Глава 21. О том, что не должно отделяться от духовного братства

One must also be clearly convinced that once one has entered into the union and unity of spiritual brotherhood, he no longer has the right to separate and be separated from those with whom he has become united. For if those who have entered into a relationship with each other in this material life often cannot separate despite the conditions made, or the one who does so is subject to certain punishments for this, then even more so, the one who has accepted the conditions of spiritual cohabitation, which has an inextricable and eternal connection, does not have the right to separate and tear himself away from those with whom he has entered into unity, or the one who does so will subject himself to the most severe punishments from above. If a woman who has entered into community with a man and has a carnal relationship with him is condemned to death as soon as she is convicted of unfaithfulness to him, then how many times more guilty for his excommunication is he who, through the testimony and mediation of the Spirit Himself, is accepted into the spiritual community? Therefore, just as bodily members, connected to each other by natural bonds, cannot be torn away from the body, and if they are torn away, the rejected member will become dead, so the ascetic, accepted into the brotherhood and held in it by the union of the Spirit, which is stronger than natural bonds, does not have the power to separate from those with whom he has become united; or, by doing this, he is dead in soul and deprived of the grace of the Spirit, as if he has turned into nothing the conditions concluded with the Spirit Himself. If someone says that some of the brethren are bad (of course, he will not blame everyone, because they do not join the community for bad reasons, so that everyone agrees to be bad), then if he says that some of the brethren are bad, they violate good things without caution, they do not care about decency, they neglect the severity befitting ascetics, and therefore it is necessary to separate from such, then he has come up with an insufficient justification for this removal, because neither Peter nor Andrew and John were not separated from the rest of the Apostles because of the wickedness of Judas, and none of the other Apostles turned this into an excuse for apostasy, and the evil nature of Judas did not in the least prevent them from obeying Christ; on the contrary, remaining obedient to the instructions of the Lord, they were zealous for piety and virtue, without being seduced by the wickedness of Judas. Thus, whoever says: “For the sake of bad brothers I am forced to separate from the spiritual union,” he has invented an unseemly pretext for his inconstancy. On the contrary, he himself is that stony earth, which, due to the inconstancy of the will, cannot grow in itself the words of truth, but with the slightest attack of temptation or due to the uncontrollability of passions, it does not tolerate a chaste life, and the barely sprouting teaching is soon dried up in him by the heat of the passions. And he, out of his own conviction, comes up with empty and insufficient pretexts for his justification at the judgment of Christ and easily deceives himself, because it is easiest to deceive himself, for everyone is a lenient judge of himself, reasoning that what is pleasant is also useful. Therefore, let him be condemned by the judgment of truth itself as giving a reason for temptation to many or a bad example, which always encourages competition in the same incongruous actions, and as having become the heir of what was proclaimed: “woe” (Matthew 18:7). And “if he has no food, let the millstone of the village fall upon his neck, and drown in the abyss of the sea” (Matthew 18:6). For the soul, as soon as it gets used to apostasy, is filled with strong intemperance, covetousness, gluttony, deceit and all kinds of evil behavior, and finally, plunging into extreme evil, it plunges into the abyss of vice. Therefore, whoever has become a guide in such matters, let him see how many souls he is guilty of in the destruction, while he is unable to give a satisfactory account for his own soul. For why does not such a one better imitate the great Peter and serve as an example for others of firm faith and constancy in the beautiful, so that when the light of his good deeds shines, even those living in the darkness of wickedness direct their path to the better? That is why the righteous Noah did not say to God: “I must leave the world, because everyone is wicked,” but he endured asceticly and courageously, in the midst of the abyss of wickedness he maintained unwavering piety, he never rebelled against the Master, but with patience and constancy, and among the waves of wickedness, he saved the ship of piety. And Lot, living in Sodom in the midst of such wickedness, lawlessness and disorder, preserved his virtue intact, not in the least caught by any evil slander, but among the inhabitants who killed strangers, acted with great impudence and lust contrary to the statutes of nature, and he himself kept the shrine undefiled, and brought others, as many as possible, to it, teaching good things more by deeds than by words. And you present as an excuse the negligence of the brethren, either real or invented by you, plotting apostasy yourself, seeking to humiliate the Holy Spirit, and you turn slander against the brethren into a veil of your own wickedness and laziness to work for virtue. Therefore, let him, having become wise by these examples, love the harmony of the Spirit into which he brought himself from the first shrouds of heavenly birth. For if one of the fingers on the hand happens to suffer something painful, the other finger will not strengthen so that it too will be cut off, but will first try to avoid the pain of cutting off, and then will be so strong that it will replace the body’s need for the finger in danger and so that the hand, deprived of its natural branches, will not be allowed to completely lose its characteristic and innate decoration. Therefore, apply this example to the ascetic and see how much grief and confusion he causes to sensitive souls by his cutting off and how he makes himself dead and not involved in life. And that the mentor does not want to introduce the student he is teaching into vice, in which case the bad leadership of the teacher would serve as a pretext for the student to withdraw and retreat, we will consider this, if you like, this way. What is a father? What is a teacher? Both of them form children for exploits: one for the son, the other for the student, trying to wish and advise the best. For it is natural for fathers to want their children to become the best, most prudent, well-behaved and modest, so that the children will have a good reputation for themselves, and the fathers will gain more eminence when the good qualities of their children are credited to them. And those who teach physical exercises try to make those they train the strongest and most dexterous, so that, with strength and experience, having accomplished a skillful feat, they will turn out to be glorious winners of their opponents and so that, according to all the rules, the struggle they perform will turn into obvious praise for the instructors. And it is natural for anyone who sets out to teach to want his students to reach the most accurate understanding of the lessons. So, since in the fathers nature follows this law, how can a teacher of holy life not wish that the one he teaches does not turn out to be the most blameless and chaste in spiritual wisdom, when he clearly knows that if the student becomes such, then he will be famous among people, and will receive bright crowns from Christ for being servants, or, better to say, His brethren (because Christ also used this name - Matthew 12, 49), through his care made him worthy of union with Christ? Let's look from the other side. If a student becomes bad from his leadership, then the mentor will be inconsolably ashamed at the world meeting during the Judgment, and at the general heavenly council he will not only be ashamed, but also punished. Therefore, how is it possible that the teacher does not wish his listener to become well-behaved and modest? And in another respect, the depravity of a student is not useful to a teacher. since both of them intended to live with each other, then the fruits of the vice that the student will accept will first of all be communicated to the teacher, just as poisonous reptiles first of all pour out their poison on those who warmed them up. And thus, both from the nature of the matter and from what is useful to the leader, it is clear from everything that he will wish and will try in every possible way to make his pupil modest and well-behaved. For if he were a teacher in sin and wickedness, then, of course, he would try to lead those he trained to this end. If he is a teacher of virtue and justice, then, as I think, he will want the student to reach an end that is not contrary to his own efforts. Therefore, from anyone who wants to leave spiritual society, every plausible excuse is taken away. It turned out that the reason for such thoughts in him was the uncontrollability of passions, carelessness about work, unfoundedness and instability of judgment. He did not hear what the prophet David said: “Blessed are those who keep judgment” (Ps. 105:3) - those who preserve, and not those who destroy. These people are like “ugly ones who laid the foundation of a spiritual building on an arctic fox,” that is, on an unsteady will, and this building is a little rain of temptation and a small stream of invasions of the evil one, carrying away its support, destroying and eroding (Matthew 7:26-27). You might be interested in: