Письмо 108

You are peacefully engaged in gold embroidery work with N.N. You see for yourself: wherever we do anything with submission to the will of God, there we feel peace; Where the world is, there is God. Our Lord Jesus Christ said to His disciples, departing for the saving passion: peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you (John 14:27); this is whose world! And what you wrote at the beginning of the letter, you yourself realize that you wrote the nonsense of an upset soul, that is, an embarrassed one; and where there is confusion, there is the action of the enemy. This should be a lesson to you in advance, not to indulge yourself in such confusing thoughts - there is Babylon, where the enemy takes the soul he has captured, like Nebuchadnezzar, who led the Jewish people from Jerusalem to Babylon, and oppressed them there with various kinds of enslavement. During confession, you need to explain all your sins, except perhaps when you forget, and not speak superficially; for unconfessed sin is not allowed; unless you can’t explain it out of oblivion. After confession, you need to guard yourself from sinful actions. But if you happen to be offended by someone, or to be angry with someone: in this, reconciling with the offender, be calm; and for contempt - to be contemptuous and reproach yourself, so as not to disturb the elder; and if an opportunity arises to see him, then, according to the extent of the sin and the feeling of conscience, you can tell him this briefly: you can write your sins, taking into account our confession; for we, over the course of time, after confession, sin a lot and forget; The main thing in confession is to have a contrite and humble heart, which God will not despise, and every day we need to test ourselves and reproach ourselves, and for what we have done, bring repentance before God, which we read in the third prayer for the coming sleep. You write that unbelief about God and the future comes over you like a light cloud. This thought is attributed to St. Demetrius to blasphemous thoughts; for in them our will does not agree; but only the enemy induces thoughts of unbelief; the person does not want this and is not to blame; but thinking that he is guilty, he becomes embarrassed and thus amuses the enemy more and gives him more reason to attack. And when you despise it and do not consider it a sin, then he too will be ashamed and leave; This gives him a reason to condemn others. Niphon's temptation was of a different kind to his crown; but this is different. We see proof of our right faith in many things and actions: after confession we receive peace of mind; – what is this from? And not confessing - a feeling of torment; - from what? We see the relics of saints and the miracles that happen from them. Who is responsible for the miracle-working icons? Who produces this? All this is done by God, who gave us His word to know Him in the Incarnation and the redemption of us from error. Who made reading enjoyable for you when you read St. Barsanuphius book? - God! The whole world is full of God's miracles. Wonderful are Your works, O Lord, You have done all things with wisdom (Ps. 103:24). I remain the sinful I.M. March 13, 1860. You might be interested in: