Поучение о безмолвии

Acquire, brothers, silence like a strong wall. Silence puts you above passions. You wage war from above, and passion from below. Acquire silence in the fear of God, and all the arrows of the enemy will not harm you. Silence combined with the fear of God is a fiery chariot that lifts the one who has acquired it to heaven. May the prophet Elijah, who loved the silence and fear of God and was caught up into heaven, convince you of this. Oh, silence is the success of a monk! Oh, silence is a heavenly ladder! Oh, silence is the way to the Kingdom of Heaven! Oh, silence is a mirror of sins, showing a person his sins! Oh, silence that cannot hold back tears! Oh, silence that gives rise to meekness! Oh, silence cohabiting with humility! Oh, silence that brings a person into a peaceful state! Oh, silence associated with the fear of God! Oh, silence is the illuminator of the mind! Oh, silence is the tester of thoughts! Oh, silence is the worker of reason! Oh, silence that gives birth to all good things. Oh, silence is the affirmation of fasting! Oh, silence is a barrier to gluttony! Oh, silence is an exercise in prayer and reading! Oh, silence - silence of thoughts! Oh, silence is a calm haven! Oh, silence - carelessness of the soul! Oh, silence is the joy of the soul and heart! Oh, silence is the destruction of recklessness! Oh, silence is the enemy of shamelessness! Oh, silence is the mother of reverence! Oh, silence is a prison of passions! Oh, silence is a collaborator in every virtue! Oh, silence that leads to non-covetousness! Oh, silence is a good yoke and a light burden that calms those who bear you! Oh, silence is the field of Christ, bearing good fruits! Oh, silence, coupled with the fear of God, is a wall and fence for those who want to strive for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven! Yes, brother, acquire for yourself the “good part” that Mary chose, “even though it shall not be taken away from it” (Luke 10:42). Do you see, brother, what silence is like? The Lord Himself praises the one who acquired it. Acquire silence for yourself, my beloved brother, “enjoy Thy Lord” (Ps. 36:4), sitting at His feet and clinging to Him alone, so that you too can say with boldness: “My soul clings to You, but Your right hand is acceptable to me.” For this reason, “for with fatness and ointment may my soul be filled” ( Ps.62:9, 6). Yes, my brother, acquire for yourself silence, sweeter than honey. For it is better to eat a piece of bread with salt in silence and carelessness than to offer expensive dishes in the midst of temptations and worries. Listen to the One who says: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). The Lord wants to give you peace from cares, from irritability, from the temptations and sorrows of this age; He wants you not to be preoccupied with Egyptian plywood making (brick making); wants to lead you into the desert, that is, into silence, to illuminate your paths with a pillar of cloud, to feed you with manna, I mean the bread of silence and carelessness, and so that you will inherit the land of promise. Yes, beloved, acquire silence for yourself, love it, so that you may enjoy “on the path of the testimonies” of God, “like all riches” (Ps. 119:4). Yes, brother, acquire silence along with the fear of God - and the God of peace will be with you. Glory to him forever and ever! Amen. I beg you, brothers, beloved of the Lord, try to keep this in mind every day, I mean faith, love, humility, strengthening yourself with constant prayers to God, constant teaching in the Divine Scriptures and silence. If all this is present and abundant in you, then you will not be inactive and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. A monk who has not acquired this and is negligent about his salvation is a blind man who has closed his eyes, having forgotten his former sins, and “a true parable happened to him: a dog returned to his vomit, and a pig, having washed himself, into the pot” (2 Pet. 2:22). For those who ran away from the “defilements of the world” by the knowledge of “the Lord... our Jesus Christ, and with these same things” intertwined... “the last pot of the first was for them. It would be better for them not to know the way” of the truth, “than for those who have known” to “turn back” (2 Pet. 2:20-21). So, beloved and faithful servants, chosen warriors of Christ, monks, let us accept what is said with our hearts fully, every day, without omission, keeping this in mind, so that we are able to fight a good fight and trample all the power of the enemy, and get rid of the wrath coming on the sons of the “disobedient”, and find mercy and grace on the terrible day before the Righteous Judge, rewarding everyone according to his deeds. Glory to him forever and ever! Amen. You might be interested in: