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... There is great peace for those who love Your law, and there is no stumbling block for them (Ps. 119:165). It is impossible to invent another means for obtaining a peaceful dispensation of the soul, other than fulfilling the Gospel commandments of God. The Gospel commandments require, firstly, humble patience and enduring all temptations, according to what is said: With your patience save your souls (Luke 21:19) and He who endures to the end will be saved (Matthew 10:22), so as not to judge or condemn anyone, but to leave everyone to the judgment of God and leave them to their own will. Since only one is the Judge of the living and the dead, before whom each of us will either be glorified or ashamed by our deeds (2, part 1, p. 36). The All-Good Lord, who has the message of destinies, will enlighten us and guide us on the path of keeping His Divine commandments, and through them we will acquire eternal life and eternal bliss, where God’s Providence will show someone a place, as it is said in the psalms: In every place of His dominion, bless the Lord, my soul (Ps. 102:22) (2, part 1, p. 29). ...I urge you to believe... the gospel word of the Lord Himself, who says: If you want to enter eternal life, keep the commandments (Matthew 19:17). And again: Not everyone who says to Me: “Lord! Lord!”, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father (Matthew 7:21). Consider these words judiciously and do not hope to be saved by simply fulfilling cell rules without fulfilling the commandments of God, of which the main one is this: Hypocrite! First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see how to remove the speck from your brother’s eye (Matthew 7:5) (2, part 2, pp. 72–73). You wrote that you were prompted by an inner voice: “Rest in the Lord.” You ask what these words could mean. I think that, firstly, they mean that anyone who wants to have peace in the Lord must try to fulfill all the commandments of the Lord, according to what was said by the holy prophet David: I was guided by all Your commandments, I hated every way of unrighteousness (Ps. 119, 128). With this direction, anyone who wants to have peace in the Lord must be forced to love his enemies, bless those who curse, do good to those who hate him, and pray for those who create mischief and persecute him. If we are not compelled to do this, then we cannot have perfect peace in the Lord. And to the extent that we allow ourselves to justify ourselves and accuse others, we will be deprived of spiritual peace, according to what is said in the psalms: Great peace have those who love Your law, and there is no stumbling block for them (Ps. 119, 165) (2, part 3, p. 66). ...N. yours finds the teaching of Christ far from perfect. It seems like this to people who do not believe and therefore neglect to fulfill the life-giving commandments of Christ. And whoever believes in simplicity of heart and tries to the best of his ability and ability to direct his life according to the law of Christ, is convinced by his own experience that there has never been and cannot be a more perfect teaching than this. N. yours considers the reason for the imperfection of Christ to be the Lord’s promise of reward for fulfilling His commandments. But this reward is not some kind of payment, for example, a man dug a hole and received a ruble. No. With the Lord, the very fulfillment of the commandments serves as a reward for a person, because it is in accordance with his conscience, which is why peace is established in a person’s soul with God, with his neighbors and with himself. That is why such a person is always calm. This is his reward here, which will go with him into eternity. N. considers your promise of a reward from the Lord for fulfilling His commandments to be proof of the Savior’s greatest wisdom, since he finds that only in this way could His teaching spread so quickly. The promise of a reward alone wasn't enough to do that. For both in Mohammedanism and in other religions in which people believe in an afterlife, rewards are also promised upon leaving this life. And the spread of the true Christian religion was facilitated mainly by the beneficialness of the teachings of Christ on His followers. This benefit can now be experienced by every true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and who directs his life according to His life-giving commandments. As mentioned above, such a person still enjoys the heavenly world while still on earth (2, part 1, pp. 204–205). Spiritual children! You write that three feelings currently dominate your soul. The first feeling is an increasing desire for a good, truly Christian life and love for God and a frequent attraction to inner prayer; as a result of which, of course, there is love and desire for internal monasticism, but external monasticism is still inaccessible to you due to various spiritual obstacles. Finding yourself in such a position, adhere strictly and more precisely to the teachings of the Gospel... To what was said before, I now add the psalm words spoken by the Holy Spirit through the prophet David: Trust in the Lord and do good, and populate the earth and take advantage of its wealth. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will fulfill the requests of your heart for you. Open your way to the Lord, and trust in Him, and He will bring it to pass: and He will bring forth your righteousness like the light and your destiny like the noonday. Submit to the Lord and pray to Him (Ps. 36:3-7). The psalm words “populate the earth and take advantage of its wealth” regarding you may mean that with your property you helped the sisters gathered there to settle where you live. “Submit to the Lord and pray to Him” means try in every possible way to live according to the Gospel commandments of God and often pray and beg the Lord to help you in this. “Delight yourself in the Lord” means find no consolation in anything other than the law of the Lord and pleasing the Lord. It is not in vain that Scripture says: Great peace have those who love Your law, and there is no stumbling block for them (Ps. 119:165). The main and most important commandments of the law of the Gospel are three: Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven (Luke 6:37). If, first of all, we adhere to the fulfillment of these commandments, then it will be convenient for us to fulfill the others (2, part 1, p. 27). The Holy Apostle Paul writes in his Epistle to the Ephesians: Imitate God as beloved children (Eph. 5:1). True Christians can imitate God by fulfilling especially the following three Gospel commandments: 1. The Lord says in the Gospel: Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful (Luke 6:36), for He commands His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unjust (Matthew 5:45). This commandment, firstly, means that a person must be compassionate towards others regarding giving alms, without distinguishing the worthy from the unworthy. And secondly, it demands from us condescension towards our neighbors and forgiveness of all shortcomings, insults and annoyances. 2. The Holy Apostle Peter writes: As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts that were in your ignorance, but, following the example of the Holy One who called you, be holy in all your actions. For it is written: Be holy, because I am holy (1 Pet. 1:14-16). This commandment means that a person must maintain chastity and purity of body and soul not only regarding fornication, but also regarding other passions; because envy, hatred, and rancor also constitute the impurity of the soul. 3. It is said in the Gospel of Matthew: Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48). Christian perfection, according to the word of Saint Isaac the Syrian, consists in the depth of humility: the Pharisee, as he testifies about himself, was not subject to any vice; but because he ascended, condemned and humiliated the publican, he not only lost everything, but was also rejected by God. For this reason, the Lord says: When you have done everything commanded you, say: we are worthless servants, because we did what we had to do (Luke 17:10). No matter how firm and precise one of the Christians is in the fulfillment of his Christian duties, this fulfillment and spiritual work, according to the word of the holy fathers, can only be likened to a small font or the smallest lake; The commandments of God are like a great sea, just as the holy prophet David says: Your commandment is extremely broad (Ps. 119:96). Before this breadth, the great saints involuntarily humbled themselves, calling themselves earth and ashes and considering themselves worse than any creature. Or, as the wisest of the apostles, Saint Paul, put it: Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. So, whoever is perfect among us should think this way (Phil. 3:13–15) (17, pp. 26–27). You might be interested in: