Ответ монаха Николая на писание Марка Подвижника

Thanks be to God, thanks be! Thanks be to His superior and inscrutable gift, that He, loving mankind for a soul containing fierce passions and deprived of all strength, visited it with a merciful and entirely entrusted will to God, I say, virtuous and united with God by your reverend soul, which sent me a brilliant spark, filled with Divine light, and a heart that has a spiritual bait - and with the lamp of words of labor and love, born from a thought united with God, he plucked my soul from the darkest darkness and storm and the Lord did what my thought cheerfully arose from the three giants announced to me. Truly these giants are great and fierce and never cease to attack the human race. Whom do they keep on earth so ferociously and fiercely as me, and who is still possessed by them of their own free will? But He, who never rejoices over the destruction of the living, had mercy on [me] and showed me His long-suffering and humane mercy and, having moved this pious thought, aroused the will that had fallen asleep in the deepest sleep, pointed out and showed me the above-mentioned giants, I say, firstly, the oblivion that expelled Adam from paradise, for if he had not forgotten the commandment Masters, I would not have fallen from such glory; and despondency, surrendering to which he listened to the spouses; and ignorance, through which he did not know what he was and what he became. The Lord Jesus made these three spirits manifest to me through the Holy Spirit who dwells in you. For truly He sent the two-edged sword, which is the word of God, and cut the mind in two with much silence. He didn’t stop there either, but truly, through your words, you put some spiritual sweetness into my will. So, with how many lips and how many tongues can I worthily thank the true Lord God for His good deeds, which you reminded me of, or, again, for sending me skillful and loving words that awaken the soul to seek the truth and keep God’s commandments, and, finally, for the many benefits [through this brought] to those who wish to walk the path of the Lord, leading to eternal life? Not only did your words bring such benefit to me, but also to everyone who heard them - their thoughts were greatly enlightened, and they received great benefit from the clearly spoken words. Therefore, these speeches turned out to be reliable, as things, and these words were heard not as words only, but as an obvious deed, which was before our eyes, for immediately this word put great vigilance into [our] wills. And since this word was effective, it did not remain idle, but immediately made ears of corn grow and bear ripe fruit; but this is not enough, for each of us is not satisfied with it, as God knows: no matter how many times I read it, my poor soul does not receive satiety. So, through the prayer of your holiness, may this gift be given to me, so that the heavenly spark will remain in me and destroy completely, to the end, the above-mentioned giants; May I never forget myself and, through the betrayal of autocratic will, plunge myself into the above-mentioned evil and become the food of my enemies. But I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who lives in you, that for the sake of your reverence and those who labor like you, He will not despise me and will not deliver me into the mouth of the aforementioned giants, but, always reminding me through His reverend servants, He will tell me His way, the accursed one, through your holy prayers. So, I ask and beseech your gracious and reverend soul, do not despise me for the fact that I dared with hope to write a response to your holiness; but, seeing the fatherly mercy revealed, albeit in bad writing, I ask and beg you to remember me every hour; since the Lord always visits [His] persistent and unceasing servant, I mean, the worthily purified mind of your blessed soul, so that by your shrine I too, having been delivered from my evils, will find a good outcome, by the grace of the man-loving Christ God, with Him the Father will have honor and power with the Holy Spirit forever. Amen. You might be interested in: