Блаженства

(In 20 chapters. According to the Slavic translation, part II. Word 28 (continued)) 1. Blessed is he who has hated and abandoned this human life, whose whole thought in life is about one God. 2. Blessed is he who has hated evil sin and abhors it, but has loved the One Good and Humane-loving God. 3. Blessed is he who on earth has become like a heavenly angel and an imitator of the Seraphim, constantly having immaculate thoughts. 4. Blessed is he who has become blameless before God, blameless and pure from all filth, from evil thoughts and deeds. 5. Blessed is he who in the Lord himself has become completely free from all the affairs of the vanity of this life. 6. Blessed is he who has the future Terrible Day in mind and tries to heal the wounds of his soul with tears. 7. Blessed is he who in tears has become completely like a cloud and daily extinguishes with them the fiery flame of evil passions. 8. Blessed is he who walks in the path of the Lord’s commandments and every day openly seeks refuge in faith and love. 9. Blessed is he who excels in the good rules of asceticism, hoping to receive the Kingdom of Heaven from God. 10. Blessed is he who remembers the terrible commandment about idle speech and places guards on his lips so that they do not fall away from the commandment. 11. Blessed is the one whose soul has become like a newly planted tree and always, like the evaporation of water, has tears for God. 12. Blessed is he who plants good plants in his soul, that is, virtues and (images of) the lives of saints. 13. Blessed is he who plants and waters what is planted within himself, praying with tears that his plantings may be pleasing and fruitful to the Lord. 14. Blessed is the one who is kindled like fire with love for the Lord and has burned within himself every unclean thought and every spiritual filth. 15. Blessed is he who voluntarily became like the beautiful and good earth, bearing fruit for the good seed a hundred, thirty and sixty times. 16. Blessed is he who, by his intention, turned out to be a beautiful seed in the field, which the Master sowed in His own field. 17. Blessed is he who found the chosen Heavenly Pearl and, having sold everything he had on earth, bought it alone. 18. Blessed is the one who found a treasure hidden in a village, and, rejoicing, threw everything away and acquired it alone. 19. Blessed is he who constantly remembers the day of his departure and tries to be ready and fearless at that hour. 20. Blessed is he who found boldness in that terrible hour of separation, when the soul parted with the body with fear and illness, for the Angels come to take the soul, separate it from the body and place it before the Throne of the immortal and terrible judgment seat. Great is the fear, brothers, at the hour of death, when the soul leaves the body with fear and lamentation, because at that hour of separation the soul is presented with its deeds, good and bad, which were done to it day and night. The angels diligently rush to tear it out of the body, but the soul, seeing its deeds, is afraid to leave the body. The soul of a sinner is separated from the body with fear and goes with trepidation to appear before the immortal judgment seat. The one forced to leave the body, looking at her deeds, says with fear: “Give me one hour to leave.” Her deeds, having all gathered together, answer the soul: “You made us, with you we will go to God.” Let us hate our vain life, my beloved brethren! Let us desire the One Holy Christ, the Savior of our souls. We do not know, brothers, at what hour our departure awaits. No one knows the day and hour of separation. When we walk carefree and have fun on earth, a terrible command suddenly overtakes us - to take the soul from the body. A sinner sets off on a journey at that hour and day that he did not expect, and then when his soul is filled with sins and has no justification. That is why I beg you, beloved, let us become free and not bind ourselves to the slavery of this vain and temporary life. Life is full of temptations and mortal snares; let us inspire our soul, saving it from snares and temptations. The evil one daily and secretly lays snares for our soul in order to seduce it and subject it to eternal torment. We, beloved, walk among temptations, so let us be attentive to ourselves, so that we do not fall into mortal snares! The snares of evil death are filled with sweetness; let not our soul be deceived by the sweetness of its snares. The sweetness of nets lies in caring for earthly things, for possessions, for evil thoughts and deeds. Do not enjoy, brother, the sweetness of the mortal net, do not weaken, getting lost in the pursuit of evil thoughts. An evil thought, if it finds access to the soul, delights it with evil thoughts in order to later kill it; an evil thought becomes like a snare for the soul and is not driven out of it by anything, except through prayer, tears, abstinence and vigil. Therefore, be awake and free from everything earthly, so that you can get rid of snares, from evil thoughts and deeds. Do not relax, even if you pause for a moment on an evil thought. Be careful that an evil thought does not grow old in your soul, brother. Run to God today with prayer, fasting and tears and you will be freed from all snares, temptations and passions. Don’t think, brother, that you will live on earth for many years and don’t weaken, engaging in evil thoughts and deeds, for the Lord’s command will come suddenly and overtake the sinner who has no time to repent or receive forgiveness. And what do you say, brother, about death in the hour of separation? It happens that a command does not give even a moment of time on earth. Many people think to live a long time on earth, but death suddenly comes and overtakes the sinner and the rich man at the moment when he is calculating for many years, thinking about living on earth in the coolness, holding in his hands an account of his money and the growth that accrues from it, distributing his wealth over many years - death comes suddenly, and in an instant all accounts turn into nothing, along with wealth and care for vain time. The same death comes and finds a righteous man who, through prayer and fasting, collects for himself beautiful and heavenly wealth, always has death before his eyes, and is not afraid of its coming and separation from the body. So you, as a reasonable and spiritual person, constantly expect death, separation and standing at the judgment seat of the Lord from day to day. As a diligent and wise person, always have your lamp prepared and examine it hourly in tears and prayers. While you are still safe, my beloved, make an effort, for a time will come for you full of unbelief, relaxation, laziness, dryness of heart - so vague that it will not allow you to think about the best. Be, beloved, attentive to how all evil comes into force, evil prospers every day, vices increase - everything foreshadows the coming confusion and great sorrow that will come to the earthly borders. Because of our sins, all this prospers every day; from our relaxation, vices on earth increase. Let us, lovers of God, be vigilant warriors, let us daily overcome the evil one in the battle, let us study the rules of that battle, for it is invisible, and its rule is to strip ourselves of everything earthly. If you wait for death, having it before your eyes every day, then you will not sin. If you have stripped yourself of all earthly things, you will not be cast down in battle. If, beloved, you hate earthly things, neglecting the temporal, then, as a valiant warrior, you will then receive a victorious reward. Since earthly things attract us down, passions darken the eyes of the heart in battle, so the evil one overcomes us, earthly ones, in battle, filled with concern for earthly things and servile to passions; alas, that now we all, beloved, love earthly things, and our minds, due to our relaxation, are nailed to the earth. The day has turned to evening, our time is running out, and we, out of disbelief, think that it is still morning. The Kingdom of Heaven is already at our door, but we don’t want to hear about it. There are signs and wonderful phenomena that the Lord spoke about (Matthew 24:7); famines, earthquakes, wars, movements of peoples - we tell each other about all this, like a dream; neither the hearing of it nor the sight itself terrifies us. The elect gather before the tribulation, so as not to see the confusion and great hardships that will befall the unrighteous world. The time has already approached the harvest, this age is ending, the Angels are holding their sickles in readiness and awaiting the wave. Let us be afraid, beloved; It’s already eleven o’clock in the afternoon, and the journey is still long. We will try to be found on the way; let us become awake, let us sober up from sleep, like those who never sleep. We do not know at what hour the Lord of all the earth will come. Therefore, let us relieve ourselves from the burden and worries about the things of life. “Do not worry” about the earth at all, the Lord told us (Matthew 6:31). He commanded us to love everyone in general, but we, on the contrary, drove out love, and it fled from the earth. Sins multiply; untruth covered everyone in general; everyone lusts after earthly things and despises heavenly things; none of us likes the future. Does anyone want to be heavenly? - Feed an everlasting hatred of what is on earth, and, abhorring this, strive as if perfect and desire the Kingdom of Heaven. Don’t reason, monk, by saying this: “The labors of asceticism are great, but I am weak and weak, unable to strive.” Take into account the words of excellent and good advice, memorize what I say to you, my beloved and Christ-loving brother. If you set out to go to another distant side and land, then it will be impossible for you to cross the entire distance in an instant, but every day, according to the number of your steps, walking from overnight stay to overnight stay, with the continuation of time and labor you will reach the side that you have in mind. The same must be said about the Kingdom of Heaven and the paradise of sweetness; everyone achieves them by fasting, abstinence, and vigil. Abstinence, tears, prayer, vigil, love - these are the overnight stays that lead to heaven. Don’t be afraid to make a wonderful start to a wonderful path leading into life. Just wish to follow this path and you will find yourself ready, and the path itself will immediately become passable under your feet, and, rejoicing and continuing your path, you will spend your nights with pleasure; and after each overnight stay the feet of your soul will be strengthened; you will not find difficulty on the path leading to heaven. The Heavenly Lord Himself became the path of life for those who wish to come with joy to the Father of lights. You, Christ the Savior, have become for me the path of life leading to the Father. This path is my joy, and its end is the Kingdom of Heaven. You, Master Jesus, Son of God, have become for me the path of life and enlightenment, and, filled with love for You, I myself have drawn gifts from Your source. Thy grace in the heart of Thy servant became light and joy, which are sweeter “than honey and honeycomb” to the lips of Thy servant. Thy grace in the soul of Thy servant became a treasure, enriched poverty, drove out poverty and rottenness. Thy grace became for Thy servant refuge, strength, intercession, exaltation, praise, food for all life. How will Thy servant, O Lord, remain silent, having tasted the great sweetness of Thy love and grace? And I opened my mouth unworthily. How will my tongue again find so much strength in itself to sing and glorify the Giver of blessings in proportion to the benefit? And how again will I dare to put a barrier to the waves of grace pouring into the heart of a sinner and filled with sweetness according to the multitude of gifts? I will sing the glory of the Lord of heaven, Who gave heavenly gifts to His servant in many gifts, I will magnify Your grace, O Christ the Savior. By magnifying her, I myself am magnified by her. I will not stop praising Your grace with my tongue, O Lord; My harps will not be silent, emitting sweet spiritual songs. Your love draws me to You, Savior, the praise of my life. Your grace makes it sweet for me that my mind is drawn after You. May my heart be a kind land for You, accepting the seed, and may Your grace water it with the dew of eternal life. May Your grace reap the good hand (what it can grab) on the earth of the heart: contrition, worship, holiness and everything that is always pleasing to You. Return my soul to the fence of the paradise of sweetness along with the found sheep, so that my soul may find itself in the light. You carried that found sheep on Your shoulders, and attracted my unworthy soul with Your hand - and bring them both to the Most Pure and Immortal Father, so that, in the midst of heavenly pleasure, I could say with all the saints: “Glory to the Immortal Father, worship to Him who gave heavenly gifts to the insignificant, so that he too would bring a drachma of glory to the King of all forever!” Amen. You might be interested in: