169. Лучше исповедовать помыслы лично и устно, а не письменно

Most venerable mother of the treasurer Magdalene in the Lord! I received your letter dated September 16th. Confess your thoughts to me, a sinner. – It is good to confess in writing, because this also makes the confessor feel relief in the soul, but it is even better to confess in person and orally. May the All-merciful Lord forgive you for what you confessed, which was out of weakness, and strengthen you in goodness. You wrote that I forbade you to go to your cells, but you still go to visit sick old women. “But I told you not to walk around your cells unnecessarily.” And sick old women need to be visited and, in any way possible, to serve them. How can you abandon the sick? The Lord charges Himself with visiting the sick. “I was sick,” He says in St. Gospels - and visit Mena. But if you walk around your cells without doing anything, just for the sake of idleness, drinking tea, talking idlely, and judging people, then this is sinful, and such visits should be avoided. Peace to you and God's blessing. You might be interested in: