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Taking part, in your trust, in your spiritual situations, I sincerely regret for you that you cowardly accept the first sorrows you encounter, which, however, I am not surprised at all: it is very akin to the untrained to walk the sorrowful path and stumble on it; but we must again rise, and not fall. Pouring out your sorrowful heart before my unworthiness, ask for my advice for your peace of mind. Knowing my feeble-mindedness, and even more so, my careless life, I don’t dare rely on my reason to be able to completely console you; but, seeing your confusion and the faith with which you desire a word, resorting to the Lord, I ask Him to enlighten me, according to your faith, to write something useful to you: but may God Himself comfort you with His imperishable consolation with all joy and peace. Holy Scripture strengthens spiritual warriors with this word: child, if you begin to work for the Lord God, prepare your soul for temptation: guide your heart and be patient (Sir. 2:1); and this, since the very first article, must be remembered and followed. Further: whatever is dealt to you, accept it and be patient in changing your humility (Sir.2:4). For this we must have firm faith in God, that without His will the power of our head will not perish, and not a single bird will fall without the will of our heavenly Father (Matthew 10:29, 30; Luke 21:18); How much more can it be that sorrowful things can happen to us without His will. Sorrows are sent to us from God to test our faith and love for Him: are we really firm in faith when temptations come to us for His love? Yes, you don’t even know yourself whether you have firmness in faith, which is shown in the test by opposite cases. The opinion of the world about you that has shaken you and led you to cowardice, why you are moving away from marriage, do not think that it was a blind chance, but definitely to your temptation, as I said above; You, seeing your cowardice here, also know where it comes from: obviously from pride, which cannot bear insult - it is embarrassed. But this humility does not suffer; it accepts every occasion as sent from God and considers itself worthy of this sorrow; but since we have not yet achieved this, we must use sorrows as healing plasters that can little by little cleanse the filth of self-love and pride itself. Although with illness you will accept sorrow, reproach and reproach; but remember that God sent this, and reproach yourself for cowardice, consider yourself worthy of being this sorrow for the very guarantee of self-love that was in you; thank God for sending you this opportunity to recognize yourself; recognize your weakness, humble yourself and ask for help from God. Having arranged yourself this way and shown submission to the will of God, despite all the reproaches and reproaches that confuse you, you will feel relief in spirit and receive consolation. Also St. the fathers teach us that every good deed is either preceded or followed by temptation, without which it cannot be sustained; and St. Scripture says that krin (beautiful color) will be born among thorns; as a rose blooms on prickly branches; Likewise, Christian virtue is tempted by sorrows and remains strong. – Until now, I have written to you about sorrowful temptations, but now I will tell you about temptations of a different kind: when, by God’s permission, the enemy cannot shake the heart of Christ’s ascetics with cruel attacks, he will turn to another means: he will present all kinds of pleasures of the world, trying to deceive and entice their hearts in this way; but here we must have even more firmness, so as not to waver, not to have arrogance, to ask God for help, without which we cannot do anything good; in everything, surrender to the will of God, having a good will and a direction towards what is useful. He also knows what we have not done, and wants to save us and come into the mind of truth, and through His Providence, unknown to us, will arrange something useful for you. I don’t dare go into further discussion; I hope that the Lord is able to comfort you who resort to Him; but I’m also afraid to trust the immodesty of the paper, lest they make me the reason for your disagreement with the demand for peace, although, however, I’m not afraid of this; but it is better when the seed of piety, sown on good soil, is hidden until it rises and bears fruit, so that it is not trampled upon and abused. However, this is not our will either; No matter how much we hide something, if it is the will of God, it cannot be hidden, just like your venerable letter. Entrusting you to the protection and providence of God, and asking for God's blessing on you, I remain, with the lowest respect, your unworthy pilgrim, the sinful hieromonk Macarius. April 10, 1836. You might be interested in: