76. О необходимости строгого соблюдения поста. Послушницам не следует сближаться с молодыми людьми

Your Reverence, most honorable Mother Abbess Lyudmila in the Lord! I received your letters dated November 1 and 13. If your Lord blessed you to place the Holy Icon at the station, then I can’t say anything against it. Only then you need to send trustworthy old women there. And both for this matter and for similar matters one must first ask for the blessing of the Right Reverend, and then get down to business. In your second letter, you described an incident that happened to you in St. Petersburg: you ate one half of a quick pie on Wednesday out of oblivion, and ate the other half, having already come to your senses. The first sin is excusable, but the other is not excusable. It is as if someone were running out of oblivion towards an abyss, but in the middle of the road he came to his senses and still continued to run, despising the danger that threatened him. There was such a case in our monastery. One brother, on a fast day, found in his pocket a crumb of a butter pie the size of a pine nut and thought: what is the importance if I eat this crumb, and he ate it. But his conscience immediately began to condemn him for his conscious sin. He explained this to the Elder Hieromonk Ambrose, and the Elder determined his penance for this little thing - to make 12 bows. But your pie is not a crumb, and therefore the penance should be determined for you a little more. When you confess, tell your confessor this sin and ask him to impose at least some kind of penance on you to calm your conscience. Other sins, not excluding breaking the fast on Monday among people who do not fast on Monday, also be told to your confessor in confession, although without penance. The novice met a young man. - It was a waste of time to get acquainted. The young man wants to shoot himself if she does not marry him. This shows that he is an unreasonable person. And therefore it is not approved to marry such a person. If this novice sincerely desires the salvation of her soul, then she should take care of herself in every possible way and not make any acquaintances with young people, especially men, and not correspond, even avoid meeting with them and end close relationships. Asking for you and your entire monastery peace and God's blessing, I remain with sincere goodwill. P.S. You say that of the Pskov monasteries, only yours observes fasting on Mondays. - Well, what then? And it must comply with the statute where it was introduced. You might be interested in: