Письма к Акилине Ивановне Черкасовой и Любовь Николаевне

1. Patience of other people's weaknesses. Obedience is not given above the forces We see that the All-Merciful Lord still visits you, calls you into His love, and wants to bestow you with precious gifts. But we only ask and beg your love to be complacent. With God's help, let us endure as much as possible and, with thanksgiving and praise, ask the Most Merciful and Almighty Lord, so that the Lord, with his all-powerful right hand, will grant you patience to endure all troubles. And besides these means, it is impossible to get rid of either the mental enemy or the temptations that allow souls to be tempted. I remember that I wrote about this in a letter last year. And when you desire, read the 12th chapter of Hebrews to console yourself and you will find considerable consolation for your soul, oppressed by sorrows. Moreover, I ask and pray you, like an obedient sister, to read from the conciliar message of St. Apostle James chapter 1, and after reading, the Lord will invisibly give you a feeling of the joy of the fruit of obedience and form your soul with inner consolation. And then, with joy from the 33rd Psalm, you will exclaim with your lips and heart: “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard and saved him from all his sorrows.” The Angel of the Lord will encamp around those who fear Him and deliver them. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts. There are many sorrows for the righteous, and the Lord will deliver them from all of them. The Lord protects all their bones; not one of them will be crushed” (Ps. 33:7–9, 20–21). Please, sister, hear from us about my blessing. I, inexperienced, advised your love in every possible way, so that our universal benefactor, Anna Demen, would try. do not present guilt to chagrin or rudeness. When your strength was not enough to bear her infirmities, which she, due to her high occupation and vision, cannot see in herself, then, although rude and stupid, she does not agree to impose more than her strength on anyone, not only on her younger sister, less courageous. Also, consider her proposal to submit the paper to the widow’s house, you only know better when it is not beneficial for you, you can clearly refuse to submit and sign the paper; Yes, it seems that no one can force both of you to do this, except for your sole desire and feasible request. 2. “There is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). Obedience. You have not yet achieved blessed obedience and cutting off your will Let your love remind you that when we said goodbye, we decided to bless you with a titmouse as a parting word, and you, most kind, deigned to simply and frankly tell us that although I will take it, I know my character, that I will not be at peace. Please listen patiently to this. What kind of agreement and promise will we have with you if we are burdened by yours, and you by our insignificant ones - this disagreement may arise from ignorance and self-reflection. We boldly admonish you and assure you that you do not deign to consider yourself otherwise, as if in perfect community with us, but we are separated in bodies due to the difference in natures: you are female, and we are male, and therefore in the same monastery we are incompatible with you, and that is because of our weakness; but by will, wisdom, and spirit we can remain in perfect union. You will remember how in the leading church during the time of St. According to the apostles, Orthodox Christians lived in society with the apostles: “But the people who believed had one heart and soul: and not only did they say that they should be from their possessions, but they had everything in common. And with great power I gave the apostles testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ; grace was great upon all of them. Not one of them, but one in them” (Acts 4:32–34). And St. Apostle Paul to the Philippisians, chapter IV, verse 15: “And you Philippisians also know that at the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, not one church was united in the word of giving and receiving, but you are one, just as you were one in Thessaloniki, and one and two gave to my demand” (Phil. 4:15-16). You will judge the power of giving and receiving; Moreover, although we, out of our unlimited pride, consider ourselves elders, and you once wrote that you are ready for legal and testified obedience. But why do we forget ourselves so quickly? It is written that “the lesser of the greater is blessed without controversy” (Heb. 7:7). From which it is clear that although you have partially acquired love for God and your neighbor, you have not comprehended blessed obedience, and cutting off your will, and facilitating your ease of flow, and the benefits of taste. And from now on, let us begin to actually fulfill obedience with God’s help, and from that blessed act from the Most Merciful Lord God, expect mercy in the feeling of our hearts. 3. Handicrafts drive away despondency I was honored to read your pleasant lines and listen to the content. Glory to the Most Merciful Lord, although He did little to strengthen your strength for the work of handicraft. We are confident that your time will pass with joy, and despondency and boredom will be removed from you! And you partly encourage and strengthen Mama’s feelings and thoughts out of cowardice. We thank you for your obedience to our insignificance in providing money. About the freedom of your good behavior and in obedience with passing love - consolation! 4. Don’t be upset if there is no response for a long time Your opinion and doubt about our slow silence of your love will be resolved by the letters sent from us: one by mail, and the other, when appropriate, with a folded note. But although, most reverend sister, it is as if my infirmity has decrepit with weakness and inclines me to silence, yet, as I myself am weak and talkative to excess, and therefore I force myself to the talkative and weak to force myself to answer in every possible way and to remember and warn in shortcomings. However, thank you for this, that you remembered them, brought repentance for those who did not honor those who were not praiseworthy against a characterful woman, and may the Most Merciful Lord, with His ineffable mercy and grace, forgive you for all your actions and attempts, and at the same time, may he grant you wisdom and courage, with longevity and humility, to carry forward the conversion and to be at peace with everyone in spirit. 5. Properties of spiritual kinship. Do not be faint-hearted: encourage your soul with faith and trust in the Lord As for our long-term silence on both sides in the correspondence, for this, it seems, we should not be faint-hearted. Although we did not express our various events in detail on paper to each other in ink, and likewise we are deprived of a personal meeting due to the distance of location and are physically separated by the mercy of the Almighty, but with the spirit and wisdom of spiritual love we always feel a feeling of connection, the benefit of pleasantness and feelings of subtle desires in order to see each other, and we long to hear about each other more than our half-blooded child - these are the properties of spiritual kinship. Regarding your cowardice, which is seen quite often, burdens and burdens your soul, we, although many sinners and indecent in all parts, ask and pray to your love not to give yourself over to sadness and despondency, but to try in every possible way to encourage your soul alone by faith and trust in the merits of our Creator and Redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who not only created us and from nothingness into He brought into being, but with His dearest Blood He redeemed Him from slander. To console and confirm your complacency, I place here verses from the 33rd Psalm: “I have sought the Lord, and heard me, and delivered me from all my sorrows. Come to Him and be enlightened, and your faces will not be ashamed. This beggar cried out, and the Lord heard and saved him from all his sorrows. The Angel of the Lord will encamp around those who fear Him and deliver them. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts. The righteous cried out, and the Lord heard them, and delivered them from all their sorrows. The Lord is near to save the brokenhearted and humble in spirit. Many are the sorrows of the righteous, and the Lord will deliver me from all of them. The Lord protects all their bones; not a single one will be crushed by them. The death of sinners is cruel, and those who hate the righteous will sin. The Lord will deliver the souls of His servant, and all who trust in Him will not sin” (Ps. 34:5-9, 18-23). So, most venerable, by virtue of these verses, let us trust in the Almighty, and with His omnipotent right hand He will strengthen all our infirmities and strengthen our steps to the creation of His holy and life-giving commandments, to the healing of our souls, to the ascension of His eternal Divinity visually. Alexander-Svirsky Monastery. 6. It is necessary to open your thoughts to your spiritual father. Cowardice is dismissed as arrogance. Lovely. Patience in rooting is beneficial If someone is completely devoted to someone, then he must believe and reveal all his thoughts, especially to his spiritual father. St. Simeon the New Theologian in the 192nd chapter writes: “It is appropriate every day to confess every thought to your spiritual father and to accept what is spoken to you from him, as from God’s lips, with all knowledge and not to pronounce this to anyone else, as the father asked me this and told me these things, whether what I said was good or not, and what I must do for healing. These words of unbelief are cursed to the father and are harmful to the soul, the same thing that especially happens to beginners.” Let us understand what St. writes to us. Simeon: “Every thought, then you should also ask, although it is hidden, whether a stranger or stranger should explain, which I sometimes notice touching someone with passion or pursuing passionate looks.” You have now actually seen with experience that the enemy - the hater of goodness - has planted an opinion in you. Apparently, you and I still have a lot to learn, but, thank God, nothing is hidden or magnified for shame. And what is missing from forgetting, then in this part you should be at peace, because this is not in our power. And if cowardice often overwhelms you, this is tolerated and acts not only because of previous sins, but most of all because of arrogance. ...Please know that there is beauty. Delights are a variety of things that have actions; as the mind and heart are elevated, the mind becomes darkened and captivated by preoccupation with oneself. Thinking itself believes in the opinions and dreams presented to it by the universal enemy, the devil - this means delusion. Although N rather reproaches you, and humbles you, and reviles you, if, with the help of the Almighty, you endure with complacency and attribute them to your sins, then you will receive significant benefit from these pronunciations! If you fall into bitterness and the most destructive despair, then you will be deprived of much. As a testimony to your love I will place St. Simeon the New Theologian, chapter 31: “The one who is dishonored or annoyed and is greatly ill at heart is aware of this, as if he were carrying around an ancient serpent in the depths. Even if he endures in silence or answers with much humility, he is unable to do this and is weakened. If he contradicts sorrow or speaks with insolence, give the strength of the serpent the poison to pour into his heart and savagely devour his inner being, just as from here, fortified every day, you create correction in good things and the strength of his damned soul, and for him to live from sin, he is dead and will always be righteous.” Let us see and understand that there is benefit in enduring reproaches and dishonor, and what sin and harm comes from impatience and bitterness. You must be content with your conscience: firstly, that you noticed and felt mental harm, i.e. confusion, secondly, not of one’s own will and reasoning, but also on the advice of one’s spiritual father and imaginary mentor. And what he exacted from you, that you did not come up to him in church to congratulate him and give him the honor as a significant benefactor and trustee, this sown arrogance in him! 7. Advice on living together according to God’s commandments How do you, out of your unlimited faith and goodwill towards our unworthiness, deign to ask my badness about taking Lyubonka to your apartment or, on the advice of well-meaning persons, also asking the emperor to leave her in her calling there for three years. It seems most likely that you have an inclination to take her into your apartment and, together with her, to share the sad orphan situation of your fate for the sake of your body, and equally, that the Most Merciful Lord will grant you a part of your soul as well. But just as it was convenient for your love to resolve this question with us, so, on the contrary, it is inconvenient for us to answer: because, although you and I have talked quite a bit about this subject, it is still not so clear in my mind, due to my plumpness, to imagine their residence there, their position and their relationship with each other. Moreover, what is the attitude of the authorities in Smolny and what is the servants and the diligence of looking after them. However, I heard from you in passing that what I mentioned is thin there. Having taken her to yourself, you must prepare for courageous patience and complacency - there will be a lot of all kinds of sorrows. And most of all, it will be necessary to beware of anger, and murmuring, and soul-destroying oaths, from which may the Almighty Lord deliver you and enlighten your mind, soul and heart to the judgment of good, and evil, and all the machinations of the opposite. And when, with the help of God, strive with the warmest motherly love and fervor of the heart to take and serve. Like your half-blooded daughter in flesh and spirit, you can instill in her a particle of inspired books; It will be possible to give the rosary in your hands to sort through it and drive away negative thoughts with prayer. We are sure that she also eagerly wants to join you, and we are especially encouraged by your faith and trust in the Most Merciful God, who will not leave you and will be your helper and trustee all the days of your life and will honor you with future bliss. And we, many sinners, have destined your love to be directed towards patience and God’s blessing. We deign and give advice, in accordance with your mutual desire, to take Lyubonka into your apartment and together with her make a good start to live according to the will of the Lord, and to keep the Lord’s commandments as much as possible, and in general to love Him alone, as the most beloved Father and the most sincere Benefactor and Trustee for us, who so earnestly sin and anger His compassion! And we, although indecent and sinful, are obliged to pray and ask the All-Merciful Lord and God, so that He may send down from His ineffable bounties to you goodness that strengthens your infirmities and grant you patience and gratitude. 8. Tests are given according to strength. Where there is patience, there is the intercession of grace and mercy I received your letter without number, for which and for the memory of me, the humble one, I humbly thank you. While I heartily lament the illness that befell you, I am also comforted by seeing the favor of our Lord Jesus Christ upon you. All I can do is ask you not to become exhausted in such visits from above, but to continue to be content with undoubted faith that your strength and offer are known to the Lord. Do not be burdened with temptations beyond this. It is not unknown to you that where there is temptation, there is a need for patience, and where there is patience, there is the intercession of grace and mercy. 9. The ordeal of moving builds patience. Be compelled to keep the commandments of the Lord. Advice for being annoyed with another person. Prayer. Choosing a confessor based on “feeling of the heart” We see that the Most Merciful Lord, with His ineffable mercy and goodness, has given you, due to your infirmities and weaknesses, an advantageous apartment, dry and warm. And what happened during the transfer, which things were broken and lost, we should not be faint-hearted about this, but endure with all complacency and thanksgiving. As for the cat, that not by God’s permission, but by the enemy’s action, she broke the glass in the icons and stole napkins from the window, which should not be much surprising - this whole event was allowed in order to accustom oneself to saving patience and edifying hope and so that they would remember the words of the blessed and righteous husband Job, the long-suffering one, who, during the destruction of his home, children and all his possessions, uttered the words: “The Lord gave, and the Lord took away” (Job 1:21). And again to his wife: “If we have received good from the hand of the Lord, will we not endure the evil ones” (Job 2:10). And we, according to our Christian duty and according to the apostolic commandment, must endure everything, and be complacent, and be content and grateful with our apartment. Whenever possible, we should try to behave as carefully as possible about excess expenses; about insufficient expenses, we should trust and be trustworthy in the Universal Provider of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Provider and Redeemer! And here, most venerable sister of the Lord, the famous imaginary elder gave responsive advice, consistent with the Divine Scripture and the traditions of the holy fathers. From now on, when you are reproached by another person, I ask and pray to protect yourself from such ulcers, and, according to the tradition of the holy fathers, to reproach yourself and condemn yourself for your shortcomings. And it’s amazing to me how conceit blinded and darkened you, and didn’t give you anything less. You, being, firstly, not bound by marriage, always subject to yourself, and secondly, not burdened with a large family of children and servants of different morals and knowledge, you yourself are often extremely burdened in receptions. So, with the help of the Almighty, let us make a good beginning to strive to do the commandments of the Lord, which alone were given by the Savior Himself for the healing of our poor souls! In addition, would you deign from us, sinners, according to your unlimited faith, to complacently listen to advice, the only one useful for your soul. First, start praying for Avdot. Theor.; second, when you meet, force yourself to treat her kindly and apologetically in every possible way; third - try in every possible way, having forgiven the act with you, to mention her morality and treatment, as soon as possible, with praise and good and benevolent disposition. And when, with the assistance of God’s grace for the prayers of our universal elder, Father Theodore, you fulfill our unworthy advice, then you will tangibly feel the fruits in your soul and in all your feelings peace of thoughts, joy, meekness, abstinence, long-suffering, compassion and love for everyone! (Cf. Gal. 5:22–23). Glory to the All-Merciful Lord, who with His mercy and goodness relieved us from this vile and terrible war. And what you felt during prayer, in your opinion, the opposite in feelings, you felt this, because when you worshiped, the body was in motion and you felt squabbles and abuse in it, because the mind helped little, and the spiritual strength also helped little due to weakness. And when you listened with one mind and focused your mind spiritually into prayer, then the All-Merciful Lord sensitively helped you. Regarding the confessor, Fr. Athanasius, I leave it to you to feel your heart, and that he has worthy you to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, then you accept this with faith and be at peace. And to complete revelation, when the events of entanglements frighten you, then I, the most vile one, do not dare force you into complete trust. Regarding your cleverness with Anna Dem., although a disgraceful explanatory conversation took place, perhaps this will not stop the frequency of their visits. It is true that quite often there are also nasty, permissive parts that benefit our poor souls. Although I, damned one, firmly remember that I asked you to try and force yourself in every possible way to refrain from being rude to Anna. Dem., - what to do when you have allowed yourself such impatience. 10. Train yourself to be patient. How to deal with eaten prosphora. Awareness of your weaknesses. Where there is humility, salvation is nearby. Advice on buying a home. Arbitrariness Let us courageously exercise patience and grant that for our sins and negligence the Most Merciful Lord has allowed this to happen to us, so that we, the weak, may accustom ourselves to courageous patience and unshameful trust in the Most Merciful Lord God! And I can firmly assure you that if you tolerate this with complacency, then the All-Merciful Lord will invisibly send you something worse! Deign to eat the prosphora damaged by a rat without a doubt; if it seems disgusting, then clean the gnawed area with a knife and send the crumbs to the Neva to pour into the water. You remain insensitive, cold to prayer, and overcome by laziness. But, thank God, and about this, that at least you are aware of your weaknesses and insignificance. And therefore we must be humble about ourselves and dream more humbly... And where there is humility, there is salvation nearby! To your sister and all her children we testify with these small lines our most sensitive respect and worship. But, according to our poor understanding and reasoning, it is not at all useful for her to buy a house. We are gradually surprised by her such an undertaking, and consider her to be a conniving temptation, and foresee harm. And neither time nor strength allows us to describe the futility, but when she listens, we will be clean from the blood of her sorrows that happen. And that you, according to the conviction of your confessor and with regret, received money for flannel, we would not like to hear this from you, but with sadness we hear that you are prone to self-indulgence and self-reflection. But, as from the Lord, let sound reason, and reasoning, and grace, and the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the mercy of the Most High, guide you. 11. The sacrament of communion and confession. Don't despair: if you fall, rise up You deign to write about your delay in the sacrament of confession and holy communion, and that even your confessor seemed scary to you! But, however, the Merciful Almighty Lord exposed the malicious enemy tormenting you, sowing tares into your gentle soul, and showed you clearly that all opinions turned out to be false and indecent. Therefore, let us make a beginning, with the help of the Lord, to no longer put off time after time, and day after day, but with zeal, reverence, and hope, so that we can approach the holy and life-giving mysteries more often! Already through experience, on the day of communion of the holy and life-giving sacraments, you felt spiritual joy, quite comforting and cooling, filled with sobriety and lightness! But although the next day you were allowed burdens, sleep, etc. for your excessive vanity and zeal, this is allowed by the Lord for many, so that, with the assistance of the given joy and consolations, we would not lighten ourselves from the labors of deeds and oppression. With humility and the help of the Almighty Lord, we are allowed to defeat and put to shame the proud Goliath! You explain that quite often, as the weakest in humans, you are overcome by cowardice and slander. But what to do... When this happens to you, like a person walking along the ladder of virtues, sometimes you will be crawled by the above-mentioned passions. But, however, with the help of God, let us rise again with repentance and knowledge of our weaknesses and again with hope and trust in the help of the Almighty Lord! And if we are sometimes oppressed by sorrows and rumors coming or other unpleasant wines, then again we will rise up and sweat. And the Most Merciful Lord, seeing your long-suffering, careful course, will take revenge in every possible way on your rivals, your enemies, who are fighting you, and will grant you deep grace for the complete victory of our mental and sensory adversaries. We, insignificant ones, had the pleasure of receiving and reading your pleasant lines, from which we see that you are weighed down and burdened by despondency and relaxation, which distract you from soul-edifying activities, and especially from church and sacred services... But, as you are still young and inexperienced in such enemy attacks on us, who want to bind and captivate our souls with these strong giants, plunging them into their pernicious ditch, I dare to remind your love, like a spiritual daughter, of the testament of St. Apostle Paul, writing to the Ephesian Church, chapter 6: “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, and against the powers, and against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places. For this reason, accept all the weapons of God, so that you will be able to resist on the evil day, and, having done everything, come to an end. Stand now, having your loins girded with truth, and putting on the breastplate of righteousness. And he put shoes on his nose in preparation for the gospel of peace. Take the shield of faith over everything, and in it you will be able to extinguish all the arrows of the evil one. And receive the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Making supplication with every prayer continually in the Spirit, and persevering in all things with all patience and prayer” (Eph. 6:12-18). Let us understand, O most venerable one, what the teacher of the universe, St. Apostle Paul, who commands us to patiently force ourselves to pray and exercise with our hands, to hold in our minds the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, that is, to say the Jesus Prayer with our lips. With the help of the right hand of the Almighty, let us force ourselves to do the above. Then, by the grace of God, we will be helped and strengthened, we will be able to destroy all the arrows of the enemy! That is, everything will disappear: laziness, despondency and negligence. – And zeal and diligence for everything will shine. You will feel a worthy appetite for reading! And if you often remember your stay here and the pleasure of spending time with pleasant consolation, then remember - and trust in the All-Merciful Lord and God, Who alone is strong and merciful. 13. Avoid cowardice and impatience We have received your Scripture, from which it is clearly clear that your cowardice and impatience are possessing you, from which you yourself are distressed and you are driving your servants into bitterness. And we, indecent ones, seeing your such poverty of soul and body, do not little by little sympathize with our hearts about your situation. And although in all things indecent, we dare to ask and pray to the All-Bounteous and Greatly Gifted Lord, that He may send upon you from above His gracious affirmation, patience, self-reproach and humility, so that He may grant you a good beginning with trust in His almighty help to live according to His holy will and His holy and life-giving commandments to the best of your ability. And may the Merciful Lord of peace and love protect you, and may he strengthen you, and may he protect you from all the snares and slander of the enemy, and may he forgive you all your sins, voluntary and involuntary. 14. Prodigal thoughts are allowed for sins of condemnation. Patience That by God’s permission you have been allowed to fight prodigal thoughts, and especially demonic dreams, then don’t be too surprised that the all-evil enemy represents such stinginess in your dreams! But just, my beloved daughter, know that this permission was granted to you not simply, but for contempt. Apparently, in her opinions, she secretly condemned and scorned others - and therefore, secretly, the grace of God departs not far from us and the greedy enemy, seeing us defenseless, takes revenge on us and plunges us into such placeless and stingy thoughts and imaginations. But we, having been punished by this event and exhausted to the point of exhaustion, as if we were wounded and wounded, will resort to the all-true doctor of our souls and bodies, our Lord Jesus Christ, as if we were infants and have known through experience our weakness and insignificance. Let us ask the All-Merciful God that He Himself will take revenge on our rival, the seducer the devil, for us who are weak and fall into his nets filled with sorrows. And since you, out of your goodwill and unlimited faith in my repentance, deigned to ask me, feeble-minded, how to warn myself in such cases, I, although I am extremely insufficient in such consequences to teach appropriate advice, am quite confident that your faith, contributing to our unworthiness, can appease the Greatly Gifted Lord to send down invisibly help and healthy reason, how to stay awake and protect yourself from the above-mentioned seductive thoughts and abusive demonic dreams! I have already told you that I am rude and unskilled, but I remembered the venerable priest, the late Father Theodore: he was content with my wickedness in retelling many stories of the holy fathers who lived in Ukraine during the time of his elder, blessed Onuphrius, and also from reading the inspired books of the holy fathers, from which, as much as I can, with the assistance of the grace of the Lord, your love, I am compelled to write. Firstly, my daughter, with the help of God we must strive in every possible way to cut off guilt, that is, in order to only attend to ourselves and our salvation. When someone comes to you and, through the action and instigation of the universal enemy, begins to utter empty words and events to you, then, judging by the significance of it, if you cannot shorten the conversation, then you should try to block your ears, or to receive the word in one ear and let it out into the other, and mentally ask the Lord to save us from such a choking poison. Then you will begin to do the same in other similar cases, and we are obliged, according to the commandment of the Lord, to love and regret the one who filled your ears with harmful stories and nonsense, and to despise and hate the absurdities that are uttered. And by the goodness of the Lord you are given the feeling of being protected from condemnation and remembering St. Prophet David: “Cleanse me from my secrets, and spare your servant from strangers” (Ps. 18:13–14). So, as said above, when we begin to protect ourselves from condemnation, then the grace of God will relentlessly remain with us and insensitively strengthen us and protect us: invisibly reflect demonic actions and dreams, and within us strengthen spiritual strength, and open the action of prayer, and remind mortal memory, and future bribes, and eternal torment! These spiritual feelings defeat and destroy the causes of bad thoughts. I almost no longer know what I say to you, therefore this union can only be united by one God in like-mindedness and like-mindedness, with them the message of their unsearchable destinies, to heal her, and to bestow complacency on you, and to bestow upon her the good of due obedience of feelings! But let us endure at least a little and, according to the Apostle, let us forget what is behind us and with patience be ready for the struggle that is set before us (cf. Phil. 13:13–14). And indeed, let us consider ourselves worthy of such sorrowful allowances for sin for our sake. My illness should be felt with indifference, and heard and accepted with composure, and not be heated everywhere! I ask you to be calm and complacent. 15. No matter how long you live in the world, you must learn everything from events and do not rely on your own self-reflection. The weapon to combat indignation is prayer and patience. Preparation for communion. Consequences of pride. Virginity: preservation of body and soul. It is necessary to ask for forgiveness from parents and have obedience to them I, unworthy, received your informative and explanatory letter, enclosed with my mother’s, in every order and, having read it, I saw in what condition you are to this day and with what waves you are overwhelmed by the anti-wise persons. And so, instead of the imaginary help from them, you were asked to bear the heavy canon and the cross of patience until exhaustion! But what to do, it’s clear how long we have to live in the world, but to learn everything from events and not to rely on our own self-reflections, but to seek skillful advice in everything - in everything! And especially to you and your mother, from the weakest to the weakest and from the weakest to the weakest, to whom I am writing this letter. For this, thanks be given to the Greatly Gifted Lord, who gave you the feeling during the Dormition Fast for the preparation of the Holy and Life-giving Mysteries! But it’s only a pity that she had a subtle indignation at her benefactress and temptress of all willfulness and wisdom, Mrs. N, who, although the enemy’s slander brings you and your mother into grief, but from this, who will completely settle down to the patronage of our Almighty guardian and redeemer the Lord Jesus Christ, and after listening to all the obstinate and sarcastic pronunciations from the counter-sage person, Having endured all the troubles with complacency and remaining with my well-ordered wisdom, I truly dare to say that he will be credited with the feat and will receive a significant reward for his soul for this! But all that remains for us is to pray with you and ask the Most Merciful Lord, so that, in His ineffable mercy, He will grant us courage and patience. That your conscience greatly reproached you for receiving it after communion, and more for the fact that you showed kindness against your feelings and that you predicted that entire matins - this is from the enemy of all, because he is a hater of the Christian race, and most of all against those who want to gain acceptance into the Protector and Redeemer in the form of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ! Now and in the future, as you have known and experienced his intrigues, abuse and burdens, again try to prepare with care and caution. And especially as a girl, she must preserve all her feelings as best she can, especially her sight and hearing. If you had paid attention to yourself and kept up your oral prayer, she would not have allowed you to engage in such disorderly and seductive laughter. But nevertheless, you see how merciful the Lord is, that even with your poor preparation, after receiving the Holy Sacraments, he tangibly comforted and exposed your inner sorrows. And if they tried to prepare themselves properly, then they were especially consoled! This was allowed to you because of your arrogance and conceit by a demonic act. At the designated time, it seemed to you that no one was even looking at you. We feed on demonic action and the most destructive pride and vanity! I ask you, unworthy one, what kind of desire is this, why did you want so many people to look at you? And what pleasure would it be if all their eyes turned and looked at you? Truly, bodily pleasure, it seems, cannot exist. But vanity and a high opinion of oneself will damage the spiritual structure to the point of excess, and will defile the mind, and invest the body in a voluptuous sensation, - it will defile all of oneself with thoughts and feelings, and others who look at you and your face with lust, and who lust with lust in thought, and, according to Christ’s words, have already committed adultery in their hearts (cf. Matthew 5:28). And so we fall into mutual sin and will be tortured purely for this at the Last Judgment for such mistakes. Be aware of this mutual danger. Let us take care of ourselves and others, young and weakly ill, so that the sight of you does not cause harm. Remember that you are a virgin and you are obliged to preserve your virginity immaculately: not only your body is protected from the effects of fornication, but also your mind and heart from evil thoughts. From those voluptuous dreams there is movement in the body. But just be careful, my beloved spiritual daughter, do not accept this clear evidence of mine in the opposite direction, for I wrote and explained to you not yet in order that, having heeded this, you would fall into immeasurable sadness and the most pernicious despair! - May the most merciful Lord protect you from this. I write this for your humility, so that you yourself would not dream and be vain that I am a real and chaste girl, but would consider yourself a mental harlot. And in this way we will curb ourselves not only from judging others, but you will also be more humble about yourself and endure the troubles that come your way with complacency! And then the most destructive opinions of self-reflection will have no place in your soul and all your feelings. And when you happen to upset your mother in some way, then quickly fall at her arduous feet, who worked hard for your upbringing, and ask for forgiveness. As soon as you force yourself, your conscience will be relieved in every way and your enemy the devil will be put to shame! And when an opinion creeps in again beyond your expectations, then immediately explain it to your mother - and you will immediately be healed, and all your burden will be eased! Although you set your intentions on the girl so as not to scold, but as someone who is ill with autocracy and arrogance, you are still overcome by skill. Why? Because you have neither fear nor reverence for your mother. And therefore, unbridled by anyone, you use your will, and self-thinking, and insult your mother, and damage yourself! 16. Murmuring is soul-harming and God-hating. Give thanks for everything. Preparation for entering the monastery. During the service, joy is bestowed from the Lord. Temptation is overcome by humility, self-reproach and patience Your cowardice and murmuring against the providence of God is harmful to your soul and hateful to God, and we should also attribute the event with the benefactress to God’s encouragement for the formation of your morality and to the training of patience, without which it is difficult and inconvenient to receive salvation! Because the Savior and Redeemer himself commanded in St. The Gospel is this: “By your patience gain (that is, train) your souls; he who endures to the end will be saved” (Luke 21:19; Matt. 10:22). So, if Lyubonka was there, and especially against her will, her feelings were scattered, but she was saved from foolish attempts by the grace of the Almighty Lord and God! And that your shortcomings and debts, through the connection of the above, came to you, do not grieve much - the all-powerful and omnipotent most merciful Lord will help you insensitively to payment and will untie you from everything, just force yourself to refrain from grumbling and try, to the best of your strength, to give thanks for everything: both for the sorrows that are found, and for His unsearchable providence and mercy! And that you bring your vices before my unworthiness, that you allegedly violated some commandment, then I also reason about this that you either poorly understood my advice or an imaginary prophecy. Therefore, I beg you to be complacent and to train yourself to have courage and trust in the almighty Lord. And if your gift, made with much care, did not fall into the hands in which you expected, then for this you should not be faint-hearted, but thank the All-Merciful Lord that it was arranged this way, so that you would not be arrogant, but would adorn yourself with humility, as if the most edifying watering of your souls, confirmed and saving! I, the most indecent one, will write to your love and give advice: your salvation lies only in your loving character. If only when the Most Merciful Lord grants you firm and unanimous hope and desire to completely leave the world and everything in it, and, at the invitation of the Lord Himself, deny yourself and, having taken up the cross, follow His life-giving life (cf. Matthew 16:24), yes, it seems that the circumstances of your events bring you closer to this, then if, with the assistance of grace, you decide to do this, please write to us. Upon receipt of this, we, with God’s help, will ask the benefactors to pay the debts for you, as much as you agree. And for your residence we choose a nunnery in Kaluga, in which our bishop and mother Abbess Angelina have a sober and temperate life, gifted with prudence, and are partly familiar to us. Kaluga is 60 miles from our hermitage, the abbot of our monastery often comes, and the brethren are also sent for necessary purchases. However, although you resolutely intend to leave the capital, we advise you not to let rumors spread about you until the time comes. Ask whoever you should if it is possible to send a pension to you in Kaluga. Meanwhile, having come to us in Kozelsk, if the Lord pleases us and we are alive, we will personally discuss what is necessary, and thus everything will be confirmed. You write about your attention and desire to receive joy and consolation in church, but when you come home, you are left without any joy - we are surprised at your cowardice. Don’t you remember that joy from the Lord is given to us, sometimes without feeling it, by His holy and ineffable grace, always tuna, and not according to our merits and imaginary desires! So, if we humble ourselves according to the commandment of the Savior Himself and the advice of St. and spiritual father, then the Greatly Gifted and Most Merciful Lord will comfort us in every possible way, and lighten the burden of our burdens, and arrange your residence in a benign haven. May the gracious Lord enlighten you and make you wise in humility. You yourself know quite well that in response to every temptation there is victory in humility, self-reproach and patience. May the gracious Lord help you, and protect you, and protect you from all the snares of the enemy, both right and left, and may He forgive you all your sins in this age and in the next. 17. “Blessed are you when people revile you” (Matthew 5:11). When irritated, calm down. Compel the heart to obey and obey parents. Avoid temptations: it is better to find a quiet refuge Firstly, you write that at the time of receiving my letter you were indignant in spirit against the inglorious rumors slandering you. My daughter, our Christian duty urgently requires, as far as possible, our strength to endure and imitate our immortal Creator and Redeemer. This is mentioned in the beatitudes like this: “Blessed are you when they revile you and smite you, and say all kinds of evils about you lying to me for your sake. (And you who have endured this,) rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven” (Matthew 5:11–12). And that you were overcome by a suspicious thought, for which may the Most Merciful Lord forgive you. But from now on you must begin not to accept such soul-destroying thoughts, as you have experienced first-hand the flattery and futility of them! Again, you should be more complacent with your benefactress and, at every meeting, with your inner feeling and thought, call upon the help of the Almighty Lord, so that he may give you a spirit of cheerfulness and reason to answer and not accept opinions that are harmful to your soul from the words she utters. But then again the malicious enemy and mental Amalek seduced you with conceit and self-reflection in his discussion about the disease of the girl’s hands. You ask from my badness for instructions on how to act in such bitterness to pacify yourself in order to humble yourself, then listen: we must accustom ourselves to pacification and humility not in such a storm, agitated and covering your feelings of soul and body! And to obey your mother in advance and not do anything of your own free will; but whether it’s good or bad - as mummy judges and approves, that’s what you have to force yourself to do, as mummy has approved. It is written: “Give blood, receive spirit” (that is, although you don’t really like some thing, you have ten best thoughts in your head), - you must, with great compulsion and shedding of blood, agree to your mother’s above-mentioned definition and little by little, by the goodness of God, you will come to such a dispensation that even as a great burden you will consider what you can complete only according to your own understanding, or what you advise to someone. During the great confusion and bitterness that you described, you could tame yourself. If you had the reverence and faith due to your mother, then even at such a time you could stop with admonishing words and humble yourself, but since you have long been stubborn in waywardness, rebellious, then in your great wisdom it seems to you that she is insufficient for guidance and nourishment! But I ask and pray, as much as possible, force your heart to obedience and obedience, and this will give you peace in your soul. And that you at the wedding, although you didn’t see the most tempting consequences, nevertheless significantly defiled your spiritual church (that is, all feelings) with ideas, and therefore, from such events, you and I must continue to learn what it’s like around wedding celebrations and what kind of fire of lustful lusts takes on the power to rage in our opinions and feelings. Think carefully about whether you decide to leave the addictive cauldrons and sweets of St. Petersburg (or, one might say) Egyptian, and decisively retire to a quiet haven, and, having practiced this way, you will understand the true path to the eternal abodes! May the Most Merciful Lord enlighten you, may He make you wise in humility, may He help you, and may He protect you and protect you from all the obsessions of the devil. You write and admit that you are forced to endure not only from your half-wife, but also from your servants. Although these adventures, apparently, are beyond your strength, just remember that it is our duty, calling on the Almighty Lord, to endure this and acquire humility, and preserve it, like some kind of property. The Monk Elijah Ekdik clearly writes about this in chapter 62: “The home of the soul is patience, for it will endure in it. Having humility is what feeds on it.” And therefore, so that no one allows contradictions or incorrect word justifications, let us pass by patience and teach by the example of our complacency. “Reprove with the strength of your virtues the lips of those who teach you against you, and not with the knowledge of your words, but with the meekness and quietness of your lips, make them fall silent, reprove the disobedient shamelessness with the nobility of your life and the restraint of shameless feelings with your eyes.” 19. Move away from worldly temptations to avoid sorrows. The Savior in the form of the sick accepts good deeds We need to endure and prosper in the sorrows that come our way; we know that everything will pass. And first: we must be forced to move away from worldly temptations: what you don’t see and don’t hear, you don’t want. The memory of God is strong enough to preserve you from everything, if you try to remember the hour of death when the soul departs from the body. Our all-generous Father and Redeemer Jesus Christ in His holy Gospel, with His most pure lips, spoke in Matthew in chapter 25, conception 106 about His second coming: “When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. And all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them from each other, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep at His right hand, the goats of the living. Then the King says to those on His right hand: Come, blessed by My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Be hungry and give Me food; thirsty and thirsty for Me; strange beh and vvedoste Mena; naked and clothed Mene; I am sick and visiting; ran away in prison and came to Me.” Then the righteous women answer Him, saying: “Lord! when I see You hungry” and so on (Matthew 25:31–37). And further away, having answered, the Tsar spoke to them: “Amen, I say to you: whatever you have done, one of the least of My brethren, you have done for Me,” and so on (Matthew 25:45). Vizhd: Our Savior Himself, in the form of the sick, accepts good deeds. And therefore we must adhere to the commandments of the Lord of our creation to the best of our ability. During the continuation of that virtue, your love was put to the test by the slander of the universal enemy the devil, who, out of his ancient malice, strives to create an obstacle to every commandment in order to distract you from the soul-saving and life-giving commandment. Saint John Chrysostom, the universal teacher, and Saint Isaac the Syrian write: “There is no virtue, but evil will not follow it” (that is, sorrow or adventure in appearance of displeasure). 20. The Lord works out our salvation even through things contrary to us. Everyone causes us grief, we deeply sympathize with you about everything. I wish you a speedy deliverance from these troubles, but if God pleases and postpones deliverance for a while, be courageous and strong in spirit in faith and trust in the generosity of the Merciful Lord, that He works out our salvation even in cases that are contrary to us. Recognize your weakness and insufficiency to submit to the will of God and to fulfill His holy commandments. From this knowledge you will acquire humility and see God’s help. You are expecting my visit, but at the present time I do not foresee it, and my poor health does not allow me to set out on the road. Expect the mercy of God, He is able to send you an opportunity to end with A.I. For this, entrusting you to the Protection and Providence of God, I send you my fatherly forgiveness and blessing. 21. Carrying the cross is saving. Illnesses are not always for sins, but are also sent as temptations I am sure that your cross is difficult for you, but it is saving, although it seems to you that you are sinning by grumbling, but later you repent and bow to thanksgiving, not knowing the destinies of God, which arrange everything for your benefit. You must surrender to His holy will, strengthening yourself with faith and hope: if God did not love you, He would not have sent both of you such a cross - illness and compassion. Was not the righteous Job pleasing to God? But some unbearable diseases were sent to him. Illnesses are not always for sins, but are also sent as a temptation. St. John Chrysostom likens those suffering from illnesses to martyrs. What is more honor than that? I advise you to be more patient and grateful in your weakness. God is able to work this out for your benefit. 22. While we are in the flesh, it is impossible to do without struggle. What is not in your will, leave to go on its own as it goes. Humility is the strongest weapon against the enemy You upset us a lot with your opinion that we have abandoned you. We don’t even think about it. Do not consider this as leaving no answer to any of your letters. Have pity on us too - believe me, we are always in vanity: not only you, but also many, we cannot give an answer. Reading your letters, we see your weaknesses and sorrows, we sympathize with you about them, but we are unable to give you help. While we are in the flesh, it is impossible to do without struggle, in which sometimes we win, and sometimes we are overcome. What is not in your will, leave to go on its own as it goes. If you want to keep or stand on your own, you can only cause harm to yourself and add illness to illness. May the Lord strengthen you in this feat and honor you with His mercy. Also tell N the answer that she should arm herself against her stubbornness and defeat the enemy with one powerful weapon - humility, otherwise later it will be a pity not to turn back. You might be interested in: