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(1) The holy father writes this word to one lay disciple and teaches how to honor the holy spiritual fathers. – (2) What should one do to find a real spiritual father? – (3) And having found it, how should one treat it? 1. My beloved in the Lord! I took you into my bosom when you came to me, with warm zeal I taught you the true teaching, with no little difficulty representing you in the image of Christ through repentance, and revived you as a spiritual child with great patience, many cares and daily tears, although you did not know any of this, which I experienced for your sake. This is not surprising. And children, while in the womb, do not feel at all the sadness of their mother, nor the illnesses that she endures during their birth. But when they are born, they naturally grab their mother’s breasts, are saturated with the milk coming from them, and, feeding in this way, little by little they grow, and then they already know their mother, who gave birth to them, and begin to honor her and love her excessively; and even though she beats them, even though she scolds them, they all run to her with complete love; They cannot think that she would hate them and turn away from them with her soul, but no matter what she does to them, they think that she is doing it in order to teach them reason. Likewise, they finally recognize their father and begin to distinguish them from others, to honor and obey, not only according to the natural law, but also according to the laws that the man-loving God has given. Thus, parents show proper care for their children, and children repay their parents with goodwill and obedience, and, living with them, are taught by the punishment and teaching of the Lord. But if parents do not provide proper care for their children, do not teach them reason, do not instill in them good rules, then the souls of the children will certainly be recovered at their hands. And on the contrary, if children, out of insolence and disorderliness, despise their parents, do not listen to instructions and fulfill their commands, then although they will not be given over to temporary death, as determined by the old law, they will undoubtedly be given over to eternal fire and utter darkness. All the inspired Scripture clearly proclaims this to us, and we, as if deaf, do not listen to it, and even if we do listen, we do not fulfill it, as if we had not heard. I did not have and do not have any desire to say anything or write anything, especially hearing that the Lord and our God said to His disciples: if you cast me out, you will also be cast out (John 15:20); and again: if you have harmed the lord of Beelzebub’s house, how much more will he do it to his household (Matthew 10:25). But despite this, He still sent them to us, the tongues, saying: go and teach all languages, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all the commandments given to you (Matthew 28:19), and then he added to this: whoever has faith and is baptized will be saved; and those who do not have faith will be condemned (Mark 16:16), then I decided to write to your love as a keepsake, what is beneficial and useful for you. And this is especially because a strong love for you overcomes me, as a child-loving father, not allowing me to endure the fact that you, my spiritual son in the Lord, spend your life the way you live. My warm disposition towards you compels me to condescend to you and offer the truth of God before your eyes, although in writing I will write the same thing that you yourself read every day and that the Divine Scripture commands us to observe. Maybe you will ask me: if you promise to tell me what I already know and what the Divine Scripture teaches us, then this last is enough for me, why do you also want to write to me about the same? Listen to this, my son, here is the reason, or, better, the reasons that prompted me to write to you. I do this, firstly, so that I will not be condemned, as that wicked servant was condemned, who hid the talent of his master, and may I not hear when on the day of judgment my Master demands an account from me: an wicked and lazy servant... it was fitting for you to give my money as a trader, and I came and took what was mine with interest (Matthew 25:26-27). Secondly, in order to leave you, my beloved son, what I have to tell you as an inheritance: all this comes from our spiritual fathers and forefathers, but was accepted before by me and is passed on to you; I’m not delaying you, accept your father’s legacy, and reward me, as a grateful child, if you think so, with greater love. Thirdly, in order to show you, my sincere son, how great spiritual wealth was handed over to me by my spiritual father, who gave birth to me through repentance by the grace of the Holy Spirit, so that, not knowing this, you would somehow begin to despise me, your spiritual father, as poor, having nothing and worth nothing, thinking that you did not inherit any valuable inheritance from me. Fourthly, and this is most important, so that, having despised me, you will not find yourself guilty at the Last Judgment of the Lord, if God is pleased to count your humiliation of me and my words as humiliation of Himself and His words. Fifthly, so that others may hear the word of truth, both now and later, and then bear fruit, some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred, if they accept it into their hearts as seed; if they do not accept it, so that I may remain innocent of blood for their souls. And in spiritual things it happens the same way as in sensory things. Each of those who accepted wealth from their ancestors then leaves an inheritance to some, gifts to others, such as children, friends, servants, and moreover, in fulfillment of the commandment of God, he distributes from his property to the poor as much as he wants, and each of those who received something gives an account of how he disposed of what he received. In the same way, those who have received a spiritual gift from God have the duty to pass it on, first of all, to their spiritual children, then to friends, acquaintances and servants, and then to strangers, whether they are rich or poor, whether someone has received the word of wisdom, or the word of reason, or the gift of healing, or intercession for souls, or helping power, or governing reasoning. And each of those who teach or do something for others, let him know that none of them will be praised or receive reward for what they do, but will be severely tortured, judged and punished for everything that they fail to do. So, I ask you, do not accept the devil when he comes and begins to convince you that I am writing this for show, out of man-pleasing. You yourself know very well that the one who acts in such a spirit not only destroys his reward, as one who trades in the word of Christ and sells it, but will also be handed over to torment where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Know at the same time that those who condemn him will be condemned along with him, for you hear what the Lord says: Judge not, lest ye be judged. By whom you judge, they will judge you, and if you measure accordingly, it will be measured back to you (Matthew 7:1-2). Think about this, my brother, remembering, moreover, the word of the Apostle, who says: obey your guide and submit: for they watch over your souls, so as to repay the word; Yes, they do this with joy, and not sighing: for it is not profitable for you (Heb. 13:17), and the word of the Lord, Who calls to us every day in the Holy Gospel: those who accept you, accept Me (Matthew 10:40), and: listen to you; He listens to me; and be swept away from you, Me is swept away (Luke 10:16), and, zealous for your salvation with fear and trembling, obey me and give heed to my word. Let not your thoughts tell you that this is said only about the Apostles and that we are obliged to listen to them alone, but consider that Christ the Lord speaks to them again: what I say to you, I say to all (Mark 13:37). Who is this for everyone? Those who have faith in Me through your teaching will keep My commandments just as you do. Wonmi, please! Our Lord God, having chosen His disciples and Apostles, revealed to them and entrusted to them all the secrets of His economy, hidden from the ages, then He gave them the Holy Spirit and sent them, saying: Go and teach all languages, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and keep them often, according to all the commandments given to you (Matthew 28:19-20). The apostles went out, taught and preached the word of God, and many nations believed in Christ, and churches of believers were established in cities. When an Apostle, having established a Church somewhere, had the intention of leaving the believers there to go to other places, cities and villages, he ordained bishops and priests for them in his place, and left them as teachers, spiritual fathers and leaders. These again, approaching death, chose other worthy people for such service, ordained them and left them in their place. This is how this order went according to legend until it came down to us, and this law is observed even to this day through the action of the Holy Spirit. Likewise, through the medium of these same persons, all the traditions and teachings that the Apostles received from the Lord of all and our God came down to us. But as the flock of Christ multiplied and the people of believers became countless, the grace of the Holy Spirit arranged for the addition of abbots and other spiritual fathers (among the monastics) to the bishops and priests, who by their deeds show firm faith in Christ, our true God, who have the grace of the Holy Spirit in them, so that they too would co-shepherd with those and assist in the salvation of those who wish to be saved. Now if any of these our shepherds, bishops, priests, teachers, abbots and spiritual fathers, who preserve the teachings and traditions of the holy Apostles and teach us, if we dare to somehow despise and offend any of them, or not to accept into our house and not to listen to his words, imputing him to nothing, then is it not Paul himself, not Peter himself, and not the whole choir? Will we drive out the apostles in this case? And whoever drives them out does not show contempt for Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and His Father? For we honor the Apostles not just as people, but because they came and preached the Son of God who came to earth to save our race, and because they were sent by Him to make us sons of God by grace, heirs of eternal life and partakers of unspeakable blessings, through the preaching of the Gospel and holy Baptism. If the Lord had not entrusted them with teaching us all this, they would not have taught it, and they would have been like all other people. 2. Therefore, we must be careful with all zeal, care and attention, with all vigilance and many prayers, so as not to attack any deceiver or deceiver, or false apostle, or false Christ, but to find a true and God-loving leader who would have Christ within himself and accurately know the teaching, rules and decrees of the holy Apostles and the dogmas of the holy fathers, or, better, say, who would know the will and secrets of the Lord and Teacher of the Apostles Himself, Christ. We must seek and find such a teacher, who would first hear all this in word and learn it from words, and then be taught everything mysteriously and in truth by the Comforter Himself, the Spirit, through action and experience; so that he too would be worthy to hear from Christ the Lord Himself, who taught the Apostles: it has been given to you to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 13:11). If we seek, of course, we will find, for God is not unrighteous, and He does not rejoice over human destruction, but, as it is written, God so loved the world, as He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16). If He gave His Only Begotten Son to death, so that we may be saved through Him, then is it possible that, when we ask Him to send us, or, better yet, to show us some true servant of His, who would guide us in the work of salvation and teach us to know His will? Is it possible, I say, that He would hide such a person from us and thereby deprive us of false guidance? No no! This is in no way possible. Let what happened to the centurion Cornelius teach us to believe this. He was a reverent man and feared God with all his household, gave alms to many people, and prayed to God always. For this, he was honored with what he saw in a real vision, as if at the ninth hour of the day, an Angel of God came down to him, and said to him... your prayers and your alms rose up in remembrance before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call Simon, who is called Peter. This one wanders with a certain Simon Ummar, who also has a house near Mori (Acts 10:2-6). Do you see how well I said that we must use all zeal and diligence in order to find a true disciple of Christ? And note at the same time what the Scripture says: Cornelius is a reverent man and fears God with all his household. He not only kept himself in the fear of God, but also taught everyone living in his house to fear God. And this good is and is pleasing in the sight of God (1 Tim. 2:3), so that everyone cares not only about what is actually useful to him, but also about what is useful to all who live with him. Thus, this centurion, before he was taught by the Apostles, had already fulfilled the apostolic commandment, which commands: let no one seek his own, but every one of his neighbors (1 Cor. 10:24). He also did a lot of alms, and prayed to God day and night; and thus, before he believed, he clearly fulfilled the commandment of our Lord and God, which commands: watch and pray, so that you do not fall into misfortune (Matthew 26:41), and also: ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; push, and the door will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7). Do you see what this non-believer in Christ and almost a pagan did? He had not yet heard the word of the gospel, but he was already diligently fulfilling the commandments of the Gospel before he was taught them from anyone. He asked through reverence, and received; I sought through alms, and found; pushed through fasting and prayer, and it was opened to him. Send, he says, to Joppa, and call Simon, called Peter. What a wonderful gift! What a wondrous blessing! He also wanders with a certain Simon Usmar, and he has a house near the sea. Do you see how the Angel revealed to him not only the name of the leader, but also the name of the one who received him strangely, even the place of the house in which he found refuge for himself? And the Angel did this so that Cornelius would not be deceived and would not call someone else instead of Peter, and would not fall on the wolf instead of the shepherd. If you also want to show yourself to be a true, faithful and chosen disciple of Christ, live the same life, do the same things, fall before God in your prayers in the same way, and He will open the eyes of your soul, so that you too can see such a person as Cornelius saw the Angel. Imitate even the unfaithful you, who proclaims yourself to be faithful, the pagan and unlearned you, who call yourself a child of Christianity, brought up in the teachings of the Apostles and thinking highly when you hear the mockery of the ignorant. Imitate the centurion, who uses power only in your own house, and take care in every possible way to show yourself and the few who are under you and in your power. If you despise these matters that are in your power and in your will, you are negligent about the commandments of God, which you know, you do not care about fulfilling them and are not zealous about showing yourself and those under your power to be correct, then tell me, how will God show you a teacher who would teach you the most perfect and highest things? And if God does not show it to you, how can you find it or recognize it yourself? How can you accept him without a doubt as a saint? And how will you then receive (for such acceptance) the reward of the righteous and holy? No no! This cannot be. Only those who were zealous towards God and, caring for their salvation, began on their own to do everything that would contribute to this salvation, as much as was possible for them, sought God and did every good thing, only to such as He always showed, and so now God shows the apostles, prophets, righteous and saints, and they recognized them and accepted them, as such they were given honor as teachers of piety and messengers of God. Why did they keep their words as the laws of God, and received compensation in the measure of those whom they accepted. And now, if there are such people somewhere who are acceptable and accepting, of course even now these latter will accept the bribe to the extent of the former. And those who despise others and, thinking about themselves that they are extremely wise, remain in carelessness and negligence and do not ask God, like Cornelius and others like him, in fervent prayers, with alms and fasting, especially now, when we all almost, from childhood learning from the prophets and apostles the will of God and everything that saves our souls, think that we no longer need anything - such, I say, God leaves to remain in the self-delusion into which they themselves fell through their own fault. They, being darkened by the darkness of their passions, lusts and desires, and walking in this darkness, as in the dead of night, fall for the same teachers. And naturally. Because the ruler of darkness, of course, has disciples and servants who walk in this darkness; people like them come upon them and accept them with joy, finding them in their own thoughts, and learn from them the same things that they themselves have chosen in advance and that they have decided to do to their own detriment. And who does not know that from the very beginning the devil raised false prophets against the prophets, false apostles against the apostles, false saints and false teachers against the holy teachers, and that he strives by all means to deceive the careless with false speech in order to cast them into the pit of destruction? The Apostle also warns us against such, saying: I pray you, brethren, beware of those who create strife and strife, except for the teaching that you have learned, and turn away from them. Such people do not work for our Lord Jesus Christ, but for their own belly, who with good words and blessings deceive the hearts of the gentle (Rom. 16:17-18). So, those who want to avoid such things, as the Apostle bequeaths, must for this purpose remove themselves from the works of darkness, for as long as someone is enslaved to such works and walks in darkness, he cannot avoid such teachers and cannot come to the light of true teachers. And you, my spiritual child in the Lord, hearing the Divine Scripture, which says: woe, who are wise in themselves, and understand before themselves (Is. 5:21), listen with fear and trembling to what is spoken here, for this word is for spiritual salvation. And if you want to find a true teacher, a holy and spiritual man, do not expect that you can recognize him by yourself, by your own examination, because this is impossible. But above all else, as I have already said, strive in good deeds, in almsgiving, in fasting, prayer and unceasing supplication, may God be your helper and promoter in this. 3. If soon, with the help of God, by His grace, you are worthy to find such a person, show him extreme attention and every kindness to him, great humility and reverence, high reverence and pure and undoubted faith. For what? In order to, unfortunately, not earn you execution and torment instead of a bribe. For our Savior and God said about such people: those who accept you will accept Me (Matthew 10:40); Cast aside you, Me is swept away (Luke 10:16). So, we must accept such as Christ Himself, for what is shown to them ascends to the Master Christ Himself and our God, and He appropriates it to Himself and has it in his account, as if He Himself personally accepted all that; just as, on the contrary, what is shown to false teachers ascends to the Antichrist himself, and those who accept them accept the devil himself. And let no one make an excuse that he does not know them, saying: “How can I recognize them? And I am a man, and none of the people knows what is hidden in another’s soul, except for the spirit living in him.” No one should take this saying as a blessed pretext, for if it were impossible to recognize such, the Lord would not have given such a commandment: take heed from lying prophets, that is, beware of false teachers, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves, and would not have added after this: by their fruit you will know them (Matthew 7:15-16). If now our Lord Jesus Christ is true, as truly he is, then it is obvious that we can recognize such from what they say and what they do. So, let us show in advance the fruits of the true Holy Spirit, then the fruits of the opposite of Him, the evil spirit, will appear by themselves, and by these fruits we can then very well recognize which teachers are true, holy and righteous teachers, and which are not such, but only pretend to be such. I will not say anything on my own behalf, but everything from the words of the Savior and His holy Apostles, with which I will try to certify to your love that the signs I indicate of true and false teachers are true and easily recognizable to us. Listen to what our Lord Jesus Christ says: blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the weeping, blessed are the meek (Matthew 5:3-5). And again: love your enemies... do good to those who hate you and pray for those who harm you (Matthew 5:44). Let no idle word come out of your mouth. I tell you that every idle word that men speak will be given back on the day of judgment (Matthew 12:36). And one more thing: unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3). In another place He says again: of this they all understand, just as you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:15). Again: how can you believe that you accept glory from one another, and do not seek glory that is from the one God? (John 5:44). For everyone who exalts himself will humble himself, but he who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 18:14). He does not say that he will be exalted by worldly glory, but he gives the promise that he will be exalted by some mysterious spiritual change. This is what our Lord and Master Christ calls out to all of us every day. Listen now to what the Apostle Paul also says: the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). And again: love does not exalt itself, is not proud, does not act outrageously, does not seek its own... covers everything... endures everything. Love no longer exists (1 Cor. 13:4–8). Listen also to John the Theologian, who says: Do not love the world, neither those who are in the world; if anyone loves the world, the Father’s love is not in him (1 John 2:15). And one more thing: everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that every murderer does not have eternal life abiding within himself (1 John 3:15). For this reason, the essence of the child of God and the child of the devil was revealed (1 John 3:10), that is, out of love and hatred. He who loves God also loves those born of Him, that is, his brothers, but he who hates any of his brothers was born of the devil, and the love of God is not in him. By such signs those who know how to reason can distinguish who are the sons of God and who are the sons of the devil; and the fruits of the Holy and All-Good Spirit are those that we indicated above. It is now necessary for us to show the fruits of the evil spirit, so that, knowing them, you can distinguish light from darkness, sweet from bitter, good from evil. Hear again what our Lord and God says: a good tree cannot produce evil fruits, nor an evil tree produce good fruits (Matthew 7:18). And again: a good man brings forth good things from the good treasure of his heart, and an evil man brings forth evil things from the evil treasure of his heart (Luke 6:45). Again: if anyone destroys these little commandments and teaches men this, he will be called in the kingdom of heaven: but if he does and teaches, he will be called great in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:19). And what does He say about the scribes and Pharisees? “They tie you up,” he says, “the burden is heavy and unbearable, and they lay it on a human blanket; they do not want to move them with their finger. They do all their work so that people will be visible; They enlarge their storehouses, and magnify the drapes of their garments. They love to be first reclined at suppers, and first to sit down at congregations, and to be kissed in marketplaces, and to be called by men: teacher, teacher (Matthew 23:4-7). So, when you see that someone does such things, carefully seeks human glory and carelessly violates the commandments of God in order to please people, then know that this is a seducer, and not a true teacher. And the Apostle says: Where there is envy and zeal and strife in you, are you not carnal? (1 Cor. 3:3). A carnal and spiritual person does not accept the Spirit of God, for he has foolishness (1 Cor. 2:14). But whoever does not receive the Holy Spirit clearly does not have this Spirit in himself, and whoever does not have the Holy Spirit is not Christ’s, as the same Paul affirms, saying: if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His (Rom. 8:9). Have you heard who are Christ’s and who are Antichrist? – You can probably conclude from this that those who are attentive can easily recognize good and evil. And inattentive people not only do not know other people, but also themselves. For when someone so entangles himself with worries and troubles about worldly things, as if he were immortal in this world, he is busy day and night with only worldly affairs and invents all sorts of ways to get richer, and at the same time builds good and valuable houses, collects a lot of servants, horses and mules, buys silver vessels, gold-woven clothes, expensive carpets and everything else, provides for himself carnal pleasure and tranquility, then tell me, is it possible to show that such a person knows himself? - No, my spiritual child, no, he probably doesn’t know either himself or what he’s doing. He knows himself only enough to say that it is he, and not someone else; but his deeds show that he does not know what he is, does not know his state of mind and does not understand what he is doing. He lives as if he were immortal; with his lips he says: we are of today, not of tomorrow; and then, in fact, he prepares so much of everything that you won’t be able to use it up even in tens of years; he publicly confesses that the blessings of this world are nothing, and yet he starts disputes and quarrels with his brothers over some small and insignificant thing; philosophizes that he is dust and dust, and yet he always dresses magnificently, showing that he is much higher than all other people; hears the Divine Scripture, which says: woe to the voluptuous and kindly-hearted in soft beds (Ezek. 16:49, Am. 6:4), and he himself with all care sees to it that his bed is the most magnificent, the bed the most luxurious and the table abounded with all kinds of expensive dishes. And he shows this not only before laymen like him, but also before the monks who visit him, who not only are not amazed at all this, but, on the contrary, feel sorry for those who have it, and mourn their foolishness, seeing how they are magnified by something from which they should be especially ashamed, namely, that while their poor brethren, or, better to say, Christ himself, hunger and thirst, they in every possible way they console and, even worse, do not feel that by doing this they are testifying to themselves that they are merciless covetous people and untruthful people of the poor. Tell me now, is it possible to agree that such a person knows himself, knows what state he is in in his soul and what passions he is enslaved to? No way. No, he doesn’t know himself, although he may think he knows. But one who does not know himself and his condition, how can he know another and his passions? How is it possible for a blind person to look at another and know whether he is blind or seeing? No no; this is impossible. I will add to what has been said, my son and brother, the following: if someone does not take care in advance, through long prayer, with almsgiving, fasting and vigil, to know himself and his weakness, then he cannot understand that without a spiritual father, guide and teacher, it is impossible for a person to keep, as he should, the commandments of God, to live completely virtuously and not to be caught in the snares of the devil, and whoever does not learns how to avoid pretentious conceit, that he has no need for teaching, advice, suggestion and help from others? And he remains full of pride, not realizing that he knows nothing, and remains in the depths of ignorance, or, more accurately, destruction. And he himself cannot understand that he is among those who are perishing, since this ignorance has the property that it becomes some kind of thick veil over the intelligent eyes of the soul and does not allow them to clearly see the truth when it loves the world and worldly things. For as long as the mind moves away from the remembrance of God, death and future judgment, and does not think about the blessings prepared for the righteous, and the torments awaiting sinners - eternal fire, pitch darkness and gnashing of teeth, but is completely devoted to the worries of everyday life and the illusory blessings of the world, wealth, fame, pleasures, everything else that people in the world consider glorious and bright - as long as, I say, the mind is devoted to all this, the more and more it becomes coarser, upset, darkened and in some way becomes completely covered with an impenetrable veil; the consequence of which is falling out of the circle of his knowledge of the commandments of God and complete oblivion about them. Why did Saint David, after having sinned and experienced such evil, turning to God in repentance, begged Him, saying: open my eyes, and I will understand the wonders of Your law (Ps. 119:18). Do you see how his eyes were closed? Do you see how he cries out to God to open them? Do the same, my son, and the Lord will not despise your petition if you send it to Him with all your soul, but will hear you and open the eyes of your soul. And then, as soon as you gain insight, first and at the beginning of everything you will know yourself and your condition, and then everything else that you need to know. The consequence of this will be that you will begin with all your heart to consider yourself incomparably superior and holy, not only to pious and virtuous people, but also to every person in general, great and small, righteous and sinful, even those who openly sin. And let this be a clear sign to you and to everyone else that you have received remission of all your sins, if you come to this measure and achieve this good state. For holy humility is at this level, and the first gift it gives to those who reach this level is to think that of all people there is no one more sinful and insignificant than him, and so that with all the feeling of his soul, with full conviction, he considers himself a sinner and believes that he alone is destined to perish and be betrayed to eternal torment. So, my beloved child and my brother, strive to acquire such humility and do not say: “this is impossible for me,” nor again: “this only applies to monks, and not to those who live in the world.” For Christ defined His commandments in general for everyone, and did not legislate anything especially for monks, and especially for the laity. Both the forefathers who were before the law of Moses and those who lived after it fulfilled this commandment (about humility). Listen to what Job says: I consider earth and ashes for myself (Job 42:6). And David: I am a worm, and not a man (Ps. 21:7). Do you see the words of humility? Do you see a soul that considers itself more contemptible than any person, great or small? Imitate David’s repentance, and you will gain his humility. Repentance disperses the cloud of ignorance that covers the mind, and the veil lying on it is lifted. When the mind becomes darkened, then we recognize ourselves and our state, what it is; We will see more wounds and defilements of our soul, and then we will begin not only to philosophize and speak humbly, but we will begin to be ashamed of the sun, and the stars, and all the creatures of God created for our sake, to be ashamed because we have angered God, who created all this for our sake, and have sinned against Him, transgressing not one, but all His commandments. Therefore, we will not dare to raise our eyes to look at these creatures, and we will begin to consider ourselves unworthy to eat from the fruits of the earth, declaring to ourselves that it will be righteous for us to die of hunger and thirst. Let us also not dare to look and look at the icon of Christ the Lord and His saints, recognizing ourselves as filthy, unclean and many sinners. It will seem to us that the icons themselves are ashamed of us and our deeds; That’s why we won’t have the courage to approach them and kiss them; It will be extremely shameful for us to touch something pure and holy with our unclean and defiled lips. Even when we intend to enter the church of God, we will feel how fear and trembling envelop us, realizing that we are entering unworthy, fearing that the floor of the church might open up and cast us alive into hell. Holy humility will always teach us this and more, and, changing us, rearranging and transforming, our whole nature will penetrate so deeply that then, even if we wanted to, we will no longer be able to think or say anything great and lofty about ourselves. This holy humility will assure us that without a teacher we cannot learn any good, and to those who question us, saying: Do you understand what you read? it will teach us to answer: how can I understand unless someone instructs me? (Acts 8:30–31). It will teach us not to enter without a guide onto a path that we do not know. It will tell us that, wanting to repent, we should not approach God without a mediator and guide. Because if it prompts us to be ashamed of heaven and earth and every creation of God that exists in them, to reverence with fear before the icon of the Savior and His saints, do not dare to look at these icons or, approaching, kiss them; Isn’t it even more likely to force us not to approach the Creator Himself and the Lord of all God without an intermediary? For although He loves mankind, He rejoices a lot over our humility and contrition and greatly praises us when someone considers himself unworthy to approach Him on his own, without an intermediary. In a different way (so you can verify this). Our Master and God, wanting to teach us that we must approach God with the help of some mediator and guarantor, Himself, just as in everything else He showed us an example and example, so in this He Himself was the first mediator and intercessor of human nature, bringing it in Himself to His Father and God. Then he appointed His holy Apostles as ministers of this mediation and intercession, who brought all those who believed in Him to the Lord Christ. The apostles again chose the most worthy from among these believers and ordained them as their successors - to be ministers of the same mediation. These again (elected and ordained) others, and these - those who followed them. And thus this rite is continuously observed even to this day. God does not want us to transgress and trample upon His institution and tradition, but He wants us to live according to the order that He has determined for us. Why does the Lord and Savior, as about Himself with the Father, say: no one can come to Me unless the Father, who has sent Me, draws him (John 6:44), and again: no one will come to the Father except by Me (John 14:6), so he established that no one comes to faith in the Holy and consubstantial Trinity unless he is taught by some teacher the dogmas of faith, also no one is baptized and no one He partakes of the Divine Mysteries on his own, without a priest. And whoever does not be baptized and does not partake of the Most Pure Mysteries will not receive eternal life, as the Lord Himself again defines, saying: whoever has faith and is baptized will be saved; and whoever does not have faith will be condemned (Mark 16:16), and unless you have eaten the flesh of the Son of Man and drunk His blood, you have not life in you (John 6:53). So, since without holy Baptism and without communion of the Divine Mysteries, no Christian can be worthy of eternal life, and these sacraments are taught to us not through the holy Apostles and not through the holy fathers who came after the Apostles, but are taught through those sanctified persons who now exist and live among us, it is obvious that we cannot and should not alienate ourselves from their mediation in the matter of our salvation. This is how God has determined, and so that you would be more willing to obey that law, keep in mind that what the fathers who lived in those times taught to believers, our spiritual fathers teach the same to us: they baptized with water and the Spirit, and these are doing the same now; They taught the Body and Blood of Christ, and these teach us the same thing. And just as those who baptized and gave communion then had nothing superfluous compared to those of today, so those who now baptize and give us communion have nothing lacking compared to the former. They taught faith in Christ and in the Holy Trinity, consubstantial and indivisible, that is, in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and our spiritual fathers teach us the same thing today. So, it is clear from this, in short (I am not writing everything, so that my word would not be too long), that what the Apostles did then for the faithful and taught them, our spiritual fathers do the same for us now - I mean, bishops and priests - exactly the same, without the slightest shortcoming or damage, and they teach us and instruct us, just like those. If in this respect they do not differ in any way from the Apostles, then they are the sons of the Apostles and the Apostles for us, and those who do not accept them and do not listen to their words, let them hear what our Lord Jesus Christ says to such persons: Amen I say to you: it will be more bearable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than it is for you (Matthew 10:15, 11:22). For what He said to the Apostles: those who receive you will also receive Me (Matthew 10:40), and also: listen to you, He will listen to Me; and sweep you away, Me is swept away; But if you reject Me, you will reject Him who sent Me (Luke 10:16) - this also applies to those like them, their successors, and those who now live, and those who will live after them. And therefore, those who do not accept and do not listen to them, but are rejected, do not accept and do not listen to Christ the Lord Himself, but are rejected by Him. By rejecting Him, they also reject God the Father, who sent Him. You know, of course, my beloved son, that now, in these times, none of the laity, nor of the monks, nor of the priests or bishops reveres, loves, fears or accepts anyone as an apostle of God and a disciple of Christ, out of the love of Christ, or according to the commandment, or for the eternal benefits promised to us; but we all despise each other and condemn each other: monks condemn monks, priests condemn bishops, laymen condemn all of them, and one another among themselves, and no one at all keeps in mind that the Church of God, as it was in ancient times, remains such now, and as then God determined for it first (first. - Ed.) Apostles, second - prophets, third - teachers and others, listed by Saint Paul, and now they also remain in the person of their successors, the primates of the Church, so that everyone accepts some as apostles, others as prophets, others as teachers. We have completely forgotten all this, and we rise above each other without measure. The one who baptized me yesterday, freed my soul from sin and corruption, filled me with the grace of the Holy Spirit, partook of the most pure Body and the saving Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and made me a son of God (what else did the Apostles of Christ do for Christians and the Apostles then?), I don’t want to look at this one now and I don’t greet him, because I consider it a shame for myself; I don’t go out to meet him when he comes to me in order to honor him and receive him warmly, but I say to my servant with annoyance: what does he want there? tell him that your master is busy and does not have time to receive him. Not to mention the fact that they do even worse and more dishonorable than this not only to monks, but also to priests, the very ones who confess to them and entrust their souls to them. It happens that someone just chooses someone to be his spiritual father and teacher through confession with him, and not after a while, but immediately, as he calls himself his spiritual son, he begins to express pride before this spiritual father, and, instead of being a spiritual child and student, becomes a spiritual father and teacher and begins to read lessons to his spiritual father, contradict him and humiliate him if it happens that he tells him something that is not according to him. his character, but after some time he completely forgets that he has a spiritual father and teacher. If the spiritual father himself goes to him, but does not do his will, and does not indulge his desires, or, better to say, does not fall with him, so as to perish with him, then he leaves him and finds another who would follow his carnal desires. Thus, everything spiritual with us, as you yourself see and know, is now in disarray, upset; The rite and tradition of the apostles are forgotten and the commandments of Christ are abandoned. And this disastrous evil lives in the present generation, despite the fact that everyone dreams of themselves, that they have sufficiently studied the divine, know the commandments of God and can judge what and how they should do. And one more thing: thinking that the entire current priesthood is a collection of unworthy and sinful persons, they nevertheless maintain the conviction that the grace of God acts through them, the unworthy; but believing that they undoubtedly receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of the eternal blessings promised to us, through the sacraments performed by these persons, they, however, turn away from the priest through whom this is given to them, and despise him as a sinner unworthy of the priesthood. They also treat their confessors: they think that through confession from them they receive remission of their sins, but they themselves are considered devoid of all virtue, without any boldness before God and put them on the same line with all other people. So this is the state in which almost everyone is: they think that they too receive, or, better said, steal all those spiritual gifts that God gave to the Apostles, but the Apostles gave to those who believed in Christ through them, and they do not give worthy honor and faith to those through whom these gifts are given to them: - which honor in the beginning the Apostles gave to the Lord Christ, to the Apostles - then to their disciples, and to these - those who were under them; they harbor the arrogant confidence that God does not require them to give it even now to their bishops, priests, abbots and spiritual fathers. Having been baptized as infants, they therefore believe that they are not guilty when they do not later give honor to the one who baptized them and do not revere him as their spiritual father. They also dream that, having learned the rudiments of Christian dogmas in childhood, they know enough for piety, and that therefore God will not punish them for the fact that they despise the teachers of piety and do not want to learn anything more from them. It seems to them that they are quite pious and lead a more correct life than many others, so they hope that they will be justified for this alone. Also, to tell their sins in spirit, to confess them and receive permission from their spiritual fathers, this, they think, is enough for salvation, and then they no longer need to have faith in these fathers, nor to give them honor, nor to show reverence, which is due to them, as the successors of the Apostles, mediators and prayer books for them before God. Thus, the whole universe is now filled with this charm and this evil. Violation and contempt of this one commandment turned everything upside down in the Church of God and plunged it to the very bottom. The Church has fallen into such disorder and confusion that almost nowhere can one see a decent arrangement for it, and one will not find a sign that this was the beautifully combined body of the Lord. As if we do not have the head of Christ the Lord, as if we are not brothers in spirit, connected with each other and united by the grace of the Holy Spirit, that we do not allow each of us to be appointed and arranged in our own order by the first builders of the Church of God?! Because of this, we are divided and scattered, like soulless particles of some substance (like sand). We have enslaved ourselves so much to our desires, so much have the lusts of voluptuousness prevailed over us! Being carried away by them to please ourselves only, we became fragmented, and out of mutual hostility and pride we turned away and moved away from each other, and thus lost the distinctive feature and sign of our faith, that is, love, about which the Lord said: of this all understand, as my disciples are, if you have love among yourself (John 13:35). If we have lost it, then we call ourselves Christians in vain. Tell me, I ask you, - when we do not love our spiritual fathers, who have given us such great benefits that through them God makes us His sons by grace, partakers of His glory and heirs of eternal bliss - when, I say, we do not love them, do not honor and glorify them as we should, as we should honor a man of God sent to us from God - who can believe us that we have love for other brothers, to our neighbors? And besides this, if those whom we have as intercessors before God and prayer books, who have received from God the power to give us permission for all our sins and to reconcile us with Him, if, I say, we do not accept them with full conviction and faith as saints, but look at them as sinners, how can we hope that through them we will be granted complete remission of sins? For the Lord says: Be you according to the faith (Matthew 9:29). And exactly, to the extent of our faith, to the extent that we believe in them, we will also receive remission of our sins. Moreover, if the word spoken by the Lord is true: accept you, He accepts Me, and: reject you, He accepts Me, then I am perplexed as to how those who do not keep in their minds the conviction that we must not only love all people, especially brothers in spirit, but also must accept one of the current spiritual men as an apostle of Christ, in order through him to accept Christ Himself, and every word of his must fulfill it as if it came from the mouth of Christ Himself - how, I say, and in what other way can such people receive Christ, or acquire Him within themselves? Meanwhile, many of us do not even know the priest who baptized them; But we, who know them, have turned away from them and despised them, as I said above, and others do not even know whether they were baptized? – If we don’t know this, then how can we admit that we have faith, or even consider us baptized? I don’t understand this: we have not known our spiritual father, and even if we have known him, we do not honor him as a father; We did not bother to acquire a teacher who would teach us piety, and even if we acquired one, we do nothing according to the way he teaches us, but we walk and act as our will pleases. What can be said more than this - I don’t know, and I don’t find why and for what virtue of yours I could call you Christians? Poor and unhappy man! Why do you not honor your spiritual father as an apostle of Christ? - I don’t see, you say, that he fulfills the commandments of God, that’s why I don’t honor him. But this is an empty excuse. For, tell me, do you yourself fulfill them better than him, that you so boldly despise and condemn him? But even if you really fulfilled all the commandments, then you should not condemn him and despise him, and turn away from him, reproaching him for negligence about a good life, but on the contrary, you should even then love him and honor him for the benefits that God has given you through him, and make him a participant in your physical, in order to thus at least somehow repay him for the spiritual good that he has given you, so that not only preserve what was given to you from God through him, but also increase it in this way. Now, as you yourself see, for unbelief, ingratitude and abandonment of your spiritual father and teacher, you have not only ruined everything you received through him, but you have blotted out the very reason why you are a Christian, and you have lost Christ the Lord. For suppose in your mind that the king of the earth sent to you one of his humblest servants, dressed poorly, in old rags, not on a horse, but on a bad donkey or even on foot, but who brought you a letter with the royal seal, written in the king’s own hand, and in this letter the king proclaims you his brother and friend and promises after a while to make you an accomplice with him in reign, to crown your head with a royal crown and clothe you in a royal robe - tell me, how would you treat this servant? Would you have received him and honored him as a royal servant, and for the sake of such great and truly royal promises and such bright glory awaiting you, rejoiced with him, benefited him according to your strength and promised to do good forever afterwards, or would you have despised him and sent him away empty-handed and dishonored, just because he was dressed in poor clothes and came on foot?! If we suppose that you despised him in this way, and the king found out about it, would he praise you for it or would he reproach and condemn you? If you yourself were this king, would you not consider such contempt shown to your servant as a reproach and dishonor? And would he not recognize this reproach as a disgrace for himself? Of course it would. You would be so angry with him, as if he showed contempt for you, as if reproaching you to your face for having such servants, and you would say: who made him a judge over my servants? He did not reproach my servant for being careless in wearing such poor and soiled rags, but for me, for being unmerciful and keeping my servants in such rags. Thus, you would repent that you made such promises to this despiser of your servant for the sake of this very contempt and would surely not accept him when he came to you, because he, impudent, delighted your own judgment and condemned your servant, whom it was inappropriate for him to judge. Discuss all this within yourself, my spiritual and beloved child, and, having perfectly understood the real order of things, try to be a true Christian not only in word, but also in deed. Get yourself a spiritual father, get a teacher, a mediator and an intercessor before God. Cling to him with love and faith, with fear and desire, and be with him as if you were with Jesus Christ Himself, so that through him you may be worthy to unite with Christ and become a partaker and joint heir of His eternal glory and kingdom, in order to sing and glorify Him with the Father and the Holy Spirit to the endless ages of ages. Amen. You might be interested in: