Письмо к монахине Ксении о страстях и добродетели

The road along which many walk is wide and spacious. If those walking along it do not restrain themselves with abstinence, they will fall into complete destruction. And the one who follows the difficult and narrow path enters life. But no one can pass through the narrow gates and the narrow path, puffed up with glory, dissipated in pleasures and burdened with wealth and possessions. The Lord pleases the ascetics of this narrow path, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for among them is the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:3). With these words, Christ shows that He accepts and praises the humility of the soul. This desire for inner poverty is noticeable in the saints. For another may be non-covetous and poor, and at that arbitrarily, but he does it for the sake of human glory. Such a person is not poor in spirit, but a hypocrite. He who has a contrite and humble spirit cannot help but rejoice in visible poverty and humility, for he considers himself unworthy of glory, contentment and consolation. He who considers himself unworthy of all this is a beggar blessed by God. And such a beggar truly is, not half deserving of this name. And all such are from among those who heard and followed the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, and imitated Him, for He said: “Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29). The human soul consists of three parts and is known in its three powers: thinking, irritable and desirable. All these parts are susceptible to disease. Christ, who heals the soul, begins with the last, that is, with desire. Desire finds writing due to absent-mindedness of thought, and therefore the irritable and thinking parts of the soul are always sick. Christ heals every passion of the soul. The first generation of the desirable part of the soul is covetousness. The love of money appears a little later. The Apostle Paul called the disease of the love of money the root of all subsequent evils, such as stinginess, predation, theft and all kinds of covetousness, which becomes the second idolatry. All these are passions of the soul that kill the desire for good deeds. It is not easy to get rid of these passions; they are an example of disbelief in Divine Providence. A person who is carried away by these passions will not benefit from anything, because life cannot be sustained by any wealth. A wise owner distributes according to his strength, even what he himself needs, introducing what was given into the circulation of profitable trade, that is, love. And love multiplies this profit hundreds of times. The passion of love of money gives rise to the passion that follows it - love of fame. For, coming from infancy to adolescence, before carnal love the passion of love of glory meets us, as a kind of evil intention of other passions. Here I mean that type of love of glory, which consists in preening the body and flaunting attire, and which the holy fathers call worldly vanity. All these passions find perfect healing through knowledge and love for the highest, Heavenly honor, which God bestows, with the veneration of oneself as unworthy of it and in enduring human humiliation, with the esteem of oneself worthy of all humiliation and, moreover, in the preference of the glory of God to the glory of man, according to the word of the prophet: “Not to us, Lord, not to us; but give glory to Your name” (Ps. 113:9). When we do something praiseworthy, we will attribute it to God, and for this we are grateful to send glory to Him, and not to appropriate it to ourselves. A person who does this will rejoice in the fact that he has received virtue as a gift, and will not become proud of it, as if he had nothing of his own, but rather humble himself, having his mental eyes turned to God day and night. Those who practice virtue for the sake of human glory remain forever in the earth. Their prayer does not ascend to Heaven; all their efforts fall to earth. They do not have the wings of Divine love, they do not accept righteous reward for their labors. They feel captivated and disturbed by the mind. This passion of pleasing people during the exercise of virtue is the most subtle of all passions. A person who strives, but has such weakness, cannot examine the deviations that occur in his soul, and cannot avoid being associated with them. Perhaps, outwardly, he behaves soberly, but at the same time, with his own hands, he is preparing a place for pride in himself. Most likely, such a person will remain unhealed. If you examine passions carefully, you will be convinced that vanity in a crafty way leads to most falls and destroys a person. We are taught to practice virtue differently. We bear the name of Christ, Christ watches over our affairs. Looking to Him, through Him and for Him we do everything that is best, and we direct everything to His glory, not at all having in mind pleasing people, following St. Paul, the supreme secret of our Lawgiver, and our Lawgiver, who says: “If he had pleased men, he would not have been a servant of Christ” (Gal. 1:10). The third generation of an ailing soul is gluttony. From gluttony comes all bodily uncleanness. The senses are constantly in motion from the images of sensory things, and through vision, even from afar, are carried away by what leads to a fall. Our foremother Eve first saw that “the tree is good for food, pleasing to the eyes and desirable because it gives knowledge” (Gen. 3:6), and then she already formed the thoughts of her heart, touched and tasted of the forbidden tree. Carnal passions begin their movement from a passionate mind. Therefore, healing from passions should begin from him. For, as in the case of a fire, if someone who wants to extinguish it begins to somehow stop the flame from above, he will not at all succeed in extinguishing it; if the flammable substance is rejected, the fire will immediately diminish and subside: so in relation to lustful passions, if you do not dry up the source of thoughts within with prayer and humility, but only arm yourself against them by fasting and mortification of the body, then you will work unsuccessfully; If you sanctify the source through humility and prayer, as we said, then you will impart sanctification to the external body. The body constantly needs asceticism and judicious abstinence from food. This kind of effort, ennobled by prayer emanating from a humble heart, heals all carnal passions. And if someone wants to acquire true inner freedom and sanctification, he needs to strive, devote himself to asceticism and pray with humility. Trees that endure difficult conditions, in the cold and frost of winter, covered with snow and frost, overwhelmed by strong winds, bear fruit in due time. Without these winter difficulties, nothing planted in the ground could bear fruit. And if someone, taking pity on them, surrounds them with a fence and covers them with a roof, and they are not subjected to all the winter heaviness and suffering, then they will never bear fruit. They must be left to suffer. Then in the spring they will be abundantly covered with flowers and vegetating green leaves, and then thin twigs with small fruits will appear on their branches. Later, when the rays of the sun become stronger, these fruits will fill with juice, ripen and become suitable for eating and harvesting. In the same way, a person who courageously endures the truly unbearable weight of temptation will bear worthy fruit. Every believer who is zealous for life in Christ becomes more perfect through patience with voluntary and involuntary suffering and temptations. Some of these sufferings and temptations come from outside, others from within. We must of our own free will choose to obey the farmer of our souls in order to receive Divine blessing. At the same time, we must develop the habit of disdaining temporary pleasure, we must endure spiritual battles. Anyone who endures any temptation and rejoices in this battle, being convinced that it cleanses his soul and helps it rush to God in prayer, acquires true mental health. Such a person thanks those from whom he receives temptations and prays for them as his benefactors. He himself receives not only forgiveness of his sins, but also God’s blessing. Such a Christian is blessed by the Lord for his patience to the end, which does not dry out due to the fact that he has a spirit of humility. In such a person, a godly sorrow is born for each of the possible falls and weaknesses, and along with this sorrow, a corresponding consolation. Not just sorrow is born in him, but also tears that soften the hardness of the heart and are followed by contrition and tenderness. Then all bitterness ceases, and sweet silence and peace come from God. So, the benefits of this mental grief are enormous. God is gracious, He hears the pain of the soul of every person, because He condescended to us, lived with us and promised us all consolation. He Himself is our consolation, because He is called and truly is the Comforter.