Предисловие Книги Сей, именуемой Скрижали Духовные

To all who hasten to write their names in the book of life in heaven, this book shows the most excellent way. Walking this way, we will see that she infallibly guides her subsequent instructions, keeps them unscathed from any stumbling, and presents us with an established ladder, leading from the earthly to the Holy of Holies, at the top of which the God of love is established. I think Jacob, the champion of passions, also saw this ladder when he rested on his ascetic bed. But let us ascend, I beg you, with zeal and faith, to this mental and heavenly ascent, the beginning of which is the renunciation of earthly things, and the end is the God of love. The venerable father wisely decided by arranging for us an ascent equal to the age of the Lord in the flesh; for at the age of thirty years of the Lord's coming of age, he divinely depicted a ladder consisting of thirty degrees of spiritual perfection, along which, having reached the fullness of the Lord's age, we will appear truly righteous and inflexible to fall. And whoever has not reached this measure of age is still a baby, and according to the exact testimony of the heart, he will turn out to be imperfect. We considered it necessary, first of all, to place in this book the life of the (venerable) wise father, so that readers, looking at his exploits, would more easily believe his teaching. You might be interested in: