies under their feet. My beloved, when I remember the exploits of holy people and the rewards given to them by God, I rejoice in my spirit and together I pray for your patience. So, constantly remain patient and do not weaken your heart in misfortunes, but thank God for them in order to receive a reward from Him. Both to you, my brethren, and to all who call on the name of the Lord, I say that between you there should be peace, truth, love of God and love of neighbor, but between you there should be neither quarrels, nor slander, nor suspicion, nor disobedience, nor enmity, nor contradiction, nor envy, nor stubbornness, nor pride, nor mutual insults, nor ridicule, nor vanity, nor hatred, nor mutual anger, nor the desire to have beautiful clothes. I earnestly ask you that nothing like this should happen between you in your abodes. Where these vices are located, there is the wrath of God. You know, brethren, that our life in this world is short: therefore, do not be careless, but try to live it holy, so that your migration from this world does not happen when you are angry with each other and therefore will be numbered among the murderers, because the Scripture says: everyone who hates his brother is a murderer (1 John 3:15). These words apply not only to monks and virgins, but also to all believers who, together with us, belong to the one universal 2 and Apostolic Church of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, brethren, be lenient with one another, so that the Lord may also be lenient with you, because it is said: Let go, and they will let it go to you (Luke 6:37). If any of you is slandered, he should joyfully endure the slander and leave himself to God, Who is the just Judge and Defender, to justify himself. But whoever slandered another must humbly repent before God and ask forgiveness from his neighbor, so that the Lord will forgive him. Beware, my beloved, that the sun does not go down on your wrath, as the Scripture says (Eph. 4:26). Eradicate from your heart every evil thought that relates either to your own evil or to the evil of your neighbors. Stop all enmity among each other, which stems from hatred or envy of each other. These two passions are very disastrous: they are disgusting to God and are despised by people. They should not be in any believer or in any servant of God. Therefore, my beloved, if you once had these passions, now try to ensure that they do not exist among you and that they do not dominate you. Know that the days of our life are few, and during them we must cleanse ourselves of our sins, so that our migration from this world does not happen when we did not expect it. After death, returning to this world is no longer possible. We see that no one who migrated from this world returns to us, and we no longer expect them to ever return to us, but, on the contrary, we ourselves expect resettlement to them. This is determined for all the people of this world from its beginning to its end. My beloved, none of us should boast of our stupidity and say: “I am stronger than my enemy and will not have mercy on him.” Whoever says or thinks like this has no power over his soul. His legacy will be a place where there is constant weeping, gnashing of teeth, where the worms do not go to sleep and the fire does not go out. So, my beloved, having learned all this, let us practice deeds of piety while we are in this body, let us heal the wounds of our souls before time runs out on us. May these words be impressed in your hearts and may they always be in your memory, until the very separation of our souls from our body. When our Lord, the righteous Judge, sends His servants to take our souls and separate them from the body, then those of us who did not care about our salvation will be taken to a dark place to be there in custody until the terrible day of the last Judgment. On this day a terrible sentence will be pronounced upon them. They will be given over to merciless tormentors and prison guards who have no compassion and who must always keep an eye on the unquenchable fire and the worms that never die, on the outer darkness and on those places in which there is terrible cold. People given over to these cruel tormentors will be taken to places farthest from God. There they will suffer torment, they will cry, moan, and scream, but no one will hear them and no one will have compassion for them. Compassion for them disappeared for all eternity, because they themselves had no compassion in this life: they did not give the hungry one food, they did not give the thirsty one drink, they did not accept the stranger, they did not clothe the beggar, they did not visit the sick, they did not come to the prisoner in prison, and therefore they deserved punishment without any mercy. On top of this, with many other sins and disobedience to their mentors and fathers who taught them virtue, they increased their punishment. They did not repent, did not choose a leader who would seek forgiveness for them with their prayers, did not thank God for His gifts that He gave them, and did not try to know Him here on earth - therefore God does not recognize them there. He will hand them over to merciless tormentors so that they will avenge their sins with endless torment. He will punish them, just as that servant was punished who had no compassion for a slave like himself and did not want to forgive him a hundred denarii, while he himself was forgiven ten thousand; how that servant was punished who, having received silver from his master, hid it in the ground; how the person who came to the wedding not wearing wedding clothes was punished; finally, how that slave was punished who, having despised the orders of his master, in his absence, ate and drank with drunkards and beat his comrades. These slaves were recognized as unworthy of mercy and were punished because they themselves were unmerciful, for it is said: judgment without mercy is for him who has not shown mercy (James 2:13). My beloved, out of my great love for you, I ask you: grow in piety while you are still in the body, mourn for yourself, mourn internally day and night, so that after death you will not be subjected to cruel torment, you will not shed tears forever and not be in eternal sorrow. Do not enter the wide gate, do not follow the smooth and easy path, which leads to destruction and which most people walk, but enter the narrow gate, follow the difficult and sad path, which leads to life and which few walk. He who enters the narrow gate is a true worker of God. He will receive a reward for his labors and inherit the Kingdom. Whoever wants to be pious, my beloved, should not be careless, so as not to miss the right time, otherwise it will be impossible to find a merchant from whom one could buy oil. So five foolish maidens were late to come to the wedding because they decided too late to buy themselves oil. When they came to the wedding and said with tears: Lord, open to us, the Groom answered them: Amen, I say to you, we do not know you (Matthew 25:11-12). They were not worthy to enter the wedding chamber solely because of their carelessness. The groom came before them and locked the door, and it was no longer allowed to open it. I will present you with another similar example. Noah, having entered the ark with his children and his children's wives and taking with him everything that was ordered to be taken by God, locked the door of the ark so that the water of the flood, which was supposed to drown the lawless people, could not enter it; during the flood, he did not open it and did not allow his children to see the terrible spectacle of God’s judgment on wicked people. Therefore, the wicked people could no longer enter the ark among the righteous people, but were separated from them, just as the goats on the left side are separated from the sheep on the right side. They could not cross to the right side, but because of their carelessness and disobedience they died in the waters of the flood. So, my beloved, I ask you by the goodness of God: be submissive to me, so that you may live in peace among yourself. Then I will be submissive to you, and we will all be submissive to the Lord. Remember the words of the Lord, spoken through the mouth of the prophet: who is a man, even if he loves the days to see good things? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking flattery. Turn away from evil and do good: seek peace and marriage, and so on (Ps. 33:13–15). Both I and the brethren who live with me can only fully feel joy when we hear about your piety, when we know that the peace of the Lord is among you, that mutual agreement is constantly being established between you more and more, and that you have one spirit, one will, one faith, equal participation in everything and one food. But now, on the contrary, from the time I received the letter from you, I feel heartfelt grief because disturbances have arisen among you due to the foolishness of those who want to separate from you and be guided by their own will, while they have not yet achieved spiritual perfection. My beloved, this should not happen between you. You must build the house of God in the harmony of the world, you must not move to another place in order to use your labors there to create a new house of God, you must be gathered in one place and here do the work of God in peace, harmony, humility, the fear of God and in prayers. Only in union and in agreement with each other can you complete the building of the house of God and see its beauty with joy and gladness. Be lenient with the weak and compassionate with the poor; try to achieve Divine joy through faith, hope, love, humility, fear of God, discerning good from evil, piety, peace, holy meditation and love for the brethren. He who has these virtues has the wedding garment and fulfills the commandments of the Spirit. I tell you, brethren, that God has not given me the power to divide you, and therefore, without the will of God, I am afraid of myself to allow you to be divided. Therefore, I ask you: constantly remain in your humility and patience and thus remove all passions from yourself. It is not yet time for you to separate from the society of your brethren. If any of you improves in virtue and becomes worthy of living in solitude, then I am sure that my Lord will reveal to me about this person in order to fulfill His good will on him. But if now you stay in one place, then peace will reign both between you and everyone who comes to you to offer prayer to God in the name of the Lord. You must be sure that if anyone does the will of God, which is sweeter than honey and is the source of all joy, God Himself will strengthen him. He Himself will help him, show his soul His wondrous deeds and make it pleasant for Himself on the path of his life. Then no enemy will have the power to resist him, because he is doing the will of the Lord. But whoever lives according to his own will, honoring it as the will of the Lord, God will not help him in anything, He will give him over to the power of demons, and they will live in his heart day and night, not giving him any peace. His heart will be darkened, he will not see the spiritual light and will become weak and powerless in all his external affairs and the internal actions of his soul, because he will not have grace. Evil spirits will subject him to many other temptations, which I will not enumerate now. Many people, through their stupidity and foolishness, were deceived by evil spirits and laughed at the piety of people living according to the commandments of God. This is how our father Adam was deceived by the devil when he followed the advice of his wife Eve. Eve, foolishly seduced by the hope of receiving immortality and Divinity, was deceived by the devil. He then hid under the image of a serpent and, as a friend, told her: “If you eat from the fruit of this tree, you will become gods and will never die.” Since Eve was unreasonable and did not know how to distinguish truth from lies, then, having heard about Divinity and immortality, she did not think about what was said to her, but, deviating from the will of God, she transgressed the commandment of God and, being herself drawn into error, dragged Adam along with her. Thus, from the heights of glory and bliss, both fell into disgrace and a disastrous state, because they did not want to fulfill the will of God. This happens to every person, my beloved, who deviates from the will of the Lord and follows the will of his heart. Then the words of Solomon, spoken in Proverbs, should be applied to this person: there is a way that a person thinks is right to be, but his last one comes to the bottom of hell (Proverbs 14:12). You should also know that the devil sometimes tries to produce joy and gladness in people devoted to him: but this joy is false, it is true grief and sadness, because true joy and joy come from God, and are given only to those people who work with all their might for God, force themselves to be patient in good deeds, remove their own will from themselves and follow only the will of God. Since I mentioned to you about the will of God and the will of man, I will explain to you something else - that is, that the will acting in the heart of a person is of three types. Only very few monks and virgins know how to distinguish between different types of will. Only those who have accomplished great feats of piety and acquired the skill of distinguishing truth from lies know this. They can discern the qualities of the will because it is said that solid food belongs only to the perfect (Heb. 5:14). One will comes from the devil, the other from man himself, the third from God. The first and second will, that is, the will of the devil and the will of man himself, are unpleasant to God. He is pleased only with His own will. So, brothers beloved to my heart, consider yourselves, try to do only the will of God and be submissive to me, as to your father, because I constantly pray for you. Do not leave your place of residence under the guise of good, which in fact is not good; do not move to another place, but remain united with each other until I come to you, with the help of the Lord, and show you everything that is useful for you. If you change your location, you will offend my heart and cause a lot of trouble for yourself. My beloved, I humbly before God think that I have more knowledge of the will of God than you, and more than you, I know how you should live. So, remain in mutual love with each other, preserve your glory and do the will of God. Continuously following the will of God in all one’s affairs is the great duty of man. Truly I tell you: if a person does not completely abandon the will of his heart, does not submit himself in everything to the will of God, does not despise all his wealth and all his possessions, and does not obey the Lord and his spiritual fathers in everything, then he will not know what the will of God is, he will not fulfill it, and on the last day of Judgment he will not receive a blessing from God. Abraham, blessing Isaac, said to him: “May God strengthen you to do His will.” In the same way, the one who obeys his spiritual parents in everything will fulfill the will of God in everything. Our father Jacob, for the obedience he always showed to his parents, received a blessing from his father Isaac. After this, he could improve in virtues, because he obeyed his father and mother and did their will. When he received a blessing from his father and when his mother told him to go to Mesopotamia and live there with his uncle Laban, in order to thus escape the wrath of his brother Esau, who wanted to kill him, then, although out of love for his parents and out of their mutual love for him, he himself did not want to leave them and go to Mesopotamia - out of obedience to them he took a long journey: he went to a land unknown to him, did not resist his will his mother, but, abandoning his own will and desire, he wanted to confirm the blessing of his parents by obedience, because it is written that the father’s blessing establishes the homes of children (Sir. 3:9). I have heard that some of you, like me, say that Jacob retired to Mesopotamia not of his own free will, but out of obedience to his parents, and that For this, God always helped him, both openly and secretly, and was always with him. Therefore, my beloved, constantly remember Jacob and those like him, and remove from your hearts those intentions that I have heard you have. God will not forget your labors. He will reward you someday. Our Lord, to whom we should always send praise, did not say that the reward for one’s labors would be here on earth, but that here there should be temptations, sorrow, labors and sadness, and there there should be a reward. For real life is a path full of temptations and labors. If you patiently endure these temptations and obey your fathers, then the Lord will generously reward you in the future life and remember your labors. I, your father, will tell you, my beloved, that I worked hard on the mountains and in the deserts and day and night I asked God to reveal His will to me, but He did not reveal it; Therefore, I obeyed my fathers in everything and from them I already received knowledge of the will of God. Whoever obeys his fathers obeys the Lord, and whoever obeys the Lord obeys his fathers; and whoever does not obey his fathers does not obey the Lord. My beloved in the Lord, obey your father and do what he has written to you now. His blessing will be established on you, and you will receive spiritual peace, grace, courage and glory, and God will make the paths of your life easy. Now I have already shown you in this letter how you should work both physically and spiritually; He revealed to you the enmity of the body against the spirit, and the temptations of the devil. Work and practice deeds of piety in order to receive a blessing from the Lord on the day of His Judgment and so that here on earth the grace of God may dwell in you. May there be peace among you all, may salvation from the Lord Jesus Christ be the subject of your thoughts, to which your pure hearts and your humble spirit would strive. May God send His blessing upon you, which He sends down to every place where there is humility. To our Lord, His Father and His Holy Spirit, now and throughout eternity, all rational creatures must bring praise, glory and honor. All the letters of Anthony the Great, which he sent to his disciples from his solitude on the “inner mountain” near the Red Sea to various Egyptian monasteries, number twenty. He wrote them in his native Coptic language, in which they are still preserved in many Egyptian monasteries. Back in the 4th century, they were translated from Coptic into Greek, in the 8th century - into Arabic, and in the 17th century - from Arabic into Latin by the Maronite Abraham of Ehillene, who published them in Paris in 1646. Saint Anthony wrote these letters in his old age, which is evident both from his following words in the seventh letter: “My entire rather long life has been nothing more than incessant weeping and groaning about my sins,” and from the fact that in the fourth letter he mentions the Arian heresy, which began to spread in the eighties of the life of Saint Anthony. The authenticity of the first seven letters, according to Galland's edition, is testified by Blessed Jerome, who says that the apostolic spirit is visible in them and that the best of them is the one that Anthony the Great sent to the monasteries located near the city of Arsinoe (letter sixth). These letters are also attributed to Saint Anthony by the unknown Greek author of the book “On the Deeds and Sayings of the Fathers,” which Photius examines in his “Library” (cod. 198). This anonymous author, citing one passage from the first letter offered here, adds that “thus said Anthony.” As for the other thirteen letters, then, according to Combephysius (Recens. auct. Bibl. concion. T. 1. P. 5), their authenticity is visible both from the style and from their spirit, similar to the style and spirit of the first letters and other writings of the Monk Anthony. The proposed translation of the letters was carried out by A.S. Krasnoselsky based on the Latin edition of Galland’s “Library of the Ancient Fathers”. Published by: Christian Reading. Letters 1–5. 1826. Part 22; Letter 6. 1826. Part 23; Letter 7. 1828. Part 31; Letters 8, 9. 1828. Part 32; Letters 10, 11. 1829. Part 33; Letters 12–16. 1829. Part 34; Letters 17, 18. 1829. Part 35; Letters 19, 20. 1829. Part 36. – Approx. ed. Arsinoe is the ancient city of Crocodilepolis. There were many monasteries around the city, whose inhabitants were guided by the instructions of Anthony the Great. During the visit of these monasteries by Rufinus and Palladius, up to ten thousand monks were already saved in them under the leadership of Abba Serapion, a student and friend of the Monk Anthony. The monasteries had such significant supplies that not only the local poor, but also those of Alexandria were fed with Arsinoan bread and fruits.