О существенном делании монаха

The essential work of a monk is prayer, as the work that connects a person with God. All other works serve either as preparatory or facilitating means for prayer, or are given to those who, due to moral weakness or lack of mental abilities, cannot fully engage in prayer. The Monk Mark the Ascetic says: “For those who cannot endure in prayer, it is good to be in service (engaged in labor and handicraft in obedience), so as not to be deprived of both; but for those who can, it is better not to neglect the best” 69. St. Mark, explaining the words of the Lord: “Do not do the evil that perishes, but abides in eternal life” (John 6:27), teaches that their meaning is to seek through prayer the kingdom of heaven, which is within us (Luke 17:21), as the Lord said, who promised to supply all bodily needs to those who seek the heavenly kingdom by His Divine Providence (Matthew 6:33). Explaining the words of the Holy Apostle Paul: “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to tempt you, what is the will of God, good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2), St. Mark says: “The Apostle instructs us to fulfill the perfect will of God, desiring that we should not even be judged at all. Knowing that prayer contributes to the fulfillment of all the commandments, he does not cease to command about it repeatedly and in various ways and to say: “praying at all times in the Spirit, and continually vigilant with all patience and prayer” (Eph. 6:18). From this we know that prayer is distinguished from prayer; another is to pray to God with a non-soaring thought, and another is to stand in prayer with the body and soar with the thought. Again: it is another thing to pray at certain times and begin prayer at the end of worldly conversations and activities, and another thing is to prefer and submit prayer, as much as possible, to worldly concerns, according to the instructions of the same Apostle: “The Lord is near; do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:5-6). The blessed Apostle Peter says something similar: “Be wise and sober in your prayers, casting all your care upon Nan, for He cares for you” (1 Pet. 4:7, 5:7). Firstly, the Lord Himself, knowing that everything is confirmed by prayer, says: “Do not worry about what you eat, or what you drink, or what you wear: but rather seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these will be added to you” (Matthew 6:31, 33). Perhaps by this the Lord calls us to greater faith: for who, having rejected concerns about temporal things and not enduring poverty, would not, as a result, believe God regarding eternal blessings? Explaining this, the Lord said: “he who is faithful in little is faithful in much” (Luke 16:10). But even in this circumstance, He condescended to us philanthropically, knowing that daily care for the flesh is inevitable, He did not cut off daily care; but, having neglected to worry about the present day, he commanded not to worry about tomorrow. He commanded this very decently, gracefully and philanthropically: because it is impossible for people clothed in a body not to care at all about what relates to the life of the body. It is possible to reduce many things into small things through prayer and abstinence, but it is impossible to completely despise everything related to the body. And therefore, whoever, according to Scripture, desires to “achieve the fulfillment of Christ in the measure of age to become a perfect man” (Eph. 4:13) should not prefer various services to prayer or unnecessarily, as it happens, take them upon himself, below, under the pretext of prayer, reject them when they meet according to the need and the look of God, but consider, distinguish and serve the look of God without testing. Otherwise, the wise person does not recognize that one commandment can be higher and more important than another, as he sees from Scripture, and does not want to “be guided by all the commandments” (Ps. 119:128), carefully meeting him, as the Prophet commands. What is necessary and prudently meets us is inevitable, and we must reject untimely activities, preferring prayer to them, especially those activities that lead us to many expenses and to the collection of unnecessary property. To the extent that someone limits them and rejects their objects, to the extent that he will keep the thought from floating, to the extent that he will keep the thought, to the extent will he give place to pure prayer and prove faith in Christ. If someone, due to lack of faith or some other weakness, cannot do this, then at least let him recognize the truth and struggle according to his strength, blaming his infancy. It is better to be held accountable for impoverishment than for delusion and exaltation: may the parable of the Lord, representing the publican in the first state, and the Pharisee in the second, assure you of this (Luke 18). Let us try to remove all worldly cares from ourselves through hope and prayer. If we are unable to fulfill this as we should, then we will bring confession to God in our impoverishments; Let us not allow ourselves to retreat from the exercise of prayer. It is better to be reproached for a particular omission than for a complete abandonment. In everything that we have said about prayer and inevitable service, we need a lot of admonition from God to reason in order to know when and what activity we should prefer to prayer: because everyone, practicing in his favorite activity, thinks to perform due service, not knowing that service should be considered in relation to pleasing God, and not in relation to pleasing himself. The more difficult the reasoning here is that these necessary and inevitable commandments are not always the same in relation to fulfillment, but one over the other, in due time, should be preferred. Not every service is always performed, but in its own time, and the service of prayer is ordained for us to be unceasing, which is why we should prefer it to activities for which there is no immediate need. All the Apostles, teaching this distinction to the people who wanted to attract them to service, said: “It is not acceptable for us, who have abandoned the word of God, to serve meals. Consider, brethren, there are seven men who have testified for you, and we will appoint them over this service. We will continue in prayer and the ministry of the word. And this word was pleasing before all the people” (Acts 6:2–5). “Let us begin the work: progressing gradually, we will find that not only hope in God, but also informed faith, and unfeigned love, and unforgettable malice, and brotherly love, and self-control, and patience, and depth of understanding, and deliverance from temptations, and the giving of gifts, and heartfelt confession, and diligent tears, are brought to believers by prayer. Not only this, but also patience for those who find sorrows, and pure love for others, and knowledge of the spiritual law, and the acquisition of the truth of God, and the influx of the Holy Spirit, and the giving of spiritual treasures - in a word, everything that God promised to give to believers in this and the next century. It is impossible for the soul to restore the image in itself except by God’s grace and the faith of a person, when he remains with his mind in ethereal prayer and great humility” 70 . Like the Monk Mark, the Monk Macarius the Great argues: “The head of all good endeavors and the summit of good deeds is always remaining in prayer, through which we acquire other virtues, assisting the One who gives his hand to the One who calls us to this. For the communication of mysterious power, and the union of thoughts intending to embrace holiness, even to God, and the cleaving of the soul itself, burning with love for the Lord through it, are given inexpressibly in prayer and are worthy. The verb is: “Thou hast given joy to my heart” (Ps. 4:8). And the Lord Himself says: “The kingdom of heaven is within you” (Luke 17:21) 71. Saint John Climacus calls prayer the mother of all virtues 72. St. Simeon, the New Theologian speaks about attentive prayer: “Our holy fathers, hearing the words of the Lord in the Holy Gospel, that “from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, blasphemy,” and that “this is what defiles a person” (Matthew 15:19–20); again hearing in another place in the Gospel that the Lord commands us to “cleanse the inside of the glass and the dish so that the outside may also be clean” (Matthew 23:26), we abandoned all other work and strived with all our might in this work, that is, in guarding the heart, knowing for sure that along with this work they will conveniently acquire all other virtues, that without this work not a single virtue can be acquired or remain. Some of the Fathers called this work heart silence, others called attention, others - sobriety and contradiction, others - torture of thoughts and preservation of the mind: because everyone was engaged in it and through it they were awarded Divine gifts. Ecclesiastes says about him: “Rejoice, young man, in your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart blameless and pure, and remove your heart from thoughts” (Eccl. 11:9); The Pritochnik also speaks about him: “if the possessing spirit comes against you” (adjective of the devil), “do not leave your place” (Eccl. 10:4), that is, do not allow him to enter your place, by the name of the place meaning the heart; Our Lord also speaks about it in the Holy Gospel: “Do not be exalted” (Luke 12:29), that is, do not waste your mind here and there; again in another place he says: “blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3), that is, blessed are those who have not acquired in their hearts a single thought of this world, but the poor have no worldly thoughts. And all our Divine Fathers wrote a lot about this. Whoever wants to read their writings will see what the ascetic Mark wrote, what St. John Climacus said, and St. Hesychius, and Sinait Philotheus, and Abba Isaiah, and the great Barsanuphius, and many others. Briefly say: whoever does not heed the guarding of his mind cannot be pure in heart, he will not be worthy to see God. He who does not listen cannot be poor in spirit, cannot cry and weep, nor be meek and humble, nor hunger and thirst for truth, nor be merciful and a peacemaker, nor exiled for the sake of truth. In general, I will say: it is impossible to acquire any other virtue in any other way than through attention. And therefore you must be concerned about it more than about anything else, in order to actually acquire what I am telling you about.” Then the Venerable One proposes to continually perform the Jesus Prayer while uniting the mind with the heart, and the ascetic can constantly remain in sobriety and, in the name of Jesus, drive away every sinful thought, no matter where it arises, drive it away before it enters and appears. Through this doing, one gains experienced and essential knowledge of fallen spirits; Having come to know them, we acquire hatred and resentment towards them, we enter into constant warfare with them, we raise up natural jealousy against them, we persecute them, defeat them, and destroy them 73 . Blessed 74 Nikephoros defines attention as follows: “Some of the Saints called attention guarding the mind, others guarding the heart, others sobriety, others mental silence, others differently. All of this expresses the same thing, as if someone said “bread”, or said “hunk” and “piece”; So understand this too. Learn carefully what attention is and what its properties are. Attention is the knowledge of pure repentance, attention is the appeal of the soul, hatred of the world, ascent to God; attention is the rejection of sin and the perception of virtue; attention is an undoubted notification of the forgiveness of sins; attention is the beginning of speculation, or more correctly, the cause of speculation: for God, through his mediation, descends and appears to him. Attention is the calmness of the mind, or, more correctly, its firmness, bestowed on the soul by the grace of God; attention is the deposition of thoughts, a church to the memory of God, a treasure keeper of patience in the adversities encountered; attention is the reason for faith, hope, love” 75. Blessed Nikephoros, like the Venerable Simeon the New Theologian and other holy Fathers, offers as a means of attention the constant exercise of the Jesus Prayer, uniting the mind with the heart. Inviting all monks who want to achieve true prosperity to the feat of attention and unceasing prayer associated with it, Nicephorus says: “You who want to be worthy of the magnificent, Divine light of our Savior Jesus Christ, you who want to perceive a palpably heavenly fire in your heart, you who strive to receive essential reconciliation with God, you who have left everything worldly to acquire and acquiring the treasure hidden in the village of your hearts, you who want the lamps of your soul to burn brightly from now on and therefore renounce everything temporary, you who want to rationally and experimentally know and accept the kingdom of heaven that is within you! Come, and I will tell you the science and art of eternal, heavenly life, leading the worker, without labor and sweat, into the haven of dispassion, not afraid of either falling or seduction from demons, then only falling when we, due to disobedience, remain outside this residence, somewhere in a distant country, like ancient Adam, who, despising the commandment of God, entered into friendship with the serpent and recognizing him as faithful, he was filled with the fruit of delusion to the point of satiety, and miserably cast himself and all his descendants into the depths of death, darkness and corruption. It is impossible for us to receive reconciliation and union with God if we, first of all, do not return to ourselves as much as possible, if we do not enter into ourselves. It is glorious to cut ourselves off from communication with the world and from vain cares and unflaggingly observe the heavenly kingdom within us. For this reason, monastic life is called the science of sciences and the art of arts: this reverend life does not deliver any perishable objects so that we bury our mind in them, distracting it from the best, but promises terrible and ineffable benefits, which the eye has not seen, about which the ear has not heard, which are completely unknown to the heart (1 Cor. 2:9). And therefore “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, and against the powers, and against the rulers of the darkness of this world” (Eph. 6:12). If the present age is darkness, then we run from it, we run, thinking that we have nothing in common with the enemy of God. He who wants to be his friend becomes an enemy of God (James 4:4), and who can help him who has become an enemy of God? And therefore, let us imitate our Fathers and, like them, let us seek the treasure that is within our hearts, and, having found it, let us hold it tightly, cultivating it and preserving it: this is our purpose from the very beginning” 76 . The Monk Nil of Sorsky advises those who wish to practice heart silence - to renounce all thoughts and replace them by invoking the name of the Lord Jesus, that is, the Jesus Prayer. “We must,” says the Monk Neil, “be forced to be silent in thought and from imaginary right thoughts, to constantly look into the depths of the heart and say: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me” 77 . This work is so desirable, so extensive, so full of spiritual abundance, that the holy Apostle Paul preferred the mind to remain in it to all other thoughts and reflections: “I judge not the things that are in you,” he says, “but rather Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). Blessed Elder Seraphim of Sarov says: “Those who truly decide to serve the Lord God must practice the memory of God and unceasing prayer to Jesus Christ, saying with their minds: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner 78. Only those who have inner work and watch over their souls receive gifts of grace” 79 . The Venerable Mark the Ascetic, calling prayer in the 4th Word of his writings the most important work of a monk, which should embrace all his private works, his entire life, in the 1st Word he calls repentance the main and only work of a monk, and the commandment of repentance is the main commandment, encompassing all other commandments. The contradiction appears here only at an external glance. This means that doing repentance must be combined with doing prayer into one act. The Lord united them: let no man separate. “God,” says the Son of God, “shouldn’t he take vengeance on His chosen ones who cry out to Him day and night” (Luke 18:7). Here the work of the elect is indicated, their unceasing prayer: it is called a cry, that is, an expression of crying and repentance. “Repentance,” says St. Mark, “as I believe, is not limited either by time or by any deeds: it is accomplished by fulfilling the commandments of Christ, in proportion to this fulfillment. The commandments alone, more general, contain many particular ones and cut off many parts of depravity at once. For example, the Scripture says: “Give to everyone who asks you, and from the one who asks you, do not torture” (Luke 6:30), and: “Do not turn away anyone who wants to borrow from you” (Matthew 5:42): these are private commandments. The general one that includes them is “sell what you have and give to the poor” (Matthew 19:21), and “take up your cross, come after Me” (Mark 10:21), meaning by the cross the patience of the sorrows we encounter. He who distributed everything to the poor and took up his cross fulfilled all the above commandments at once. Again: “I want,” says the Scripture, “that men may say prayers in every place, lifting up their holy hands” (1 Tim. 2:8), the general one: “go into your cage and pray to your Father who is in secret” (Matthew 6:6), and again: “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). He who entered his cell and prayed unceasingly included an offering of prayers in every place. Again it is said: “do not commit sexual immorality, do not commit adultery, do not kill,” and the like, but the general thing about this is: “having deceitful thoughts, and every tribute charged to the mind of God” (2 Cor. 10:4-5). He who destroys thoughts has put a barrier to all the above-mentioned types of sin. For this reason, those who love God and are known to be faithful force themselves to obey the general commandments and do not miss fulfilling specific ones when circumstances require it. From all this I conclude that the work of repentance is accomplished through the following three virtues: purification of thoughts, unceasing prayer and patience with the sorrows encountered. These three virtues must be performed not only outwardly, but also through mental practice, so that those who have become ingrained in them become dispassionate. And since without these three virtues the work of repentance cannot be accomplished, I think that repentance is always appropriate for everyone who wants to receive salvation, both sinners and righteous people, because there is no degree of perfection at which the practice of these three virtues would not be necessary. Through them, beginners gain an introduction to piety, average ones gain success, and perfect ones gain affirmation and abiding in perfection.” Both St. Mark in his 4th Word and the other Fathers cited above testify that patience with all encountered sorrows and successful reflection of thoughts is achieved through prayer; they call prayer the source of repentance. She is both the mother of repentance and his daughter. What Saint John Climacus said about prayer and mortal remembrance can, with all justice, be said about prayer and repentance: “I sing the praises of two essences in one hypostasis (in one person)” 80. The practice of repentance and prayer is one thing, but it combines two different types of virtue. The reflection of sinful thoughts and sensations is accomplished through prayer: it is an activity connected with prayer, inseparable from prayer, constantly in need of assistance and the action of prayer. The Venerable Nil of Sorsky, referring to the Venerable Gregory of Sinaite, says: “Blessed Gregory of Sinaite, knowing for certain that it is impossible for us passionate ones to overcome evil thoughts, said the following: none of the beginners can hold the mind and drive away thoughts, unless God holds the mind and drives away thoughts. It is characteristic of the strong to hold their minds and drive away thoughts, but they do not drive them away with themselves: they strive to fight against them, having God with them, being clothed with His grace and all the armor. But you, if you see the uncleanness of evil spirits, that is, rising thoughts in your mind, do not be horrified, do not be surprised; If good understandings appear about various subjects, do not heed them, but, holding your breath as much as possible and confining your mind in your heart, instead of weapons, call on the Lord Jesus often and diligently. They will run away, being invisibly scorched by the Divine name. When your thoughts begin to get very cold, then, getting up, pray for them, and then again take up with firmness your previous work,” 81 that is, praying in the name of the Lord Jesus. Saint John Climacus in his Homily on Prayer says: “Drive away the coming dog - a sinful thought - with this weapon - the weapon of prayer, and no matter how many times he tries to attack, do not give him any relief" 82 . Simeon the New Theologian: “Satan with the spirits subordinate to him acquired the right from the time when, through disobedience, he caused man expulsion from paradise and excommunication from God, to invisibly shake both night and day the literature of every person, some many, some few, one more, another less, and no other way can the mind be protected than by the unceasing memory of God. When the power of the cross imprints the memory of God on the heart, then it will establish literature in unshakability. This is what leads to the mental feat that every Christian has pledged to strive in the field of faith in Christ; if he does not achieve this, then his feat is vain. For mental feats, all the varied feats of anyone who endures suffering for the sake of God are introductory, with the goal of inclining God’s mercy to himself and petitioning him for the return of his former dignity, so that Christ will be imprinted on the mind.”83 Constant stay in prayer, although it constitutes the essential work of a monk, but it requires preparatory training, as can be seen from the above Word of Blessed Nicephorus, who, mentioning the Monk Savva, says that this leader of a large society of monks, when he saw that a monk had thoroughly studied the rules of monastic life, had become capable of fighting resistant thoughts and guarding his mind, then provided such a monk remain silent in the cell. Preparatory training for unceasing prayer is accomplished through obedience and exercise in monastic labors, as St. Philemon said: “God wants us to demonstrate our diligence towards Him, first in labors, then in love and unceasing prayer” 84 . Nothing promotes prayer more than obedience, which mortifies us to the world and to ourselves. “The great benefit of prayer stems from obedience,” said St. Simeon the New Theologian 85. Those who are in obedience and engaged in monastic labors should in no way consider themselves free from the exercise of prayer: without this, the very labors and even obedience will be fruitless, moreover, they will bring the harmful fruit of vanity and other sins, which will certainly appear in that soul in which there will be a disastrous emptiness, in which the power and fragrance of prayer do not live. While engaged in monastic labors and handicrafts, pray often, if you cannot yet pray unceasingly; return to prayer, no matter how you remember it: prayer will gradually turn into a habit, and frequent prayer will imperceptibly turn into incessant prayer. “Ascetics of obedience,” says Saint John Climacus, “use their legs in different ways: one of them moves towards service, the other is motionless in prayer” 86. The word “legs” refers to all activities. “I saw those who shone in obedience and did not neglect, if possible, the mental memory of God,” says the same Saint, “how, having risen to prayer, they immediately took possession of their minds and shed streams of tears: they were prepared in advance by the venerable obedience” 87. From this it is clear that the ancient ascetics, during monastic labors, did not allow themselves vain entertainment, but, keeping their hands busy, occupied their minds with prayer. For this reason, when they came to church or began to fulfill their prayer rule in their cell, their mind and heart immediately rushed to God, without any obstacle. On the contrary, the one who, while working and handicraft, allows himself to have vain thoughts and conversations, when he gets up to pray, he cannot cope with his mind, which is constantly being pulled out of his power, constantly turning to those objects that attracted him to himself before the time of prayer. “Child,” says the Scripture, “from your youth choose punishment, and even to your gray hairs you will gain wisdom. As you sow and sow, approach it and wait for its good fruits. In doing it, labor a little, and soon you will eat its fruits” (Sir. 6:18–20). Let us not waste precious, irrevocable time, let us not destroy it by indulging in absent-mindedness, idle talk and other empty pursuits: from the very moment we enter the monastery, let us become thoroughly acquainted with monastic life and in our youth we will cultivate our spiritual field with true feat, so that in old age and upon our transition to eternity we will rejoice in the abundance of grace-filled gifts, guarantees of salvation, guarantees of bliss in heaven. Amen. Ladder. Title 28 Words. About three images of prayer. Dobrot., part 1. So it is called Saint Xanthopoulos. Dobrot., part 2, ch. 18. Nikifor monk. His word, Goodness, part 2. Instruction 4. According to the 1844 edition. Ladder. Word 28, ch. 46. Nikephoros the Monastic Word. Dobrot., part 2. Kindness, part 4. About Abba Philemon. On the third way of attention and prayer of Saint Simeon the New Theologian. Dobrot., part 1. Ladder. Word 4, ch. 2. Ladder. Word 28, ch. 31. You might be interested in: