Поучение 76. О том, чтобы не делать сборищ и приятельских бесед, служащих к погибели душ наших.

Brothers, Fathers and my children! Again temptation, again temptation. Again, I humbly weep and lament that the beloved were rejected and faltered, that those who flew high fell to the ground, that those who considered themselves wise became mad, that those who suffered many long labors and the sweat of piety lost everything in one hour, and became for me thorns instead of grapes, sorrow instead of joy, and deception instead of hope. I don’t know what to say or what to say about the fall and destruction of my brothers; unless you just sit down, cry and say: if this is so, then who will be saved, Lord? Truly, we should not please a person before his death, for we truly fail to complete the path of our salvation. And who will escape so many wiles of the devil? Who does not take care of himself until the hour of death? Knowing this well, this holy father, when the hour of death befell him, and when the devil said to him: “You have escaped from me,” he answered and said, “I don’t know this yet.” He had such a fear that even at the last hour he did not dare to consider his salvation undoubted, despite the high measure of his pious labors. And if we live five or ten years in a monastery, or become accustomed to the monastic rites, or memorize several sayings from Scripture, or make as many genuflections, or fast, or pray; we think that we have already done everything, and we become arrogant, and therefore we fall “like leaves” (Prov. 11:14), and “our bones are crushed in hell” (Ps. 140:7), and “before the rapture we dry up” (Ps. 128:6); we are wise, being ignorant; We are verbal, being unreasonable, and we ordain ourselves as teachers, zealots and present ourselves as reverent, and we think that only in us is all truth found; and that’s why we have similar cases, that’s why we accept darkness instead of light; because from paradise we are expelled from the court of Christ and from His flock. So, I beg you, my brothers, take heed, and do not exhaust your virtues little by little, lest you fall into extreme poverty and squander all the wealth of your souls, and end up falling, that is, leaving the monastery. For because you talk idle and listen to talk about such things, being kind to each other, and not caring about correction, either on your own, or by explaining to me what is happening, so that medicine can be immediately given; This is why you fall and are crushed; and I don’t know what will happen to you if you live like this to the end. Is this good? Do you agree? Are you going to do that? Is this how you conduct interviews and end up with the destruction of your souls? Why, when you hear this, don’t you turn away and run from the speaker as from fire and as from a serpent? But due to gentleness and imaginary kindness, and as if not to slander him, and as if out of love for your brother, you become murderers and misanthropes, and shed innocent blood, which will be exacted from your souls. So I told you about this, my brethren, and I command you again, as I commanded you before with sorrow, pain and pain. “Hear,” it is said, “heaven, and tell it to the earth” (Is. 1:2): let no one justify himself or apologize anymore, or say that I did not know; for you have been taught, and know, and have heard, “all things are pure and pure” (Titus 1:15). You are preparing destruction for me; but do you think you will remain without punishment on the day of judgment, falling away and being separated from God by rejecting your vows? No, it’s not, because God is a righteous Judge. And if He subjects me to torture, then without a doubt it will be justly. However, these too will not escape condemnation to painful execution, and will give an answer for their iniquity; for they became transgressors of the law of God, and did not keep the vows pronounced before His altar, those vows through which they were worthy of tonsure and the remission of their sins by the holy and cleansing baptism of repentance. What will the unfortunate Eustathius and the damned Epiphanius tell us? For what and why did they fall? But they have no right to say even if they invented something, for the Scripture says: “Woe, who are wise in themselves and understanding before themselves” (Is. 5:21); and it is also said: “But God said to the sinner: What kind of justifications will you tell and accept my covenant with your lips?” (Ps. 49:16). There is no need to further explain the remedy that they used, considering it blessed, and their undoubted charm, the secret removal. However, above all I want to say that their removal is disastrous and sinful, and I don’t know what the end of the blessing of their justification will be. So, let us all pray together for the lost brothers, so that they will return and appear, and mercy will be shown to them; - what will happen to them next is not what we want, but what God wants; - and so that I can find them either now or later healthy; and then it will be revealed what and what their work is, Divine or Satanic. Moreover, I command you, children, to be firm in confession, in patience, in humility, to bear with one another, to bear with one another, to leave one to another, to be unanimous and have peace in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom belongs glory and power with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. You might be interested in: