Practical encyclopedia

According to the works of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) With the blessing of Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga VLADIMIR The encyclopedia “Fundamentals of Correct Spiritual Life” is compiled based on the works of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov). The great work of the saint’s entire life was to present the teachings of the ancient Christian desert fathers in relation to our time. For a modern Christian, Saint Ignatius is both an experienced interpreter of patristic writings and a wise spiritual mentor. In this book, the Orthodox reader will be able to find advice and guidance on all pressing issues of spiritual life. “There are people who exhausted their bodies with asceticism and yet moved away from God because they lacked prudence.” Any business, no matter what a person does, requires diligence, consistency and correct execution for a successful result. In the matter of saving the soul, this main work of a conscious Christian, the last condition of correctness is especially important, but due to its spiritual subtlety it is often unnoticed and neglected, like the soul in the body. The consequence of this uncertainty and negligence in spiritual life is its many different distortions and deviations, when some try to take the Salvation given by the Redeemer by a tough feat, “breaking the brow” of the external and internal man; others, on the contrary, take from spiritual life only the festive, “sweet” - the deanery of services, Communion, pilgrimage to holy places, etc., without caring at all about the daily routine work on correcting themselves according to the Gospel Image; others simplify Orthodoxy to prosphora, willows, countless olive oils, zemelki, etc., unnoticed by exchanging the holiness of the Church for shrines, abolishing the power of the Cross with “Orthodox amulets” and replacing sound faith with “pious” beliefs: many now measure truth and spirituality by miraculousness, enthusiastically desiring signs, myrrh-streaming and visions, forgetting that, according to the Savior’s definition, all this is sought by an evil and adulterous generation (Matt. 16:4) and neglecting His warning to beware of delusion, for many (miracle workers and miracles - comp.) will come in My name and will deceive many (Matthew 24:4). Spiritual achievement, small or great, is a two-edged sword: “Our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29), warns the apostle. If this feat is incorrect, then energy and time can be wasted in vain, and instead of the expected fruits of virtues, an unreasonable doer will cultivate their distorted likeness or their complete opposite. Thus, formal church life, frivolous, fearless participation in the Sacraments can in a short time burn out the conscience and turn a person into the most crafty Pharisee. Wrong prayer carries the danger of destroying in the soul that small but living feeling for God that existed before the prayer rules. Unreasonable fasting can dry out and harden the body and heart, or undermine health. In order to avoid all these invisible dangers “from the right,” a person who has come to the Church with the conscious goal of saving the soul must lay in the soul, like a reliable foundation, the correct foundations of spiritual life as early as possible. The Holy Fathers of ancient times, in their divinely inspired writings, revealed to us these foundations, explained the difficulties encountered on the path of salvation, warned against dangers and, it would seem, left comprehensive spiritual guidance, but the problem of our time and our post-atheistic consciousness, divorced from living spiritual traditions, is that it cannot not only apply correctly, but even read these Holy Scriptures correctly, because “a distorted mirror also distorts the direct one.” The fathers wrote as strong for the strong, as zealous for the zealous, and the unconditional application of their instructions by us, who are more voluptuous than lovers of God (2 Tim. 3:4), is like dressing a youth in the armor of an adult warrior: overpowering weapons only aggravate and completely weaken the enemy, while at the same time turning the enemy against a truly strong opponent, and for that person the last is worse than the first ( Matthew 12:45). On the other hand, any spiritual work that is not based on patristic tradition inevitably dooms its doer to mental damage and death, as arbitrary and proud. Seeing this difficulty and the urgent need of our time for patristic guidance that is accessible to understanding and implementation, the Lord gave our time the creations of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), an ascetic of the 19th century, a wise spiritual mentor to monastics and laity. Having gone through his life not in desert solitude, but in many cares of the position of abbot, in forced close communication with worldly society, in many persistent illnesses, the saint was able, even in these circumstances, to achieve the ascetic ideal of holiness and, based on personal experience, to expound the teaching of the great desert fathers in relation to our vain and weak times - this is his unique value for us creations. This book is compiled based on the works of St. Ignatius as a practical reference book containing advice and instructions on all pressing issues of spiritual life. For the purpose of a broader disclosure of the topic of interest to the reader, cross-references are organized in the book: at the end of each text related to the concept being studied, words are placed in parentheses that refer to another section of the book, in which the material being sought is located according to the key thematic word highlighted in the text in italics. The numbers indicate the numbers and, separated by a dot, the pages of the originals, a list of which is given at the end of the book. The narrow path of salvation, announced and indicated by God incarnate, becomes less and less visible in the dazzling brilliance of the pre-apocalyptic world: this path becomes more and more internal. May the wise instructions of St. Ignatius and his holy prayers help us, prudent reader, to find it and to stand on it. 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