Отдел I. О начале христианской жизни чрез Святое Крещение, с указанием – как сохранить сию благодать в период воспитания

How does Christian life begin in us? We need to understand for ourselves when and how a truly Christian life begins, in order to see whether the beginning of this life has been laid in us, and if it is not, to know how to start it, to the extent that it depends on us. It is still an indecisive sign of true life in Christ if someone is called a Christian and belongs to the Church of Christ. “Not everyone who says to Me: Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom” (Matthew 7:21). And “not all that are of Israel are Israel” (Rom. 9:6). You can be among the Christians and not be a Christian. Everyone knows this. There is a moment, and a very noticeable moment, sharply indicated during our life, when someone begins to live like a Christian. This is the moment when the distinctive features of the Christian life begin to emerge in him. Christian life is zeal and strength to remain in active communion with God, through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, with the help of the grace of God, by fulfilling His holy will, for the glory of His most holy name. The essence of Christian life consists in communion with God about Christ Jesus our Lord - in communion with God, which at first is usually hidden not only from others, but also from oneself. The visible, or felt within us, evidence of it is the heat of active zeal, exclusively about Christian pleasing to God, with complete self-sacrifice and hatred of everything contrary to this. So, when this heat of jealousy begins, then the Christian life begins; and in whom it constantly acts, he lives like a Christian. We need to focus our attention a little longer on this distinctive feature. “Fire came to the earth,” says the Savior, “and how I wish it would burn” (Luke 12:49). He says this about the Christian life, and he says it because its visible evidence is zeal for pleasing God, kindled in the heart by the Spirit of God, similar to fire, for just as fire consumes the substance in which it is embedded, so zeal for life according to Christ consumes the soul that has received it. And just as during a fire the flames engulf the entire building, so the perceived fire of jealousy embraces and fills the entire being of a person. In another place the Lord says: “Everyone will be salted with fire.” (Mark 9:49). And this is an indication of the fire of the spirit, which permeates our entire being with jealousy. Just as salt, penetrating a decomposable substance, protects it from rotting, so the spirit of jealousy, penetrating our entire being, drives out sin, which corrupts our nature both in soul and body, from all even the smallest of its containers and repositories, and thereby saves us from moral corruption and corruption. The Apostle Paul commands: “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thess. 5:19), be “not lazy in diligence, be passionate in the spirit” (Rom. 12:11), - he commands this to all Christians, so that they remember that burning spirit, or non-slothful diligence, is an integral property of Christian life. In another place he says about himself: “Forgetting what is behind, but reaching out to what is ahead, I press with zeal for the honor of the high calling in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13, 14); and he inspires others: “Try this way, that you may comprehend” (1 Cor. 9:24). This means that in Christian life, as a result of the heat of jealousy, there is a certain speed and spiritual vitality with which one takes on Godly deeds, trampling on oneself and willingly sacrificing all kinds of labor to God, without pitying oneself. Establishing this concept, one can easily conclude that the cold fulfillment of the statutes of the Church, as well as regularity in affairs established by a prudent mind, serviceability, sedateness and honesty in behavior are not yet decisive indicators of what constitutes a truly Christian life in us. All this is good, but since it does not carry within itself the spirit of life about Christ Jesus, it has no value before God. Things of this kind will then be like soulless idols. And the good watch goes well; but who can say that there is life in them?! So it is here: often “they only have a name that you are alive,” while in fact you are “dead” (cf.: Apoc. 3:1). This integrity of behavior can lead into seduction more than anything else. Its true meaning depends on the internal dispositions in which significant deviations from the essential truth are possible in the affairs of the right. Just as, by outwardly abstaining from sinful deeds, one can have attachment or co-delight for them in the heart, so, in the same way, by doing outwardly right deeds, one can have no heartfelt disposition towards them. Only true zeal wants to do good in all its fullness and purity, and pursues sin to its smallest shades. She seeks the former as her daily bread, but treats the latter as a mortal enemy. The enemy hates the enemy not only in his own person, but he hates his relatives and those he knows, even his things, his favorite color, in general, everything that in any way reminds him of him. The same is true zeal for pleasing God: it pursues sin in the slightest reminders or hints of it; for he is jealous of decisive purity. Without this, how much uncleanness can lie in the heart! And what kind of success can one expect when there is no impetuous zeal for Christian pleasing God? What there is no labor will still be accomplished; but as soon as intense labor or any kind of self-sacrifice is required in something, refusal will immediately follow, due to the inability to control oneself. For then there will be nothing to rely on to motivate oneself to a good deed; self-pity will undermine all supports. If any other impulse besides the one indicated is mixed in, then it will turn a good deed into an evil one. The spies under Moses were afraid because they felt sorry for themselves. The martyrs willingly went to their death because they were burned by an internal fire. A true zealot not only does what is lawful, but also advice and every good suggestion, secretly imprinted in the soul; He does what he imagines, but he is inventive for good, entirely concerned with one lasting, true, eternal good. “Everywhere we need,” says St. John Chrysostom, zeal and much kindling of the soul, ready to take up arms against death itself; for otherwise it is impossible to receive the Kingdom” (Discourse 31 on Acts). The work of piety and communion with God is a difficult and painful task, especially at first. Where can I get the strength to carry out all this work? With the help of God's grace in animated zeal. A merchant, a warrior, a judge, a scientist go through a laborious and laborious service. How do they support themselves in their labors? - Inspiration and love for your work. There is no other way to support yourself on the path of piety. And without this, we will find languor, burden, boredom, and lethargy in serving God. And the slug goes, but with illness, while for the fast chamois or the agile squirrel, movement and transition are pleasure. Zealous pleasing to God is a joyful, spirit-inspiring procession towards God. Without it, you can ruin the whole thing. We must do everything for the glory of God, in spite of the sin living in us; and without this we will do everything only out of habit, according to the demands of decency, because this has been done for a long time and this is what others do. We must do everything; Otherwise, we will do something else, and not another, and, moreover, without any contrition or even memory of the omissions. Everything must be done with attention and prudence, as the main thing; otherwise we will do as we had to. So, it is clear that without zeal a Christian is a bad Christian - lethargic, relaxed, lifeless, neither warm nor cold - and life is not life. Knowing this, we strive to show ourselves to be true zealots of good deeds, in order to be truly pleasing to God, having no filth or vice, or anything from such. So, true testimony about Christian life is the fire of active zeal for pleasing God. The question now is, how is this fire kindled? Who are its manufacturers? Such zeal is produced by the action of grace, but not without the participation of our free will. The Christian life is not a natural life. This must also be its beginning, or its first awakening. Just as plant life awakens in a seed when moisture and warmth penetrate to the sprout hidden in it, and through them the all-restoring power of life, so Divine life awakens in us when the Spirit of God penetrates the heart and lays there the beginning of life in the spirit, purifies and gathers together the darkened and broken features of the image of God. Desire and free search are awakened (by external action), then grace descends (through the Sacraments) and, combined with freedom, gives rise to powerful jealousy. And no one should think of giving birth to such a force of life on his own: one must pray for it and be ready to receive it. The fire of jealousy with power is the grace of the Lord. The Spirit of God, descending into the heart, begins to act in it not only with consuming, but also with all-pervasive jealousy. Others come to the thought: why is this an act of grace? Can't we do good deeds ourselves? So we did this and that good deed. Let's live and do something else. Rarely, perhaps, did not dwell on this issue. Others say that we cannot do anything good on our own. But here the matter is not about individual good deeds, but about the rebirth of all life, about new life, about life as a whole - one that leads to salvation. Given the opportunity, it is not difficult to do something even very good, just as the pagans did. But let someone deliberately determine himself to do unforgiving good deeds, determine its order according to the instructions of the word of God - and this is not for one month or year, but for the whole life - and resolve to remain unswervingly in this order, and then, when he remains faithful to this, let him boast of his strength; But without this, wouldn’t it be better to stop your mouth? How many experiences have there been and are there of self-made beginnings and organization of Christian life? And they all ended and end in nothing. The person stands for a while in the newly chosen order and then gives up. How else? No strength. Only the eternal power of God is capable of maintaining us unchanged in disposition, amid the continuous tides of temporary changes. Therefore, we must be filled with this power, ask for it and accept it according to rank - and it will lift us up and get us out of this temporary unrest. Turn to experience and see when such thoughts of self-satisfaction come? When a person is in a calm state, when nothing bothers him, nothing seduces him or attracts him to sin, then he is ready for the most holy and pure life. But the slightest movement of passion or temptation - where are all the vows?! Doesn’t a person who leads an intemperate life often say to himself: now I won’t do it again. But the saturation of passion has passed, a new urge arises, and he again appears in sins. It’s good to talk about enduring grievances when everything goes according to our will, not contrary to pride. Here, perhaps, the feeling of insult or anger that others indulge in will seem strange. But if you happen to be in a similar position, then one look, not just a word, will drive you crazy. So one can, in arrogance, dream of the possibility of oneself, without higher help, leading a Christian life when the spirit is at peace. But when the evil that has settled at the bottom of the heart is disturbed like dust by the wind, then in their own experience everyone will find condemnation of their arrogance. When thought after thought, desire after desire - each worse than the other - begin to disturb the soul, then everyone will forget about himself and involuntarily cry out with the prophet: “water has come down into my soul: a coal miner in the depths of the depths” (Ps. 68: 2, 3). “Oh, Lord, save me! Oh, Lord, hurry up!” (Ps. 117:25). Doesn’t it often happen like this: someone dreams of being in goodness in self-confidence. But then a person or thing is imagined, a desire is born, a passion is aroused; man is carried away and falls. After this, all that would be left to do is look at yourself and say: how bad this is! But then an opportunity for entertainment presented itself, and he was ready to forget himself again. Next, someone insulted: abuse, reproaches, and judgment began; an unfair but profitable deal was presented, and he took it upon himself: he humiliated one, shared with another, pushed a third out of his place, and all this after he boasted of the opportunity to behave holy himself, without much help from above. Where is the strength? “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). You see good and do evil: “I want to do good, but evil is present” (Rom. 7:21). We are in captivity: redeem us, Lord! One of the first enemy slander against us is the thought of arrogance, that is, if not rejection, then not feeling the need for gracious help. The enemy seems to be saying this: “Don’t go there - to the light, where they want to give you some new strength! “You’re already good enough for me.” The person surrenders to peace. Meanwhile, the enemy - where he will throw a stone (trouble), where he will lead you to a slippery place (the delights of passions), where he will strew closed snares with flowers (a bright environment). Without looking back, a person strives further and further and does not realize that he is falling lower and lower, until he finally descends to the very bottom of evil - to the threshold of hell. Isn’t it necessary in this case to shout to him, like the first Adam: “Man, where are you? Where did you go? This appeal is the action of grace, which forces the sinner to look at himself for the first time. So, if you want to start living like a Christian, seek grace. The minute when grace descends and combines with your will will be the minute of the birth of a Christian life, strong, firm, and prolific. Where to find and how to receive grace that begins life? The acquisition of grace and the sanctification of our nature by it is accomplished in the Sacraments. Here we offer God’s action, or we present our obscene nature to God, and He transforms it through His action. It pleased God, in order to defeat our proud mind, at the very beginning of true life, to hide His power under the shadow of simple matter. We do not understand how this happens, but the experience of all Christianity testifies that it cannot be otherwise. There are two sacraments, mainly related to the beginning of Christian life: baptism and repentance. That is why the rules regarding the beginning of a truly Christian life are gathered, some around baptism, and others around repentance. How does Christian life begin in the sacrament of baptism? Baptism is the first Sacrament in Christianity, making a Christian person worthy to receive the gifts of grace through other Sacraments. Without it it is impossible to enter the Christian world - to become a member of the Church. The Eternal Wisdom created a house for itself on earth: the door leading into this house is the Sacrament of Baptism. Through this door they not only enter the house of God, but with it they also put on clothing worthy of him, receive a new name and sign, imprinted on the entire being of the person being baptized, through which both those in heaven and earth then recognize and distinguish him. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation,” teaches the Apostle (2 Cor. 5:17). The Christian becomes this new creature in baptism. A person leaves the font completely different from how he entered it. As light is to darkness, as life is to death, so the baptized is opposite to the unbaptized. Conceived in iniquities and born in sins, a person before baptism carries within himself all the poison of sin, with all the burden of its consequences. He is in the disgrace of God, is by nature a child of wrath; damaged, upset in itself, in the relationship of parts and forces and in their direction mainly towards the proliferation of sin; subject to the influence of Satan, who acts powerfully in him, because of the sin that lives in him. As a result of all this, after death, he is inevitably a quitter of hell, where he must suffer along with his prince and his minions and servants. Baptism delivers us from all these evils. It removes the oath by the power of the Cross of Christ and returns the blessing: the baptized are the children of God, as the Lord Himself gave them the name and name. “If children, then also heirs, heirs with God, and joint heirs with Christ...” (Rom. 8:17). The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to the person who is baptized through baptism itself. He is removed from the dominion of Satan, who now loses his power over him and the power to act arbitrarily in him. By entering the Church, the house of refuge, Satan is blocked from entering the newly baptized person. It's like he's in a safe haven here. All these are spiritual and external advantages and gifts. What's going on inside? – Healing sinful illness and damage. The power of grace penetrates inside and restores here the Divine order in all its beauty, heals the disorder both in the composition and relationship of forces and parts, and in the main direction from oneself to God - to please God and increase good deeds. Why baptism is rebirth or new birth, putting a person in a renewed state. The Apostle Paul compares all the baptized with the risen Savior, making it clear that they also have the same bright and renewed being as humanity appeared in the Lord Jesus through His resurrection in glory (see: Rom. 6:4). That the direction of activity in the baptized changes is evident from the words of the same Apostle, who says in another place that they no longer “live for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again” (2 Cor. 5:15). “Even though I die, I die through sin alone, but the hedgehog lives; God lives" (Rom. 6:10). “We are buried with Him through baptism into death” (Rom. 6:4), and: “our old man is crucified with Him... for no one should work for us through sin” (Rom. 6:6). Thus, by the power of baptism, all human activity is turned from self and sin to God and truth. The words of the Apostle are remarkable: “For sin must not be ours,” and another: “Let not sin possess you” (Rom. 6:14). This allows us to understand that that which, in a disordered fallen nature, constitutes a force that attracts us to sin, is not completely destroyed in baptism, but is only brought into a state in which it has no power over us, does not possess us, and we do not work for it. It is in us, lives and acts, but not as a master. From now on, supremacy belongs to the grace of God and to the spirit, which consciously surrenders itself to it. Saint Diadochos, explaining the power of baptism, says that before baptism, sin lives in the heart, and grace acts from without; after this, grace dwells in the heart, and sin attracts from the outside. It is expelled from the heart, like an enemy from a fortification, and settles outside, in parts of the body, from where it acts in fragmented raids. Why is there a constant tempter, a seducer, but no longer a ruler: he worries and disturbs, but does not command 1 . This is how new life is born in baptism! What is required on the part of a person, or how he reaches the point where he is renewed in baptism, is depicted in the “Outline of Christian Moral Teaching,” especially in the article “The Norm of Christian Life.” This is not repeated here, because a person of age approaching baptism is the same as a sinner turning to God in repentance; and about this last thing the discussion ahead will not be brief, there will be a second section. Then everyone’s curiosity about this subject will be completely satisfied. Here attention is drawn to how Christian life begins through baptism in those who are baptized as infants, as happens primarily among us. For here the beginning of Christian life is arranged with a certain characteristic feature arising from the relationship of grace to freedom. You already know that grace descends on free desire and seeking, and that only through their mutual combination does a new life of grace begin, in accordance with grace and the property of a free creature. The Lord gives grace to Tuna; but it requires that a person seek it and preferably perceive it, devoting himself entirely to God. The fulfillment of this condition in repentance and in the baptism of those of age is obvious. But how is it fulfilled in infant baptism? The baby does not have the use of reason and freedom, therefore, cannot fulfill the conditions for the beginning of Christian life on his part, that is, the desire to devote himself to God. Meanwhile, this condition must certainly be fulfilled. Depending on the way this condition is fulfilled, the beginning of life, through infant baptism, occurs with a certain characteristic feature. Exactly. Grace descends on the infant soul and produces everything in it alone, since freedom would also participate in this, on the sole basis that in the future this infant, not conscious of himself and not acting personally, when he comes to consciousness, will willingly devote himself to God, preferably accept grace, having found its effects in himself, will be glad that it exists, will thank that this has been done for him, and will confess that if in the minute of baptism, meaning and freedom were given to him, he would not have acted otherwise, and would not have wanted anything else. For the sake of such a future free dedication of oneself to God and the combination of freedom with grace, all Divine grace is given to the baby and without him it produces everything in him that is characteristic of it to produce, based on one assurance that the required desire and dedication to God will be undoubted - the assurance that the recipients give, committing to God before the Church that this baby, having come to consciousness, will show exactly the kind of use of freedom that is required for grace, accepting the obligation to actually bring that baby is acceptable. Thus, through baptism, the seed of life in Christ is placed in the baby and is in him; but it is still, as it were, not his, acting as the force that forms him. Spiritual life, born by the grace of baptism in an infant, will become a person’s own, appear in its full form, in accordance not only with grace, but also with the property of a rational creature from the time when he, having arisen to consciousness, freely devotes himself to God and, with a willing, joyful and grateful perception, assimilates the grace-filled power acquired in himself. And to this day, truly Christian life operates in him, but as if without his knowledge, it acts in him, but there is still something that is not his; from the moment of consciousness and election, it becomes his own, not only grace-filled, but also free. Due to this more or less long interval between baptism and dedication to God, the beginning of Christian moral life through the grace of baptism in infants expands, so to speak, to an indefinite space of time, during which the baby matures and is formed into a Christian in the Holy Church among Christians, as it was previously formed bodily in the womb. Establish yourself, reader, more firmly in this thought. We will desperately need it when determining how parents, foster children and educators should treat a baptized baby who is entrusted to them by the Holy Church and the Lord. It goes without saying that after the baptism of an infant, a very important task falls to the parents and recipients: to guide the baptized person in such a way that, having come to consciousness, he recognizes the grace-filled powers within himself and accepts them with joyful desire, as well as the responsibilities associated with them and the way of life they require. This brings us face to face with the question of Christian education or education according to the requirement of the grace of baptism, with the goal of preserving this grace. To make it clearer how one should treat a baptized baby for the purposes shown, one must bring to mind the previously expressed idea that grace overshadows the heart and dwells in it when it has the quality of turning from sin and oneself to God. For the sake of this mood, which is actively manifested, all other gifts of grace and all the advantages of those blessed are further given: God’s favor, joint heirship with Christ, placement outside the realm of Satan, outside the danger of being condemned to hell. As soon as this mood of the mind and heart is diminished or lost, sin immediately begins to possess the heart again, and through sin the bonds of Satan are imposed and the favor of God and the joint inheritance with Christ are taken away. Grace in a child tames and silences sin; but he can come to life again and rebel if he is given food and freedom. So, all the attention of those who have the responsibility to watch over the Christian child received from the baptismal font should be directed to not allowing sin to dominate him again, to suppressing the latter in every possible way and weakening him, and to arousing and strengthening the direction towards God. It must be done so that such a mood grows in a growing Christian, although under the guidance of others, but independently, so that he becomes more and more accustomed to prevailing over sin and overcoming it for the sake of pleasing God, so that he becomes accustomed to using the powers of spirit and body so that it is not work for sin, but service to God. That this is possible is evident from the fact that the one born and baptized is the whole - the seed of the future or the earth full of seeds. The new mood infused by the grace of baptism is not only mental or imputed, but real, that is, it is also a seed of life. If in general every seed develops according to its kind, then the seed of grace-filled life in the baptized can also develop. If the seed of a conversion to God that prevails over sin is placed in it, then it can also be developed and grown, like other seeds. One must only use effective means for this or determine an appropriate way to act on a baptized infant. The goal to which everything should be directed is that this new man, having come to consciousness, recognizes himself not only as a man, a rationally free being, but also as a person who has entered into an obligation with the Lord, with Whom his eternal destiny is inextricably linked; not only recognized himself as such, but also found himself capable of acting on this obligation and saw in himself a predominant inclination towards this. The question is, how to achieve this? How to deal with a baptized person, so that when he comes of age, he desires nothing more than to be a true Christian. Or – how to educate as a Christian? In response to this, we do not undertake to consider everything in detail. Let us limit ourselves to one general overview of the entire matter of Christian education, with the intention of indicating how, in which case, to support and strengthen the good side in children and how to weaken and suppress the bad side. Here, first of all, attention is focused on the baby in the cradle, before any abilities awaken in him. The baby lives, therefore, you can influence his life. The Holy Mysteries are applicable here, and behind them is all the churchliness; and with them the faith and piety of the parents. All this, taken together, will create a saving atmosphere around the baby. To all this, the grace-filled life conceived in the baby is mysteriously infused. Frequent communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ (one might add: as often as possible) vividly and effectively unites His new member with the Lord, through His most pure Body and Blood, sanctifies it, pacifies it within itself and makes it impregnable to dark forces. Those who do this notice that on the day when the child receives communion, he is immersed in deep peace, without strong movements of all natural needs, even those that are more active in children. Sometimes it is filled with joy and playfulness of the spirit, in which it is ready to embrace everyone as if it were one of its own. Holy communion is often accompanied by miracles. Saint Andrew of Crete did not speak for a long time as a child. When the contrite parents turned to prayer and grace-filled means, then during communion the Lord, by His grace, loosed the bonds of the tongue, after which he filled the Church with streams of sweet speech and wisdom. One doctor, from his observations, testified that in most cases of childhood illnesses, children should be taken to Holy Communion, and very rarely had the need to use medical aids afterwards. Frequent wearing to church, application to the holy cross, Gospel, icons, covering with air has a great influence on children; also at home - frequent offerings under icons, frequent making the sign of the cross, sprinkling with holy water, burning incense, making the sign of the cross on the cradle, food and everything that touches them, blessing of the priest, bringing icons from the church and prayer services to the houses; in general, everything church miraculously warms and nourishes the grace-filled life of a child, and there is always the safest and most impenetrable fence from the attack of invisible dark forces that are ready to penetrate everywhere into the developing soul in order to infect it with their breath. Beneath this visible protection there is something invisible: the Guardian Angel, assigned by the Lord to the baby from the very minute of baptism. He watches over him, invisibly influences him with his presence and, in necessary cases, inspires parents with what needs to be done with their child in extreme distress. But all these very strong fences, these strong and real inspirations can be ruined and deprived of the fruit by unbelief, negligence, wickedness and the unkind life of parents. This is also because in this case those means are either not used, or are not used as they should; but especially in terms of internal influence. True, the Lord is merciful, especially to the innocent, but there is an incomprehensible connection between the souls of parents and the souls of children, and we cannot determine to what extent the influence of the former extends on the latter; and together, to what extent, under the contagious influence of the former, God’s mercy and condescension extends to the latter. It happens that it stops, and then the prepared reasons bear fruit. Therefore, the spirit of faith and piety of parents should be considered the most powerful means for preserving, nurturing and strengthening a grace-filled life in children. The baby’s spirit does not yet seem to move in the first days, months, even years. It is impossible to convey anything to him for assimilation in the usual way. But you can act on it mediocrely. There is a special way of communication between souls through the heart. One spirit influences another by feeling. Such an influence on the baby’s soul is all the more convenient, the more fully and deeply the parents turn their hearts into the baby. The father and mother disappear into the child and, as they say, dote on the soul. And if their spirit is imbued with piety, then it cannot be that it does not have an effect on the soul of the child. The best external guide in this case is the gaze. While in other senses the soul remains hidden, the eye reveals it to the gaze of others. This is the meeting point of one soul with another. Let the children of the soul of the mother and father pass through this hole to the soul with holy feelings. They cannot help but anoint her with this holy oil. It is necessary for their gaze to shine not only with love, which is so natural, but also with faith that they have more than a simple child in their arms, and with hope that He who has given them this treasure under their care, like some vessel of grace, will provide them with sufficient strength to preserve it, and, finally, prayer performed continuously in the spirit, aroused by hope through faith. When in this way parents protect the cradle of their child with this spirit of sincere piety, when at the same time, on the one hand, the Guardian Angel, on the other, the Holy Mysteries and all the churchliness will act on him from the outside and inside, then this will create around the beginning life a spiritual atmosphere akin to it, which will pour into it its own character, just as blood, the beginning of animal life, in its properties depends a lot on the surrounding air. They say that a newly constructed vessel retains for a long time, if not always, the smell of the substance that is poured into it at that time. The same should be said about the shown arrangement around the children. It gracefully and salutarily penetrates into the established forms of life of the child and will put its stamp on them. Here is an impenetrable barrier to the influence of the spirits of evil. Having begun such a structure from the cradle, it must continue later and throughout the entire period of upbringing: in childhood, adolescence, and youth. The Church, churchliness and the Holy Mysteries are like a tabernacle for children, under which they must always be. Examples show how saving and fruitful this is - Samuel 4, Theodore Sikeot (April 22) and others. Even with this alone, all means of education can be replaced, just as all means of education are being replaced, not without success. The ancient method of education consisted mainly of this. When a child’s strength begins to awaken, one after another, parents and educators should pay more attention. For when, under the shadow of the means shown, the gravitation towards God increases and intensifies in them and draws forces after them, at the same time the sin living in them does not sleep, but intensifies to take possession of the same forces. The inevitable consequence of this is internal warfare. Since children are not able to lead it themselves, their parents wisely take their place. But since it must still be led by the forces of children, parents must strictly guard the beginnings of their awakening, in order to give them an inclination from the first minute in accordance with the main goal to which they should be directed. This is how parents begin to fight with the sin living in the child. Although this sin is deprived of a point of support, it nevertheless acts and, in order to settle on something solid, tries to take possession of the forces of the body and soul. We must not allow this to happen and, as it were, wrest our strength from the hands of sin and transfer it to God. But in order to act in this case not without reason, but with reasonable knowledge of the fidelity of the chosen method, we must understand well what the remaining sin is looking for, what it feeds on, and through what exactly it takes possession of us. The main motivators that lead to sin are self-indulgence (or inquisitiveness) in the mind, self-will in the will, self-indulgence in feeling. Therefore, one must lead and direct the developing forces of the soul and body in such a way as not to give them captivity to carnality, inquisitiveness, self-will and self-indulgence - for this will be a sinful captivity - but, on the contrary, to teach them to renounce them and dominate over them and, thus, weaken them as much as possible and bring them to harmlessness. This is the main start. All education must then conform to it. For this purpose, let us review the most important actions of the body, soul and spirit. First of all, the needs of the body are awakened, and then constantly involved in living activity, until death. It is all the more necessary to put them within proper limits and strengthen them with skill, so that later there will be less concern from them. Here the inaccurate purpose for bodily life is nutrition. In moral terms, it is the seat of passion for the sinful pleasure of the flesh or the field of its development and nutrition. Therefore, the child must be nourished in such a way that, while developing the life of the body, giving him strength and health, he does not kindle carnal desires in the soul. It should not be considered that the child is small - it is necessary from the first years to begin to calm down the flesh, which is prone to coarse matter, and to accustom the child to mastery over it, so that both in adolescence and youth, and after them, one can easily and freely cope with this need. The first starter is very expensive. Much depends on baby food in the future. You can imperceptibly develop voluptuousness and excess in food - two types of gluttony, these inclinations that are destructive to the body and soul, instilled in food. Therefore, even doctors and teachers advise: to choose healthy and suitable food, judging by the age of the child being raised: for one food is suitable for a baby, another for a child, a youth and a young man; subordinate its use to known rules (again adaptive to age), which would determine the time, quantity and method of nutrition, and then not deviate unnecessarily from the order thus established. This will teach the child not to always demand food as he wants to eat, but to wait for a certain hour; Here are the first experiences of practicing denying oneself one’s desires. Where they feed a child every time he cries, and then every time he asks for food, they relax him so much that after that he can no longer refuse food except due to illness. At the same time, it gets used to willfulness because it manages to beg or cry out for everything it wants. Sleep, warmth and cold, and other comforts naturally necessary in the matter of nutrition should be subordinated to the same measure, keeping in mind - not to inflame the passion for sensual pleasures and to teach one to deny oneself. This must be strictly observed throughout the entire period of upbringing - changing, as it goes without saying, the rules in application, and not in essence - until the one being educated, having established himself in them, takes himself in hand. The second function of the body is movement; its organ - the muscles in which the strength and strength of the body lie - tools of labor. In relation to the soul, it is the seat of the will, and is very capable of developing self-will. Measured, prudent development of this function, imparting excitement and liveliness to the body, accustoms one to work and creates sedateness. On the contrary, perverse development, left to its own devices, develops in some people excessive agility and absent-mindedness, in others - lethargy, lifelessness, and laziness. The first strengthens and turns into law willfulness and disobedience, in connection with which there are arrogance, anger, and uncontrollability in desires. The latter plunges into the flesh and betrays sensual pleasures. So, we must keep in mind that, while strengthening the strength of the body, we do not thereby inflate self-will and for the sake of the flesh do not destroy the spirit. For this, the main thing is regularity, instructions, supervision. Let the child frolic, but at the time, in the place and in the way he was ordered. The will of the parents should imprint their every step, of course, in general. Without this, a child’s temperament can easily become distorted. Having frolicked willfully, the child always returns not willing to obey even in some small things. And this is all at once; What can I say, where is this part completely neglected? How difficult it is to destroy self-will later, once it settles in the body, as in a fortress. The neck does not bend, the arm and leg do not move, and the eye does not even want to watch how they are ordered. On the contrary, the child emerges immobile to any order, where from the very beginning they do not give free rein to his movements. Moreover, there is no better way to get used to controlling your body than by forcing it to tense according to instructions. The third bodily departure lies on the nerves. Of the nerves, feelings are instruments of observation and food for inquisitiveness. But more about this later. Now about another general purpose of the nerves, as the seat of the body’s sensitivity, or the ability to receive external impressions that are pleasant and unpleasant for it. In this regard, it should be a rule to accustom the body to painlessly endure all kinds of external influences: from air, water, changes in temperature, dampness, heat, cold, wounds, pain and other things. Whoever has acquired such a skill is the happiest person, capable of doing the most difficult things, at any time and in any place. The soul in such a person is the complete mistress of the body, does not delay, does not change, does not abandon affairs, fearing bodily troubles; on the contrary, with some desire he turns to what can embitter the body. And this is very important. The main evil in relation to the body is warmth and pity for the body. It takes away all power from the soul over the body and makes the former the slave of the latter; on the contrary, he who does not spare the body will not be embarrassed in his undertakings by fears from blind love of life. How happy is he who has been accustomed to this since childhood! This includes medical advice regarding swimming, time and place of festivities, dress; The main thing is to contain the body not so that it receives only pleasant impressions, but, on the contrary, to contain it more under disturbing impressions. With these the body is softened, and with these it is strengthened; with those, the child is afraid of everything, but with these, he is ready for anything and is able to continue patiently in what he begins. This kind of treatment of the body is prescribed by pedagogy. Here it is only shown how these tips are also suitable for the development of Christian life, precisely because their zealous implementation blocks the entrance to the soul with an indecent potion of sensual pleasures, self-will, body love or self-pity, creates dispositions opposite to them and generally teaches one to control the body as an organ and not to obey it. And this is very important in the Christian life, which by its very essence is detached from sensuality and all pleasures of the flesh. So, one should not leave the development of a child’s body to its own devices, but must keep it under strict discipline from the very beginning, so that it can then be transferred into the hands of the person being brought up, already adapted to Christian life, and not hostile to it. Christian parents who truly love their children should not spare anything, not even their parental heart, in order to bring this benefit to their children. For otherwise, all subsequent deeds of their love and care will be either unfruitful or even fruitless. The body is the seat of passions, and for the most part the most ferocious ones, such as lust and anger. It is also the organ through which demons penetrate the soul or take up residence in it. It goes without saying that in this case one should not lose sight of churchliness, and from it nothing that can touch the body, for this will sanctify the body and pacify greedy animality. Everything is not written here, and only the main tone of the effect on the body is indicated. The details will be indicated by the case who needs it. Based on this outline, it is clear how one should treat the body at all other times of life: for we have the same business with it. Along with the discovery of bodily needs, the lower abilities do not slow down in the soul to express themselves in their natural sequence. Now the child begins to fix his gaze on this or that object, and on one more, on another less, as if he likes one more and the other less. These are the first beginnings of the use of feelings, which is immediately followed by the awakening of the imagination and memory. These abilities stand at the transition from bodily to mental activity and act together, so that what is done by one is immediately transferred to the other. Judging by the importance they currently have in our lives, how good and saving it is to consecrate their first beginnings with objects from the realm of faith. First impressions remain deeply memorable. It is necessary to remember that the soul appears into the world by naked force; grows, becomes richer in internal content, and diversifies in activity later. She receives the first material, the first food for her education from the outside, from the feelings, through the imagination. It is self-evident what nature the first objects of feeling and imagination should be, so as not only not to hinder, but even more to promote the emerging Christian life. For it is known that just as the first food has a significant influence on the temperament of the body, so the first objects with which the soul is occupied have a strong influence on the character of the soul or the tone of its life. Developing feelings provide material for the imagination; the imagined object is stored in memory and constitutes, so to speak, the content of the soul. Let the senses receive the first impressions of sacred objects: an icon and the light of a lamp for the eyes, sacred songs for the ear, and so on. The child does not yet understand anything of what is before his eyes, but his eye and hearing become accustomed to these objects, and they, preoccupying the heart, thereby place other objects at a distance. Beyond the senses, even the first exercises of imagination will be sacred; it will be easier for him to imagine these objects than others: these are his first folds. Then, for the future, the graceful, which on one side is essentially connected with the forms of feelings and imagination, will attract him only under sacred forms. So, let them protect the child with sacred objects of all kinds; everything that can corrupt in examples, images, things is removed. But then, and in all subsequent times, the same order must be maintained. It is known how powerfully corrupted images influence the soul, no matter in what form they touch it! How unhappy is a child who, having closed his eyes or been left alone and gone deep into himself, is overwhelmed by a multitude of indecent images, vain, seductive, breathing passions. It is for the soul what pain is for the head. We must also not lose sight of the way in which these forces operate. The matter of the senses is to see, hear, touch, generally experience, torture. Therefore, they are the first stimulants of inquisitiveness, which then, for their sake, passes into the imagination and memory and, having acquired a settled character in them, becomes an indestructible tyrant for the soul. It is impossible not to use the senses: for it is only through them that things are learned that must be known, for the sake of the glory of God and our good. But at the same time, inquisitiveness is also inevitable, which is an uncontrollable tendency to see and hear without a goal, what is happening where and how things happen. How to do this? Testing is necessary and is already inquisitiveness. Inquisitiveness consists of trying to find out everything randomly, aimlessly, without distinguishing whether something is necessary or not. So, when exercising the senses, one should only observe measure and order and direct them to what is necessary and out of awareness of need - then there will be no food for inquisitiveness; that is, the child must be taught to experience what is considered necessary for him; to hold back and distance yourself from everything else. Then, in the very act of testing, observe gradualness - do not rush from object to object, or from one feature to another, but, reviewing one after another, take care to imagine the object afterwards as it should. This type of activity will free the child from the mood to have fun even when allowed, and will teach him to control his feelings, and through them, his imagination. And it will not run from one to another unnecessarily, therefore, dream and amuse itself with images and thus give no rest to the soul, muddying it with the ebb and flow of its dissolute visions. He who does not know how to control his feelings and imagination is necessarily distracted and fickle, being tormented by inquisitiveness, which will drive him from one object to another until his strength weakens, and all this without fruit. Today, these abilities arise in the child and begin to disturb him from an early age. The child does not yet speak, does not walk, he has just learned to sit and take toys, but he is already angry, envious, appropriating for himself, being special, etc., and generally demonstrating the action of passions. This evil, which takes hold of animal life, is pernicious; therefore it must be opposed from its first manifestations. How to do this is difficult to determine. The whole matter depends on the prudence of the parents. However, the following can be decided: 1) to prevent their [passions] occurrence in every possible way; 2) then, if any passion has manifested itself, one must hasten to extinguish it using invented and tested means. This will prevent them from taking root, or being predisposed to them. Passion, which is revealed more often than others, must be treated with special attention, because it can be the dominant manager of life. The most reliable way to heal passions is to use blessed means. One must approach them with faith. Passion is a spiritual phenomenon, while parents initially have no ways to act on the soul... Therefore, first of all, one must pray to the Lord to do His work. The further guide in this for a zealous father or mother, or nanny, will be experience. When the child has sense, then general means against passions can be used. They must be armed in every possible way at the beginning and then pursued throughout their education, so that the child can skillfully and get used to mastering them, for their outrageous attacks will not stop until the end of his life. If we strictly observe the prescribed order of action on the body and lower faculties, then the soul will receive from this an excellent preparation for a truly good mood; however, only preparation, the mood itself must be created by a positive effect on all his powers: mind, will and heart. On the mind. Children soon develop intelligence. It is contemporary with speaking and grows along with the improvement of the latter. Therefore, the education of the mind must begin together with the word. The main thing that should be kept in mind is sound concepts and judgments according to Christian principles about everything that a child encounters or is subject to attention: what is good and evil, what is good and bad. This is very easy to do through ordinary conversations and questions. The parents themselves talk to each other: the children listen and almost always internalize not only their thoughts, but even their turns of speech and mannerisms. Let parents, when they speak, always call things by their proper names. For example: what real life means, how it will end, from whom everything comes, what are pleasures, what dignity do certain customs have, etc. Let them talk to the children and explain to them either directly, or, best of all, through stories: is it good, for example, to dress up; Is it happiness when you receive praise, and so on. Or let them ask the children how they think about this and that, and correct their mistakes. In a short time, this simple means can convey sound principles for judgments about things, which then will not be erased for a long time, if not for a lifetime. In this way, worldly wisdom and evil, insatiable inquisitiveness will be suppressed at the very root. Truth binds the mind by saturating it. Worldly wisdom does not satiate and thereby kindles inquisitiveness. Getting rid of it will bring great benefits to the children. And that's before they even pick up the books. Further, you just have to not give children books with corrupt concepts, and their minds will remain intact, in holy and Divine health. It is in vain that they do not bother to train a child in this way, assuming that he is still young. The truth is accessible to everyone. Experience has shown that a small Christian child is wiser than philosophers. It still repeats itself, but before it was everywhere. For example, during martyrdom, small children talked about the Lord the Savior, about the madness of idolatry, about the future life, and so on; this is because their mother or father explained this to them in a simple conversation. These truths became close to the heart, which began to cherish them to the point of being ready to die for them. To freedom. A child has many desires: everything occupies him, everything attracts him and gives rise to desires. Unable to distinguish between good and evil, it desires everything and is ready to fulfill everything it desires. A child left to his own devices becomes indomitably willful. Therefore, parents must strictly observe this branch of mental activity. The simplest means of keeping it within proper limits is to instruct children not to do anything without permission. Let them run to their parents with every desire and ask: is it possible to do this or that? Convince them through your own and other people’s experiences that it is dangerous for them to fulfill their desires without asking, to set them up so that they are even afraid of their own will. This disposition will be the happiest, but at the same time it is also the easiest to impress, for children already for the most part turn to adults with questions, realizing their ignorance and weakness; one has only to elevate this matter and make it an indispensable law for them. The natural consequence of such a mood will be complete obedience and submission in everything to the will of the parents, in defiance of one’s own, the disposition to deny oneself in many ways and the skill to do this; and most importantly, the experienced conviction that one should not listen to oneself in everything. This is most clear to children from their own experiences, that they desire a lot, and yet this desire is harmful to their body and soul. When weaning oneself from one’s will, one must teach the child to do good. To do this, let the parents themselves present a true example of a good life and introduce their children to those whose main concerns are not about pleasures and distinctions, but about the salvation of the soul. Children are inquisitive. How early they can copy their mother or father! Something similar happens here to what happens with identically tuned instruments. At the same time, the children themselves must be called upon to do good deeds, and first ordered to do them, and then instructed to do them themselves. The most common deeds in this regard are: almsgiving, compassion, mercy, compliance and patience. All this is very easy to learn. Cases arise every minute, it’s worth taking on. From here will come the will with the mood for various good deeds and, in general, with an inclination towards goodness. And good deeds must be taught, like any other. On the heart. Under such action of the mind, will and lower forces, the heart will naturally tune in to have healthy, true feelings, acquire the skill of enjoying what truly delights, and not at all sympathize with what, under the guise of sweetness, pours poison into the soul and body. The heart is the ability to taste and feel full. When a person was in union with God, he found a taste for things Divine and sanctified by the grace of God. After his fall, he lost this taste and thirsts for the sensual. The grace of baptism removed me from this, but sensuality is again ready to fill the heart. This must not be allowed to happen; the heart must be protected. The most effective means for cultivating true taste in the heart is churchliness, in which raised children must initially be kept. Sympathy for everything sacred, the sweetness of being among it for the sake of silence and warmth, turning away from the brilliant and attractive to worldly vanity, cannot be better imprinted on the heart. Church, spiritual singing, icons are the first most elegant objects in terms of content and power. We must remember that the future eternal abode will be assigned according to the taste of the heart, and the taste of the heart there will be the same as it is formed here. It is obvious that theaters, booths and the like are unsuitable for Christians. A soul pacified and organized in this way will not, due to its inherent disorder, hinder the development of the spirit. The spirit develops more easily than the soul, and before it reveals its strength and activity. This includes: fear of God (in accordance with reason), conscience (in accordance with will) and prayer (in accordance with feeling). The fear of God gives birth to prayer and enlightens the conscience. There is no need that all this refers to another, invisible world. Children have a predisposition to this, and they soon internalize these feelings. Especially prayer is instilled very easily and works not with the tongue, but with the heart. That is why they willingly and tirelessly participate in home prayers and church services and are happy about it. Therefore, we should not deprive them of this part of education, but little by little introduce them into this sanctuary of our being. The sooner the fear of God is imprinted and prayer is aroused, the stronger piety will be in all subsequent times. In some children this spirit manifested itself, even amid visible obstacles to its discovery. It's very natural. The Spirit of grace received at baptism, if it is not extinguished by the wrong development of the body and soul, cannot but revive our spirit, and at the same time, what can prevent it from appearing in its power? The closest guidance, however, is required by conscience. Sound concepts, with the good example of parents and other ways of teaching good, and prayer will illuminate it and imprint in it sufficient grounds for subsequent good activity. But most importantly, they should develop a mood of conscientiousness and awareness. Consciousness is a matter of extreme importance in life; but just as it is easy to form it, it is so easy to suppress it in children. The will of parents for small children is the law of conscience and God. As much as parents have prudence, let them manage their commands in such a way as not to force their children to be criminals of their will: and if they have already become such, how much can they be disposed to repentance. What frost is to flowers, so is deviation from parental will for a child; it does not dare to look into the eyes, does not want to use affection, wants to run away and be alone, and meanwhile the soul becomes coarser, the child begins to run wild. How good it is to first dispose him to repentance, to make him come without fear, with trust and with tears and say: “Well, I did this and that badly.” It goes without saying that all this will concern only ordinary objects; but it is also good that here the foundation will be laid for a future permanent truly religious character - to immediately rise up after a fall, the ability to quickly repent and purify oneself or be renewed through tears is formed. Here is the order: let the child grow in him, and the spirit of piety will develop in him more. Parents must monitor all the movements of the unfolding forces and direct everything towards one. This is the law - to begin with the very first breath of a child, to begin with everything suddenly, and not with just one thing, to conduct all this continuously, evenly, sedately, without impulses, with patience and expectation, observing, however, wise gradualness, noticing the shoots and using them, not considering anything unimportant in a matter so important. Details are not disclosed; for it is meant to indicate only the main direction of education. It is impossible to determine when a person comes to the consciousness of being a Christian and the independent determination to live as a Christian. In fact, this happens at different times: at 7, 10, 15 years and later. Perhaps before this the time for learning will come, as is most often the case. In this case, the indispensable rule is to preserve the entire previous order without change and for the entire duration of training: for it essentially follows from the nature of our strengths and the requirements of Christian life. The order of training should not be in any way opposite to the mood shown, otherwise everything that has been created there will be ruined; that is, it must protect children-students, like infants, with the piety of everyone around them, churchliness, the sacraments, and it must also act on their body, soul and spirit. At the same time, in relation to teaching, one should only add: let the teaching be arranged in such a way that it is clear what is main and what is subordinate. The idea of ​​this is most easily conveyed by the distribution of subjects of study and time. Let the study of faith be considered the main thing, let it be better to assign time to works of piety and, in case of conflict, let the latter take precedence over science; let not only success in the sciences, but also faith and good morals deserve approval. In general, it is necessary to position the spirit of the students in such a way that their conviction does not fade that our main task is pleasing God, and scientificity is an additional quality, an accident, suitable only for the duration of real life. And therefore it should not be placed so highly and in such a brilliant form that it takes up all the attention and absorbs all the care. There is nothing more poisonous and destructive for the spirit of Christian life than this scientific approach and exclusive concern for it. It directly plunges one into coldness and can then keep him in it forever, and sometimes even add debauchery if circumstances favorable to it are encountered. Another thing to pay attention to is the teaching spirit or outlook on the subjects taught. It must be an immutable law that every science taught to a Christian should be imbued with Christian principles, and, moreover, Orthodox ones. Every science is capable of this, and even then it will only be a true science of its kind when it fulfills this condition. Christian principles are undoubtedly true. Therefore, without hesitation, set them as the common standard of truth. Our most dangerous misconception is that science is taught without any attention to true faith, allowing oneself liberties and even lies, in the assumption that faith and science are two areas that are decisively separated. We have one spirit. He also accepts the sciences and is imbued with their principles, just as he accepts faith and is imbued with it. How is it possible that they do not come into favorable or unfavorable contact here? At the same time, the area of ​​truth is one. Why fill your head with something that is not from this region, or with which you cannot appear in its bright courtyard. If education is conducted in such an order that faith and life in the spirit of faith rise above everything in the attention of the students, both in the manner of study and in the spirit of teaching, then there is no doubt that the principles laid down in childhood will not only be preserved, but will also be elevated, strengthened and come to a commensurate maturity. How beneficial this is! If a person’s upbringing is carried out in this order from the first years, then little by little the character that his life should have will be revealed to him, he will become more accustomed to the idea that he has a responsibility on behalf of God and our Savior to live and act according to His instructions; that all other affairs and activities are inferior to them and are appropriate only for the continuation of real life; and that there is another place of residence, another fatherland, to which one must direct all one’s thoughts and all one’s desires. In the natural course of development of forces, everyone naturally comes to the consciousness that he is a man. But if a new grace-Christian principle was grafted into his nature, at the very first moment of the awakening of his forces and their movement (in baptism), and if then at all points of development of these forces this new beginning not only did not yield primacy, but, on the contrary, always prevailed, giving, as it were, form to everything, then, coming to consciousness, a person will at the same time find himself acting according to Christian principles, will find himself a Christian. And this is the main goal of Christian education, so that as a result a person would tell himself that he is a Christian. If, having come to full consciousness of himself, he says: “I am a Christian, obliged by the Savior and God to live this way and that, in order to be worthy of blessed communion with Him and His chosen ones in the future life,” then, having arisen to independence, or to an individual rational institution of life, he will set for himself the first essential task - to independently preserve and kindle the spirit of piety in which he walked before, under the guidance of others. Previously, it was remembered that there must be a special moment when it is necessary to deliberately renew in consciousness all the obligations of Christianity and impose their yoke on oneself as an immutable law. In baptism they were accepted unconsciously, then they were kept by someone else's mind according to someone else's mood and in simplicity. Now we must consciously put upon ourselves the good yoke of Christ, choose a Christian life; to devote oneself exclusively to God, so that later all the days of one’s life one can serve Him with enthusiasm. Here only man himself actually begins the Christian life. It was in him before, but, one might say, it did not come from independence, as if not from his face. Now he himself, on his own behalf, will begin to act in the spirit of a Christian. Then the light of Christ was in him like the light of the first day, uncentered, diffuse. But just as the light needed to be given centers, attracting it to the suns, the centers of the planets, so this light needs to, as it were, gather around the starting point of our life, our consciousness. A person becomes fully human when he comes to self-knowledge and rational independence, when he becomes the complete ruler and manager of his thoughts and deeds, he holds on to any thoughts not because others conveyed them to him, but because he himself finds them true. A person remains a person in Christianity. Therefore, he must be reasonable here too, only he must turn this rationality in favor of the holy faith. Let him be reasonably convinced that the holy faith he professes is the only true path of salvation and that all other paths that do not agree with it lead to destruction. It is an honor for a person not to be a blind confessor, but to be one who realizes that in doing so he is acting as he should. He will do all this when he consciously imposes the good yoke of Christ on himself. Only here does his personal faith, or a life good according to faith, receive firmness and steadfastness. He will not be tempted by example, will not be carried away by empty thoughts, because he is clearly aware of the obligation to think and act in a definitive way. But if he did not realize this, then just as before a good example set him up to do as he does, so now an unkind example can dispose him to evil, entice him to sin; and just as the good thoughts of others previously controlled his mind easily and without contradiction, so now evil thoughts will take possession of him. And from experience one can see how shaky the confession of faith and the kindness of life are in one who previously did not recognize himself as a Christian. He who encounters few temptations will continue to mature longer in the simplicity of his heart. But whoever cannot avoid them faces great danger. We see in the lives of everyone who retained the grace of baptism that they had a moment when they resolutely devoted themselves to God. This is indicated by the words: inflamed in spirit, inflamed with Divine desire. He who has recognized himself as a Christian, or who has consciously decided to live like a Christian, let him now himself preserve, with all diligence, the perfection and purity of life received from his previous age, as others previously preserved it. There is no need to offer him any special rules in his leadership. At this point, he converges with the repentant, who, having abandoned sin, accepts an inspired determination to live as a Christian. Therefore, from now on he must be guided by the same rules, which will be discussed in the third section. What difference he has with the repentant in his ascent to perfection will become clear by itself. Now we need to make only a few, however, very important, warnings for the age of adolescence, exclusively related to it. How good and saving it is not only to be disposed in a Christian upbringing, but also to recognize oneself and decide to be a Christian before entering adolescence. This is necessary in view of the great dangers to which a young man is inevitably exposed 1) due to the nature of his age and 2) due to his continued great temptations. The river of our life is cut short by the wavy strip of youth. This is the time of effervescence of bodily and spiritual life. The child and the youth live quietly, the husband has few quick impulses, the venerable gray hairs tend to rest; Youth alone is full of life. You need to have very solid support to resist the pressure of the waves at this time. The very disorder and impetuosity of movements is dangerous. His first own movements begin - the beginnings of the awakening of his powers, and have all the charm for him: by the power of their influence they displace everything that was previously placed on the mind and heart. The former will become a dream and a prejudice for him. Only real feelings are true, only they have reality and meaning. But if, before the awakening of these forces, he bound himself with the obligation of confession and Christian life, then all the excitement, as already secondary, will be weaker and more easily yield to the demand of the first, already because they are older, have been previously tested and chosen by the heart, and most importantly - sealed with a vow. The young man resolutely wants to always keep his word. What can we say about someone who not only did not love the Christian life and truth, but had never even heard of them? In this case, it is a house without a fence, given over to plunder, or dry brushwood, given up to burn in a fire. When the self-will of a youth’s thought casts a shadow of doubt on everything, when the excitement of passions greatly disturbs him, when the whole soul is filled with tempting thoughts and movements, the youth is on fire. Who will give him a drop of dew for coolness or give him a helping hand if a voice for truth, for goodness and purity does not come out of his heart? But he will not come out if love for them is not established first. Even advice will not help in this case. Then there is nothing to graft them onto. Advice and persuasion are powerful if, going through the ear into the heart, they awaken there feelings that exist and have value for us, but are only currently removed by others, and we ourselves cannot figure out how to release them and impart their inherent strength. In this case, advice is a precious gift to the young man from the adviser. But if there are no beginnings of pure life in the heart, it is useless. The young man lives by himself, and who examines all the movements and deviations of his heart? It's the same as exploring the path of a bird in the air or the running of a ship in the water!! Like the fermentation of a fermenting liquid, like the movement of the elements in their heterogeneous mixture, this is the heart of a young man. All the needs of so-called nature are in living excitement, each one gives voice, seeks satisfaction. Just as our nature is characterized by disorder, so the totality of these voices is the same as the disorderly cries of a noisy crowd. What will happen to the young man if he is not accustomed in advance to put his movements into a certain order and has not imposed on himself the obligation to keep them in strict subordination to certain higher requirements. If these principles are deeply imprinted on the heart in the initial upbringing and then consciously accepted as a rule, then all the disturbances will occur as if on the surface, transitionally, without shifting the foundation, without shaking the soul. How we emerge from our teenage years depends very much on how we enter them. The water falling from the cliff boils and swirls below, and then flows quietly through different channels. This is an image of youth into which everyone is thrown like water into a waterfall. Two orders of people emerge from it: some shine with kindness and nobility, others are darkened by wickedness and depravity; and still others are the middle class, a mixture of good and evil, the likeness of which is a brand from the fire, which inclines now towards good, now towards evil, like a spoiled watch, now it goes right, now it runs or lags behind. Anyone who has made a commitment in advance is, as it were, hidden in a strong boat that does not allow water to enter, or has drawn a calm chute through a whirlpool. Without this, good upbringing will not always save you. Let someone not fall into gross vices, but still, if he does not close himself, then his heart, not detached from everything by a vow, will be torn by hobbies, and he will inevitably emerge from the years of his youth cooled, neither here nor there. So it is saving before the years of youth not only to get a good mood, but also to seal oneself with a vow - to be a true Christian. Let him who is determined fear youth itself like fire, and therefore avoid all cases in which youth easily unravels and becomes indomitable. And youth itself is dangerous; but to this are added two more attractions characteristic of this age, from which youthful excitement flares up more strongly and acquires greater strength and danger. These are: a) a thirst for impressions and b) a tendency to communicate. Therefore, as a means of avoiding the dangers of adolescence, we can advise subordinating these drives to rules, so that instead of good they do not bring evil. Good dispositions, previously aroused, will remain in full force if they are not extinguished or suppressed. The thirst for impressions imparts a certain speed, continuity and variety to the actions of the young man. He wants to experience everything himself, see everything, hear everything, go everywhere. Look for it where there is sparkle for the eyes, harmony for the ears, room for movement. He wants to be under a continuous stream of impressions, always new and therefore varied. He cannot sit at home, does not stand in one place, does not pay attention to one subject. His element is entertainment. But this is not enough for him; he is not content with an actual, personal test, but wants to assimilate and, as it were, transfer to himself the impressions of others, to experience what they felt, how others acted on their own or in circumstances similar to his. Then he throws himself on the books and begins to read; goes through one book after another, often without understanding their contents; The main thing for him is to find the so-called effect, no matter what kind of things it comes from and no matter what it concerns. New, imaginative, sharp - his best recommendation for the book. Here a tendency towards easy reading is discovered and formed - the same thirst for impressions, only in a different form. But that's not all. A young man often gets bored with reality, with what seems to be imposed on him from the outside: it binds him and confines him too much within certain boundaries, and he seeks some freedom. Then he often breaks away from reality, goes into his created world and there begins to act for glory. Fantasy constructs entire stories for him, where for the most part the hero is his own person. The young man is just entering life. Before him is a seductive, tempting future. Over time, he too will need to be there: what will he do? Is it possible to lift this veil and look? Fantasy, very active these summers, does not hesitate to satisfy. Here daydreaming is revealed and in this kind of action dreaminess is fostered. Dreams, light reading, entertainment, all this is almost the same in spirit - children crave impressions, crave something new and varied. And the harm from them is the same. There is nothing better to kill the good seeds that were previously placed in the heart of a young man than with them. A young flower, planted in a place where the winds blow on it from all sides, will endure a little and dry out; the grass that is often walked on does not grow; the part of the body that is subjected to prolonged friction becomes numb. The same thing happens to the heart and to the good dispositions in it if you indulge in dreams or idle reading or entertainment. Anyone who has stood in the wind for a long time, especially a damp one, when it comes to a calm, feels that everything in him seems to be out of place, and the same thing happens in the soul that has been entertained in any way. Returning from dispersion into himself, the young man finds everything in his soul in a perverted order; and most importantly, a certain veil of oblivion covers all that is good, and in the foreground there are only the delights left by the impression; consequently, it is no longer what it was and what should always be: the dispositions have changed dominance. Why, when the soul returns to itself after some kind of dispersion, does it begin to feel sad? Because he finds himself robbed. The absent-minded one has made his soul a high road along which, through the imagination, like shadows, tempting objects pass and beckon the soul to follow them. But then, when she thus breaks away from herself, as it were, the devil secretly approaches, takes away the good seed and places the evil. This is what the Savior teaches when he explains who snatches away what is sown along the way, and who is the all-manifest tares. The enemy of man does both. So, young man! Would you like to preserve the purity and innocence of childhood or the vow of Christian life without reproaches? As much as you have strength and prudence, refrain from entertainment, random reading of seductive books and dreams! How good it is to subject yourself in this case to strict and strict discipline and to be under guidance throughout your youth. Those young men who are not allowed to control their own behavior until adulthood can be called happy. And every young man should rejoice if he is placed in such circumstances. The young man himself, obviously, can hardly achieve this; but he will show a lot of intelligence if he believes the advice to be more at home doing business, not to dream and not to read empty things. Let him reject entertainment with hard work, daydreaming with serious studies under guidance, to which reading should especially be subordinated, both in the choice of books and in the manner of reading. However, no matter how anyone does it, just let him do it. Passions, doubts, hobbies flare up precisely in this, so to speak, shaky fermentation of the young man’s mind. The second, equally dangerous, tendency of the young man is the tendency to communicate. It is found in the need for companionship, friendship and love. All of them are good in true order, but it is not the young man who should put them into this order. Adolescence is a time of living feelings. They are near his heart - like the ebb and flow of the sea. Everything occupies him, everything surprises him. Nature and society revealed their treasures to him. But feelings do not like to be hidden within themselves, and the young man wants to share them. Then he needs a person who could share his feelings, that is, a comrade and friend. The need is noble, but it can also be dangerous! To whom you entrust your feelings, you give in some way power over yourself. How careful you must be in choosing a loved one! You will meet someone who can lead you far, far away from the straight path. It goes without saying that a good person naturally strives for the good and deviates from the bad. The heart has some taste for this. But, again, how often does it happen that the simple-hearted is lured by cunning! Then every young man is rightly advised to be careful in choosing a friend. It is good not to form a friendship until you have tested your friend. It is even better to have your first friend as your father, or someone who replaces your father in many ways, or someone from your family who is experienced and kind. For someone who has decided to live as a Christian, the first friend given by God is a spiritual father; talk to him, confide secrets to him, weigh and learn. Under his guidance, with prayer, God will send, if necessary, another friend. However, there is not so much danger in friendship as in comradeship. We rarely see friends, but more acquaintances and friends. And here how much is possible and how much evil happens! There are friendly circles with very unkind rules. By bending towards them, you will not notice how you unite with them in spirit, just as you imperceptibly become drunk with the stench in a stinking place. They themselves often lose consciousness of the obscenity of their behavior and calmly become rude in it. Even if this consciousness awakens in someone, he does not have the strength to lag behind. Everyone is afraid to announce it, expecting that he will be persecuted everywhere afterwards with barbs, and says: “So be it, maybe it will pass.” “Good customs are corrupted by evil conversations” (1 Cor. 15:33). Deliver, Lord, everyone from these depths of Satan. For those who decide to work for the Lord, there is one fellowship with the pious who seek the Lord; one must distance oneself from others and not deal with them sincerely, following the example of the saints of God. The very height of danger for a young man is from treatment of the other sex. While in the first temptations the young man only strays from the straight path, here he, in addition, loses himself. In its first awakening, this matter is mixed with the need for beauty, which, from the time of its awakening, forces the young man to seek satisfaction for himself. Meanwhile, the beautiful little by little begins to take on an image in his soul, and usually a human one, because we do not find anything more beautiful than it... The created image is carried in the head of the young man. From that time on, he seems to be looking for the beautiful, that is, the ideal, not earthly, and yet he meets a human daughter and is wounded by her. This is the injury that a young man should most of all avoid, because this is a disease that is all the more dangerous because the patient wants to be sick to the point of madness. How to ward off this ulcer? Do not follow the path that leads to injury. This path is depicted in one psychology. It has three turns. At first, some kind of sad feeling awakens in the young man, it is unknown about what and from what, responding, however, especially since he seems to be alone. This is a feeling of loneliness. From this feeling another is immediately born - some pity, tenderness and attention to oneself. Before, he lived as if not noticing himself. Now he turns to himself, examines himself and always finds that he is not thin, not one of the last, he is a worthwhile person: he begins to feel his beauty, the pleasantness of the shape of his body, or to like himself. This ends the first movement of temptation towards oneself. Since then, the young man has turned to the outside world. This entry into the outside world is encouraged by the belief that he must please others. In this confidence, he boldly and, as it were, victoriously enters the field of action and, perhaps for the first time, sets himself the law of neatness, cleanliness, elegance to the point of panache; begins to wander or look for acquaintances, as if without a specific goal, according to the secret, however, attraction of a heart searching for something, and at the same time tries to shine with intelligence, pleasantness in treatment, helpful attention, in general, with everything that he hopes to please. At the same time, he gives full rein to the primary organ of soul communication - the eye. In this mood, he is like gunpowder exposed to sparks and soon faces his illness. With a particularly pleasant look in his eyes or a particularly pleasant voice, as if struck by an arrow or shot down, he initially stands somewhat in a frenzy and stunned state, from which, having come to his senses and come to his senses, he finds that his attention and heart are drawn to one object and are drawn to it with an irresistible force. From now on, the heart begins to be consumed by melancholy; the young man is sad, self-absorbed, busy with something important, looking for something as if he had lost something, and whatever he does, he does for one person and as if in his presence. He seems lost, sleep and food are not on his mind, ordinary affairs are forgotten and become disordered; nothing is dear to him. He is sick with a severe illness that pinches his heart, constricts his breathing, and dries up the very sources of life. Here is the gradual progression of insults! And it goes without saying what a young man should be afraid of so as not to fall into this misfortune. Don't go this way! Drive away the warning signs - vague sadness and feelings of loneliness. Do something contrary to them: if you feel sad, don’t dream, but start doing something serious with attention and it will pass. Self-pity or a feeling of goodness began to arise - hasten to sober yourself up and drive away this whim with some kind of severity and cruelty towards yourself, especially by clarifying the common concept of the insignificance of what is popping into your head. Accidental or intentional humiliation in this case was like water on a fire... It is necessary to take care to suppress and drive away this feeling, especially because this is the beginning of movement. Stop here - you won’t go any further: neither the desire to please, nor the search for clothes and panache, nor the desire for visits will be born. If these break through, fight them. What a reliable fence in this case - strict discipline in everything, physical labor and even more mental work! Strengthen your studies, stay at home, don't have fun. You need to go out - save your feelings, run the other sex, and most importantly - pray. In addition to these dangers arising from the properties of adolescence, there are two more: firstly, the mood in which rational knowledge, or personal comprehension, rises to the skies. The young man considers it an advantage to cast a shadow of doubt on everything, and puts aside everything that does not coincide with the standard of his understanding. With this alone he cuts off from his heart the entire mood of faith and the Church, therefore, he falls away from it and remains alone. Looking for a replacement for what was left behind, he rushes to theories constructed without consideration of revealed truth, entangles himself in them and expels all the truths of faith from his mind. There will be even more trouble if the reason for this is given by the teaching of science in schools and if such a spirit becomes predominant there. They think they have the truth, but they accumulate vague ideas, empty, dreamy, for the most part contrary even to common sense, which, however, captivate the inexperienced and become an idol for the inquisitive young man. Secondly, secularism. Even though it may represent something useful, its predominance in a young man is harmful. It is marked by living according to the impressions of the senses, a state in which a person spends little time within himself, and almost everything is outside, either in action or in dreams. With such a mood they hate the inner life and those who talk about it and live it. True Christians for them are mystics, confused in concepts, or hypocrites, and so on. What prevents them from understanding the truth is the spirit of the world, which exists in the circle of secular life, which young men are freely allowed and even advised to come into contact with. By this contact, the world, with all its corrupted concepts and customs, is forced into the receptive soul of a young man, not pre-empted, not disposed against it, but just accepting the mood, and is imprinted on it, like on wax, and he involuntarily becomes his child. And this childishness is contrary to the childishness of God in Christ Jesus. These are the dangers for young men from youth! And how hard it is to resist! But to a well-educated person who has decided to devote himself to God before his youth, it is not so dangerous; Be patient a little, and then the purest and most blissful peace will come. Keep only the vow of a Christian pure life at this time; and then you will live with a certain holy steadfastness. He who has safely passed through his youthful years is as if he has swum across a stormy river and, looking back, blesses God. And another, with tears in his eyes, in repentance, turns back and condemns himself. You can never get back what you lose in your youth. Will he who has fallen still achieve what he who has not fallen has? From what has been said so far, it is easy to come to the understanding of where is the reason that those who retain the grace of baptism are so rare? Education is the reason for everything, both good and evil. This is why the grace of baptism is not preserved because the order, rules and laws of the education applied to it are not observed. The main reasons are: Distance from the Church and its grace-filled means. This kills the germ of Christian life, disconnecting it from its sources, and it fades, like a flower placed in a dark place withers. Inattention to bodily functions. They think that the body can develop in every possible way without harm to the soul: meanwhile, in its functions there are seats of passions, which, along with its development, develop, take root and take possession of the soul. Penetrating bodily functions, passions gain a settled position in them, or build an impregnable fortress out of them, and thereby strengthen their power for all subsequent time. Indiscriminate development of the powers of the soul, not directed towards one goal. If they don’t see the goal in front, they don’t see the way to it. Hence, despite all the concern for modern education, they do nothing more than inflate inquisitiveness, self-will and thirst for pleasure. Complete oblivion of the spirit. Prayer, fear of God, and conscience are rarely taken into account. There would be visible serviceability, but those internal states are always assumed and therefore always left to oneself. During training, the main task is covered up with side activities, and its unity is obscured by many others. Finally, entering adolescence without a preliminary foundation of good principles and the determination to live like a Christian, and further, failure to keep the impulses of youthful life in proper order, giving oneself up to all the thirst for impressions, through entertainment, light reading, inflaming the imagination with dreams, indiscriminate communication with one’s own kind and especially with the other sex, exceptional scientific knowledge and devotion to the spirit of the world, current thoughts, rules and customs, which never They are not favorable to a life of grace, but they always arm themselves hostilely against it and strive to suppress it. Each of these reasons and one is enough to extinguish the grace-filled life in a person. But it happens for the most part that they act together, and one inevitably attracts the other; yet, taken together, they clog spiritual life so much that sometimes even the slightest traces of it are not noticeable, as if a person does not have a spirit, was not created for communication with God, does not have the powers intended for this, and has not received the grace that revives them. Why the appropriate order of upbringing is not observed is the reason for this either in ignorance of such an order, or in neglect of it. Education, left without attention to itself, necessarily takes on perverse, false and harmful directions, first in home life, and then during education. But even where, apparently, education is carried out not without attention and is subject to well-known rules, it often turns out to be fruitless and deviates from the goal, due to the false ideas and principles on which its order is built. It is not what is meant, or what is supplied as the main thing that should; namely, not pleasing God, not the salvation of the soul, but something completely different: either the improvement of only natural powers, or adaptation to positions, or fitness for life in the world, and so on. But when the beginning is not pure and false, then, of necessity, what is established on it cannot lead to good. The main deviations can be pointed out: To remove beneficial means. It is a natural consequence of forgetting that the one being educated is a Christian and possesses not only natural, but also grace-filled powers. And without these means, a Christian is a fenced-in garden, which is trampled by prowling demons, broken by the storm of sin and the world, which there is no one and nothing to calm down and drive away. To primarily prepare for happiness in temporary life, with the suppression of the memory of the eternal. They talk about this at home, they talk about it in classes, it is the main focus in simple conversations. The predominance of appearance in everything, not even excluding the priesthood. Unprepared at home, having been brought up in this way, his head is inevitably foggy, he looks at everything with the wrong eyes as he should; presents everything in a distorted form, as if through broken or false glasses. That’s why he doesn’t want to listen either about his final true goal or about the means to achieve it. All this is a side issue for him, as if it were a joke. After this, it is not difficult to determine what exactly is needed to correct such a bad order of things. Need to: It is good to understand and assimilate the principles of true Christian education and act on them, first of all, at home. Home education is the root and foundation of everything that follows. A well-bred and well-trained person at home will not be so easily led astray by a perverse school upbringing. After this, rebuild school education according to new, true principles, introduce Christian elements into it, and correct what is faulty; The main thing is to keep the child being raised under the abundant influence of the Holy Church, which with its entire structure has a saving effect on the creation of the spirit. This would prevent sinful stimulants from flaring up, would ward off the spirit of the world and drive away the spirit from the abyss. At the same time, we must direct everything from the temporary to the eternal, from the external to the internal, to educate the children of the Church, members of the Kingdom of Heaven. The most important thing is to educate educators under the guidance of such people who know true education not from theory, but from experience. Having been educated under the supervision of the most experienced educators, they will again pass on their art to others, those who follow, etc. The educator must go through all the degrees of Christian perfection in order to subsequently be able to control himself in activities, be able to notice the directions of those being educated, and then act on them with patience, successfully, strongly, and fruitfully. This must be a class of persons of the purest, God's chosen and saints. Of all holy works, education is the most sacred. The fruit of a good upbringing is the preservation of the grace of holy baptism. The latter abundantly rewards all the efforts of the former. For certain high advantages belong to the one who has retained the grace of baptism and from the first years devoted himself to God. The first advantage, as if the foundation of all other advantages, is the integrity of the naturally beneficial composition. Man is appointed to be the receptacle of unusually high forces, ready to pour out on him from the source of all good things, just let him not upset himself. And the repentant can be completely healed; but it seems that he is not allowed to know and feel that he has not fallen, or he cannot enjoy that wholeness and have that boldness that is its consequence. From here the liveliness, lightness, and ease of doing good flow naturally flow. He walks in goodness, as if in the only world akin to himself. The repentant must strain and accustom himself to this goodness for a long time in order to do it easily, but even having achieved this, constantly keep himself in tension and fear. On the contrary, he lives in simplicity of heart, in some certainty of salvation that pleases him, an undeceiving certainty. Then a certain evenness and non-stopness settles into his life. There is no impulse or weakening in him; and just as our breathing is mostly smooth, so his walking is good. The same thing happens to someone who has repented, but it is not acquired quickly and does not appear in such perfection. A repaired wheel often makes its defect known; and a watch that has been repaired is no longer as serviceable as a watch that has not been repaired and is new. The one who never fell is always young. The traits of his moral character reflect the feelings of the child, before he has yet become guilty before his father. Here is the first feeling of innocence, childhood in Christ, as if ignorance of evil. How much it cuts off his thoughts and tormenting emotions of his heart! Then extraordinary cordiality, sincere kindness, quietness of disposition. In it, the fruits of the Spirit indicated by the Apostle are revealed in full force: “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, mercy, faith, meekness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23). It is as if he is clothed with “the womb of generosity, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering” (Col. 3:12). Then he maintains unfeigned cheerfulness, or spiritual joy; for in it is the Kingdom of God, which is peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Then he is characterized by a certain insight and wisdom, seeing everything in himself and around himself and knowing how to manage himself and his affairs. His heart takes on such a mood that it immediately tells him what and how to do. Finally, we can say that he is characterized by a lack of fear of falling, a sense of security in God. “Who will separate us from the love of God?” (Rom. 8:35). All this together makes him both respectable and amiable. He involuntarily attracts you to himself. The existence of such persons in the world is the great grace of God. They replace the apostolic monks. Just as a lot of sawdust gathers around a strong magnet, or as a strong character attracts the weak, so the power of the Spirit that dwells in them attracts everyone, especially those who have the beginnings of the spirit. The most important moral perfection, which belongs to someone who has remained intact in the years of youth, is a certain steadfastness of virtue throughout life. Samuel remains firm in the face of all the temptations of temptation in the house of Elijah and amid the unrest of the people in society. Joseph, among unkind brothers, in the house of Pentephry, in prison and in glory, equally preserved his soul immaculate. Truly, “it is good for a man when he bears the yoke in his youth” (Lamentations 3:27). “Child, from your youth choose punishment, and then “grow wisdom to your gray hairs.” In doing it, work a little and you will soon eat its fruits” (Sir. 6, 18, 20). The right mood turns, as it were, into nature, and if sometimes it is somewhat disturbed, it soon returns to its original order. Therefore, in Chet-Minea we find saints for the most part those who retained moral purity and the grace of baptism in their youth. Moreover, whoever, having maintained purity, devotes himself to God from an early age, does the work most pleasing to God, brings Him the most pleasant sacrifice - because in general, according to the law of justifications, the first is most pleasing to God: the firstfruits of fruits, the firstborns of people, animals, and, therefore, the first summers of youth; because the sacrifice being made is pure - immaculate youth, which is mainly what was required of every sacrifice; because they do this with overcoming considerable obstacles both within themselves and without, with renunciation of pleasures for which they especially feel the urge at this time; does the most prudent thing. One must devote oneself to God, for in this alone lies salvation. Unless someone has given in to despair. But there is no better and more reliable time for this time than the first one in which we recognized ourselves - for who knows what will happen tomorrow? But even if someone hoped to live longer without devoting all their time to God, he would only complicate himself by getting used to the opposite life, and God knows whether he would overcome himself later. Even if he overcomes: what kind of sacrifice to God is this - sick, exhausted, damaged in the limbs, not whole? However, although all this happens, how rarely! How rarely does one who has lost his virginity manage to regain it! How difficult it is to convert someone who has not known the good life since childhood, Blessed Augustine vividly depicts, from his own experience, in his confession. “I spent the summers of my adolescence,” he says, “in playfulness and pranks, even inappropriate ones, in disobedience and inattention to my parents. As I entered adolescence, debauchery began, and three years before I had become so depraved that after 12 years I kept intending to improve and could not find the strength to carry it out. Even after I made the turn towards a decisive change of will, I still hesitated for two years, postponing my conversion from day to day. So weakened the will from the first passions! But, after decisive conversion and acceptance of grace in holy baptism, what I had to endure, struggling with my passions, which strongly attracted me to my previous path! Is it surprising that so few escape from those who spent their youth wrongly?! This example most clearly shows what great danger a person is in if he did not receive good rules in his youth and did not dedicate himself to God in advance. What a blessing it is, therefore, to receive a good, truly Christian upbringing, to enter with it into the years of youth, and then, in the same spirit, to enter into the years of courage. Philokalia. T.3. The ascetic word, divided into one hundred active chapters, filled with knowledge and spiritual reasoning, ch. 79 ff. inspired, inspired. Ed. take root, grow. Ed. Prophet; August 20. – Ed. 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