The path of smart doing and spiritual sobriety

(The aging of Archimandrite Paisius Velichkovsky on Mount Athos and in Moldova). Paisiy Velichkovsky was about 24 years old when, in the summer of 1746, on the eve of the memory of St. Athanasius of Athos (celebrated on July 5) arrived, under the name of Plato, on the Holy Mount Athos. After living for a few days in the Lavra of St. Athanasius, he headed north to the Pantokrator monastery, in the vicinity of which, as he knew, Slavic monks lived. Having settled near Pantocrator in a secluded cell, Plato visited all the surrounding monks, looking for an elder after his own heart. But, alas, this did not happen. And Plato was left alone with himself and with God. The most difficult and dangerous years of lonely work and difficult internal struggle with thoughts and passions began in his life. Plato spent four years in such solitude. He cried a lot and prayed a lot. He spent days and nights reading the Word of God and paternal books, which he obtained from neighboring monasteries, Bulgarian and Serbian. His life was very harsh. Every other day, one day he ate only crackers and water. He didn’t even have a shirt, but only a cassock and a cassock, and even those were “tattered” (decrepit). He rejoiced in his poverty as if he were great wealth. When leaving his cell, he never locked the doors, because there was no property in it, except for a few books. In the fourth year of his hermit’s life, a Moldavian elder, schemamonk Vasily, came to the Holy Mountain, talked for a long time with Plato, and tonsured him into the mantle, giving him a new name, Paisius. He pointed out to Plato the danger of premature seclusion and advised him to move on to a more reliable path for him: staying alone or with like-minded brothers. Paisius himself always thought about this path - but there was no opportunity to take it. But then, three months after Paisius was tonsured into the mantle, the young monk Vissarion, a Moldavian, came to Athos from Moldova. Having visited many Athonite monasteries, he, like Paisius, did not find a mentor after his heart and finally came to Paisius. Seeing his stern and prayerful life, he fell in love with him, and with tears began to ask him to show him a mentor experienced in spiritual life. Paisiy sighed and said: “Brother, you are forcing me to talk about sorrowful things. But sympathizing with you, I will tell you everything I know. Indeed, it is difficult to achieve salvation without an experienced spiritual guide. But how can you lead someone along a path that you yourself have not walked? Only the one who himself withstood a fierce struggle with passions and conquered in himself, with the help of Christ, lust and anger, vanity and love of money, who healed his soul with humility and prayer, who followed his Lord with love in everything, only he alone can show his disciple in practice, without deception, all the commandments of Christ and all the virtues: humility, meekness, the poverty of Christ, burning love for God, unfeigned love for others, from which true spiritual reasoning is born. But where will we find such a mentor now? Now the words of St. Simeon, the New Theologian: “There are few, especially in our time, who know how to shepherd and heal intelligent souls well. Others are still able to observe fasting and vigil, and maintain the appearance of reverence; Many people can successfully teach with words. But it is very rare for such people to achieve the goal of cutting off their passions through humility and constant crying and acquiring the most important virtues.” Therefore, in the absence of true mentors, we are left with one outcome: with great sadness, day and night, study in the Word of God and in the writings of the Fathers, and, consulting with like-minded brothers and elder fathers, learn to fulfill the commandments of God and imitate the example of the ancient ascetics. Only in this way, by the grace of God, can we achieve salvation in our time!” With a joyful heart, Vissarion listened to the words of Paisius, in which he felt the voice of a true mentor. He fell at the feet of Paisius and with tears begged him to let him stay with him and be his student. Paisius resolutely opposed this, for he himself would like to be a student of an experienced elder, and not lead others. For three days Vissarion did not leave his cell, humbly and with tears asking Paisius to accept him for Christ’s sake. Touched by his prayers, Paisius took him to himself, but not as a student, but as a friend and brother, to read the word of God and patristic books together, to confess their thoughts to each other and help each other in the matter of salvation. Thus, Paisius’s long-cherished desire was fulfilled - to remain silent in the desert with a like-minded brother. The two of them lived together for four years in unbreakable unanimity and mutual obedience. After this, new brothers began to join them. But they accepted them with great caution and after a long trial. With the increase in the number of brethren, Paisius's cell became cramped, it was necessary to change it to a more spacious one, then they bought cells with a church in the name of St. Konstantin. The first associates of Paisius, like Vissarion, were Moldovans. Then the Slavs began to join. Finally, the entire brethren gathered 12 people - seven Volokhs and five Slavs. They began to sing and read the rule in the church in two languages ​​- Slavic and Moldavian. There was a need for a priest to perform divine services and for a confessor. Having agreed among themselves, the brethren began to ask Paisius to be their priest and confessor. But Paisiy didn’t want to hear about it. “I left Moldova because of this,” he said. The brothers continued to insist and pointed out that when they confessed to other confessors, they received advice from them that disagreed with his advice, and because of this, their souls became upset, not knowing who to listen to. The elder monks of Athonite also joined the requests of the brethren, and said to Paisius: how can you teach the brethren obedience when you yourself have no obedience! Forced to yield, Paisius said: “God’s will be done!” In 1758, Paisius was ordained as a priest, in the 36th year of his life, after a 12-year stay on Mount Athos. Now Elder Paisios became both a clergyman and confessor of his small Brotherhood, and this brought him even closer and closer to his spiritual children. Finally, the brethren became crowded in the cell of St. Konstantin. Then Fr. Paisius, with general consent and advice, begged from the monastery of Pantocrator an empty and dilapidated cell of St. Prophet Elijah, located on a mountain, above the monastery, in a picturesque and secluded area, and began to build a monastery there. The brethren with their own hands built a church, a castle, a meal, a bakery, a cookhouse, a hospice and sixteen cells out of stone, since Fr. Paisius believed to have no more than 15 brothers. Meanwhile, rumors about the good life of the Paisian brotherhood spread more and more throughout the Holy Mountain. Many came to the Ilyinsky monastery to look at its order, and seeing in everything the extraordinary improvement, the beauty of the service, the leisurelyness in church reading and singing, the modesty, reverence, silence and hard work of the brethren, the general mutual peace and loving obedience to the elder, and on the part of the elder, fatherly care for everyone, the prudent distribution of obediences, compassionate care for the brethren in their needs, mental and physical, they themselves were imbued with love for the Brotherhood and the elder, and began to ask the elder to accept them into his monastery, to which the elder, in the end, agreed. And since there were soon no longer enough cells for everyone, some built their cells below, against the stone wall, and lived in twos and threes together, like swallows, happy that the elder did not remove them from his Brotherhood. In addition to the brethren, many outsiders also benefited from the elder’s spiritual guidance, coming to him for conversation and confession. There were so many of these strangers that the elder did not have time to talk with his brothers, and the latter even grumbled. Sometimes Elder Paisios was invited to perform divine services at Pantokrator. The elder served in Greek, slowly and reverently, with tears: throughout his life he could not perform the Liturgy without tears from deep tenderness for the Mystery of the Lord’s redemptive suffering. And when the monks of the Pantocrator Monastery saw the elder, wholly devoted to prayer, with a changed face, crying, barely able to utter exclamations from tears, they themselves cried and were amazed at the grace of God that was in this man. Thus the unanimous monastic Brotherhood grew and strengthened around Elder Paisius, its spiritual influence expanded, and its fame spread throughout Mount Athos. In order to penetrate deeper into the spirit and internal structure of the Paisian Brotherhood, we need to become more closely acquainted with the elder’s views on monasticism. He outlined these views in detail in a letter to his friend, Priest Demetrius, written shortly after the elder moved from Athos to Moldovala. This is what the elder writes in this letter (we quote in an extract): “Know, beloved friend, that the Holy Spirit has divided monastic life into three orders: solitary solitary sojourn, cohabitation with one or two like-minded brethren, and community life. The hermit rite of monasticism requires removal from people into the desert, with the entrustment of all care for one’s soul, food and clothing and other bodily needs to God alone. The hermit must have Him alone as both his helper and Comforter in his struggle and in his physical and mental weaknesses, shunning all consolation of the world for the sake of God’s love. Cohabitation with one or two like-minded brothers should be done under the guidance of an elder, to whom the disciples owe complete obedience. The community, according to the Word of St. Basil the Great, begins, following the example of the Lord and His Apostles, from 12 cohabiting brothers and can grow unlimitedly, without distinction of nationalities. The essence of the hostel is that all those gathered in the name of Christ have one soul, one heart, one thought and one desire: to work together with Christ through the fulfillment of His commandments, and to bear each other’s burdens, submitting to their father and mentor, the head of the hostel. In all these three types of monastic life, many holy fathers pleased God perfectly and left us an example to follow.” Which of these three types of monasticism should be preferred to the others? For beginners, the best path is the middle path - staying with one or two brothers under the guidance of an experienced elder. “Solitary desert living, according to the great mentor of monastic life, Ven. John of the Climacus, requires angelic strength, and the novice, especially overwhelmed by the passions of anger, vanity, envy and conceit, should not dare to see below the trace of a deserted stay, so as not to fall into a frenzy of mind. Living together with many brothers is useful, but it requires a lot of patience. In the hostel one must obey not only the boss, but also all the brethren to the last person, endure annoyances, reproaches and all kinds of temptations; to be dust and ashes under the feet of all, and like a bought slave, to serve everyone with humility and fear of God; without grumbling, endure the extreme poverty and poverty of food and clothing characteristic of the hostel.” A premature transition from a hostel to desert living is extremely dangerous. “Only in the dormitory does the novice learn holy and blessed obedience, which is the root of monastic life, the path to true humility and liberation from passion. Having not learned the art of mental warfare in the hostel and having entered into single combat with his enemies - demons, the newcomer, by God's permission, inevitably suffers defeat. And this befalls him because he violates the God-given order, and instead of suffering with Christ in community, he encroaches in his pride to immediately ascend to the very Cross of Christ. The history of monasticism testifies that from such an arbitrary and disorderly lifestyle, a huge number of monks, both in ancient and modern times, perished, being seduced by the devil, and having become clouded in mind, they killed themselves with various terrible types of death, from which may Christ save us all with His grace!” Both community and obedience are blessed by God himself. “Jesus Christ, in His person and His 12 Apostles, showed a living example of community life. Obedience is the main virtue of the Angels. It was the basis of the blessed life of the first people in paradise, and when they retreated from it, the Son of God Himself, in His love for mankind, renewed and restored this virtue, being obedient to His Heavenly Father even to the point of death, death on the cross (Phil. II:8). By His obedience He healed our disobedience. Imitating the example of the Lord, in the primal Church eight thousand Christians lived communally, not considering anything theirs, but having everything in common. The ancient reverend fathers in laurels and monasteries also stayed in the same hostel. No other way of life brings such prosperity to a person, does not deliver him so quickly from passions, thanks to the humility that is born from obedience, and brings a person to his original, pure and healthy state, renewing the image of God in him. Communion in the name of Christ unites people with such great love that they all become one body and members of each other, having one common Head - Christ. In the name of this love, they obey their spiritual father in everything, confess to him all the secrets of their hearts, accept his words and commandments, as if from God Himself, and cut off their will in everything, like unclean clothing. Obedience is the shortest staircase to heaven, having only one step – cutting off one’s own will – and the novice who enters this staircase quickly ascends to heaven. And whoever falls away from obedience falls away from God and heaven.” These were the thoughts of Elder Paisius about monasticism, community life and obedience, which he gleaned from the Writings of the ancient fathers. The most important thing was that these thoughts did not remain just thoughts: they were transformed into a living deed, performed by him. This was the strength and attractiveness of his feat. Elder Paisios not only reflected on monasticism, but also created around himself a living monastic cenobitic Brotherhood, imbued and animated by one common mood and one common work. In our Brotherhood, he writes in the same letter, no one has anything of his own, and none of the brethren even thinks of acquiring anything for themselves alone, since they are convinced that this is the path of Judas the traitor. Anyone accepted into the Brotherhood is obliged to place his property, if he has any, and all his belongings, not excluding the smallest ones, at the feet of the elder and the brethren, hand them over to the Lord, and with them, give himself, soul and body, into holy obedience even to the point of death: without this condition, no one can enter the Brotherhood. Having loved the Lord and, for the sake of love for Him, counting all the blessings of the world into nothing, the brothers left everything and, taking up their cross, followed the Lord. They try to bear each other’s burdens, to have the same soul and heart, to encourage each other to good deeds, to surpass each other in faith and love for their elder. Seeing this, my soul rejoices, and with tears I thank God that He has vouchsafed me to see such His servants, and to live with them, and to be comforted by the sight of them.” The elder himself was deeply imbued with the idea of his communal Brotherhood and was aware of the enormous responsibility that lay upon him, and he himself expressed this in the following remarkable words, reminiscent of the words of the great leader of the Jewish people - Moses: “I have unceasing sorrow and mental illness, with which face I will appear to the terrible Judge at His Terrible Judgment Seat, and I will give my word about so many souls of the brethren who have given themselves up in obedience to me, who is unable to give an answer even about my one damned soul, who cannot show the brethren a proper example in any good deed, as required by the duty of my title. I have only one undoubted hope, after God and the Mother of God, for the prayers of the brethren living with me; I believe and do not despair that God’s mercy will pour out on my soul. If this does not happen, and I am worthily condemned to eternal torment by the righteous Court of God, blessed be God! There is only one thing I always pray to His mercy, so that He would not deprive me of even that mercy, so that I, like the rich man who saw Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom, would see my spiritual children in His heavenly kingdom. And this alone would be enough for me instead of any other reward!” Such were the spiritual foundations of the brotherhood of Elder Paisius, laid by him during his stay on Athos. The constant growth of the Brotherhood, the cramped quarters, and especially the oppression from the Turks forced Elder Paisius to think about leaving Athos. After much thought and consultation, the elder decided to move with his entire Brotherhood to Moldavia. This happened in 1763, after the elder’s seventeen-year stay on Mount Athos. Touchingly saying goodbye to the Athos monks, the elder sailed from Athos. With him were 64 brethren, housed on two ships: on one ship there were Slavs from Fr. Paisiy, on the other - Moldovans from Fr. Vissarion. The travelers arrived safely in Moldovala and landed in Galati. They were received with love by Metropolitan Gabriel and Voivode Gregory Callimachos, who provided them with a large monastery of the Holy Spirit, called Dragomirna, in Bukovina for their residence. The monastery was in a rather sad state. But this did not bother the elder. He had no doubt that through the diligence and labors of the brethren the monastery could be brought into a flourishing state. They began to settle in a new place, in new conditions, preserving the spirit and order of life developed on Athos. Immediately upon his arrival in Dragomirna, the elder presented to the Metropolitan the “Statement on the Order and Rules” of his Brotherhood and asked for the blessing of the highest church authority to be guided by the rules set out in it. Permission was given. There were seventeen rules in the “statement”. Since they contain the foundations of the entire internal structure of the Paisian Brotherhood, we need to briefly outline the content of these rules. The first rule establishes that none of the brethren should have any personal property, but they should have everything in common. Each brother receives everything he needs according to the distribution of the abbot. The second rule recognizes obedience as the basis of all monastic life, cutting off one’s will, one’s reasoning and self-rule, and following the will of one’s superior, in accordance with the Holy Spirit. Scripture. The third rule defines the properties and responsibilities of the boss. He must know the Holy. Scripture and the teaching of the spiritual fathers, and, contrary to their testimony, do not bring anything from yourself to the brethren. He must be an example of humility and love; should not begin or create any thing on his own, without the advice of brothers most skilled in spiritual reasoning; in necessary cases, the entire Council of brethren has gathered, with general knowledge and consideration, to begin and do the work. And then there will be everlasting peace and unanimity between the brethren and an unbreakable union of love. The fourth rule establishes a strict and precise order of worship according to the rite of Mount Athos. None of the brethren dares to evade common prayer. The fifth rule prescribes a common meal and indicates its order. The food must be the same for everyone; no one is allowed to eat according to their cells, neither the abbot nor the brethren, except for illness or extreme old age. The sixth rule determines the order of cell life, and it is especially recommended to engage in mental prayer according to the teachings of St. fathers: John Chrysostom, Callistus patriapxa, Simeon the new Theologian, Diadochos of Photiki, Hesychius of Jerusalem, Nile of Sinai, John Climacus, Maximus the Confessor, Peter of Damascus, Gregory of Sinaite and others. In addition to prayer, one should engage in singing psalms, moderate reading of the Old and New Testaments, teaching and fatherly books, and handicrafts, as directed by the abbot. The seventh rule instructs the boss to properly distribute obediences, and the brethren not to refuse even the supposedly last obedience, believing that it will lead to the kingdom of heaven if, with humility and fear of God, it is done not for people, but for the Lord. The eighth rule instructs the abbot to have equal love for all brothers and to be patient with their weaknesses and failures. Those who live on their own will, after prior admonition, be removed from the Brotherhood, and, in case of their repentance, accepted back. Likewise, brothers should not have exclusive fellowship with each other, but treat everyone with equal and unfeigned love. The ninth rule talks about the need for the abbot to have two assistants - one to conduct the external affairs of the monastery, the other to manage the monastery during the abbot’s absences. Whenever the abbot is absent on business at the monastery, he must call the brethren to church by ringing the bell and, after prayer, explain to the brethren the purpose of the trip and ask for their prayers for the successful completion of the task, and upon returning from absence, first of all, call the brethren to church and, through prayer, explain to them the result of the trip. The tenth rule prescribes carefully testing and slowly accepting into the Brotherhood those who wish to accept monasticism. The eleventh rule states that if a person entering the Brotherhood brings any property with him, the abbot must keep this property intact until he is tonsured. After tonsure, he can turn it to general monastic needs. If someone entering the Brotherhood wants to leave the monastery before being tonsured, then all his property that he brought to the monastery must be returned to him in full, so that there is no embarrassment to either the brother or the monastery. The twelfth rule prescribes that there should be a hospital inside the monastery under the supervision of an experienced brother, and, if possible, then a skilled doctor. The thirteenth rule prescribes having the necessary workshops in the monastery. The fourteenth rule speaks of the need to have a hospice at the monastery, in which all the poor and sick who come to the monastery and have no place to lay their heads would find shelter. The fifteenth rule prohibits females from entering the monastery, except in extreme need, during war and flight. The sixteenth rule speaks of the resettlement of lay monastic workers to the village and the establishment of a church and a lay priest there for them. Finally, the seventeenth rule talks about the procedure for electing the abbot. The rector should not be sent from the outside, but by the consent and unanimous election of the entire cathedral and on the advice of the dying rector and with the blessing of the metropolitan, one from among the brethren who surpasses everyone in spiritual intelligence, knowledge of the Holy Spirit, is appointed as rector. Scripture and communal rules, as well as obedience, renunciation of one’s will, love, meekness, humility and other virtues, and can set a good example for the brethren in word and deed. In accordance with this Charter and with the above thoughts of Elder Paisius about monasticism, the life of the Paisius Brotherhood in Dragomirna was established. Inviolable unanimity and complete obedience to the elder reigned in the Brotherhood. The center of the spiritual life of the Brotherhood was worship, performed strictly according to the Athos rite. They sang in Slavic on the right choir, in Moldavian on the left. All obediences were performed by the brethren with the blessing of the abbot. The elder himself went out with the 6th party to general obediences. When harvesting grain, the brothers spent several days in the field. With them was a confessor with the Holy Gifts and a doctor. The elder also came to the steppe and spent three or four days with the brethren, comforting them with his conversation and love. The elder watched with strict attention the cell life of the brethren. Every evening the brethren confessed their thoughts to the elders. If a misunderstanding arose among the brethren, it should have stopped that same day according to the word of Scripture: “Let not the sun go down on your anger.” Anyone who did not want to reconcile was not allowed by the elder to enter the church and read the Lord’s Prayer. From the very first days of his stay in Dragomirna, the elder established a custom that had a very beneficial effect on the brethren. When winter time came, and all the brethren gathered from external obediences to the monastery, and the Fast of the Nativity of Christ came, then the elder began to have conversations with the brethren, and this continued from the first week of the Nativity Fast until Lazarus Saturday. Every day, with the exception of Sundays and holidays, the brethren gathered in the evening for a meal, candles were lit, the elder came and read the books of the fathers. The reading was accompanied by conversation and teaching. One evening the reading and teaching were conducted in Russian, the other evening in Moldavian. When the reading was conducted in Russian, the Moldavians celebrated Compline, and vice versa, when the reading was conducted in Moldavian, the Slavs read Compline. These readings and conversations had a great influence on the brethren. The elder had such a gift of persuasion that he could inspire even the saddest brother with his words. Subsequently, when, with the resettlement to Neamet, the life of the Brotherhood began to decline for many reasons, the brothers themselves said that one of the reasons for this decline was the cessation of the elder’s daily conversations. While still on Mount Athos, while studying the patristic writings, the elder noticed many ambiguities in the Slavic translations. He began to collect ancient Slavic manuscripts, compare them, correct the newest manuscripts according to the oldest, but this did not reduce the ambiguities. Shortly after sailing from Athos, the elder managed to obtain the Greek originals of the patristic writings, and upon arrival in Dragomirna, he began to check the Slavic translations using these Greek originals. He devoted all his free time in Dragomirna to these studies, and corrected many Slavic translations of his father’s books. We will have to devote a special article to the literary works of Elder Paisius, which are very important in the history of Russian eldership. During the elder’s stay in Dragomirna, he wrote one of his most remarkable works: On mental prayer, i.e. about prayer, performed with the mind in the heart, helping to strengthen the constant memory of Jesus Christ in the heart, purifying and sanctifying with this memory all the thoughts and feelings of the ascetic, directing all his actions to fulfill the commandments of Christ. The elder attached enormous, saving significance to this simple and brief, but from the depths of his heart prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” and even on Athos he taught the brethren to constantly have it in their hearts, to always be internally with Jesus Christ. In view of the special importance of this work of the elder, we will cite some of the most important passages from it. While living in Dragomirna, the elder learned that in one of the monasteries, ignorant zealots of external piety, who valued the quantity rather than the quality of prayer, condemned mental, internal prayer. Addressing these opponents of smart doing, the elder asks: “What legitimate reason do you have for blaspheming this prayer? Does calling on the name of Jesus seem useless to you? Is the human mind with which prayer is performed vicious? Or does the heart deserve blasphemy, on which, as on an altar, the mind performs sacred acts to God, the secret sacrifice of prayer? But both the mind and the heart are the creation of God and, like the whole human body, there is great good. What vice is it for a person to send up a prayer from the depths of his heart with his mind to the Sweetest Jesus and ask for his mercy? Or perhaps you blaspheme and reject mental prayer because God, in your opinion, does not seem to hear the prayer that is secret in the heart, but only hears that which is pronounced with the lips? But this is blasphemy against God. But I will also ask you: is it not because you blaspheme this prayer that you may have seen or heard that one of the practitioners of this prayer was damaged in mind, or accepted some deception as truth, or suffered some kind of mental harm, and you thought that the reason for all this was mental prayer? But in reality this is not the case. Sacred mental prayer, acted upon by the grace of God, cleanses a person from all passions, encourages him to diligently keep the commandments of God, and keeps him unharmed from all the enemy’s arrows and charms. If anyone dares to go through this prayer on his own, not according to the strength of the teachings of the holy fathers, without questioning and the advice of experienced people, such a person, truly, and I affirm, easily falls into all the snares and charms of the devil. So what? Is prayer really the cause of delusion in this case? It won't happen! The culprit is the arbitrariness and pride of the self-inflicted, as a result of which they fall into demonic delusion and are subjected to spiritual delirium.” Further, the elder writes that mental prayer has its own degrees, and that it is unsafe to move prematurely from the lowest to the highest degree. “Let it be known that according to the scriptures of St. Fathers, there are two mental prayers: one for beginners, corresponding to the deed, the other for the perfect, corresponding to the vision: the first is the beginning, the second is the end, for the deed is the ascent to the vision. The entire monastic feat by which someone strives, with the help of God, for love of God and neighbor, for meekness, humility and patience and all other God’s and father’s commandments, for perfect obedience in soul and body according to God, for fasting, vigil, tears, bows, and other fatigue of the body, for all-zealous fulfillment of church and cell rules, for smart secret exercise in prayer, crying and thinking about death, all such feat, while the mind is still controlled by human autocracy and will, as far as is known, is called an act; in no case is it called a vision. When, with the help of God, by the above feat, especially by the deepest humility, a person cleanses his soul and heart from the filth of mental and physical passions, then the grace of God, the common mother of all, taking the mind purified by it, like a baby by the hand, raises it, as if through steps, revealing to the mind, as it is purified, the ineffable and incomprehensible Divine mysteries, and this, rightly, is called true spiritual vision. This is visual, or according to St. Isaac, pure prayer, horror and vision from it. But it is impossible for anyone to enter into these visions by an autocratic arbitrary feat, unless God visits him and leads him into them with his grace. If anyone dares to ascend to such visions apart from the light of God’s grace, let him, according to Saint Gregory of Sinaite, know that he is imagining dreams, not visions, being seduced by a dreamy spirit.” “Divine mental prayer has an unshakable foundation in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: “But when you pray, go into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you in reality” (Matthew VI:6). St. John Chrysostom, the mouth of Christ, the universal luminary, the universal teacher, according to the wisdom given to him by the Holy Spirit, refers these words of the Lord not to the prayer that is pronounced only with the lips and tongue, but to the most secret, silent prayer sent up from the depths of the heart... And he brings as testimony to this secret prayer Moses, the Seer of God, St. Anna and the righteous Abel.” Of the many other patristic testimonies about mental prayer cited by Elder Paisius in his book, we will indicate only a few, the most important ones. “The pillar of fire, the fiery mouth of the Holy Spirit, the eye of the church, St. Basil the Great says: I will bring His praise into my mouth. It seems that what the prophet says is impossible. How can the praise of God always be in human lips? When a person conducts an ordinary everyday conversation, he does not have the praise of God in his mouth; when he sleeps, he is silent, of course; when he eats and drinks, how does his mouth produce praise? To this we answer that there are intelligent lips of the inner man, through which a person becomes a partaker of the vital Word of God... The Lord calls us to have these lips open to receive true food: widen, He says, Thy lips, and I will fill them. The thought of God, once inscribed and imprinted in the mind of the soul, can be called praise, from God always abiding in the soul; maybe, according to the Apostolic word, the diligent does everything for the glory of God. For every work, and every word, and every mental action has the power of praise.” "St. Gregory the Theologian speaks about mental prayer this way: Always make your mind a church to God, so that within your heart you may have the immaterial presence of the King.” “In St. Macarius the Great we find: A Christian must always have the memory of God, for it is written: love the Lord your God with all your heart, so that not only when you enter a house of prayer, you love the Lord, but also when you walk, talk, eat and drink, you have the memory of God, and love and desire; for it is said: Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” “Reverend Simeon, the New Theologian, writes about mental prayer and attention like this: Our Holy Fathers, hearing the words of the Lord, as if from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, blasphemy, and that is what defiles a person (Matthew XV:19), who taught to cleanse the inside of the swearer so that its outside will be clean ( Matthew XXIII:26), having abandoned the thought of any other work, they labored in this guarding of the heart, undoubtedly knowing that by guarding the heart they would easily observe any other work, and without it no virtue can be maintained.” “Rev. John Climacus, speaking about mental prayer, cites the following passages from St. Scriptures: I want (together with the great worker of great and perfect prayer) to say five words with my mind, rather than and so on. (1 Cor. XIV:19); I sleep, but my heart watches (Song. V:2)." “Follower in the apostolic footsteps, an insurmountable pillar of the Orthodox faith, who at the Florentine Council, like a cobweb, tore apart the Doukhobor heresies of the Latins with the fiery sword of the spirit and the truth of Orthodox dogmas, the all-holy, wise and verbal Metropolitan Mark of Ephesus writes: Is it proper, according to the commandment, to pray unceasingly, both in spirit and to offer worship to God with truth; but the disposition to worldly thoughts and the burden of caring for the body withdraws and removes many from the Kingdom of God, which exists within us, and prevents us from remaining at the mental altar, offering spiritual and verbal sacrifices to God according to the Divine Apostle, who said that we are the church of God living in us, and that His Divine Spirit lives in us. Sweet is the pure and constant memory of Jesus in the heart, and the ineffable enlightenment that comes from it.” Like any other spiritual feat, prayer can be performed correctly or incorrectly. Wrong prayer happens when it is performed inattentively, carelessly, hastily, or when the natural sensations accompanying prayer are mistaken for the grace-filled actions of the Holy Spirit, or when vanity and conceit are mixed into prayer, and when the person praying, without proper caution, accepts the insidious suggestions of the devil for the manifestation of the grace of God, as happened, for example, with St. Isaac of Pechersk, who in the blindness of pride mistook the appearance of demons for the appearance of Christ the Savior himself. In order to understand all the sensations and experiences that accompany prayer, great caution, attention, experience, and, most importantly, humility are required. In addition, the constant guidance of a mentor experienced in spiritual life is necessary, which Elder Paisios writes about in his book like this: “Mastering the mental practice of prayer, according to St. Nikifor, the majority and even everyone comes from the teaching; It’s rare people who receive it from God without teaching, through the pain of doing it and the warmth of faith.” “Therefore, anyone who wants to learn this Divine work must, according to St. Simeon the New Theologian, to surrender oneself into complete obedience, soul and body, according to the Holy Scriptures, to a man who fears God, a zealous keeper of His Divine Commandments, experienced in this mental feat, who can show his disciple the right path to salvation through this doing, that is, with the mind in the heart of secretly performed prayer. If he had not found in his father, through his own deeds and experience, a mentor skilled in this prayer, for at the present time experienced mentors of this work are completely scarce, then still he should not fall into despair, but placing all his hope in God, obey together with his father, instead of a true mentor, the teaching of our venerable fathers, and from them learn this prayer. And the grace of God, through the prayers of the Holy Fathers, will hasten and instruct you to learn this Divine work.” At the conclusion of his book, Elder Paisios, following the instructions of St. fathers, describes those external examples that facilitate the assimilation and deepening of heartfelt inner prayer. Pointing out to his disciples that path of salvation, which can be called the path of internal achievement and unity with God, or otherwise the mystical-ascetic path, (Elder Paisios did not ignore another path to salvation; the path of active love for people. When in 1768, according to the elder’s biography, “a terrible storm and mortal fear arose, and two empires, Russian and Turkish, rose upon each other, furious and breathing fire,” the doors of the Paisian Brotherhood opened wide for all the needy and unfortunate. The Dragomirn monastery was filled with refugees. It was impossible to walk through the monastery courtyard because of the multitude of people who sought refuge in it. It was winter and snow. and the warm one, the elder gave to the unfortunate, exhausted women and children. The cellarer, baker and cook were ordered to provide food to everyone without fail. Bread was baked and food was prepared continuously for two weeks. Meanwhile, the Russian army entered Moldova, the Turks retreated and the refugees returned to their homes. This war resulted in the departure of Elder Paisius and his entire brotherhood from Dragomirna. According to the peace treaty, the monastery went to Austria. The elder did not expect any good for his monastery from the Austrian authorities, and, as a result of the invitation he received, decided to move to the Sekul monastery, located within Moldovlachia, not far from Dragomirna. He arrived in Sekul on October 14, 1775 after a 12-year stay in Dragomirn. The Sekul Monastery (in the name of the Beheading of John the Baptist), according to the description of the Russian wanderer, monk Parthenius, who visited it, “stands inside the Carpathian Mountains, two hours away from the Neamtsi Monastery. The road there goes through a gorge between mountains so high that you can’t even see the sun. The monastery is located in the quietest and most silent place, in the most impassable desert, surrounded by cloud-high mountains and dark impenetrable forests, so that in winter the sun shines little into it, and there is never any wind in it, but there is always great silence, only a small river flows near the monastery and gurgles over the stones. Truly, here the whole vain world with all its temptations is closed from eyes and ears.” The life of the Paisian Brotherhood in Sekula was a continuation of life in Dragomirna. Only here there was more external fuss. The monastery was cramped, the number of the brotherhood increased to 300 people, it was necessary to build cells and other monastic buildings. Here the elder first had the idea of ​​establishing a school at the monastery to teach the Greek language to young monks, who could then help him correct erroneous Slavic translations of patristic books based on the Greek originals. However, this idea was not realized, since the elder did not live in Sekul for long, only four years, and in 1779, at the insistence of the Lord and the Metropolitan, he moved to the neighboring large monastery of Neamets, retaining control of the Sekul monastery. With the resettlement of Elder Paisius to Neamets, the last, most difficult and at the same time most glorious, broad and fruitful period of his eldership began, which lasted 15 years, until his death in 1794. This period of his eldership is characterized by the enormous growth of the Paisian Brotherhood: in Neamts alone there were up to 700 brothers, and together with Sekul there were more than 1000. The elder’s literary activity here took on a particularly broad and organized character: around him a specially trained whole school of references, translators and copyists of patristic ascetic books was formed, which from Neamts were widely distributed throughout Russia. The name of the elder and the glory of his monastery spread far across Russian monasteries and throughout all circles of Russian society. The elder’s connections, correspondence and influence increased enormously. We will try to convey briefly the most important moments of the elder’s life and activities during this period. The resettlement of Elder Paisius to Nyamets was associated with considerable grief for him, since it was unpleasant to the persons who at that time headed the management of the rich and famous Nyamets monastery. However, the elder, with his characteristic wisdom, love and patience, overcame this difficulty and established peaceful and good relations with his predecessors. It was much more difficult for him to involve the numerous Nyama brethren in the order of monastic life that was developed and established by the elder in his monastery on Athos and Dragomirna, and then maintained in Sekule. Neamets was an ancient, famous, rich and populous monastery, which had the same significance for Moldovala as the Kiev-Pechersk or Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius had for Russia. This monastery had its own centuries-old traditions and orders. Elder Paisius had to unite two numerous brotherhoods, who lived different lives, and unite them into one spiritual family. This task was difficult, and the elder himself realized that in Neamtsa there was no longer that integrity and unity of the spirit of the brethren, the flowering of which coincided with the Dragomirnin period in the life of the Paisian Brotherhood. The composition of the brotherhood in Neamtse was the most diverse - there were Moldovans, Serbs, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Hutsuls, Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Turks, Great Russians and Little Russians. And the elder still managed to draw this diverse composition of the Brotherhood into one common, harmonious order of spiritual life. And here, as elsewhere, the elder laid the basis for the life of the monastery - the order of worship. The service was performed strictly according to the Athos rite. Reading and singing were conducted in two languages ​​- Moldavian and Slavic. The teachings at Matins were read in the same languages. During the commendable week of Great Lent, the akathist to the Mother of God was read in three languages ​​- Slavic, Moldavian and Greek, and this seemed to strengthen the consciousness of the unity of the Orthodox world. A close connection with the Russian Church was maintained - the Monks Anthony and Theodosius and other wonderworkers of Pechersk were remembered on holidays. On September 21, a service was held for St. Demetrius of Rostov; on May 3, Rev. Theodosius, July 10th Rev. Anthony, July 11th to the blessed princess Olga, July 15th to Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir. There was complete unity of life between Neamts and Sekul. Every year the elder came to Sekul for the feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist and lived there for about two weeks, daily receiving everyone who wanted to see him and talk with him, and the elder said to the brethren: “If one of you has a mental or physical need, and grieves and murmurs, but does not come to me, I do not answer to God about such grief.” With the help of the Gospodar, the elder set up a hospital and a hospice in Neamtsa, and increased the number of cells. All the elderly, lame, blind, paralyzed, homeless people flocked to the old man from everywhere, seeking refuge with him. He received everyone with love, placed whoever was needed in the hospital, and ordered Brother Honorius to provide them with every care and peace. Wandering monks who entered the monastery could rest in it as long as they wanted - a week, two, or a month. Others asked the elder to allow them to spend the winter in the monastery, and he allowed it, and gave everything they needed to those without clothes or linen. When summer came and they set off on their journey, the elder abundantly supplied them with everything they needed for the journey and sent them off in peace. The elder placed secular men who suffered from various illnesses, or were tormented by unclean spirits and were homeless, in a special hospital: and they lived there as long as they wanted, some even until their death. In the life of the brethren, the attentive, caring, loving gaze of the elder was always and everywhere felt. In church, he himself went around the brethren, made sure that everyone stood decorously, crossed themselves correctly, and strictly rebuked those who carelessly made the sign of the cross on themselves. One day the elder saw a novice walking through the monastery, waving his arms and looking in all directions. The elder called his confessor to him and said: “Is this how you instruct your disciples? They are rioting and seducing the brethren!” And he gave both – the confessor and the novice – a penance: to bow at meals for three days. The strictness of external deanery was also reflected in the internal life of the Brotherhood. And this can be seen from the description of the Paisian Brotherhood made by the Solovetsky hermit Theophan, who visited Nyamets in his youth. Theophanes really wanted to visit Mount Athos and the Holy Land, but the Kiev recluse Dosifei sent him to Nyamets instead. Kindly treated by Elder Paisius, Theophanes lived for some time in his monastery, visited other Moldavian monasteries, studied their charters and orders. And this is how he describes the life of the Nyamet monks: “Their lack of covetousness was complete; in the cells there was nothing except icons, books and tools for needlework. The monks were distinguished by humility; they did not know hatred or mutual insults. If it happened to someone, through carelessness or vehemence, to insult another, he hastened to reconcile with the insulted person. Those who did not want to do this were expelled from the monastery. In the Church, everyone stood in his assigned place. Idle talk was not allowed not only in the Church, but also in no other place. In their cells, some wrote books, others bound them, others spun wave, others sewed hoods and kamilavkas, knitted rosaries, wove wave into cassocks and robes for the brethren, made spoons, crosses, or did some other handicraft. All the monks of the Paisian Brotherhood lived under the guidance of confessors and mentors: they confessed to them daily not only their deeds, but also their thoughts. And they did it simply and with humility, without any lies or pretense. Without the blessing of the confessor, no one even dared to eat any fruit, of which there are a lot in that country: grapes, black plums, cherries, duli, apples, bergamots, pears grow there in abundance. Theophanes liked life in Neamtsa so much and the spirit of prayer, love, silence, modesty, simplicity, work and order that reigned here that he asked Elder Paisius to leave him in his monastery forever. But the elder did not agree and said: “Go to Russia and serve your elder Dosifei a little more, who will soon go to the Lord. With his blessing, go and save yourself wherever he shows you.” Feofan sadly left Nyamets. At parting, Elder Paisios said to him: “Child! May God and the Most Pure Mother protect you on your path! May God's blessing be upon you from our humility! Say gratitude to your reverent elder and do not forget our wretchedness.” How famous the name of Elder Paisius was, even among the infidel Turks, can be seen from the fact that when Theophanes was returning to Russia and was stopped on the way by the Turks, who asked him who he was, where he came from and where he was going, he had only to show them the pass sheet given to him by Fr. Paisiy, like the Turks, waving their arms, shouted: “Oh, Paisiy! Gaida! Gaida! This surprised Feofan very much. The literary studies of Elder Paisius in Neamts took on, as has been said, particularly wide dimensions. He collected a large patristic library of manuscripts and books, which contained books in many languages. He translated from Greek the Philokalia and the ascetic words of St. Isaac the Syrian. From among the brethren, he prepared assistants for himself in his literary works and sent them to improve their Greek language at the Bucharest Academy. Translations of books were also made from Latin. In view of the demands coming from everywhere, especially from Russia, for the books translated by the elder, it was necessary to form a large staff of copyists. The monastery was in full swing with lively literary work, a taste for spiritual reading developed, and collections of selected passages from the patristic writings were compiled. The monastery was stamped with a special bookishness and scientific character, and it became a hotbed, a center of spiritual and ascetic enlightenment. The extent to which Elder Paisius was deeply absorbed in his literary works is evident from the following story from his cell attendant: “Being burdened all day with the affairs of the monastery, spiritual and economic, the elder spent his nights correcting and translating books. He carried out labors that exceeded natural human strength. You just have to imagine that the entire right side of the old man right down to his foot was covered with wounds, so that he could not even lie on it. Sitting bent over on his bed, he covered himself all over with books: there were various dictionaries, a Greek and Slavic Bible, a Greek and Slavic grammar, and a translated book. There were lit candles nearby. Hunched over like a little child, the elder wrote all night, forgetting the weakness of his body, his wounds, and the need for rest and sleep! He became so immersed in his studies that he did not hear the monastery bell, did not notice what was happening around him, and could not give an answer to the questions of those who asked him. When some urgent matter happened, the serving brother had to repeat his words to the elder many times before he could hear an answer from him. Forced to answer, the old man, with pain and groaning, was barely able to distract his mind from the book and himself admitted: “For me there is no more difficult work than when I am doing a translation, and I need to give an answer to some question, then, while I distract my mind from the book, I will be covered in sweat.” The translations of Elder Paisius and his writings that were distributed everywhere, as well as the stories about him from wanderers and pilgrims who visited his monastery, made his name widely known and revered both in Moldova and in Russia. He established extensive contacts and correspondence. People turned to him for advice and guidance. His letters to Moldovan monks about monastic life, and to one priest about union have been preserved. He had relations with Metropolitan Gabriel of St. Petersburg and sent him books. He corresponded with the abbots and monks of the Sophronie Hermitage in the south of Russia, the Moscow Novo-Spassky Monastery, the Peshnosha Monastery and other monasteries in the north, with the abbess of the Arzamas women's community. People turned to him for clarification of confusion regarding the Old Believers. His disciples became elders and abbots of many monasteries in Russia, bringing revival and growth of monastic activity everywhere, in the spirit of inner feat according to the behests and traditions of Elder Paisius. For more than a century, right up to the Russian Revolution, the enormous spiritual contribution that Elder Paisius made to them was felt in Russian monasteries. The years of Elder Paisius’s life passed unnoticed in various works and worries. In 1788, the elder had to again endure the worries and dangers of the second war between Russia and Turkey. Arriving at this time, along with Prince. Potemkin, to Moldova, Archbishop Ambrose of Slovenia and Poltava visited Neamets and in 1790 elevated Elder Paisius to the rank of Archimandrite. 1 After that, another four years passed. The year 1794 came, the last year of the elder’s earthly life. The elder continued to work tirelessly, wrote letters, worked on translations, and led the life of the Brotherhood. Only shortly before his deathbed illness did he stop translating himself; he did not stop reviewing and correcting translations even during his illness, as long as he was able. After November 5th he felt particularly weak and was forced to go to bed. He spent four days in this state. On Sunday he felt better and wanted to listen to the Divine Liturgy. Arriving at church, he sat in his usual place. During communion, he entered the altar and received the Holy Mysteries of Christ. After the service, I felt such weakness that I was barely able to return to my cell, supported and led by the brethren. Three more days passed. The old man's illness intensified. On the fourth day, feeling the approach of death, the elder once again took communion of the Divine Mysteries. Then, calling to himself two senior confessors, Sophrony for the Slavic brethren, and Sylvester for the Moldavian, through them he imparted peace and blessing to the entire Brotherhood. The elder did not indicate a successor for himself, leaving it to the will of God, the election of the Mother of God and the desire of the brotherhood itself. After this, he died quietly, as if he had fallen asleep, betraying his holy soul into the hands of God - on November 15, 1794, in the 72nd year of his life. When the rumor about the death of the elder spread, a multitude of people flocked to Neyamets from everywhere - laymen, monks, priests, boyars, and ordinary people of both sexes, and there was a general cry for the deceased, whom everyone considered their father and benefactor. On the fourth day, the whole cathedral buried the great elder in the great Church of the Ascension of the Lord on the right side of the entrance. A slab was subsequently placed on the grave of the elder with an inscription in Romanian and Slavic languages with the following content: “Here rests our blessed father, hieroschemamonk and archimandrite Elder Paisius, a Little Russian, who came from Mount Athos with his disciples to Moldavia and here gathered a large number of brethren, and renovated the hostel with himself, to the Lord in the year of November, in the days of the pious Gospodar Mikhail Sutsu voivode and His Eminence Metropolitan Iakov. Archbishop Ambrose is known for his holy life and his relics rest incorruptibly in the Poltava Holy Cross Monastery. You might be interested in: