Письмо 239
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On the approaching day of your angel, I have the deepest honor to congratulate you; May the Lord send His blessing and spiritual consolation. Although I am writing this letter in advance, I believe that you will receive it on the day of your angel and will surely not reject this, although meager, but diligent offering of congratulations. Finally, the most merciful Lord, who fulfills the good desires of our hearts, inclined the hearts of the parents of my niece A. (albeit with illness and sorrow): to send her to a monastery and to your monastery. This is definitely difficult for their parental hearts: with great need, they agreed to send her to the monastery, they just wanted to place her in the E-th monastery, where they could have a meeting with her more often; but when it came to her long-term absence, it caused them a lot of heart disease. This is excusable to them, both due to human weakness and ignorance of our way of life.
I do not condemn E-th monastery; Of course, there are those who are being saved everywhere, but their way of life is unknown to me, and therefore I do not dare entrust it to an unknown path; and she herself has a desire to live in your monastery: therefore, apparently, there is a calling from God for her to spend her life in your monastery. I humbly ask you to accept her as one of the verbal lambs of your holy fence, under your maternal protection, and to guide her on the path of true salvation, so that she will be a worthy bride of the palace of the heavenly Bridegroom Christ, our God; for which you will receive reward from Him Himself; I had already conveyed this intention to you through M. M., but at that time it had not yet been decided to send her to your monastery, and therefore did not bother you decisively; and now I ask both for acceptance and for placing her in the cell of M. M–e, who, for her part, expressed her consent to this; Maybe it will seem to I.P. and it is regrettable that S. will not fit in her cell, but I ask you to convince her that it is inconvenient for her to live in the cramped cell, and in other respects, as God instructs you.
Her parents write that they cannot let her go until September, and asked me to write to you, and I wrote to S., so that she herself would write to you about acceptance; then surely you will honor her with an answer. Your unworthy pilgrim, the great sinner I.M. July 18, 1844.
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