Письма 401–447

Thank the Lord that we began to see and recognize our own weakness and weakness, whereas before we saw in ourselves much zeal for spiritual things. You must have zeal and compel yourself to do what is good, but you do not need to see it, count it as something and base your salvation on it. Even if you do everything that is commanded, say, as if we were unworthy servants, what we ought to do, we did (Luke 17:10), the Lord teaches us. And when we think that we please God, we thereby transgress His commandments and anger Him. The Lord will accept the sorrow of your soul for the past: just do not lose heart and do not despair of God’s mercy; but from the memory of the past, humility is acquired, which alone makes strong intercession for you before God. When it is impossible to avoid situations that happen in secular society, then you need to protect yourself with the fear of God, in deeds, words and thoughts, and prepare yourself for this in advance with prayer. I wish you peace, health and prosperity and with my respect I remain your unworthy pilgrim, the great sinner I.M. Again, confusion befell you, but do not be embarrassed, do not be afraid - these are our encouragers, that is, sorrowful cases: they encourage us to seek help from God and strike at the doors of His mercy. Change in our structure is similar to what happens in the atmosphere - when there is weather, and when there is a storm, rain, and thunder, and again a bucket. Pray to God for your son: “Thy will be done, O Lord, upon him, and keep him from all the snares of the enemy and keep him strong in the Orthodox Christian Church.” Beware of judging others; God is the judge of everyone and He said: “Do not judge, lest you be condemned.” Now you can clearly see that we are subject to changes in our moral and spiritual dispensation: for evening there may be mourning, but in the morning joy (Ps. 29:6), according to St. David; there is no need to lose heart during mournful visits, but to be bold when the Lord visits with peace and tranquility. I do not forbid you to write to me, but I ask you to forgive me when I cannot satisfy you with an answer, due to weakness or lack of time. Thank God for everything! But not to us, Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory (Ps. 113:9); after former eclipses, you feel the air of your mind purified and clearly listen to the prayers you read. It is the mercy of God with you; This is the betrayal of the right hand of the Most High (Ps. 77:11). And this is the fruit of your sorrows: because of the multitude of my illnesses, Your consolations have made my soul glad (Ps. 93:19), sings St. David, king's prophet. If you, having acquired this blessing, take pleasure in it and imagine something highly about yourself through the subtle suggestion of the enemy, then a dark cloud of darkness will cover your mental atmosphere; Yes, in spiritual life it is impossible to be otherwise; If we only enjoy grace-filled consolations, and do not have sorrowful inductions, then we can be carried away into arrogance and delusion, and both gradually pass away, we receive strength and art; in the first case we send thanksgiving, and in the latter we acquire humility; and until we come to humility, our foundation in virtue cannot be firm. Walking around the house and fields with icons and bringing comfort to your subjects is a pious, useful and saving deed. Having brought glory and thanksgiving to the Lord, we make ourselves partakers of the spiritual and physical consolation of our brothers who work for us; - and here you can derive spiritual benefit by humbling yourself, imagining their labors and our inaction. Most Venerable of the Lord N N 48 By your writing, dated February 2, you are looking for a comforting word from me in your sorrow, which you describe in detail; but I, avoiding details, and especially not wanting to trust the immodesty of paper, will say briefly: it is decent and useful to have compassion and to ache with our hearts for those close to us who are in trouble, mental and physical, and to pray to the Lord for them; but when they do not listen to your advice and have a grudge against them for this, this already means fulfilling your passion of anger and memory of malice. The most merciful Lord, having given us free will, endures everything, waiting for our conversion and repentance and does not immediately punish, but turns us to Himself by various means, and through prudence, and light punishment, and with His fatherly voice He calls us to Himself: come to me, you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28); but we want to act strictly, we want to remove the speck from the eyes of our neighbor, yet we do not see the beam in our own eye. And so, I advise you to leave your sorrow to the will of God and take care to eradicate your passion of malice, and the Lord will nourish you, for He fulfills every animal’s good will and gives food to all flesh. Handing you over to His omnipotent protection, with the wish for you and your sisters peace, health and prosperity, I remain unworthy of your many-sinful pilgrim I.M. February 5, 1812. Thank you for wishing me a happy holiday; and I congratulate you, seeing you off; May the Lord grant you to continue to meet the same in peace and tranquility of mind and body. You ask me for lines of comfort in your sorrows, which you describe in your letter; But what consolation can I give you, if not the God of peace and all joy Himself will give it to you from the abundance of generosity and the wealth of His goodness, which He pours out on you, otherwise how could you have existed hitherto without having any means to support yourself in everyday needs. So, you must thank Him that He cares for you and henceforth place all your hope in Him, having concern for the fulfillment of His holy commandments; His word is not false: seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all this will be added to you (Matthew 6:33). I wish you and your sisters health and salvation; I remain unworthy of your many-sinful pilgrim I.M. April 14, 1843. Do you realize that you cannot thank the Creator for His good deeds to you, and who, out of duty, can do this? We must try in every possible way to fulfill His holy will for our own spiritual benefit, and in our weaknesses and inclinations we must always bring repentance and self-reflection. You need to cohabitate with your sisters, therefore this is your cross, sent to you from God; bear their infirmities, learn about your dispensation and according to the word of St. Apostle: Bear one another’s burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2). May the Lord help you and your sisters to spend this time of repentance peacefully, and always care about this, not repenting of the enemy’s slander, which destroys the world from insignificant words or movements. Asking for God's blessing on you, I remain your unworthy pilgrim, the great sinner I.M. March 6, 1843 I received two letters from you, filled with sorrowful adventures, especially the first; but where can one go from them: the Lord allows them, but also strengthens them to bear them; you say that “I carry without patience”; But what about without patience? at least, involuntarily, endure it; It would be better if it were accepted wisely, it would ease sorrow, but with cowardice we burden ourselves with it, but we bear it all. Your desire to join a monastery, if it is true, then the Lord will arrange it; but when you go to a monastery, thinking there to calm yourself from sorrows, then it is not true. Dedicating oneself to monastic life, one must deny oneself and expect even greater sorrows; this is what it means to take up one’s cross and follow in the footsteps of Christ. In order to avoid fear for the guests, you need to serve a prayer service in your house with the blessing of water and sprinkle the house, then there will be no fear. N.N. sets off from here on his way to Moscow. May the Lord vouchsafe you to celebrate the feast of the Resurrection of Christ with heartfelt joy, I remain your unworthy pilgrim, the great sinner I.M. March 12, 1844. While leaving....., I received your letter, with which you inform about the grief that has happened to you through your person, as well as about other sorrows, and ask me for written consolation. My only strength is to sympathize with you, and God himself is strong to console, and He also does His mercy with you, allowing temptations, strengthening you in patience and delivering you from troubles, and for this reason He sends this wonderfully, unknown; We must only accept with faith that he does this out of love, for through many tribulations it is fitting for us to enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). If you have the zeal, strength and opportunity to travel to the Sergius Lavra for a pilgrimage, then may the Lord bless you. I wish you and your sisters peace, health and prosperity and salvation, and with my respect I remain your unworthy pilgrim, the great sinner I.M. July 6, 1844. What should I do with you and how can I console you? Throughout your letter you write that you are exhausted from grief and express grumbling, you will not help them, but will only increase their sorrows, and when you thank God and blame yourself, then all sorrows will be a consolation for you and will soon pass. How do you want to be saved without tribulation? There is nothing more to write, and there is no time; My head is full, I have a lot of letters lying around. I remain a wisher for your health and salvation, much-sinned I.M. April 28, 1846. I received your letter, by which you notify that you have reconciled with........ I heartily rejoice at this and thank God; about your trip with someone to St. Do not think too much about the relics of St. Sergius, but rely completely on the will of God, and He, in His goodness, will arrange your path better than us. You also explain that you are at a loss about the shoemaker, what should you do with him? Although I wrote to you about this, I will not be lazy to write about the same thing again: if you want to act with him in the spirit of Christian love, then you must admonish him and punish him in a fatherly manner, and ask his confessor about this and take everything from him, thinking that He was sent to you as punishment for your sins and do not embarrass yourself with disorder, covering it with Christian love, and do not cease to pray to the Lord for his correction; if your patience is exhausted, you can do with it as you please. We must endure sorrows for our sins in this life if we want to be pardoned at the Last Judgment, therefore it is better to endure those that the Lord sends; Consider yourself unworthy of peace and then everyone who is from the outside, whether from relatives or from. . . insults will be more bearable and easier for you; I cannot indicate any other means of preserving peace of mind, in the midst of this world full of troubles and misfortunes. In your patience gain your souls (Luke 21:19), says the Lord himself and all the holy fathers teach that in the patience of sorrows lies our salvation, which you desire to receive, and I remain your true desire. I. M. May 12, 1847 I received your letter dated December 20 last year. You describe your sorrows in it; taking part in them, I would like you to take them not with such a frame of mind; listen to the teachings of our Savior, which we promised to follow: love, He says, your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who harm you (Matthew 5:44); if you showed obedience to the sick person and did not receive mutual compassion from him, do not think that your labors are in vain, and do not consider them great either; The Lord will reward everyone with their due on the day of judgment, and do not condemn anyone; If you decide to pay hostility, you will not receive any benefit other than enmity, and this is not a Christian matter. The Holy Apostle teaches not to repay evil for evil, and whoever holds on to this, no matter what good he does for his neighbor and no matter what evil he suffers from him, remains peaceful, not expecting retribution from people and does not consider himself worthy of it for his sins. Wishing you peace, health and salvation, asking you for the blessing of God, I remain with respect, the unworthy pilgrim, the great sinner I.M. From your letter I see that upon leaving our monastery you were met with sorrow; what to do! We truly need a cross, that’s why the Lord allows it to come upon us. Try to blame and reproach yourself for everything, and not your neighbors, and firmly remember that no one can offend us if God does not allow, and God allows temptations for our benefit, you can remind us of your brother... and ask lightly, but do not increase your requests, but rather rely on the will of God; if God wills it, the general will immediately agree, but otherwise your petitions will not help. I sincerely wish for peace and harmony to be established between you and the sisters, and I ask you to contribute as much as possible to this and ask for God’s help, without which we cannot do anything. I remain the desirer of your salvation, much-sinful I.M. March 15, 1852. The Holy Apostle writes: in all those who grieve, but are not cold (2 Cor. 4:8), that is, he does not forbid to grieve, but not to be faint-hearted, and you do the same in your sorrows: not to be troubled and not to be faint-hearted, for with cowardice we only aggravate them more; we must be sure that sorrows are allowed by God to punish us or to test our faith. You write that you are embittered by your sisters, blame yourself and not them, then your sorrows will be eased, God is able to give you consolation when you humble yourself, for He will give grace to the humble and console them, which I earnestly wish for you too I.M. October 21, 1853. I received your letter dated March 16, in which you poured out all your spiritual grief; I take heartfelt sympathy in your situation and pray to the most merciful Lord to grant peace and consolation to your soul to the extent that the enemy of our salvation, the devil, wanted to crush you with excessive, and, moreover, completely unfair grief; in vain does he pretend to you that I am grieved by you and have forgotten you as a sinner - because I myself am the first sinner. I remember you, but I did not and do not answer your letters by first mail, because there are more than 60 letters on the table and they are very necessary and require an answer; I don’t know which one to answer first, I don’t have the strength to do so. How much I am concerned about the affairs of the monastery, I cannot convey this to you in a letter, and you yourself know; if you consider me to be your spiritual father, then believe me that I am not lying about this. Whenever you wish, at any time you can come to our monastery and talk; It was in vain that they changed their minds about being with us for Holy Week. Don’t be embarrassed by the fact that you didn’t satisfy his desire......, didn’t ride his horse to B–; tell me how it was that the road deteriorated and you didn’t receive an answer from me. You also write that………. through his letter to you, he advises you to make your way to Moscow and to St. Sergius; if it is possible, then I advise you, only asking for God’s blessing for you; equally about…….. don’t worry too much, but try in every possible way to maintain peace of mind, consider about him, what is best for you and for him, then do with him. In conclusion, I will tell you: if you realize that you are sinning before God, then do not allow the enemy of salvation to sow despair in your heart, but always say with your heart and lips that God came to earth to save the sinner, and not the righteous; “I am a sinner, but I try to bring repentance to the Lord, as the Knower of the Heart, and I do not despair of God’s mercy towards me”; Remember also how the Lord swears by Himself that He does not want the death of a sinner: As I live, says Adonai the Lord, He spoke through the mouth of one Prophet, as if by will: I do not want the death of a sinner, but to turn the wicked from his way and live to be him (Ezek. 33:11), with the consciousness of being a sinner, you should feel humility, that is, the consciousness of all those close to you as your best, with inseparable - love for them, peace with everyone: with God, neighbors and yourself, which I sincerely wish for you. Asking for God's peace and blessing on you, I remain the desirer of your health and salvation, much-sinful I.M. March 31, 1847. You describe your sorrows from the inattention of others to your disposition, which is not caused by them, but by you, because your inner structure itself worries you. There are no limits to our desires; not one has fulfilled this, and in many ways it is not for us, which makes us uneasy, but when we acquire self-reproach and humility, we calmly endure even the most negligence from others. Pay attention to fulfilling the commandment about loving your enemies, then you will find yourself guilty, for not only are those not your enemies, whom you grieve for your lack of attention, but they are also benefactors. In other cases, I can’t write to you much, this is enough, but I wish you to calm down in your feelings and be healthy and prosperous, together with your sisters, and I remain your unworthy pilgrim, the great sinner I.M. August 3, 1843 Most Honorable of the Lord N N 49 I received your letter and am very sorry about the misfortune that happened with the (factory) stove. Accept the visitation of God in loss with thanksgiving, it will serve you to humility; but sometimes, through the cunning of the enemy, good fortune is exalted, but the Holy Scripture says: Let not the wise boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty boast in his strength, let not the rich boast in his wealth, but let him boast in this, that he may know the Lord and do justice and righteousness in the midst of the earth (Jer. 9:23). We regret our action……….., but what to do about it? It’s true that he doesn’t like living with us, despite all our condescension towards him, even beyond measure. I don’t know what Father Archimandrite will answer you about him. May the Lord bless you for the construction of a new furnace and its successful operation. Thank God that……… and his entire family are well disposed towards you. May the Lord extend His mercy upon you. Asking for you and your entire family the peace and blessing of God, I remain your unworthy pilgrim, the great sinner I.M. June 24, 1854. With spiritual consolation, we read your writing about the safe return of the most venerable.... to our stay. Thank God that she received mental and spiritual consolation in our monastery; this was granted by the Lord through her faith and zeal. Grant, Lord, that this will serve them all for the benefit. Congratulations to you and your wife on your newborn daughter; Grant, Lord, to the one who gave birth perfect health and to the one born also. May the Lord bless her and may she be your consolation. I sincerely rejoice that your master was pleased to accept the book of the Apostle from us. You write that he remembered a reward, then in this I ask you to reject him from this, I do not demand this, for, thanks to the Lord, I have food and clothing, I am satisfied with everything, for me this is already a reward, that he accepted from me this spiritual gift, which contains the word of God, which He, reading in the church, preaches, speaks, proclaims, and He himself receives this seed in himself and in others plants and, of course, it will bear fruit, if not a hundred and not sixty, then even thirty - a great blessing; you just need to try to prepare the soil of the heart, clearing it of tares and thorns (passions), and the Lord will send down the dew of His grace and increase the fruit. I am very sorry for your brother...... that such a sorrowful temptation happened to him. You write that you will send it to us. Although we do not hope to give him help, but, according to your faith, the Lord is able to send it, and the Mother of God will have mercy on him. But I advise you to send him to V-b to the great saint of God Mitrofan. He is a great intercessor to God for those calling for his help, and through his prayers God will have mercy on the sick. Asking for God's blessing on you, on your wife and on your children, I remain with my respect, your unworthy pilgrim, my sinner I.M. July 7, 1856 It is written: give thanks in everything (1 Thessalonians 5:18), so we also need to give thanks to the Lord in everything, who does good and punishes us. Your lord…….. visited you for a short time and went abroad with his two children. His intention is to receive healing and peace of mind and body. May God grant him to complete this journey safely and return in perfect health to his family and to his estate, to those who love him. Out of your zeal, you pray for him collectively during church services; After the liturgy, an akathist is read. God bless you, this is good. Are you asking how to pray for him as a family? God sees your zeal and accepts the prayers we offer not in the wisdom of words, but in the simplicity of heart. Pray simply: save, Lord, and have mercy on our master N N with his children, grant him, Lord, to return safely, in perfect health and tranquility; And add humility to this, for God accepts the prayer of the humble and hears their prayer: and if, God forbid, pride and self-praise are mixed in with this, then the prayer cannot be heard. We, for our part, have a duty, and we pray for his health and salvation, and for preservation on this journey and for a safe return. At the end of your letter, unpleasant news was received from……..the plant that if the shaft is damaged, there will be a big loss in sugar production. May the Lord instruct you how to correct this matter; If it is impossible to make a shaft soon, then can this syrup be converted into sugar at other factories? All this time, your factories were doing well, well, and were receiving a lot of income, then it’s no wonder that you were lifted up by the thought of your art and efforts, and God visited you with this failure, and what could be a loss. In these cases, we are conscious and humble, and this is what we need. God be merciful! He will fix everything, don’t lose heart, but humble yourself. And this may be the reason for this, that holidays are not revered. We think we will get a lot through this and we get it, but then we are unexpectedly punished. Most venerable... I wish you and your children peace, health and salvation, and I remain the unworthy pilgrim, the great sinner I.M. February 9, 1857 From the 25th of February, I received your letter only on the 4th of March, I don’t know where it wandered for so long, and with it three letters from your most respected master to you, from which I see his favor towards you, for which I participate in your well-being; and you try to justify his trust in you by diligently looking after and disposing of his property entrusted to you, calling on God’s help in everything, and not at all relying on yourself and on your strength and reason, but what you have corrected, bring thanks to the Lord who helps you, and so on all your deeds there will be the blessing of God, and I, a sinner, ask it for all of you and for your establishment. Your wife. . . . , it’s true, was communicated in the second week, on Saturday, on which I earnestly congratulate her and wish that this saving sacrament would be for her for the health of her soul and body. You also need to choose time for this preparation; all things are needed, and this is the most necessary; We sin in deed, word and thought, and we must throw off this yoke by confessing and partaking of the sacraments of Christ. Asking for God's blessing on you, on your wife and on your children, I remain a desirer of your health and salvation, a pilgrim, a great sinner I.M. March 5, 1857. The most merciful Lord covered you all and freed you from the responsibility of the fire that happened. Give glory and thanksgiving to Him. The Lord dissolved his heart………to goodness, from the abundance of the wealth given to him by God; including we were honored to receive from his generosity 10 poods of sugar, and other monasteries and church clergy and their workers were all supplied from his mercy with money and sugar and tea. God save him! This is our prayer, may the Lord grant him and his entire family peace, health and salvation. I am attaching my writing to it. Your intention, first of all, to use it for a while in work within his power, will be very useful for him, and what kind of work you will probably come up with yourself. I talked to him about what position he will hold? He himself said that he must first work hard at work, may the Lord bless him and keep him under your supervision, and not allow him to do any pranks... being with us, he asked me to ask you to ascend to his position, what He will ask you about regarding his fate; and I ask you, do not leave him with advice and assistance in his work. I remain a desirer of your health and salvation, an unworthy pilgrim, a great sinner, I.M., asking for God’s blessing on you and your children. To your brother...... It’s as if it’s not much better, but everything is ill, and it seems that along with mental illness there is stubbornness. It seems they wanted him to visit the holy saint of God Mitrofan in Voronezh, then it’s not bad to do this, maybe the saint of God will help. I am sending a prosphora and a piece of artos, written on a testicle. Christ is Risen! April 14, 1857. Along with your letter, I received a letter from your most honorable sir... God bless him, for he accepted my meager writing with thanksgiving, and honored me with his own handwritten writing, which I announced to our collaborators; We have a duty, as we prayed, to continue to pray for the health, prosperity and salvation of him and his entire family, as well as for the improvement and success in his affairs. You write about...... that he went to work on grinding, may the Lord bless him with the beginning of his labors and help him to experience what others do and work; he himself had the desire and desire for this. In vain does your wife mourn over his labors in this teaching; where would he be without it? The word of the Lord must be replenished upon us: by the sweat of your brow you shall bear your bread (Gen. 3:19), but what will happen without labor? Idleness is the mother of boredom and many vices; Passions will also arise in him and it will be difficult to fight them, but bodily labors do not allow him to do this. I don’t know why your wife is so offended? Do you feel sorry for him? But this will not harm him, and will also serve as a consolation; or considers it low for himself, then this is pride. So I ask you not to grieve over this, but to rejoice and be comforted in spirit. What is early in maturity is not useful, but what is acquired through experience and labor is durable; I hope that he will listen to me and will not grieve about this, but let him pray to God to enlighten his mind and give him humility. You thank us for accepting your blessings; we must even more thank and pray to God for you. All our brothers fervently bow to you, and I, sinner I.M., asking for God’s blessing for your entire family and for all the affairs entrusted to you, remain a desirer of your health and salvation and a praying man. April 27, 1857. Having received your letter and read it, I grieved over your present sorrowful situation; As much as I can, I wish to present you with a word for strengthening and consolation in your sorrow. All this time, as I saw from your letters, you saw only disposition and goodwill towards you. Glory and thanksgiving to the Lord, who benefits you; but it is clear that prosperity alone in life cannot be useful to a person without upheavals; Since always eating sweet food can damage our physical health, it is necessary to sometimes use wormwood bitterness for the health of the body. So in the moral situation, well-being alone leads a person into arrogance and carelessness about his spiritual structure, and therefore the Lord carefully allows a person to taste the sorrows of sorrows, so that he has humble wisdom and does not rely on the strength and immutability of temporary good and would resort to God in his sorrows, for He Himself, through the Prophet, encourages us: call on Me in the day of your sorrow, and destroy you and glorify Me ( Ps. 49:15). Through sorrow we are confirmed in faith, and we impute human glory to nothing. We must firmly believe that without the will of God no sorrow will happen to us, and not even the strength of our head will perish without His will, although we see the cause of the sorrows of our people, but they are only instruments of God's Providence, acting in the matter of our salvation, and they can only do to us what God allows; then there is no need to lose heart, neither you nor your wife, but place your trust in God and ask for help and intercession from Him: the Lord will hear you in the day of sorrow, the Name of the God of Jacob will protect you, send you help from the Holy One, and from Zion will intercede for you, remember all your sacrifice and make your burnt offering fat. The Lord will give you according to your heart and fulfill all your advice (Ps. 19:2-6). Defending your brethren, you accept grief, and the Lord will count this for your good and forgive your sins. Remember the past time, what your sorrow was; but it passed by, and no trace of it remained, and you came out a fighter, having accepted the benefit of your soul; Without the same grief, you could have suffered greater mental harm. Glory to God, who saves us with our gums and hands, both with good and with punishment. Pray for those who offend you, so that the Lord will not impute this sin to them; this appeases God. Asking for you, your wife and children the peace and blessing of God, I remain a desirer of your health and salvation and an unworthy pilgrim, the great sinner I.M. I do not advise abandoning the crystal plant without strong resistance, but when you find yourself forced, there will be nothing left to do: but as long as you can, protect the working people. April 30, 1857. I received your letter dated May 6th. The word of St. is true. Prophet David: Evening may be mourning, but joy will come in the morning (Ps. 29:6). After a storm there is silence and a bucket. So it happened to you, after temptation - consolation; Recognize in this the all-wise providence of God, teaching you on the path of your life, so that you will not be exalted by your eternal prosperity, but, having punished little with the rod of fatherly love, the Lord sent an abundance from temptation and consolation, and helped to keep the wages of working people behind them. This will be of great benefit to both people and the lord; They, being satisfied, will bless the master, and the Lord will bless his wealth. Glory and thanksgiving to the Lord! I am very glad that your wife has calmed down about her son, who is working to learn the skill, for her own and the general benefit. He will know not only the art, but also the work of it, and therefore, over time, he will judge sensibly about other workers; What happened to him when, without having experienced it himself, he began to tell others? No, it is very good that he is engaged in craftsmanship himself; God help him! And there is great benefit in that he is not idle, but idleness brings great harm. I pray to the most merciful Lord, may He grant you, your wife and all your children, His peace and blessing, and I remain the unworthy pilgrim, the many sinner I.M. May the Lord bless all your good undertakings and deeds and the entrusted factories and the people working in them. May 11, 1857 First of all, let us give thanks to the Lord God, who has done us good, preserved us, admonished us and helped us in everything! And let our hearts not be lifted up, as if they themselves had done something good, for the Lord said: without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5), and therefore we must pray through prayers to ask Him for instruction and help in everything, both in matters of our salvation and in external everyday things, in order to fulfill everything according to His holy will. But even if we do everything that is commanded, we must feel and say, according to the word of the Lord, that we are servants without keys, who must do what we have done (Luke 17:10). And this is humility, which the Lord looks upon and reassures us. He commands him to learn from Him, saying: Learn from Me, for I am meek and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:29). I wrote this in memory of myself and you. I rejoice that your master is favorably disposed towards you and rewards you so graciously by giving a gift on your name day, worthy of his generosity and your labors and merits. Save him, Lord! But I fear for you, lest your heart be exalted about your mind and deeds, for great futility may come from this. In the church service of the 8th tone, Saint John of Damascus sang and now the Church sings: “Let my heart be covered with Thy fear, the humble one, lest he who is exalted may fall from Thee, O all-generous One.” This is what I wish for myself and for you, and for everyone who is right-thinking and seeking salvation. Although I see from your letter that you write humbly, you consider yourself unworthy and undeserving of such a gift, but the feelings of your heart are known to God alone; Often the enemy’s tame thoughts are stolen from us ourselves, secretly approaching and praising us. Lord; humble and meek, may he save us from his harmful snares and snares, for we walk among many snares, and only humility alone crushes them, with the help of God, because He looks upon him; So let us pray to God to keep our hearts in humility and love for God and neighbor. Glory and thanksgiving to the Lord for preserving your factories that are entrusted to your management and blessing them; and henceforth bless all actions for the benefit of your master and the people entrusted to him, and for the common good; for we are all brethren in Christ, and what we do for our neighbors, the Lord takes upon Himself: whatever you do for one of these least of my brothers, do for me (Matthew 25:40). Asking for God's blessing on all your deeds, I here mean crystal, glass, sugar, cast iron factories, beets, sowing and harvesting of various grains, household establishments, cattle breeding, poultry farming, beekeeping and all the devices of furnaces and factories, and with all this the final thing is about the good of your neighbors, your family, and most of all about the salvation of your soul. The word of God is not false: seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all this will be added to you (Matthew 6:33). This applies not only to you, but also to. . . she also participates in your household, in her part; The Lord bless you all and your master, and give him and his family peace, health and prosperity. Your son... and your brother... visited our monastery; May the Lord remember their zeal and love and reward them with His mercy. The Lord blessed and helped your son.... He began his labors to go through an active life, and now he dedicates the beginnings of the rewards of his labors to God; 13 silver rubles earned by him, brought here, which you and he entrust to my order; With God’s help, I will try to make our lesser brothers and sisters in need participatory in them, and to give a portion for the Church. This benefit will serve him in life and in his deeds. Alms and prayer for him will rise before God, and He will reward with His mercy. You propose a new assignment for him, to study at a sugar factory. This is good, may the Lord bless him and help him educate himself in the knowledge of this art, only to do everything with humility, not attributing to himself, but to God’s help. I received glasses of his work and am very pleased with his diligence. The Lord will bless your brother’s journey to Voronezh with...... and will grant him the honor to receive mental and physical healing from the saint of God Mitrofan. May the Lord help you hand over the shells from your factories safely and without sorrow. Asking God's blessing for you and your entire family, I remain an unworthy pilgrim, a great sinner I. M. June 9, 1857. Having received your letter, most respected......, we rejoiced and thanked the Lord, who granted you, with your wife and children, freedom from the master's citizenship. May God grant him and his children, and his most honorable wife, many years of health and eternal salvation, that he knows how to appreciate the services of those who work for him in truth. Then we, having gathered in our church, brought a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord for the creation of mercy on you, and all our brethren collectively congratulate you and your wife on this freedom, and we pray to the Lord to grant you true freedom, with which He freed us from the slavery of sin, so that you may be free from sin and enslave to the truth. I hope that you, just as you served your master faithfully, will now try to earn him the favor he has done to you, preserving the people entrusted to you and observing his interests in plants and factories, with the help of God. I remain the wisher of health and salvation for you and your entire family, and a devout man of many sins, I.M. All our brothers express their respect to you and wholeheartedly congratulate you. August 3, 1857. Tomorrow is a joyful day: the feast of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, with which I greet you and your wife and your children with a joyful greeting: Christ is risen! and, congratulating you on this, I wish you all to meet joyfully, peacefully, calmly, in perfect health and with heartfelt spiritual consolation, rejoicing in the risen Lord our Savior! In your letter dated March 17, you inform about the arrival of your master with the children; God grant that his arrival will be marked for you and for our lesser working brethren in factories and factories, with merciful indulgence and a monetary reward; without which they reach ruin and fall into murmuring. Oh, how great this is before God! The withholding of the mercenary's bribe cries out to the Lord for vengeance: may this not be done to him, but may the Lord dissolve his heart toward doing good and worthy remuneration for the working people. He will receive more in terms of both external and mental well-being. May the Lord bless your intention to intercede for this and crown you with good success. Poor people, tired of work, having been consoled on the great holiday, will shed tears of joy and pray for the master and you, their intercessor. May the Lord send His blessing to all your labors and business establishments, factories and factories. Asking God's blessing for you and your family, I remain a wisher for your health and salvation and a pilgrim, many sinners I.M. Peace be with you! 1858, March 22 days. Most reverent of the Lord N N! 51 I am heartily glad that the Lord called you to the knowledge of the truth and made you worthy of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, worthy to receive the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and communion of the most pure body and blood of Christ. Now you have become a Christian, on which I earnestly congratulate you and wish to preserve the pledge of faith you have accepted, holy baptism, preserve it by fulfilling the commandments of God. And in this the Lord comforted you a lot, that he announced to the most venerable .... to be your adopted father, bring him thanks. You ask me what kind of life you should choose? To this I cannot tell you anything; you know your abilities, what worldly positions you can hold, having consulted with people who know the way of worldly life, do so; Above all, pray to the Lord, that He Himself will instruct you and instruct you according to His will, what you should choose. I remain, wishing for your health and salvation, much-sinful I.M. April 8, 1838. Most Reverend N N of the Lord! I participate in your grief and together I will mourn with you the fire that happened in L—e. This visitation of God has been sent down to you with great mercy. It was completely indicated to you by hand that it was not by chance, but by the providence of God, that the main property was preserved; the day before, the supply of sugar and sand had almost been taken out, and at the very minute they had just managed to take out the sugar, it caught fire. The Lord showed by this that He punishes with mercy, with His wave prompted the removal of the material and then allowed the fire to fall on a small amount, although it is a pity, but in that with obedience to the will of God, accept the visit, and for the preservation of the main thing, bring weak thanks to the most merciful Lord. His providence for our salvation is incomprehensible, and with His punishment it prompts us to repentance if we have any sins. Doing charity to others, of course, preserved what could have perished in a few hours; and henceforth may the Lord preserve the property of your master and bless your heaps. It seems that the master cannot be angry with you for this, but if he becomes angry, then accept it as from the hand of God. Asking God's blessing for you, your wife and your children, I remain a desirer of your health and salvation and a pilgrim I.M. I ask God's blessing for all your deeds according to the institution. June 9, 1858. .... with your sick brother .... departed from us on the 13th to T-y deserts safely. They will visit St. Sergius and through His prayers, maybe the Lord will send him healing. What troubles happen to you, I see that you accept them as sent from the hand of God; and, of course, He builds everything for the benefit and gives useful things to everyone; but we do not understand everything, although we pretend to know. Submission to the will of God will calm you, and He will guide you to His truth. A lot of visits happened to you in establishments, but this cannot be considered a misfortune, but a punishment from God, coming from love. For the Lord loves him, punishes him, and beats every son who accepts him; Even if you remain without punishment, for you are not sons in nature, but adulterers, writes the holy Apostle (Heb. 12:6). Such temptations bring us to a sense of knowing our sins and correcting our path according to the commandments of God. Asking for you, your wife and children, the peace and blessing of God, I remain a wisher for your health and salvation and a pilgrim, much sinner I. M. June 15, 1858 From your letter I see that, thanks to the Lord, everything is going well and excellently, and the L-th plant started up on the 20th and is working perfectly, for which you give praise and glory to the Lord God, without attributing it to your mind and strength. That's how it should be. What do we know without God's help? I pray to the Lord that He will reward your good will and feasible labors, for the success of which you give praise to God, so that He will announce to your benefactor..., for your encouragement, to be pleased with you and your wife for her labors. And what you write about some people who are sewing fetters on you, you yourself will agree with this: they can only do what God pleases to allow; and be assured in this that the power of our head will not perish without His will (Luke 21:18). If it pleases Him to allow you to suffer any temptation and sorrow, then all this is due to His goodness and love for you; He either tests your faith or seeks your patience. Sorrows are useful to us, they involuntarily humble us, and constant prosperity elevates us, but when the Lord sees our weakness, He spares us and delivers us from temptations, or, sending us sorrows, quickly gives us consolation, and through sorrows teaches us experience in life, so that in the future we may be preserved from what harms us. And for those people who are trying to denigrate you, pray to God, and forgive them from the bottom of your heart, and you yourself will receive forgiveness of your sins from God. Asking for you, your wife and your children the peace and blessing of God, I remain the desirer of your health and salvation, an unworthy pilgrim, a great sinner I. M. October 7, 1858. I received your letter dated the 25th, from which we see everything that happened to you up to that time, although your meeting and explanation were very painful and sorrowful, however, the power of God supported and strengthened you, and although you remained in anticipation of the unknown what would happen, it was still not what you expected. The Lord is strong now and always to preserve you, your spouse and your family; but the grace of God works everything for our benefit; He also sends sorrows, so that we, being in good and without sorrow, do not become exalted in our minds about ourselves, and this is such an invisible arrow of the enemy: you will not notice how it stings the heart: sorrows humble us; why Saint David exclaims to God: it is good for me, for he humbled me ecu (Ps. 119:71). And first of all, do not even humble yourself for those who have sinned (Ps. 119:67). In your sorrows, pour out your hearts before God, who is able to save you and give you consolation: I will pour out my prayer before Him, I will proclaim my sorrow before Him; at times my heart was sad and cried out to Him (Ps. 141:3) and in many of his sorrows, Saint David ran to the Lord and received deliverance and consolation. So we also resort to Him, the man-loving Father, He Himself encourages us to do this: call on Me in the day of your sorrow and wear you out and glorify Me (Ps. 49:15). Asking for you and your children the peace and blessing of God, I remain the desirer of your health and salvation, an unworthy pilgrim, M. I. M. Our fathers and brothers fervently bow to you. Now I received your letter dated February 2, and I heartily rejoiced and thanked the Lord, who had given N N his heart for a better disposition towards you and your family. The Lord blesses all your establishments, that’s why they provide benefits and do well. Give glory to God! May He continue to bestow His blessing on all your establishments. I'm in a hurry to send, I was just waiting for your letter. I am writing briefly about your circumstances; I don’t know if you can receive my letter correctly? I’ll just say: accept the cross sent to you by God’s providence, with humility and gratitude, and all this will happen for the best. Sacred history presents us with many examples, especially Job and Joseph, and others; We cannot do as much good for ourselves as God allows for our good, temporary and eternal. But what does temporary versus eternal mean? The longest life is like a drop in the ocean. I ask God’s blessing on all of you and on your children and establishments. February 17, 1859. The Lord is marvelous in all His deeds! I read your letter with tears of joy about your glorious and wonderful salvation from the misfortunes and sorrows that befell you and your family. God's providence allowed you, inadvertently, to fall into temptation, the consequences of which happened for the best, and, perhaps, on both sides. Evening may be mourning, but joy will come in the morning (Ps. 29:6). Joseph endured bonds and later became ruler of all Egypt. The Lord looked upon your tears, your wife and your children, visited the sorrow, and having driven it away, sent consolation and great favor N N. I praise you that you recognize God’s providence in this: bring thanks to the Lord and the Most Pure Virgin Mother of God for saving you from adversity, and surprising you with His mercy. We, for our part, according to our strength, gave thanks to the Lord for His mercy towards you - we served a grateful prayer service, remembering the gentlemen and you. When you give thanks to the Lord, try to forgive those who have insulted and are insulting you; it will serve you well. The Lord announced......, both for your services and for your sorrows, to console you with a reward of 5,200 and a salary of 3,000 rubles. per year. Glory and thanksgiving to the Lord! But let not your heart be lifted up and take credit for these merits. Unless the Lord builds a house, we labor in vain (Ps. 126:1). We do everything with His help, although you say this, I find it not superfluous to write to you as a warning; the enemy - you won’t see how he approaches with a highly intelligent thought; and we will reflect it with the word of God: “without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5), and the holy prophet cries out to God, with his gifts and royal glory: not to us, Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory (Ps. 113:9). Without praising you, I will say that the Lord has looked upon your goodwill, the benefit of your neighbors and those in need. The prophetic word truly is: blessed is he who considers the poor and needy; on the day of cruelty the Lord will deliver him (Ps. 40:2.3) and may he not deliver him into the hands of his enemies; Thank God for this mercy towards you and for the fact that you were worthy to do something for your neighbors, although it was my own will, but I will still say: let not your heart be lifted up. I congratulate you on this holy fast, and according to your desire, may the Lord help you and ………… spend the fast reverently, in purity, and enable your entire family to be partakers of the most pure mysteries of Christ. I remain an unworthy pilgrim, a great sinner I.M. February 26, 1859. You write that your eyes hurt; the reason is known - for tears, soak in rose water, and just rinse with fresh water more often, trusting in the Lord. ........suffers from insomnia, this is due to many worries, I experienced it myself, it is very debilitating; we need to throw out many rebellious, confusing thoughts from our heads, casting our care of things on the power of God and on His help, for without Him we cannot do anything (John 15:5). You can also use physical means: when going to bed, drink a glass of water and put a portion of bread nearby, this smell helps to calm you down; Moreover, in the missal there is a prayer to the seven youths of Ephesus, over the sleepless: you need to read it. The Lord is able to give you and her healing and peace. I believe that you have already been worthy of communion of the holy mysteries this week, I sincerely congratulate you on this and wish you all who have been worthy of this gift for mental and physical health and the hope of salvation. Asking for all of you the peace and blessing of God, I remain your unworthy pilgrim, the many-sinner I.M. I ask for God’s blessing for all your works and institutions. March 17, 1859. On the 19th, two of your letters were received at the same post office, dated March 13 and 16. You write about N N that he is in great spiritual sorrow and even went abroad alone, without taking a person with him. Amazing thing! What kind of grief is this so great that will sustain him? or an accumulation of many cases and circumstances; but all this is not without the providence of God. So wealth and contentment in everything does not console; the soul, apparently, requires food of a different kind; but we do not know someone else's conscience; everyone knows about himself more than others, and if he does not trust himself, then, of course, one must seek spiritual healing: but, apparently, the time has not come yet. The Lord wants everyone to be saved: either through voluntary works of repentance, or through involuntary sorrows, he draws us to Himself. Have mercy on him, Lord, and save him according to Your mercy! And we, sinners, dare to pray to the Lord for this, that he may send him a peaceful, faithful, guardian, mentor of soul and body, and return him safely to his family and those close to him. I sincerely regret the sick......, the simple-minded and kind servant of God, may God grant him relief from his illness and health of soul. It’s good that they resorted to spiritual healing, consecration of oil, and of course, they partook of the most pure mysteries of Christ. In illness it is very good to repeat this communion; do this at least every other week: comfort for the sick; y us and patients are reported twice a week. I ask him to bow to him and tell him to be calm in spirit, trusting in the mercy of God and the intercession of the Mother of God. I congratulate you all on tomorrow’s great feast of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos: “the day of our salvation is the greatest,” sings the Church and joy to the whole world! Asking God's blessing for you, your wife and your children, I remain the desirer of your health and salvation, much-sinful I.M. I ask God's blessing for all your establishments, factories, factories and households. I have already congratulated you on the feast of the Resurrection of Christ on the 7th via mail, and I received your letter dated April 6 on April 9. Thank you for congratulating me on the holiday and again I congratulate you on the current holiday and your most honorable wife, may the Lord help you to spend your time with your children peacefully and calmly and in good health. It is written: The Lord will protect you from all evil (Ps. 120:7), and this word has come true on you. Man intended evil for you, but God turned it into good, and delivered you from evil and turned you to repentance. And the Scripture also says: blessed is he who considers the poor and wretched; on the day of cruelty the Lord will deliver him (Ps. 40:2). This, too, contributed to your deliverance; continue to pay attention to the lesser brothers of Christ—the poor. God forbid that you left a debt to someone who wanted to harm you; You yourself will receive from God forgiveness of your debts. Asking for you, your wife and children myrtle, and God's blessing, I remain an unworthy pilgrim, a great sinner I.M. Our fathers and brothers fervently bow to you. April 14, 1859. You write that .... grieves at you for treating him harshly; but isn’t it your fault that in childhood and youth you spoiled him and indulged in pranks, then this became established in him; and let you set an example for other children, so as not to allow them to fulfill their will, then they will get used to this. Strict treatment does not prevent you from having to ………., but sometimes also to be forgiving and forgiving, and especially when he confesses, and to instill in him what great harm could be for him from the company of people of free conversion, and to pray to the Lord to strengthen him in truth, goodness and reason. Thanks be to the Lord, who saved your establishment from the fire, and may he continue to do so in the future. But you keep His holy commandments and do not rely on your own precautions, but you need to remember: if not the Lord builds a house, the builders labor in vain, and if not the Lord preserves the city, it will be built in vain (Ps. 127:1), and trust in His goodness. Asking for you, ...... and for your children the peace and blessing of God, I remain an unworthy pilgrim, a great sinner I. M. April 21, 1859. Thank the Lord that your affairs are going well; all this is His Holy blessing and help, for without Him we can do nothing, and therefore, in every work and undertaking we must call upon God’s help and blessing; and in case of success in business, do not attribute it to your own mind and strength, but to God’s help and bring thanks to him. And if some misfortune were to occur, we must always thank God, who through His providence arranges it for our benefit, for allowing our sins unknown to us, and not at all grumble. We consider it our duty, according to your faith, to pray to the Lord, may He send down His help and all your good undertakings, the construction of new furnaces, the sending of sugar and glass, with a successful arrival to the place and profitable sales, the preservation of beets from insects and to your other establishments, and for all of this we ask for God's blessing. We, in the monastery, thank God, are doing well, only there is no rain, which we all grieve about; we pray to the Lord to send rain, but be His Holy will. Our brethren bow to you, and I am with them, and I remain your unworthy pilgrim, the great sinner I.M. How are you doing? Is everyone healthy and calm? Place your trust in the most merciful Lord and in the intercession of the Most Pure Virgin Mary, pray for those who offend you; repent of your sins and leave them to those who insult you. This is our Christian duty! Accept the sorrowful things that happen with submission to the will of God, for without His will no one can do anything for us; a He, according to His all-wise Providence, acts everything for our benefit and salvation. No one escapes sorrows, and rich and glorious lands do not escape them, due to the destinies of God unknown to us. The narrow and sorrowful path leads into the eternal life: and through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22), Holy Scripture teaches us. May the Lord's will be upon us. The present is temporary, but the future is eternal. Asking for God's blessing on you, on ..... and on your children, I remain a desirer of your health and salvation and a pilgrim, the many-sinner I.M. July 19, 1859. With a painful heart I see the circumstances of your affairs, and especially yours. May the Lord help you preserve your conscience against the master and his property, of which I am sure that you wish him well and are concerned about the preservation of all the institutions entrusted to you. And what does not depend on you and is upset not because of your negligence, but because of other orders, then the Lord will relieve you of responsibility; It's just a pity about all this. What consequences there may be in the future is unknown to us, but we just need to be sure that no matter what sorrowful thing happens to us, it is allowed by God, according to His destinies unknown to us, and we accept it with filial obedience, being confident that He provides and cares for all of us, and for our salvation, and through sorrowful incidents teaches us patience and tests our faith, and then will arrange for the best. For our concept, it seems to be inconvenient and bitter to bear, but faith is strong to strengthen even in the most critical circumstances. I ask the Lord to send peace, health, salvation and peace to the master and to you all in your present sorrows. I remain an unworthy pilgrim, the sinful I.M. July 21, 1859. I sincerely regret the sick man... and your grief at seeing him suffer; But when we, sinners, are so compassionate, seeing our suffering nature, how much more does God, the loving Father, the child-loving and Creator, not spare His creation? Of course, He loves him more than we do. We care about the health and well-being of our neighbors, and He, at the same time, also provides for our eternal salvation; for we have been redeemed with the priceless blood of His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ; Everything here is temporary, but everything there is eternal. What a great difference is eternity versus present time, like the great sea with one drop of water, or the whole earth with one grain of sand! The grace of God sometimes allows illness or sorrow to befall you, according to His all-wise omniscience and unknown providence to us, for the eternal salvation of our souls. So, with childlike humility, a humble spirit, let us pray to Him that He will give healing to the sick, and may it be in everything, and this is His Holy will. Saint Isaac the Syrian writes: “In humility they do not dare to ask any more from the Lord, only Thy will be done, Lord.” I wish peace, health and salvation to you and your entire family, and I ask for all of you, and especially for the sick one, I remain an unworthy pilgrim, a great sinner I.M. November 17, 1859. I received your letter sent with N., which expresses the sorrow of your heart about the illness of your son. I sincerely regret that you are crying, and I understand that this sensitively affects your heart. But what to do? Apparently this is what the Lord wants, and we must submit to His Holy will. You, of course, are firmly convinced that our entry and departure, life and death, consist in the will of God. God created us, preserves us in life, and, at the time predetermined for each, carries us into eternity. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s (Rom. 14:8). Our life here, no matter how long it may be, all ends in death; Our existence does not end with it, but with death we only pass into eternity, which has no end. Considering this, surrender yourself to the will of God, and do not lose heart, and feed on hope while there is still the breath of life in him. Life here is pleasant and attractive, but it is impossible to express how much it is filled with troubles, sorrows and illnesses; on the contrary, there, in the afterlife, for those who depart from here with faith and hope in the merits of our Savior and those who have prepared for the parting words of the holy mysteries of Christ, eternal bliss is prepared, there is no illness, no sadness, no sighing, but endless life. May Your will be done, Lord, for all of us! And if it is Your will that your child be healed......, then send healing to him. Asking for God's blessing on all of you, I remain an unworthy pilgrim, a great sinner I.M. I congratulate you and……. Happy New Year. And my blessing to all the children. December 29, 1859. From your letter I see that you are despondent and grieving, and what strikes your heart more is...... death. This is very regrettable for me, especially since you are a good Christian who believes in God and His all-wise providence; but here your faith fails, and as a result you are subject to despondency and languor. How can we not believe His goodness when, at every step, we see His all-wise and fatherly providence? Who loved your son better, you or He? We firmly believe, as you have no doubt, that He accepted him into eternal bliss; and if he were alive, how could he be subjected to temptations and temptations and falls, as well as misfortunes, and could you save him from all this? Otherwise, he would not have had the strength and intelligence to prepare him for the kingdom of heaven. You, perhaps, hoped for him that it would be a consolation and support for you in old age; but this hope is vain, God knows more than us, and His eyes see what we have not done. If this were so, then God would have left him alive: but now he is happy, and you, instead of crying, sadness, shed tears of joy for him, and bring thanks to the Lord, who arranged this, and you will receive consolation. ……….. may the Lord strengthen her in her present difficult situation and grant her a successful resolution of the burden, a consolation to all of you. I wish peace, health and salvation to everyone and remain an unworthy pilgrim, a great sinner I.M. March 19, 1860. Most Honorable of the Lord N N 52 I received your letter, sent in March of this year, and was quite surprised that you, without knowing me, write to me about your dispensation and the strange actions that happened to you, and ask for permission from me for all your actions and perplexities. I, knowing my mental and physical weakness, and my lack of intelligence in such things, do not dare take it upon myself, from my reason or skill, to talk about such important subjects above my dispensation, and I wanted to completely refuse to answer your questions; but, seeing your faith with which you question and regretting your past and present dispensation described, I decided (after consulting with some of our fathers, and calling on God for help, who is able to instruct even the dumb for the benefit of His verbal creation) to write to you, from the teachings of the fathers and present the action of delusion by the enemy as a warning not to follow it, although it is falsely presented in the guise of truth. You, describing the actions that happened to you, say among other things that you yourself have already realized that you fell into the snares of the enemy’s delusions, and in the light of the teachings of St. Fathers, you can know even more clearly and be convinced of this truth, and putting aside lies, follow with dangerous intelligence the teaching of St. fathers, which I partially prescribe to you. Prelest, as can be seen from the words of St. Gregory of Sinaite (in Goodness section 132), has, on the part of a person, two main reasons: pride and sinful life, for which he is given over by God to reproach his spiritual enemies, so that he humbles himself, repents and corrects himself if he wants. According to my remark (from your description), the first snare of delusion was laid upon you by your spiritual enemies in 1853 in T. . . and after illness, in changing the icons, and as if from the icons of the Mother of God, pink circles came to your heart, and you received imaginary forgiveness of your sins. You accepted this vision as true and through this you fell into the network of the enemy; the other cases are only consequences of this first one. Demons cannot present the true image of the Lord Christ, as it is said in the book of Barsanuphius the Great, in answer 415, but, to deceive, they present the image of some simple person. You should also understand about the representation on icons of the imaginary image of the Divine Child and the Mother of God and other persons. In the same 415th answer, Barsanuphius the Great says that demons cannot imagine the image of the Cross of the Lord in a dream, and St. The Church sings: “Lord, You have given us Your cross as a weapon against the devil; for he trembles and shakes, impatient to look at His power,” and it seemed to you that you saw the image of the Metropolitan with the Gospel and the cross, and that demons wrote a cross on the floor with your head. In reality, this cannot be, for the enemy is afraid of the cross, but God allowed him to take control of your thinking power, so that, presenting you with any figure, he puts in the idea that it is a cross, and even more confuses you. A similar thing should be understood about repeating the words of prayer after you. From some of the stories of the fathers (placed in the prologue) it is clear that demons cannot say the Jesus Prayer, for it (according to the word of St. John Climacus) is the strongest weapon against them, and you write that they repeat the words of this prayer after you and it only seems so to you: the demons make unclear sounds, similar to the words of the prayer, and inspire you that this is the prayer itself, in order to show that they they are not afraid of her, but they should not believe it. And in general, you need to know that everything that appears in any form or form, or color, or light, is all holy. taken by fathers as a charm; also pleasant singing and smelling something fragrant, or stinking, and the like 53 . The second snare of delusion laid upon you was when you, already tired of demonic whims, sitting in a postal carriage, reflected on your unpraiseworthy life and wanted to reconcile with those who were offended by you and who were at enmity with you; suddenly you felt as if something had flowed into your chest, amazingly sweet and joyful. Due to your inexperience, you accepted this feeling as true, and therefore you got stuck even deeper in the networks of delusion, so that you lost your reason completely (as you write), and I think that the Lord returned it to you only because of your ignorance and by His mercy. St. John Climacus in the 7th degree says: “Reject with the right hand of humility, as unworthy, the joy that comes, and not being deceived by it, accept a wolf instead of a shepherd.” This is exactly what happened to you. And in other cases, the joy you feel, even the one you felt when thinking about the words of scripture: “I saw the Lord before me...” after the blow on your right shoulder, has a similar meaning, although you, for some of your reasons, consider it to be correct. Because true spiritual joy, according to the word of the Apostle, is spiritual fruit and belongs to a great spiritual measure. First, one must acquire peace from battles and thoughts, peace from passions and perfect reconciliation with God. So, based on this, in your present situation you should not at all trust apparent spiritual joy. The Monk John Climacus speaks about himself in the 15th degree: “being tempted by this wolf (the demon of fornication) I felt that he was charmingly producing in me wordless joy and tears and consolation in my soul, and I, in my infancy, thought that I contained the fruit of grace, and not the harm of delusion.” But as you began to familiarize yourself with the books of your fathers and learn something about spiritual warfare, your spiritual enemies began to refine the images of their charm. You have read a little about the difference in actions during spiritual phenomena, which is why the tempters began to supply you with nets of the most dangerous deception. You write after many circumstances that you now often feel, almost tangibly, the presence of Jesus Christ in your room, and you fall at His feet with trembling and joy of heart. Your words that you fall at His feet show that you mentally imagine His presence near you in a sensory image. If so, then this is very dangerous, and it is especially dangerous to fall at the feet of someone who appears in your room, near you. Further you write that you feel the same phenomena from your Guardian Angel and the presence of the saints of God, to whom you heartily turn. Be afraid to trust such phenomena: St. The Apostle Paul says that Satan is transformed into an Angel of Light, of course, to deceive those inexperienced in spiritual life. So is St. the fathers who described to us the signs of spiritual phenomena strictly forbid beginners to trust such phenomena, without a great test and asking experienced ones about this; especially in your position, this is extremely dangerous. St. Gregory of Sinaite in the 7th chapter (in the Philokalia) says: “You want to be with God, but never accept anything, whether you see something sensually or intellectually, or from the outside or inside the mind, even the image of Christ, etc., as the mind itself (ours) is by nature to be dreamy (i.e., by nature it has dreaminess). For this reason, take heed, and do not change your faith, agreeing with this quickly, even if there is good, before the questioning of the skilled and much torment, as if you would not receive harm, but remain, indignant at this. The need is not small (i.e. great work) to achieve the truth clearly, and to be pure from those opposed to grace, as in the image of truth, the devil usually shows his charm in beginners, transforming his evil one, as if it is spiritual. God is not indignant, but it is dangerous for him who listens to delusion for the sake of (says the same saint), even if he does not accept this from Him, except for questioning and much testing, but even more praises him, as he is wise.” You also write that by faith you see the Lord at the right hand of the Father, sitting. Do not get carried away by the thought of such a vision, which is characteristic only of those who have conquered their passions and achieved purity of heart. “Do not strive for vision not during the vision,” writes St. John Climacus, “let it rather itself come to you, attracted by the kindness of your humility and copulate with you in the purest way, forever and ever.” A St. Simeon the New Theologian, describing the first image of prayer, directly says that from such imaginary visions a person falls into demonic delusion. Also St. Isaac the Syrian in 2nd (p. 14), writes that “this comes from God by itself, without our intense seeking and striving, but only in this case if our heart is pure; “if,” continues the same saint, “the apple of your eye is not pure, lest you dare to look at the surroundings of the sun, lest you lose even that little dawn, which is simple faith and humility and heartfelt confession, and small deeds, even by your strength, and you will be cast into one place of thought, which is total darkness, external from God, an image that blasphemes hell, as he, deprived of his senses, will enter the marriage in filthy robes.” Also, you began to go through mental and heart prayer not to your advantage. This is beyond your measure, above your spiritual structure, and inconsistent with your other circumstances. For this prayer, one must strictly maintain purity of conscience towards God, towards people, and in relation to things, and in addition, a spiritual mentor is necessary, as St. Simeon the New Theologian said about this in the third image of prayer. You, in your present position, cannot have and fulfill this. On top of this, spiritual disaster threatens. The great practitioner of this mental prayer, the Venerable Gregory of Sinaite, in the Philokalia in chapter 7, says: “It is wonderful to be deceived by someone who is new and has labored in many ways. For the memory of God is mental prayer, the highest of all works. And those who want to come to God without coldness and boldness, and to confess Him purely, and to acquire Him within themselves, are forced to be killed by the very demons themselves; Many times, the Lord, having mercy on us, in vain does not allow us to be tempted in high places, as if everyone, having learned his own opinion, will turn about himself (that is, he will come to his senses and leave), before there will even be reproach to demons, and laughter and crying in people. Those who are strong and perfect can resist the demons, and I will stretch out the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, against them. But those who are weak and novice, renouncing with reverence the battle beyond their measure, not daring to fight before the time, avoid death.” To this we must also add the circumstance that you briefly write about, that Asmodeus or the demon of fornication has not left you to this day: this circumstance is of great importance in carrying out mental and heartfelt prayer, and especially if someone has undertaken to carry it out above the standards and structure of his own. In the preface to the chapters of St. Philotheus of Sinai it is said: “one must recognize with intelligent feeling the warmth in prayer, which is driven by the devil, even when stirred up by the stirring of lustful burning, it inflames the heart and soul with lustful lust, captivating the mind into evil thoughts, and attracting bodies to copulate.” And His Holiness Callistus the Patriarch (in the Philokalia, in the article: on the manner of attention of prayer), says: “First of all, a certain movement begins in the body of a person who is in prayer, like a jumping under the skin: and warmth also comes from the kidneys, like a girdle, which is the essence of the nature of the properties born from the feat of it. If anyone glorifies this, as if it is from grace, and not from nature, this is truly delusion. A different kind of warmth also comes from the heart, and even if the mind descends into lustful thoughts, delusion is truly a thing.” For all the above reasons, I advise you to leave the practice of mental prayer as a lofty activity, inconsistent with either your spiritual situation or external circumstances, and read, according to your strength (with the advice and appointment of your spiritual father), psalms, canons of repentance, akathists and the like, and go, if possible, to church, trying to live according to your conscience, fulfilling the commandments of God with humility, as befits an Orthodox and to a pious Christian in worldly life. You also write that you stopped eating meat a long time ago. This undertaking is not good for you, because it gives rise to pride. In the life of the Monk John Climacus it is said that he ate, albeit little by little, all food not forbidden by the monastic rules, and it is added that in this wise he broke the horn of pride and arrogance. Therefore, I advise you in advance to consume, for the glory of God, meat food, together with your family, as all worldly pious Christians do, except Wednesday and Friday and fasts, according to the rules of the church, of course, in moderation and with abstinence and thanksgiving, in humility of the ascending thought that instills in you a false holiness, from which may the Lord deliver us. One should not go into debt for the sake of alms. In church history, it is nowhere to be seen that any of the exemplary alms-lovers would bind themselves to debt for the sake of alms. From the writings of the Old Testament it is said: do good to him who needs it, as much as your hand can. Moreover, it is necessary to keep in mind the circumstances of your own family, so as not to bring it to an extreme situation with unfounded and thoughtless generosity. Barsanuphius the Great says in the answer to 629 and 630 that even a rich person should give alms with reason, but even more so to anyone else, so that, instead of benefit, he does not expose himself to harm, both external and internal. Put off your desire to enter a monastery until it is God’s will. First you need to get the children settled; Then, if your wife agrees to enter monasticism, you need to prepare for her maintenance. In women's monasteries they are supported at their own expense. Do not tell anyone about your temptations except your spiritual father. You write that you are communing with St. tain every six weeks. If your spiritual father has blessed you this way, then continue according to his instructions; If you have prescribed this for yourself, then I advise you to better commune with St. mysteries during fasts: during Great Lent - twice, during Petrov and Uspensky fasts once each, during Rozhdestvensky, depending on your circumstances, once, maybe twice. It is more decent to join in this way, so that your peculiarity does not catch the eye of others and you would not be carried away by such pride. You are obliged to teach your family the fear of God and a pious life, but do not teach anyone from others who are not subject to your authority, otherwise you will ruin your own business; Moreover, don’t argue with anyone. You will not bring any benefit to others, but you can easily harm yourself. Try to acquire the knowledge necessary for piety by reading books appropriate to your position and by asking experienced people. Doubtful deeds, without evidence of the teachings of the Gospel, the Apostles, and the St. fathers, and the questions of experienced people, do not decide; always choose what is known and appropriate to the measure of your spiritual age, and not what is high in spiritual life. And in worldly affairs there is gradualness; You didn’t directly take your real position. At the end of the letter, you write that you have now completely surrendered your will to God, and not only your will, but also your thoughts, heart, soul, and body, and you feel in yourself an indescribable feeling of compassion for your neighbor, while other circumstances you describe contradict this. You said before that you have hatred toward some people and are especially harsh in treating your subordinates, and when punishing them for their shortcomings, you are overwhelmed with anger, and you even expressed it in such a way that it is as if it is impossible to treat them differently. This is contradicted, as you can see, by the Gospel teaching, according to which those who have surrendered their will to God, in relation to soul and body, govern their lives, if they have truly and completely surrendered it to Him. Another is to exact from a subordinate for his failure in the spirit of meekness, and another is to be overcome by anger, for whatever reason, which shows spiritual weakness and exposes you to the injustice of your opinion, that you have betrayed your soul, body, heart, and will to God. To put it more directly, even here the appearance of subtle charm is hidden, hiding behind not eating meat in worldly life, giving alms beyond one's ability to the point of falling into debt, communion with St. Mysteries every six weeks, unlike others, by going through heartfelt and mental prayer above your measure, above your spiritual structure, and despite your external circumstances. Therefore, if you wish to accept my advice, I advise you to better recognize your spiritual weakness and humble yourself, and instead of the high and dangerous path, choose the path of salvation, known and durable, and suitable for your situation, which has already been mentioned several times above. For the Lord says in the Gospel: If you want to be brought into the belly, keep the commandments (Matthew 19:17). All the saints teach according to this. fathers. So, for example, the monks Callistus and Ignatius in the Philokalia, in ch. 73rd, they say: “in the unforgettable path of salvation, many are the paths leading to life and many to death. Imashi there is only one path leading to life, observance of the commandments of Christ: in these commandments you will find every form of virtue, but most of all these three: humility, love and mercy: without these no one will see the Lord: these three are an invincible weapon against the devil, even the Holy Trinity is given to us; on the one below, all the multitude of demons can look against. We will arm ourselves with these other weapons, even if we carry them there are no adversaries.” And St. The Climacus in the 24th degree says: “Demons cannot imitate the virtue of humility alone.” St. Apostle Paul speaks about the properties of true love in his 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, in ch. 13: He is patient with love, is merciful, does not envy love, does not become proud of love, is not proud, does not act outrageously, does not seek his own, is not irritated, does not think evil (in the book of St. Ephraim: does not remember evil), loves everything, endures everything. The mercy that Rev. speaks about. Callistus and Ignatius, does not consist in one external alms, the imperfection of which was shown by the same Apostle in the same epistle and the same chapter, saying: if I give away all my possessions, and if I give up my body, it will be burned, but I do not imam love, which has benefits. But, according to Rev. Nile of Sora, mercy for beginners consists in enduring sorrow, insult and reproach from the brethren (that is, from every neighbor). “And this is mental alms, and only higher than bodily alms, insofar as the soul is higher than the body.” About humility, love and mercy St. Callistus and Ignatius, in the same 73rd chapter. They say this: “This tangled rope, which the Holy Trinity originated and wove, we see is three and one: three names, but one in power and action.” I’ll also tell you about the desires of supposedly good ones. It seems to you that cold and gloomy and evil demons cannot arouse in a person desires that are supposedly good and extremely strong, but in the teaching of St. Fathers seem to be contrary to your opinion. St. Isaac the Syrian says in the 33rd word: “not every desire that is good from God falls into the heart (of man), but only one that benefits it (that is, in accordance with its external and internal circumstances, and therefore possible to fulfill, although not without difficulty); “For a certain desire like this also comes from the devil,” the same saint continues, “but it does not benefit a person.” Because the devil, if seemingly good things bestow upon a person, it is always inconsistent with his circumstances, or before his time, and beyond his measure, so that a person, not finding an opportunity to fulfill this desire, is recklessly languishing and embarrassed, which constitutes significant spiritual harm, and sometimes, through an ostensibly good desire, the devil creates a network of deep delusion.” Rev. Gregory of Sinaite in the Philokalia, in chapter 7, directly calls such a desire satanic, and St. John Climacus in the 26th degree calls it contemptible. Because a person, out of conceit and self-indulgence, carried away by such a desire, often despises the thorough and useful advice of experienced people, who always try to establish beginners on a solid path of salvation, warning them against dangerous extremes; for, according to the testimony of St. fathers, and immensity and impoverishment, that is, both the untimely desire for a high path and complete negligence about a pious life, come from the devil’s subjugation. After everything that I, a sinner, said in response to your letter, I find it necessary to add that we, according to the word of St. Isaac the Syrian, repentance is always necessary, which both sinners and righteous people need until death, for there is no perfection on earth. The main signs of sincere repentance are: non-judgment of others and curbing anger. St. John Climacus says, in the 8th degree, that repentance requires a lot of humility, while anger is a sign of great pride. And whoever condemns others, the Lord calls him in the Gospel a hypocrite who does not feel the log of his sins and shortcomings, and who is tempted by his neighbor’s bitch. And repentance and fulfillment of God’s commandments begin with patience with the sorrows that come, as the Rev. says. Peter of Damascus, and the Lord Himself says in the Gospel: in your patience gain your souls (Luke 21:19). This patience cannot be acquired without humility and self-reproach, that is, in any case, blaming oneself and not others. Do not offend me if, at the end of my conversation with you, I say that, seeing in you the desire for everything pleasing to God, at the same time I recognize you as a very sick soul. And mental illnesses, as well as physical ones, are treated in accordance with their origin and properties. Above, I mentioned what was said by the venerable Gregory of Sinaite, that a person is given over to the reproach of demons for pride and a life contrary to the commandments of God. Why is the best remedy for this is humility and life according to the commandments of God, and not something lofty that can plunge you into extreme delusion to the point of damaging your mind. What true humility consists of cannot be described in words. However, a well-known sign of this is given by St. fathers, that the humble, fulfilling all the commandments and performing all the virtues, at the same time considers himself, in the feeling of his soul, the worst of all and the most sinful of all. And you try, if possible, to get closer to humility, remembering your sins, and do not allow the thought that you are a good Christian and better than others to nest within you. The great power of humility was declared by the Lord Himself, Venerable. Anthony the Great, when he, seeing the various networks of the enemy spread out everywhere, cried out to the Lord with a sigh: who can get past them? And he heard the Divine answer: humility passes them by, and they touch him below (St. in the book of Abba Dorotheus, a word about humility). And Rev. Isaac the Syrian in the 46th word says: “Humility and besides works (that is, without works) forgives many sins; this (i.e., deeds), on the contrary, without him, is useless; but they also do a lot of evil to us. Forgive your other iniquities with humility, as if you were dead. And if we acquire this, make us sons of God, and besides good deeds, he represents us to God, for whom and without him all our deeds are vanity, and all virtues and all deeds.” Our most merciful Lord Himself, Who said: learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart (Matthew 19:23), may he give you understanding in everything and may he guide you on the unlost path of salvation. I pray for this to His goodness, and with my respect I remain, wishing you health and salvation, your unworthy pilgrim, much-sinful I.M. March 1856. I received your letter dated May 25th. You write that, upon receiving my letter, despite your joy, you were sad for a whole week; and there is still a remnant of sad disposition in your soul. This sadness comes from a spiritual enemy who is trying by all means to create an obstacle for a person on the path of salvation: and partly from the fact that, perhaps, you thought about yourself that you had already acquired some kind of spiritual success, but when you saw yourself naked, as you yourself write, your soul is now sick about this. This sorrow, although it is clothed in a good guise, clearly bears the imprint of an old man, for whom it is unpleasant to see himself naked. It is better to see yourself this way than to be in self-delusion; and it is not in your dispensation that it is necessary to always contemplate your weakness and badness and have an unforgettable remembrance of previous sins, because from this we are involuntarily forced to humility. I, for my part, thanked God for the fact that you did not reject the advice offered to you from the teachings of St. fathers. In your circumstances, this is a good sign, and can even serve as a reliable means for you to get rid of the charms of the enemy, if only you remain in this mood until the end. You can see for yourself in the lives and teachings of St. fathers, that the spiritual enemy has always established the network of his charm on a person’s conceit and following his own understanding and imaginary good desires. You also write that you do not see vanity and pride in yourself, and would like to know the signs of them. The very fact that you do not notice these passions in yourself is a sign that they contain your soul, clothing it with darkness and obscurity, which, both in visible objects and in mental ones, equally prevent you from seeing what is present. The evidence of this is clear in the 23rd degree of the Ladder, as the wise old man taught his brother spiritually not to be proud, but he, blind in his mind, answered: forgive me, father, there is no pride in me. The elder continued; But what better way can you, child, prove your pride than by saying that there is no pride in me? Darkness, according to Basil the Great, is the absence of light. And in spiritual things, in the absence of the light of humility, the darkness of pride covers the soul. Vanity and pride are the same yeast, but the difference between them is this: vanity encourages one to express one’s piety or one’s intelligence, values ​​people’s opinions, loves praise, is inclined to please people, fears false human shame, and the like. Pride reveals itself through outbursts of anger, embarrassment, contempt, condemnation and humiliation of neighbors, inflating the soul with conceit and exaltation about one’s deeds and dignity, either external or internal. The fruit of pride: the fall of men and spiritual men; and in general, the fall of people and non-Christian life and all human disasters, in relation to soul and body, begin with pride. Just as on the contrary, the beginning and foundation of all good things is humility. The passage you put out from the book of Barsanuphius the Great: when it is impossible to question the elder, then one must pray three times and look at the bowing of the heart to the hair - befitting people who are sound in regard to the soul; This doesn’t suit you at all, since your soul was greatly shocked by the charms of the enemy and your heart is upset. You write yourself that even now you are not yet free from the grip of spiritual enemies, who are very cunning and varied in their deceits, and can easily again catch you and confuse you with such subtlety. From the beginning, apparently, they will give you some kind of cordial notice on various occasions, and then they will scold you with subtle charms, from which it will be difficult to extricate yourself. Better live more simply in all your affairs, holding fast to humility, which alone destroys all the machinations of the enemy. When you do not have the opportunity to ask your spiritual father about something, then you can explain to him your actions and actions, both questionable and those that seem to be right for you, and listen to his advice with humility. It is always more useful to pray, generally for deliverance from seduction: Lord! do not allow me to stray from Thy will, but guide me in the way of destinies, in which I will go. You write that until now your spiritual enemies have been bothering you with noise in your left ear and other things. From what do you conclude that vanity and pride are hidden in you? This conclusion is fair. And therefore, with all your strength and in all ways, direct yourself towards blessed humility: only as you become humble will you receive God’s help and deliverance from the restless oppressions of the enemy, which I sincerely wish for you, and I pray to the Lord, may He grant you success in all your affairs and may He guide you according to His holy will. Read the 79th word of Isaac the Syrian, where he teaches that every enemy temptation and mental confusion is healed by humility of heart. You notify me of your situation in a letter dated July 6th, that you are now greatly lamenting your former life and are even crying and sobbing. We must cry: true repentance requires crying and crying a lot; only tears, in a passionate mood, should not be believed as correct. St. John Climacus in the 7th step. says: do not believe the sources of your tears before complete cleansing from passions. And also to the same extent: “When we see anger and pride in those who think of God as crying, then such tears should be considered wrong, for what communication between light and darkness?” This saint immediately says that beginners have tears for many and different reasons: from nature, from wrong grief, from vanity, from the prodigal demon and from other reasons, and advises that such tears should be examined by the fear of God and cleansed by the memory of the departure from this life, in order to acquire pure and unadulterated tears, in which there is no theft or exaltation, but even more so cleansing, washing away from sin. Moreover, we must always remember the same Holy words, spoken by him to the same extent: “great is the malice of our enemies; they and the mother of virtues make the matter of passions and turn the guilt of humility into a reason for pride.” You write that your prayer stinks and does not rise as it should, and this upsets you. We should be more humble, aware of our weakness in everything, and not be upset. To seek notice in prayer means pride. It is better to pray simply with humility, seeking only mercy, and believing that the Lord will not reject the one who repents and prays, following the example of the publican. Do not interpret the words of the Apostle in your own way: food says to the one who created it, “Why did he create me?” (Rom. 9:20); These words do not suit your situation in any way. According to the explanation of John Chrysostom, these relate only to the external differences between people, that one on earth bears a great rank, and the other is in the simplest rank; At the Last Judgment, the king and the warrior, the rich and the poor, will stand in equal dignity, and each will either become famous or be ashamed by his own deeds. Do not think that your circumstances simply depend on the unconditional judgment of God. The reason for this is clearly shown to you in our first letter. Seeing the violence of passions in yourself, you yourself realize that you cannot overcome them without God’s help; God’s help will be given for humility, a deep consciousness of one’s weakness and self-reproach. Based on one desire, you composed a prayer for yourself, in some petitions it does not correspond to your spiritual structure and is higher than your external circumstances. You pray that this age may truly be put to death. This petition is fitting for those who have renounced the world. You have not yet truly died to this age, because of your external circumstances. It is useful for you to read with attention 49 the words of Isaac the Syrian, and apply what is appropriate to your dispensation to your work. So, either change in your prayer that which is above your dispensation, or pray with the common prayers of the saints, always asking the Lord to arrange what is beneficial for you, including the news of destinies, and placing everything in accordance with the will of God: Lord! Thy will be done! Regarding the fact that you constantly guard your mind as you write, I will tell you the words of St. Climacus, written in the 26th degree: “other is keeping thoughts and another is guarding the mind. How far are the east from the west, only the second work is higher than the first.” It is fitting for you to strive in every possible way against evil thoughts, calling on God’s help to them with humility, and in defeat, healing yourself with repentance. Your words that a fragrance emanates from some of the relics of God’s saints are true; and sometimes the shroud is sprinkled with rose water, but trusting the feeling of grace in front of icons is dangerous. The words of St. have already been written to you. Isaac the Syrian that grace comes imperceptibly, and, moreover, if it finds a clean place in a person, and not a bad one. Would you like to know how spiritual enemies can produce delusional sensations and false fragrances near a shrine? The reason for this is God’s permission and the unworthiness and arrogance of man, who, instead of seeking God’s mercy with humility and repentance, desires grace-filled actions and high spiritual gifts, forgetting that the humble and worthy and the unseeking are awarded them from God, and not the highly intelligent and self-important. From some words of your letter it is clear that you are now reading the Philokalia; but it’s not time for you to read everything in this book yet. You can read in it from the beginning both parts of Peter of Damascus, assimilating what is appropriate to your measure, also Cassian the Roman, Mark the Ascetic: about the spiritual law and about those who believe that they will be justified by works, and the active teaching of other fathers, and put off the others until time, until with the help of God you have purified the passionate part of the soul by an active life according to the commandments of God and humble yourself. Because the Philokalia writes more about the speculative life, and St. Isaac the Syrian in the 2nd word says that whoever, before learning in the first part (i.e., active) begins the second (i.e., speculative), for its sweetness the wrath of God finds upon him, from which may the Lord deliver us. Letters from No. 405 to No. 416 were written to the same person. Letters No. 417 to No. 444 were all written to the same person. The elder understands the poor and needy. This letter was written to a certain Gentile who accepted St. baptism, which was facilitated by the one to whom other letters were written, among which this is placed. This and the two subsequent letters were written to the same person. See Simeon the New Theologian on the 1st image of prayer, Peter of Damascus on the 7 works, Callistus and Ignatius ch. 73, and others (in the Philokalia). You might be interested in: