Symeon the New Theologian and Symeon the Reverent

Contents Preface Simeon the New Theologian and Simeon the Reverent Afterword The ascetic word of Elder Simeon the Reverent Here is the first book in a series of books about old age. This series will include those biographies of ascetics that most clearly reveal the essence of spiritual guidance, show the need to subordinate one’s will to an experienced mentor - an elder, and the impossibility of walking along the spiritual path without a leader. “There are no people more unhappy and closer to destruction who do not have a mentor in the path of God. There is salvation in much advice,” writes Abba Dorotheos. And to console those who have not yet found a spiritual leader, he adds: “If someone wants to truly, with all his heart, do the will of God, then God will never leave him, but will instruct him in every possible way according to His will. Truly, if someone directs his heart according to the will of God, then God will enlighten the little child to tell him His will.” We will quote an excerpt from a letter from Archimandrite Sophrony to D. Belfour (autumn 1932): ...The good dispensation of your soul - the desire to take the last place of a new novice who serves the older fathers and brothers - is not entirely correct in your position. You wrote well: “But if you see any danger or mistake in too extreme an effort to humiliate yourself before them and serve them, then write to me.” You are asking the elder Father Silouan, but you allowed me to read your letter, but it seems he did not write anything to you [about] this; Out of my unreason, I wanted to tell you what I think about this, namely: in your apparently good intention there really is some danger and error hidden. Instead of learning “humility, service and obedience,” you will learn the opposite. And don't be surprised by what I tell you. The sure-fire way to learn the above-mentioned virtues is this: You yourself do not seek either glory or dishonor, or the power to rule, or humiliation in unauthorized service. Not only do not look for advantages over them, but what you already have, have in your heart the readiness to joyfully yield in everything and submit, but only to the extent that and to what extent they want. Don't take the initiative yourself. Whatever place they give you, take it. Last, middle or first. If they ask or order something, do it. Don’t get too carried away with anything, but don’t contradict either. If the Metropolitan puts you in charge, then do not resist him. The most that is allowed in this case is to say something like this: “Holy Master, your blessing and will are for me the blessing and will of God, and I do not at all dare to resist you, but, fully aware of my weakness and inexperience, I must tell you first that the obedience that you want to impose on me exceeds my strength.” In other cases, that is, when you are entrusted with a task according to your strength, just say with a bow: “Bless,” and that’s all. Don’t say “I’m not worthy” or anything else, don’t refuse if you don’t like it, don’t be too happy if you like it. In all cases, just try not to stick your head out, but only with joy and simplicity, and readiness to fulfill any request or assignment within your power. If you do this, then you will be kind to both God and people, and you will learn true humility and meekness, which consists in not losing heart in humiliation and not being exalted in honor. The path shown to you is a high, perfect path. Looking for more - that is, striving for humiliation - is not your measure. Excessiveness always leads to bad consequences (forgive me for my frankness). Learning obedience - cutting off your will - is your duty. The meaning here is this. Without clinging to anything with your soul, without thinking about anything out of passion, you will always be blissful, having your soul and mind free for thoughts of God and prayer. When they tell you to do this and that, then you are free from the need to think about what and how to do. And this – i.e. Having your mind free from thoughts about the things of this world (for us the most necessary thing is to have a mind free from thoughts about everything material, about earthly things, and a heart free from attachments) is necessary for pure prayer. The second thing we need to strive for in obedience is the skill of cutting off our carnal will, which we need so that we can more easily fulfill God’s commandments, because Our carnal will (and wisdom) always opposes God’s will (expressed in the commandment). These two contain the meaning of obedience. The goal of the feat is to fulfill the will of God. Our goal—eternal life—consists in knowing God (John 17:3), and not in correcting morals. This, of course, does not mean that there is no need to improve morally. But the first and greatest commandment is to love God (Matthew 22:37) - When we break away from the memory of God, forget about God, then we sin against this commandment. However, there is also a third side. God doesn't judge twice. If you do something out of obedience with all conscientiousness, then you are free from answering before God. The one who gave you the order answers, so that your conscience remains peaceful all the time. If you now agree to accept for steady guidance what is said, then you will make great progress in your spiritual life in the shortest possible time. By following the indicated path, you will see that you will not have that need for an elder. You, as it were, will make an elder for yourself out of the Lord and your brothers. An elder is needed for this: 1) To cut off in the novice-student any manifestation of personal sinful - carnal - will, directing it in accordance with the will of God. 2) Through nourishment (that is, instructions) to raise the student from lower levels to higher ones. Give him activities appropriate to his spiritual age and strength. The first is replaced for you by cutting off your will before the Master and your brethren in the monastery. The second is by reading the ascetic patristic works (St. John Climacus, Abba Dorotheus, Barsanuphius and John and others), which you already have. But this cannot replace a completely old man (ideal, perfect), who, however, has always and at all times been difficult to find. In addition, modern novices (arbitrary, arrogant, smart, impatient, unhumble, all-knowing) are not able to live under the elder (the real one). Conversation with those of like mind (seekers of salvation) also helps us a lot. When, nevertheless, perplexities and difficulties accumulate such that a person becomes completely at a dead end, then (if he turns out to be capable according to the structure of his heart and his preparation) the Lord will send him such a person [elder] or interlocutor who will help him and lead him on the road. In this way I have explained to you in detail what I first wrote briefly at the behest of the elder Father Silouan. I advise you to accept the unwavering guidance of the path and action indicated to you. This will free you from thoughts and research with the Holy Fathers. This will bring calm, certainty, and confidence into your life. Not every priest or monk can be a spiritual father. Nowadays, shepherds have appeared who, without sufficient spiritual experience, take upon themselves the dignity of teachers and elders that is not due to them. According to His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II: “By criticizing the Hierarchy, they, unlike the spirit-bearing fathers of the past and present, are trying to attract attention to themselves with criticism and thus create authority for themselves. As a rule, they declare the indispensable and only condition for salvation to be the complete subordination of those who resort to their leadership, turning them into some kind of robots who cannot, without the blessing of such an “old man,” accomplish any task, no matter how insignificant it may be. A person is thus deprived of that grace-filled free will that was given to him by God. To confirm that they are right, they unlawfully use references to the works of the holy fathers, profaning their great work and perverting the very concept of eldership. A true elder, primarily due to his high spirituality, treats each individual person with care. Due to his experience and gift of grace, he reveals the image of God in a person by means that are consonant with his spiritual structure and age. Some modern “elders” (or rather, we will call them “young elders”), not possessing spiritual reasoning, impose unbearable burdens on those who go to church (Luke 11:46), use cliches in their pastoral activities that are destructive to spiritual life, and unreasonably apply to the laity, for the most part not yet spiritually strong, forms of spiritual guidance that are appropriate only in monasticism. Often, as proof of their devotion to themselves, they demand that those who come to them sell their meager property, as a result of which those, having lost property and housing, become absolutely dependent on such a shepherd. Such a misinterpretation of the Savior’s words: “Sell everything that you have... and... follow Me” (Luke 18:22) is more consistent with the practice of modern totalitarian sects that have flooded Russia in recent years than with the spirit of the Gospel covenants.” With prayers and tears, beg God to send you a dispassionate and holy leader. Also, study the Divine Scriptures yourself, especially the practical writings of the Holy Fathers, so that, comparing with them what your teacher and primate teaches you, you can see it, as in a mirror, and compare it, and bring down what is in agreement with the Divine Scriptures inside and hold it in your thoughts, and identify and discard what is false and alien, so as not to be deceived. For know that in these days there have become many deceivers and false teachers (Simeon the New Theologian). The attitude of Simeon the New Theologian towards his elder Simeon the Reverent is an amazing example of true obedience and love for his mentor. Therefore, the first book of this edition is dedicated to this saint. Symeon the New Theologian and Symeon the Reverent Simeon the New Theologian was born in 949 AD. Place of birth: the settlement of Galati in Paphlagonia. Simeon's parents, Vasily and Feofano, were rich and influential provincial aristocrats. From the age of eleven, Simeon lived with his uncle in Constantinople, where he held a prominent position at the imperial court. Simeon studied at a “grammatical” (secondary) school, studied tachygraphy (cursive writing) and developed, according to Nikita Stifat, excellent handwriting, but refused to continue “external education” in rhetoric and philosophy. For all his external well-being, Simeon very early experienced great internal suffering due to loneliness, lack of friends and his inability to be satisfied with earthly goods. Early dissatisfaction with life in the world prompted Simeon to read spiritual literature and search for a holy man who would become his teacher. Just as a newborn child cannot live without a mother who cares for him, cherishes him, nurtures him, so a newborn in the spirit and a convert essentially needs for the first time a nurturer and nurturing, a leader and guidance. The need for a father-leader is self-evident. Anyone who begins to seek salvation must not take on this matter himself or work out his own salvation according to his own understanding and desire, but from the very first time he must give himself over to someone to teach him about this. The man entered on a new path completely unknown to him; let him use the right guidance, and not stop at his guesses alone (St. Theophan the Recluse). The path of questioning others has already been justified by many examples. How can I understand if no one guides me? - the nobleman asks the deacon Apostle Philip (Acts 8:31); the called apostle Paul is sent to teach to Ananias (Acts 9:6). And the Holy Fathers-ascetics, even the greatest of them, such as Anthony the Great, Macarius of Egypt, Pachomius the Great, Hilarion, Savva and others, first asked about the paths, consulted and submitted to other mentors. They, as St. Athanasius the Great put it about Anthony the Great, like wise bees, collected spiritual honey for themselves from other ascetics, putting it in their hearts, like in a beehive. And St. Anthony considered asking others to be such a saving thing that even later, as a teacher of all, he turned questions to some successful student of his. So, when he received an invitation from Emperor Constantius to come to Constantinople, he asked his disciple Paul the Simple: should he go or not? And after Paul said to him: if you go, you will be Anthony, and if you don’t, you will be Abba Anthony, he stayed (Philokalia, vol. 1, p. 123). A beginner in spiritual life needs a leader, since the ascetic has to fight with himself, it is not the external enemy that we need to fear: our enemy is contained within ourselves... Truly, a person must cut himself in two (Philokalia, vol. 2). Being an observer and, at the same time, an object of observation, containing within himself an enemy and a friend, a person is not able to distinguish on his own what is “ours and what is from our enemies.” Only an outsider, not subject to the passions that control us, can clearly see our mental structure. In the matter of improvement, in the matter of acquiring virtues, more than anywhere else, it seems, there must be gradualism, an even and attentive “restless” struggle. The beginner, often zealous at first, soon weakens from excessive work or its insufficiency. Today he conquers passions, and tomorrow, out of weakness or negligence, he allows passions to captivate his mind and submits to them; today he moderately encourages his nature to virtue, and tomorrow he even goes beyond the limits of moderate activity; but both in the weakening of the feat and in the excessive feat there is evil: virtue does not lie in excess, but in moderation (Only there is no price for moderate deeds, St. Isaac the Syrian, verse 150). Such a life of ascetics, which flows like a small but constantly flowing stream that never dries up (according to St. Ambrose of Optina), can only be carried out under the guidance of a person who has the gift of reasoning, constantly questioning him, without trusting himself. After much labor and contrition, I found, says Peter of Damascus, this is the reasoning of the Holy Fathers: the beginning of all good and all evil is the mind given to man, and according to the mind, the will. The beginning of salvation: let man leave his own desires and understandings and create God’s wills and understandings. Before the law, in law and grace, many are found saved because they preferred the mind of God and His will over their own understandings and desires; and again, in all those times, many were found lost, because they preferred their own desires and understandings over God’s. The will of God (in particular cases) cannot be known otherwise than through reasoning, and reasoning is not one’s own, but confirmed by questioning those who have the gift of reasoning and experience. Only in this way will we find out what kind of activities God wants us to undergo. If not, we cannot be saved in any way. Without this, even what we consider good does not happen for good, either because it is untimely, or because it is not necessary (Works of St. Peter of Damascus, book 1, p. 5, Moscow, 1894). Simeon’s desire to find a spiritual mentor did not meet with the approval of those around him, who vied with each other to claim that “today there is no such saint on earth.” However, Simeon continued his search, and, in the end, his efforts were crowned with success. It’s wonderful,” says St. Theophan (The Path to Salvation) - that a true guide is always given to those who sincerely seek. And the leader, no matter who he is, always gives precise and faithful guidance, as soon as the person being led surrenders to him with all his heart and faith; – The Lord Himself is already watching over such a devotee... Pray, and the Lord will indicate a leader; surrender to the leader, and the Lord will teach him how to lead you. The decisive thing for young Simeon was the meeting with the monk of the Constantinople Studite Monastery, Simeon the Reverent, who became his spiritual father. Simeon the Reverent was an elderly monk; he did not have holy orders, but had deep spiritual experience, and in his person Simeon the Younger found the one he had been looking for for a long time. Young Simeon loved his teacher so much that he considered him a saint and considered himself unworthy to touch his clothes or kiss the place where he stood during prayer. According to the “Ladder,” if a person wants to live under the guidance of an elder, he must comply with the following requirements: complete surrender of himself, renunciation of his will, thoughts and desires, complete insanity, deadness, while the duties of an elder are acceptance, purification and improvement of the student’s soul, decisive assurance of its salvation, answer for it before the court of God. A covenant of love and trust is concluded between the elder and the disciple. If you keep my commandment, rather than God’s, I confess that I am responsible for you on that day, on which God will judge the secrets of men (Venerable Barsanuphius the Great, answer 58), says the elder. Like iron to a blacksmith, I surrender myself to you, Most Holy Father, in obedience (Ladder, verse 4, 23). In the 22nd Oration of St. Simeon writes about a certain George, meaning himself. There lived in Constantinople someone named George, a young man about twenty years old. This is in our days, in our memory. He had a handsome face, and there was something ostentatious in his gait, in his demeanor and in his manner of address: so for this reason, those who look at one appearance and, not knowing what is hidden inside each one, make erroneous judgments about him. He met a certain monk who lived in one of the Constantinople monasteries, a holy man, and, revealing to him the secrets of his heart, he also said that he greatly longed for the salvation of his soul. The honest elder, having taught him as he should have and given him a small rule to follow, also gave him the book of St. Mark the Ascetic, where he writes about the spiritual law. The young man accepted this little book with such love and reverence, as if it had been sent to him from God Himself, and he had strong faith in it, hoping to receive great benefit and great fruit from it. Therefore, I read it with great diligence and attention, and, having read it all, received great benefit from all its chapters. But of all the chapters, three were most imprinted on his heart; first: “When looking for healing, take care of your conscience (listen to it); and what she tells you, do this, and you will receive the benefit" (Chapter 69) - Second: “He who seeks (hopes to receive) the effectiveness of the Holy Spirit, before doing the commandments, is like a slave bought with money, who, at the same time as he has just been bought, is looking for, along with the payment of money for him, to sign his freedom" (Chapter 64 about wanting justification from deeds). Third: “He who prays physically and does not yet have a spiritual mind is like a blind man who cried: Son of David, have mercy on me (Mark 10:48). Another person, formerly blind, when he received his sight and saw the Lord, no longer called him the son of David, but confessed him to be the Son of God” (John 9:35,38) (Ch. 13,14). He liked these three chapters very much, and he believed that through attention to his conscience, as the first chapter inspires, he would receive healing (of spiritual infirmities); through the fulfillment of the commandments he will achieve the effectiveness of the Holy Spirit, as the second chapter teaches, and by the grace of the Holy Spirit he will see intelligently and see the indescribable beauty of the Lord, as the third chapter promises. - And he was stung by the love of this beauty and, although he had not yet seen it, he greatly desired it and diligently sought it, in the hope of finally seeing it. For all that, however, he did nothing special (as he assured the liar with an oath), except that every evening he unfailingly corrected the small rule that the elder gave him, and no other way than, having already corrected it, went to bed and fell asleep. But over time, his conscience began to tell him: bow a few more times, read some other psalms, say as many times as you can: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me! He willingly obeyed his conscience, and whatever it inspired in him, he did everything without thinking, as God Himself had commanded him; and he never went to bed so that his conscience convicted him, saying: why didn’t you do this and that? So he always obeyed his conscience, and never left without doing what she inspired him to do. And every day she added more and more to the usual rule, and in a few days her evening prayer grew into a great succession. During the day he was in the chambers of a patrician, and he was in charge of everything necessary for the people who lived there. In the evening, every day he left there, and no one knew what he was doing at home. He shed abundant tears from his eyes, and did a great many kneelings, falling face down on the ground; when standing in prayer, he kept his legs close to one another and stood motionless; and I read prayers to the Most Holy Theotokos with heart disease, sighs and tears; turning to Christ the Lord, he fell at the Most Pure feet. Him, as if He were physically present in him, and begged Him to have mercy on him, as once upon the blind, and to grant insight to his spiritual eyes. Since his prayer increased every evening, he finally stood still, praying, until midnight; and, however, during the whole time of prayer, he did not allow himself to become lazy, he did not allow himself to be careless, he did not loosen the members of his body, he did not turn his eyes sideways or upward to look at anything, but he stood motionless, like some kind of pillar or incorporeal one. One day, as he stood thus in prayer and said with his mind, more than with his lips: God, be merciful to me, a sinner, - suddenly a divine illumination descended on him from above and filled the whole place. Then this young man already forgot that he was in the room and under the roof, because he saw one light in all directions, he did not even know whether he was trampling the ground with his feet; he had no concern for anything worldly, and then nothing came to his mind that is usually on the minds of those who wear human flesh; but he was completely merged with the immaterial light, and it seemed to him that he himself had become light; He then forgot the whole world and was filled with tears and inexpressible joy. Then his mind ascended to heaven, and he saw there another light, brighter than the one that was around him. And it seemed to him, to his amazement, that the above-mentioned saint and equal to the angels elder, who gave him that small commandment about prayer and the book of St. Mark the Ascetic, was worth opening the light of it. Hearing this from the young man, I thought that the elder’s prayer helped him a lot, and that God arranged such a vision to show the young man at what height of virtue the old man stood. When the vision passed and the young man came to his senses, he found himself (as he said afterwards) completely filled with joy and amazement, and wept with all his heart, which was filled with tears and great sweetness. Finally, he went to bed; but the rooster immediately crowed and showed that it was already midnight. A little later they announced the good news in the church and for Matins; and the young man stood up to read, according to his custom, the study of Matins. So he didn't sleep at all that night; sleep did not even occur to him. This happened as the Lord knows, who did this, and they are the news of destinies. The young man did nothing special, except that with strong faith and undoubted hope he always faithfully followed the rule he heard from the elder and the instructions he read in the book. And no one can say that he did this for a test. It didn't even occur to him. He who tests does not have firm faith; but that young man, having put aside every passionate and self-indulgent thought, cared so much about the correct execution of what his conscience inspired, that he no longer had any sympathy for the things of this world, he did not even eat food and drink to his heart’s content or in abundance. Have you heard, my brothers, what faith in God, evidenced by good deeds, can do? Have you realized that youth does no harm, nor does old age benefit, when there is no reason and fear of God? Have you realized that neither the world nor everyday affairs interfere with fulfilling the commandments of God when there is zeal and attention? Is silence and withdrawal from the world of no use when laziness and negligence rule? All of us, hearing about David and marveling at him, say: there was one David, and there was no other like him; but look, something more was revealed in this young man than in David. David received a testimony from God, was anointed king and prophet, received the Holy Spirit and had many certificates about God. Why, when he sinned and lost the grace of the Holy Spirit and the gift of prophecy, and was alienated from the usual conversation with God, what wonder if, remembering the grace from which he fell, he again sought from God the lost blessings? But this young man had nothing of the kind, but was bound by worldly affairs, cared only about the temporary, and did not have time to think about anything higher than the earth - and, yet, marvelous are the fate of the Lord! - as soon as I heard something small from this holy elder and read those three chapters from Leva Mark, he immediately undoubtedly believed what he had heard and written and with unshakable hope put it into action - and with the little work that he did as a result, he was honored to raise his mind to heaven, moved to the mercy of the Mother of the Lord, with Her prayers he appeased God and attracted to himself the grace of the Holy Spirit, which with such power It dawned on him that he was worthy to see the light that many wish to see, but few are worthy of. This young man did not hold long fasts, did not sleep on the ground, did not wear a hair shirt, did not leave the world physically, but only spiritually - in his spiritual mood - and with a small vigil, which he performed, he appeared higher than the wondrous Lot who was in Sodom, or, better to say, he appeared as an angel in a human body - a man in appearance and an angel in his mental structure. For which he was honored to see the sweetest light of the mental Sun of Truth, our Lord Jesus Christ, which light certified him that he had received the future light. And righteously: for love and his heart’s clinging to God made him frantic, they tore his spirit away from this world, and from his own nature, and from all things, and made him all the light of the Holy Spirit, despite the fact that he lived in the middle of the city, and ruled the whole house, and cared for slaves and freemen, and did everything that was necessary for real life. This is enough to praise the young man, and to encourage you to come to the same love, imitating him; or do you want me to tell you something else, something more, which perhaps your hearing cannot accept? However, what could be greater and more perfect than the fear of God? Of course, nothing. Saint Gregory the Theologian said: “The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. For where there is fear, there is observance of the commandments, there. cleansing the flesh - this cloud that envelops the soul and does not allow it to see the Divine light purely; Where there is purification, there is illumination, and illumination is the fulfillment of the desire of the Divine.” By saying this, he showed that sanctification by the Spirit is the endless end of all virtue, and whoever achieves such sanctification by the Spirit has finished with everything sensual and has begun to dwell with consciousness in only the spiritual. This, my brethren, is the essence of the wonders of God. And God brings His hidden servants into reality for this purpose, so that the philanthropic and good ones imitate them, and the evil ones remain unrequited. For even those who move among crowds and spend their lives in the troubles of the world, if they behave as they should, gain salvation and are awarded great blessings from God for the sake of the faith that they show to Him, so that on the day of judgment those who do not find salvation because of their laziness and negligence will have nothing to say in their justification. So true is He who promised gifts of salvation for the sake of faith in Him! So, my beloved brothers, take care of yourselves and of me, who loves you and sheds tears for you many times. For the well-pleasing and merciful God commanded us to be well-pleasing and merciful and to grieve both for ourselves and for each other. Believe with all your soul in the Lord, hate this world as it should be, and do not worry about its temporary and unfaithful blessings, but come to God and cleave to Him. For a little more time will pass, and the end of this fat and this life will come; and woe to those who fall from the Kingdom of God. Tears choke me, and I cry and grieve from the bottom of my heart when I think that, having such a great-gifted and philanthropic Master, Who will grant us faith for one thing that is sincerely shown to Him. such great and wondrous blessings, and intelligence, and hearing, and surpassing aspirations - we, without thinking, like dumb animals, prefer the earth and earthly things to all that, which, by the goodness of God, was given to us for the needs of our body, so that, while it would be nourished in moderation, the soul would unhindered its course towards the worldly, being ourselves nourished by the intelligent food that comes from from the grace of the Holy Spirit, as it is purified and renewed. For this is why we, people, were created by God as intelligent, so that we glorify Him, thank and love Him for the small blessings He has given for this life, and thus be honored to receive great and eternal blessings in the future life. But woe to us that, having absolutely no concern for the future, we remain ungrateful to God for the present, becoming like demons, or, better said, being worse than them. For this it is fair that we should be subjected to torment more than they. For we have been more blessed than they: we have become Christians, received so many spiritual gifts, we believe in God, who became human for our sake and endured such suffering and death on the cross in order to deliver us from the delusion of delusion and sin. But what can I say to all this? Alas for us! In words only we believe in God, but in deeds we reject Him. Isn’t Christ named in every place - in cities, villages, cinnamonia and mountains? Aren't there Christians everywhere? But find out, if it seems blessed to you, and investigate to the utmost precision whether they fulfill the commandments of Christ, and truly, among so many thousands and myriads, you will find one who is a Christian in both deed and word. Didn’t Christ and our God say: Believe in Me, the works that I do, He will do the same, and He will do greater things than these? (John 14:12). But which of us will dare to say: I do the works of Christ and rightly believe in Christ? Do you not see, therefore, my brethren, how on the day of judgment we are destined to be unfaithful and to be given over to greater torments than those who did not know Christ at all, i.e. unfaithful? One of two things is necessary, either we be punished more than the unfaithful, or Christ turns out to be unfaithful to His word, which is impossible. I wrote this not to prevent anyone from moving away from the world, and not because they prefer life in the world to silence, but to assure everyone who reads this legend that whoever wants to do good receives from God the strength to do it in every place, both in the world and in silence. On the contrary, the subject of this legend is such that it should encourage one to become a hermit even more. For if the one who moved among the world and never thought about renunciation of the world, nor about non-covetousness, nor about obedience, received such mercy from God for the one thing that he believed and called on God with all his soul; then what blessings should those who, leaving the whole world and all people, give up their very life to death for the commandment of God, as He commanded, should hope to receive? However, whoever begins to do good deeds with undoubted faith and with great zeal and feels the benefit that comes from this, he himself will understand that worldly care, being and moving among the world serve as a great obstacle for those who want to live according to God. What happened to the young man, as we said, is something wondrous and extraordinary; and we have not heard of such a good incident happening to anyone else. But even if he was with a few, or will be after, let them know that if they do not withdraw from the world, they will soon greatly lose the benefit they have received. I later learned the following from him about that young man. I met him when he had already become a monk and spent three or four years in the monastic life. He was then thirty-two years old. I knew him very well: we were friends from our youth and were brought up together. So he also told me the following: “After this wondrous vision and the change that took place in me, a few days passed before many worldly temptations happened to me, because of which, while I was performing those hidden deeds according to God, I saw in myself that, little by little, I was depriving myself of this benefit, and I had a strong desire to withdraw from the world and in solitude to seek Christ, who had appeared to me. “For I believe, brethren, that for this purpose He deigned to appear to me, in order to take me, unworthy, to Himself, separating me from the whole world. But since I could not fulfill this then, little by little, I forgot everything that I had told you before, and fell into complete darkness and insensibility, so that I no longer remembered anything that I told you, neither small nor large, down to the slightest movement of thought or feeling. Then, I fell into even greater evil than before, and came to such a state as if I had never heard the words of Christ and did not understand them; but I also looked at this Saint, who was so merciful to me and gave me the little commandment and the book of Saint Mark, as if he were one of the random people, not at all thinking about what I saw regarding him. “I am telling you this in detail,” he said further, “so that you know into what depths of destruction I, the accursed one, fell, through my negligence, and marvel at the ineffable goodness of God that was revealed to me later. I cannot tell you how, without my knowledge, love and faith for that holy elder remained in my poor heart; but I think that for their sake, after so much time, the humane God, through his prayers, had mercy on me, and again through him snatched me from delusion and plucked me from the depths of evil. I, unworthy, did not completely move away from this elder, but when I was in the city, I often went to his cell and confessed to him what happened to me, although I did not fulfill his commandments, unscrupulous. Now, as you see, the merciful God despised my many sins and arranged to become a monk from that same elder, and granted me, truly unworthy, to always be with him. After which, with great difficulty and with copious tears, with decisive alienation and distance from the world, complete obedience and cutting off my will, many other deeds and methods of strict self-mortification and an uncontrollable desire for everything good, I was honored to see again, although in some way gloomily, the sweetest little one of this and the Divine light. But such a vision as the one I saw then, even until now I have not been vouchsafed to see again.” A few years after meeting the elder, Simeon left the world and entered the Studite monastery as a novice. Later he would describe his exodus in vivid colors, telling how the old man, like Moses, led him out of Egyptian captivity: And he said: “Come, child, I will take you to God.” Out of great disbelief, I answered him: “What sign will you show me to convince me?”... “Fire a great fire,” he said, “so that I may enter it, And if I do not remain unburned, do not follow me!” This word struck me, I did what I was ordered, and the flame was kindled, and he stood inside [it]. Safe and sound, he invited me [there]. “I’m afraid, sir,” said L. “I am a sinner.” He came out [of the fire], came up to me and kissed me. “What are you afraid of,” he said to me, “why are you horrified and trembling? This miracle is great and terrible, [but] you will see more than this.” “I’m in a frenzy,” I said. “Sir, I do not dare to approach you... For I see that you are a man superior to man, And I do not dare to look at you, whom the fire has honored.” Drawing me closer, he hugged me and kissed me again with a holy kiss... Simeon Jr. immediately followed his mentor: “Hurry! Let's run! - [said Moses]. “So God commands!..” “Let’s go, sir,” I said, “I will not be separated from you...” Having joined the brethren of the Studite monastery, Simeon zealously devoted himself to ascetic deeds. However, he was not destined to stay long in the Studite monastery: the abbot and the brethren were embarrassed by his, in their opinion, excessive affection for Elder Simeon the Reverent. Simeon the Younger's attitude towards Simeon the Elder was based on complete obedience: he served his teacher and did not dare to take a single step without his instructions. Such complete submission of the novice to the elder is necessary for the reason that a person is weak and cannot completely and immediately surrender to God, follow Christ - he must first learn to gradually cut off his will by selflessly fulfilling the will of man for the sake of God, must cultivate love and faith through cohabitation with a person who believes and loves God. Our will, according to Abba Pimen (Memorable Tales, Abba Dorotheus, teaching 5), is a copper wall between man and God. She is, as it were, a stone that opposes, resists and opposes the will of God, and when only a person leaves his will, he can say: for my God I will pass through the wall, my God, His way is blameless (Ps. 17:30,31). The disciple wants to destroy this copper wall, leave his will with the help of the elder. For many experiences have proven that monks can never extinguish the flame of anger, sadness, impurity within themselves, and cannot acquire true humility... unless they first learn to subordinate their will to the will of their mentor (St. John Cassian). Serving Christ and slavery to Him frees you from the burden of sins and passions. Likewise, submission for His sake is submission to the best demands of one’s own spirit, and not a denial of man’s free will. After all, moral Christian freedom lies not in self-will, but in self-restraint, just as political freedom does not lie in anarchy, but in governance. In his writings, Simeon provides interesting information about the ascetic views of the Elder and his methods of spiritual guidance. One day, upon returning to his cell after a tiring day, young Simeon refused food, fearing that he would not be able to stand for prayer. But the elder ordered him to eat without any embarrassment; So... we ate and drank even beyond what was necessary; He also ate, condescending to my weakness. Then, when the table was cleared, he says to me: Know, child, that God does not rejoice in fasting, vigil, physical labor, or any other right action, but only appears to a humble, incurious and kind soul and heart. The disciple was surprised by what he heard and, bowing to the ground, asked for the blessing and prayers of the elder. When releasing him, the elder commanded him to read only the Trisagion at night and lie down. After which, when Simeon returned to his room and began to read the Trisagion, a mystical insight occurred, he saw the Divine light and in it his elder. The fact that the Lord reveals Himself only to simple, humble and obedient people was often pointed out by St. Silouan of Athos. Few people know the secret of obedience. The obedient is great before God. He is an imitator of Christ, who gave us in Himself the image of obedience. The Lord loves an obedient soul and gives him His peace, and then everything is fine, and he feels love for everyone. Obedience is needed not only for monks, but for every person. Everyone is looking for peace and joy, but few know that they are achieved through obedience. Without obedience, even from exploits, vanity is born. He who walks the path of obedience quickly and easily receives the gift of God's great mercy, while the self-willed and self-willed, no matter how learned and witty they are, can kill themselves with harsh deeds, ascetic and scientific-theological, and, however, will only barely feed on the crumbs falling from the Throne of Mercy, and will live, imagining themselves as owners of wealth, without being such in reality. The ease with which the Elder sometimes allowed a student to weaken the ascetic rule does not mean, of course, that he himself was not an ascetic and a man of prayer; this only indicates that he did not place “bodily labor” in the first place, but emphasized the need for humility and purity of heart on the path to achieving mystical experience. Simeon speaks of the deep mystical life of the Elder himself and testifies that he had visions of the Divine Light. In the 1st Catechetical Word, Simeon mentions that he often heard from his spiritual father “about the Divine insights that happen to ascetics from heaven, about the abundance of light and God’s conversations with people through him.” In the 5th Moral Word, Simeon retells his conversation with the Elder after the first vision of the light. This is a dialogue between a person who has just had his first mystical experience and someone who has had similar experiences for a long time: And if there is someone who previously explained such things to him as having previously known God, he goes to him and says: “I saw!” And he says: “What did you see, child?” - “The light, oh father, is sweet, sweet, but to tell you what it is, my mind is powerless... This light appeared to me, father. The building of my cells disappeared, and the world passed by, fleeing, as I think, from His face, but I was left alone, living with the light. I don’t know if this body was there then... I had an inexpressible joy, which is still with me now - love and great desire, so that streams of tears flowed from me...” So, answering, [the elder] says to him: “It is He, child!” It is obvious that the depth of the mystical experience that the Elder possessed attracted Simeoka to him; it can be assumed that many other spiritual children were attracted to the Elder precisely by this, as well as by the gift of healing that he possessed. The abbot repeatedly expressed the wish that the young novice would refuse the leadership of his elder, but Simeon did not agree to this, which resulted in his expulsion from the monastery. Having left the Studite monastery, Simeon entered the monastery of the holy martyr Mamant in Constantinople, where he was tonsured a monk. This is how Nikita Stifat describes the life of Simeon in the monastery of St. Mamant: He devotes himself to the most perfect works of virtue and, leaving everything else, devotes himself only to prayer, silence and the study of the Divine Scriptures, and is perfectly united with God in the contemplation of light... His daily food was life-giving Bread, with which he was completely cleansed, the honest Blood of Christ, vegetables and seeds. Preserving the life of his body with them, he did not take anything else on all days of the week except Sunday. On holidays, he took part in the common meal of the brethren, lowering his face and [being] in constant contrition, after which, having given thanks, he stood up with everyone, ran to his cell, locked his door and stood up to pray. Then, after reading a little, he took a little rest, bowing to the ground, for he had neither a bed, nor a blanket, nor anything else necessary for the body... After reading, he worked on his handicrafts, copying the text of the Divine Scriptures: he was an excellent scribe, and everyone who saw his writing was filled with joy. When the beat was struck, he immediately stood up for the Divine psalmody, and when the Divine Offering was made, he stood in prayer and talked with God with tears until the priest offered the bread. After this, filled with Divine fire, he accepted the Most Pure Mysteries and immediately silently retired to his cell.” In the first years after his tonsure, Simeon repeatedly saw the Divine light: he mentions one such vision in the same word, which refers to the young man George, but notes that the second vision was weaker than the first: it was just “a small ray of that sweetest and Divine light. After two years of living in the monastery of St. Mamant, Simeon was entrusted with instructing the brethren in the church. In 980 (988), when the abbot of the monastery died, the monks elected Simeon in his place. At the age of about thirty-one, he was ordained to the priesthood and elevated to the dignity of abbot by Patriarch Nicholas II of Constantinople, Chrysoverg. During his ordination, when the bishop read the prayer of dedication over him, Simeon saw the Holy Spirit, who, descending as a simple and boundless light, formlessly covered his all-sacred head; while performing the Liturgy, he saw [this light] descending on the sacrifice he offered to God throughout the forty-eight years of his priesthood, as he told someone himself, as if about someone else, hiding himself. When Simeon the New Theologian became abbot, the monastery of St. Mamant was in decline, and Simeon took up the task of restoring it. He successfully completed the planned restoration work and took care of the economic needs of the monastery. The monastery church was restored, the floor was covered with marble and new church utensils were purchased; a library and sacristy were organized. However, Simeon's main task was to raise the spiritual level of the brethren, who for many years remained without spiritual leadership. He addressed the monks with ardent exhortations, urging them to fight passions and fulfill the commandments of Christ. From his writings of this period, for example, the 1st Catechetical Word, pronounced shortly after he became abbot, it is clear that he viewed the monastery as a single family, of which he was installed as the spiritual father by the will of God. Not all of Simeon’s listeners were able to accept his teaching and follow it: to many his spiritual ideal seemed too high. Some monks, attracted by his jealousy, later lacked zeal and left the monastery. On the other hand, resistance gradually grew among those who remained in the monastery; Friction intensified between the abbot and the brethren. Simeon was accused of speaking too often about his own experience: this could seem to be a violation of monastic ethics, according to which a monk should not talk about himself. The demanding insistence with which Simeon called for striving to achieve spiritual gifts irritated those who were deprived of them. Finally, some of Simeon’s opinions could not go unnoticed - about the uselessness of Baptism for those who remain insensitive to the grace of the Holy Spirit they have received, about the ineffectiveness of Communion for those who do not see Christ with the eyes of their souls, about the impossibility of salvation for those who are aware of even the slightest passion, etc. Such thoughts, expressed in a sharply polemical tone, could serve as a reason for accusing Simeon of unorthodoxy. The atmosphere in the monastery gradually became tense. During the patriarchate of Sisinnius I (995–998), some monks openly opposed the abbot: when he preached during Matins, they rushed to him with loud cries, ready to expel him from the monastery, but Simeon, according to Nikita, stood still, without raising his hands and looking at his haters with a smile and a “bright face.” Beside themselves with anger, they jumped out of the church, tore off the locks of the monastery gates and ran through the entire city to the patriarch. He summoned Simeon and, after interrogating, became convinced of his innocence. He wanted to expel the rebellious, but Simeon begged him to return them to the monastery. After this, he remained abbot until in 1005 (1013) he transferred authority to his disciple Arseny. Simeon probably assumed that, having gone into seclusion, he would spend the rest of his days in silence, but new trials awaited him. The former Metropolitan of Nicomedia, Stefan, openly raised his voice against him and accused him of excessively revering his spiritual father, who had long since died. Every year, on the day of memory of his elder, Simeon organized a solemn service in the monastery, which was attended by many admirers of the elder. An icon of Simeon the Reverent was also painted and a service to him was compiled. Stefan reproached Simeon for glorifying his spiritual father before he was officially canonized. Nikita Stifat describes this conflict as a clash between legalistic formalism and genuine spirituality: for Simeon, the holiness of his spiritual father was beyond doubt, and he did not need official confirmation of it. Expelled from Constantinople, Simeon settled at the Church of St. Marina near Chrysopolis, where he founded a small monastery. Soon his friends in the capital obtained from Patriarch Sergius II and the Synod his complete acquittal, and he was invited to return to his former monastery or even take the episcopal see. However, Simeon rejected these proposals and spent the remaining years of his life in the monastery of St. Marina, surrounded by his students. Despite the turbulent events and the emotional turmoil associated with them, Simeon's inner mystical life, it seems, never weakened. According to Nikita, he received many spiritual gifts, including clairvoyance, prophecy and miracles. The biographer reports that Simeon once healed a certain abbess from a serious illness, appearing to her in a vision together with his elder Simeon the Reverent. Another time he healed a young man who could not eat: he blessed a piece of bread and gave it to the young man, after which he immediately recovered. He also restored health to a paralyzed boy who had been ill for four years, anointing him with oil from the lamp of the icon of St. Marina. Simeon also healed one of his friends who had suffered a stroke, and the patient's face was so distorted that he could not open his mouth. Talking about these cases, Simeon's biographer always emphasizes that Simeon showed great compassion for the sick and shed tears at the sight of a person stricken with illness. Shortly before his death, Simeon himself fell ill. His body was extremely exhausted, he could not move and spent whole days lying on his bed. He could no longer perform the Liturgy every day, as he had done all his life, but he still received communion every day. The time of his death was revealed to him in advance. He also predicted to his disciples that, thirty years after his death, his remains would be solemnly transferred to Constantinople; and so it happened afterwards. Simeon died on March 12, 1022 (1037–38), surrounded by disciples who, with tears in their eyes and with lit candles, sang the funeral service to him. “Simeon the New Theologian is probably unique in that the three main external events of his life - his adoption of monasticism in the Studite monastery, his transfer to another monastery and, finally, his expulsion from Constantinople - were caused by his exceptional devotion to his spiritual leader, Simeon the Reverent" (H. Graf *). [*Graef, Director, 608.] Simeon inherited from his mentor - and through him from the Studite tradition - an understanding of spiritual fatherhood as a relationship between mentor and student that is based on absolute trust on both sides and absolute obedience on the part of the student. Simeon the Reverent objects to going to many mentors and looking for “pillars, hermits and miracle workers,” and suggests confessing to only one spiritual father. As if repeating it, Simeon says: Do not go here and there, looking for famous monks, and do not be curious about their lives; but if, by the grace of God, you have found a spiritual father, tell him everything about yourself. Other Holy Fathers adhere to the same opinion: It is not necessary to ask everyone, but one to whom the management of others has been entrusted... For it is not for everyone to lead others... Let those who peace with you be many: but your advisers are one from thousands (Sir.6:6 - St. Gregory of Sinai; Philokalia vol.5, ch.7). One permanent spiritual leader can know the questioner better and help better. The Russian folk proverb: seven nannies have a child without an eye - has its reasons. Simeon the Reverent identifies the words of the spiritual father with the words of God when he says that the disciple should consider everything said by the spiritual father as coming “from the mouth of God.” Simeon also repeatedly repeats that the student must perceive all the words and instructions of the teacher as “coming from the mouth of God,” and that the student must confess all thoughts to the spiritual father, “as if to God Himself.” Confess your thoughts to your spiritual father, if possible, every hour; if this is impossible, do not let at least a single day pass without confessing them. Immediately after Matins, test yourself for goodness and reveal to your spiritual father what happened to you (Sermon 71). Simeon identifies the will of his spiritual father with the will of God: Lord..., send me a man who knows You, so that by serving him as You are, and submitting to him with all my strength, and having fulfilled Your will in his will, I may please You, the only God... . Just as you have a duty to obey God, so you must obey him (the elder) in order to learn what is right; and, look, whatever he tells you, do it without hesitation, even if what he orders you does not seem entirely appropriate and useful. It is better to be and be called a disciple of a disciple, than to spend life in an original way and collect the useless fruits of your will (Sermon 72). If faith in the elder is shaken, shaken, then all the work of the novice is in vain, and care for the elderly loses its meaning. And just as St. Apostle Peter walked with a firm foot across the abysses of the sea until he looked with faith at the Savior Christ alone, but began to drown as soon as he thought about the stormy wind and rising waves and began to weaken in his faith in the God-man (Matthew 14:29-31) "and the novice - the student - stands on the firm path of salvation if he looks with faith at his teacher, but in in the disastrous waves of his doubts and unbelief, he loses everything and dies. In view of such a great essential importance of faith in the mentor in the spiritual progress of the student, the novice himself must take care most of all to cultivate in himself a bright, firm faith in the mentor, and not to darken it with any cloud of doubt. The Holy Fathers teach, in order to maintain complete faith, not to judge or test your mentor and not to notice his shortcomings. Simeon the New Theologian writes: If you see him eating with harlots, publicans and sinners, do not think anything passionate and human, but everything dispassionate and holy, and, seeing him condescending to human passions, think in your mind: I have become all things to all, in order to win some (1 Cor. 9:22). But even if you see with your own eyes, do not trust them at all, for they too are mistaken, as I learned in practice. Have firm faith in your spiritual father, without diminishing it in the least, even if the whole world condemns and reviles him; although you yourself will find something reproachful in it, do not succumb to temptation, hearing what Christ the Lord says: “Judge not, and you will not be judged” (Luke 6:37) (Word 72). Accepting the advice and commands of the mentor as God's advice and commands, the student must only listen to his mentor: any other guidance, no matter what or whose it may be, must be rejected - the matter of his salvation is in the hands of the elder. The importance of the disciple’s faith in relation to the mentor is indicated by the following senile confession of the Russian Optina elders, Macarius and Ambrose: If with faith you seek and accept my words, then through a sinner you will receive benefit; and if without faith, with doubt and testing, analysis of words and actions, then even if you were righteous, there can be no benefit: you know this from the writings of your fathers and have experienced it in practice. If a person asks a mentor with faith, then through the latter the will of God is revealed. The confessor is a conductor of God's grace, but this happens when the student accepts the first word of the spiritual father and does not waver in faith, because the Holy Spirit does not tolerate violence and disputes. He who intensely listens to his teacher and leader, like God, cannot contradict him; whoever thinks and says that he has both (that is, that he can both listen to the elder and contradict him without harm to himself), let him know that he is in error: for he does not know what kind of disposition the people of God have towards God. Whoever believes that his life and death is in the hand of his shepherd will never contradict; ignorance of this gives rise to contradiction, which causes spiritual and eternal death (Ch. 38, 39). Obedience is a direct expression of selfless love for God. By denying himself before the elder, the novice also renounces before God; by avoiding the elder’s judgment, he will also avoid God’s judgment; surrendering soul and body to the mentor, he entrusts himself to God. Obedient surrender of oneself to an elder is surrender of oneself to God and at the same time acceptance of God into oneself, likeness to God, inclusion of God. Those who, in the courtyard of piety, with fear and trembling, laid a good foundation of faith and hope and planted their feet unshakably on the stone of obedience to the spiritual fathers, listening to what was commanded to them as from the mouth of God, and on this basis of obedience, without hesitation in the humility of the soul, arranging for the fulfillment of it - they soon succeed. And the great and first thing that is corrected in them is to expose themselves. For fulfilling someone else’s will, and not one’s own, not only speeds up spiritual self-sacrifice, but also brings about the death of the whole world (Chapter 44). The ascetic word of Elder Simeon the Reverent Brother, at the very beginning of your renunciation of the world, you tried to instill good virtues in yourself, so that you would be useful to the brotherhood, and the Lord would exalt you in the end. Do not gain for yourself special boldness before the abbot and do not seek special honor from him. Do not acquire friendship with the greatest in the monastery, and do not frequent them in your cell, knowing that through this not only the passion of vanity will begin to take root in you, but you will also become hated by the abbot himself; and why is this - he understands and understands. Sit in peace in your cell, whatever it may be; but do not turn away anyone who wants to visit you and talk with you, for the sake of preserving your reverence, because, speaking with the advice of your father, you will not suffer harm, even if he is from the opposite side, that is, he does not agree with you either in rules or in thoughts. If you don’t see that it would be useful for you, do it, motivated by the opportunity to bring benefit to another. You must always have the fear of God and every day examine and discuss what is good and what is bad that you have done; - and consign good things to oblivion, so as not to fall into the passion of vanity, but shed tears about the opposite with confession and intense prayer. Carry out this judgment on yourself like this: when the day ends and evening comes, begin to rant to yourself and ask yourself: how, with God’s help, did I spend this day? Have you judged anyone? Have you annoyed anyone with a word? Did you seduce anyone? Did you look passionately at someone's face? Did you not disobey the abbot in any way out of your obedience and neglect him? Are you angry with anyone? Standing in a (church) meeting, didn’t you occupy your ear with something useless, or, weighed down by laziness with divine services, didn’t you leave the church and rule? At least you find yourself innocent of all this - which, however, is impossible, because no one is clean from filth even if he lives only one day (Job 14:4), and no one will boast of having a pure heart (Proverbs 20:9); and then, remembering that, he cried out to God with many tears: Lord, forgive me for the great sins that I have sinned in word and deed, in knowledge and ignorance, for we sin in many ways, and without knowing it. Every day you must confess every thought to your spiritual father, and whatever he tells you, accept it as from the mouth of God with full conviction (in the immutable truth); Don’t tell anyone else that I asked my father about this and that, and he answered me this and that; and especially not to ask again whether he told me this, and what should I do to heal myself? Because these are the essence of words that are untrue to your father and harmful to the soul. This usually happens most often with beginners. You must see everyone who is in the monastery as saints and consider yourself alone to be a sinner and the last, adding to this that of all those who are being saved, you alone will be condemned to eternal torment on the day of He. When you stand at the service, think about this and do not stop crying warmly in contrition of heart, not paying attention to those who are tempted or mocked. Only when you see that you are beginning to slip away into vanity, then leave the church, and do it in secret, then quickly returning to your place. This is very useful for beginners; especially during the Six Psalms, the reading of the Psalter and teachings, and during the Divine Liturgy. But, look, don’t judge anyone, but put this in your mind: those who see me crying like this, considering me a great sinner, pray earnestly for me. And of course, by constantly thinking and always acting in this way, you will receive great benefit - you will attract God’s grace, and you will become a partaker of Divine bliss. Do not go to anyone’s cell except the abbot, and this as rarely as possible. But if you want to ask him about any thought, do it in church; From the church service, go straight to your cell and then to the work of your obedience; and after Compline, bowing to the abbot and asking for prayers, again, bowing your head, run in silence to your cell. It is better to read one Trisagion with attention and go to bed, than to spend four hours without sleep in useless conversations. However, where there is contrition and spiritual crying, there is Divine illumination; and when it finds it, then both laziness and weakness are driven away. Don’t develop a special love for any person, especially newcomers, although his life may seem very good to you and not at all suspicious. Because such love very often turns from spiritual into passionate and becomes the cause of many useless sorrows. And this happens most to those who strive more zealously. However, humility and frequent prayer will teach you how to act here; I don’t find it appropriate to talk about this in detail here. Understand and understand. In relation to each brother in the monastery, one must keep oneself as a stranger and an outsider, especially from those who were known in worldly life, but love everyone, and love them evenly - look at the reverent and ascetic as saints, and diligently pray for those who are careless like me. However, as we showed above, while we consider everyone to be saints, we strive to cleanse ourselves from passions by crying, so that, illuminated by grace, we may look at everyone equally and be worthy of the bliss of the pure in heart. This is what you consider perfect, worthy of your name, removal from the world - the ultimate mortification of your will, then impartiality towards your parents, relatives and friends and complete renunciation of them. Further still - stripping yourself of all your property, through distributing it to the poor, according to the word of the Lord, who said: sell your possessions and give to the poor (Matthew 19:2l), and actual oblivion of all persons whom you have loved with your heart, either with carnal or spiritual love. Also, confession of all the secrets of your heart and everything that up to this very hour has been done by you, the spiritual father, or abbot, as to God Himself, who searches hearts and wombs, knowing how John baptized with the baptism of repentance, and everyone went to him to confess their sins (Mark 1:4,5) - For from this there is great joy in the soul, and relief of the conscience, according to the prophetic word: you say Your sins come first, that you may be justified (Is. 43:26). Also, to put in your mind the conviction that after you entered the monastery, your parents and friends died, and to consider only God and the abbot as father and mother; then you can no longer ask them for anything for the sake of bodily needs. If, out of their care for you, they send you something, accept it and pray for them for their care for you, but give what they sent to a hotel or hospital, and do it with humility, because this is not the work of the perfect, but of the last. Do every good deed with humility, remembering the word of the Lord: Whenever you have done all that is commanded you, say, “For we are unworthy servants; for whatever we ought to do, we have done, and we have done” (Luke 17:10). Be careful in every possible way to never receive Holy Communion while having anything against someone, even in the form of a pretense of thought, until you have achieved complete reconciliation with him through repentance. However, you can learn this too from prayer. Be prepared every day for any sorrow, thinking that sorrows are deliverance from many debts, and thanking Holy God for them (when they occur). In this way, shameless hope is acquired, according to the word of the great Apostle: tribulation makes patience, but patience is an art, and art is hope, but hope does not put one to shame (Rom. 5:3-5); since, according to a false promise, which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and the heart has not sighed (1 Cor. 2:9), this is the property of those who, with the help of grace, show complete patience in sorrows; without grace, nothing can be done as it should be. Try not to sadden anyone, either by word or deed; on the contrary, even those who are saddened by others, console them as much as you can. However, never think that you have defeated the wiles of the devil, and do not be vain. For the whole of human nature cannot overcome them; It is only the grace of God to do this. - So, those who live as a brotherhood in subordination to the abbot must do as it is said. As for lovers of silence (living alone), I cannot say anything. However, judging by what I said, let everyone figure out for themselves what is characteristic of the silent. Silence requires a more rigorous and attentive life.