Thoughts and sayings

The book “Thoughts and Sayings” is a collection of spiritual instructions, theological reflections and practical advice from St. Philaret of Moscow (Drozdov), extracted from his correspondence with various persons. The collection reveals such topics of Christian life as: the doctrine of God and the Church, understanding the dual nature of man, the meaning of prayer and repentance, the fight against sin, issues of morality and family education, etc. Contents Spiritual heritage About the divine properties of the Most Holy Trinity God is the source of grace About the closeness of the Creator to His creation About the gifts of God The Church is given by God for salvation Faithfulness and devotion to the Lord is manifested in the observance of His law and commandments The justice of God's Judgment Through many sorrows one must enter the Kingdom of Heaven Prayer is the highest need of the soul and the source of all good What kind of prayer is pleasing to God? Sanctify the day with prayer You can pray everywhere Grace is sought through prayer Prayer checks the spiritual state of a person Obedience of love and obedience of fear About spiritual joy About inner freedom About love for God and neighbor Humility is the salt of all virtues About a contrite heart A clear conscience reveals the will of God The law of God is the law of life Life is given to man to acquire immortality. Everything visible disappears like a shadow Sin destroys a person and leads him to destruction Sin is healed by repentance and fasting Do not repay evil for evil Avoid evil and do good (Ps. 33.15) About the dual nature of man The evil world does not give true peace to man How to relate to earthly wealth? About poverty The Word can live and kill About silence The truth of Christ enlightens entire nations True enlightenment consists in knowing the will of God and one’s weakness About the importance of family and education Cherish the time given to you The Cross raises to Heaven Wise advice (from his letters to the vicar of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra Archimandrite Anthony (Medvedev) Collection of thoughts and sayings of the Metropolitan Moscow Philaret, extracted from correspondence with various persons Spiritual life and morality Our century Administration and service Language Education and teaching Divine service Monasteries and monasticism Church affairs On the Divine Properties of the Holy Trinity God is a circle, the center of which is everywhere, and the surroundings are nowhere. God is Love in essence, even the very essence of love. All His properties are vestments of love, all actions are expressions of love. In it dwells His omnipotence in all its fullness. Love is His truth when it realizes what it loves; She is His wisdom when she establishes what exists or has existence according to the law of truth; she is His goodness when she wisely distributes her true gifts; finally, she is His justice, when she measures the degree and type of her gifts bestowed or withheld by wisdom and goodness, for the sake of the highest good of all her creatures. The Father's love is crucifying. The love of the Son is crucified. The love of the Spirit is triumphant through the power of the cross. God the Father is the Father of Glory, the Son of God is the radiance of His Glory. The source of goodness and strength is God alone. If a person stands in goodness and through this remains in communion with God, then he continually draws from God the power to do good and therefore he is free to desire good and strong to do it. But if he allowed himself to sin and through this became separated from God, then as he moves away from God, his ability to draw strength from God decreases. And when a person’s will, by its natural freedom, again makes a movement towards good and towards God, the power to do good no longer corresponds to his desire, and a person cannot come to God on his own, without a special, extraordinary reduction of the power of God to him: help is needed, through which the distance between God and man would be filled, the division destroyed, communication, not stopped by anyone, restored. And such a medium is the God-man. The Holy Spirit is an immaterial fire that acts with two forces: light and warmth - the light of faith and the warmth of love. He disperses the darkness of ignorance and doubt; reveals the deceptions of ghosts, which the mind, mired in sensuality, often takes for truth; allows a person to see himself in the nakedness of corrupt nature, to know the world in relation to the soul and to feel the presence of God as a source of light. Just as there is always God, there are always miracles, because God, just as he always exists, also always acts: if He acts, then it is obvious that there are works of God. The works of God are the essence of miracles. Grace renews and restores to a person everything that was destroyed by sin. She again draws spiritual life to man from God, Who is its source, introduces him into the jointness of the immortal Body of Christ the Church, and when the earthly church of his body is destroyed, prepares a church not made by hands in Heaven. To admit that there is no true spiritual good in us and for us in this world, and to earnestly ask for spiritual mercy from the Giver of all good things - God - is the work of the poor in spirit. Grace is a giving from the Good, a good giving, a giving according to the sole goodness, without the prior right or merit and dignity of the recipient. Man lives by the continuous blessings of God: he is entirely composed of the gifts and blessings of God, he is endlessly immersed in the blessings of God. About the closeness of the Creator to His creation If the soul of man is the breath from the mouth of the Lord, as the Book of Genesis narrates, then what is the closeness between the breath and the breather - such must be the closeness between God and the human soul. In order for God to be with us, we must be with Him. Always be with God if you want God to be with you. Seek God with your thoughts in Heaven, with love in your heart, with reverence in the church, seek Him everywhere - with deeds undertaken and accomplished for Him. Follow the path that leads to God, and along the same path you will approach wisdom. The path to God is known: pious meditation, prayer, faith. God is neither low nor high, neither close nor far, because He is omnipresent and therefore closer to you than your soul is to your body; just know how to find this closeness through faith and prayer. God is not lacking in gifts for us, but we are lacking in His gifts. Gratitude to God for the gifts received from Him is a vessel into which the grace of God places new ones. God, out of infinite goodness and mercy, is always ready to give everything to man, but man is not always ready to accept anything from Him. Just as it is characteristic of God’s mercy to open for us, even unworthy ones, the treasures of His grace in anticipation of our repentance and correction, so it is also characteristic of His justice to take away Divine gifts, insulted by neglect, and to punish ingratitude. The Church is given by God for salvation We can say that it is not so much man who creates and dedicates a church to God, but rather God Himself who gives His church to man. Having zeal for the creation of the church, have zeal for the created church. You can drink the water in your home; but it is necessary that you come from time to time to draw it from a source or river. Likewise, in your home and in the secluded church of your heart, you can partake of the water of grace in prayer. But it is necessary that you come from time to time to draw the water of grace in the church of God, where it is especially alive and life-giving, as in a spring, and abundant, as in a river. Loyalty and devotion to the Lord is demonstrated by keeping His law and commandments Faith, the opposite of destructive habits, wavering, backsliding, inconstancy, betrayal, is fidelity, fidelity to God and Christ in the unchanging confession of the Orthodox faith, fidelity in relation to the commandments of God, consisting in their unslothful fulfillment, fidelity in relation to the Sacraments, gifts, ministries, in the careful use of power according to the intention of God, for the glory of God. Faith teaches not so much to explore as to feel and humbly cry out to the Heavenly Father. Zeal for faith is spiritual fire. Just as wisdom shines in the mind, as love warms the heart, so jealousy, the complex action of these two forces, ignites the entire being of the one in whom it exists. It is an intense activity in him, which powerfully directs everything that can submit to it towards its goal: what is capable of purification cleanses and elevates, what is mixed separates, what is unclean and perishable destroys, what is opposed reflects and scatters. Devotion to God is the best sacrifice to Him and the surest guarantee of His blessings. Devotion to God is such a disposition of spirit in which a person leaves all of himself, everything that belongs to him, everything that can happen to him, to the will and Providence of God, so that he himself remains only the guardian of his soul and body. If the goal of all laws is truth, order, goodness, and if the universal foundation of all goodness, order and truth lies in the good, wise and holy will of God, then the universal foundation and root of the laws is not to do or allow anything contrary to the will of God, and this means fearing the Lord. Justice of God's Court Look how wonderful the Judgment of God is! How precise and strict he is! Punishment and crime are measured by the same measure. If a person is ashamed of Christ, this is a crime; Christ will be ashamed of man - this is the punishment. To satisfy the Justice of God means to put the sinner to eternal death; after this, the possibility of Eternal Life completely disappears for him. Physical illness is one of the instruments of God's Justice. Bitter things sent from the hand of the Heavenly Physician are more beneficial to mental health than sweet things offered by the world. Through many tribulations it is necessary to enter the Kingdom of Heaven Man is born, lives and dies, being under the law of suffering, being even more submissive to this law than other creatures. The woman in labor suffers, the baby cries, the dying man suffers, those left behind the deceased cry. From the beginning of life, a person suffers from a lack of strength, from imperfect development of abilities, and at the end of life - from the loss of strength and abilities. If there is some kind of middle between these extremes, it is filled to overflowing with suffering, because a person never finds his abilities and desires satisfied. God acts in the temporary life of a person damaged by sin, not so much as a Judge, because there will still be a special time for this at the end of the ages, but primarily as a doctor, for which now there is time. Therefore, he determines the measure of disaster and sorrow for a person not as a calculated reward for deeds, but as a method of healing capable of defeating the power of sinful illness. The mind, not sufficiently subjugated by faith and not fully enlightened by it, cannot suddenly discern whether and why the path to the Kingdom of God must necessarily lie through sorrow. Every good, every joy, every pleasure in nature, more or less expensive, is purchased by suffering. If you willingly walk the thorny path, thinking that it leads to your father’s house, then willingly go through the field of sorrows that lead to the Kingdom of God. Whoever does not voluntarily subject himself to the purifying work of internal sorrow of repentance and self-reproach, and also does not accept external sorrows with patience and humility, is not yet on the path to the Kingdom of God indicated in the Gospel. God wants patience and hope from you when He subjects the soul to deprivation, for its testing and purification. If Christ, who committed no sin, suffered, is it possible for us sinners to grumble about suffering? If danger, disaster, sorrow shake your courage, exhaust your patience, remember the Mother of the Lord, who stood at His Cross. Just as the impact of iron on a solid stone strikes sparks of which there was no sign before, so with the blows of sorrows, sparks of virtue shine from a solid soul, which otherwise would not have been aroused. Prayer is the highest need of the soul and the source of all good. Prayer is one of the highest needs of the human soul, one of the essential accessories of God-worship. The soul, immersed in sensuality, distracted, darkened by sin, does not feel that in its beginning it is the breath of the mouth of God. But the power of this feeling, without her knowledge, arises from her depths and moves her heart towards God, even to the unknown or only erroneously known. Nowadays we boast a lot and do not repent enough. And time advises us to boast less and pray more. The Lord demands your heart. The Church puts prayer into the mouth so that it penetrates the heart. In order for a beggar to accept alms, he must extend his hand; In order for a baby to take food, he needs to open his mouth. Likewise, a person must reach out to God in order to achieve His grace; he must have an open soul in order to accept His gifts. Prayer is an outstretched hand to receive the grace of God, an open mouth to partake of the food of Heaven. The gracious spirit was given to prayer from God to help sinners who have felt and hated their sinfulness, and who resolutely desire cleansing and perfect correction - those who lack only the power to do good, and not good intentions. What kind of prayer pleases God? You offer incense, but you do not offer prayers; You light a candle, but you don’t burn in spirit! Prayer in the spirit is such a state of prayer in which a person, inspired by faith and love, the very, so to speak, pinnacle of his being, his highest ability and power, with which he is, as it were, assigned to the Divine, strives and delights in the Spirit of God, accepts His influx, surrenders to this influx, so that it is not so much the person himself who prays, but the Holy Spirit who breathes in him, breathing wherever he wants, the Holy Spirit Himself interceding for him with groanings that cannot be uttered (Rom. 8:26), that is, with a verb that often exceeds the understanding of a sensual person. To pray to the Heavenly Father in the name of the Lord Jesus means not only to pronounce the sounds of this name with your lips, but to raise the attention of the mind to Himself who is called, to embrace Him with faith, to accept Him into your heart with love. Prayer with the mind is such an image of prayer when the mind of the person praying, although it rises to God with reverent thoughts, with pious desires, with holy feelings of tenderness or joy, does not indulge in the attraction of spiritual delight unlimitedly, but controls its thoughts, desires, feelings so that spiritual forces act in their usual order, and prayer requests and praises are spoken in words understandable to everyone. Therefore, those who listen can be encouraged to participate in prayer. It is necessary to distinguish between the work of prayer and the pleasure in it. A person does the work and must do it constantly and relentlessly according to the rule and order, and God gives consolation by grace when it is necessary to attract or strengthen a person and when a person can accept it. In the same way, the feeling of one’s own weakness should not be used to become burdened and lose heart, but to abandon hope in oneself and, through prayer for help, move on to hope in God. When you wake up from sleep in the morning, think that God is giving you a day that you could not give to yourself, and set aside the first hour or at least the first quarter of an hour of the day given to you and offer it as a sacrifice to God, in grateful and benevolent prayer. The more diligently you do this, the more you will sanctify your day, the more firmly you will protect yourself from the temptations that you encounter every day. Likewise, when you go to sleep, think that God gives you rest from your labors, and take away the firstfruits from your time of rest, and dedicate it to God with pure and humble prayer. Its fragrance will bring an Angel closer to you to protect you. If a person has worked for God for a year and does not abandon his good intentions, this work cannot be lost due to a change in circumstances. And in family life you can find and set aside time for prayer and silence. The Lord will accept home prayer instead of church services when it is not convenient to participate in this. Nobody advises you to work for two gentlemen. But you can work for the Lord both in solitude and in the family. If you definitely see an obstacle in this last position, stay in the first one. Grace is sought through prayer Prayer is the main thread that resolves the entire knot of spiritual mysteries, and the key that opens all the treasures of grace. God generously gives grace, but does not waste it in vain. Prayer checks a person’s spiritual state Prayer is a matter of such importance in spiritual life that if someone wanted to decide for himself whether he is on the path to the perfection of spiritual life, then he should note whether he has any success in prayer. The state of a person without the spirit of prayer is the state of a lifeless person. Obedience of love and obedience of fear There is obedience of love, obedience of fear, obedience of faith. In the beginning, man lived, like sweet food, by obedience to love for God, the All-Good and All-Perfect. But after he poisoned this blessed life by eating from the forbidden tree, it is necessary for him, as bitter medicine, to obey the fear of God, the righteous Judge, and the obedience of faith in God and Christ, the Pardoner. Healer and Savior, so that, finally, as healing progresses, one again feeds on sweet and immortal food - obedience to love. So the spiritual life of a person and a Christian depends on obedience, which is why the apostolic word calls Christians children of obedience: As obedient children, do not conform to your former lusts, which were in your ignorance (1 Pet. 1:14). Slavish fear when serving God is the inner disposition of the soul, which fears God, who punishes sin, and therefore turns away from sin and runs away from everything displeasing to God. Filial fear is the inner disposition of the soul, reverently loving God as the All-Good Father, and out of love fearing to offend Him. The highest degree of filial fear is pure fear, completely permeated with love and freed from slavish fear. On the contrary, the lowest degree of slavish fear is the fear of an evil and lazy slave - such an internal state of a person in which he fears not so much God as persecution for sin and therefore, although he partially serves God externally, he does not internally hate sin, does not struggle against it for virtue and is ready to surrender to it, as soon as he can imagine it not so severe that he would be threatened with eternal torment. A holiday without spiritual joy, without heartfelt participation in it, without inner feeling is a body without a soul. When the joy of the Lord, inner or spiritual consolation, visits and fills the heart, then a person finds himself spiritually delighted and satisfied so that the hunger for external pleasures subsides and ceases. How insignificant their taste is, how low their immersion in them, how disgusting their excess is, then the experience of the best and highest shows him. Then if spiritual joy excites and moves him, then it moves, by its nature, towards spiritual and godly deeds. The effect of joy, common on earth, is similar to the effect of wine: the state of joy is a state of intoxication. Natural birth is achieved and accomplished by the necessary course of nature, and spiritual birth is achieved by the free striving for God and faith in Christ. True freedom is Christian freedom, internal freedom, not external, moral and spiritual freedom, not carnal, which always arranges everything for the good and is never rebellious; it can live in a hut as comfortably as in the house of a nobleman or a king; the subject uses it without ceasing to be subject; this freedom is inviolable both in chains and in prison, as can be seen among the Christian martyrs. About love for God and neighbor Love for God is jealous for God; love for a person has mercy on a person. Love for God requires that the Law of God's truth be observed; love for man does not leave even the violator of the Law to perish in his unrighteousness. The love of God strives to defeat the enemy of God; love for man humanizes the Divine in order to deify humanity through love for God. Love for God turns everything into a means to our salvation and bliss; without it, no means achieve the goal. A lamp will not shine without oil, and prayer will not illuminate the spirit without love. Without fire, incense will not rise, and prayer without love will not rise to God. Divine love drives self-love out of the heart, burns the thorns of carnal desires in it, cleanses it and attracts new light into the soul. The law of universal love, striving to embrace all people, must necessarily give a person so much to do that there will be no room for leisure. A teaching that is not accepted by a loving heart is a seed sown in the snow. No matter how high the ladder of your virtues ascends, it will not lead you to Heaven and can unexpectedly collapse disastrously along with you, if at the top there is no last step, which alone firmly and unshakably touches Heaven. Ask your heart: does it love the One Who accepts faith and Law, to Whom it brings repentance and prayer? What can we say about the incentives to virtue, about the fear of judgment and the hope of reward, which replace love by those who have not known its power? These are the supports necessary for those who build a spiritual home. But the height and beauty of the spiritual building does not rest on them. He who works out of fear is a slave, and he who works for reward is a mercenary. Human life in its activity moves between three limits, and if it approaches them incorrectly, it confuses its own movements and damages itself. These spiritual limits are: man himself, his neighbor and God. In order to give life in all respects the right direction towards the true goal, that is, towards eternal salvation and bliss, saving grace bestows and teaches the use of three forces: chastity, so that a person does not harm himself through carnal knowledge; the truth, so that he does not take advantage of his neighbor through greed; piety, so that he does not offend God with pride and wickedness. Humility is the salt of all virtues Humility is the salt of all virtues. Just as salt imparts flavor to food, so humility imparts perfection to virtues. Without salt, food is easily damaged; Without humility, virtue is conveniently corrupted by pride, vanity, impatience and perishes. Glory to Christ God, who appeared in the humility of our nature, may he show us images of humility. He appeared in a den, so that we would be content in a wretched cell, in a manger, so that we would not demand a soft bed, in swaddling clothes, so that we would love simple clothing, in the babble of a baby, let us be like children in simplicity and gentleness, and let us not use our tongue for idle talk. Let this be wise in you and let this be wise in me, for this I ask your prayers. By humility one can teach others humility; pride cannot humble the proud. Being at the bottom of a deep well, and during the day you can see the stars, this is true; only the depth should be narrow and steep, little accessible to sunlight. The deeper a person is in humility, the better he sees Heaven. Just as a city standing on the top of a mountain, no matter how modest its buildings, is visible from afar, so a soul, close to the Heavenly powers, ascended to the mountain of the Law of God, dwelling in God with purity, faith and love and becoming the abode of God's grace - no matter how modest its words, no matter how humble its actions, and in its humility reveals its sublimity and modesty cannot hide its inner glory from eyes somewhat cleansed. Humility alone can bring peace to the soul. An unhumble soul, constantly overwhelmed and agitated by passions, is dark and vague, like chaos; put humility as its foundation, then only the true light will begin to appear in it and a harmonious world of right thoughts and feelings will form. Proud wisdom with speculations extracted from our earthly nature rises in the soul like fog with ghosts of weak light; let this fog fall into the valley of humility, then only you can see the clear, high sky above you. The soul deafens itself with the movement and noise of arrogant and restless thoughts and passionate desires; let her calm down in humility, then only will she be able to listen to the harmony of nature, which has not yet been completely upset by modern man, and hear in it harmonies worthy of the Wisdom of God. So in the deep silence of the night, distant sounds are sensitive and subtle. In exposing errors and the erring, tolerance, calm, meekness, condescension, and caution are just as necessary as zeal. Just as from a broken vessel flows out what is in it, so from a contrite heart flows tears of repentance and sorrow for God. If tears are given, one must thank the gracious God and use them to cleanse the soul. But just as nothing should be excessive, sometimes it is necessary to set a limit to tears, by turning the mind to another good activity. When a person, entering into himself, sees his unworthiness, uncleanness, and sinfulness before the face of God, then his spirit, which before may have been exalted and magnified by some good quality or external advantage, is crushed and brought down by the conviction of his conscience, like lightning hitting a tree. A clear conscience reveals the will of God If you sincerely desire to know the will of God, there is an Angel for you who is close and ready to reveal it. This is your conscience. Listen to your conscience, do not drown out its subtle voice with the noise of your passions - and the will of God will be revealed to you, and you will be on the path of obedience. The law of God is the law of life Having given being, God gave being a Law according to which it would act for good. Action according to this Law is life. Arbitrary deviation from this Law is a sin. Deviation from the Law is an inevitable fall into the lower circle of action, disorder, destruction, death. If the goal of all laws is truth, order, goodness, and if the universal foundation of all goodness, order and truth lies in the good, wise and holy will of God, then the universal foundation and root of the laws is not to do or allow anything contrary to the will of God, and this means fearing the Lord. Life is given to man to achieve immortality. Everything visible disappears like a shadow The world considers fun to be almost the same necessity of life as work, food and peace. He thinks of living by playing. No: life is not a game, but it is important. Earthly life is given to man in order to develop from it, through free will, the power of God’s grace, eternal bliss. Anyone who understands this matter and deals with it as he should will hardly find much time for games and fun. What is the use of building on sand, writing on water, chasing the wind or a running shadow? Why do the selfish, the ambitious, the envious with unsatiated eyes want to devour the whole world? Before they can be satisfied, the world will disappear, and before the world disappears, they will disappear from the world. The visible, when we do not only look at it, but try to penetrate further, becomes a magnifying glass for contemplating the invisible. Just as temporary life is a barely noticeable moment before eternal life, so bodily or sensory life barely deserves the name of life in comparison with spiritual life. If it is foolish to tie oneself too tightly with the bonds of love to the visible, which may soon be stolen by time, then it is no more prudent to burden oneself with the burden of sadness for the visible, which has already been stolen by time. If creatures of lower degrees are destroyed to be recreated, die for a new life, then will man, the crown of the earth and the mirror of Heaven, fall into the grave only to crumble into dust more hopeless than a worm, worse than a grain of mustard? Forgetfulness of the invisible and addiction to the visible were the beginning of evil in man: the same principle acted and is still active in the spread of evil among people. Just as no one can be saved by merely being in the desert outwardly, so no one can be destroyed by outward living in the world. Sin destroys a person and leads him to destruction Sin, as separation from God, is also alienation from the life of God and, therefore, sooner or later – death. For a corporeal, destructible being it is temporary, and for a spiritual, indestructible being it is eternal, because besides God there is and never will be another source of life. Thus, sin and death vouch for each other in the world that they are here. The sin committed by man has already made its way to his heart. If, through the effort of free will, with the help of grace, a person expels him, he tries to return along the beaten path. Following in the footsteps of previous sinful impressions come new passionate and sinful movements, excited by the memory or presence of tempting objects and habit. Sin deprives the soul of peace, the mind of light, the body of incorruption, the earth of blessing, every creature of all goodness. He begins by infusing hell into man and ends with man infusing hell. Sometimes visible but imaginary virtues prevent a person from seeing invisible but genuine sins. Hurry to weed out the tares that barely emerge from the earth of the heart, so that they do not grow and choke the wheat. Hurry to crush the snake eggs before a poisonous and deadly snake is born. Hasten to remove from the inner sanctuary the idol of passionate thought and lustful desire before it demands murderous sacrifices. It is good to ask for forgiveness from God and from people for sins, but it is better not to do what you need to ask for forgiveness for. While a person walks in the world, bowing down to the earth, collecting and devouring pastures of earthly goods and sensual pleasures, until then he and his body are not a sacrifice to God: he either becomes a victim of creatures, working instead of God for wealth, idolizing the womb, or, on the contrary, sets himself up as an idol and demands as a sacrifice everything that the earth produces. Through the feelings with which a person communicates with the visible world, if they are too open due to carelessness, and even more so due to addiction to the visible, sinful death enters the soul. What should we do? Without a doubt, carefully close the windows through which death enters. That is, to hold back the feelings through which charm and temptation enter the soul. Despair is hell in the soul before it brings the soul down to hell. Man, having lost the experience of the original pure existence of himself and the universe, has also lost the concept of it. Just as a fish moving in water does not know that better and more perfect life that animals live in the air, so the poor human soul, immersed in the rough and corruptible world of the elements and living in it, does not know the subtle and imperishable life of paradise. Sin is cured by repentance and fasting The care that the Church shows for the purity of the clothing of your soul can be likened to your care for the cleanliness of the clothing of your body. If you happened to fall into the mud, would you not hasten to wash your clothes? So, if you fall into grave sin, the sooner you clear your conscience by repentance, the better; The Church is ready to receive you at any time. She calls for fasting to help repentance, when the divine service itself helps to arouse repentant feelings. Lightening fasting for the weak is permissible according to church rules and is very fair, because the weakness of the body itself provides what is achieved through fasting, that is, the taming of sensuality and the inaction of carnal passions. And, therefore, for the weak it is not necessary to pacify the flesh by fasting, but, on the contrary, to support the weak body with nutrition and healing, so that it does not become completely unable to serve the soul. Repaying an insult with an insult not only does not destroy the evil committed, but also does not stop the spread of evil, and sometimes even strengthens it. Anger cannot be cured by anger. What a pitiful state - to pay hatred for hatred and resentment for resentment? What if the enemy is stronger than you? What then will your desire for revenge serve? Is it to speed up your death? And with equal forces, what can we expect if not mutual fall and disaster? Finally, even if he is unable to resist you, is secret deceit less dangerous than an open attack? And what about tormenting worries, tricks, plans, and enterprises that turn to one’s own harm, and painful thoughts even about one’s supposed success and even more painful ones about the enemy’s luck, and, finally, luck itself, accompanied by great remorse and sometimes general contempt? Oh, how much torment a hating heart endures - it is hell on earth, the flames of Gehenna. Do not be embarrassed or irritated with your neighbor if you hear him reproaching yourself. Think about it, is it fair? If it is unfair, then the arrow has flown past you; Why should you be sick when you are not wounded? If it is fair, then do not complain about the reproacher as an enemy who inflicts a wound, but thank him as a doctor who opens it and encourages you to heal it. Do not be annoyed if you received from him an insult inflicted by deeds. Think about what is better, to be an offender or to be offended? Without a doubt, it is better to be innocent than guilty. Thoughts about whether it is better to be annoyed or to endure? Irritation can suddenly make someone guilty and even more unhappy; on the contrary, through patience and integrity is preserved, and misfortune can be reduced. A good victory does not consist in the fact that you did evil to the enemy, but in the fact that the enemy could not do true evil to you. It is better to respond to reproach with meekness than with reproach. Dirt must be washed off with clean water. You can't wash away dirt with dirt. It is best to refute bad words with good deeds. When you hear a word condemning and reproaching your neighbor, beware lest through your hearing you take part in the sin of someone else’s tongue. Do not attach your heart to words that are more harmful to the condemner than to the condemned. Turn away from evil and do good (Ps. 33:15) About every business you undertake, do not ask whether it will be pleasant, beneficial for you, or praiseworthy before people, but first of all, test whether it will be pleasing to God, whether it will not be contrary to His commandments. The more sincerely you are humane and God-loving in your heart, the less difficulties you will find in the works of your service, the more success, the more bliss. He who does not try to advance in the knowledge of the Son of God and His saving teachings and thinks to please God as it happens, makes a blind sacrifice. He who imagines serving God, but secretly seeks his own benefit or human glory, sacrilegiously serves himself and people, and does not make a sacrifice to God. He who does good deeds for temporary gain or for human glory has not yet left the realm of paganism; he makes for himself idols of virtue for sale or for spectacle, he accepts his reward from people, and therefore Heaven and God no longer owe him anything. Desire is the seed or embryo of every free action when it should begin, and its soul when it continues. Just as life, strength, and the dignity of the body depend on the soul, so life, strength, and the dignity of any deed depend on the desire of the person performing it. If the desire is unclean, the deed is unworthy. If the desire is weak, the matter cannot achieve its perfection. If there is no spiritual desire, the matter is dead. A thing that appears to be gold may be either pure gold, or unclean, or in fact not made of gold at all. In the fire, gold becomes purer, as the impurity is separated and the counterfeit becomes obvious. Thus, a person’s virtue can be pure and firm when it is done in God and is unchangeable in the power of God, or impure, due to the admixture of thoughts of vanity, self-interest and self-indulgence, or, finally, completely hypocritical. In the fire of temptation, her purity is exalted, her impurity is separated, her hypocrisy is exposed. The light of word without the power of deeds is brilliance without life, soon passing away. The light of good deeds often continues to shine even when the word has died out, and beyond the death of the doer it spreads a long and wide dawn. About the dual nature of man Truly, in human nature there is a strange duality and contradiction of directions: on the one hand, a feeling of need for the Divine and a desire to communicate with God, on the other, some kind of secret reluctance to engage in the Divine and a tendency to run away from an interview with God. It is not difficult to understand why this is so. The first of these directions belongs to pristine nature, and the last to nature damaged by sin. In the visible temporary world in which a person lives, there is nothing motionless, but everything moves and passes. And a person’s life goes on and on. A person sometimes rests with his body, but his innermost thoughts, his secret desires are constantly in motion. And therefore, if he does not follow the path of salvation, then he surely follows the path of destruction, or if he does not follow, then he falls—falls from spiritual life into carnal life, from human life into bestial life. And he will not notice how he will fall into hellish life, into eternal death - irrevocably. We stumble in thoughts and fall in deeds. We stumble with doubts, false opinions, confusion of thoughts and upset of spiritual feelings - we fall into sin, into crime. Rashness and inconstancy are equally harmful domestic enemies of good intentions, defectors to the hostile side of temptation. Impermanence destroys the begun structure of the soul; rashness, without a sufficient basis, also prepares nothing less than destruction. The evil world does not give true peace to man The peace bestowed by the world is a brief slumber under the sound of a dangerous storm, a security based on ignorance. On the contrary, the peace given by Christ is based on the unshakable confidence of reconciliation with God. The way of thinking and feeling that receives the approval of the world is often the most dangerous. The temptations of the world are strong not by themselves, but by our arbitrary weakness. First we look for what is necessary, then we think about what is useful and pleasant, and finally what is unnecessary seems necessary to us. How to treat earthly wealth? Treat earthly wealth as a guest who must be received with honor and seen off with honor. Remind yourself often that in a short time either wealth will leave you, or you will leave wealth. If it is natural to desire the best on earth, then it is inconsistent with reason to seek it with oblivion and loss of the best of Heaven. Whoever, by the decisive direction of his will, by his inclination to passions, has been seduced and set off on the wrong path, on the path of acquiring wealth, luxury, vanity, easily and imperceptibly rolls down this inclined path, not noticing that this inclined path extends all the way to hell. The art of turning everything into gold is by no means as important as the art of turning dead gold into a living virtue that delivers from death. Worldly care binds our mind, burdens it with heavy earthly attachments, covers it with the power of sensual, vain and unclean thoughts; from an eagle, which should be gazing in the clear air at the Sun of spiritual and divine truth, turns it into a mole, rummaging in the ground, in the dust and decay of everyday, carnal affairs, alien to the spirit. Whoever wants to swim must first untie or, for speed, cut off the rope with which his boat is attached to the shore. Whoever really wants to be on the path to Heaven must either gradually, with attention and effort, resolve, or, if he is afraid of becoming rigid and if he feels strong enough, cut off with a decisive blow all passionate, earthly attachments. We must free ourselves from the lusts of the flesh in order to surrender to the attractions of the spirit. It is necessary to trample underfoot earthly things in order to philosophize on what is above. It is necessary to throw out from the heart the world that lies in evil, so that there is enough space in it for boundless love for the infinite God. How many different arts, substances, tools does a reasonable person use in order to fill a small and senseless belly! How the mind is humiliated when it is exhausted in inventions, so that the tribute daily demanded by the belly, as an inexorable ruler, is brought to it with as much grace as possible and is acceptable to it in as much quantity as possible! And how the womb mocks this servile mind, putting uncleanliness and stench as the end of all its worries about grace! What does the pride with which someone wearing expensive clothes barely deigns to look at the rags-covered or half-naked poverty mean, as well as the inconstancy with which he so often changes his outfit? Isn't this something similar to what happens when a sick person decides to be vain about the multitude of his scabs and the beauty of his bandages? or if a slave, forced to wear shackles, wanted to have them in great number and made as skillfully as possible? Our clothing is a work of iniquity; it is the binding of a sinful wound, and, moreover, it does not contain healing oil; it is a weak means for short-term preservation of the condemned body from the action of the elements that carry out its execution; it is a cover for moral ugliness that has become natural; it is a defense against the shame of bodily nudity, invented by a man naked in conscience; she is the visible sign of a human criminal; it is a universal and everlasting mourning, imposed by the repentance of the death of primitive innocence; it is the banner of victory of our enemy, which he put out, taking possession of our insides. You can go to hell or fall, although you don’t want it and don’t think about it; You cannot ascend to Heaven if you don’t want to and don’t think about it. Our laziness is reluctant to accept examples of long-suffering in faith. She is more willing to look for examples that confirm that salvation can be easily and quickly. And well-being can be more dangerous than disaster, and disaster can be more salutary than well-being. Do not envy prosperity and do not become discouraged in adversity. Where true good is lacking, true well-being is, of course, unthinkable. Do not despise poverty when you see it in others; do not be afraid of her if she wants to visit you; don't be ashamed of her if she's already settled with you. Poverty is one of the bitter fruits of the curse that human sin has sown on the face of the entire earth, and the wrath of God has allowed to grow. There are beggars who are killed by misfortune; they must be encouraged and guided to seek help. There are proud beggars who do not want to bow their heads to benefactors, but want benefactors to bow to them with their benefits. Such are the people before God who do not know how or do not want to call on God in their sorrows. Whoever feels an inner calling to voluntary poverty, who, having tested himself and become convinced of this calling, has dedicated himself to it with a vow, let him adhere to this poverty as faithfully as possible, as sincerely as possible, as perfectly as possible. The Word can live and kill When a house burns, crowds of people run to fight the fire, saving logs and boards from an often unknown owner. But when the soul burns with the fire of evil passion, lust, rage, malice, despair, is it just as easy to find people who would hasten with the living water of words of truth and love to extinguish the deadly fire before it engulfed all the powers of the soul and spread to merge with the fire of hell? The word of man can be sharpened like a sword, and then it will wound and kill; and can be softened like oil, and then it will heal. It used to be that they looked for dignity in speaking softly, but now they look for it in speaking harshly, and therefore they speak worse than they think. It is hardly necessary to denounce a person of his own free will, unless he himself presents an opportunity to tell him the truth. It is difficult to denounce while defending your own, since self-justification is mixed in. Moreover, reproof can turn into trouble for the person through whom the rumor spread. Isn’t it better to simply pray that God will instruct everyone to look at the work of their neighbor with a simple eye, without condemnation and suspicion? Just as a material vessel is worthless when it flows, so a spiritual vessel is worthless if it does not preserve the grace poured into it, in inviolable, humble silence, but flows and fizzles out needlessly and without benefit - in a word, idle, or immodest, or impatient, or vain. Constant life in silence is not for many. But visiting silence should be desirable for everyone. Whoever does not remove himself, at least once a day, at least for a short time, from all external earthly occupations, care, addictions, and does not bring his soul into reverent silence before God, has not yet learned the path of peace for his soul. Let us pray that the Lord bless both the word and the silence; let neither the word be idle nor the silence wordless. The truth of Christ enlightens entire nations How can one think that the truth of God and Christ is something extraneous to natural truth, useful to man and human society, and that the latter can also live without the former, as well as in conjunction with it? Look at human nations and societies, Christian and non-Christian. Isn’t that where natural truth shines clearly: natural, mental, moral, creative, constructive and beautifying for human societies, where the sun of the truth of God and Christ shines? Doesn’t night cover the natural abilities and life of peoples over whom the gracious sun of the truth of God and Christ has not risen? Take the sun out of the world: what will happen to the world? Take the heart out of the body: what will happen to the body? Is it necessary to say? Take away the truth of God and Christ from humanity: it will be the same as with a body without a heart, as with a world without the sun. True enlightenment consists in knowing the will of God and one’s own weakness The best and truly saving feat of the human mind, leading to the perfection and bliss of mankind, can only consist in impartially testing and measuring one’s strengths, means, and shortcomings to achieve this great goal; understand the possibility, recognize the need for revelation from above; approach the great mystery of piety (cf. 1 Tim. 3:16), lay at its feet your weapon and your crown and surrender yourself into noble captivity, into free obedience to faith in God revealed in the flesh. What is usually called enlightenment in the world is nothing more than a lunar flickering of light and life, and not the full light and life of the spirit. The true beginning of spiritual life, like the sun, sheds a warming light that shines in the mind with truth and heart-warming love for good. Enlightenment brings good results to society only when it is based on faith. The pagan world, miserable in ignorance, when it joins education, becomes disgusting in its depravity, which usually goes along with education and turns it into its instrument. People sleep spiritually when they carelessly close the eyes of their minds and do not try to look at the light of the truth of the Gospel and the Law of God, in order to constantly be enlightened by them and enlighten the paths of their lives. The ordinary human mind does not know the spiritual power of God and is even afraid of guesses about it. What kind of wisdom can we expect from this mind? He, like a blind man, although he feels the presence of an eye, but is unable to see light with it, concludes that the sun is just as absent in the sky as it is not in his eyes, and that to believe in the existence and action of the sun and light would be superstition and daydreaming. We can and should say to everyone striving for their salvation: you have no secret needs, do not seek to know the unseen or the future. To be saved, you need to believe, fulfill the commandments, purify your heart, and not be curious. It is dangerous to want to know what is hidden; and wanting to open it is even more dangerous. But this does not prevent God’s Providence from revealing the secret and turning it for its own purposes, even with the imperfection of the instrument, as can be seen from experience. Knowledge without love is the winter sun, which does not enliven and does not grow. The truth, although sad, must be seen and shown and learned from it, so as not to live to see a more bitter truth, which not only teaches, but also punishes for inattention to it. On the importance of family and education In order for state life to develop strongly and correctly, to flourish with education, and to bear the fruit of public welfare - for this, it is necessary that family life be strong with blessed marital love, the sacred power of parents, and childish respect, and that as a result, from the pure elements of family life, equally pure principles of state life naturally arise, so that with respect for the parent, reverence for the Sovereign is born and grows, so that the love of a child for his mother is the threshold of love for the fatherland. Those who want to have worthy children will act wisely if they first make themselves worthy parents. The sky comes into motion to preserve the life or integrity of a baby on earth, but are there people who, without compassion, hear the cry of a baby in poverty on their knees, who look at the growth of their own children with no more attention than at the grass growing in the field? That parental love is wise and salutary, which, while constraining itself, somewhat withholds affection towards children, is somewhat stingy in consoling them in order to save it as an encouragement and reward for their obedience or success in useful learning. A bad citizen of the kingdom of earth is not fit for the Kingdom of Heaven. Treasure the time given to you The existence and life of man, at its beginning, is a free gift from the Creator - a gift that no one could force from Him, no one had the right to demand. Consequently, both the continuation of being and life is a continuous continuation of the same gift of God. Temporary life is a moment-to-moment blessing of God. The immortality of man is an immortal, endless blessing of God. There is no time that one can neglect without fear, for at any time one can be saved or perish. Spend the beginning day in such a way that it can lead you to a non-evening day, and not to eternal night. Remember the past; trust in the Lord for the future; use the present for good. Look at the bird when it wants to rise from the ground: it stretches out like a cross and takes off. Wise advice (from his letters to the abbot of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Archimandrite Anthony (Medvedev) 1 Lord bless; forgive insolence and guide us to Thy truth (IV, 220) 1) Why is the church built and consecrated? For worship in general? – It also takes place outside the church. - For the sacraments? – And most of the sacraments can be performed outside the church. Only one sacrament, the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, certainly requires a consecrated church. Consequently, the church is built and consecrated especially so that the Body and Blood of Christ can be celebrated and preserved in it. This greatest shrine on earth required a holy repository. From this it follows that only in extreme need can the Body and Blood of Christ be taken out of the church; and whoever has them in a simple house or cell without need, insults this shrine. 2) It is good when free lips and hands are offered to the Lord; in this regard He delights (Ps. 119:108). There is no need to forcefully take gifts to the Lord from the lips and hands of your neighbor. 3) The contribution of a monk after death is not a great thing; A monk must immediately give what he has in excess to God or the poor. 4) A lack of reverent attention in singing hardly ever happens, especially on holidays, when, while trying to sing well, this external attention harms the internal. It is necessary to tell those who sing that skillful singing is pleasant to people for a short time, but reverent singing is pleasing to God and useful to people, introducing into them the spirit with which it breathes. 5) I did not prohibit singing from notes, but I never found it decent to sing partes in nunneries, and therefore never approved of it. There is more labor in it than benefit, more vanity in imaginary art than edification and help in prayer. Teach and let others teach to establish church order based on reverence and fear of God (II, 257). 6) Just as a bad age more readily believes evil than good, temptation comes rather as an edification, and one must beware not only of evil, but also of negligence, which may be a little guilty, but nevertheless feeds temptation. 7) The Apostle (Paul) collected alms and provides good deeds not only before God, so that it is used correctly, but also before people, so that they do not doubt its good use. Here is an example and instruction for people holding public positions. 8) If we looked only at our lack, then everyone could run away from their positions; but we must look at the will and dispensation of God, and where we are placed by the providence of God, there, if possible, work and act. 9) Put aside the thought of envying the skete monk who enjoys peace and freedom. To suffer some deprivation of inner consolation in serving one's neighbor is not a loss. 10) Silence, of course, is a good thing. But I think whoever is called to serve in society should not leave this without special instructions from the providence of God. 11) To bear the burdens of the brethren is a matter of patience, and in patience, I think, there is a grain of silence. 12) Blessed is God, who does not leave us to lose heart in our unworthiness, but who, by the presence of His grace, affirms the boldness of hope. May we be raised to do good with such close help. 13) “I am nothing; but You, Lord, call me to serve You: draw me after You; create from my insignificance, or worse than insignificance, what pleases You!” There is no doubt that the more perfectly a person surrenders to the Lord, the more abundantly the Lord grants him His communication. Marvelous is the mercy of the Lord, who on the path of inner, hidden life, where there is no elder observer and guide, Himself indicates when what is not good enough, because the best is required, and utters His word: leave yourself and serve the Lord. Whether the Angel of the Lord, according to the will of the Lord, forms a word in the heart, or another hidden action of the grace of God, let this remain in His omniscience. But we can be sure that a good word has been sent: let us use it carefully. 14) Everyone who acts more or less spreads the life he lives, new or old. The gift of spreading a higher life in others is the highest: it is good for him who uses grace as an instrument for this. 15) If there is any hope of serving in any way to the relief of a bound soul, and the opportunity for this was not arbitrarily found by us, but given by the providence of God, there is no need to push away such an opportunity. 16) Must stand guard where someone is posted; but circumstances may arise in which it is desirable to give way to a stronger and more skillful one. Let the Lord do His will. 17) Some left the place in which they had been placed by providence and legal authority, and then felt more difficulties than before. 18) In truth, it is good for a person when the Lord Jesus Christ is his heart and his life - and not only is it good for him, but - through him - for those who approach him. For whatever force is in the center, the same extends to the circle and acts in it. And vice versa: he who deprives himself of this good, through his negligence, deprives others of something. 19) If we were more abstracted from earthly things and more purified in order to contemplate the Power of the Resurrection of Christ, acting on everything damaged by the fall of Adam, from the spiritual to the physical, how many new sources of wonder, awe, thanksgiving and glorification would be revealed to us! But the dust of earthly vanities and addictions falls asleep on the eye of the mind, and without turning our eyes away from vanity, we block ourselves from contemplating the truth. However, one thought, quite visible in our very darkness, that the Lord was delivered up for our sins and raised up for our justification (Rom. 4:25) - what light it already sheds on those who sit in darkness! Let us rise! Let us stop multiplying the suffering of the Lord with sins; Let us not leave the justification ready for us in Him. 20) A soul established in God should not waver, no matter what happens outside it, and especially in its special service to the Lord... The duty of a servant is to look towards the Lord, and not around himself. 21) Pray that God’s will be done; you know that there is nothing better than the will of God. 22) Pray for your neighbor, eliminating grief, and ask to take out a portion for him at the proskomedia. Prayer without love cannot be heard. 23 The Church prays to us an Angel of peace, a faithful mentor, guardian of souls and bodies: the prayer is important, and it is advisable that each and every time give heartfelt attention to it. During the priestly service, the Church asks the angels to serve with us: and in this case, it is important for the servant that he offers this prayer with full attention and understanding (I, 172). The unity and union of the Church in heaven and on earth is comforting and beautiful. 24) The earth celebrates the days of saints, and they have a holy duty to be on earth. That’s why you need to connect with them. They ask for our prayers and say: “We will bring your prayers, already purified through our means, before the throne of the Most High.” The intercession of the saints is a link connecting the weak beings of earth with heaven... It is good for a priest to have this in his thoughts when he says dismissal. Oh, if only everyone would name the daily saint with attention, and not from memory! 25) The Church teaches us to pray for the departed, without speculating whether any of them are in hell, although it is likely that there are such among those commemorated in the Church. This is good and humble, because we do not know the lot of those who have departed, we do not take on anyone the condemning thought that he is in hell, and we do not boldly ask. In the prayers of Pentecost we have evidence that the Lord vouchsafes to accept prayerful cleansing for those held in hell. But perhaps the Church had a special thought: to relate this prayer, which contains much boldness, to a special important day, and not to leave it to every person and time. 26) Macarius the Great even prayed for a dead pagan. It is not convenient to turn the wonderworker’s boldness into a general rule (IV, 277). One of the holy Roman popes (Gregory Dvoeslov), accidentally remembering the virtues of the pagan emperor Trajan, prayed for him, and had a revelation that his prayer was not rejected, but that he would not bring such bold prayers in the future. 27) You can pray for a living Lutheran at home and ask him for the grace of God, drawing him into the unity of the true Church; but the deceased is a different matter. We do not condemn him, but it was his will to remain outside the Orthodox Church to the end. Knowing some Lutherans who had respect and faith in the Orthodox Church, but died without union with it: for the consolation of the faithful, I allowed prayer for them, not open in the Church (with which they were not openly united in life), but in the house. 28) It is regrettable to be deprived of good and useful things; but if a good man departs in good hope, then we will say to him: go and pray for us. For those who are called from us into the next century with good hope, do not grieve too much. Out of love for them we will say: go in peace, although we are sorry; and they will reward us with prayers. 29) If we complain about laziness and coldness, we need to look to see if any of those thoughts that weigh down and do not soar up grief have entered the soul; and these are thoughts in which something is appropriated to oneself, or the shortcomings of others are noticed. 30) It is necessary to carefully look around to see if there is anything neglected in the conscience that serves as a way for the tempter to enter thoughts and disturb them. 31) The enemy is angry at good. When they stand in goodness with strength and purity, the arrows of a child hurt him (Ps. 63:8). An admixture of imperfection, wrongness, inattention, laziness, passionate thoughts and motives gives access to the one who walks on unclean paths, and he becomes bold and insolent. 32) When attacked by dark forces, a person who prays internally is like someone imprisoned in a solid fortress; and he who turns his speech to the opposition is like one who makes a sortie, which is possible for the strong, but dangerous for the weak. 33) To the advice - not to listen to the actions of fools, but to strengthen the mind in the presence of God and in prayer, whether it is necessary to add advice - to carefully examine oneself, whether a person is voluntarily holding back any passionate thought, or something dark in the conscience that opens the way and access to the inhabitants of darkness, and carefully protect and restore peace of conscience. 34) Blessed is the power of the holy, which so conveniently overcomes the power of the enemy, and is perfected in our weakness. But how pitiful is a person who cannot hold back the power of light that has already visited him! And how conveniently the belly of hell is approaching! . 35) Let us not be cold to the admonitions of love and meekness. Saint Peter could teach with authority, like the Apostle, but he says: beloved, I pray, - and clothes his word with love and humility, because they are the properties of the perfect; and because he knew the need for his exhortation for our salvation, and knew the natural effect of the word of love and meekness, which, like oil, penetrates everything, from which, like from a ray of the sun, the ice and cold hearts, otherwise not easily broken by force, automatically melts. He anticipates danger because he loves. He sacrifices his own dignity, humbly begging when he had the right to command, in order with his heart to open the way to our hearts and instill in us saving dispositions. 36) During general prayers, use only what is blessed and accepted by the Church, and not introduce new things by private will, even good ones, which can open the way to dubious innovations. It seems to me that we should try not to expand the church rule, but to ensure that the existing rule is carried out more and more sedately and slowly, in order to give more room for attention, reflection, tenderness and contemplation. 37) You say, as long as the person prays, in whatever words. – I agree, and I will add that in simplicity a believer sometimes prays in discordant words better than one who understands, which is an example in the legends of the fathers. But it’s another thing to pray for yourself, and another thing to publish a prayer for others to use. The Church gives us prayers, taking them from the mouths of the saints, so that the prayers are good in feeling, example, and reason. The one who offers others his meaningless expressions of prayer is wrong. 38) It is a shame to see that non-Orthodox are better than Orthodox in observing Sunday. Sometimes this disorder becomes incorrigible by human means: we must fear corrective measures from Heaven, stronger than what we are already experiencing. 39) Glory to God that the humble lands are diligently flocking to the Lord and His saint (Sergius). May the gaze of the Lord’s mercy rest on their simple hearts, and may it not look furiously at us, who know better, but do not do. 40) Brotherly coming together for good exercises is a good thing. It is desirable that special rapprochements should not be too noticeable, so as not to appear to separate the particular from the brotherly love of the universal. 41) Really, you need to be careful. It is not ours, I think, to reassure ourselves with purity of intentions when we deviate from the rules of ordinary caution. 42) It is better to use caution, perhaps unnecessary, than not to use caution, perhaps necessary; This will not harm any good deed. 43) It is unfortunate to notice division where there should be unity. But let us grieve over things and not be offended by people. May the Lord create, may they all be one, as He wants. 44) According to rumors, one should not indulge in a spirit of suspicion, but less of condemnation. 45) Do not allow external disturbances to disturb your inner peace, but calm it with this peace. 46) If someone has not refused to be at peace with those who hate the world (Ps. 119:6), do not refuse to have peace with those who sin and do not renounce correction. Be peaceful with those who have lost peace through error, through the trick of the enemy. 47) Let us forget our brother’s previous weaknesses, so that God will forget our sins. 48) Elder Seraphim (Sarov) taught not to scold for vice, but only to reveal its shame and consequences. Great advice. May the prayers of the elder help us learn how to fulfill them. 49) It is difficult to reprove for oneself, so that self-justification does not get mixed in. Isn’t it better to just pray that God will instruct everyone to look at the work of their neighbor with a simple eye, without condemnation and suspicion. 50) Stubborn - a word with power can harden more; he can see the truth better if he is introduced to free reasoning. 51) Ignorance is not a good sign; it strengthens the nest of temptation instead of destroying it. 52) The gift of forgiveness is higher than the gift of correcting with punishment; (but) the one who takes up the task of his measure succeeds. 53) Mercy is good, but there is no need to offend the truth. 54) You want to show mercy to someone who has sinned. Good deed. But justice is also needed. There is a judgment of God, said the pious King Jehoshaphat. That is: judgment is a matter that God entrusts to man in order to serve God’s justice. 55) Do not use mercy alone, where justice is also needed, although not strict, but lenient... To show mercy and secretly heal is undoubtedly good when healing is accepted in this way. But when a wrongdoing and clear disobedience to correction are obvious and a person strives further on the obstinate path,... some caution is needed so that self-will and bad example do not become victorious and triumphant. 56) A brother’s weakness must be covered and quietly corrected until there is a temptation for many; and when temptation arises, then it is necessary to either bring the matter to justice, or advise the brother to leave, so that he is less embarrassed and less embarrassing to others. 57) It seems to me that, given the current corruption of people, the rule - to remove a person who has disgraced himself without punishment - does not achieve the goal that philanthropy wants... Moderate penance soon after an offense speaks more clearly to those who seek it: beware! 58) It is necessary for a person to generally maintain calm firmness in his actions and beware of any excitement and irritation, for excitement and irritation of the nerve enhances the ability to receive impressions of the dark invisible. 59) Anger cannot be cured by anger. Firm but calm truth admonishes self-deceiving passion. 60) You call malignancy lack of language. Maybe so. But let’s look around, are we not scolding our neighbor, who has upset us, when we think with intense harsh words to scold the demon? You should also invent the expression deprived person. This is stronger than the one who is possessed; this means - almost turned into a demon. Do yourself a favor and look around to see if this expression is in love. 61) It seems to me that it is not superfluous to pay attention to whether we are right, in order to more easily act on the wrong with love and humility... Let us try to correct those who have sinned with patience, in order to correct what has been omitted, perhaps by us too. 62) We must endure temptation when it comes, and not lead ourselves into temptation and at the same time others, when we are commanded to pray: do not lead us into temptation. 63) Everyone who strives for his salvation can and should be told: you have no secret needs (Sir. 3:22); do not seek to know the unseen or the future. To be saved, you need to believe, fulfill the commandments, purify your heart, and not be curious. Wanting to know the secret is dangerous, but wanting to reveal it is even more dangerous. 64) It is not useful to value and place yourself highly. Those who do not value themselves highly and are wary of pretensions will not find it very difficult even in a place that is worse than inhabited. 65) Obedience in simplicity is a thing better than which one should not desire. It seems to me that it is simpler to tell and show the boss what is being done, than not to say and do according to your own mind. And besides, this simplicity is more careful than simplicity, which does things in its own way. 66) It is necessary to be careful so that pride does not steal what jealousy imagines doing, so that struggle and entertainment in business do not interfere with quietly entering your cell and praying to the Father in secret... Yes, they interfere: they pursue, and the one who enters displeasedly closes the door tightly behind him, or does not enter at all... You are the river: I am the door, lead us into the inner one and shut it behind us. 67) The glory of God’s works comes by itself; and people sometimes make temptation for themselves out of God’s very good deeds. 68) We must be careful that by our inattention we do not damage what God creates with His grace... It is painful when evil is done, and even more painful when evil is made out of good. 69) To those suffering from self-conceit, I will try to offer the following recipe: take a fairly harsh self-reproof, put it in a fairly deep mortar of humility and pound it with the pestle of patience; Take this powder every time lofty thoughts begin to enter your head. 70) A complete and pure discovery of truth and conscience is better than an incomplete one and mixed with calculations; For this very strict silence belongs to the one who accepts the discovery. 71) The fear that you will write badly is worldly. The fear of not writing too much or not enough is often of the same kind. One must be careful not to write more than what the truth says, or less than that. This caution is not so difficult, and it is only necessary... Only on truth and truth can peace be founded for oneself and others. 72) It’s true that today’s upbringing is conducive to self-will. I am often amazed at the importance and independence with which young children behave in front of their parents - and they seem to not dare to touch them. 73) In order to avoid harm to knowledge, one should not allow oneself to engage in unseemly behavior, in which there is no moral evil, but in which there is a lack of order, and which give rise to unfavorable opinions. 74) When the disposition towards a bad opinion is ready, any incident that is somewhat unseemly strengthens the bad opinion; under such circumstances no amount of caution will suffice, but vigilant caution is nevertheless necessary. 75) The abbess wishes that the sisters could not bring her even small gifts, which usually happens. This is good. There is nothing better to give a boss than obedience and love. 76) May God always save us from despondency, and man, trusting in God, must protect himself... Let us be grieved, let us be sad, may the Lord accept this as a sacrifice of repentance, but may he save us from despondency... The disciple of the prophet Jeremiah Baruch grieved over his personal misfortunes. The Lord commanded Jeremiah to say to Baruch: Behold, even I have planted, I will destroy; and will you seek out great ones for yourself? Seek not (Jer. 45:4–5). Here Jerusalem is threatened with destruction, the people of God are threatened with captivity: mourn over the public, and in front of this do not consider your personal misfortunes great. 77) Let them, by prayer and faith, come to the great Comforter and faithful Helper, the Lord Jesus, burdened with hardships and sorrows... The Lord is faithful to those in need through deeds of goodness to increase their reward, especially eternal, if we are faithful to Him with unquestioning obedience to His destinies and unwavering trust. 78) You are my refuge from sorrow, holding me. My joy, deliver me (Ps. 31:7): ​​so I cry with your soul to the only deliverer from sorrow and despondency. May He bless you with peace, and silence, and clarity, that everything depends on His grace. May He give her everything to lay at His feet - despondency and consolation, the desire for life and the desire for death - and accept from Him every good gift and carry it in devotion to His will. May He not allow you to do temporary things with partial pleasure, so that the darkness of the temporary does not obscure the light of the eternal! Amen. A collection of thoughts and sayings of Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, extracted from correspondence with various persons Spiritual life and morality It is truly good for a person when the Lord Jesus Christ is his heart and his life - and not only to him, but through him and to those who approach him. For every force in the center extends to the circle and acts in it. And conversely, whoever deprives himself of this gift through his negligence, deprives others of something, perhaps as well. Let us pray to the Lord that the hearts of those who live may be to Him and the belly of those who die to themselves and the world - death to those in whom the old man still lives, so that at least not to spread a false life, when it would be proper to live the truth and spread it. If we complain about laziness and coldness, we need to look to see if any of those thoughts have entered our souls that weigh down, and do not soar, grief, and these are thoughts in which something is appropriated or attributed to ourselves: the success of a business, praise, noticing the shortcomings of our neighbors with a preponderance in our favor. Tempt me, O Lord, and test me, and see if there is a path of iniquity in me, and guide me on the eternal path. God's providence does not allow shocking events to happen by chance, but either as punishment or as instruction. Are there not enough hypochondriacs and mentally damaged people in the world who endure the troubles of their lives, and if they do not protect themselves, they are protected by Providence? Why is this? Is it because some good thoughts and feelings were previously rooted in them, and there were some good deeds in their previous life, as a result of which the grace that protects them does not completely leave them? If the enemy of souls is allowed to play with a person’s life, is it not because the principles of good, with which grace-filled protection is connected, were not sufficiently established in him before? And so, in this case, ministers of spiritual enlightenment should turn to careful thought about whether they are trying hard enough to gain the highest power for their teaching against the power of the underworld? Do they penetrate deeply enough into the souls of those being taught? Do they carry over into life enough? With these thoughts, resorting to God and trying to strengthen good zeal in oneself would, of course, be fairer, more useful and more pleasing to God than trying to cover up an unhappy death with a brilliant burial. That from the depths you can see the stars every day is true; only the depth should be narrow and steep, inaccessible to sunlight. – The deeper a person is in humility, the better he sees the sky. We can and should say to everyone striving for their salvation: You have no secret needs, do not seek to know the unseen or the future. To be saved, you need to believe, fulfill the commandments, purify your heart, and not be curious. It is dangerous to want to know what is hidden, but to want to reveal it is even more dangerous. But this does not prevent God’s Providence from revealing the secret and turning it for its own purposes, even with the imperfection of the instrument, as can be seen from experience. Glory to Christ God, who appeared in the humility of our nature, may he show us images of humility. He appeared in a den, so that we would be content not with a red cell, - in a manger, so that we would not demand a soft bed, - in swaddling clothes, so that we would love simple clothes, - in the silence of an infant, let us be like children in simplicity and gentleness, and let us not allow our tongues to indulge in idle talk. Let this be wise in you, and let it be wise in me, for this I ask your prayers. The bitter cannot be sweetened with the bitter, only with the sweet. Likewise, bitter cases cannot be sweetened by a bitter judgment about them; and meekness, patience and love can not only sweeten what flows from a bitter source, but also correct a bitter source. God wants patience and hope when subjecting a soul to deprivation, for its testing and purification. It is pleasant to remember in prayer souls about whom you know that they are looking to the Lord and in Him they are drawing closer to us, and He alone knows which of the two is more beneficial to the other, the one praying or asking for prayer. Prayer brings us closer to God, and near this center of beings and worlds, that which is separation in a world of change is inseparable. A soul that constantly seeks the Lord and prays belongs to Him, despite the fact that its lower sensory region, sometimes against its will, is agitated by the attack and action of forces alien to it. Whether for all or for one, as the Church wisely teaches, let us pray to the Lord in peace. The soul of a person praying in the world, if it boils, does so with a quiet and pure fire, but does not burn, boils, but does not boil away, pours out, but is not exhausted. A soul that prays earnestly does not enter into communion with the one for whom it is praying? In this communication, does not a current of power sometimes extend to a soul seeking help? Prayer for each other is the best of communication. The imperfections of prayer should be corrected if possible, but one should not become discouraged by them. It is necessary to distinguish between the work of prayer and the pleasure in it. A person does the work, and must do it constantly and unremittingly according to the rule and order, and God gives consolation by grace, when it is needed to attract or strengthen a person, and when a person can accept it. In the same way, the feeling of one’s own weakness should not be used to become burdened and lose heart, but to abandon hope in oneself and, through prayer for help, move on to hope in God. If you want to learn prayer from a person, then you are responsible: For what we will pray, as it should be, we do not know. If you say: Lord, teach us to pray; this is answered more than once. Reverence for the shrine should be acquired permanently, if possible, and not aroused for a short time. If awe before a shrine comes and goes, it is necessary that a humble and tender desire to communicate with the Lord remain in the soul. We must try to be constant in prayer and unshakable by unexpected events, but we also need to be quiet and humble in it and not give daring to the imagination. Whoever passes from delight to coldness and is not sufficiently established in the peaceful dispensation of the spirit, it is still enough for him to continue his education. If a person has worked for God for a year and does not abandon his good intentions, this work cannot be lost due to a change in circumstances. And in family life you can find and set aside time for prayer and silence. The Lord will accept home prayer instead of church services when it is not convenient to participate in this. Nobody advises you to work for two gentlemen. But you can work for the Lord both in solitude and in the family. If you definitely see obstacles in this last position, stay in the first. And accept the deprivation that you cannot visit the church of God not only with sorrow, but also with peaceful obedience to the will of God. Let the name of the Lord dwell in your heart, and let the incense of prayer rise from your soul, and then you will not be strangers to the church of God. If tears are given, one must thank the gracious God and use them to cleanse the soul. But just as nothing should be excessive, sometimes it is necessary to put a limit on tears, by turning the mind to another activity. Her many sins are forgiven, for she loved a lot. Where did she learn to love like that? Instead of oil, she had tears of repentance; God's love for the repentant, like heavenly fire, fell on them, and its lamp was kindled. I would not dare to say to my neighbor: I want you to love me; but I don’t think I would have said: I don’t want you to love me. There is something reflective and alienating here, and it can hit hard on the heart of a neighbor. Knowing the word of condemnation is not useless. This is a cure against pride and an instruction to be careful. It is hardly necessary to denounce a person of his own free will, unless he himself presents an opportunity to tell him the truth. It is difficult to expose oneself without self-justification getting in the way. Moreover, reproof can turn into trouble for another person through whom the speeches passed. Isn’t it better to just pray that God will instruct everyone to look at the work of their neighbor with a simple eye, without condemnation and suspicion. Have peace on your part; and do not judge strictly if, on the other hand, the expressions of the world are not quite clear. It's not bad to put up a shield against an attacker, but you shouldn't expose yourself to arrows. It is always undesirable to enter into a dispute, and especially when the wrong one can say more than the right one, without fear of being stopped and hoping, if necessary, to kill an opponent with abuse and ridicule, whom he cannot hurt with evidence. It will not be unjust or useless to fill the measure of patience with the water of meekness and pour it on the fire of jealousy, so that it burns quietly and flares up needlessly into a fire that, beyond fear, can damage the peaceful tabernacles of love, condescension and humility. It seems to me that there are few enemies, but those who are more ill-intentioned due to a mistaken understanding of people and their deeds. It is better to respond to reproach with meekness than with reproach. Dirt must be washed off with clean water. You can't wash away dirt with dirt. One should not be afraid of slander, but one should be careful against them. Slander teaches caution, and caution makes slander powerless. Why should a person outrage himself with unfavorable guesses, for some insignificant reason for them? And is it necessary to make your peace of mind dependent on human opinion? If we act rightly: glory to God, and human opinion cannot deprive us of this. One should find more difficulty in judging people than in looking at them simply, as one looks at trees shaken by the wind or at a flowing river; but, apparently, there is a difficulty in not judging. What to do? We must learn gradually, first to condemn ourselves for condemning our neighbors, then to refrain from condemning with words, when the thought is prompted to do so, then to hold back the thought itself. He who knows and judges himself well does not have the time to judge others. Do not stubbornly run away from people; among them there are people of God. We must try and conduct good deeds with caution, so that our wisdom and our will do not go ahead of them. In relation to people of different confessions, it is necessary with all freedom and strength to reveal the conviction of the dignity of the Orthodox confession; but in exposing errors and those who err, tolerance, calm, meekness, condescension, and caution are just as necessary as zeal. Don’t turn the light wind of frivolous human words into a storm... Some slander drives you out, leads you into poverty, throws you into prison, it’s hard. Isn’t it easier when slander passes by your ears like the wind? Go into your cage and do not listen to the sound of the wind. Simple, peaceful, calm behavior, both without refined affection and without artful coldness, is useful in relation to non-peaceful people and will not harm peaceful ones. In trusting in God, we will bear difficulties and preserve our peace, even if we do not encounter it from others. For it is said: with those who hate peace, be at peace. May the Lord grant them also to love the world. With a suspicious eye you can reach the point of hating people; whoever wants to have love for his neighbor must have a simple eye. It's not good to be angry. The wrath of a man does not bring about the righteousness of God. Anger can only produce or increase the irritation of another, but one can only be brought into a better disposition through patience and peace. Spiritual law says that one must help one’s neighbor, and, moreover, not offend another. Telling the truth is a good thing when we are called to do so by duty or love for our neighbor, but this must be done, as far as possible, without condemning our neighbor and without vanity and exaltation of ourselves, as if we know the truth better than others. But at the same time, you need to know people and affairs, so that instead of truth you do not say reproaches and instead of peace and benefit, do not create enmity and harm. The word of man can be sharpened like a sword, and then it will wound and kill, and it can be softened like oil, and then it will heal. Judge not, lest ye be judged, even though it may seem that you judge not without reason, because your neighbor stands or falls to the Lord. And it’s even worse if you judge as judges judge evil thoughts. You think that people talk idlely, but they talk about the benefit of the soul and about doing good. By judging our neighbors, we deprive ourselves of a lot. We must take care of this and make up for it by condemning and reproaching ourselves, and pray that God will be merciful to those whom we have condemned, and to us along with them. Try to understand the intention and heart of your neighbor for the good, and not for the bad, then you will be safer from harmful errors, and he will more easily become better. According to the ancient philosopher, one should not be alarmed by the blow of a donkey. About magnetism, when they asked me whether to use it, I answered that Christians have been given the highest and truest powers, faith and prayer, and, therefore, to embark on the lower path, gropingly laid out by human thought, is a decline. It is also true that good is strength, and not good is weakness; but not without care, so that the passionate will does not confuse and eclipse the light. Let's pray to the Lord. We do not love, it is said, in word or tongue, but in deed and truth. So, love does not lose by silence. Truth does not cease when the word ceases. Let us pray that the Lord bless both the word and the silence; let neither the word be idle nor the silence wordless. Everyone who acts more or less spreads the life he lives, new or old. The gift of spreading a higher life in others is the highest: it is good for him who uses grace as an instrument for this. But, not daring to attribute this to himself, a person may wish, at least not to spread a false, carnal, sinful, hypocritical life, by an unjust word, by an unworthy example. A hypocritical life, presenting only a superficial image of piety, is especially befitting of the name false. Blessed are you when people revile you. Blessed! Shouldn't we try to get closer to bliss? How can we achieve to be blessed when we are always reviled, if we cannot bear it when they say that we are under investigation or trial and have not yet been condemned, while there are many who have been condemned by the court, but who are therefore not yet reproached? Paying attention to ourselves, we must not without attention look at the many surrounding sorrows, from poverty and others, according to the righteous destinies of God's visit. They should encourage others to be patient, others to correct, others to do good, and those who have dedicated themselves to God, especially to deepen their prayers for our sins and for human ignorance. There are sad people who regret not dissolving their sadness with consolation. There are those who are consoled who regret that they do not mix with their consolation a little sadness, which would come from love and humility. There are people for whom the invisible does not seem to exist - an unprofitable elimination from the inevitable. But there are also people who, by force of will, have made, so to speak, a breach into the spiritual world, or think that they have made it, and try to keep it open. Is it necessary? Are you okay? Isn’t it more modest to remain in anticipation and hope before the closed gates of the city - waiting for the key of David to open them? Humility alone can bring peace to the soul. The soul is not humble, constantly torn and agitated by passions, dark and vague, like chaos; establish its strength in the center of humility, then only the true light will begin to appear in it and a harmonious world of right thoughts and feelings will form. Proud wisdom, with speculations extracted from earthly nature, rises in the soul like fog, with the ghosts of weak light; let this fog fall into the valley of humility, then only you can see the clear, high sky above you. The soul deafens itself with the movement and noise of arrogant and therefore always restless thoughts and passionate desires; let it subside in humility, only then will it be able to listen to the harmony of nature, which has not yet been completely upset by modern man, and hear in it harmonies worthy of the wisdom of God. So, in the deep silence of the night, distant sounds are sensitive and subtle. I do not scold a sensitive and loving heart, for is it better to be cold and stony? The stone must be broken, the cold must be warmed, the sensitive and loving must be elevated with natural and spiritual love. For this latter, the lonely path is the good path of Providence, so that, immersed in family ties, it does not become completely bogged down in natural love alone. And childhood of the heart is not in all respects a terrible thing. The Lord commands us to be children. The Apostle interprets: Do not be children in your minds, but be inflicted with malice. Therefore, be gentle like children, be kind like children, be innocently loving like children. There is no need to complain about what God has given in nature, but to elevate it to grace, and all good will come. It is not uncommon that an attentive person in his natural character finds something that needs to be corrected and that is difficult to change. It is correct that a person resorts to God, asking for help in this. And if help is not given quickly, one should not be discouraged, but continue to strike at the doors of mercy, and at the same time one must strive to restrain the unfavorable movements of the heart and will. In moments of indignation and anger, you should not allow yourself to speak and act, but you should take time, calm the passion with reasoning and prayer, and then pronounce reproof with moderation and with condescension determine the punishment for the sinner. The fruit of righteousness is sown in the world creating peace. Temptation can be endured, as the Lord will not allow us to be tempted beyond our might, if we endure and trust in Him; – that the temptation endured brings benefit; and the desire to avoid temptation may not always be successful. Many miracles lead to no conclusion. – One miracle can be sufficient proof of Divinity. And thousands of miracles can only show a prophet. The resurrection of Lazarus reveals the Wonderworker of God, but in order to see this, it is necessary to discover in it the features that elevate this miracle to be similar, apparently, to the miracles of God-bearing people. Why do you think that joy is far away? She is close, behind the sorrow, as in the Song of Songs, the groom is behind the wall near the bride. Evening may be mourning, but in the morning there will be joy. It is very necessary to be careful to add to the pleasant, spicy, to the joy of awe, to the joy of God the awe of one’s unworthiness, which can disturb a pure source with excessive movement, and eclipse the light or turn into a superficial shine and ghost. Invisible, but genuine sins sometimes prevent a person from seeing visible, but imaginary virtues. It is a common feature in our time that some people think they know the matter, are zealous for the benefit, and do service to God, but in fact they guess (and not always successfully) an idea that is now in fashion and is patronized by the powerful, and serve it in the hope that it will serve them too. Earthly joy is permeated with sadness, because the soul intimately feels the unsatisfactoryness of earthly things and the need for something better. Sorrow for the Lord is permeated with joy, because the soul has a presentiment of what the apostle said: Sorrow, even according to God, brings about salvation. Let us seek joy in which the sting of sadness is not hidden. Let us not be afraid of sorrow, which will turn into joy. The truth, although sad, must be seen and shown, and learned from it, so as not to live to see a more bitter truth, which not only teaches, but also punishes for inattention to it. You say that those who are not sure of victory will always be defeated. Let me disagree with this one. Under circumstances that do not lead to confidence in victory, one who fights for a just cause and trusts in God can achieve victories beyond expectation. There are cases when enduring a battle with some damage is due to the fact that the defeat and destruction committed by the enemies was not allowed. Let us tear ourselves away, at least for a while, from everything earthly and transitory, to which we are attached, sometimes by necessity, sometimes by will, and let us look freely and undistractedly to the heavenly and eternal. From the three-day tomb the Light of eternal life rises. Some see and believe, others do not see and believe: and all are blessed because they believe. When good souls land, they take with them part of the mercy of God that descends on them and through them, and those who remain, sinners, are more threatened by the wrath of God. It was necessary in due time to think where you are being carried, and where it has taken you, not without the wing of Providence, there you must sit or walk in the paths of truth. It is not useless to experience a feeling of detachment from the world during illness, so that after illness you can adhere to this feeling. It is not surprising if this feeling does not come as easily after illness as during illness; In illness, God grants it for the needs of the weak, and in health He demands that he strive to obtain it. Against our weakness, sinfulness, and insignificance there is the infinite goodness and omnipotent mercy of God. And God has put something in us against laziness, for if we know how to overcome laziness and work tirelessly and tirelessly for worldly benefits, as can often be seen in many, then why not excite ourselves to exploits for the Kingdom of Heaven? And since we are excited, God indicates His work and grants us the power to do it, not, however, sometimes so that we immediately see the success of the work, but enough that we do not allow obstacles and despair to overcome us. However, the spiritual house, for the most part, is built in the same way as according to the legend about the church of the Kyiv Lavra: while they were building, it was all a little higher than the ground, but it all appeared when it was all completed. Sadness may be fair, but it should never be excessive. “Sadness kills many,” says the experienced sage, “and there is no benefit in it.” Sadness should never be stronger than faith in God and hope in Him. No matter what happens, you must believe in His mercy and hope for mercy from Him. To do this, you need to distract your thoughts from the subject of sadness and occupy your mind and heart with prayer. One should not be embarrassed by the fact that in these circumstances the prayer is not perfect. Bring the intention of prayer to God, He will look and give prayer to the one praying. And the cry of the saints for temporary deprivation is not called a favorable sacrifice to God, and our prolonged and heavy lamentation is not only not pleasing to God, but even sinful. We are told: Do not grieve like others who have no hope. Our job is to bear the crosses given to us with love, childlike humility and Christian patience, and not to measure them and not to compare them with others, not to complain in deprivation, but to watch over ourselves and strengthen ourselves, so that, having become exhausted, we do not lose the prepared reward. “They are all comforters, not healers of evil,” says Job about his friends. So are all people. Only God can truly console, both when he gives and when he takes away. If you endure temptation and sorrow from your neighbors, train yourself in patience and forgiveness of those who offend. Thus, for a denarius of temptation one can buy the treasure of virtue. If you endure sorrows innocently, thank God. The word “guiltless” contains powerful medicine against grief. When a cauldron is boiling on fire, then neither an insect dares to approach it to defile it, nor an insolent domestic animal to steal the food being prepared in it for a person. But when it is removed from the fire and cools down, then insects swarm around it and fall into it, and an insolent dog can approach, desecrate, and steal. Likewise, when a person’s soul boils with the fire of Divine desire, this spiritual fire serves it at the same time as both strength for action and armor for protection. But if negligence allows this fire to go out, and pious zeal cools down, then vain, crafty, unclean thoughts will be born and swarm in the sensual area, fall into the depths of the soul and defile it, and insolent passion can come and plunder in the soul what was prepared in it to please God. When a house burns, crowds of people run to fight the fire for logs and boards of an unknown owner. But when the soul burns with the fire of evil passion, lust, rage, anger, despair; - Is it just as easy to find people who would hasten to extinguish the deadly fire with the living water of words of truth and love before it embraced all the forces of the soul and spread to merge with the fire of Gehenna? A person does not see his soul to the depths. Like the Kingdom of Heaven is like a seed, a hedgehog man sows into the ground, and the seed vegetates and grows, as if he did not know. Between the harvest and the harvest there is not only rain, and wind, and cold, and heat, but also winter. Let a person sow good seed in his soul, let him water it, let him preserve what he sows, and let him expect mercy from God, Who alone returns. When the Assyrians under the walls of Jerusalem shouted to the Jerusalemites standing on the walls, uttering blasphemous words against God and trying to shake them in their faith in God and in loyalty to the king, then the pious Hezekiah did not order his people to answer, but he himself went to the church and prayed. This is what Christians should do when their thoughts are overwhelmed. Don’t answer, don’t listen, go deep into your heart, call on the name of the Lord Jesus, protect yourself with the sign of the cross, externally and internally. It is true that God leads some to salvation through poverty, but He Himself does this, and He did not instruct you to do this, but the Son of God told you: Give alms from those who exist. Fulfill this commandment and be saved by it. And in order to determine whether someone needs to be purified by poverty, God will not ask you for help. If you want to do good and are tempted by the thought of vanity, and if the matter takes time, do not rush to do it and tame the thought of vanity. But if you need to feed the hungry, hurry to feed him, and also hasten to condemn and trample on your vanity. Freedom, which excludes any possibility of deviating from good, is all-perfect. Divine; It would be absurd to demand that God create man as God instead of a creature. Not to give a person freedom, limited, characteristic of a creature, which does not exclude the possibility of deviating from good, would mean making a person a machine. A machine, if it cannot do evil, cannot do good and be blissful. Basil the Great to the question: how did evil happen? - answers: it happened the way darkness happens when you close your eyes. It is not the one who created the eye who is to blame that you closed your eyes and it became dark for you. What does freedom serve? - To choose the good and be blissful in an angelic and human way, and not just wander the earth like cattle or vegetate like grass. For spiritual work, the blessing of God is primarily needed, which is acquired through pure motives, and not when pleasing vanity is pledged. An unfortunate custom can be born from an unfortunate example. Simplicity must not be without wisdom. How have you not guessed until now that simplicity reveals, but sophistication torments? It is also a shame to see that non-Orthodox are better than Orthodox in observing Sunday. Sometimes this disorder becomes incorrigible by human means; we must fear corrective measures from heaven, stronger than what we are already experiencing. There is also service to God in not insisting too much on the fulfillment of one’s, however, good desire and complacently heeding what is offered with good intention and love. One should not be afraid to do good to one’s neighbor, trusting in God and not in oneself. The Lord will not deprive the one who does this of His protection and protection. Personal frankness, which a person would not dare to demand in excess, should be accepted as a matter of free reasoning, with the same respect and fear of God as one should accept the mystery of the Christian soul, which is God's. One must be careful not to write more than what the truth says, or less than that. This caution is not so difficult: it is only necessary. Only on truth and truth can you build peace for yourself and others. Humiliation at will, of course, is easier to endure than from others, like any feat, but what is more useful? The sight of the suffering of the good produces a special sadness, not cruel, but deep. You can knock on a locked door with prayer, but with advice you can only enter the open one. In silence everything is born and grows. Deeds that are early proclaimed often end with the sound of words. Silence with meekness and humility is good, and speaking with love for good and zeal for truth is good. Rejoice in the Lord even when the image of this world does not promise joy, or, what is no better, deceives people with joy, like the crackling of thorns burning under a cauldron. Weak evidence not only does not benefit solid truth, but also harms it, opening up a vulnerable area for enemies. Whatever the circumstances, there is no need to be discouraged; Because of despondency, things are no better, but we ourselves are worse. The fathers teach us not to dwell our thoughts on those people who occupy a position better than us, although, apparently, they have no more - or no less - rights to this, but it is better to look at those who no less or no more than us have the rights to a pleasant position, but are in a more unpleasant position than we. The former leads to grumbling or envy, and the latter encourages us to be pleased with our situation. Is it virtuous to call on another to go and lay down his soul for his brethren, and to take his soul wherever it wants and where it is easier for it? Be wise, like a serpent, and purposeful, like doves. This rule is given to us for all occasions in life, and in difficult ones it is not enough. Learning to sacrifice to God everything that somehow occupies us between people - that’s what it’s all about! Isn’t it more useful to worry about how to meet death with peace and good hope, rather than choosing a place in the earth for the earth, certainly the one that came to mind, and preparing a monument and composing a tombstone? If you involuntarily feel the burden of life, you must raise your gaze to the merciful God, but you should not complain about the burden of life. God gives and continues it for our salvation, therefore, it is a gift, the giver should be thanked, and not complained. Not every feat you hear about needs to be adopted. Not every feat is useful or convenient for everyone. If it is said: if wealth flows by itself, do not apply your heart, isn’t it much worse for your heart to chase after it? Experienced wisdom says: in joy, do not forget to prepare for sorrow, in sorrow, do not forget to hope for the best. If the Lord has granted paradise to be in your soul, then may it remain in it, and do not give up making it and preserving it by exercising yourself in goodness and abstaining from everything that happens not according to the will of God, but according to human willfulness. To think that we don’t love someone is not consistent with peace of mind. Therefore, there is no need to think about this. But you need to pray for your neighbor, with the thought of your duty and the will of God. Learn to be simple, not to call people by fancy names that are superior to them, and not to indulge in unnecessary beliefs. To the one from whom we want to hear the truth, especially spiritual truth, we ourselves must treat the simple truth and not magnify the person in vain, because if he is weak and seduced by magnification, then he will not stand in the truth, therefore, it will not be reliable to hear the truth from him, and if he is strict, it may happen that he will not answer. The commandment not to love a son and daughter more than the Lord can be kept by someone who lives in the same house with the son and daughter, and can be broken by someone who lives in more than one house. But in which of these provisions you best hope to preserve the commandment, then choose. The intense desire for reform, unlimited but inexperienced freedom of speech and publicity have produced so many diverse views on subjects that it is difficult to find and separate the best among them and bring disagreement to unity. It would be careful to fluctuate as little as possible what is worth so as not to turn reconstruction into destruction. May God enlighten those who are destined to extract solid truth from the diversity of opinions. This age is so passionate about disorder and nonsense and has so forgotten the first principles of common sense and decency that between strict jealousy, which it does not think about and cannot tolerate, and between the lack of jealousy, which is criminal against the truth, it is difficult to navigate the path of patient jealousy. The age, having become bad, more easily believes the bad than the good, and especially where the good should be exemplary. They want to subordinate the Divine cause to the law of development taken from trees and grass. And if they want to apply the law of development to Christianity, how can they not remember that development has a limit? A blade of grass emerges from the ground, then it becomes a tree, grows, produces flower-fruit, development is over; followed by a constant life of fruiting, then old age and destruction. The seed of faith was sown at the beginning of the world, grew for centuries, flourished and bore fruit in the opening of the Christian Church, this and according to the law of development must be followed by a constant life of fruiting, and if we do not preserve the living tree, other branches will break off, wither, dry up, or the half-broken ones will turn green half-vital, until the living tree turns into a tree obviously of paradise, and the withered, dry, dead will be cut and thrown into the fire. Nowadays we boast a lot and do not repent enough. And time advises us to boast less and repent more. The disciple of the prophet Jeremiah, Baruch, grieved over his personal misfortunes. The Lord commanded Jeremiah to say to Baruch: “What I have planted, I will destroy; and have you sought the great? Don't look. Now Jerusalem is threatened with destruction, the people of God are threatened with captivity: grieve for what was promised, and in front of this do not consider your personal misfortunes great. When Baruch was yearning for his fatherland and for himself, the Lord said to him through Jeremiah: Behold, even I have made my neighbors, I will destroy. What a terrible decision. Lord, don't ruin me. Smite those who deserve it, but keep Yours in the sky. Shake the earth so that we awaken, so that we cry out to You, so that You hear our cry of repentance and so that You are not completely angry in heaven. Our customs, disfigured by vanity, not corrected by threatening times, threaten us more than external enemies. It seems to me that our affairs are not leading to a golden age. Someone says we need to pray so that the storm does not overtake us, not protected, not having finished and, perhaps, not starting our work, scattered outside and not gathered inside. I hear this and yet it is dormant. Send me Petrova's loop to wake me up. Neither the evening dawn of this year nor the morning dawn of the coming year will seem bright to me. The clouds darken, the distant rumble of thunder strikes, lightning rods are either missing or they are being broken. The waves are rising, but Jesus is greater. Rise, Lord, rebuke the waves and light up the clouds. This age is crafty and reluctant to believe in pure goodness; cases of criticism and slander are greedily caught; The sting of ridicule, even unfounded, sometimes stings, not without harming the success of good enterprises. What to do in the face of this age? Happy is he who can have the boldness to say with the apostle: I wish to be resolved and to be with Christ. But he did not insist on this desire. Be patient with the Lord, says the prophet. A restless age multiplies business. I often marvel at the present time, in which people, with apparently increasing education, are not as careful in their actions as in former times; and even the same people, with increasing experience, are less thorough than after several years. This is noticeable in both small and great things. Brethren, let us take heed to this time, so as to awaken ourselves from neglect and slumber. The tongues are reeling. People learn vain lessons. From Christian societies come men who say depravity. Reckless blasphemies are proclaimed as wisdom. Temptation and lawlessness open wide paths for themselves. In such circumstances, living sacrifices are especially required - for oneself and for others, struggling in repentance, prayer and correction. This requirement applies to our title more than others. You see what we are up to. When it is said to some who can not only hear, but also act, why are the guardians not unanimous and not active, when the opponents are unanimous and active? “They only answer that it’s true.” Lord, save the Tsar and the Fatherland! May those who die in the Lord be blessed! Shouldn’t we also say what follows these words from the Seer of Mysteries: woe to those who live on earth! The abandonment of the good in times of temptation casts a shadow over the next time. Righteous men are taken down, and no one understands in their hearts: from the face of unrighteousness the righteous is taken down. For this age it is not enough to act justly; one must be careful not to take up arms against the truth with the letter of the law and the form. Blessed is he who can sit in his own corner, mourn his sins, pray for the Emperor and for the Church, and does not have the need to participate in public affairs in the sins of others and multiply his own sins! The sad thing is that we see, and the sad thing is that those who see do not see. God bless the noble class. The sedate boyar is becoming impoverished. If, even in one year, you take all the bad things from secular magazines and combine them, then there will be such a stench against which it is difficult to find enough incense to drown it out. You think that equalizing civil rights between Jews and Christians will lead to the Christian enlightenment of Jews. Everything is possible from God, but in the course of human affairs this can hardly be expected. Perhaps it is the will of the Lord’s destiny that the Jews should first be freed and then enlightened by faith, so that their conversion would not seem forced. But it is not the ambitious freedom they seek that will enlighten them. In the old days, a rich nobleman would either have provided a place and maintenance for a poor nobleman with his family, or he would have looked after his family and given him the freedom to follow his own desires. Nowadays it is difficult to find this. How is our time like the last? The salt is overwhelming. The stones of the sanctuary fall into the dirt onto the street. I look with grief and fear at the abundance of people who deserve to be defrocked. But it’s also true that I’m afraid of other people’s sins, not my own! What kind of misfortune is it that everyone talks about abuse and no one can overcome it? They complain that there are frequent holidays in the Church, but in the theater there are holidays every day. Holidays are lost in spirit, which is why they are not wanted in ritual. So what? Perhaps it is already necessary for us not so much to demand them in the ritual, but to mourn them in spirit, whether the Lord of the holidays will not take pity on Him, will He not do according to His word: in the evening there will be mourning, and in the morning joy, - a holiday of accepted repentance and given grace. Every person, to the best of his ability and accepted responsibility, must set limits for his actions and not cross them unnecessarily. This way, the strength to act is preserved and things go better than when they suddenly want to chase two birds with one stone. Other people’s mistakes do not justify ours, and because our mistakes are pointed out to us, we should not get bored with our place and wish for another, in which we can encounter our own troubles, perhaps even more painful if we, moving ourselves from place to place arbitrarily, stumble upon them ourselves. It is easier to discover and expose shortcomings than to correct them. The misfortune of our time is that the number of errors and carelessness, accumulated over more than one century, almost exceeds the power and means of correction. Therefore, it is necessary to rise not suddenly against all shortcomings, but especially against the more harmful ones, and to propose means of correction not suddenly all that are necessary, but first primarily those that are necessary and possible. When you come to a country where there is habitual disorder, you need to bring people to order as quietly as possible, so that order does not seem like constraint. Only calm and meek reproofs admonish people; cruel ones irritate rather than benefit. An excess of trust is better than an excess of suspicion. For excess trust is my mistake, and excess suspicion is an insult to my neighbor. When a thought of mistrust arises, an unpleasant meaning is certainly given to others, which is done simply and accidentally. There is jebratiya. That's how it should seem. And it is necessary to believe as much as possible in the good and as little as possible in the bad. However, experiments show that a look of caution is also needed. There are sincerely good ones who will not act contrary to sincerity; and there are those who want to appear good, but who are not always what they seem. It is not necessary to work a lot out of passion, unnecessarily, but it is necessary to care about order with reasoning and peace. Remember what is written: wake up and affirm the rest, even if you die. We would say, why care, watch, affirm what is already doomed to die? Let's leave it, let it remain somehow until death. But this is not what the true word commands: be vigilant and affirmative. Don't be careless. Do not allow it to be destroyed prematurely. If we say: we will not repair the dilapidated house, but next spring we will move to a new one, and the dilapidated one will be broken, then winter will come before spring and will make us repent that we decided to live somehow without repairs. Research cannot be done on a denunciation that spares no one but names no one. If we are required to answer for strict decisions, then almost more so for weak ones - as a result of which a person, convicted, punished, and again guilty of insulting the clergy, will continue a vicious life and increase temptations. It is necessary to get to the truth in order to give justice to what is right. Injustice often turns out to be a cover for the wrong for the right, and mutual trust suffers, without which, rightly, it is difficult. It is necessary to curb the ignorance of foolish people, only with truth and moderation, and not with anger, for the anger of a man does not bring about the righteousness of God. Have patience and remember the words that the essence of a friend’s ulcers is more reliable than the free kisses of an enemy. I didn’t dare to speak—it never seemed to me either pleasant or useful, and often unpleasant and unhelpful. If a person deceived me once, under the pretext of not bothering me, should I not fear every minute that he is deceiving me in some way now? So, in order not to disturb you once, they deprive you of peace of mind forever and destroy the power of attorney. It is necessary not only to act fairly, but also with moderation and with foresight, so that both severity and leniency lead to the improvement of affairs and people. Both rules and service require worthy people, not orphans. We involve care for orphans out of necessity, and as if on the sly from the rules. In order to strongly intercede for a person, you need to know him correctly. If we are not given a fairly deep look, let us not rush with our confidence and give time to observation according to the rules. It is necessary to distinguish between speed excessively intensified by coercion, which does not truly produce prognosis, and speed moderately intensified by the action of causes. I remember a cold spring, in which bread did not grow for a long time, and then, with increased warmth, it suddenly rose and the harvest was good. I am afraid of a person who is seen as not being peaceful towards his boss. Although the reason for this may sometimes be in the boss, the sons of peace even with an unpeaceful boss know how to guard their peace with patience. How can a person who is unreasonable and does not correct himself in leadership be a prudent and efficient boss? Those who receive leadership because of old age, without ability, are always of little use, and in demanding times, disaster will come their way. Talk about people who are necessarily tolerant. They must not be harmful: and there should be no need to tolerate harmful ones. Showing mercy and secretly healing is undoubtedly good when healing is accepted in this way. But when a transgression is obvious and there is obvious disobedience to correction, and when a person strives further to the obstinate path, I don’t know whether it is enough to say: go in peace. Some caution is needed so that self-will and bad example do not become victorious and triumphant. It is necessary to have condescension towards those who have stumbled and fallen, but condescension towards those who are negligent and stubborn in their fall has an unfavorable effect in society, cooling jealousy and spreading negligence. We must protect everyone, but even more so, we must protect the spirit of the entire society. Also think about whether you need to have a gift in order to forgive, otherwise you will be indulged. Eli thought that he acted meekly with his children, but it was not for the mercy of anyone, but for the destruction of everyone. Ammon covered his brother with the spirit of love and the spirit of grace, saying to him: take heed to yourself, therefore the consequence was repentance in this, edification in others. The gift of forgiveness is higher than the gift of correcting with punishment. The one who takes up the task of his own measure succeeds. The boss must be above the insults of his subordinates and stand up for truth, order, for the peace of others, and not for himself. If someone did not refuse to be at peace with those who hate the world, do not refuse to have peace with those who sin, who do not renounce correction. And one must be careful in severity, lest the broken reed be broken. The true duty of the commander and his assistant is not to walk blindfolded among his subordinates, but to, having learned that his brother has been pierced, not to think that we are better than him, and to act towards him as without anger as before this information. It is not superfluous to pay attention to whether we are right in order to more easily act on those who are wrong with love and humility. It’s good if they greet you out of love and humility, or at least according to custom, but to order this means to meet yourself. How can one refuse the obligation to know the true position of a person who is in our close subordination, who is consequently entrusted to us, and for whom we will have to give an answer? The accusation of insolence is one of the weakest accusations. The son mentioned in the parable boldly said to his father: I am not going; but when he did his deed better than his words, he is justified. It can easily seem that a boss is putting himself in high esteem when accusing his subordinates of insolence. It is unpleasant to put a person into a position by power alone, as if in shackles, and to see his work operating with wounds from these shackles. And such a service will not bring all the desired benefits. When a person is in grief, it is comforting to think that he has not done harm to others. Thank God this is the case. At the same time, it is not superfluous and not useless to ask: was not enough caution used, and are there cases in which it is useful to strengthen it? It’s good if they greet you out of love and humility, or even according to custom, but to order this means to meet yourself. I have repeatedly said and written that local affairs of some importance must be presented on the spot, so that one can discuss the matter not with dumb paper, but with a living person and with local evidence. Correct supervision of the account is needed both against the sin of infidelity and against the sin of vain suspicion. What is done in complete obedience to the law is, of course, more blessed than according to private reasoning, anticipating the law. If I knew, I would be more careful and, with God’s help, I would try to clear people from business, and if this is not successful, then the place from people. It is good not to reveal the pictures of darkness, but if this is not done, how will the judge judge? It's the same in management. Moreover, one can indicate evil, as a precaution, without developing extensive pictures of darkness unnecessarily. It is good to expose people to experience, but not to temptation. Swift justice reduces the power of the temptation made. Pay attention in your actions to what the law and the authorities and the supreme law allow or do not allow - do not do to your neighbor what you do not want for yourself. It is good for the great when there are those around them who are inspired by a pious thought, and it is good for them when they sincerely present this thought to the great. It is dangerous to seek public service when we know our shortcomings that prevent us from pursuing it with success, but I think we must also beware of this, so as not to leave the service to which we are called and into which we have allowed ourselves to be led, of our own free will, out of impatience, out of displeasure to see our personality as less than our place. We need to test ourselves in this before we leave our place. If we see for sure that our abilities and strengths do not allow us to fulfill what our service requires, we can decide to leave it, so as not to be guilty of damage to the common good, and finally present to our superiors what ability or strength of ours, according to our note, does not correspond to the need, and wait with obedience whether they will still decide to tolerate our shortcomings or consider it necessary to take our place differently. As for temptations from irritability, there are cases of them more or less everywhere. The silence of the spirit calms the nerves. If you do not change your place of your own accord, so much the better, for it is all the more true according to God’s dispensation. And where God leads is a good path! Recently, someone, encountering difficulties in running the affairs of his service, decided to leave it. Having learned about this, I reminded him of the word of the Lord: if you are persecuted in a city, flee to another. The idea comes to offer your reflection the word of the Lord: If you are persecuted in a city, flee to another. You see, it allows you to leave only when you are being persecuted, and when you are not yet persecuting, you must stand and, despite the controversy, testify to the truth. The Lord does not say: leave when it is difficult for you, no, be where you are assigned, do what is assigned to you until the last opportunity, only when they are persecuted, do not fight, but leave. If we looked only at our own unworthiness, then everyone could run away from their positions, but we must look at the will and dispensation of God, and where we are placed by the Providence of God, there, if possible, work and act. If someone acting within the limits of his duties sees the unsatisfactory nature of his work, he can soothe his conscience by saying that he acted according to his duties as best he could. But if the consequence of an action outside the circle of duties is harm, then the actor will suffer a double reproach in his conscience, that he became the cause of harm and that he acted when he was not obliged to act. If one case of disorder is hidden from the authorities, how can they be calm and not fear that ten are hidden? Merchants have no other weapon than money, and as soon as any dangerous oppression occurs, they are ready to immediately use this weapon. When situations arise, it is necessary to look not at the present moment, but some time further. It seems that it is more necessary to encourage and instruct people than to rewrite statutes. It’s boring that people see disorder and abuse in everything and want to rebuild the whole world for the disorder of one person in one place. It used to be that they looked for dignity in speaking softly, but now they look for it in speaking sharply, and therefore they speak worse than they think. A virgin, the Christian truth, can receive both the splendid clothing of meditation and lofty words, and the modest clothing of simple words, but the patchwork clothing with dirty spots of low and careless words does not correspond to her dignity. Words are not trifles when it comes to dogmas and saints, and especially at a time when the correctness and precision of the word must be guarded with understanding, from the increase in writing of inattention to the laws of language, logic and taste. Don't waste great words on trifles. Save them for what is truly great. You say good things, but often it’s as if you let the word out without control, and it doesn’t go the straight way, it doesn’t say what you wanted to say, it says something else, it doesn’t allow itself to be understood. Conviction is for some action, and there is evidence of some truth. It is true that modern upbringing encourages self-will. I am often amazed at how important and independent young children behave in front of their parents, and they don’t seem to dare to touch them. There is an insult to the holidays worse than teaching: auctions, untimely opening of drinking houses, spectacles. If this is incorrigible, is it not necessary to endure even that? For some seminaries it is not necessary, and for others it would not be superfluous to say this: look in the book of conduct and, if there are those who have been repeatedly noticed in reprehensible actions that reveal damage to morality, and have not provided complete correction, remove the evil from yourself. It seems to me that the lack is not so much in the charter of the schools, but in the performers. The rectors have little regard for teaching and behavior, and the bishops are dissatisfied and zealous, of which I am the first. Some even consider schools alien to them. It is good to give church clothes to students if there is a hope of making them permanent, but if they are hypocritical and change into secular clothes outside of schools, then there will be no benefit. The teaching of literacy from church books, without a doubt, came to us from Greece. I think this was the case everywhere in Christianity before. It is a pity that the vain age did not understand the importance of this and went astray from this path so that it is now difficult to return from stupid crossroads those who have more claims to enlightenment than others. The Lord demands the heart. The Church puts prayer into the mouth so that it penetrates the heart. Thank God that He gave me the longing for the church. When possible, let her lead you to church, and when not, the Lord will accept the sorrow of deprivation from you as a sacrifice. Having heard the gospel, come to church with your thoughts, remember the action there and pray. The Orthodox Church prays for the union of the Churches so that the existing union of the Orthodox Churches will be preserved by the grace of God, and so that by the grace of God the union with the Orthodox Church and those Churches that have been separated from it by some wrong teaching will be restored. It is another thing to pray for the union of non-Orthodox Churches with the Orthodox Church in the liturgy of catechumens, and another thing to remember non-Orthodox ones in diptychs at the sacrament of the Eucharist. The non-Orthodox, by their very unorthodoxy, have excommunicated themselves from the communion of the sacraments of the Orthodox Church: this corresponds to their failure to remember them at the sacrament of the Eucharist and their exclusion from the diptychs. You blame the Archimandrites for not entering the altar. Let it be known to you that this follows the order that your humble servant probably learned somewhat in the Assumption Cathedral at the age of thirty. Here one Bishop, presenting the image of Christ, enters the Holy of Holies, Archimandrites and priests pass before the Holy of Holies, and, looking only at the royal doors, burn incense at the altar. The charter connects one feast of the Annunciation with the day of Easter, since it is a feast not only of the Most Holy Theotokos, but also of Christ. For the feasts of the saints, the charter of the general service commands, like the stars before the sun, to hide before the day of Easter and only in the evening to reveal their light. The Church rites of Holy and Bright Week, or, as the ancients said, Easter of suffering and Easter of resurrection, are truly a wonderful treasure. Every day of Holy Week you see in the church what is happening in Jerusalem and on Calvary on that day. With what completeness and accuracy one continuous fabric of events and contemplations is woven from the four Gospels! How significantly close are prophecies to events, and prophecies mutually illuminate events and events illuminate prophecies! One cannot help but be convinced and feel that this was the will of the Holy Spirit and the Fathers of the Church. The celebration of the Chrysostom Liturgy on fast days is not, in essence, an important change in order. In ancient times this was not viewed in the same way in some places as it is now generally viewed in the Orthodox Church. Those who wish to commemorate the deceased (in Great Lent) can do this on Saturday. I have never allowed the Chrysostom liturgy to be performed for commemorations or holidays during Great Lent, except for the day of St. Alexis; but now we have moved this from Monday to Sunday. I allowed the Chrysostom liturgy during Lent only in house churches, for two extreme needs: for the ordination of a priest, so that the parish church would not remain empty for a long time at such a time, and for the communion of the numerous cadets, whom it would suddenly be impossible to confess on Saturday and to commune on Saturday. Knowing some Lutherans who had respect and faith in the Orthodox Church, but died outside of union with it, for the consolation of the faithful, I allowed prayer for them, which was not open in the Church, with which they were not openly united in life, but at home. It is necessary to tell those who sing that skillful singing is pleasant to people for a short time, but reverent singing is pleasing to God and people, useful, introducing into them the spirit with which it breathes. I did not prohibit singing from notes, but I never found partes singing in nunneries to be decent, and therefore I never approved of it. There is more labor in it than benefit, more vanity in imaginary art than edification and help in prayer. Let the regent tune the choir, and the bishop spread the spirit of harmony in the church, so that it will all be one spiritual choir and organ of God. If the liturgical language must be preserved as liturgical, then we must try to keep it as generally accepted as possible, and for this it is useful so that we do not lose the habit of reading Holy Scripture in it. We do not know how to perform the generally obligatory Divine service in full, without haste and abbreviations, but we invent extended services, rich in words rather than in force. You say: if only the person prayed, in whatever words. I agree, and I will add that in simplicity a believer sometimes prays in discordant words better than one who understands, for which there is an example in the legends of the fathers. But it is another thing to pray for oneself, another thing to publish the word of prayer for the use of others. The Church gives us prayers, taking them from the mouths of the saints, so that the prayers are good in feeling, and by example, and by reason. The one who offers others his stupid expressions of prayer is wrong. In general, it seems to me, it is not excessive caution to use during general prayers only what has been blessed and accepted by the Church, and not to introduce something new, albeit good, by private will, which can open the way to dubious innovations. It seems to me that we should try not to expand the church rule, but to ensure that the existing rule is carried out more and more sedately and slowly, in order to give more room for attention, reflection, tenderness and contemplation. We perform the Orthodox Divine Service, ancient, wise, full of grace and edification, weakly, in a hurry, shortening it and further complicating it with newly composed hymns, imitating one or two truly church ones, in external verbal form, not caring much about whether the spirit of life is clear in them. What is more necessary: ​​should we try to give greater strength to the essential Divine Service or to complicate the force that constrains it? My thought about the akathists is to use the ancient ones for the Sweetest Jesus and the Mother of God, and not to introduce new ones, which are allowed to be published, but which have not yet received the full character of the Church. All new creators of akathists should wish that their akathists be a work of the spirit, and not literature, so that they raise the reader to contemplation or immerse in tenderness, and feed them with edification, and not shower them with a hail of laudatory words, collected with intense effort from everywhere. St. Gregory the Theologian did not write an akathist to St. Basil the Great. It would not be superfluous to consider whether it is useful for the Church to print newly compiled services and akathists, in which there are many words and little spiritual thoughts and edification, and to occupy the illegible with this, while they do not find enough time and diligence to accurately perform the dedicated essential services of the God-inspired fathers. You will have peace, dissolving the actions of power with patience and love, according to the Apostolic word, as a milkmaid warms her child. (I Sol. 2:7). The Apostle gives us instruction and example to treat the brethren not like rulers, but like a nurse holding a baby in her arms. If he stubbornly shouts, he is brought to rest not with abuse and threats, but with affection and meekness. Father Seraphim’s advice is excellent not to scold him for his vice, but only to show its shame and consequences. Beware of arrogance, beware of acting on the first movements of your own will, reason about every matter with attention; There are very few things that would be safe to do as it happens, consult often with the elders and the most well-intentioned of the brethren, love to listen to the truth and know how not to be angry for the harsh truth. A brother’s weakness must be covered up and quietly corrected while there is no temptation for many, and when temptation appears, then it is necessary to either advise the brother in other ways so that he is less embarrassed and less likely to confuse others. Since the position of a spiritual father is not included in the position of an archimandrite, it is better to step out of the bounds of duty into the area of ​​arbitrary action as little as possible, and accept male people for confession, with consideration of blessed guilt, and female people - only for the most urgent need. It is indecent for a nun to light a lamp on the holy altar. A nun can exercise the rights of a deaconess, enter the altar area of ​​the altar and another altar area, but only clergy can touch the altar. If women’s dormitories are worthy of approval, having only the goal of the sisters’ own quiet and pious life, then we can assume that no less, or even more worthy of approval is a dormitory that adds another goal to the above - to show philanthropy to needy neighbors. How boring it is to see that monasteries all want pilgrims and income from pilgrims, that is, they themselves seek entertainment and temptation. True, they sometimes lack methods, but what they lack more is non-covetousness, simplicity, hope in God and a taste for silence. Someone living not in a monastery, but in a monastery, heard in a vision: the monasteries are crying, and their cry ascends to heaven. I think that monasteries cry because those who live in them build a lot of stone walls, but care little about creating a spiritual home, from them I am the first. It is a pity that the monks also look up, and not at the ground, as the fathers taught. It is another thing to go to Athos for silence, and another, after retiring to Athos for silence, with the name of the Athonite silencer, to go live in the Moscow rumor in a courtyard. Bees fly away from the hive and return bringing honey; the monks leave the monastery and often return, having lost a lot of honey and bringing back something not as good as honey. Silence, of course, is a good thing. But I think whoever is called to serve in society should not leave this without special instructions from the Providence of God. There is no need to do less than is required out of laziness, but there is no need to do more arbitrarily. You can pray in your cell as much as you like; for the church there is a stricter order. How can one ask: why don’t they pray? So they may ask: why do they pray? Brotherly coming together for good exercises is a good thing. It would be nice if there was more of this. But it is necessary that special rapprochements should not be too noticeable, so as not to pretend to separate the particular from the universal brotherly love. What greatness are you talking about between monks? Let the pain in you be your servant. Where do we put this word? The Bishop must take care of the monks, but the method of care must be taken into account with the circumstances of the time and place. It is less convenient to enter closely into the management of women's monasteries, and here the choice of leaders is more difficult; special caution is needed here. Who has not shown merit and in character requires temptation: how can one be recommended to archimandry? To celebrate the assumption of office as a dean with a treat means to proclaim in a secular manner one’s rank, which has not yet been given, and not to enter into the matter of obedience with quietness and humility. The hermitage is for privacy, not for display. And those who themselves wish to visit the monastery must be admitted with reason, so that they do not remain silent during the scattering. And no one should be invited. It is necessary for the hermits to protect it [skete - A.L.] from fame, behind which rumor easily creeps in. There is no need to strengthen your voice to attract a person to the monastery who is not attracted there by spirit. If Matthew is offered a well-deserved cross, it is probably out of ignorance that he is already a monk. According to the law, the cross received before becoming a monk is removed upon entering monasticism. He may answer like this: if according to the law I should receive a cross, then I agree to accept it as a memory of the service and the royal favor. Monasticism is designed to serve God and the Church with the donation of everything; now they go into it, having in mind the benefits ahead (for example, the position of sacristan) and behind (for example, the production of a son in his place); and that’s not enough! Looking at this and many similar things, you might think, isn’t it time for us to say to ourselves: it’s time to begin judgment from the house of God? Tell the governor to sort out his thoughts. His signature: poor Theophilus is vain and proud. Without the need to call oneself wretched, one is vainglorious about one’s imaginary humility. The name of a person without the name of a position is written only by people whose name is very well known, for example, sovereigns, and Theophilus!!! Tell him that a monk needs to be simple, and with genuine simplicity, but add that he should accept my speeches simply and not think that by denouncing him, I am humiliating him in my thoughts or being angry with him, no, I am only fulfilling what was said: better than denunciation is revelation of secret love. The boss wishes that the sisters could not bring her even a little as a gift, which usually happened. This is good. Explain to the sisters that this is good and that the boss cannot be given anything better than obedience and love. To those who complain that there are few learned monks, it would not be unhelpful to advise that those few who come out of their hands should be more thoroughly educated in the monastic spirit and in the ability to serve. The Tsar's heart was in the hand of God when he did not deign to multiply monks in cenobitic monasteries; it would not be useful. Seeing in the reports that novices are approved more than hierodeacons and hieromonks, I ask the rector, why is this? They answer: people today are fickle. At first they are diligent and take care of themselves in order to deserve monasticism or the priesthood, and then they become lazy. Under such circumstances, it is good that the staff is limited, and therefore the novices do not reach monasticism so quickly; there is more time to test and guide them. If the diocesan bishops were given the freedom to tonsure as much as they want, crowds of young monks without the monastic spirit and life would come running, who would only provide a service to those who condemn monasticism. Monks cannot be written out like a commodity: they must be acquired, and this is done with the attention of management. It is not contrary to the ancient rules, but in accordance with the circumstances of the present century, not to tonsure a female before 30 years of age. When I happened to talk with those who wrote the monastic rules, I always advised them to lay down laws for everyone more moderately, so that their implementation would be more certain. And those who are jealous can secretly make special voluntary sacrifices, under special guidance. To make it less difficult for the weaknesses of the young, attention must be paid to the tonsure during the presentation. Anyone who has only outwardly constrained himself in order to crawl through this door, having passed through, soon becomes blurred, and it is more difficult to vomit behind the fence than not to be accepted into it. I think that the ancient fathers entered monasticism only in the presence of unanimous and prayerful brethren, in order to avoid the prying eyes of the world. It is good if a person returns to the place of the first promise, seeing his failure and error in moving away from onago. But if he seeks to return to where he previously paved the way for vanity and satisfaction of passions, then should he not be afraid that he will return to temptation? Teach, and let others teach, to establish church order on reverence and fear of God. Then he will be good without the multiplication and variety of police orders. Submissions for ordination should be done with caution and possible inquiries into trustworthiness. Perhaps it would not be a bad idea to take and make known to those nominated for ordination the rule that one who has been awarded ordination should not arbitrarily seek for at least three years to move from the monastery in which he received ordination. You know the will: do not lay on hands soon. I’m not angry, I don’t judge, but I’m afraid. Yesterday he was uncontrollably weak, and today he is a hierodeacon, what respect for the sacraments is there? What is the instruction for the brethren? Isn't this a temptation? Isn't it a temptation for the one who is favored? You want grace to do what we did not begin, otherwise grace says: let these be tempted first, then let them serve, being blameless. The thought of how the clergy is viewed today means nothing when choosing this title. You never know how they look at Christianity! It is said, woe, when all men say good things, but nowhere is it said that there is trouble when others look bad. Anyone who does not feel any other impulse to enter into spiritual service other than a mercenary one in order to have bread, it is better not to enter into it. But whoever sees that he is called to it by birth, upbringing, inclination, and is afraid of the spirit of mercenaryism, he can enter it, promising himself to choose a place not that which is more profitable, but that in which it is more convenient to bring some benefit to the children of the Church. If they ask permission to ordain non-scholars under 30 years of age as priests, they will do something that is contrary to church rules and equally harmful to government. These people are now usually expelled students, i.e. thrown away as worthless. They must be tested for a long time in order to be fit to become priests, and early promotion to priesthood produces the worst priests from among them. You know that in our rank we must not only act blamelessly, but also refrain from blameless deeds if they present an opportunity for the ignorant or ill-intentioned to make an unfavorable interpretation for them. Remember and put into practice the memory that the Apostles and ancient Fathers of the Church established and spread the Church and destroyed the clutter of heresies not by the force of the external laws of the pagan world, but by the force of strong faith, love and self-sacrifice. It is necessary that the conversion (of non-believers) matures under the influence of the word of power and spirit, then it is reliable, and not when it is accomplished more by the hand of the flesh. The peasant woman was seduced into the schism against her will, she knows nothing, as she herself says, but she does not want to leave the schism. How can I explain this? Her persistence? So be it. But is it not necessary to add another reason to the explanation of this: that in us, ministers of the true faith, there is little spiritual strength, and perhaps even spiritual intelligence... Let us resign ourselves to our school learning, which does not have as much strength as ignorance, perhaps God, who gives grace to the humble, will be merciful. Our calling, if possible, is to correct people, and not to irritate them. To whomever one can, it must be said with meekness and goodwill in private, how offensive it is for the Church and for him personally to despise pious rules in order to catch a sweet piece or a pleasant sound, and how tempting it is for others, and woe to him by whom the temptation comes. Then teach and denounce in sermons, without directly indicating the person. In exposing errors and those who err, tolerance, calm, meekness, condescension, and caution are just as necessary as zeal. The wise one says something similar to the following: out of respect and love for the superiors, do not move too far from them, but do not get too close to them, so that you do not become a burden to them. It is not uncommon in our time that people think they know the matter, are zealous for the benefit, and do service to God, but in fact they guess (and not always successfully) an idea that is now in fashion and is patronized by the powerful, and serve it, in the hope that it will serve them too. This is not how the true good of the Holy Church is created. Forgive me. The healed person should be instructed not to tell everyone about this, so that the enemy does not sow the weeds of vanity, but only when necessary, to well-intentioned people, or to those in whom faith needs to be awakened by experience. Haven't you read that the Lord also used this caution? For example, after the resurrection of Jairus’ daughter: Forbid them many things, so that no one will know this. (Mark 5:43). The glory of God’s works comes by itself, and people sometimes create temptation for themselves out of God’s very good deeds. Therefore, the Lord sometimes said: return to your house and tell what God has done, and at other times commanded to tell no one what happened. The works of God must be revealed, but to believers or those who need reinforcement of faith, and not indiscriminately; and putting them on display, with selfish motives, creates fear, but no worse will it be for the delivered one. There are subjects about which, if necessary, one can write, although they are unpleasant, but there are others, which are actually discussed only between the spiritual father and son, such should not be written about, unless under the general name of grave temptation or sin; for writing is subject to various accidents and can reveal the secret of a neighbor’s conscience. Now strangers are strict with us, but we want to be lenient with ourselves. In order, outsiders should be lenient with us, and we should be strict with ourselves. Valuing jewelry seems to me to be a non-ecclesiastical matter. But if necessary, let it be done. It is good when free lips and hands are offered to the Lord, for this He is pleased. There is no need to forcefully take gifts to the Lord from the lips and hands of your neighbor. We must wish the pastors ancient sincere communication and mutual advice about what is useful for the Holy Church, without prejudice to each one’s own wisdom. If secular people must serve unselfishly, how much more so should spiritual ones. For a clergyman to think that he is incomparable in reward with a secular person is a temptation that must be overcome; and to complain about this is a certain concession to temptation. We, who are trustingly and at the same time instructively called spiritual, should take care of internal and spiritual decorations. Those who introduced a variety of external decorations should have had a discerning and careful thought. But when a custom has been established, it is inconvenient to make unnecessary something for which there was no need before. The Apostle always does not want to do an innocent thing if it could serve as a reason for temptation, although unfounded. The imam does not eat meat, etc. Isn't that how it should be done? It is a good deed to edify souls, but only those to whose edification a person is called. But it is also a good deed not to give rise to embarrassment and temptation. If my thoughts and words seem harsh to you, then remember the words of Solomon: the essence of a friend’s ulcers is more reliable than the free kiss of an enemy. It is necessary someday to recall what is very clear, but what they do not want to notice - that secular people, working in the church, not knowing church affairs according to secular ideas and not deigning to accept advice from church people, can fall into errors and cause temptation. The Apostle demands that a clergyman not have even a child to blame for fornication. And it is noteworthy that he speaks not only about business, but also about reproach, about bad rumors. How will the church look at the serving deacon, about whom the reproach of fornication is very public? When, discussing with one secular person, a thorough and experienced one, about the elective principle, I mentioned that some bishops applied it to the election of deans, then he said: this is absurd, the dean is the confidant of the bishop, how can strangers substitute a confidant for a person, against his convictions? The elective principle can be applied to the positions of confessors, deputies, members of spiritual boards and even consistories. Isn’t it more convenient in this case to agree with a secular person? If we recognized that every lot shows the will of God, then there would be no need to reason or collect information about deeds, but only to cast lots. But God wants us to seek what is just by reasoning, labor and good will. When purifying the rank of cleric, it would not be a bad idea to subject priests and deacons demoted to clerics to the same rule. These people make it very difficult for bishops who care about the purity of the diocese. He who has fallen from the degree of priesthood into rude actions is worse than a priest: he sins more, he seduces more, he is more abandoned by Grace. Say: I have corrected myself. Believe me, he will make things worse than before. And the thought of an anniversary is unattractive to me. For the Jews, the jubilee was an important law both in relation to the church and in relation to the civil order. He freed those who fell into slavery and returned the mortgaged lands. Popes in the Middle Ages introduced it into the Roman Church in order to receive income from those visiting Rome and from the intelligentsia. The rector of the Academy writes to me, asking me to give money on the occasion of the anniversary to create some kind of capital and collect money from others. For Jews, debts were forgiven on the anniversary, but for us, taxes were imposed on the anniversary. In Western Roman and Protestant canon law there is a decree that the income of one or several months from a vacant place should be given to the orphan family of the occupant of the place, and if there are no orphans, then it should be used for a philanthropic cause, at the discretion of the bishop. Is this really bad? Is it righteous to build churches, not only without need, but also in abundance, according to one’s will? According to ancient custom, the altar should have pre-altars, and the altar in the pre-altar should be accessible to a layman for offerings. Where this exists, I advise the layman not to penetrate further than the altar. Unfortunately, the ancient location of the church has been mostly lost, and those walking with the prosphora to the altar necessarily walk in the common altar space. In this case, I advise you not to approach the throne as much as possible. I don’t envy candle wealth; but I marvel at how they decide to undertake such a complex task and how they know how to conduct it. It requires a lot of art, work, accounts, loyalty, it worries many, almost burdens them. Now, when an example is given that all bishops can become manufacturers, and many priests can become clerks, I would like to know how this works and where they get craftsmen from. Paradise - the altar is open, everything is filled with the fragrance of the holy, they contemplate the Creator and creation, they exclaim glory and alleluia to the Creator of everything, they do not ask for anything, since in a blissful state there are no needs. This part ends when the doors of heaven - the altar - are closed. What are the veils for? - I answer; are very necessary for the execution of even ordinary regulations. Litia is prescribed in the narthex, but now they involuntarily perform it in the church, only with their backs close to the western doors, which is no idea. The announcement requires a vestibule, and now it is also performed in the church, which violates the order, or on an open porch, which is inconvenient. There is also a need for a vestibule for those who have given birth, who come for permission prayer. What is the baptismal service for? It is very necessary, although not as extensive as it used to be. Is it good that screens are now brought to church during baptism, and then again taken to the bedroom? -What are the upper choirs for? – It would be great if they were made with convenience, and so that it would be possible to restore, although not in all churches, the ancient order, so that the female sex would be separated from the male. It is unpleasant to see the empty wood of the iconostasis in the altar, when the front side is gilded, there is inconsistency and insincerity; they want to boast in front of the audience, but the shrine, they say, will not condemn. But this will not happen when there is a tree on both sides of the iconostasis. I ask: why is the church built and consecrated? For worship in general? It also takes place outside the church. For the sacraments? And most of the sacraments can be performed outside the church. Only one sacrament, the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, certainly requires a consecrated church. Consequently, the church is built and consecrated especially so that the Body and Blood of Christ may be sacred and preserved in it. This greatest shrine on earth required a holy repository. From this it follows that only when absolutely necessary can the Body and Blood of Christ be taken out of the church, and whoever has it in a simple house or cell, unnecessarily, insults this shrine. Why not impart the presanctified Gifts to the laity? For by what means, if not presanctified, do they commune the sick? Children cannot be communed, because the union into which the Holy Gifts are immersed is consecrated only by their touch, and was not consecrated and transferred sacramentally. In order to serve Chrysostom for someone’s birthday instead of the Presanctified Liturgy, the priest should not do this, but the layman should ask. The charter prohibits the consecration of the church during Lent. True, I once broke this rule by allowing the church to be consecrated during Lent, but this was due to, I think, a very blessed fault, in order to provide the parish of the burned church with both comfort and convenience in using the shrine during Lent and Easter. Caring for candles for the church should not be excessive. Tall and thick candles and their unnecessary multiplication often harm the appearance of the church. The light of a candle should signify reverence for the holy icon and make it convenient to see it, and a large candle blocks it from the viewer. One must do what is necessary and decent, and not dream of useless splendor. If the sacrament of marriage, performed by a non-Greek-Russian priest, is considered invalid, then the sacrament of baptism, performed by a non-Greek-Russian priest, must also be considered invalid. But, just as the latter would be directly against canonical foundations, it is doubtful and dangerous to assert the former, so as not to be in conflict with the rules and with oneself. The question of the count of three successive marriages is difficult to resolve without a collection of cases. For the first time, it seems to me that the marriage of a minor, in the event of separation before adulthood, and the marriage of a forcibly taken child, not accompanied by cohabitation, may not count. Marriage with those who are unable to be included here, I doubt: for such a marriage is dissolved after a three-year marriage contract, which, if taken for nothing, then the concept of marriage will be too narrow and crude. It is difficult to pronounce in order to attach the vestments to the inheritance; for according to ancient church rules, church property was always separated from personal property; and it is unheard of for an omophorion to pass to heirs or heiresses. The counter-accusation of the wife, who by all accounts was dissolute, if combined with obvious evidence of the truth, in this only case could have stopped the divorce and subjected the husband to investigative purification. In addition to this case, counter and unsubstantiated accusations should be left without respect. Otherwise, anyone proven guilty could confuse the accuser with a counter-slander. It is good to make new laws to ward off new crimes arising from the changed types and relations of society, or to more reliably protect and provide for honest and innocent people. If some kind of law were needed in order to reduce the crimes against the sanctity of marriage, which are sometimes so clearly tolerated, or to ensure those seeking marriage according to reason, in the fear of God, in natural legal obedience to parents, perhaps I would not be frightened by the audacity of the news. But to make a new law to please people of unbridled passions, who, where yesterday they saw the holiness of kinship, today they extend criminal desires; full, is it worth the effort? In our relaxed age, it is hardly possible to conduct penance exactly following the rules; it is necessary, most of all, to observe the state of the penitent, so that penance leads him to correction, protecting him from two extremes - from fearlessness due to relaxation and from despair due to severity. “Why don’t you try to connect the ancient building with new connections” (without which it stood and still stands, and which, perhaps, will not be developed)? To this strict question, perhaps, it is necessary to answer: we must first take care to prevent the building from being undermined. It would be interesting to know how Palmer could not prefer the East to the West? This, I think, is because political clouds stopped the eye from penetrating into the spiritual light, because in the West the ability to seek and attract is more educated; and finally, because it is more plausible and convenient to set sail from England and land in Ireland than to present yourself as a lonely son of the East in the midst of the West. What will happen to good Palmer? – May the East from above visit him, when the earthly East may be dissatisfied with activity, to accept him into its arms. Read Saint Tikhon and see what church simplicity is. The paucity of means for correction and improvement in the churches should not be discouraging. This must be done gradually so that at the same time the popular opinion is corrected. If a good example appears, there will be imitators. I am never captivated by frames on icons. They represent wealth, but the liveliness of the images is obscured. Symbolic images were introduced into the Church not in the spirit of church decrees and not for the benefit of the people who do not understand them and who should be taught by church images. If symbolic images are found outside the altar, they must be replaced with historical ones. In service we need simplicity, naturalness and a clear word, without haste, but also without inertia. I would not recommend preaching without an analogy. Speaking without analogy seems to want to hint that it is being said without preparation. I had analogies in front of me when I spoke without writing. One day I happened to speak without him; but because late on the way to church I was thinking whether to speak, and what to say, and decided to speak when it was already too late to stop in order to demand an analogy. Our people are not yet quite attuned to intense and long-lasting attention; they take a short word that is close to the understanding and to the heart and, without dropping it, carries it away. Church rules oblige us to prepare for the liturgy in the evening by prayer and protecting ourselves from everything that violates spiritual peace and purity of thought; and I, being in the place of a priest, would not allow myself, having dressed for the liturgy, then to undress and turn to extraneous matters. Is it permissible for the minister of the Christian altar to bring stench to it at the unnatural whim of the consumed poisonous drug, and should the one preparing for this service first beware so as not to leave behind a habit incompatible with the dignity of the service? The apostle said about natural and legal use: I will not eat meat forever, lest I cause my brother to stumble. Is it possible that someone serving the altar or preparing for this will decide to say: I will please an unnatural whim - let them be tempted. Is it necessary to say that the procession of the cross occurs for mutual stimulation to prayer, and not for idle talk and distraction? That priests should set an example for the people? That they need to look at the shrine being offered, and not at the crowd of people, to sing songs, and not to idle talk, to pray to God from the depths of their souls, and not to scatter and scatter others with untimely greetings? Will a soldier in the ranks bow and talk to an officer? Does a servant of God need less decorum before God? There is no order for the laying of pectoral crosses: and what should be the order for something that is a deviation from the ancient order? I assign special dignity to people in the church at the small entrance. Tell the consistors, do they really not hear the cry that was heard from their places to St. Petersburg and to the Synod? Today I happened to read from the prophet Jeremiah, between we ask, XXI, 11-14; XXIII, 1–3. Ask them to take care from me so as not to be subjected to this terrible judgment. All Consistories in the world are as active for the empty form of affairs as they are inactive for their essence. Considerable precaution is to ensure that subordinates, as closely and directly as possible, see the actions of the boss as emanating from himself, and not controlled by the influence of intermediaries. It may happen that the Secretary is paid to obscure an important fact in the case; and the Consistory will not follow through: but when the bishop, not listening to a report, but examining the real matter, reveals the truth and gives his decision, people will see that there is nothing to pay the Secretary for and the Consistory will learn to keep its ear more alert. That giving monasteries to bishops instead of renting is not useful, I spoke about this both to those who take and to those who give. Vicars must be multiplied with consideration, where necessary and where it is safe to do so. It is necessary for local Bishops to be active, first of all their Vicars can be useful. The rule says that a bishop cannot, with one word, accuse a person who has not been convicted, and rightly so; otherwise every honest person could be made guilty. The bishops themselves need to arouse the church spirit in themselves and around them. It is not a bright feature that the deceased bishop left about 100,000 rubles. Maybe she will brighten up if a will is found about them that is generally useful. Recently, the Chisinau diocesan authorities sentenced the priest to relegation to the position of clergy for lawlessness in the church, and the Sovereign Emperor, according to information that reached him, ordered to deprive him of his rank. The decision of the Sovereign is sacred; God will bless him for his zeal for the house of God, but shame on us, careless guardians of the Lord’s shrine. About the orders, Metropolitan Plato presented the orders of blessed memory to Emperor Paul. But the spirit of this age stood its ground. When there is already a general custom, a private person should use it for whatever benefit he can, and not make passion out of it. If war had to be declared on any clothing, then, in my opinion, it would not be on the hats of priestly wives, but on the magnificent robes of bishops and priests. At least this is the first thing, but this was forgotten. Let your priests, O Lord, be clothed with righteousness. Bishop's house management is a fantasy. Under the bishop there is a steward and a sacristan, as guardians and executors, and he himself determines everything. That's according to the law. But some bishops consider it best to invent house management. Separation from relatives also has benefits, although it is painful. It has been noticed that in our state the closeness of relatives is more constraining than encouraging, and in general, when Providence rejects private love, this, according to its intention, is an attraction to universal love, to which it must hasten, although not without fatigue along the way. A bishop should behave carefully in relation to relatives who serve in his diocese, and it is better not to take relatives from other dioceses at all. It is written: a man’s enemies are his own household. This word has come true more than once for bishops when they surround themselves very closely with relatives and accept their advice and petitions without caution. Have ears to hear, let him hear. If you are persecuted in a city, flee to another, this power is given not to the servants of a city or home, but to the servants of the world, who, wherever they go, are always at their place. It is too much for us to demand such a right. If everyone runs and no one stays in place, then those running will have nowhere to run. This absurdity points to the true duty of everyone to stand in their place and protect it. You want to have experience somewhere else, so you know you won't end up in a place that's even harder. How many of us are unhealthy? Should we take the yoke of Christ from everyone and put it on strong-willed oxen and donkeys? It is necessary that spiritual excitement from the bishops extend to the heads and mentors of the schools, and from there to the students. And if not, what committee will breathe the spirit of life into all of them? Form any committee, invent any charter, it will be a dead letter, and the new one will be weaker than the old one, which you will ruin. One thing is necessary and obvious for theological schools: eliminate alien subjects of teaching, forcibly imposed and burdensome without benefit. It is necessary to find in the clergy people who are especially devoted to Orthodoxy and their service, and to guide and support them with attention, benevolence and patience. For them, free and simple relationships with their superiors should be open. Then you can awaken animated action and you can excite others to imitate. We must also pay attention to acting in peace with the civilian authorities. Peaceful authorities support each other in a matter of general benefit and make its progress successful and reliable. Let us think, beloved brother, whether it is clear, whether we are teaching usefully, whether we are leading subordinate teachers on the path, or whether we are leading them astray if they begin to play with the word of the Holy Scripture as they please. Let us humble our thoughts, reduce our confidence in ourselves, and test our work before it goes to the people. Source: Wise advice of St. Philaret of Moscow. – M. 1999. You might be interested in: