709. Our heart is like a dark earth; The Gospel is like the sun, enlightening and reviving our hearts. Shine in our hearts the true sun of Thy truth, O Lord!
733. ...pray for me, St. Men of God: prophets, apostles, saints, martyrs, reverends, righteous and all saints, may I be like you!
740. Like every word of the prayer: have mercy on me, O God, the Master hears and fulfills every word (experience), if only they speak from the heart; so are all the words of other prayers, even our own, sincere prayers. O benevolent Master! Glory to You! Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, press and it will be opened to you. Whatever you ask is accepted... (Matthew 7:7, 8). Only in simplicity of heart, pray without doubt.
743. I thank You, Lord, my Lord and Judge, for you teach me to simply pray to You, and hear me crying to You, and save me from my sins and my sorrows, and put my burdens on the scale. Behold, I cried out to You in the sin of my wickedness with the words of church prayer: Lord our God, who grants repentance to man... and as soon as I finished it, peace and lightness settled in my soul. June 29, 1864
746. O Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who loves mankind, I thank you with all my heart, because you heard my prayer for love of neighbor and care for earthly things and poured out peaceful, reasonable and sweet love into my heart. Confirm, O God, this in me through the prayers of our Most Pure Lady Theotokos, and may I be Your child, O Lord, and Her truest child. July 26, 1864, 11 pm.
747. ...Having become human for the sake of the Word of God and God! keep us in Your sanctuary! Our Holy Head! Do not give our hearts and our bodies to the foul Belial, lest he defile them with thoughts, but abide everlastingly with us and keep us pure and blameless. Grant us, Lord, to always have with You, our Divine Head, a living connection, like members of Your body - a connection in the thoughts of the heart, in prayer and in deeds. The falling away of our hearts from You is darkness and death, Lord, there is sorrow and oppression, shame and humiliation and spiritual abomination, but with You we have light, life, peace, joy, spaciousness in the heart, boldness, and greatness, and holiness.
752. ...Sovereign Lord Jesus Christ! Enlighten the eyes of our hearts and may Your good Spirit guide us all to rightness on earth (Ps. 142:10). Give us Your Spirit!
770. Lord! You came to save us by faith in You, behold, I believe that You are my Savior, save me! You have come to renew my nature, corrupted by sin; renew me, who has corrupted myself with passions and lusts, renew both mentally and physically, so that I may be pure in heart and strong in body for the glory of Your name. You have come to deliver us from the work of the enemy - deliver me from the work of the all-evil, unclean, nasty and disgusting enemy, who is at war in my members and inclining me, drawing me by violence to sin. You have come to enlighten us, enlighten my heart darkened by passions. You have come to gather up what has been squandered; gather up my thoughts, squandered by the enemy.
You came to strengthen us in our weakness and said: My power is made perfect in weakness, and Your Apostle says: Sweetly I boast all the more in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me (2 Cor. 12:9); Behold, I am extremely weak and cannot do anything good without You; Without You I can neither think, nor feel, good, nor desire good, nor speak, nor do; I am decidedly weak for any good without You; Give me grace, give me light and strength to think and feel good and comfortably do it, say and do what pleases You. Behold, I commend my whole life to You, Christ God, my Savior, my Renewer; cleanse, sanctify and save me. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in my womb (Ps. 50:12)! Help me: without You my destruction is near and swift at every hour.
780. Who am I? – On the one hand, sin, the abyss of sin, all opposition to God the All-Creator and All-Empowerer, worthy of all condemnation and torment, on the other – complete poverty of every virtue and weakness for every virtue. So I fell deeply, became corrupted, and became exhausted. I cannot do anything without my Savior, according to His word and my countless experiences. He created my soul and body, He grew me, He formed my abilities, He creates everything good in me, if I do something good, but mine is only evil. But, my Creator and my Deliverer! You created me, I am Your creation, Your slave. You control me. You do Your will through me, give me the grace to completely subdue my will to Your will, for I cannot do this without Your grace. You, my Shepherd, feed me. You, my Savior, save me. You, my Light, enlighten me. You, my Strength, strengthen me.
782. Oh, infinitely great Benefactor, my Savior! When I imagine the endless corruption of my nature by sins and manifold passions and at the same time my spirit falls and becomes despondent, then only I will remember You that You came to renew my nature corrupted by sin and to grant my dishonor, my shame, angelic nobility, even higher than angelic, the nobility of the Son of God, for the sake of faith in You, for the sake of birth by water and the Spirit and for the sake of communion of the Holy Mysteries Yours - my spirit will instantly perk up from despondency, shake off the dishonor of passions and be completely filled with gratitude to You. Glory to Thee, infinite Grace and Power, Son of God!
785. ...Set me on the rock of Your commandments, O Lord!
788. You alone know the cares, labors and sweats of Your saints, for their purification, for pleasing You, the Father of all, You weigh Your saints. Teach us to imitate them in our lives, so that we too may be united with everyone in love.
789. Why do the sons of this age mock at what is truth, light, peace, sweetness, our life, I mean church services, church readings and hymns, or at Your saints, glorified by You? Even if they do not lead, they blaspheme (Jude 1:10). Father! let them go, for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34), and enlighten them.
795. Your power (vozl.), i.e. You contain everyone and everything in Your power and strength - including evil spirits; Thine is the kingdom: Thou art the King over all and over evil spirits; Your power: You uphold everyone with Your power - and glory: for You created everything for Your glory.
814. Grant me, Lord, to love every neighbor of mine as myself, always, and not to become embittered towards him for any reason and not to work for the devil. Let me crucify my self-love, pride, covetousness, lack of faith and other passions. Let our name be: mutual love; Let us believe and trust that the Lord is everything to all of us; let us not worry, let us not worry about anything; may You, our God, be the only God of our hearts and there is nothing besides You. Let us be in the unity of love among ourselves, as it should be, and let everything that separates us from each other and separates us from love be in contempt for us, like dust trampled under foot. Wake up! Wake up! If God has given Himself to us, if He abides in us and we in Him, according to His true word, then what will He not give me, what will He spare me, what will He deprive me of, what will He forsake me? The Lord shepherds me and will deprive me of nothing (Ps. 22:1). With Him, why is not everything given to us (Rom. 8:32)? So, be very calm, my soul, and know nothing but love. This commandment I command you, that you love one another (John 15:17).
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