Письма старца Паисия

From a letter from Elder Paisius, a letter to Elder Theodosius While Athos was still in the Holy Mountain with a small number of brethren, knowing from the teachings and commandments of the God-bearing Fathers, it is not fitting for our Fathers to instruct and teach the brethren according to their own reason and judgment, but according to the true and right reason of the Divine Scripture, just as the Divine Fathers teach the Universe, so also teach and the teachers of monastic life, enlightened by the grace of the Most Holy Spirit, teach; yet knowing my feeble-mindedness, and fearing and trembling, but not because of my lack of skill, like a blind man, into the pit of destruction, according to the word of the Lord, I myself will fall, and those who follow me will lie: for this sake, like an unshakable foundation in the true and indelible and not straying from the true path of God, I laid down the Divine Scripture for my poor soul and my holy brethren The Old and New Testaments, and its true interpretation by the grace of the Most Holy Spirit, that is, the teaching of the God-bearing Fathers of our Ecumenical teachers and mentors of monastic life, the holy Councils, and the entire Apostolic and Catholic and Holy Fathers rules, which contain the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Eastern Church, and all the commandments and rites of it. I offered all this, as I said, as an instruction to myself and the holy brethren, and like I, and likewise the brethren who live with me, being instructed by these, God’s co-operating and admonishing grace, we will not sin the right and conciliar wisdom of the holy Orthodox Church. And firstly, I began diligently, with God’s help, to acquire the books of the fathers, about obedience and sobriety, teaching attention and prayer, with considerable labor and dependence, prescribing them with my own hand, and buying them with pennies, even from the labor of our hands for the necessary needs of our acquisitors, arbitrarily many times in food and clothing, the scarcity to endure: with kupovakh, because of them, the written books prophesied in the Slovenian language, and with imputation, you are like a heavenly treasure, given to us by God. When you have been revered for several years with diligence, in many places you have found an inscrutable obscurity in them, in many places you have not found anything lower than the grammatical mind itself, even if you have been revered many times with unspeakable labor and testing, but in no way have you found the foretold mind: God alone knows, my soul is filled with such sorrows, and perplexed as to what to do, I decided that the Slovenian paternal books could be easily corrected from other Slovenian books. And I began to write the book of Saint Hesychius, Presbyter of Jerusalem, and Saint Philotheus of Sinai, and Saint Theodore of Edessa with four of my hands, and having folded four of them together, I was vouchsafed to see in them the grammatical mind. But all my work was in vain: it’s not like I was privileged to see the perfect mind in those four folded books. The book of St. Isaac the Syrian and other similar books, according to the testimony of one person, that it is in everything similar to the Greek, were corrected day and night for six weeks, but my work was in vain: in time I realized that my best and worst had been spoiled. When I suffered so many times: then I realized that I was laboring in vain in the imaginary correction of Slovenian from Slovenian books, and began to diligently test why there was such confusion and impoverishment of grammatical understanding in the books, and through my weak mind I realized that there were two faults in this speech: first, the lack of art of the ancients from Hellenistic to Greek Slovenian language of books of guides; second, the lack of skill and negligence of inexperienced writers: and then they completely despaired of seeing in the Slovenian fatherly books the right and true reason, which is found in the same Hellenistic books. And after my many years of stay in the Holy Mountain, having partially learned to converse in simple Greek, I most diligently perceived the intention, with a heartache, to seek Hellenic Greek fatherly books, in the hope of correcting the Slovenian ones, and having searched in many places and more than once, I could not find it. I also went to the great Lavra monastery of St. Anne, and to Kipsokalivo, and to the Vatopedi monastery of St. Demetrius, and to other laurels and monasteries, and everywhere asking teaching persons, and skilled and elderly confessors, and honest monks, about the books of the fathers by name, nowhere were we honored to find such books, but everyone agreed with such an answer, as we perceived Even until now we have not exactly known such books, but we have not even heard the names of these Saints. Having received such an answer, God knows, I fell into a kind of bewilderment, reasoning that in such a holy place, and to the quiet and silent abiding of monks chosen by God, where many great things and perfection of holiness lived, they were not honored not only to find the holy books that I so much desired, but not to hear the names of the Saints from anyone, and For this reason, I fell into considerable sadness about this: however, I placed all my hope for finding such books on God, and prayed to his ineffable mercy, and through their destinies the message that the omnipotent and omnipotent would allow me to find such books. God, the most merciful, not despising my zealous desire to acquire the books of the Fathers in the Hellenic language, has vouchsafed me with His ineffable providence to acquire such books, and to acquire a certain part of them, in a gray manner: I am walking together with two brothers from the holy and great St. Athanasius of Athos Lavra to the great Lavra of Saints Anna's monastery, which came directly to the highest Holy Prophet Elijah hill, which is a third of the height of the great and highest Holy Athos, under which the hill on a high place from the country to the sea, there is a single monastery of Saint Basil the Great, in recent times by monks who came from Caesarea in Cappadocia, created, on the most cruel place, living waters, neither stream nor springs, and for this sake of the monastery he has neither grapes, nor olive trees, nor figs, nor heliflowers, nor any other consolation of this world, but with rainwater alone the brothers fulfill the necessary need: and we have come to desire to enter the monastery, for the sake of worship, and for the sake of visions for the sake of this place, in which it has not yet been byvahom. When we came to this monastery and sat near the holy church, one reverent monk saw us, who, after our worship of the holy icons in the church, came out of it, calling us lovingly to his cell, and went out to prepare us for food, in order to give us peace from worthless work. When I looked at the table next to the window, I saw one book open, lying on it, and from it I wrote another: he was a painter of art; We were filled with joy, for we were worthy to see a heavenly treasure on earth. When I returned to my cell, I began to ask him with great joy and inscrutable surprise where such a book came from, more than my hope, in his shrine. He told me that another book of the same Saint had been found, containing twenty and four words in alphabetical order. I ask him whether such books are in you and other books, answering that these are found: St. Anthony the Great, St. Gregory the Sinaite, but not all, St. Philotheus, St. Hesychius, St. Diadochos, St. Thalassius, St. Simeon the New Theologian, a word on prayer, St. Nicephorus the monk, a word on prayer, the book of St. Isaiah, and other such books, of St. Nicetas Stiphatus, exactly twenty and two chapters, but the whole one is not found in us, except in the libraries of great monasteries, I asked him, because I, having been looking for such books for such a long time with a heart disease, did not find it, and diligently asking many honest people, and I was not worthy to hear about them; answering me that this is, speaking, in my opinion, it is fault that these books are written in the purest Hellenic Greek language, which now, except for learned persons, hardly anyone understands much from the Greeks, and many do not understand at all: for this reason, such books have fallen into complete oblivion, and for this reason you have not been worthy, asking about such books, and have never heard about them. The monks who were in this monastery, still in their country in Caesarea in Cappadocia, had heard enough about such books, and having come to the Holy Mountain with much labor and time, and considerable dependence on their handicraft, they acquired and paid teachers, having learned not just the simple, but also the Hellenistic language itself, and with God’s help they found in some monasteries Such books are prescribed, honored, used, and, according to their strength, they are forced to do according to their teaching. Having heard this, and greatly rejoicing with indescribable joy at the discovery of such a heavenly treasure on earth, I began to diligently pray for him, so that for the love of God he would prescribe such books for me, promising him that he would not be pleased with the price for his work. He, having many scriptures, renounced, and led me to another eloquent writer, who resides in the same monastery. He also with great zeal for the writing of the books of the fathers prayed, promising to give him triple the price for the work: he, for the love of God, seeing my considerable desire for the acquisition of such books, did not want the triple price, but promised me for the usual one, even if he himself Having a lot of scripture, if he can, and God will give him a hand, he can write some of these books. And so, two years and a little more before our departure from the holy mountain, the red-scriber began to write, since God gave him his hand, part of some of the books that I so much desired, even joyfully, like a gift from God sent to us from Heaven, having received our breath from the holy Mount Athos, most conveniently for the sake of the necessary needs in these countries for our cathedral nurturing. Those who settled in the holy monastery of the Drogomirists began to think diligently about this and were concerned about how I could correct the books of the Slovenian fathers, or again begin translating from the Hellenic Greek ones, and found great and inexpressible inconvenience for this matter, some for the sake of blessed wines. First, as the leader of the books must be completely learned, and not just in all grammatical teaching and spelling and the all-perfect knowledge of the properties of both languages, but also in the highest teachings, literature, verbs, rhetoric, and philosophy, and even theology itself has not touched with a finger. I, even though in my youth I was four years old and stayed in Kyiv schools, but I partially learned the grammatical teachings of the Latin language, the desire for monasticism did not allow others to touch the teachings. But even that small teaching, after so many years, almost came into complete oblivion: we were afraid and trembling to begin this very great work. Second, my lack of skill in spelling, that is, in spelling. But someone who is unskilled in spelling and dares to write holy books, in my opinion, believes in the truth in his heart, but confesses with his lips for salvation, but with the hand of his unskillfulness he blasphemes, to eternal damnation for himself, even though he does not recognize his blasphemy by speaking verbally. This is why I, even then inexperienced in spelling, was afraid and horrified to begin this. The third, as for this matter, I had no lexicons, except for Varin alone, but even that for the cell of brother Macarius, for the sake of translation of books into the Moldavian language, was not always found. Translating books without lexicons is just like translating books without tools. Fourth, as if only a certain part, and even the slightest, of the words of the Hellenic Greek language were found in the Vedas, but the entire language was not found in complete ignorance. Fifth, as this Hellenic Greek language, all the languages of the entire universe, is incomparably superior in wisdom, beauty, depth and abundance and richness of inscrutable sayings, its depths and the very natural Greeks themselves, completely taught, can barely partially reach, putting me in no small fear, as I dare from such a wise language to do my work in start correcting or translating books. The sixth, as our most glorious Slovenian language itself, which, as we imagine, is many languages ​​in its beauty and depth and abundance of sayings, and most of all, in its similarity to the Hellenic Greek language, is incomparably superior, barely knowing some of the sayings, but not knowing much of the majority, they were afraid to begin this work. This foretold guilt and many of these, yet from the countless spiritual and physical about the internal monasteries and about external affairs of care, not abolishing my thoughts, I almost despaired of starting this matter, as it was most inconvenient. Seeing the goodness of the word of God in our cathedral, where the souls of the brotherhood with my poor soul finally faded away, I placed all my hope in the Lord, who makes the blind wise, and through the prayers of the holy brethren I dared to begin this work, which by no means exceeded my measure, with a gray intention and reason and a blue image. Knowing my measure, as predicted for the sake of the wines, this task will not be at all difficult for me, that is, the correction, or again the translation of the Slovenian fatherly books from the Hellenistic ones, which I began, to bring about such perfection alone, as if it would be worthy for the brethren in other monasteries to be prescribed, or to be printed, and let no one follow there is no need to secondly examine and correct them; and seeing in the mirror, as if not just once, but many times, after acquiring lexicons, and in the best, even small, understanding of the Hellenic Greek language, and knowledge of the Slovenian spelling language, and observation of the properties and grammatical artistic composition of both of these languages, the work of art will follow the necessary need to pack it with the most diligent consideration, or to myself, otherwise God would continue to live, or after my death, as brothers skilled in this matter, they would correct them: for this sake, without seeing, as some think, the common benefit of all monks who want to be saved, but hoping, as if to be, and for many years, these much-desired books will be completely corrected, the covenant is like this, like an unshakable foundation, laid in my soul, so that my work will be corrected or in the translation of the books of the fathers, although in every way temporuous and imperfect, he will remain in our cathedral by no means original, until he will be corrected with the help of God and come to the proper perfection. I began this work, that is, the correction of the Slovenian books of our fathers and again the translation from Hellenic Greek, in a simple way: seeing that, like lexicons, we are deprived of all the art predicted for this work, set ourselves for instruction and guidance the translation of the books of our fathers in the Moldavian language, even having translated from Hellenic Greek into our natural Moldavian language of love. our brethren: Hieromonk Macarius and Hilarion Daskal, men of skill in translating books and teaching. Brother Macarius brought some of them back to the holy Mount Athos, and some in Dragomirna, and the honest Father Hilarion gave some of them to our cathedral. This is their translation, which in all respects is true without any doubt imputing to be, began in ancient times into the Slovenian language from Hellenistic Greek, diligently looking at the Hellenic Greek, correcting the patristic books of these Saints: Hesychius, Diadoche, Macarius II, Philotheus, Nile on Prayer, Thalassia, Gregory the Sinaite, Simeon the New The theologian’s word about attention and prayer, Cassian the Roman’s about eight thoughts, and others, holding on tightly, like a blind man, to the tine, to the predicted translation, and corrected the first copy of the predicted book. Also, over a long period of time, when I had already begun to achieve a little better success in sowing things, I saw in the books I corrected these books that they were unskillful for my sake, and there were many errors: then I also corrected some of them a second time. Also, after some time, and many sins still appeared in them, and I corrected them a third; Some of them remained in the first correction; I was no longer able to correct them more, for lack of time; but they are still very far from true correction, even though these Hellenic Greek books themselves, written in the holy mountain, are even unartistic for the sake of my sin without any imputation, appearing in many places in the spelling of the sin. At the same time, when I still did not have a single vocabulary in this matter, I read and again from the same Hellenic Greek books this paternal book of the saints: Anthony the Great, Isaiah the Hermit, Peter of Damascus, the second book, even for my sake at that time, especially the former lack of art, because they had many errors in the translation, as if I’m already scared to even think about it, it’s by no means impossible to correct them completely, without reliable Hellenic Greek ones. The book of St. Theodore the Studite, out of necessity, at the same time was read from simple Greek, not even to this day being able to see, even though I desperately wish, in the Hellenic Greek language, even those predicted for the sake of wines, which had great sins. Also, in the book of the Slovenian ancient translation, Saint Isaac the Syrian, by God's incomprehensible providence, more than my aspirations, in this life I was honored to see the printed Hellenic Greek, I worked on it for a whole year in correction, both with the Hellenic Greek, and also with the Moldovan Greek: but woe to my so much work, for this and that thousand times of guilt, very far from perfection, and the need is present for me, already half-dead, if only God, with His mercy, would continue to give me life, and grant enlightenment to my vision, which is no longer blind, as if already partially possessing lexicons, and little of the best in these things, by the frequency of doing, the success that has come, then I will work most diligently in correcting these. The same work would be appropriate for me to perceive and in the secondary correction of the first books of St. Macarius the Great, and the first books of St. Peter of Damascus, even though they are far from perfection. The book of Saint Simeon the New Theologian began to be corrected below, even before even hitherto it was not worthy to be seen in Hellenic Greek. In the summer of 1774, one Greek monk, named Constantius, came from the Holy Mountain to us in Dragomirna, while he was still staying there; bring with you a Hellenic Greek book, written by his own hand, containing in itself many books of the fathers: but some books were found in it, which I had not even seen in the Slovenian language before, which, through my diligent prayer, he wrote down for us with his own hand. But he is by no means involved in grammatical teaching; For this reason, so many and countless, as in your book, so also from your own in this prescription, perfect for your own sake in the spelling of the lack of art, introduced errors, and truly found the golden words of the saints lying in the wealth of irregular spelling, from which who will be able to cleanse it from well-learned persons, without reliable Hellenistic originals? Of these books prescribed to us by him, at my request, out of the foreseen need, I again read this: St. Mark, and St. Nicetas Stiphatus three hundred chapters, even from ancient times into the Slovenian language the parts of some three hundred chapters were also found in us; I have not even seen the perfect number of these books, the perfect number of three hundred chapters; I didn’t even have a single chapter of this Hellenistic book. I also read from these the book of Saint Theodore of Edessa. Which books, and more than all those predicted, are by no means indecent for publication, but also for prescription in another country, will be corrected from reliable originals in Dondezh. What do I say about the book of the Saints Callistus, Patriarch of Constantinople, and his companion, the Monk Ignatius Xanthopoulov, testified by His Beatitude Simeon, Archbishop of Thessaloniki, with an inexpressible desire that I wished to be honored before my death? and when we began to completely despair about this, the almighty providence of God arranged not only to see it, but also to translate it into our Slovenian language: but this, even from the others and the best, is the river of truth, spelling is, but in many places with such errors it was found, like the most skillful of such books from Hellenistic to Moldavian the leader of the tongue, Father Hilarion, said, in these places you will not at all find the real and true reason, but out of necessary need, as I think it is possible, I have learned from his opinion and I am in the translation of my followers: for this reason, this book is also for printing and in another place for the prescription there is an obstacle. About the second book of Saint Callistus, called Katafigiota, which is already a river, countless because of the spelling errors found in it? In the same way, our language is also used in Slovenian, but it is also subject to imperfection, and in such a thing there is an obstacle. The life of St. Gregory of Sinaite, written by his disciple His Holiness Callistus, Patriarch of Constantinople, the honorable schemamonk Father Savva from the Holy Mountain brought to the blessed memory of our common Father and Elder Basil, from whom we also took the prescript: even though from the Holy Mountain for a long time and brought to our cathedral, Hesychius of this Saint in the Hellenistic language, but also then, apart from the usual spelling errors, not all, perhaps some parts; Moreover, the scripture of the blessed death of this saint is not found in it, even if it was translated into our Slovenian language, but even then there is guilt. The book of Saint Maximus the Confessor, four hundred chapters on love, is exactly the imams of the Moscow press, and the word of fasting of this same Saint on question and answer, which I wrote in my youth in our fatherland with countless others, for the sake of my ignorance, sins and omissions; Hellenic Greek, even though I really wish, I have not been able to see it until now. The book of His Beatitude Simeon of Thessalonica of Slovenia, except for Hellenic Greek and Volosh, is by no means found in our cathedral. Likewise, the book of Saint Callistus, a disciple of Saint Gregory of Sinaite, is not found in us. The book of St. Nile of Sora is by no means found in Hellenic Greek, just in Slovenian, even in my youth, it was written down, but with countless spelling errors, and not having had the time to correct it, and also not having a reliable one, it is convenient for me to find it in our abodes. Behold, as if in the mirror of your shrine, from the very beginning, even to the end, I imagined what my work was like in correcting the books of the Slovenian fathers from the Hellenic Greek, or again from them in translating them into the Slovenian language, as if my work exceeded my strength, but in all respects it is tempting and imperfect, for the predicted blessed faults, not just for printing, but below to the prescription in another place are by no means inconvenient, until the correction is made from the most reliable Hellenistic originals. For this reason, for your shrine to be prescribed, or for printing. I was not able to send such books in any way, for fear of violating my Christian and monastic conscience, and I was afraid, as if for a deed that was tempting and by no means perfect, eternal condemnation of my soul on the day of the Last Judgment of God. But even if your shrine has not yet extinguished one true spark for me, according to the commandment of Christ, love has not yet been extinguished, then you should not accept my non-sending of these books to you as a sign of my non-reconciliation towards you, or have my enmity towards you, or as if I saw the common benefit of those who want to be saved and take advantage of such books; May Christ the Savior not give me chintz madness! I don’t see any other fault in my soul for not sending such books to you, other than what was foretold by the grace of God. For this reason, I pray to your holiness, according to my understanding of the non-sending of such books to you with such a lengthy assurance, every dissimilar opinion about me for this thing has been destroyed from your soul, do not bother me about this anymore: if you do not put in any work about this, it will be in vain. Until then, these books with the true Hellenistic originals will not be completely corrected, then, as predicted by my spiritual guarantee, they will not originate from our council. Your sanctity is truly God’s zeal, unfeigned, for the acquisition of these soul-saving books in your soul, then you can give my soul a notification about this to no one else, except by accepting my sound advice about the much-desired acquisition of such books for you, even if you listen to it now with all your soul, I believe in the Lord and am known, as if by no means If you sin this long-standing desire of yours, I will hasten according to God, and by the deed itself, without any doubt, you will be honored to see it come true. His Eminence Cyrus Macarius, former Metropolitan of Corinth, from his youth so much inexpressible, by God’s action, to the books of the fathers, sobriety and attention of the mind and silence, and prayer, smarter, that is, done with the mind in the heart, teaching, the love of the acquisitive, as all his life is for the most diligent pursuit of them, and his hardworking hand, as if he were skilled in external teaching, and he determined the prescription that had been much dependent on the hands of the red-letter writers. Having come to the Holy Mount Athos, and with inscrutable zeal and great diligence, in all the libraries of the great holy monasteries, you found many such books of your fathers, which you did not have before. Most of all, in the library of the glorious and great monastery of Vatopedi, you will find a priceless treasure, that is, a book about the union of the mind with God, collected from all the saints by great zealots in ancient times, and other books on prayer, books we have not yet heard of, which many skilled red-letters have written with considerable effort after several years, and themselves having most diligently honored them with the originals, and having most faithfully corrected them, and placing the lives of all the holy writers of these books at the beginning of their books, he left the holy Mount Athos with indescribable joy, as if he had found a heavenly treasure on earth, and having come to the glorious Asian city of Smyrna, he sent an ambassador to Venice with considerable income collected from alms The Lover of Christ, the books of the Fathers, are thirty and six, and with them is also counted the book of Saint Callistus, attested by Saint Simeon of Thessaloniki, and above this number is the great patericon of the monastery of Egypt, which I will publish with printed embossing: for a short time I have the intention of printing the great book of Saint Simeon the New Theologian, which is completely ready for such a task. And in a short time, as soon as one person recently informed me about all this in writing, with God’s help the prophesied books will come out of print. About the printing of such books from ancient years, this truly blessed Cyrus Macarius Metropolitan has the desire to have such an intention, so that these holy books will not come into everlasting oblivion and destruction from the face of the earth, in which they no longer come: he himself has learned by deed, such work has risen, and little has not exhausted his whole life in collecting them, and barely with with indescribable diligence everywhere, especially in the holy mountain of Athos, most diligently and in search of all images, you will find such a spiritual treasure, like in the earth, buried in long-term oblivion and extreme ignorance, more than all the monastic rites as an ascetic, and more than the breath itself, I dare to resolve, most needily, to mentally fight with invisible spirits for instruction, and that they may Zeal is more convenient and with less dependence than handwritten and printed books to acquire. I foreshadowed all this to your shrine, little by little starting to teach you my advice, in this way your shrine and your brethren, and we with our cathedral, would be worthy of acquiring the true, without any sin, Slovenian paternal books. Your shrine knows that by God’s ineffable mercy in the last times, our Orthodox All-Russian Church was honored to receive the Holy Orthodox Faith and holy baptism from the Orthodox Greek Church: with holy faith and the Divine Scripture and all the holy churches and teachers of the saints and patristic books, transmitted from Hellenic Greek, received, and These are the sources of Slovenian books, and from there the Slovenian origins. The Divine Scripture and all church books were granted by God’s grace from the Hellenic Greeks, as if from their sources they received correction; the paternal books remained with their ancient translation, not even until now being able to be corrected from their Hellenistic sources, and yet through unskillful writers they have acquired sins, and the need is necessary, and these books will be corrected from their own sources. For this reason, father, if you have a truly true, and not feigned, zeal for the acquisition of such books in your soul, then listen to my sound advice about this, which your obedience will be a true sign of your sincerity of love for me, and a true, and not feigned, desire for the acquisition of fatherly books. I pray to you, Holy Father, for the Lord’s sake, and I advise you, strive with all your heart and with all your soul, to acquire the prophesied sources, that is, the Hellenic Greek books of the Fathers, from which there is an all-known hope in God, just as the Slovenian books of the Fathers, handed down from ancient times, have been most reliably corrected, and others will be translated again: not sparing these acquisitions, not just corruptible and insignificant, short-lived and transient possessions, but also your very souls, and if God pleases you and we live, and there will be a time of peace, then in the coming summer in the spring, having chosen your most trustworthy brother from the council, and given him, from where God’s providence will give you, at least a thousand leva, send him to me; I, too, having chosen a brother like him from our council, who knows partly the Greek language, I will send him at your entire expense with your brother to the Holy Mountain, in which these books, after leaving the press, will soon be brought for sale, where, without any labor, it is convenient to buy such books at least two circles, or multiplying them, if you wish, with With God's help they will return to us, and having left in us a single circle of such books, as a sign of your true love for me according to God, and to your eternal memory and salvation, they will return to you with all joy. You, having received such holy books, I will take them to such God-chosen and God-inspired persons, about whom you proclaim to me, as they burn with God’s ineffable love for such books, and have an inscrutable and great zeal for publishing them into the world with printed embossing. These, such much-desired books, have been joyfully received from your hands, driven by the action of the Holy Spirit, and will command all the external teachings of the Hellenic Greek language to those who have completely passed through, and the very Theology of the teacher who has not touched the finger, to translate them into the purest Slovenian language, having learned the Divine Scriptures and all the church books; and correct the ancient things truly and authentically from them. After they are re-translated, they will fulfill their soul-saving desire again, having been re-converted from ancient times by true and reliable correction, having taken the trouble to print them with their blessing and at their expense, common for the benefit of the monastics: it is typical for the teaching of the fathers’ books to belong especially to monks; Yes, all monastics, especially among them true ascetics according to the inner man, not just of our Orthodox fatherland, but also of all Orthodox peoples of the Slovenian language, Serbia, I say, and Bulgarians, and others, will be honored to use their reading. Then, not only would your long-term and long-awaited desire for the acquisition of such books be fulfilled, but we ourselves, if we were to be worthy of them, would be found in good preservation, by reading them, as if they were trustworthy, we would use them, glorifying God. This advice of mine about the acquisition of such books would then become actual, if the all-true news appeared to exist, as if the essence of the prophesied books had already been reliably sent to Venice for the sake of printing, so I think it would be reliable, and with the above-mentioned amount of money, with all the costs involved in both ways, it would be possible to buy two rounds of such books. If only God had forbidden it, the true message would not have appeared; then there would be a need to write such books in the Holy Mountain, even though it is by no means possible to make the predicted amount of money, but incomparably greater: it would be necessary for the Svyatogorsk Cathedral of Carey, that is, for all the saints of the Svyatogorsk Monastery, to give an alms tax of at least a thousand leva, so that everyone would willingly appear about this matter and give a helping hand: for the whole world there is It is known that all Holy places, and with them the Holy Mountain, are supported especially by the alms of Christ-lovers, especially in times of need, but without alms it is shameful and indecent to begin such a great work, and it is also impossible. In the same way, to the special monastery of the Saints, three or four, in which such books are found, it is necessary to give five hundred leva in alms, so that the rulers in them, with all joy, will deign to open their libraries and issue such books from them for prescribing. In the same way, the scribe, not just the usual one, but also an incomparably greater one, should be zealous in paying the price for the prescription, and with all joy and diligent zeal, they will endeavor to prescribe the law without any error, and according to the prescription, check it with the originals, and correct it correctly. It is necessary to write down two circles of such books, so that one remains within us, while the other will be assigned to you. For this very thing, the requirement is to expect at least two thousand leva. For the one-year or two-year period in the Holy Mountain until the writing of the books of the brethren sent the prescription, and also for the support in both ways, five hundred leva is required. Behold, Holy Father, if the necessary need arises to prescribe the foretold books for the fatherland, which has the hope of being eternal for the benefit of souls who want to be saved; then your shrine, as if one who has the zeal of God for this, is it not appropriate for him to diligently spend so much money to acquire such a priceless spiritual treasure? Not exactly this, but if need were to arise, would it not be appropriate to lay down one’s soul for the acquisition of these things, for the benefit of one’s neighbor? Truly fitting. And even if nature put so much money into the creation of a stone hospitable host with an iron cover, isn’t it appropriate to put incomparably more money into acquiring the prophesied books, eternal for the sake of one’s own and one’s neighbor’s benefit? But since the news about the printing of the books that were prophesied, I do not think to be untrue, but all-true: for the sake of your shrine, you will get rid of such a great dependency for the prescription of them, but it follows that the lesser predicted dependency should be put on the purchase of such books, as I will detail about these writings. If in no way, even if you had wholeheartedly desired, it would not be possible to create your shrine, or because of your extreme and last perfect monastic Christ-like poverty, or because of some other blessed guilt, or because of the situation of the time: then the Lord will not condemn you, because you wanted to do this with all your might, but were not able to. And if this happens, then I pray to you with all earnestness for the Lord’s sake, because of this last advice of mine, do not despise my advice: present the news about the message to Venice for the printing of the books of the Fathers in Hellenic Greek, to the people on them, about them you announce to me: these, as God-inspired men and the ineffable zeal of God for such books, have, after printing them most conveniently, as those who are powerful, they can receive it, and according to the most true translation into the Slovenian language, publish it with a seal, and then your shrine, having been delivered from the predicted dependency, will be able, with God’s help, to acquire it more conveniently, and thus your most prophetic desire for the acquisition of such books will be fulfilled. I pray to your shrine, my writing in response to His Eminence, if he gives you his hand, take it yourself, in it about the guilt of not sending books to your shrine, and about the predicted message of the messages of these books for printing, and a prayer to his Eminence, may he deign to admonish your shrine to listen to my written advice to you, it is written, but otherwise nothing: for this reason do not hesitate to take it yourself, and present it to His Eminence, at whose holy feet I fell in my thoughts, most humbly bowing with my entire assembly, his holy and blessing kissing right hand. I spiritually inform your shrines that I am overcome with joy and fear about the printing of the books of the fathers, both in Hellenic and Slovenian. With joy, as if they will no longer be given up to complete oblivion, and as if zealous people will be able to acquire them more conveniently: with fear, fear and trembling, and not just in general by monks, but by all Orthodox Christians, just like other books, like a thing for sale, were offered, from them spontaneously, without the instruction of those skilled in making mental prayers those who have learned, delusion will follow, but through delusion, let not blasphemy from vanity-minded people result from this holy and immaculate work, testified by the Father to many and great saints. Just as it actually happened in our days, like a single monk, a superstitious philosopher, who saw that some zealot for sowing prayers, even if not according to reason, constantly, for their self-initiation and for the ignorant instruction of unskillful teachers, sowed prayers, a certain charm, without laying the blame on the autocratic and unskillful instruction, only, I moved him to the devil, Armed yourself with blasphemy against this holy prayer, like those ancient damned heretics Varlaam and Akindinus, who blasphemed this prayer, incomparably exceeded: only terrible and shameful blasphemies, neither fearing God nor disgracing man, against this holy prayer and against the zealots and laborers of it, like the hearing of man the essence is unbearable for the chaste: and even against the zealots of the prayer of sowing only great persecution has been raised, as if some of them, having left everything, have come running to this country, and live in it in the desert, pleasing to God; retse, as if he had heard, tied the plinth to them, and drowned them. And his blasphemy was so powerful that the Nets, under unblessing, forbade us not to read the books of our fathers. When, not content with verbal blasphemy, he betrayed his intentions to the scriptures, then by God’s punishment both of his eyes were blinded, and his God-fighting intention was stopped. For this, as I foretold, I fear and tremble, lest self-inflicted deceit should follow: deceitful blasphemy: blasphemy, doubting the teaching of our God-bearing fathers, who themselves have learned this prayer by the grace of the Most Holy Spirit by deed and experience, and ascetics, with all humility of mind, are forced to strive for this work, Godly wisdom teaches. The books of the fathers, especially those about true obedience, and about sobriety of mind and silence, about attention and mental prayer, that is, done with the mind in the heart, are only suitable for the monastic rite, and not common to all Orthodox Christians. For this reason, for the sake of the God-bearing fathers, about this prayer often, its beginning and foundation is unshakable obedience, they say to be, from it true humility is born, and humility protects the one who strives in it from all the delights that follow. It is by no means impossible for the worldly people to acquire true monastic obedience and complete cutting off of one’s own will and reason in everything. And how will it be possible for worldly people, without obedience, on their own initiative, to be led into such a terrible and terrible thing, that is, such a prayer, without any instruction, to be forced, and to escape the manifold and varied charms of the enemy, who are subtly led to this prayer and its ascetics? Not at all possible. That is why this thing is terrible, that is, prayer, not just smart, that is, unartistically performed by the mind, but artistically acted by the mind in the heart, like true novices, their will and reasoning before their fathers, making sowing prayers true and skillful teachers, not exactly cut off, but also completely killed, always in fear and trembling, fearful and trembling, they will suffer a certain charm in this prayer, even though they are always protected from it by God, for their true humility, which is acquired by the grace of God through their true obedience. Even more so for worldly people, who remain without obedience, even if only from just reading such books they were forced to this prayer, it is scary to eat, so that they do not fall into some kind of delusion that begins spontaneously. This prayer is an art of art from the Saints; and who can learn it without an artist, that is, without a skilled mentor? This prayer is a spiritual sword for the slaughter of the enemy of our souls, given from God: but he who acts unskillfully has fear, lest he be slaughtered himself. This prayer is in other places, especially in the countries of Egypt, like your sun shining, and also in the countries of Jerusalem, and in Mount Sinai and Nitristia, and in Palestine in many places, and in many other places, but not everywhere, as it appears from the life of St. Gregory of Sinai, who went around the entire Holy Mountain, and diligently sought out the workers of this prayer, You will find no one in it, but little knowledge about the prayer of this one. From here it is clear that if in such a holy place you have found not a single saint of this kind, then in many places in other workshops the doing of this prayer is unknown. And even if you acted, and like your sun shone into another workshop, then and there the doing of the sowing prayer is like a great and ineffable mystery, known to the only God and the doer of it, kept: the doing of the sowing prayer is by no means unknown to the worldly people. Now, by printing the fatherly books, not just the monks, but the entire Christian people will come to be led away. And for this reason I fear and tremble, but for the predicted guilt, that is, for the unauthorized undertaking of prayer without a mentor, some kind of self-initiated delusion will not follow, from which may Christ the Savior deliver all who want to be saved by His grace. This is your shrine, as if for the sake of protection, having spiritually declared, I abide in all the commandments of God, a desirer of perfect success for you and an unworthy worshiper. The original signature is as follows: To the venerable fathers of the monastery of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Polyanomerulskaya Our holy and God-bearing fathers, in the writings of their saints, bequeathed that it is not proper for the brethren, who have gathered in large numbers in the name of Christ, to live without an abbot, but in every possible way must have one skilled in spiritual reasoning, to whom they would give all their will, and obey in everything, as if they were the Lord himself. Fulfilling this, our departed common father of blessed memory, do not leave your God-assured flock to remain without a shepherd after your death, but going to the Lord, place in your place the All-Honorable Father Theodosius, who is able to guide and guide the souls of his brethren on the saved path. But the Most Merciful God, whose fate is incomprehensible, loving his servant, visit him, like your beloved child, for the sake of greater reward, with a bodily illness such that it is difficult to leave his cell, as he announced in a letter. Seeing his shrine, as if for the sake of such a serious illness, he could no longer bear the administration of the monastery and all the brethren; Likewise, following the blessed memory of our late father, put the All-Honorable Father Alexy in your place. Having been notified of his appointment, I greatly rejoiced in my soul, and thanked the Almighty Lord, as such a man had been shown by my servant: and I think that it was not otherwise that this happened, but only the very grace of the Spirit of the Most Holy Autumn in the heart of the All-Honorable Elder Father Theodosius, and brought all the common brethren into unanimity, so that by the common good will of all, he chose to be his abbot. of this worthy man, Father Alexy, of whom my soul is informed, that he will be able, according to the spiritual mind given to him by God, to guide and lead the souls of his brethren to a more saved pasture. Well, holy fathers and beloved brethren, knowing the humble disposition and extreme gentleness of Father Alexy, given by God to him from childhood, also acquired through labor, and his lack of skill in ruling, you doubt this, as if through this he cannot rule the monastery and the brethren, and ask me for advice and help on this; Let the Lord inform you about this, that if you want to listen to me and obey my advice in everything, as promised, then I am teaching you this advice according to God: so that you will not choose anyone else to be your abbot except Father Alexy; Let this be your Mentor and Father according to God; Obey this as you would the Lord himself, and from his mouth, as from the mouth of God, receive the word for the benefit of your souls. To whom is it more fitting, judge for yourself, if not such a spiritual husband as the ruler of the souls of his brothers? First, as a disciple from the oldest disciples of our late Father of blessed memory was tonsured and adopted in your monastery, a skilled confessor was also awarded the priesthood. Secondly, there is more, as if he has an acquisitive love for God and his neighbor, has a right mind and sound reasoning, and benefits everyone by living a virtuous life. Do not doubt about humility and its gentleness; This is the root and foundation of every rector: let it be, as the Holy Fathers write, that the rector of the brethren is humble, meek, kind, quiet, able to easily bear any reproach first, even if it happened from someone to the contrary, so that he may himself and the brethren be able to give the tribute of patience and chaste living. Do not doubt, as apparently a good rulership cannot know: God is able to rule other brethren. This is what is most necessary for the salvation of the common people, to lead the souls of the brethren to do good according to the commandments of the Lord and the teachings of the Holy Fathers. There is no doubt that you are weak in body, but you are sound in spirit and sound in spiritual reasoning. For this sake, honorable fathers and beloved brethren in the Lord, falling in thought at the feet of all of you, I pray with tears, do not despise my advice, even if I am not worthy, but accept the shepherd and mentor given to you by God, the All-Honorable Father Alexy, and do not wish anything else for anyone else throughout his life: even if he himself did not want and renounced his authority, then with everyone humbly beg him and do not want to; and knowing the weakness of his health, do not seek bodily labors above his strength, but calm him down in every way, so that not before the time the strength of the health of the body is exhausted, and the brotherly benefit becomes futile: it is sufficient for him to sit in his cell, preserving his health, and read books that are beneficial to the soul, so that in time, like the brethren, he can give sound and soul-saving advice. Likewise, in the external administrations of the rulers, do not despise him, as if you do not know good, but in every undertaking, for every undertaking, always accept blessings and advice from him with all humility and advice, even if you thought to any brother in any matter, as if you do not need to ask your father, since I myself know and can: this is out of hostility; from God and from the Saints the Father this is: yes, in every matter, even if the brother were very skilled, the first thing he should do is question the abbot, and not force him to do it, but leave him as he judges and wills: it is fitting for a brother to completely humble his thoughts, and like an extreme ignoramus, so approach the father and ask: if this is his will and blessing, and begin according to his will. Then God, seeing the brotherly humility and true obedience (without humility there is no obedience), will instruct the heart urgently with His Holy Spirit, give a useful answer and advice, and will hasten to the novice with His invisible grace in the work begun. If the abbot voluntarily answers: do as you ought; then, with the fear of God, trusting in his prayers, begin, as if God will enlighten you: having completed obedience, either inside or outside the monastery, or returning from the path, come back to the Father, and having confessed to the last detail what you have done, fall at your feet asking for forgiveness for having sinned in holy obedience; Angelically, there is no way to sin in anything. In the same way, humble yourself to each other, and prefer each other, and have love according to God among yourself, and may you have one soul and one heart through the grace of Christ. If I hear such a dispensation and understand what is happening in you, I will rejoice and glorify the Most Gracious God and pray to the imam of the Lord, that He will give you, in His innumerable mercy, strength and strength in the perfect preservation of His Divine commandments, and I will in every way, with all my strength, help you in mental and physical needs, and your abode, as if it were your own, according to the desire of everyone in common. have. I am now sending two brothers, Father Matthew and Father Dionysius, to the economic management of Father Alexy, who I hope will be a great help to the entire holy monastery. Having offered this to your love, with the hope of your God-pleasing correction in doing the Commandments of the Lord, I remain I wish you health and salvation, Hieromonk Paisiy Elder of Dragomirn. An imitator of Abraham's deeds, a zealous worker of the Commandments of God, my dearest friend, Lord Father Demetrius the Hiere In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (it is fitting, as Saint John of the Climacus said, to begin from God to God’s saint), I have conceived for you, my dearest friend, the true servant of Christ, calling on His Divine grace to help the weakness of my mind - without Him, because according to His untruthful words, we cannot do anything, - it is not enough to write something, in my briefest word, about common life, and blessed obedience, which common life, and even more so all monasticism, is the root and foundation, reasoning that my writing to you like this will most of all be most favorable to my all-loving and all-sacred soul, which even until now has a fire from God committed to love for monastic life in itself unquenchable and preserving it God-pleasing. Yes, my all-beloved friend, like the Holy Spirit, through the Holy Fathers, define and ordain all monastic life into three orders: solitary solitary sojourn, and cohabitation with one or two together, and common life. This hermit's wretched life is: if anyone is far from a person in the desert alone, and for his soul, for food and clothing, and other bodily needs, he has only hope in the one God, in his battles and infirmities of soul and body, but he has only one helper and consolation, all consolation of this world is alien and strange to the former love for the sake of God. To have this mind with one or two lives: let the elder be skilled in the Holy Scripture, sitting in silence, and let him have one disciple or two sitting with him in obedience and obedience in soul and body. The common life, which begins, according to Saint Basil the Great, in the likeness of the Lord, with the disciples of life, from twelve brethren, and no less, the same, as God hastens, a multi-human gathering is growing, from one or from many, especially tongues, - this contains the mind: that all the brethren who have gathered in common in the name of Christ have one soul, one heart, one thought, and one will, to work for Christ by doing His Divine commandments: and to bear each other’s burdens, obeying each other in the love of God, for this having his Father and mentor, the abbot of the monastery, being skillful in the mind of the Divine Scripture, instructing him in word and deed, and in everything to him, as if obeying the Lord himself to the extreme and perfect cutting off of his own will and reasoning and by mortification: that is, we will command him and his teaching, if they agree with the commandment of God and the teaching of the Fathers, which is not at all resisting, but diligently and diligently fulfilling what was commanded from him with the fear of God with faith and love. All that serves bodily needs, the necessary needs of those who possess them are common: but you cannot have your own special property, movable and immovable, in any way. In all these three orders, from the Holy Spirit, the essence of the instructions, many from the Holy Fathers appeared completely pleasing to God, and shone in spiritual gifts like the sun. And about all these three orders and dispensations of monastic life, the Holy Fathers give evidence from Divine Scripture. About the first rite, that is, solitary life, he also considers the height of such a life, which only befits the perfect and dispassionate, and those who, miraculously, according to God, were purposely called to such a life: also considering our weakness of beginners and passionate people, and the many different delights of hostility to self-imposed life. those who follow bring evidence from Scripture: woe to one: if he falls into despondency, or sleep, or laziness, or despair, raise him up among men. With one or two lives, the Holy Fathers praise them, calling them the most praiseworthy angelic presence, and the Royal way, citing the testimony of the Lord from the Scriptures: “Even if there are two or three gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of them.” About common life they cite evidence from Holy Scripture: “whatever is good, or whatever is good, but the brethren live together.” The essence of monastic life is divided into three ranks, the advice of the Monk John of the Climacus is given to those coming out of the world into monasticism, not to deviate either on the right hand or on the ground, but to follow the Royal path, that is, do not go lower into the desert, since the solitary desert life of the Angelic fortress requires, and the novice, and especially the spiritually conquered passions, that is, anger, rage, vanity, envy, opinion and others, below are the traces of such a deserted life, speech, let him not dare to see, lest he suffer from a frenzy of mind. To enter into common life below is not what is not useful, but what is more useful than such life? Even while praising Saint Basil the Great, he is dissatisfied, he says, to have the power of words, to praise the height and majesty of such a life: but as it requires great suffering. The Saint advises to walk the royal path: that is, to have a stay with one or two: for such a life is more convenient for many, as it requires not only great patience, but also a little more joyful. Even if one obeys one’s father in everything, or one’s brother living with him, it is not only wonderful, but also requires a little patience. In community with many brethren, not just your father, but also all the brethren, and the very last, and endure from them annoyance, dishonor and reproach, and every kind of temptation: and have dust and ashes under the feet of all, and like a bought servant, serve everyone with humility and fear of God: and the everlasting extreme poverty in the common existence of life, and the meagerness of bodily needs in food and clothing must be endured with reason: since this is a matter of great and extreme and suffering patience, and the one who endures to the end in such a godly community, the amount of reward in future bliss from the hero of Christ our God is worthy, it is impossible for the human mind to comprehend and to say in words. And for this reason, according to the reasoning of the Holy Fathers, these two orders of monastic life, that is: with one or two dwelling, and common life, are presented to those coming from the world into monasticism for election, in which someone deigns, having renounced the world, to work with Christ: whether in the first, as the most joyful, as it was said, or in the second, passion-bearing community and according to the word of the Climacus, he will receive a special crown from God on the righteous day according to the deed of reward. The third rank, that is, the desert, is not at all commanded; the Holy Fathers advise those coming out of the world as newcomers to choose to stay for themselves, sowing for the sake of guilt, as the desert life is likened to Christ’s crucifixion on the cross: the common life of the passion of Christ, even before the cross, ours for the sake of salvation, endured. For Christ, our Savior and the Hero of our salvation, who in all His most pure life in the world presented to us the image and prescription for His good pleasure, did not first endure the crucifixion on the cross, the same most pure passion, but before the passion, the same cross: in this way, in the likeness of the Lord, the Holy Fathers command, who wants to be in monasticism to God to please: first of all, begin your life together from the common life, which is in accordance with the passion of Christ, and together with suffer in it with Christ in the perfect cutting off of your will and judgment: dishonor, reproach, reproach, and every type of temptation to endure with greatness and inexpressible joy, Dondezhe blameless will appear in humility: that is to say, he endures all these temptations with great and inexpressible joy, and like the drink of heaven he desires at every hour, and those who tempt him may have like his great benefactors and intercessors of his salvation, having himself under the feet of all, like dust and ashes, unworthy with all my soul of cohabitation with them and on the face of whom to look. And from such long-term and deep humility, which in the general life of the queen of virtues, the required obedience acquired, the flame of the inexpressible love of God kindled in his blessed soul, nothing else, according to Saint Arsenius, can be with God and with man, and such, with the advice of the Father, can go out into the desert, even in accordance with the crucifixion Christ, in the hedgehog it is already complete to be put to death to this world, and to be crucified with Christ. To such a skillful true warrior of Christ, who had previously trained with the multitude of Christ’s warriors, to fight with his invisible enemies with artistic spiritual weapons, who went out into single combat, God hastens, gloriously inspiring a victory over his enemies: and crowns him with His ineffable Divine gifts, as His perfect saint and legitimate sufferer ascetic. And the calico desert is a pretext for Divine love, as if everything is worthy to be in God, and God is in him. This is why it is more wonderful from the Holy Spirit through the Holy Fathers, ordained and disposed, if anyone, having come out of the world into monasticism, and having despised such a law of the Holy Spirit, instead of committing himself in a common life to a holy and blessed, according to the word, that is, according to the reason of Scripture, obedience, by which, through the grace of Christ, he would be able to truly acquire the humility by which could get rid of his passions, especially spiritual ones - being passionate and weak in soul, and inexperienced in spiritual feats, out of disdain for zeal he will begin to drive away the desert and choose a silent and solitary life for himself, desiring, instead of imitating the passions of Christ in community life, lest he untimely ascend to the cross of Christ by removing himself to the desert, to such an wrath of God comes for his contempt, and like an unskilled warrior, who has not learned in the community the art of mental warfare, and does not know how to hold a spiritual weapon in his hands even lower, and who dares to separate himself from the skilled warriors of Christ for single combat, and fights in private with his enemies demons - such, instead of victory, by God's permission for his contempt, is defeated and falls before our enemies, and soon we die from them. For there are those who are strong and perfect, the fathers say, who can fight the demons alone, and who can, as the word of God says, attack them, the daring and perspicacious, having driven into the wilderness before their time, will reap thorns instead of wheat, and instead of salvation will find destruction. What? Since such a despiser and destroyer of the God-given order is being established, which order, as previously spoken, Christ our God instituted for us with His immaculate and most pure life in the flesh, and instead of having compassion with Christ in community life, I dare with my pride to ascend to His cross, choosing for myself the desert before community life: and such is not a hermit, but an autocrat, and The life of such a person is not a desert and a solitary, silent stay, but self-rule. And such an unauthorized life is of no benefit, but the only deceit of the devil is to follow the custom: both in ancient times and in the present day, the deceitful people who were deceived by the devil, and lost their minds, and killed themselves with various and terrible deaths, from which deceptions will deliver everyone us Christ our Savior by His grace. What is the river and what will I say about the earthly heaven - the common life, and about the tree of life, planted from God in it, blessed obedience, in tenderness of weakness and new beginning, resorting to, ahead of time, alone with one’s enemies, not daring, and partaking of the immortal fruit thereof, extreme and passion-bearing of one’s will and judgment by cutting off death run away and all the charms of the devil, the self-inflicted subsequent ones? The fence and cover of such a life is the Holy Spirit: and such a life is a refuge that is peaceful and not overwhelmed by all those who want to be delivered from the troubles of this vanity of this world. The ship is well-fed by the Holy Spirit, comfortably in the haven of the kingdom of heaven of those who entered it, and to such well-fed those who undoubtedly obey through the glorious sea of ​​this life, passing through, not afraid of the mental passions of the flood. The general one is a physician and a well-known healing for everyone who is possessed by mental and physical passions, and who truly wants to be healed. Legal training is mental warfare against a mental enemy by a warrior of Christ, who wants to bring about a sent and soul-saving victory over him, whose invincible weapon is the Most Holy and Adored Spirit himself. Christ our Savior Himself established a common life, and the holy obedience in it, on earth as a human being, and offered it as an image, to the most perfect pleasing of God, to live together with His saints, the Disciples and Apostles, who obeyed His Divine commandments in all respects. First of all, the root and foundation of common life is Divine obedience in heaven in Angels, and in heaven in men, as the most important virtue of all virtues and the most beloved one, having planted, destroyed by the envy of the devil, and our weakness, with your extreme and ineffable love for mankind and compassion, renewed and raised up in yourself, obediently being to his Father even unto death: and by his obedience having healed our disobedience, he opened to all the right of those who believe in Him and to those who obey His Divine commandments, the doors of the kingdom of heaven. This image of Christ was followed in the primacy of the Church by thousands of Christians who lived in the community, having nothing of their own, but having everything in common: for this reason, for the sake of life, they were vouchsafed to acquire one heart and soul. By this communal life, the ancient reverend fathers, throughout the entire universe in the Lavras and Monasteries, accepted the law handed down to the Scriptures by the mouth of Christ - Saint Basil the Great, living, and shining brighter than the sun. For the sake of humility, which is born from the blessed obedience, and leads to a primitive dispensation, so that man may truly be in the image of God and in the likeness of man, just as he was created from the beginning, and by gift. God, received at Divine baptism, creates in a person to shine, more than other spiritual gifts, to which a participant, by the grace of God, a true novice, through his true humility, is worthy to be, as many times you can mentally feel it with your spiritual feelings. Such a communal life of all the brothers, gathered in it in the name of Christ, even if they were from different peoples and countries, binds to such love, as if they were all one body, and share one another: all who have one head in common - Christ, all who burn with love for God and for their father in God and for each other, this is one unanimous and like-minded proposal to all, to diligently do God's work and keep the commandments, friend encouraging each other to do this, obeying each other in such a mind, bearing each other’s burdens, being masters of each other, and slaves to each other. And for such their true, spiritual and like-minded love, they imitate the Lord and the Apostolic and Angelic life, their father according to God and their mentor, like God himself, obeying with faith and love in everything, confessing all the secrets of their heart to him, hiding nothing in any way, the word and commandment from him, like from the mouth of God, with the notification accepting: the will his and reasoning contrary to his father, like a bad robe, spitting, cursing and taking away far from himself, and like the deceptions of the devil, running, and like hell fire, trembling, and constantly begging God for this, to free them from such burdens, by that grace: and to cleave to their father, like Having been a child to his mother, and like a sheep to his shepherd, to follow in everything, and like a tool to a cunning man, and like cattle to his master, he carefully obeys his father in everything, except for every reasoning that is contrary to him. This, that is, Divine obedience, is the root and foundation of common life and all monasticism, which is connected and united with common life, like the soul with the body, and is not made up of one without the other. This is a shortened ladder to heaven, the only degree of cutting off the will of those who have it: the novice who has ascended earlier ascends to heaven faster. And the ascent ready for God is obedience, to which, until the end of his life, the right and unswervingly marching son by the grace of God, the heir of God, and the heir of Christ in his kingdom of heaven is vouchsafed to be. Life in common with God is heaven, and obedience is holy heaven, heaven: in the same way, if anyone falls away from obedience, he is cast out from God and from heaven, as the God-bearing Fathers instruct, says the great Gregory of Sinai. In ancient times, such common life and all-blessed obedience were taught by the great God-bearing Fathers, who, like themselves for the sake of purity for the sake of their souls and the perfection of God’s commandments, were made worthy of the dwelling place of being the Holy Spirit, and from him, like the sun, shining in spiritual gifts, they came into extreme dispassion and into the perfect love of God, by the Spirit We nourish the saints: thus, in word and deed and in the image of your God-pleasing life, you showed the true path to salvation, to the dangerous keeping of God’s commandments. For this reason, their disciples, like looking at the animated pillar and the luminous sun, looking at their saints, were instructed and enlightened, and themselves in all the virtues by the light of their teaching and good deeds, and to the utmost pleasing of God to the parishioners, and an innumerable and innumerable multitude were saved from them. In these fierce times, even though I cry and lament a lot, it is worthy of much, and such a mentor has become extremely depleted, even if the zealots of the monks would like to please God with such a communal life, God himself and the Divine reading of the Reverend Fathers of these, communal Mentors, even hitherto observed by God’s providence, is a teacher and mentor: on the same, as well as on the ones samekh, looking attentively, with the fear of God and the mind of those who honor can in part, by God's haste, and imitate their Godly life, nourished and admonished by the being of their father, who gathered them in the name of Christ, or from them unanimously chosen, not from themselves, but from the Holy Scripture and from the same Holy Father teaching the teachings of his spiritual children. In ancient times, many from the Holy Fathers, from the enlightenment of the grace of God, the disciples learned their teachings, and not from the books. In the present times, the Holy Fathers do not at all command from themselves whom the brethren should teach, but from the Holy Scripture, and from the teaching of the saints, the Father, who by the Holy Spirit knew the mysteries and the power of the Holy Scripture, and by its grace foresaw in these last times in the foreign community to sound teaching and the true mentor no small impoverishment, and we are also awakened by the Holy Spirit, wrote His holy and soul-beneficial teaching, for our eternal benefit and nourishment, and the affirmation of the path of salvation by the guide: even in modern times, the mentors of monks and their disciples themselves, holding on to humility and the fear of God, will not sin their own salvation, and those who listen to them. Therefore, with all the three monastic life ranks and dispensations, and their properties, and the benefits that come from them, before your love for God, with my shortest and weak-minded word, leading to your extreme love for me according to God and faithful friendship, I want about myself, and about our poor life, in my shortest word, even if I do not know, notify. Yes, because your love for God knows that I left the world with indescribable zeal, as if I myself were not weightless, even if I work diligently for God in monasticism (God knows, Father, that I do not lie), I was not vouchsafed, in my youth and at the beginning of my monasticism, below the trace from whom to see sound and right reasoning, advice and teaching, according to the teaching of the Saints Father: if I, a novice and inexperienced, should begin my poor monasticism from what rank, and with what reason. Having entered from the beginning into a certain deserted monastery, in which the beginning of the monastic order was merited to be received by the ineffable compassion of God, below the trace of a certain sound instruction from someone I was vouchsafed to see, or to understand what obedience is, and in what strength and intelligence it is accomplished, and what hidden benefit it brings to the novice. Below, the abbot himself, below, my successor and the elder, gave me this instruction about this: having tonsured me without any temptation appropriate for beginners, which is accomplished in the cutting off of one’s own will and reasoning, leaving me to live without any spiritual nourishment. My father, who was received after my tonsure, having lived in the monastery for just one week, left it, unknown to me, and to this day, he just said to me: brother, you are written: as God teaches you, so live. And so, like a sheep without a shepherd, being left without anyone to care for, I began to wander there and there, seeking to find benefit for my soul, peace and nourishment, and not finding it, I reached the Dondezh in the quiet and calm Holy Mountains, hoping to receive some kind of joy there for my soul. But even there, when I came, a few brethren found our Russian people and those who taught the Holy Scripture, that is, literate: and so I was not able to obtain the desired nourishment for my soul, I sat in a certain cell in imaginary solitude for some time, and I trusted God’s providence for my poor soul, I began to read little by little my father’s books, taking from my own according to God of benefactors, from the Serbian and Bulgarian monasteries, and honorable one attentively. Then, the Lord taught me blindly, as if in the mirror I knew how it would be fitting for me to begin my poor monasticism, and in what way: and I understood how much of the grace of God had been deprived, having not given myself over to a certain skilled father in obedience in soul and body, from my ignorance, I was not worthy of receiving instructions from anyone for such a holy work. And I realized that my poor imaginary silence does not bear my measure, but there are perfect and passionless people who live only for themselves: and wondering about the rest, where to betray themselves into obedience, about it many times, like a child for a deceased mother, sighs and weeping. Having not found, for many blessed faults, where to obey, I decided to live my life in the royal way, with one like-minded and unanimous brother: instead of the father, God, have for yourself a mentor, and the teaching of the Holy Fathers, and obey each other, and serve; have one soul and one heart, and have everything in common to the state of one’s belly, seeing this path of monasticism we testify to the Holy Fathers from the Holy Scriptures. I hastened to make the same good offer to God, came to the Holy Mountain, and my brother, who was of the same mind in everything, was the first in our community, who even until now, by the grace of Christ, has been found alive, and began to live with me in one accord. And so, by the grace of Christ, in part, my soul found a certain joy and much-desired peace, and I, the accursed one, was granted some trace of the benefits of holy obedience, which we had for each other through the cutting off of our wills, instead of a father and mentor, having the teaching of our Holy Fathers and obeying each other in the love of God. But we did not properly enjoy such a life: and other brethren, coming from the world into monasticism, seeing such our loving cohabitation with our brother, were zealously jealous of the same life for themselves: and it was good for me for this with my prayer that I began to pray, to accept them into my cohabitation, and discipleship. But I denied the duty, fearing and trembling to accept anyone into discipleship, leading this work of being perfect and dispassionate, but I myself am weak and passionate, and did not accept them, one for four years, one for three, another for two, and another for a certain long time. Later, because of their great cold, they worked for me with their prayer, but also for the brother who lives with me, who is fiercely brotherly loving, convinced with tearful prayer, he began and did not even want to accept into his cohabitation one by one, from each of them, revealing, according to my strength, the power of holy obedience, from the Holy Scripture and the teachings of the Holy Father: and seeing them having indescribable faith and love for the Holy One Scripture and to me unworthy, but to each other peace and like-mindedness, greatly rejoicing in their souls about their good will, and glorifying God, entrusting themselves to the ineffable providence of God for their spiritual and physical nourishment, and wholeheartedly giving themselves over to soul and body in blissful obedience, accepting one by one. And in this way, from the royal path, that is, with one brother and two people living together, they were formed, by the grace of Christ, and our common life, having increased to the number of not a few brethren whose life in the holy Mount Athos, that very place, extremely cruel and difficult, did not give a hand to the affirmation, where even two or three, abiding with themselves in common, can hardly with the bloody then, let the river flow, and through labor you can feed yourself your bodily needs, since there are so many more. We are also afraid of the authorities of Hagaryan, lest they impose on our wretched society tributes similar to those given from other Svyatogorsk monasteries: which we have already heard from many and want to be. For the sake of such wines and other numerous ones, about which we have already written to your shrine, we are afraid that there will be no extreme and last, much crying and sobbing worthy of this life, which has amounted to a lot of sweat and labor, ruin. Moreover, having placed our trust in the omnipresent God, and fulfilled everything, and was blessed in every place of His sovereignty, we all moved from the Holy Mountain to the Orthodox Moldovan land, where by the grace of Christ, given to us by the pious Lord and Most Reverend Metropolitan, the monastery of Dragomirne, even more so than in the Holy Mountain, this life was established ours, until such time as the Lord wills, this land partly lends its hand to such a life. And having already gathered in this community of our brethren, unanimously in the holy obedience of the Lord those who willed to work, there are not more than a hundred monks, except for the lay novices: this is the only good thing in common that God has to work diligently in keeping His divine commandments. Firstly, it has its own special possessions, down to the subtlest thing: this is the first rite of common life, according to St. Basil the Great, which is very dangerous in our community life, and only, as no one can come to the mind from the brethren, still wish to acquire something special in the community life: knowingly, behold the path of Judas the traitor. Everyone who is accepted into our cohabitation, his property, should anyone happen to have anything, and things, even the smallest little thing, laying everything before my feet and my brothers, I betray to the Lord, together with myself in soul and body in holy obedience even to death: otherwise, it is by no means impossible for anyone to be accepted into our society. Second: it is necessary to have your own will and reason, but it is dangerous to maintain prudent obedience. This is the second order of common life, the root and foundation, as has already been said many times: and this order, by the grace of God, since it is possible for our human weakness at this time, is dangerously preserved in our community. Below is it possible for someone to be accepted into our society, if not with such an intention, with soul and body, and with all their will, to commit themselves to the holy and blessed, and in the Holy Scripture, obedience, so that no one can do their will, below keep their judgment, and feed themselves, but to be nurtured and shepherded by the teaching of our Reverend Fathers, which is our life according to God nourishment, mentor and guide to salvation, which I dare to offer to everyone, generally and especially, with my sinners, for the condemnation of my accursed soul on the day of judgment: I say and offer soul-helping advice to the brethren, without doing a single good deed myself. Such a foundation, that is, non-acquisitiveness and obedience, which we have in our life, and all other ranks of community life, about which we cannot write to you in detail at the present time, in our community life, by the grace of Christ, are preserved, in so far as it is possible, and the brethren are forced to acquire the true and unfeigned love of God for each other. For first of all, having loved the Lord, and for His love all the red and sweet things of this world have been imputed to my mind, I have left, and in the wake of my Lord, I have taken up my cross, walking: the same and each other’s burdens are forced to bear, have one heart and soul, strive each other for good deeds, overcome each other with faith and love for me, unworthy, vainly, like children of God: for me, when I see them struggling, I rejoice in my soul and glorify God with tears, as the Lord has vouchsafed me to see such His servants, and to live with them, and to delight in the sight of them. As if the Angels of God were in vain, the brethren, in need of holy obedience, I consider myself unworthy to follow in their footsteps, seeing myself deprived of such God’s grace, that is, holy obedience. And even if everything in our community is not in the same measure, this is possible below: but Ovii are from the brethren, who are also the most numerous, to the end they have put to death their will and reasoning, in everything they obey me and the brethren, and like the Lord himself, the brethren in the passion of God, and decide to obey many, bringing dishonor, enduring dishonor, reproach, reproach and every kind of temptation, with so much joy, as if someone was worthy of the greatness of some God's grace, and this is always insatiably desiring, always and incessantly reproaching himself before God in the secret of his heart, and possessing himself the smallest under all and the last of all: Ovi are, again, not small in number, falling and rising, sinning and repentant, enduring reproach and temptation, even with difficulty, but sometimes with an all-hearted compulsion to comprehend the first, and earnestly begging God for this with tears. Ovi are not multiplied in number, weak and infirm, like infants, not yet able to accept solid food, that is, reproach and temptation to endure: who still require mercy, love for mankind and condescension in their infirmities to be brought up with milk, until they reach the age of spiritual patience: by one good will, and everlasting Self-reproach replenishes one’s poverty. Many times, and beyond one’s strength, one is forced to endure dishonesty, and abandon one’s will, with blood: that is, great labor for this, like blood, poured out before God, and with tears beseeching God for help for them, and such, even if they are the weakest, are, however, like the needy of the Kingdom of Heaven, imputed before God. Even if such people are not in the same measure, as they say, they are the essence of the measure, but in general they are all compelled to keep the commandments of God and the Holy Fathers, to bind beings with each other through an indecipherable union of God’s love, and for the sake of God’s love and their salvation, they endure the ever-present poverty of bodily needs with generosity and everlasting thanksgiving to God, for the one God, as their salvation, and so in the bodily needs of the state of life of nourishment, placing hope. This is a much-desired notice to you, as I remember, about the three dispensations of monastic life, together with our much-poor and wretched community of life, even if heaven is far from the earth from the common life that existed in the days of the Holy Fathers, but it is only possible that, especially in these poor times, the grace of God hastened to form, and contained, through these writings, having brought, and I inform about myself: as if by the bounties of God, I am still in this life, even in the midst of bodily weakness: having incessant sorrow and mental illness, I will appear as the face of the Terrible Judge, at His terrible and unwashed judgment seat, and I will give a word about the many souls of the brethren who have given themselves over to obedience to me: I cannot lower and about my only to answer the damned soul, seeing in everything his spiritual weakness and inability, and unable to imagine his brethren in a single good deed, as the position of such a life tortures. Exactly according to God and the Mother of God, through the prayers of the brethren who live with me, I have undoubted hope of salvation, even if I am unworthy: and I do not despair, even if God’s ineffable and incomprehensible mercy is poured out on my sinful soul: or else, by the righteous justice of God I will be condemned to eternal torment, according to my evil deeds, blessed be God: I am worthy I am this, because of my negligence about His divine commandments. Exactly for this I always pray to His mercy, that by His mercy for my dearest one, who in this common name of His Most Holy Assembly and Life, when I have labored, or have, after sowing His mercy, may He vouchsafe me, so that I may be vouchsafed, like the rich Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham, His spiritual children, true servants and sufferers of Christ, in to behold His heavenly kingdom, for His now short-lived suffering in obedience, His divine suffering with the Angels and Saints, who have pleased Him in obedience, are satisfied with contemplation. And this would be enough for me instead of any reward: both of them for the sake of holy prayers, I hope that the accursed one will be saved: for which you also pray to God for me, I humbly abide, your sincere and desirous friend. A sincere wisher and ever-present friend of your blessed contemplation, the unworthy primate of the assembled brotherhood of Christ, Hieromonk Paisius. Community Monastery Moldovlahi Dragomirna This Scripture was sent with Father Gabriel and Spiridon To my all-beloved friend, zealous worker of Christ’s commandments, reverent priest Father Demetrius, I thank Christ God, as a spark of the Divine fire, in your youth, cast from Him into your blessed heart, by diligently doing His soul-saving commandments, you kept the unquenchable, even if you wanted to be in the flame of perfect His love, receiving, if the Lord pleases, the angelic image of being inflamed. But the great thing about this, my beloved, is that there is an inconvenience: having come to life for fear, he has become like eating, according to Climacus, the hand and nose are tied to the property, even if he wanted to go into the monkhood, he cannot. Second: as you have undertaken to shepherd Christ’s verbal sheep, even so simply, and as if you were so blessed, you would not leave comfortably. Third: in this worldly life, a custom acquired through such a long time, and not yet transformed into nature, also instills natural love for one’s wife and children, but it is not very convenient to put aside one’s attachment to the world and those who exist in the world. Finding yourself in these conditions, how can you overcome these most inconvenient bonds and overcome the inconvenience? First of all, beloved, you should have spiritual advice about this with your God-given helper, with her permission about this matter. Second: arrange your own children legally and according to Bose. Third: most importantly, from the Most Reverend Archpastor, if the Holy Spirit would breathe into his holy heart about this, ask for a blessing for this holy work, and your flock will be a skilled Shepherd for you. Sow a blessing, and you will reap a blessing. And so, according to the order of what is happening, it’s your own business. Your intention for monasticism according to God will be strong and unshakable, commendable from God and from man. If only these means described above by God’s grace had been more conveniently granted to you and freed from all inconveniences: and then, not without great consideration, you should count your spiritual possessions, and so begin to build the pillar of monasticism, so that not for the reckless beginning of the building and imperfection, laughter and reproach according to the Gospel, your work will be, and this cup, even with tears, and bread monasticism, like mustard, may not be condemned on the day of judgment for lack of reasoning. No one, says the Climacus, will enter the palace of heaven wearing a crown unless he makes the first, second, and third renunciation. The first renunciation of the world and others in the world; the second renunciation of will and reasoning; the third renunciation of vanity, followed by obedience. Of these, the first is the most convenient, but the Lover of God. Second, he seeks heroism and bloody labor to the point of death. The third is overcome by constant self-reproach. For all of this, God’s invisible help is present, without any help or anything that can be powerfully corrected. Moreover, all-desiredly, if you trust in God’s grace to help you, as if you are able, freed from the foretold inconveniences, to truly renounce the world and all things in the world, renouncing your own will and reasoning, and committing to the truth according to God and God’s commandment, even to the point of death, obedience, and nothing at all from your property, and even to the smallest thing, not have, have for yourself the least and the last more than all, and endure mental warfare generously, constantly inflicted by the servant of God from the invisible enemy of our souls, also hunger and thirst, and the impoverishment of bodily needs, reproach and dishonor, and all the oppression and sorrow, in the image of which the monastic life is outlined, if you desire sweetness before death endure for the sake of God's love: rejoice and be glad, glorify God, and have no doubt that God, through His wondrous destinies, will bring this godly intention into action: and you have been vouchsafed, even at the eleventh hour of your life, to work for God in an angelic form: but do not doubt, for you are equal with the first, from your youth to your old age. who worked in monasticism for God, from the all-generous right hand of God you will receive reward in heaven, the ineffable blessings prepared by the Lover of God, which you will be honored with in Christ Jesus our Lord, desiring in a pilgrimage, I am a sincere desirer and ever-present friend of your blessed contemplation, an unworthy primate in the name of the gathered brotherhood of Christ, Hieromonk Paisiy. Community Monastery Moldovlahiyskaya Drohomirnya Sent with Father Spiridon To the Most Reverend Lady Mary with the Divine Sisters, Christ our true God says: Fire has come to burn upon the earth, and what do I want, even if it is already on fire? (Luke 12:49). This Divine fire, cast into the earth of their hearts, the holy Apostles and disciples of the Lord received from Him, burning with the flame of love for Him, leaving the world and those in the world, and coming to Him, as to their Lord and Teacher and true Mentor on the path of salvation, giving themselves over in soul and body to true obedience and cutting off their will and his reasoning until his last breath, and with great and inscrutable joy she said to him: “Behold, we have given up everything, and after you we have died (Matthew 19:27). Obedience, always having this Divine fire in their hearts, and in everything following the Divine will of their Lord and Teacher, pure and immaculate, like the apple of their eye, preserved until the end of their life, sealed by the patience of countless temptations and manifold deaths and the outpouring of their blood to the last drop, which they poured out for their faith and love for Christ God, for let them maintain their obedience to Him, for the sacrifice is pure and blameless until death. The holy Martyr received this Divine fire for the love of God, endured many different torments and the most cruel deaths for Christ God with indescribable joy, and received from him the crown of his Divine glory in the Kingdom of Heaven. All our reverend and God-bearing fathers received this Divine fire, fleeing the world and everyone else in the world, and from them in their common lives in perfect obedience and cutting off their will until their last breath, having received the martyr’s crown from the right hand of the Lord; who labored in deserts and in mountains and in dens and in the abysses of the earth, who walked the cramped and narrow path, always carrying the death of the Lord Jesus in his body, - crucified with Christ, abiding in hunger and thirst and all suffering, in unceasing prayer and supplications and tears, and in the final poverty of Christ and the saints, the Apostle Pursuing your life, and preserving the Gospel commandments, like the apple of your eye, purely and immaculately, you have been made worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven. And why am I multiplying the verb? This Divine fire of God’s grace has received all the Holy, soul-saving commandments of the Gospel, without doing them it is impossible to be saved by the one Orthodox Faith, having diligently preserved the true servants of Christ, of every rank and title, and in every place of His dominion, you have received salvation. This Divine fire of the love of Christ, by His grace, through the diligent and attentive reading of some soul-helping book, cast into the earth of your heart, having received from His goodness, you hated the world and everything in the world, and you accepted the intention, leaving the world, in a single life, to silently work for God day and night: even if your parent tried to turn him away from him in every way, having known your intention; and he brought upon you various persecutions, although he could extinguish the fire of God’s jealousy in your soul; but, the grace of God assisting, you have overcome everything with your patience, just as your parent himself, despairing of keeping you in the world any longer, and seeing your confirmed intention, leaving the world to work for God, sent you to the monastery located in Kostroma, where you stayed for four years, you were vouchsafed, prompted by the grace of God to do this, to read many books of your fathers, from them You received such spiritual benefit from reading, because you desired a common life, and you asked Christ the Savior to give you a true mentor, with such a promise, as if you had found a perfect mentor, then, according to the teachings of Basil the Great and St. John Climacus and St. Symeon the New Theologian, commit yourself to him in perfect obedience with soul and body, hating and rejecting all your desires and all your will, and may you be trampled upon by everyone in your common life. “This is your intention and your request for it, as in everything good and pleasing, fulfilled by Christ, the knower of the heart, who gave you a true mentor for salvation, the late Father Theodore in blessed memory, having heard about him, you went to him in Solovetsky Island, and the Lord returned him to his cenobitic monastery, and since he also had another women’s cenobitic monastery, a hundred miles away from his monastery, to which the female monastery you moved from the previous regular monastery from Kostroma, to Arzamas, and there you stayed with the holy sisters, with the foretold holy husband in perfect, according to Divine Scripture and tradition and the teachings of St. Our Father, in obedience and in all cutting off his own will and reason, accepting teaching from him as from the mouth of God, and obeying him in everything, not as a man, but as Christ God himself, confessing to him, when he came from his monastery to visit you, as to God himself, the secret of your heart with all your sisters, and accepting from him in everything, even to the smallest things, spiritual instruction. “In such obedience, as you remained in that monastery for three years, your father and mentor, according to God, loved you, and all the sisters loved you in the same way, and your spiritual father wanted to entrust you with holy obedience to the holy sisters into your care for them: but you did not seek this at all and did not want it; but, knowing the power of holy and Divine obedience, as obedience is life, and disobedience is death, and even though you bowed your neck to the good yoke of Christ’s obedience, and you accepted on yourself the light burden of Christ’s care for the salvation of the souls of the saint sisters, gathered in the name of Christ, and who voluntarily surrendered to you in holy obedience. Having accepted this well-known burden, you had hope, as not you, but your spiritual father, governs you and all the sisters, and on him, and not on you, lies the entire burden of governing the souls of the holy council: and for this reason, you passed through holy obedience with inscrutable joy, obeying in everything the Holy Father, like God himself. And so, according to this authority that has been with you for two years, by God’s permission various spiritual temptations and manifold infirmities of the soul have come upon you, and to your spiritual Father there has been a diminishment of faith and love, and so on, which you have declared in all detail to me. In the same manifold spiritual ruin that lasted you two years, your spiritual father and teacher from temporary to eternal passed away from life: and then the eyes of your soul were opened, and you began to recognize the futility of your soul, and you lost your mentor in God, and remembering the ruin of your soul that followed, you cried and sobbed, and little and not in despair from the green tightness and sadness of your heart, come and write to me, and ask and pray with many tears, so that I may write to you some kind of spiritual consolation. Not despising your prayer for this, even if in no way in this art, who should I write to, I am unlearned and unskilled, I am writing to your honesty, and I pray and advise about the past temptation and weakness of your soul not to grieve beyond measure and not to despair, but, with undoubted hope in God’s mercy, the beginning of true true repentance for what has passed lay down your weaknesses before God, and repent with all your heart and soul, and ask for forgiveness from His goodness, and because this God is good and loving of mankind, rejoice in your true repentance, just as He has forgiven all sinners who have repented, He will also forgive you all your sins, without any doubt. It comes to me, honorable Lady, and this in thought, for Christ the Savior, our true God, when He entrusted the universe to His saints, the supreme disciple and Apostle Peter and Paul, may they preach His gospel in it, and may those who believe in His preaching be guided to the true knowledge of God and keeping His commandments, and so may they be merciful to those who sin, and more easily forgive the sins of those who repent, by His divine and incomprehensible destinies He allowed to eat, as Peter denied Him three times, but Paul persecuted His church and destroyed: according to Peter’s true repentance and Paul’s miraculous faith in Christ, both of these holy Apostles, before they themselves knew the weakness of human nature, this for the sake of being most merciful, in the likeness of Christ the Lord, to those who sin and those who truly repent, and just as they themselves bore the burdens of everyone, so they encourage everyone to do this, saying: bear one another’s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ, Gal. 6.:2. Is it not in this way that Christ the Savior allowed the foretold spiritual temptations and infirmities to be found on you through unknown destinies, as if after a long time you saw, as in a mirror, the infirmity of your soul and the weakness of human nature, having learned to bear the infirmities of the weak, and you will be inclined to show mercy to those who sin from weakness and those who repent, and You will correct such people with a spirit of meekness. For this reason, when you repent before God, glorify His incomprehensible providence, marvelous is the salvation of those who fear Him and arranges for the repentant. And then, all-honorable Lady, from reading the books of the fathers, you longed to find a true mentor, who would guide you on the path of salvation, and with God’s help, having found one, you remained with him in true obedience, and kept the sisters of the saints in such obedience, and you knew by deed and experience both the fruits of blessed obedience, and the fruits of damned disobedience: then the need It is my duty to write little about holy obedience to your honesty. – Divine obedience is the only thing necessary for true pleasing to God, since without it it is by no means impossible to please God. For this reason, holy obedience was quickly implanted in three places by God: in heaven, and in paradise, and on earth; in heaven, in the powers of heaven, in paradise, in primordial humans, on earth, in the holy disciples and apostles of the Lord. And in these three places appeared both the fruit of blessed obedience and the fruit of damned disobedience. In heaven are all the powers of heaven, having by their good will remained in obedience to God, have been granted, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, to abide in him forever: the devil, who is from the order of angels, having by his own autocratic will fallen from obedience, and having become proud, was quickly thrown out of heaven, with all the forces of the same angelic order, who spontaneously listened to his wicked advice, and having been deprived of the Divine light, darkness came into being by its own will, opposing God and the salvation of faithful Christians, being created forever. Behold, the fruit of both obedience and disobedience appeared in heaven. In paradise, Dondezh pristine, I remained in true obedience to God, the sight of God and the manifold gifts of the Most Holy Spirit: when spontaneously, having listened to the advice of the devil, and falling away from obedience, becoming proud, desiring to be equal to God, then the saying of death was received from God, I was expelled from paradise, and the whole human race was guilty. death: and if the Son of God had not destroyed the disobedience of Adamla with His obedience to God and the Father until death, then there would have been no other hope of salvation from death and eternal destruction for the human race. Behold, in the primordial paradise the fruit of obedience and disobedience appeared. On earth, Christ the Son of God descended from heaven, not to do His will, but the will of the Father who sent Him, and obeyed Him to the point of death, death on the cross, and implanted His Divine obedience in His holy disciples and Apostles. Those who remained in it, even to the point of death, were deemed worthy to lead the universe to the knowledge of God with their preaching; and now with Christ their Lord and teacher they reign in heaven: the accursed Judas fell away from obedience, and instead of the Lord he obeyed the devil in everything, and despaired, hanged himself, and perished forever with soul and body. Behold, the fruit of obedience and disobedience appeared on earth. This Divine obedience, implanted from Christ the Lord Himself in His holy disciples, passed into the holy angelic monastic order, in which many in holy obedience, like the sun, shone, and completely pleased God: but the entire monastic order is based on holy obedience, and in ancient times, either in common lives, or in the royal path, that is, in two or three, or three, or even in the deserts, then for the most part I lived my life out of obedience to my beginning, and thus, by God’s grace, I avoided the delights of demons. The self-inflicted monastic life of those who began many times to experience the manifold charms of demons and the following, from which may the Lord deliver us by His grace. Obedience is Divine and from this we have great praise, as according to St. John Climacus and other holy Father teachings, the mother is the foundation of all the commandments of the Gospel, that is, love, which is accomplished by obedience, as the Lord says: if you love me, keep my commandments. And again: if you have My commandments and keep them, you will love Me. And again: don’t love me, don’t keep my words. Keeping the Commandments of Christ and His words is nothing else but perfect obedience to Christ the Lord. Divine obedience is such a great virtue before God, for according to the teaching of many saints, true novice, in true obedience until the end of their lives, receive the crown of martyrdom from Christ the Lord; the cutting off of their will and reason in all things before the superior, in an outpouring of blood, mental and spontaneous, for the name of Christ is imputed before Him on the day of His righteousness according to the work of retribution. In such Divine and holy and blessed obedience, honorable Lady, the content of the council of the holy sisters, gathered in the name of Christ, not otherwise, but according to the true reason of the Divine Scripture, as taught by our venerable and God-bearing Fathers, instruct them on the path of salvation, for themselves in the image of every good deed, strengthened by the help of God, imagine, diligently doing the commandments of the Gospel, love for God and for one’s neighbor, meekness and humility, always the deepest towards all the peace of Christ, mothering them with mercy, patience and long-suffering, with tears, prayer and consolation and encouragement for every good deed, bearing with the love of God all their burdens and infirmities, burning for them with the love of God, as to the sisters and disciples of Christ, diligently instructing them on true obedience to God in everything and on cutting off, and even more so, the mortification of their contrary will and the formation of their mind and reasoning: for yourself, in the secret of your heart and soul, have dust and ashes before God, most bitter and sinful above all people. Be forced to present yourself with an image to the holy sisters both by observing the commandments of the holy Fathers, and by bodily labors according to your strength, if possible, by standing on the church rule, by bowing both great and small; Also, carry out the cell rule, established by the holy Fathers, with the fear of God through prayers, psalmody, and reading; Likewise, diligently and with great attention and testing, read in the books of the fathers about prayer, performed with one mind in the heart, which is the truest, most pleasing to God, monastic feat, and if by God’s help you have understood the true mind about it from the teachings of the holy Fathers, then you are forced to do it, calling on God for help, and great from You will not find any benefit for your soul. Be forced to condemn anyone: for there is only one righteous judge, Christ the Lord, who will reward everyone according to his deeds; but condemn yourself for sure, and you will not be condemned at His terrible and second coming. Forgive everyone who sins against you from your heart, so that the Heavenly Father will also forgive you your sins: and what more can I say? Always strive with all your soul for all the commandments of the Gospel, but have all the hope for the salvation of your soul in God’s mercy alone, without any doubt. For your weaknesses and spiritual sins that were previously caused by God’s allowance, may God, by His grace and love for mankind, forgive you and bless you, both in this age and in the future. Write to me, write with all boldness, and for the Lord’s sake I pray to you, about your community life, and the order of the church and the refectory, and about your food, and about the whole arrangement of your life, I will write in detail to me, who is unworthy. Our Lord Jesus Christ is our true God, the river: where there are two or three gatherings in My name, there I am in the midst of them, through the prayers of His Most Holy Mother of God, Our Lady Theotokos and the Ever-Virgin Mary, and all the saints, may it be in the midst of you, gathered in His Most Holy Name, forever and ever Amen. (written on the original by the venerable elder’s own hand): Your honor with all the saints, sisters gathered in the name of Christ, perfect prosperity in the commandments of the Gospel, is the most zealous desirer and unworthy Bogomolet. Archimandrite Paisius of the Holy Ascension Nyametsky and Predtechev Sekulsky Moldovlakhian monasteries. Letter from Elder Sophrony of Moldova to Schemamonk Athanasius, who lived in the Svensky Monastery To the most honorable in Schimonas, my most beloved spiritual son in the Lord, Father Athanasius: Grace and peace to you in Christ Jesus our Lord. Your honest writing, dear to me, sent from you on December 29, 1804, was received by me on February 3, this year, 1805. Brother Adrian, having come to the monastery on January 20, gave us the alms given from your God-loving soul, that is, ten Dutch ducats, and also to the monk Plato with a handwritten register inscribed from you, and handed everything intact. For your deep beneficence, your ardent faith and love for us poor, may our most merciful Lord Jesus Christ match you with His eternal blessings. At the beginning of this current letter of yours, 1805, March 27, you informed me and brother Plato that you did not receive any answers from us about the current alms through brother Adrian: but for what reason our letters of gratitude did not reach you, we do not know. In this letter, you convince me to give you a solution to three points: then I, bypassing the first and second, will solve your doubts on the third first, as it is more convenient and more relevant to me. Your third question about the rule, which I defined at the beginning was small for you (although it was very difficult for you). Look, as you yourself say, at first even the smallest things were very difficult for you; Now, by God’s grace, you bear it carefully, and it becomes most convenient for you: then I tell you, let not a single embarrassment happen to you for this inequality, but always moderate against your strength, and just pay attention to yourself, and do not be embarrassed. - May the most merciful God forgive and bless you in this age and in the future: I, a great sinner, forgive you, and I send my fatherly blessing, and eternal peace to you and to us. To your second question, that is, to the middle one, where you say: here holiday and royal vigils are celebrated much outside the rules, and I strongly insist on this out of zeal for the church, our mother. My beloved spiritual brother and son, if it weren’t for your faith and love according to God for us poor, then I tell you, below, after a threefold petition, I would have dared to answer this question: it is crowded everywhere, and inquisitive people have the abyss of battle verbs; and unless the soul descends into deep humility and humbles itself, it cannot pass through these snares of the gums; for the righteous and strong are guilty on both sides. But what does the Lord say? No one has more sowing love, but whoever lays down his soul for his neighbor. Moreover, I, seeing your such sorrow and crampedness, my soul is sick for you, and entering into this crampedness, I want to take you away, like my spiritual son, from such, even for the truth, strife. It is from them that utter envy and resentment are born, and not peace or correction. And this is a sign for us, as if from the opposite: for now, as you yourself say, you do not see a schism in them; and for some customs that are not similar to their charter, no one will bother you about this, below the Lord, below the head of the church: it is not in your power, for the rector, below the dean, but sit down and cry for your sins, for the guidance of your soul to Christ God. For this reason, I advise you to be silent, for the sake of the Lord, be silent, and avoid strife like the poison of a serpent: always say to yourself this gospel word: who will judge me? That is, a supervisor and a bodyguard. If only the abbot had asked you with love about the custom either here or at Svyatogorsk church; Then I could tell you with humility, and if they don’t fulfill your questions, then also be silent, and don’t say anything to anyone from the brethren, but answer those who ask: I don’t know, God knows. I advise you this, my spiritual son, and if you want to be peaceful, then go ahead, and the peace of God will rest on you. On the third, and especially according to your scripture, on the first question: “Is it possible to have such a confessor for yourself, and from those serving the Divine Liturgy of the Holy Mysteries to receive communion, which were not given to the Lord, on Holy Pentecost on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and on other fasts, that is, Petrov and Spasov and Filippov, on all days on oley, or on hemp oil, and on Meal weeks, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, for fish, also on polyeleos royal days, and for the sake of guests, on whichever day happens, fish is allowed in the meal and cells? here to the word from your letter, in which you show the rules, and then you say: “What is your fatherly reasoning for this reasoning? Isn’t it disgusting for me to confess to them and receive the Holy Mysteries? Tell me and write back to me." My beloved brother and spiritual son! And again, it is proper for me to say, because I am cramped: what will I say here, and what will I write? If the soul, even for some illness and infirmity, violates little of the Divine rules, then for the sake of God, let it be poured out with humility, love and tears; If for the sake of contempt, or for the sake of negligence, he neglects it, then we are afraid to eat and talk about it; also add to it, or take away anything, no matter how small, for the sake of contempt, dare, let the same condemnation tremble: we do not hear him saying: if we, or if an Angel from heaven brings you news differently, let him be anathema, and, having been oppressed by the grief and bewilderment that holds you, I enter into such terrible discussions out of necessity, with with great humility, as if I would rescue you from the pit of despair and oppression. What are we going to do now, and where are we running? Truly it is cramped, especially if we fall into strife. If we descend into deep humility and insignificance; This shows us humility, for God did not create us for wrath, but for provision. Let us therefore adhere to the commandments of Christ, and all the apostolic and paternal rules and traditions with humility, and do everything that is in our power: but let us not become weak and covetous, and let us not torture our neighbor’s commandments. The same Gospel, which, according to the threefold denunciation, says, be like a pagan and a publican, do not bring it here: it does not tolerate, anywhere in the whole honest assembly, one who walks in sin willingly; Here we have a word about general customs. And it is appropriate for you to remember here that if two unavoidable troubles arise, you need to bear the smaller one on yourself in every possible way: so here too, if we are oppressed by two commandments, the only need from them is to preserve the greater one. Zane, if you don’t want to confess and receive communion there, then where will you receive communion? Negli will not be allowed out of the monastery either; and the thing, according to local regulations, is impossible, and you will create a bitter life for yourself. If, however, where you understand a different custom, you are able to move in even though you need it; then do not regret changing places and bodily peace, mental peace for the sake of peace, but not change at all. If you are still able to reconcile on the spot, then force yourself to be free from opinion, and it will be good. If you change, and receive even a little joy, then you will become wise even if you suffered: do not be curious about anyone, and everyone will be like angels to you; and do not be covetous with anyone for any thing, even for the truth, which is not in your power and does not depend on you, and you cannot correct them, but instead put their souls into envy, and put your own into confusion. This to you, my beloved brother and my spiritual son, according to the strength of my weak mind, I give advice on your doubts, and I repeat the words again and again, and I ask you for the Lord’s sake, be silent, be silent, I say, from everyone, and do not look at the decency and disorderliness, and do not talk with anyone at all from the scripture, for there is no creation, but ruin for souls, especially same with young people, but they ask their superiors; and not boasting in the books of the fathers, where envy grows, need will be covetous: just as if you have a like-minded brother in your cell, and even if you are faithful, let him not take it outside; but pay attention to yourself and look at your sins: it is good and sufficient for you that they leave you to live freely according to your conscience. Petsysia, may you manage your outcome well; The Lord did not entrust other souls to you, also below the deanery of the Church. Even if we are commanded, not to seek our own benefit, but to seek the benefit of our neighbor: but this time and place reveals, and where peace, and love, and humility grow. Listen to the Lord for my sake, my spiritual brother and son, who speaks this to you from a painful heart, and do not ask me about these again; Today, or morning, the coffin awaits me, and I was barely able to answer this to you before I died in the world: or else, you will bring your life with sorrow to the coffin. - confess and receive communion without hesitation: the Church of Christ in all the beauty of the Apostolic and Holy Councils stands immaculate; We humans will perceive each one according to our deeds. - and from these, my beloved, if anything good appears to you and is not disgusting to God, then thank God, for the sake of your faith, write: if anything is disgusting to God and not in accordance with the holy scriptures, then I ask you, my spiritual son, to forgive and cover my ignorance. May the most merciful Lord enlighten you, so that you become wiser in humility, even more than these. We know that we have goodness in our hearts: that in response to every temptation, humility, self-reproach and patience are victory. May the most merciful Lord help you, and protect you, and protect you from all the snares and snares of the enemy, and may He forgive you all your sins, in this age and in the future: and I am a great sinner, I send you my fatherly forgiveness and blessing: and through the prayers of our late father Paisius, may the peace of God rest on you, amen. Peace, health and salvation, and in the commandments of God, the most perfect desirer of all-perfect prosperity, and your unworthy Godmolet, your Spiritual Father, Elder Sophronius. Letter from Elder Sophrony to Maria Petrovna Protasyeva, head of the Arzamas community To your request, which reached us after the death of our blessed elder, we have sent to you, with the blessing of the love of Christ, an answer to our letter of gratitude last year, although not verbose, but very simple, if it pleases you in solving your Christ-loving thoughts and desires. Father Afanasy the monk, who often lives in the village of Palekh, with the icon painter Afanassh Nikitich, in his letter written back in 1795 on August 16th, which reached us this year, on the 26th day of April, announces that you asked him to write to us about some books in order to find them here and send them to you for correspondence; also send two drawings from the Miraculous Icon and a portrait of our late Blessed Elder Paisius. It is a pity that Father Athanasius’s letter, no one knows where, lasted so long: however, these books are already being copied, by correspondence, along with drawings from the Miraculous Icon, and a portrait of Our Blessed Elder, we will truly send you to you, with reliable opportunity; rest assured, we are happy to serve you, so many benefactors. – We have received only three more books of Goodwill at the Monastery; but also about the others we hope that Afanasy Nikitich, due to his zeal for us, will not give up trying to send, for which we humbly thank you, Most Reverend Lady, and your entire community gathered by God. About the other half of Philocalia, what God will arrange, we also want to know. But according to the current news, in our Russian Fatherland, arranged by God, it seems that it is true that we must expect both the printing of such books and all kindness (as the rumor goes here) free joy. ABOUT! May the Heavenly Father bless and glorify and establish the Russian Highest Authority, from all countries, according to all their good dispositions, for the Glory of His Most Holy Name, in everything according to their hearts; May he protect their kingdom with the whole armor of His righteousness, firmly, and fearfully against all visible and invisible enemies, for the joy and peace of truth and true piety, for the joy of good souls who holyly obey His Most Holy Will! God of all joy and generosity is a blessing, and may the Ever-Virgin Mother of God always have mercy upon you, and may all your desires prosper: most truly to you, Most Reverend Lady, and to all your beloved sisters in Christ, wishing for this, we are forever grateful with the most special reverence for you, in the love of Christ. Most Reverend Lady, with all the God-loving sisters in Christ, our most merciful benefactors, your most humble servants and most sincere pilgrims forever. Holy Ascension Nyametsky and Holy Baptist Sekul Monasteries, Sophrony the Elder Archimandrite with his brethren. Moldovlahia, Holy Ascension Nyametska Monastery Letter from Father Afanasy to her, from the Arzamas nunnery monastery to the headmistress and God-gathered brides of Christ, Mother Maria Petrovna Although your shrine does not know me personally, it is also well known, when I was in Moscow at the Novgorod Bishops' Compound working to print the first book of the Philocalia or Philokalia; You will also remember, and even more so, that I had previously brought many of the translations printed in that book of Philokalia from the late Elder Paisius to Russia: not for my own idle self-interest and delicacy, but for salvation, for the common benefit of the monastics. Having completed the translation of another book of the Philokalia, I, five years old, due to my lack of satiety with my father’s books, returned to Elder Paisius; and after his blessed death he was still in Mount Athos. From where, about eight days ago, the pack arrived in Nyamets to the current Elder and my Spiritual Father, Archimandrite Sophrony: and at the same time I learned from his holy lips that I was completely ready to send you the newly translated and white-copied book of Saint Barsanuphius. No matter how tired I was from the sea and land journey, I was extremely surprised by Elder’s love for you, that I did not have time to write off the feeding and reading of my brethren, and wants to send the latter to you: I also rejoiced at your great zeal and zeal, as they could about such a priceless treasure, that is, the book of St. Barsanuphius, through such a distance to know and vigilantly try to bring it into society gain. I reveal to you, spiritual Mothers and sisters, that I, the accursed one, worked hard in Nyamets just to read it at least once or twice. The elder blesses, not just to read, but also to copy; but due to old age and weakness I can’t write it off at all; very large; - I’ll probably read it either way, but with the blessing I began the black honor. And for the sake of sending it to you, it was completely rewritten and he ordered it to be bound and, together with the icon, sent to Iasi. Having learned this, some of the brethren began to humbly beg the Elder to satisfy his own children first: the Elder was torn between both for you and for his own sorrows; because I don’t exactly say that none of the brethren, but the confessors below, read that book. The Lord is generous and merciful, dear Mother and sisters, and did not despise your prayer: the elder learned from the chief scribe that another book of Saint Barsanuphius had already been copied more than half in good writing. For the sake of speed, some recommended finishing it in cursive rather than semi-character. But purely printed and typewritten books stimulate reading and delight more, and cursive ones turn everyone away from reading: and so the Elder ordered one to finish writing for the scribe, and another to read after him and correct mistakes, and not to send them to any other obedience. And so be patient a little, and be trustworthy that you will soon receive what you want, and you will be indescribably joyful. In this case, I will help as much as possible for the sake of practicality. For in one Nyametsky monastery it is necessary to have three books: one for the library, another for reading in church and meals, a third for the brethren’s cells for reading, and also in the Sekul Monastery at least one. Moreover, with all this, I assure you that first of all you will be satisfied; Instead of you, here I will apply my efforts and care in every possible way to finish it as quickly as possible and send it to Moscow. Your benevolence is very sensitive, however, I demand your holy prayers and blessings, Your Reverence’s novice, unworthy monk Afanasy Svyatogorsk, a native of Moscow. Maria Petrovna! With all the Christ-loving sisters, our most merciful benefactors! May the peace of Christ the Lord bless your love, which binds your society well, and may your souls rest in the hope of the participation of peace in heavenly dwellings! Last year, on March 9th, sent from Moscow by your venerable God-blessed superior, nun Anna, by your will, most reverend Lady, and by the unanimous consent of your God-beloved society, we were honored to receive the most revered scripture again, last year in August on the 27th day, with great joy, seeing you, most reverend Lady, for our wretched monastery, only much-beneficent effort, and of your entire Christ-loving society such is truly God-loving remembrance for us; with the letter and the three hundred and nine scrolls sent we received, for which also to Mr. Afanasy Ivanovich our most humble letter of thanks is attached, which we humbly ask you, most reverend Lady, to deliver to Mr. Afanasy Ivanovich. Our monastery is greatly rejoiced by the fact that the most holy image sent from us, which resides in the monastery of our miraculous Mother of God, has already been received in your holy monastery with your true reverence, and we most sincerely wish, with unceasing devotion to the ineffable Mother of God, our goodness, although unworthy, but with fervent prayer, and according to your reverence for In the Mother of God's faith and love, Her compassion will prosper all your requests and hopes, keeping you forever. Mrs. Anna writes, is there a special service for the Nyamets miraculous icon? But there is none; and the paraklis is always sung, and on Saturdays there is always an akathist with an akathist canon. With this most humble writing of ours, fulfilling our promise to you, most reverend lady, and to your entire God-loving society, we send to you the book of Saint Barsanuphius, for the consolation of your good souls, who have committed themselves to the only Christ the Lord; which we do not need to praise, since she, as you please see, clearly teaches everyone who listens with grace all the virtues, for which the all-good Comforter will bless the world with gifts, in order to achieve the riches of heavenly glory; where for you, most reverend lady, and with you and all the sisters entrusted by Christ to you, as with the shepherd of the sheep, as with the good womb for the children, may the most gracious giver Christ prepare an inheritance, but with the love of Christ, most reverend lady, we advise you, this dearest treasure, the book of Saint Barsanuphius, not to be kept under a bushel, in your one holy monastery forever, but with through diligence, make a way out for it, for the benefit of others who wholeheartedly enjoy the same food. And to you, most reverend lady, the method seems very possible, since their Eminences Metropolitans Gabriel and Plato are always close to you, and for everyone there are zealous benefactors; and His Reverence, Father Vicar Alexander, favors your holy monastery: for this, at your request, this book can be put into print at once: for which a prayer grateful to God for you, most reverend lady, will be sent up from many good souls, the one will of Christ with all their hearts, with the will of unceasingly kissing; therefore, the blessed reward for your God-loving soul, and for your entire God-red society, will be a hundredfold worse. Thanks to our unworthy zeal, for your great, most reverend lady, to our poor cathedral, we send also a little book, from the book of Simeon the New Theologian, translation works of the late, blessed memory, our Father, Elder Paisius, deliberately chosen like flowers, twelve words; namely: 1st. About the rejection of the world; 2nd. About the spiritual work of the ancient saints Father; 3rd. About faith and love; 4th. About turning away from harmful conversations and about judgment; 5th. On the Beatitudes and the Seal of Christ; 6-e. About repentance; 7th. About repentance and the expulsion of Adamli; 8th. About cutting off one’s will, and about completely trusting oneself to one’s spiritual Father; 9th. About the constant torture of the leader himself; 10th. About the communion of the Holy Spirit; 11th. About repentance and the beginning of monastic life; 12th. as the soul is cleansed by faith and commandments. Although in the book these words are not indicated by such numbers; But first, a testimony is attached to the book. Moreover, from the 12th to the 15th sheet, please see that the late elder put two speeches about one word, crossing out the page with a ruler, deliberately showing, at the top, word for word, a speech from the Greek translation; and below the ruler, speech from Bulgarian, that is, from the Slovenian translation; but in both expressions equally for the benefit of the soul. At the same time, we send for your God-loving spirit, the translation of our deceased Elder, four words, especially for nuns, also composed by the God-inspired Father, with great gift of instruction. In addition, there is also a notebook attached: an interpretation of Lord have mercy, helpful for the soul. Seeing this, most reverend lady, your very benevolent word, as Mrs. Anna expresses, that in the future you deign to promise to our wretched monastery, to the glory of Christ God and His Immaculate Mother, in other things to serve yourself, and in others to intercede with benefactors, and relying on your Christ-loving zeal, we accept the courage to express to you our need that we do not have vessels of silver for the blessing of bread, wheat, wine and oil at the All-Night Vigil; and besides, our sacristy is very poor in the priestly vestments; and one more thing: at the monastery, in the little hermitage, a new small church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary into the Church of the Lord was built, so the new iconostasis also requires iconographic gold and silver: why we most humbly ask you, most reverend lady, to intercede with the benefactors of the lovers of Christ, so that these things may be given to our poor monastery, for the eternal recording of all our benefactors, as lovers of blasphemy to the house of God, and benefactors of poverty, in the books of heaven, by the finger of the good will of Christ the Son of God, before the throne of His Divine Majesty, where those who celebrate! the unceasing voice and indescribable sweetness of those who behold the face of His Lord, the ineffable kindness. For your health, most venerable lady, who greatly benefits us poor, in our monastery and hermitages, to our monastery and those belonging to others, in churches, in all sacrifices, our most fervent prayer is always sent to the mercy of God, may Christ the Lord bless you, most reverend lady, with always perfect health and long years, for greater increase your good talent through the alms and benevolent government of the sisters entrusted to you by the providence of God; We also remember your two nuns: Martha and Anfisa for health, may the most merciful Lord grant them perfect health; and for the repose of the blessed memory of the former head of your holy monastery, Hieromonk Theodore. And for all of your God-beloved society will always and forever remain in our monastery, to the most merciful giver of all good things, Christ God, even though we are unworthy, but according to our most sincere desire, prayer, may His all-merciful grace rest in your hearts forever; may His Divine love be for you, in all your spiritual feelings, a helper who can see your heart’s desires for His one and only Christ; walk incessantly with your heart and mind in the footsteps of His one beauty, commending yourself to the heavenly fellowship of the five wise virgins; in all this may the All-Good, His Immaculate Mother, the Ever-Virgin Mary, be your guide; may your mind strengthen, from pure thought and warmth of heart, to be consoled by the constant invocation of His all-holy name, Her son and God, Her most honorable name; may your souls be illuminated with divine illumination, changing, reviving, and creating God, to love His one and only Christ God, in betrothal to the future heavenly lordship; South to you, most reverend lady, and to all your subordinates, beloved sisters in Christ, and throughout the generations of sisters of your Holy Abode, may Christ the Lord bless you as an inheritance, establishing life for everyone along the above-expressed path, in a favorable love world, continuing the years of your life in health; and bless your Holy Abode and keep it forever in prosperous, all-saving silence in His Name. Moreover, on the new year, most reverend lady, we most humbly congratulate you and all your sisters who have been blessed in Christ, we sincerely wish that the all-merciful benefactor Christ may bless you with its course and guide you through all your spiritual blessings; with the omnipotent prayers of His Most Pure Mother, bestowing all of it on you. With our most zealous desires for you, with all gratitude, for your many blessings to us, bowing to the ground with our hearts, and henceforth, in the hope of your Christ-loving help, remaining forever, with the most true, your name, most reverend lady, and all your God-pleasing society. Most Reverend Madam, with all the Christ-loving sisters, our most merciful benefactors. To you are the most humble servants and the most zealous pilgrims forever. Holy Ascension Nyametsky, and Holy Baptist Sekulsky Monasteries. Sophrony the Elder with his brethren. January 11th, 1800. Moldovala; Holy Ascension Nyamets Monastery. Note to page 12 of the preface Father Archimandrite Alexander of Arzamas of blessed memory was born in 1758; came from the surname of the Polish Nobles of Podgorychani, the Greek-Russian Orthodox confession. He thoroughly knew the Polish Language, and loved the sons of the Orthodox Church who came from this nation. Constantly devoted to the pure teaching of the Church, he especially revered the book of Metropolitan Stephen of Yavorsky: The Stone of Faith, and the writings of St. Demetrius of Rostov, whose book: The Spiritual Alphabet, he advised those entering the monastery to have with them, and to study in it all their lives. He studied at the Kyiv Academy; then he entered the service of the Chamber Collegium. How long he was in service is unknown; but we only heard from him more than once that at a very young age he began monastic life in the Moscow Novospassky Monastery. While in St. Petersburg with the Rector of the Monastery, Archimandrite Pavel (later Bishop of Nizhny Novgorod), he was tonsured a monk by His Eminence Metropolitan Gabriel, and he was ordained by him in 1793, April 23, as a hierodeacon, and on May 25 as a hieromonk, and always enjoyed his favor, as evidence of which recounted that he was taken to the coronation of Emperor Paul at the Assumption Cathedral. In the same 1793, he was again assigned to the Novospassky Monastery as Viceroy and Treasurer, and during all this time he had constant correspondence with His Eminence Gabriel. In 1797, he refused both positions, and lived in the same monastery very secluded, enjoying the special respect of strong and noble people. In 1808, he was presented as the first candidate for the vacancy of the synodal sacristan, but the second was approved; and he, instead, for another vacancy that opened, was promoted to Archimandrite of the Arzamas Spassky Monastery, 1810, May 1st, in the Assumption Cathedral, and in this case, as we personally heard from him, he was supplied from benefactors with all the accessories of the Archimandrite’s ministry and a considerable amount of money. At the beginning of his arrival in Arzamas, he conducted a large correspondence with Moscow, and with the Moscow Provincial Leader P.Kh. Obolyaninov constantly until his death, throughout his service in Arzamas, until his death, he constantly held the positions of the first present in the spiritual government, the dean of monasteries and the caretaker of theological schools: but he did not hunger for rewards; Only in 1843 did His Grace John, who highly revered him, petition for the Cabinet Cross. Living very modestly and abstinently, and meanwhile, in addition to the salary and income of the abbot, he received a caretaker’s salary and enough from the benefactors who revered him, he never had money; for she distributed everything to the brethren, monastery ministers, poor students of theological schools and the needy citizens. At his death, only 40 kopecks remained. silver and no clothes; for he managed to give everything away to himself. He especially began to become exhausted no later than two years before his death; and until that time he was quite vigorous: but at the beginning of 1845 he became so weak that he rarely left his bed, constantly reading the Holy Gospel and preparing for the transition to eternity. In the last year, he received almost no one, except for him who corrected all written communications with his superiors and for that benefited from his conversation, which was especially instructive lately, when the thought of death did not leave his memory. For eighteen days before his death, he ate no food at all, except for a few drops of water, eating only the bread of the animal that came down from heaven, the Body and Blood of the Lord. On April 29, 1845, at 7 o’clock in the morning, he appeared before the Lord Jesus Christ, whom he served as a priest for 52 years, and as a monk for more. His benefactors brought so much for his burial and commemoration that all expenses could be covered in excess. As for the many handwritten notes of his; then, long before his death, he consigned them all to fire, so that after his death not a single line was found in his cell, but several letters written to Fr. Archbishop Alexander, like this: at Sarovsky Fr. Abbot Isaiah, together with his brothers Abbots: Moses of Optina and Anthony of Maloyaroslavets (who, at his request, were dismissed from the Moscow merchant society into monasticism and always honored him), as well as others who used his instructions in spiritual life, with this attached: Now, by the grace of God, we are celebrating the joyful day of the Nativity of Jesus Christ, the most beautiful, dear Baby Jesus, and we cannot sufficiently praise and glorify this day and the great deed that took place on it; for it is sacredly said that the Son of God, out of love for men, became man and was born: what can one wish for? In order to regenerate us with His spirit and power, to change our hearts, meaning and spirit and transform them into heavenly ones, He, on His way from the bosom of the Father, from eternal glory having a throne in heaven and a footstool in the earth, reclined in a manger: what a wonderful change of glory to humiliation! Meanwhile, he already pays the judgment of God with this birth for those conceived in iniquity, born in sins. Already the eyes of God, already the heart of God cannot turn away from us. What would this Mediator not decide to do? His love for us crucified Him on the cross to pay for everything to heaven and the truth of the Eternal. What is now not ours, and what will the intercessor of God and men now deny us? This is His decisive saying for everyone: he who has faith will be saved, but he who does not believe is already condemned. Almost 2000 years have passed since this truth came to pass. O goodness worthy of the heart that the Father of eternity has for us, removing all shadows of destruction from our hearts, especially from the elders like me and who are ready to step out from the limits of life. How bitter would it be for us to die without this Lover of Mankind and this Intercessor? To lose life, to lose a heart that loves existence, to lose ourselves, to go into darkness, into the dark region of death! But the intercessor does not like this death and turns it into a quiet sleep, into a peaceful departure, into a blissful peace of body and soul. He moves us from death into life. We are on the shore of life: the sea is always in our eyes - eternity. He takes us there lightly, with only our souls, and rests our faith and His faithful in His glory. Our weakest faith will be for us a sacred guarantee that the power of God is made perfect in our weakness. This is my faith, with which I remain! Celebrating this precious pledge of heavenly mercies to us, and without doubting about heavenly life, I pray that sweet Jesus may deign to sanctify and enlighten us with His all-holy Nativity, so that we may forever enjoy and be partakers of the fruit and power thereof. This is what I remain for myself and for all those who unhypocritically seek their own glory, wanting to receive it with a sincere heart, and so on. Now, by the mercy of God, we once again meet the joyful day of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. How joyful will be the day of our resurrection, when we receive from the hand of our heavenly Father! Reflecting on this, what an abyss of mercy and mercy opened up in my eyes in the very punishments, so-called, due to our cowardice. Behold, the most desirable Guest stands at the door of our hearts, proclaiming to us the remission of sins: then where is the punishment? He secretly acts for the good of his worthy and unworthy children on earth. He took on the sins of others so that he could fill many of the heavenly Father’s monastery and the entire royal bridal chamber with tax collectors and all sorts of poor sinners (and we are all like that). His death suffices not only for some sins, for this or that, but for all sins, no matter what name they are called: secret or obvious, known or unknown, past or present and future; even if a person alone committed all the sins of the whole world and bore it on himself; then the suffering and death of the Lord I. X. so important, strong, strong and powerful that all sins are taken away and blotted out, and for the believer who seeks forgiveness of sins from the death of Christ, all his sins will be forgiven and will never be imputed. I am writing this for the consolation of my soul, not at all with the intention of teaching or instructing anyone, but solely out of the communicability inherent in man. I only want to share with you from my wretched meal the good that I myself feed on, which I love and value dearly, and which, perhaps, is just as kind to you: let this be my greeting to you. With this frankness I want to express my zeal for you; With this statement I hope to replace my guilt that I was silent for a long time, fearing not to burden you with my insignificant letters. So may the dear Jesus deign to sanctify and enlighten us with His all-holy resurrection, so that we may forever enjoy and be partakers of the fruit and power thereof; May it increase your life and strengthen your health, which I have the honor to desire with all my heart, and so on. To my brothers in Christ Jesus, Timothy and Jonah, upon arrival in the Sarov desert, I advise: 1st. While living there, go to the brethren and deal only with those with whom the builder and confessor orders you. 2nd. Obediences should be carried out without grumbling, and when you are burdened with something, then ask with humility to be transferred to something else; When they don’t translate, listen. 3rd. Remember, and live there, don’t go anywhere, because even if you see there some imaginary inconveniences or temptations there, but you don’t eradicate them from yourself and move with them, then in another place you will find them tenfold, and they will multiply with your wandering until they completely return you to the world again; and when you begin to obey the instructions of your superiors, and you blame yourself, and admit temptations regarding your brethren for your own illness and infirmities, then you will always and in everything remain peaceful. 4th. Also, even if obedience is difficult, it seems difficult only for disobedience and stubbornness; because you will see the same obedience of others who are weaker than you as they pass by in peace; - however, if they leave you at your request without obedience, then you will be overcome by so many thoughts that you will not be able to cope with them. Why do not respond to obedience, but seek obedience. 5th. For your eternal spiritual benefit, remember more and more that in the face of every temptation, humility, self-reproach and patience are victory. May the most merciful Lord enlighten you and make you wise, help you, and protect you and cover you from all the snares and snares of the enemy. 6th. While undergoing obedience, take care of yourself from heavy lifting and maintain your health; You will give an answer before God if, out of insane jealousy, you somehow damage and spoil yourself, and burden your neighbors: because when you become maimed, then it is not you, the brothers, but the brothers who are forced to serve you, in which case you will have a bitter life, from which may the Lord have mercy on me and you. When you remember, then remember the sinful Alexander, who loves you for your own sake. Dear brother in Christ Jesus, Timofey Ivanovich with dear Jonah! May the grace and mercy of God be with you. I also received your last kind letter, and I sincerely rejoice that the merciful Lord did not allow you to wander in the world any longer and defile your soul with delusion. Be patient for God’s sake and do not forget that our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against principles, and so on... It is better, according to St. Ladder, to brother with thoughts than with opinions. And it is not good for us to be dispassionate; For the demons depart in droves, for the sake of opinion, seeing that we can, and besides their cunning, perish from our own pride, and therefore find below repentance. You write about the chilling of thoughts: then when you can restrain the winds, then your thoughts. And the holy fathers say: that a monk can be passionate, but not act on passion. Consequently, we will be condemned for the action of passions, and not just for the fact that we have them in ourselves, and through thoughts we become cold. And the first Adam, by a sense of recognition, understood that the good apple in the food, but not for knowledge, but for eating that apple, was condemned. Yes, and God commanded him not to understand the goodness of the fruit, but to not take it down, he says. Why don’t confuse your soul with any thoughts; because you do not love them and do not enjoy them. If you have a father and are drawn to him by heart and faith, then reveal to him all your thoughts; but do not accept your mind, as if it were damaged and defiled and marred by sins, and do not trust yourself in anything until your death; and when you begin to show them to him, you will see the mercy of God and relief and healing; but if you let it go and become firmly established in your mind, then in the end you will not be healed, but you will never trust anyone or anything, and all your life the devil will take you wherever he wants and show you everything in his own way, because your mind will be darkened, and you will suspect every word of your brother, and you will never be sure of anything. Most of all, I ask you, my dear ones, by God himself, be obedient without judgment to your fathers, and humble yourself before everyone, according to the Holy Father’s teaching, you can be saved by humility alone, but without this and with all the virtues we will not escape eternal condemnation. What do we care about visual life? - if only God would save us from active sins; because thoughts, as you write, no matter how they entertain the mind, no one can take away our autocratic will from us. And is it possible to receive a crown without fighting?... God will give you reason: only endure for God’s sake. I sent all your books to the Spassky bridge to Nikolai Ignatov, and gave the dress to sell; sent you boxes of books; You will get it through the fair. - The verbal lion is roaring at us, and they will barely let me live in Novospassky: drive A.V. and me and Filaret away; We are hard on him, we ourselves truly don’t know why; He says it’s taken a toll, it’s obvious it’s a sin for our sakes. Philaret has a brother who is an archimandrite in Moscow, but I have no one but God: then if they drive me somewhere beyond Solovki, we won’t see each other forever, perhaps in the future. Forgive and take care of my Jonah; be his father instead. I remain your diligent Hieromonk sinner Alexander My dear friend, Father Moses! I am sending you and Father Anthony as a gift a painting depicting innocence, the fall, the restoration of man, seduction, his futility and sad end. This picture will show the one who listens that, just as at first unbelief was the first cause of our fall, so now it hourly produces the same thing; original sin is renewed in us daily, in the same way as in paradise, and precisely, if I am not mistaken, the serpent is sensuality, our will is Eve, our reason is Adam. Sensuality with vicious motives daily seduces our will, and the deceived will daily leads our mind into oblivion, and having made trade with each other, they decide and do this or that. So, we eat daily from the forbidden tree, and we renew the fall within ourselves. “Our forefathers should have believed the voice of the Creator, who said to them: if you cut down one day from this tree, you will die; and of course they wouldn't die. Now what remains to be done? We who have fallen must believe the voice of the Savior, who tells us this: I am the way, the truth and the life; whoever believes in Me will live forever. Glory to you, Giver of life! We won't die! I’m also sending you a book, which I myself really liked, because it’s very entertaining; in it, indeed, according to my remark, anyone, even a simpleton, can see himself in his moral state, as in a mirror. ABOUT! God grant that even I, a sinner, will not be disgusted to look in this mirror when I am old, and according to it I will arrange my way of life. I am sending three pictures about our seduced forefather: I would not think of sacrificing anyone. And so farewell; I will remain until the end of my days, sincerely loving you Alexander, a great sinner, an unworthy archimandrite. Most venerable Father Moses, my dear brother! I received your scripture and thanked the all-generous Hand of God’s providence, who cares for each of us, strengthens the weak and arranges everything for our good. - I thank you that you do not forget me and do not reject my advice: God, rich in mercy, will enrich you for this with the gifts of his grace; We must only fight the good fight. The warriors placed on the battlefield of this century think about nothing more than to win victory over their enemies: so, having rejected the world, they should only think about this, so that, with the help of God, they can become perfect victors. But just as in a battle with external enemies, there are two extremes: strong impetuosity and inactivity; The same is true in spiritual warfare. Impetuosity often exceeds the limits of prudence, and sometimes moves too far away from the truth, and therefore not only sometimes does not succeed, but also falls into greater danger. So, for example, a commander of an ardent spirit often, without testing his own strength and firmness, and trusting only to his passion, rushes strongly at his enemies, but unable to withstand the fight, when his heat passes, he either completely dies, or remains ridiculed by his enemies. The same thing happens in spiritual warfare: for strong impetuosity towards victory often revives the spirit of arrogance in a person. Because of this, having confirmed themselves in the exploits of faith, great men sometimes weakened, especially when the grace of God left them for some time in order to test them and show them their own weakness. Ap. Peter, who strongly desired to go to prison and to death with Christ, in danger rejected him three times, and was even afraid of the Bishop’s servant - from this we must learn that in a battle with internal enemies we should not rush too much, that is, get ahead of ourselves; however, do not remain inactive. For it goes without saying that the inactive are the same as the unarmed, whom, when the enemy comes, he takes captive without resistance. Consequently, in spiritual exploits one must adhere to the holy, non-fallen middle. The middle path is the best and surest path of salvation, which you and I almost found ourselves on. Watch, stand firm, be strong, says the apostle. And truly, we must only continually remain awake and be, as it were, on mental guard, ready, looking with the eye of the mind at the omnipresence of God, and thinking that he lives not only externally, but also internally in our heart, in our soul, as in his church. The fear of God consists of this spiritual exercise. For whoever knows for sure that God is omnipresent, that he sees all his thoughts, and that he tests his heart and womb, will be afraid not only to do evil, but also to think about evil. Thus, the soul of God's servants will remain in constant pleasant peace, wherever it may be with its bodily church. May God bless us with such knowledge, so that we can love His teaching and follow His law throughout our entire lives, wherever we are. Forgive me, dear brother, and do not leave me in holy prayers. I remain, Alexander the great sinner who loves you, unworthy archimandrite All-Honest Fr. Hegumen Moses! I received your pleasant writing on the 15th of this month. I sincerely thank you for your memory and love for me, an old old man; and to this day I mutually rejoice in spirit that God’s providence was pleased to snatch you from the hands of the Egyptians and use you for spiritual life, which by His grace you continue now. About your brother Fr. Antonia, don’t grieve too much; he is called to work by God himself to fulfill the office entrusted to him by Providence. Encourage him with prayers. The time of real life will pass soon, and in due time we will gather in one gathering place for acceptance according to the state we are looking for. May the Lord give rest to the brother Hieroschemamonk (Archimandrite) Melchizedek, who has departed from us, in the abodes of the Heavenly Father. He endured many crosses; but crosses, whatever their kind, are more pleasing to God than prosperity. This is clear from the example of many Saints. I read his will with sweetness. You can judge my health by my advanced years. My strength is diminishing, however, I still use perfect vision and hearing. Now, being over 80 years old, I repeat the lesson of our Redeemer: be prepared; For at an hour you think not, the Son of man will come. Forgive me, dear child, and pray for me, who dearly loves your soul. I remain to my grave, zealous to you, decrepit Elder Alexander, unworthy Archimandrite. From a letter to the Builder of the Sarov Desert, Father Isaiah Revered and dear brother in Christ! I received your pleasant letter dated the 8th of this month to my spiritual consolation on the 10th. I sincerely thank you for your memory and love for me, an old elder, and, moreover, I mutually congratulate you on the current feast of the Resurrection of Christ and on the entrustment of a new position to you by the Providence of God; May the Lord strengthen you to go through it with the help of His Holy Name for His glory and for the benefit of the monastery and your brethren who want to be saved. You have been called to this work by God himself; therefore, He will guide and admonish you in all perplexities, just place your faith firmly in Him, then everything will be fine. After this, I ask you to keep in mind, and not let it go, that the time of our difficult and short life is a quickly passing dream, about the rest you can understand for yourself. The construction of Sarov is not a grave cross; for it was laid upon you by God himself, then God himself will bear your burden; Only homemade crosses are the worst tyrants, and not those that God imposes on us. I remain, loving you sincerely, decrepit Elder Alexander, unworthy Archimandrite. Dear brother in Christ Andrei Stepanovich! Peace to your spiritual home! I received your letter dated January 26th, read it, and understood everything written in it. Thank God that he has unraveled you from the world, and you already have dismissal and freedom to work for the Lord, where His providence has assigned you. Regarding your intentions and desires as you aspire to Jerusalem and Mount Athos, I cannot give you decisive advice, for such an undertaking requires, firstly, health, secondly, trouble, thirdly, a virtuous companion, for in order to set out alone on such a long journey and into such a country where there are only Turks, Greeks, Armenians and Jews, and there are almost no Russians, you need great mental patience and bodily, in addition, as can be seen from the reports, robberies, murders, plague and other deadly diseases, etc., are rampant everywhere in those countries. To decide on all this requires special help from God. My advice to you is this: choose a poor monastery somewhere, in your own homeland, closed from the world, and in it try to find Jesus Christ, not in Mount Athos, but in your heart: for except in our hearts you cannot find Him anywhere else. And when the Lord grants you to find Him in your heart; then the most crowded square will be Jerusalem and Athos for you. One of the Saints said: if a treasure is buried in your house, and you don’t know about it, then in that case it will be exactly the same with you, as if it had never happened. Likewise, each and every one of us is looking for Jesus Christ in different places, not knowing that he is always within us. May Almighty God illuminate your heart and show you the place where Jesus Christ dwells; what I wish for you and myself. I remain, Alexander, who loves your soul, the unworthy Archimandrite. Dear brother in Christ! Honorable Father Andrei! I received your letter dated the 2nd of this July. Thank God that you have left behind vain thoughts of looking for some kind of salvation here and there; Over time, you will learn from experience that by moving from place to place, many have been deceived and acquired a skill that is most destructive and incurable. And so I advise you to fatherly stick to one place, and humbly obey the authorities; and by doing this you will find deep peace and salvation of your soul. Regarding your two letters and some parcels sent by you with some tramp whom you call a wanderer, I will say that I have not received any letters or parcels, nor have I ever seen the wanderer himself. Be careful in future. There are no wanderers in Russia and there cannot be, but they are called like this: unruly vagabonds, self-willed and self-willed; with imaginary self-salvation they deceive the simpletons and themselves. I am Alexander, who loves you, an unworthy archimandrite. My friend and brother in Christ! Father Andrey! I received your first and last letter, with benevolent messages, and I sincerely thank you. I didn’t answer you for many reasons that were useful for you and for me. Regarding your mental confusion, I will say that we endure it not from the people living with us, but from ourselves. There are no visible angels in any monastery, but all are human; We cannot regenerate them, but we must and can tolerate brother from brother. He who always turns his attention to his own shortcomings always finds others better than himself, and such a person only stands on the path that does not fall. My friend! Impress this rule into yourself as Divine Truth, and you will see, like the publican, justification. I am sure that God will not abandon such a kind heart as yours. So be comforted, dear brother! Learn to rejoice when sorrows come your way: think that you are studying at the Divine University, and that God wants to make something out of you. Bumblebees, which are much more noisy and fussy than bees, make only fake wax without honey. Mostly, we do the same thing, and even worse, if we don’t pay attention to ourselves. Most of all, keep Jesus Christ and His sufferings in your memory, then you will have no time to engage in extraneous matters and will confuse your soul. Remember also that today one, tomorrow another, will be in the grave, and no one will see him again. Here everything is gloomy around us, all parables, and especially before death. During times of confusion, open your thoughts to your confessor or faithful brother, and you will see peace: for what is revealed is light; Moreover, know the church, obedience, meals, and your cell, which will teach you everything good. I entrust you to the Lord, I am the one who loves your soul, Alexander the monk. January 25th, 1836. Most honorable Father Abel in the monastery, Beloved brother in Christ! I received your letter dated the 12th of this month, but I did not receive the two letters you sent earlier. You write that I have forgotten you; No! I always remember you, and I am tired of waiting for news of where you are and whether you are alive. But now, thank God, he is at peace; for I see you in the form of an angel. Now I decided to write to you, not for instruction, but out of my love for your youth. 1st. Jesus Christ, Who loved you before you loved Him, always looks at you and notices what you think and what you want to do? So, beloved brother, do this: keep this short prayer firmly in your memory: Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me. Turning this prayer into your mouth, cry out with your heart. Standing at the tomb of the Venerable Serius, engage in it unceasingly: no one except God can see this prayer, which is passed through the mind. 2nd. Beware of intoxicating drinks like a deadly poison, and note that the one who fills his stomach with hot drinks every day, accustomed to wine, can rarely be sober, and on the day on which he does not get drunk, he is always cloudy and almost sick. Beware of this hellish delicacy, which paves the way to terrible ordeals, troubles and arrogant death, otherwise may the Lord spare us! 3. All of us, the poor, must be wary of our own weakness and our natural corruption. One minute can turn a person from a righteous person into a sinner. Adam fell, Solomon forgot God, the Holy Apostle rejected Jesus Christ. If the cedars are crushed by a small wind, can the weak reeds stand? Lord, have mercy on us! 4. Read the Holy Scripture with diligence and reasoning, and you will see everywhere that the kind of life a person led, the same will be his death. The end of our life will correspond to our previous life: what kind of end can we expect from an evil life, if not an evil one? May the Lord make you wise for good! I’ll tell you about myself: I am very weak and wait for the messenger every day; but where my sinful soul will settle, God alone knows. I'm afraid to ask for rest; for there was never any money and belongings, and now, at the end of my life, thank God, there is no money! I have nothing except a few helpful books; and without money, retiring is the same as settling. My monastery, as you know, is the poorest. But I rejoice in this; for rich monasteries, where there are many admirers, are achieved only by lovers of pennies, and, moreover, not with my mind, but with sciences and talents, which, thank God, I do not have. Forgive me, my dear child, and do not judge my verbosity; but when you remember me, a sinner, pray for me, that the Lord will grant me Christian death. Sorry about that! Entrusting you to the protection of God and the prayers of the saint of God, St. Sergius, I remain loving you sincerely Decrepit Elder Alexander, unworthy Archimandrite. I am writing, Thank God, without glasses and have no need for them, and this is a great mercy of God for an 83-year-old man. Through many sorrows it behooves us to enter the kingdom of heaven. Hold fast to your original disposition, do not listen to flesh and blood; for there is no Will of God to move to another place, and there is not the slightest benefit for you, except for the terrible devastation of your soul. A quiet and silent refuge must be sought not in monasteries, but within each of us. - Bypassing this alphabet, wherever we go, we will find thorns and thistles! Well, you are sick, and the disease itself, with the power of our villain - the demon, gives no rest to the inattentive, drives from place to place, in the likeness of cattle driven to slaughter. And who likes tramps? They are, first of all, harmful to themselves; for without blessed wines to leave a monastery for another monastery, what else does it mean but pride, complete delusion and loss of humility and obedience? - so, obey God, who called you to the monastery in which you vowed to Him to live, die and save your soul. However, I am not giving you a commandment, but I am giving you advice: if you want, you will listen; if you want, no; it is in your will; – the will of each of us teaches and torments.