ЮНОСТЬ

Or don’t you know that youth in itself is weak and receptive to evil; and when he receives even greater wealth, he is even more quickly drawn towards everything bad? Just as fire, having found a flammable substance, produces a very strong flame, so youth, having received a lot of money, like a readily combustible substance, ignites such a flame that the whole soul of the young man is ignited. Can such a young man think about chastity, avoid intemperance, undertake any deeds of virtue or anything else spiritual? (1) Let us restrain the impulses of our children and, either by fear or by conviction, we will curb youth. Let us take care of their chastity; We will do and arrange everything so that youth can avoid inappropriate wishes. For this reason, the common Lord of all, knowing the weakness of human nature, established marriage in order to remove us from lawless mixing. So, let us not leave the young men without care; but, knowing the fire burning in them, let us take care to marry them, according to the law of God, before they indulge in intemperance; let their feelings of chastity remain and they will not suffer harm from uncontrollability, having sufficient consolation and being able to curb carnal lusts and avoid punishment (1). Youth is easily inclined towards sin, carried away by pleasures and shameful passions; if she strengthens herself in keeping the commandments of God, then she retains her innocence, because what exactly a bridle and a tamer serve for a young horse from the herd, that is what the Divine law is for young men. After all, Daniel was young, but he kept the commandments of God and for this he was awarded prophetic grace and became an interpreter of the innermost secrets. In the same way, the three youths, being young, by their faith and deeds changed the nature of the fire to the opposite, so that they preserved life in the flame and were watered by the boldness of faith and the breath of the Spirit. This also applies to us (3). Indeed, people can be worse than jackals. They are unbridled like beasts living in the desert. Mostly young men are like this. Devoted to fierce passions, they gallop and jump, rushing unbridled everywhere and not caring in the least about what is due. And their fathers are to blame for this. They force their grooms to tame horses with great care and do not allow young horses to remain untamed for a long time, but at the very beginning they bridle them and use all other means to tame them, and for a long time they look at their children with indifference when they live unbridled, lacking chastity, dishonoring themselves by indulging in fornication, games, attending dishonorable spectacles - while for warning fornication, it would be necessary to unite the son in marriage with a chaste and wise wife; she will keep her husband from a reckless lifestyle and curb him. Fornication and adultery occur because young men are given freedom. If he had a reasonable wife, he would take care of the house, fame and honor. But you will say: he is still young. And I know it. But if Isaac entered into marriage in the fortieth year from birth and until that time kept his virginity (see Gen. 25:20), then even more so in a state of grace young men should have this virtue. But what should I do? Not only do you not want to take care of their chastity, but you look indifferently when they dishonor, defile themselves and indulge in various vices, not knowing that the benefits of marriage depend on maintaining the purity of the body, without which there is no benefit from marriage (7). You might be interested in: