Авва Зенон

1. Abba Zeno, a student of Abba Silouan, said: “Do not choose a glorious place for your residence and do not live with a person who has a great name” 301. Both of these can in an inconspicuous way introduce vanity and arrogance into the soul - this will not only damage spiritual success, but also take away all the possibility of it. 2. He said: “Whoever wants God to quickly hear his prayer: when he gets up to complete it and stretches out his hands to the mountain, before any other prayer, even before prayer for his soul, let him bring a prayer for his enemies, and for this reason God will hear all his prayers” 302. From many monuments of monasticism of the first centuries it is clear that the monks stood at prayer in the solitude of their cells, with their hands raised in the air. This is how Saints Pachomius the Great and Sisoes the Great prayed; Probably quite a lot of people prayed this way; This is how Saint John Climacus advises praying when there is a special influx of sinful thoughts. This position of the body helps the soul to come to a similar position: to strive for grief. At the same time, it is necessary to beware of the increased stretching of the arms and the increased direction of them upward, so as not to fall into a state of fervor and enthusiasm, from which one step leads to self-delusion and demonic delusion. One must raise one's hands moderately so that the spirit is preserved in silence, humility, and tenderness; should give the body the position of hanging on a cross, and not flying to heaven. Let your head be bowed down, even if your hands are raised in grief. 3. They said about Abba Zeno that he was small in stature, dry in body, full of intelligence, full of zeal and warmth towards God, mercy towards people 304. 4. They told about Abba Zeno that, while living in the Skete, he once left his cell at night, as if to visit his brother, and, having lost his way, wandered for three days and three nights. He became exhausted from labor and fell to the ground dead. And so, a young man appeared to him with bread and a cup of water in his hands and said: “Rise, strengthen yourself with food and drink.” Abba stood up and prayed, not trusting the phenomenon out of caution. The young man said: “You did well.” Hearing this, Abba prayed again; He did the same for the third time. The young man approved of his action every time. After this, Abba accepted and consumed the food brought. The young man said: “As long as you walked, you moved so far from your cell; but rise and follow me.” And instantly the elder found himself near his cell. The elder said to the young man: “Enter the cell and say a prayer for us.” The young man entered the elder's cell and became invisible 305. The caution of saints and experienced monks in relation to sensory phenomena from the world of spirits is instructive. Their prudent behavior in these cases is the opposite of the frivolous behavior of ignorance and inexperience! Ignorance and inexperience blindly and recklessly entrust themselves to every phenomenon, curiously and greedily seek the appearance of spirits and communication with them, to inevitable harm to themselves, to harm that is often incurable. And for those who are experimentally acquainted with the world of spirits by the grace of God, this world is so little known and understood that the greatest caution in relation to the phenomena from it is necessary for the saints of God. The grace of God provides the knowledge necessary for salvation, and not that which the vain and vain curiosity of the world seeks and demands. 5. One day the brethren came to Abba Zeno and asked him: “What does it mean that is written in Job: “The heavens are unclean before Him” (Job 15:15)? The elder said to this: “The brothers abandoned the study of their sins and took up the study of heavenly things.” The meaning of these words is this: God alone is pure: and therefore Scripture said that the heavens are unclean before Him 306. 6. Talking with some elder who lived near Abba Zeno, we asked him: “If someone is bothered by a sinful thought, and he reads or hears what the fathers said about the fight against such a thought, wants to correct his spiritual mood, but cannot, is it good to confess this to one of the elders, or should he be guided by what he read and be satisfied with his conscience?” “The elder answered us: “You must confess to your father, but to a father who is able to provide help, and not rely on yourself. He who is overcome by passion cannot benefit himself, especially if passion possesses him. Something like this happened to me in my youth. My soul was wounded by passion, and I was overcome by it. Hearing about Abba Zeno that he had healed many, I decided to go to him and report what was happening to me. But a thought held me back, instilling in me: “You know what you should do! act in accordance with what you have read and do not tempt the elder.” When I decided to go, the battle eased somewhat, and I abandoned my intention. Then passion again drowned me, and I again forced myself to go to the elder, but the enemy again deceived me, not allowing me to confess to the elder the thoughts that were fighting me. I even went to the elder more than once; but the enemy did not allow me to confess, bringing shame to my heart and imagining that the method of healing was known to me. “What is the need,” he said, “to tell anyone about yourself?” The enemy brought this to me so that I would not discover passion and receive healing. The elder saw that I had something in my heart, but did not denounce me, but waited for me to confess to him; at the same time, he instructed me to lead a good life and sent me away in peace. Coming to myself, I grieved and cried, saying to my soul: “How long, my damned soul, do you reject healing? People from afar come to the elder and receive healing, but you cannot control yourself, you don’t want to be healed, having a doctor near you!” Having kindled my heart, I stood up and said to myself: “I’ll go to the elder, and if I don’t find anyone with him, then this will be a sign of God’s will for me, so that I confess my thoughts to him.” With such determination, I went to the elder and found no one with him. The elder, as usual, taught me about the salvation of the soul, and how someone can cleanse themselves of bad thoughts. Overcome again by shame and not being able to confess, I asked to be released. The elder said a prayer and, seeing me off, walked ahead of me to the door, and I, tormented by thoughts of whether to tell the elder or not, followed him, walking slowly. The elder, seeing that my thoughts were very tired, turned to me and, touching my chest, said: “What is happening to you? and I am a man." When the elder told me this, my heart seemed to open, and I fell face down at his feet, begging him to have mercy on me. He said to me: "What's wrong with you?" I answered: “You know what I suffer from.” He said: “You yourself need to expose your condition.” Then I confessed my passion with great shame. He said to me: “Why are you ashamed? tell me: am I not a man? haven’t you been coming here for three years, having these thoughts and not confessing them?” I fell at his feet and begged him, saying: “Have mercy on me, for God’s sake, tell me what should I do?” He answered: “Go, strengthen your prayer, and do not speak ill of anyone.” I returned to my cell, intensified my prayer, and by the grace of Christ for the prayers of the elder I was freed from the confusion of this passion. After a year, the thought came to me that perhaps God had mercy on me out of His mercy, and not for the sake of the elder. I went to him, and, wanting to test him, I bowed to him in private and said: “Abba! pray for me for the sake of the thought that I confessed to you last year.” He did not lift me up immediately, but left me in the position of the worship I had made, and, after being silent for a while, said: “Rise up and have faith.” When I heard this, I felt so ashamed that out of shame I wished that the earth would swallow me up. I stood up and could not look at the elder; marveling at him, I returned to my cell 307. 7. For our spiritual benefit, this elder also told the following: “One day two brothers went to Abba Zeno. Everyone saw him alone and confessed their thoughts to him. After this they happened to be together, and one said to the other: “When we went to the elder to confess our thoughts, did you benefit from the confession?” “Yes,” answered the questioner, “for his prayers God healed me.” The questioner said to this: “Although I confessed, I did not feel healing.” The one who received the benefit asked: “How did you confess to the elder?” I told him, the first one answered: “Abba! pray for me: such and such a thought bothers me.” The second one said to this: “I, confessing my thoughts to him, watered his feet with tears, and for his prayers God healed me.” - The elder, telling us this, wanted to explain to us that those who confess their thoughts to their fathers must confess with all sincerity, with contrition of heart, as if before God Himself: then they can receive mercy. Confession, made with negligence or with the intention of tempting the elder, not only does not bring benefit, but also serves to condemnation 308. You might be interested in: