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1. About traveling to holy places. It is necessary to arrange Athos in the soul. More temptations are on the way Bless, Lord, your path. But if you had asked first, I would have said, “Stay at home.” One cannot expect much use from this journey, but trouble may be at hand... Temptations here attack one by one, on the road they will attack in dozens, and in Jerusalem - in hundreds (1, p. 11). Be careful not to stay on Athos. Immediately it seemed to be loved there... But then a spirit of despondency and longing for the homeland and relatives would attack - unbearable. Like crazy people rush here and there... I saw others. P... stayed there, bought a cell, and now I’m ready to sell the cell for half the price, just to go home quickly... We have our own Athos: Valaam, Solovki... And so, we need to arrange Athos in our souls (1, p. 12). 2. God is available everywhere. And He Himself is no closer to Athos than to Elatma It’s not bad to visit Mount Athos if there is no interference from home. And if there is, then you can stay at home. God is available everywhere. And He Himself is no closer to Athos than to Elatma (1, p. 200). 3. God is the same everywhere: both on Athos and in every place That you have a cell - behold! But we also need to establish cell order. These orders require carelessness. And you have trouble getting ready. Cell seclusion is Maria’s business, and the hassle of getting ready is Marfino’s business. These things cannot live together with each other. The fees need to be stopped. Interpret to everyone that in such offerings it is not important where they are brought, but to whom and in what spirit they are brought. God is the same everywhere: both on Athos and in every place (1, pp. 200–201). Rest now, enjoying the memories of the shrines you have seen. Do you see what kind of grace the saint has in Rus'?! How is it possible for her to die?! So the Lord reveals everything little by little. And there is hope that everything will finally fall into place. Grant, Lord! What about Novgorod?! Almost nothing is written about him. If you discover anything other than the newspaper stuff, share it with us (7, p. 12). 4. Instructions to pilgrims Are you going to Sergiev! Fine. God bless. And on foot! Two and three times is good! To prevent others from chatting, you can hide it somehow. If they can’t, let them talk. But you are wrong to think that this will be a pleasant walk. You may walk about fifty versts rather pleasantly, and then you begin to feel something different from what you expected. You'll arrive in two days. At your first overnight stay, you will learn what pedestrianism means if you didn’t know it before. Don't forget to take a bottle of vodka with salt and rub your feet with it at night. By evening they will no longer belong. Rub them and by morning they will come off a little. In the morning you will not go the same way as from Moscow, but you will disperse. You can go back via cast iron, otherwise you’ll hardly be able to walk for another two days. But do what you have in your heart. Work is for the Lord; He will give you strength. And then it will give something - noticeably or unnoticed. And St. Sergius will give something. God gives saints the ability to see what believers are doing for them and to hear what they ask of them. If only everything came from the heart. Just as a telegraph makes itself known in an instant from Moscow to St. Petersburg and beyond, so what is born in the heart in an instant makes itself known to the one to whom it is addressed. St. Sergius, as soon as you make a wish to go to him, already looks at you; when you begin the journey, the more you will see, and even more when you come to his monastery, having endured the toils of the journey with complacency and joy. So bless, Lord! Just don’t expect pleasant things, but fatigue, calluses, and aching bones. Prepare to make a sacrifice, not to gain pleasure. As you walk along the road, constantly repeat the short prayer that I wrote to you about, otherwise the thoughts of not knowing where they will take you in the open air. They can lead you to something that is not appropriate to think at all, much less to those walking on a pilgrimage. When you are tired of repeating such a prayer, take a psalm and read it from memory with meditation. Read: Have mercy on me, O God, or: God, come to my help, or another one you know. Don’t worry about reading it from beginning to end, but about thinking about and feeling its content. Delve into each word, surrounding it with questions about why it was said and where it leads you. As you go deeper, you won’t even notice how mile after mile they will pass you by. Reading psalms from memory with meditation during the journey is the rule of the first great fathers Anthony and Pachomius. It was their law that whoever becomes their disciple must certainly memorize several psalms. Those who did not know how to read, before learning to read, learned the psalms from the words of another. Having learned several psalms, he then had to read them while sitting at work, and especially when going anywhere. Please make the experience of imitation ancient. Do not forget to confess and partake of the Mysteries of Christ at the monastery. The labor of traveling will be instead of the labor of fasting. It is not difficult for you to confess now after the last, so thorough Confession. Do not hide anything that your conscience does not approve of, be it small or large. Don't miss the main thing - a tear of contrition. One tear - and you will be like having taken a bath or washed yourself in a bathhouse (9, pp. 237–239). 5. There is a journey to the heart, which is more difficult and more valuable in the eyes of God than to holy places One should not think that the Lord is closer to Kyiv or Moscow, Mount Athos or Jerusalem, rather than to another place. His place is our heart! And when he comes in and exults... behold Jerusalem, and more than Jerusalem. Let's worry about this. The heart is in us, but there is a journey to the heart, and sometimes it is a long, long journey. This journey is more difficult, more valuable in the eyes of the Lord, and more fruitful. Whoever completes it will not want to travel, but will love to sit at home alone. He doesn’t want to see, hear, speak, or move... There is a wondrous and marvelous vision in him that absorbs all his attention, all his love, all his care (11, pp. 28–29). 6. Returning from a trip to Russian shrines Have a safe return! Your own corner is like paradise after being away. This is how everyone experiences it. The same thing happens when someone, after being distracted, returns to attention and inner life. When we are in the heart, then we are at home; when we are not in the heart, we are not at home. And this is what we should be most concerned about (8, p. 49)! You might be interested in: