214. От осуждения других воздерживайся, себя же осуждай нещадно. Открывать помыслы духовным отцам или матерям есть предание древнее и имеет великую пользу. Лучше маленькое правило справлять с усердием, нежели большое кое-как

Sister in the Lord M. Magdalene! I wish you God's mercy and spiritual salvation. I received your 2 letters. May the Lord help you in your labors and teach you useful things. Ask the Lord for help before every undertaking. May the incident on November 23 be beneficial to both of you. You did the right thing, although you must try to speak without anger. One must repent of negligence and drowsiness. If it is not in your will to create order for yourself, then you must endure and resign yourself to the malfunction. If there is any need to go to the sisters or receive them during the service, then there is nothing to do - and it must be done with repentance. Refrain from judging others, but judge yourself mercilessly. May the Lord forgive you in everything. I send a blessing to Pasha and Evstoliya. Revealing thoughts to spiritual fathers or mothers is an ancient tradition and has great benefits. You need to open everything that confuses you, but there is no benefit in revealing one thing and hiding another. It is not harmful if they know your shortcomings and mistakes. But it will do great harm if they praise you or consider you to be in good working order (I am writing this to Eustolii). It is better for her to leave her own rule, it is great and not useful to her. Let him celebrate two five hundred days, go to services, and carry out his obedience with humility. Let him read one kathisma, and at the same time, on the 1st “Glory”, let him remember the health of everyone at once and one bow for everyone; on the 2nd “Glory” let him commemorate his repose and bow again. And let him leave his other bows. It is better to let a small rule be followed, and with zeal, than a large one, but somehow. In your free time or during obedience, you need to say the Jesus Prayer. You should go to lunch. If you don’t want to eat, then sit and look at your sisters, and you can eat less with tea. May the Lord save and have mercy on your benefactors, Vasily and Paraskeva. May the Lord heal Vasily from mental and physical illnesses. The Moscow doctor’s advice was very good, and it’s good that you listened to him. Thanks be to the Lord for granting him the opportunity to partake of the Holy Mysteries. One should not despair at all, but pray and hope for God’s mercy. N r. I received it from them, and they lit a candle for Rev. Tikhon of Kaluga, and a prayer service was served for their health. May the Lord deliver their son N. from wine and bless all other children. I am sending you the books, paintings and other things that you asked for. And I received your N., God forbid. But N.N. better write yourself what you wrote about her, but it’s awkward for me to write without knowing the details from her. I'll write a thank you note. Do you have any dried mushrooms in your area? If so, please send 1 f. for me. or 2 f. We don't have any good ones. Asking for peace and God's blessing on you, I remain with the desire for salvation. Congratulations on the upcoming holiday of the Nativity of Christ. May the Lord give you joy, peace of mind and help you spend these days in a soul-saving way. You might be interested in: