Письмо 237

The sorrow that happened to us and you is worthy of regret through V. V., in no other way, we must assume that it was allowed to fall on us for our sins by the righteous judgment of God; for in relation to her, we, for our part, had no other views other than her salvation; I am sure that both you and I.’s mother were in the same attitude; the latter, even before V.V.’s first visit to us, did not have the slightest influence on her; but when I, out of ignorance of her character and dispensation, agreed to her earnest request to treat her, but not otherwise than with your blessing, I-Y’s mother accepted it for the first time with heart disease; but when she saw the absurdity, she soon rejected its entry. With us, while she was on the Fast of Philip, she fasted and communicated the Holy Mysteries, and after that she was sick for quite some time, with what kind of illness, I cannot comprehend; Only she hardly consumed food, and she kept lying there, and no one could get a word out of her. They could hardly send her to her mother's house; but there were still no signs of mental damage: and when I arrived for the last time, it became noticeable; but even that is incomprehensible: true or false; It’s just a pity that she is so bitter against her mother, and it doesn’t seem like anything, no matter how hard I tried to convince her, that she was grievously sinning, and maybe she would be punished for it. I can’t say anything positive about her illness, feigned or true, but the only strange thing is that she has changed extremely, lost weight and become weak, eats almost nothing at all; You can put it closer to the enemy’s charms, but only God knows. They grieve at you for not keeping her with them, and why are you letting her go for such a long time; To all this I objected that their punishment was wrong: she was released for a short time, but in this, that she stayed for a long time, it was her will and there was no one there to follow her; everyone has their duty. Let everyone understand this matter as they wish and blame us; Everyone has their own understanding and will to judge other people’s affairs, but God’s judgment will be of a different kind; woe to you even then, when all men speak good (Luke 6:26); So, let us not be faint-hearted, but, placing our trust in the merciful Lord, with His help, we will endure a little and everything will pass, both sorrowful and pleasant; the time of life is already leaning towards the west of days. I remain unworthy of your pilgrim, sinful I.M. March 7, 1844. You might be interested in: