ДЕЛАНИЕ

(see also: Feat). I beg you, give a price, give due weight to the work of the Holy Fathers, which they learned from Divine revelations, give a price to the work that will make salvation and prosperity convenient for you, give at least a price to the work, - I say with tears and tears, - the work that is now rejected by the monks, trampled upon by them, buried in deep oblivion, into the unknown, replaced - I don’t know what - by some games. “We pray according to Christ, as we pray to God, we pray according to Christ” (2 Cor. 5:20), said the Apostle. Alas! I am looking for self-sacrifice in myself and do not find it! I am looking for a person who would decide to reject his own will and, naked of all will, wholly wanted to follow Christ, to fulfill His will - and I do not meet such a person! My eyes yearn between the crowds - as if in a deserted desert - they do not find a spectacle on which to dwell with consolation!.. We have all loved our empty and stupid desires, we have loved the corruptible, the temporary, flesh and blood, the eternal death living in them!.. The narrow path is the path of self-sacrifice, the narrow and broad path is self-indulgence! We are crowded, we are in a hurry, we are pushing each other into the already full, already satiated abyss of hell! “There are still ascetics today, but they do not have the crowns of saints, the crowns of Christ.” The crown of Christ is the Holy Spirit. Christ crowns His victorious warriors with the Holy Spirit. Now the Spirit does not descend because the ascetics labor unlawfully. “Even if someone strives,” said the Apostle, “he will not be married, unless he strives lawfully.” “No one who has been a warrior,” he proclaims, “shall undertake the purchases of life, so that he may please the commander” (2 Tim. 2:4,5). Everything that hinders self-sacrifice and introduces rumors into the heart is a worldly purchase. God looks at her angrily - he turns away from the warrior who has pledged himself to the purchase of life! Therefore, the holy Apostle convinces his disciple to true spiritual feat: “Suffer evil, for you are a good warrior Jesus Christ” (2 Tim. 2:3). The Monk Isaac of Syria says about ascetics who do not care about eradicating spiritual passions: “They will not reap anything. Just as those who sow among thorns cannot expect any fruit, so also those who consume themselves with resentment and affections; they will not be able to accomplish anything - they will only groan in vain on their beds from vigils and other oppressions.” And the Scripture testifies about them: “They seek Me day by day and desire to understand My ways, because people have created righteousness and have not forsaken the judgments of their God: they now ask Me for righteous judgment, and they desire to draw closer to the Lord, saying: Why did we remain silent and did not see it? Thou hast not seen the humbleness of our souls? In the days of your fastings you will obtain your wills” (Is. 58:2–3), i.e. “If you fulfill your thoughts, offer them as burnt offerings to idols; you have recognized your fierce thoughts as if they were gods, you sacrifice to them your autocracy, more honorable than all sacrifices, which you should have sanctified to Me with good deeds and a clear conscience” (Isaac of Syria, Sl. 58). – Saint Simeon says: “If someone exchanges love for the Bridegroom Christ for love for something else, secretly or openly, and his heart is held by this love; he becomes hateful, abominable to the Bridegroom, unworthy of union with Him. He said: “I love those who love Me” (Proverbs 8:17)” (Philokalia, part 1, chapter 81). Listen to how the ancient monks deeply respected the works of the saints, what priceless value they gave them! We, darkened, are unable to even understand this, because we did not live a significant, attentive life, we lived somehow easily, windily, as if joking, as if believing and not believing eternity, the double reward in it. “The once great saint of God, Elder Daniel, went with his disciple from the monastery to the monastery of the mountain Thebaid, where Abba Apollos lived. The fathers, hearing about his coming, went out to meet him seven miles from the monastery. There were more than five thousand men, including five hundred standard-bearers. It was a wonderful sight! They all lay prostrate on the sand, waiting to receive the elder, as if the Angels were waiting to receive Christ. Some of them spread their clothes under his feet, others their hoods, and fountains of tears flowed from their eyes. Father Apollos came and, approaching the elder, fell on his face seven times before him, bowing to him. Then they greeted each other with love. The brothers began to beg the elder to grant them permission to hear the word of salvation from his lips. The elder did not soon begin to talk to anyone. They sat down on the sand outside the monastery. The church could not accommodate them all... Father Daniel ordered the following to be written to his disciple: “If you want to be saved, keep non-acquisitiveness and silence: because in these two works lies the whole of monastic life.” “The student wrote what the elder said to him and gave it to one of the brethren, who read it to the Egyptian brethren. Everyone became moved and began to cry” (Paterikon of the monastery). - What was the life of the elder that he was able to reduce his entire monastic life into two words! And in two words, set decisive boundaries for the mind and heart, defining the work of salvation! What was the life of the brethren, how rich their souls were in the experiences of paying attention to themselves, examining themselves, that they understood the full depth of the elder’s words and responded to him with a common sob! Non-acquisitiveness is the same as mortification towards everything - to keep the mind free from everything earthly, and silence, turned into a habit, gives it all the freedom to constantly look into the heart. Here is a living image of a true silent person, a true monk, dead to the world, a mysterious priest and bishop, offering to God an unceasing sacrifice of deep, holy thoughts and feelings and a sacrifice of heartfelt and mental silence that exceeds them - this mysterious darkness, behind which is directly God. Listen to what the Lord said. Give price and weight to the words of the Lord!.. Everything for us is without price and without weight!.. With price and weight only our wishes!.. “The kingdom of heaven is like a hidden treasure in a village, which a man found in secret, and for joy he goes, and sells everything he has, and buys that village” (Matthew 13:44). -What kind of treasure? – The Holy Spirit, bringing the Father and the Son into the soul. – Which village is this treasure hidden in? - Repentance. - How did this village come to be? - Living faith. – What does joy mean? – Kindled zeal for the cause of God, born from living faith. – What does “secret” mean? - Silence and stillness. – What does it mean “everything there is, sells and buys the village”? - Non-covetousness. Everything, everything must be sold, every addiction, every inclination of the heart, in order to buy repentance. Otherwise it won't sell. If a trifle is retained in the heart, the heart cannot inherit repentance; this trifle entertains it. You need to hide in silence. Hide not only from people - if possible, also from yourself. Whoever does this will have a village - repentance; whoever has acquired this village will have a treasure - the All-Holy Trinity. ABOUT! If She would look upon us, who are in misery in the waves of the invisible sea, She would grant us, me and you, through selflessness, to inherit the land of repentance, She would become our treasure, immeasurable and incalculable wealth. - Let me make you an offer: agree that for silence, when you little by little introduce yourself into the habit of silence, they would consider you a little strange, they would say both about your strangeness. Agree to this with generosity: it will not be contrary to the will of God and will more seclude your heart. “If anyone thinks that he will be wise in you in this world,” God commanded His apostles, “let him be, for he will be wise” (1 Cor. 3:18). You write: “At home I have no privacy, in church it is often violated... the connection of thoughts is hindered by a restless thought: they are spying on me.” The Gospel says: “To Nazirach... let them find the speech of the Nuns” (Luke 6:7). Who is the “nazirah” for? For the Lord. Let yourself be watched too, come to terms with it. Do not refuse the cup of Christ, both in this case and in all. Say to yourself: “They did this to Christ, why not do this to me?” Our earthly life is short - like a deception: its sorrows, by the very thing, mean nothing, they have as much meaning as we give it to them. Humility will bring peace, prayer, silence into your heart. – When you are at home, think that you are with the angels, having performed a service, when dealing with them, say mentally: “Angels of God! Accept service from a sinner." Whether you sit at a meal, at tea, at handicrafts, say to yourself: “I am worthy to be with the angels of God.” 158. You are happier than me! I envy you! When I entered the monastery, I did not hear anything fundamental or definitive from anyone. I’ve been fighting for twenty years like a fish on ice! Now I see somewhat monastic work, but from all sides they hold me back, do not let me into it... We live in a terrible time - on the eve of the denouement of everything. 162. You might be interested in: