Глава 34. О том, что подвижник, живущий в братстве, не должен приобретать чего-либо мирского в собственное свое владение

An ascetic who has entered into the society we have described must be free from any acquisition of worldly things into property. For if he does not do this, then, firstly, he violates the strictness of community life by acquiring property, and moreover, he himself represents a strong proof of his unbelief, as one who does not trust God that He will feed those gathered in His name, and as one who did not heed the prophet David, who says: “The youngest was, for he was old, and did not see the righteous, and was left below his seed asking for bread” (Ps. 36, 25), - either spiritual bread of understanding, or sensual bread, with which the body is nourished. If “where... two or three congregations are assembled in the name of Christ, then Christ is in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20), then how much more is He there where the congregation is larger and more crowded. Therefore, either we, because Christ is with us, will not have a shortage of necessary things, just as the Israelites in the desert did not have a shortage of necessary things, or if there is a shortage to our test, then it is better to endure poverty and be with Christ, rather than to abound in all the things of life outside of fellowship with Him. The harm from acquiring property is not limited to this, but extends further. For he who strives to have something of his own thinks of nothing other than separation and retreat. And who does not have this in mind, why should he have property when he knows that the servants of Christ, by the grace of Christ, always have an abundance of everything they need? Therefore, it is clear that such a person is planning to cut off and kill his own soul, betrays his own salvation for a small number of oxen and becomes (let me put it somewhat boldly) a second Judas, beginning with theft (because personal property is theft) and ending with betrayal, for he also betrays the word of truth, just as he betrays the Lord. Indeed, when our rule of life is not to separate from the society to which we have joined, not to acquire anything as property, and generally not to plot anything secret or such that, to the detriment of the brethren, serves as a bad example for those being saved, and when after this someone despises the fear of God and the decrees of the Holy Spirit, and first plots theft (because to acquire ownership of anything and from anywhere is theft), and then apostasy and separation, then How then does he not betray the word of truth and become a second Judas, betraying the truth in his own way? Therefore, it is necessary in every possible way to avoid acquiring anything into your own property beyond what is received for everyone in general, and not only in this regard, to keep the thought undefiled, but to cleanse the inner person from all defilement, that is, firstly, unclean and evil thoughts with which the inner abode of the Spirit is darkened, then flattery, hypocrisy, envy, quarrelsomeness, which root out love and remove God from the souls of such people, for if “God is loving” (1 John 4:8), then whoever does not have love in himself is deprived of Divine grace. Everyone must, keeping his soul in all humility, in holiness and in readiness for good deeds, make amends for the present, meaning that at the present time he does not deviate in anything from God’s will and does not interrupt the begun way of life. For such a state of the soul saves us from all distraction and makes us consider everything beautiful with reverence and firm thought, first of all, rooting in our souls that God is good and the author of all good, but not a single evil of any kind, although we taste bitter medicine for our own correction. God, as the doctor of human souls, according to the nature of the diseases, proportions the sufficient power of healing so that, when this is necessary, he cleanses the deeply embedded corruption. Knowing this clearly, we will always give thanks, although we will also experience powerful healing that cleanses us from various types of negligence. But patiently enduring temptation and testing is characteristic of very few people, and only those like Abraham. This is what God's grace has sent down to the humility of my mind as an instruction to you, who have loved community life, in comparison with which, as Scripture has shown, and my mind is convinced, there is no other kind of life among people that is so bright, pleasant and lofty. Since, to the best of my ability, I offered admonition to those leading the hermit life, and both have the same goal - to please Christ, and the rules for this are akin to each other, then let us turn to the word that was proposed to them. For, perhaps, something useful will be introduced into the present word and from there, capable of further brightening and decorating this way of life. You might be interested in: