56. О том, как относиться настоятелю к своим многочисленным попечениям

Your Reverence, most honorable Mother Abbess Lyudmila in the Lord! I received your letter dated April 4th and thank you for greeting and congratulating me, a sinner, on my Angel’s Day. Thank you, Mother, also for the 20 stamps enclosed with your letter. May the Lord save you. Upon arrival, you are thinking of going to M. Vyacheslav’s dacha. - A good thing, and even necessary for the abbess. Then greet M. Vyacheslava from me, a sinner, and wish her and her co-workers God’s mercy and help in their labors. May the Lord help you, Mother, to restore the building destroyed by gunpowder. You thought you would live a quieter life today from worries. But reality almost never agrees with our thoughts. That’s why our late former rector of Optina, a wise man, Fr. Archimandrite Moses used to repeat the words: “Yes, life has never lived as expected.” And also, regarding the circumstances of his life, he used to say: “I want it to be as it will be.” – So you, along with your thoughts, carry in your mind the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: “Thy will be done!” Asking for you and the monastery entrusted to you for peace and God’s blessing, I remain with sincere goodwill. You might be interested in: