Отдел III. О том, как совершается, зреет и крепнет в нас христианская жизнь, или то же о порядке богоугодной жизни

How the Christian life develops, matures and grows stronger in us Let us focus our attention on the fact that man has just turned from darkness to light, from the realm of Satan to God, has just entered a new path on which he has not yet taken a single step, but is burning with zeal to do everything that will be necessary in order to stand in the work he has begun and not to succumb again to his former rulers, who alienated him from God and the Savior and dragged him into destruction. The question now is: where should he go and what should he do in order to get where he should, and to arrive correctly, directly, quickly, successfully? The goal to which the one who has turned must direct all his attention and all his labors is the final goal of man and the economy of salvation, namely communion with God, a living union with God, worthy of His indwelling. Then only the seeking and jealous spirit will calm down when it acquires God, tastes Him and is satisfied. Therefore, for him the first law is: “seek God, seek His face” (cf. Ps. 104:4). What this good consists of is incomprehensible to man. He himself would not have even thought about such a height. But when God was pleased to assign him this rank, it would have been impudent for a person to reject it through unbelief, inattention, omission from thought, even during labor. “I will dwell in them,” says God, and this is by all the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity (2 Cor. 6:16). The Lord says about God the Father and Himself: “to him” (the believer and lover) “we will come and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). About Myself alone: ​​“...I go down to him and dine with him” (Apoc. 3:20); and even more clearly: “I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you” (John 14:20). The Apostle says about the Holy Spirit: “The Spirit of God lives in you” (Rom. 8:9). It should be noted that this indwelling of God is not only mental, which happens in the thought of God on behalf of man and in the favor of God, but is living, vital, to which they should be revered only as a means. Mental and heartfelt striving towards God, under the favor of God, prepares a person to accept God in the truth; this is such a unity in which, without absorbing the strength and face of man, God is “active” in him “both to will and to do” (Phil. 2:13); and man, according to the Apostle, “does not live for himself, but Christ lives in him” (cf. Gal. 2:20). This is the goal not only of man, but also of God Himself. Everything created is in God and stands by God. Free creatures are surrendered to themselves, but not finally and not completely, but so that they also give themselves to the Almighty God, without constituting themselves as a special kingdom in the Kingdom of God, independent of God. It may seem strange that one must still achieve communion with God when it already exists or is given in the Sacrament of baptism or repentance, for it is said: “If you were baptized into Christ, you put on Christ” (Gal. 3, 27); or: “When you die, your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). Yes, and according to a simple concept, God is everywhere, “not far from us, so that we cannot touch Him” (Acts 17:27), and is ready to dwell in everyone who is ready to receive Him. Only one reluctance, negligence, sinfulness separates us from Him. Now that the repentant has rejected everything and surrenders himself to God, what prevents God from entering him? To eliminate such confusion, it is necessary to distinguish different types of communication with God. It begins with a moment of excitement and is revealed, on the part of man, by seeking, striving for God, and on the part of God - by favor, assistance, protection. But God is still outside of man and man is outside of God, they do not interpenetrate, they do not enter into each other. In the Sacrament of baptism or repentance, the Lord, by His grace, enters inside a person, vividly communicates with him and gives him to taste all the sweetness of the Divine, so abundantly and palpably, as is characteristic of the perfect, but then again hides this statement of His communication, only renewing it from time to time - and then easily, as in a reflection only, and not in the original, leaving a person in ignorance of Himself and His presence in him until a certain measure of age. or education according to His wise guidance. After this, the Lord tangibly reveals His dwelling in the spirit of man, which then becomes the church of the Trinitarian Divinity that fills it. So, there are three types of communication with God: one is mental, which occurs during the period of conversion, and the other two are real, but one of them is hidden, invisible to others and unknown to ourselves, while the other is obvious to others. The first type of communication, the most understandable and general, does not cease in the second degree and even in the third, because spiritual life is mental life; however, in these degrees it differs from its first property characteristically, which, however, there is no way to explain in words. All spiritual life consists of the transition from mental communication with God to real, living, felt, manifested communication. We are looking at a person who has repented - therefore, at one who has truly entered into communication with God, but still hidden, secret, not revealed, and has the goal of achieving complete, perceptible, tangible communication. You need to define all this more precisely for yourself and be confident, because all the activities of the repentant for salvation must be built on these concepts; namely: that in the Sacrament of repentance (or baptism) grace descends perceptibly for the spirit, but then it is hidden from consciousness, although it does not depart in action - and this is before the purification of the heart, when it is visibly and finally infused. It is obvious that only the holy fathers can be our mentors in this matter. Of these, none depicted this so well as Saint Diadochos, Bishop of Photiki, and Saint Macarius of Egypt. Let us present their evidence on our provisions. Grace infuses a person and is with him from the moment he receives the Sacrament. “Grace,” says Saint Diadochos, “from the very moment in which we receive baptism (or repentance), settles in the very depths of the mind...” 25 Again: “Divine grace through holy baptism combines itself with some incomprehensible love, the features of an image in the image of God, as a guarantee of likeness 26. Saint Macarius: “Grace is constantly present with a person, from an early age uniting and taking root, as if something natural and inseparable in his heart, becoming with him as if one being” 27. At its first infusion through the Sacraments, this grace vouchsafes a person to fully taste the bliss of communion with God. “The All-Holy Spirit,” says Saint Diadochos, at the beginning of perfection, if we zealously love the virtue of God, gives the soul to taste the sweetness of God with all its senses and satisfactorily, so that the mind has an accurate knowledge of the final reward of God-pleasing labors 28 . Also: “Grace usually first illuminates the soul with its light so that it can feel it abundantly” 29. This tangible overshadowing of grace is first depicted by the white robe in which those who are baptized dress for seven days. That this is not just one rite is evident from the examples of holy converts, for some were apparently clothed with light, a dove descended on others, and their faces were illuminated. In general, everyone who truly approached the Lord felt this with a certain leap of their spirit, similar to the way the Forerunner of the Lord leaped in the womb of Elizabeth at the approach of the Mother of God and the Lord in Her. The lives of Simeon and John (July 21) say that they saw a light near their brother, who was baptized and took on the monastic form - and this was seven days. Having sensed, after receiving the image, a special action of God in themselves, they sought to preserve it forever, for which purpose they immediately retired to solitude - the most capable form of asceticism. Then grace hides itself from the one being saved, and although it abides in him and acts, it does so in such a way that he does not notice this, and so does not notice that he often considers himself abandoned by God and perishing, from which he falls into agony, lamentation and even slight despair. Thus, Saint Diadochos, after the passages cited before, continues: “However, for a long time then he hides the preciousness of this life-giving gift, so that, although we fulfill all the virtues, we consider ourselves absolutely nothing, because we have not yet turned holy love into a skill for ourselves” 30, “but, in continuation of his exploits, he performs his secret actions in the theological soul in an unknown way, in order in the first case to incline us, called from ignorance to knowledge, to joyfully enter the path of Divine contemplation, and in the second, among exploits, to protect our knowledge from vanity” 31. In another place, he explains how grace generally works: “Grace first conceals its presence, waiting for the will of the soul, and as soon as a person completely turns to the Lord, then with some inexplicable feeling it reveals its presence to the heart and again awaits the movement of the soul, meanwhile allowing the devil’s arrows to reach its deepest feeling, so that with the most zealous will and with the humblest disposition it seeks God... However, one must know that, although grace hides its presence from the soul, it nevertheless gives it help in a secret way, in order to show the enemies that victory belongs only to the soul. That is why the soul is then in despondency, sorrow, humiliation and even moderate despair” 32. And Saint Macarius of Egypt says that “the power of the grace of God that is in man (which already exists, is bestowed), and the gift of the Holy Spirit, which the faithful soul is worthy to receive through great labor, much waiting, long-suffering, temptations and trials, is acquired,” meaning not its first receipt, but its full indwelling and action, as can be seen from his words, where he says that grace, with great longsuffering, wisdom and a mysterious test of the mind begins to act in a person who has been asceticizing for a long time on various occasions 33 . He explains this by the examples of Abraham, Jacob, Joseph and David, who, having received great promises, then had to suffer in obscurity for a long time, until they finally saw the fulfillment of the promises 34. It should be noted that this hiddenness and intangibility is not continuous, but at times is dissolved by consolations, although these consolations are completely different from those that come after, after the indwelling of the Spirit. Finally, when this period of hidden communion with God and God’s action in the soul ends, the continuation of which is not in the hands of man, but in the guiding wisdom of grace that saves man, God dwells in man in a special way, apparently fills him, unites and communicates with him, which is the goal of all asceticism and all labors on the part of man, and the entire economy of salvation from the face of God, and everything that happens to every person in real life from birth to the grave. Saint Macarius says that the work of grace, after long trials, is finally completely revealed, and the soul accepts the complete adoption of the Spirit. God entrusts Himself to the heart, and man is worthy to be one spirit with the Lord. The one who has been tested, according to Diadochus, has already become a complete dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Grace illuminates his entire being in some deepest feeling 35 . This action is revealed or accompanied in different ways for different people. These two methods of real communication with God were beautifully depicted and described by the wise Sirach, speaking about Wisdom, which is God’s grace that saves us: “as he walks with him obstinately in the first place, but fear and fear will induce him and torment him in his punishment, until he has faith in his soul and will tempt him in his justifications, and will return straight to him and will rejoice him and He will reveal his secrets to him” (Sir. 4:18–21). “As if he walked with him obstinately in the first place” - that is, sternly, strictly, unmercifully, with some kind of dislike. “Fear and fear will bring nan” - fear of the abandonment of God and the always ready attack of fierce enemies; moreover, according to Diadochos, grace acts like a mother hiding from a child, who, therefore, out of fear, begins to scream and look for the mother, especially when she sees strangers' faces 36. “And he will torment him in his punishment” - will keep him for a long time in this secret and strict teaching. According to Saint Macarius, “grace, in many different ways, according to its will and in accordance with the benefit of a person, arranges everything, keeps him in many temptations and mysterious trials of the mind, and so on 37 . “He will have faith until his soul and will tempt him in his justifications” - that is, he will bring him to the point where he can be completely relied on, as tried and true. Saint Macarius says: “When the will, through many temptations, appears pleasing to the Holy Spirit and after a long time shows itself to be patient and unshakable; when the soul does not offend the Spirit in anything, but agrees with grace in all the commandments,” then “And will return directly to him,” that is, openly, face to face, will appear to him as if again after separation and non-meeting. Then, according to Saint Macarius, the work of grace appears completely in him - he accepts full adoption 38; or, according to Diadochus, grace illuminates his entire being in some deep feeling, and he becomes completely the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit: the light of the face of God is marked on him (see: Ps. 4:7); The Lord and God comes and creates an abode in him (see: John 14:23). "And he will rejoice." “Your heart will rejoice,” says the Lord, “and no one will take your joy from you” (John 16:22). The Kingdom of God is “joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). The light that shines in a person, says Saint Macarius, pierces the entire inside so much that he, completely immersed in this sweetness and pleasant feeling, is outside himself for the sake of abundant love and the hidden Mysteries that he contemplates. “The soul then burns,” says Saint Diadochos, “and with some kind of inexplicable joy and love then strives to leave the body and go to the Lord and, as it were, not know this temporary life.” “And he will reveal to him his secrets” - the secrets of Divine wisdom, the venerable Trinity, the economy of salvation, its assimilation, the secrets of sin and virtue, providence for intelligent and material creatures, and in general the entire Divine order of things, as is depicted in detail by Saint Isaac the Syrian in his letter to Simeon. “When the mind is renewed and the heart is sanctified... then the spiritual knowledge of creation is felt, the contemplation of the mysteries of the Holy Trinity with the mysteries of its venerable view of us shines forth in it, and then it receives an all-perfect knowledge of the hope of the future. Such a one does not study, does not explore, but contemplates the glory of Christ, enjoys the pleasure of contemplating the mysteries of the new world. Such perfection of knowledge comes with the acceptance of the Spirit, which introduces our spirit into that world, order, or realm of contemplation" 39 . The Holy Spirit removes the veil from the soul, delights it in this age and shows it everything wonderful 40. So, now it is obvious that the grace that comes to the one converted through the Sacraments unites with him and first allows him to taste all the sweetness of life according to God, and then hides its presence from him, leaving him to act as if alone, among labors, sweats, bewilderment and even falls; finally, after this period of testing, it enters into him clearly, effectively, strongly, tangibly. The question arises: what is the reason that the grace of God does not suddenly completely infuse, or, what is the same, that the triumph of complete communion of the soul with God is not suddenly revealed? You need to know this reason in order to act against it, and act more successfully, because only by eliminating it can you achieve the complete infusion of grace. To understand why this happens, let us turn to the internal structure of the addressee. Sin takes possession of a person and attracts his attention, and all his aspirations, and all his strength. Acting under the influence of sin, a person saturates himself with it and all parts of his being, and accustoms all his forces to activities according to its inspiration. This alien, externally imposed activity from a long stay becomes so close to us that it becomes natural, takes on the appearance of natural, and therefore unchangeable and necessary. This is how, for example, arrogance merges with the mind, self-interest with wishes, lust with the heart, with all endeavors - selfhood and a certain hostility towards others. Thus, in his consciousness and will, in the powers of the soul - mind, will and feeling, in all functions of the body, in all his external affairs, in behavior, in relationships, rules and customs - a person is completely imbued with sin, that is, selfishness, passion, self-indulgence. Saint Macarius depicts this in such a way that sin, which entered into us after the fall, seems to have the whole image of man, which is why it is called carnal, spiritual, external man, and therefore it clothed with its parts the corresponding parts of our nature: mind with mind, will with will, etc., and, having suppressed the natural activity of our powers, passed off its unnatural activity as them, meanwhile keeping man in the confidence that it is natural. In this darkness, under the yoke of sin, in the realm of Satan, every person remains who is not converted, who has not repented, who has not come to the determination to serve God in spirit and truth 41 . The coming of God's grace - first through excitement, and then through a period of conversion - dissects man into man, introduces him to the consciousness of this duality, to the vision of the unnatural and what should be natural, and brings him to the determination to remove or purify everything unnatural, so that a God-like nature will appear in full light. But it is obvious that such determination is only the beginning of the matter. In it, man has only yet, through consciousness and will, emerged from the realm of the alien, quality of unnaturalness in him, abandoned it and attached himself to the naturalness expected and desired: but in fact, in all its composition, it still remains as it was, that is, saturated with sin, and in the soul in all its powers, and in the body in all its functions, passion characterizes, as before, with the only difference that before all this was desired, chosen and acted on behalf of man, with desire and pleasure, but now it is not desired, not chosen, but hated, trampled upon, persecuted. At the same time, a person comes out of himself, as if from a stinking corpse, and sees which part of him exudes a passionate stench, and against his will he sometimes smells, to the point of clouding his mind, all the stench that he emits. Thus, true life of grace in man is at first only a seed, a spark; but a seed sown among thorns, a spark hidden everywhere by ashes... This is still a weak candle, shining in the thickest fog. By consciousness and will, man clung to God, and God perceived him, united with him in this self-conscious and volitional power, or mind and spirit, as Saints Anthony and Macarius the Great say about this. And that’s all there is to a person who is good, saved, and pleasing to God. All other parts are still in captivity and do not want and cannot yet submit to the demands of the new life: the mind does not know how to think in a new way, but thinks in the old way; the will does not know how to want in a new way, but wants in the old way; the heart does not know how to feel in a new way, but feels in the old way. The same is true in the body, in all its functions. Consequently, he is still completely impure, except for a single point, which is the conscious and free force - the mind or spirit. God is the purest and unites with this single part, yet the other parts, as unclean, remain outside of Him, alien to Him, although He is ready to fill the whole person, but does not do this because the person is unclean... Then, as soon as he is cleansed, God immediately reveals His complete indwelling. Saint Gregory of Sinai writes: “If our nature through the Spirit is not preserved from defilement and does not become pure as it was, then neither in the present nor in the future life will it be possible to unite with Christ into one body and spirit; for the all-encompassing and uniting power of the Spirit is not in the habit of sewing on the rags of old passions to make up for the new robe of grace” 42 . It is impossible for the Lord to move in completely - the dwelling has not yet been prepared; It is impossible to completely pour out grace into it - the vessel is even thin. To do this would mean waiting in vain 43 and destroying spiritual treasures. “What fellowship does light have with darkness, or Christ with beliar?” (2 Cor. 6:14–15). And the Lord, promising to come with the Father and create an abode, makes it an indispensable condition for the fulfillment of the commandments - of course, all the commandments, otherwise - right activity in everything, which is impossible without the rightness of the forces, and the rightness of the forces without rejecting the wrongness that has come from them, or rejecting 44 sinfulness and passion. This may include, in some way, the following passage: “Even if we speak as if the imam is communicating with Him, we walk in darkness, we lie and do not create the truth; If we walk in the light, as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with each other” (1 John 1:6, 7). This darkness is the darkness of passions, because after Saint John in the same places he uses instead of love and threefold lust (see: 1 John 2, 10-11, 16). Light, on the contrary, is the light of virtues; and again because after that light is replaced by virtues. From this it is clear that only then can one truly stand in the perfection of communion with God, when the darkness of the passions has been driven away and the light of the virtues has shone, when they have been imprinted, merged, as it were, with our being, clothed and penetrated our powers, expelling and displacing passions from them so that they are no longer luminous, but self-illuminating. Until that time, communication with God is so hidden, so unknown, that it may seem non-existent and to some extent should be considered unreliable, indecisive, incomplete, or inconsistent with itself. So, that the Lord, having come into union with the spirit of man, does not suddenly completely fill or inhabit him, this depends not on Him, who is ready to fill everything, but on us, namely on the passions that have dissolved with the forces of our nature, not yet rejected from them and not replaced by opposite virtues. “Sinful passions,” says Saint Anthony the Great, “do not allow God to shine in us” 45. If the main goal to which a repentant should strive is complete communion with God, luminous, blissful, and the main obstacle to this is the existence of qualitative and still active passions in him, the lack of manifestation of virtues and the wrongness of forces, then it is obvious that his most important task, immediately after conversion and repentance, he must set the eradication of passions and the imprint of virtues - in a word, the correction of himself... The removal of everything that is wrong and the acceptance or placement of what is right, the driving away of sinful passions, habits, shortcomings, even seemingly natural, and other wrongs, as if excusable, and the assimilation of virtues, good morals, rules and generally all-round correctness, without, however, losing attention to the latter goal, but acting with all zeal against the passions, meanwhile, having the eyes of the mind turned to God - this is the initial principle that should adhere to the construction of the entire order of a godly life, which should measure the straightness and crookedness of the rules invented and the feats undertaken. One must be convinced of this as fully as possible, because all active misconceptions, it seems, arise from ignorance of this beginning 46 . Not understanding the power of this, some stop at the mere appearance of exercise and asceticism, others at some good deeds and skill in them, without reaching higher, and still others go straight into contemplation. All this is necessary, but everything has its own course. At first everything is in the seed, then it develops not exclusively, but predominantly in one part or another, but gradualness is inevitable - an ascent from external to internal achievements, and from both to contemplation, and not vice versa. Convinced of this, we can now easily extract the guiding rules for a godly life, or the spirit and structure of asceticism. Let us turn back a little and again place our attention before a man who has dedicated himself to God and made a vow to act always and in everything according to His will, for His glory, to become rich in truly good deeds. Having decided on this, how else can he act in this way, when, as we have seen, neither one nor the other part of us is capable of this? Sin is hated in the spirit, but the body and soul sympathize with it, cling to it, because they are clothed with passions. The good or will of God is loved in the spirit, but the body and soul do not sympathize with it, turn away from it, or, if this does not exist, do not know how to do it. Therefore, he who, out of zeal, has decided to remain faithful to the vow given and, out of conscious necessity, to remain in goodness, inevitably in every good deed (and he should not have bad ones) must resist the demands of his body and soul and, refusing them, force them to do the opposite. And since the body and soul do not depart from his person, but constitute him, this is the same as resisting oneself in bad and forcing oneself to do good. Self-resistance and self-coercion are two turns of jealousy revived in the spirit, forming, as it were, the beginnings of asceticism. Both constitute a person’s struggle with himself, or, in other words, a feat. From here, the converted repentant, from the first minutes of his new life, inevitably enters into feat, into struggle, into labor, and begins to bear a burden, a yoke. And this is so significant that all the saints recognize that the only true path to virtue is its painfulness and difficulty, and the opposite benefit is a sign of a false path: “The Kingdom of God is in need, and the needy women delight it” (Matthew 11:12). He who is not in struggle, not in feat, is in delusion. The Apostle says: whoever does not endure is not a son (see: Heb. 12:7, 8). So, a zealous person is zealous for the exploits of self-compulsion and self-resistance with the goal of self-correction, or elevating himself to pristine purity, in order to be worthy of communion with God the sooner. Obviously, the more zealously, carefully, and quickly he does this, the more successfully he achieves his goal. This is the same thing: whoever goes against himself more hatefully and hostilely, acts more abruptly and decisively, he sooner enters into purity. That is why we see that all the saints who ascended to the heights of Christian perfection, after their conversion, began the most severe feats of self-mortification - fasting, vigils, long periods of rest 47, solitude, and so on. This was a consciously chosen measure, inspired by grace, taken to speed up maturity, and it really came quickly. On the contrary, relief, stopping, self-pity, although not constant, slowed down and always slow down the progress of spiritual progress 48 . So, the matter is decided: be zealous, take on more decisively deeds, also the most decisive and adaptable, - after all, among them, some contribute more and others less to the mortification of passions and the imprint of virtues. If this painful state is inevitable, albeit transitory, then what is the point of prolonging this matter due to one mistake? Indecision, oversight, lethargy are a great obstacle. I’ve decided, don’t just stand there, but fight; this is on behalf of a person. But it is necessary to constantly keep in mind that, although merciless jealousy of oneself is salutary for the one who turns, the success and fruits of his labors and exploits, that is, their impact and influence on the purification of passions and the formation of true good morals, do not come from him. The fruit of exploits is seeded and ripens under them, but not by them and not through them alone, but from grace. “I planted, Apollos gave water, but God increased” (1 Cor. 3:6). Just as spiritual life began by God’s grace, so it can only be preserved and matured by it. He is strong, says the Apostle, “who began a work in you and will complete it” (cf. Phil. 1:6). The first seed of a new life consists of a combination of freedom and grace, and its cultivation will be the development of these same elements. Just as there, making a vow to live according to the will of God, for His glory, the penitent said: “Only You strengthen and establish,” so in all subsequent times he must constantly place himself, so to speak, in the hand of God with the prayer: “You Yourself do whatever pleases Your will,” so that in this way, both in consciousness and will, so in reality God would “act in us, and deeds of good will" (Phil. 2:13). The minute in which a person himself expects to do something on himself and in himself is the minute the extinguishment of true, spiritual, grace-filled life. In this state, despite excessive labor, there is no true fruit. There are consequences that cannot be called bad if you look at them separately; but in the course of business they are a stop and evasion, and often evil, for they lead to arrogance, conceit, which are the seed of the devil, infused by it and akin to it. At the same time, what is not God’s is mixed in with the work of God in us and spoils it, so that instead of raising up a person who has come to his senses, grace will first purify and take away 49 what has been spoiled by self-madeness. “Or do you not know that Christ is in you,” teaches the Apostle, “unless you are unskilled in nature” (cf. 2 Cor. 13:5). Having united with the Lord in the Sacrament of repentance or baptism, we must surrender ourselves to Him, so that by entering into us Himself, as the Lord of all, He, “with the message of destinies,” will arrange our salvation. The Lord said: “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5), - we must believe and ask Him to do in us, to cleanse us from passions, imprint virtues in us and do everything that is healing. This is the essential mood of the repentant: “In the light of fate, save me, Lord, and I will work unfeignedly, without deviations, misinterpretations, with a clear conscience, do everything that I understand and can!” Whoever sets himself up inside like this, the Lord truly perceives him and acts in him like a king. His teacher is God, his prayer book is God, his will and doer is God, his fruit-bearer is God, his ruler is God. This is the seed and heart of the heavenly tree of life in it. But for him there must certainly be a material-spiritual fence. This fence is made up of a leader and rules. The repentant, having surrendered himself to God, immediately comes under His direct guidance and is accepted by Him. Whoever manages to do this, as he should, at the beginning, is quickly, smoothly and reliably led by God’s grace to perfection. But in reality there are very few of them. These are God’s chosen ones, who, with an incredibly quick impulse from themselves, placed themselves in God’s hands, were accepted and led by Him. Such are, for example, Mary of Egypt, Paul of Thebes, Marco of France and others. They were saved by one decisive surrender of themselves to God. Mary of Egypt, in all her cruel battles with the passions, had a rule - to cast herself into the hand of God, and the passions passed away, as we know, by feat. She, no doubt, did the same in other cases: she asked, for example, for admonition and received it. But such a path was not and could not be universal. It belonged and belongs to the special chosen ones of God. Others are still maturing under the visible guidance of experienced husbands. Standing in the faith that only God gives birth, a repentant, in order to succeed, must certainly surrender to his father-leader. The need for this appears because there is no complete surrender of oneself to God - a deficiency that belongs to the majority. It must be matured and matured through many experiences, but before its formation there is no point at which the guiding hand of the Lord would touch - there is no reason, as it were, for which the message should be given. Consequently, without this condition, one who begins to do the work of salvation himself will inevitably follow a path about which one cannot decisively say that it is the right path, and this is both dangerous and painful for the spirit. Saint Anthony the Great, when he came to the conclusion whether his rules were correct, immediately began to cry out: “Tell me, Lord, the way,” and, having received assurance, he calmed down. One who enters the spiritual life is the same as one who enters the ordinary path. Since this path is unknown to us, it is necessary for someone to guide us. It would be presumptuous to dwell on the idea that I myself can... No, neither rank nor scholarship helps here. It is no less arrogant if someone, without extreme need, having the opportunity to gain a leader, does not choose him, in the thought that God will directly guide him. Indeed, leading to perfection belongs to God, who accepted us, but under the guidance of the Father. The Father does not elevate to degrees, but promotes being elevated by God. However, as usual, God leads us through others, admonishes us, cleanses us, and tells us His will. The one left alone, with himself, is in extreme danger, not to mention the fact that he will fight and push in one place with almost no fruit. Knowing neither spiritual exploits and exercises, nor the order in them, he will do nothing but redo them, as if he had taken up the task without skill. Often for this reason, many stagnate, grow cold and lose jealousy. But the main danger for him is from internal discord and satanic flattery. The one who has begun has a fog inside, as if from stinking fumes, from passions and wrong emissions from oneself, from corrupted forces. Everyone has it, more or less thick, judging by previous depravity. In this fog, how can one distinguish objects well and correctly? To someone wandering in the fog, a small row of herbal patches often seems like a forest or a village - just like someone who has begun spiritual activity inevitably sees a lot where there is nothing in reality. Only an experienced eye can enlighten and explain what’s going on. Again, he is a patient: how can he be his own doctor? He will starve and strangle himself out of sheer love for himself: after all, doctors themselves do not heal bodies. But the main danger is from Satan. Since he himself is predominantly a self-witted person, he loves more among people those who are guided by their own mind - this is where he mainly confuses and destroys. And we can say that this alone gives him access to us, or the opportunity to plunge us into destruction. Whoever does not believe his own mind and heart and, on the contrary, offers everything that is in feeling and thought to the judgment of another, even if the devil instills something dangerous and harmful, he will not suffer, because the experience and intelligence of the other will unravel the delusion and warn. That is why they say: whoever has a leader and entrusts himself to him, Satan will not approach him, lest he be constantly put to shame and not expose all his wiles. On the contrary, it is persistent with those who believe only in themselves or lay down their reason and rely on it. He leads such a one along various paths, imprinted through imagination or dreaming power, until he finally destroys him completely. Judging by these reasons, which are very valid, the beginner must agree to have a leader, choose him and devote himself to him. Under it he is safe, as under a roof and a fence - he will already be answerable both before God and before people for infidelity. But it is amazing that the true leader is always presented to the sincere seeker. And the leader, no matter who he is, always gives precise and faithful guidance, as soon as the person being led surrenders to him with all his soul and faith. The Lord Himself is already watching over such a devotee... Pray - and the Lord will indicate a leader; surrender to the leader - and the Lord will teach him how to lead you 50. Another thing that is inevitably needed for a determined repentant is rules. A rule is a definition or method, image and institution of some activity, whether internal or external. They are given direction and the entire move is determined - the beginning, time, place, turns, end of the action. So, for example, you need to read - this is one of the ascetic deeds. The rule should determine: what books to read, at what time, how much, how to prepare, how to start, continue and finish, what to do with what you read. The same applies to prayer, reasoning and other activities. It is obvious that the rules cover every activity and constitute its outer shell, like a body. They must be imposed on all our forces, on all the outcomes of our activities, so that no movement is made without its own rule being attached to it. The need for this is self-evident. A completely new, unusual life begins, in which we have not yet exercised, to which our strength is unusual. In order to accustom oneself to this or that activity and strengthen oneself in it, one must assign certain rules on how and what to do, just as a newly recruited warrior is shown how to stand, take a gun, and so on. Without them, forces will not be formed, and there will be no proper activity. He will not be able to pray who does not have a rule for prayer, or to fast without a rule of fasting; In general, a person without rights will not be able to do anything as he should, and consequently, his life will not be life, despite his toil and sweat, for life is made up of our activities. Moreover, life without rules cannot be smooth, sedate and harmoniously developing. A child is swaddled so that it does not become a freak or with a hump: in the same way, all spiritual activity should be surrounded by rules, it is advisable that all life develops smoothly and harmoniously under them, not a single activity, out of ignorance, takes a direction that stands out from others and is harmful to the whole system, or does not itself fall on the wrong path, such as, for example, fasting. The young plant is propped up or tied to a strong one so that it stands and grows straight. One who develops without rules, by himself, is untrained, unskilled, unable to do some things, doing other things in the wrong way, and doing others in that way, but this is out of place and out of place. Finally, the danger is considerable: without rules, like without support, it is inevitable to fall and make mistakes. For such a person, all activity will depend on the presence of spirit, consideration and desire. But can we rely on such principles? You cannot always maintain presence of mind; the understanding must be trained and, moreover, it is not always agile, sharp and dull; Who will be able to control desire constantly? Therefore, when there are no rules, omissions, errors, and stops are inevitable. There is one thing with the rules: whether you want it or not, do it as you should, and it will be done; there will be no stopping, and it will go forward. And one more thing: how else to curb willfulness and self-thinking - this is the most dangerous disposition 51? Thus, with the rules, under the guidance of the father, the zealous one, laboring in self-constraint and self-resistance or remaining in unforgiving struggle, will advance in perfection day by day, approaching purity, through the eradication of his passions and the acquisition of virtues. But one must know that this ascent to perfection is invisible to him: he works in the sweat of his brow, but as if without fruit - grace builds its work under cover. Human vision, the eye, eats up the good. A person himself is left with only one share - the vision of his own lewdness. The path to perfection is the path to the consciousness that I am blind, and poor, and naked, in continuous connection with which there is contrition of the spirit, or illness and sorrow about one’s uncleanness, poured out before God, or, what is the same, unceasing repentance. Repentant feelings are the hallmarks of true asceticism. Whoever turns away from them and avoids them has strayed from the path. In the position of starting a new life there was repentance; it must also grow and mature with him. The one who matures matures in the knowledge of his corruption and sinfulness and deepens into contrite feelings of repentance. Tears are a measure of prosperity, and incessant tears are a sign of imminent purification. That this is how it should be is clear from the fact that we are in decline, in exile, outside the hearth of home, and, moreover, for our own guilt. The exile cries and regrets his homeland; So those who have begun to go towards purification should grieve and lament and seek in tears a return to the paradise of purity. Moreover, the ascetic is constantly struggling, now with reluctance, now with anti-will; now a thought, now a desire, now a passion, now a sin, although unintentional, constantly clouds the purity of his mind and reminds him that he contains within himself only impurity, sinful things that are contrary to God. He sees himself as like a stinking corpse, lying in front of his face and tormenting his sense of smell until his head is darkened. “Lay your sins before you,” says Anthony the Great, “and look through them to God 52. Finally, frequent falls and missteps in beginners due to inexperience, ignorance, lack of skill, and sometimes due to weakness, fall heavily on his conscience, and, perhaps, heavier than before: in carelessness the sins are great. He is like a child learning to walk and falling. And falls require cleansing, therefore, contrition, repentance, tears; That is why everyone is commanded to repent daily and even every minute. God, be merciful to me, a sinner! This should be the unceasing prayer of the ascetic. Thus, the beginner, with fiery and quick zeal, devotes himself to the most decisive deeds, expecting everything, however, from the strength and help of God and betraying himself to Him, in the expectation of success, but not the vision of it, and therefore in a constant endeavor, under the guidance of the father, among the rules, always adhering to the humblest part. In such a spirit and system, an ascetic can reliably begin his work - the work of eradicating passions, or cleansing his nature from the admixture of unnatural passions. In his spirit there is a zeal as strong as death; but even the strongest zeal needs a plan in order to faithfully move towards the intended goal. Its explanation will contain all the rules for those entering the feat. This will be nothing more than a statement of those rules, the necessity of which was shown before this. The leader of a general theory should know this most of all and, applying it to the person being led, can change them in changing accidents. To construct such rules, let us again confirm the thought on the state of the repentant-ascetic. The spirit in him is resurrected and enlivened by the action of grace received in the Sacraments. But he alone is the healed part, hidden in the very depths of our being. This is the same as a healing medicine taken by a part of a body that is completely decaying. Then, outside, his soul, in all its powers, and his body, in all its functions, and personally the man himself, in all external relations, are overflowing and saturated with a passion that is not dead, but active in them, alive. The main task of the work is to kill passion in all its shades and restore nature to its characteristic purity, so that in this way grace from within, as it is purified, appears, as if penetrating one part after another, with wise gradualness and purposefulness. From here the whole order of the rules that have to be built is immediately visible, or the measuring thread for the wire and their drawing is visible. Thus: The seed of life is sown: guard it with all your care; otherwise there is nothing to put in and work for and nothing to carry it with. If you have received the Spirit, do not quench the Spirit; if you are jealous, be jealous of more. Take care of what is given, what is acquired - this acquired is a coin for buying treasures. It will disappear - and the whole thing will be lost. Just as during a war they are very concerned about maintaining their position in every possible way, so it is here. We need to break away the passion that has grown together and dissolved with the forces of our nature. Since this fusion is similar to the fusion of chemical compounds, the methods of its removal must be applied to the methods of chemical decomposition. Namely, in order to free an element from its forced state in connection with another, it is brought into contact with a third, third-party, external element, with which it would be in a stronger affinity than with the former. When this happens in reality, the element that bound it falls away, and with this new one it unites and receives a new form along with it. Applying to this, it is necessary to apply to all the powers of the soul and body and all our activities, captivated by passion and held in a forced, unnatural state, something with which they would be in close affinity and co-naturalness, so that in this way they are attached and, as if growing to that, in proportion to this, they are freed from passionate bonds and take on a new natural form of being. This will be the rule of doing or practicing imposed on the forces. Walking in them, while maintaining that inner acquisition of the Spirit of grace, akin to them and to the forces of our nature, a person will be more and more filled with this Spirit, the fire of Which, thus receiving more freedom to pass inside, will burn up impurity the more quickly, the more it meets the expansion of naturalness. These two points exhaust the system of positive deeds of an ascetic, or, what is the same, self-compulsion exercises. It would be possible to confine ourselves to these alone if the despised and abandoned passion for good remained at rest or peacefully evaporated from our nature; but since it, partly due to the natural stubbornness of sin, partly due to its strong reinforcement or from the side of its imprecise beginning - the devil, or from the side of the container of the elements of the world akin to it, does not tolerate peaceful, compliant obedience, even having fallen away and, as it were, separated, rises again and seeks to take its first place, powerful, astringent - then one cannot be content with that activity alone, but it is necessary to act directly with it against passions, to confront them in the face, to fight them and defeat them both in ourselves and in their sources and reinforcers. The definition of the rules relating to this will constitute an image of internal, or spiritual warfare, both in its general outline and in parts. These are feats of self-resistance. Thus, all rules should be reduced to the following, initial one: preserve the inner spirit of life, zeal and zeal, walk in activities or exercises that, on the one hand, contribute to the revival of exhausted forces, and on the other, kill or drown out passions. Consequently, everything related to this must be concluded in these three points: the rules for maintaining the inner spirit of jealousy, the rules for exercising one’s strength in goodness, or self-coercion, and the rules for fighting the passions, or exercising in self-resistance. 1. On maintaining a spirit of zeal for God It is necessary to fulfill the commandments and do everything; but we naturally do not have the desire, zeal and jealousy for that. In repentance, for the sake of a contrite spirit and a vow to do the will of God, by God’s grace this fire was kindled in our spirit; He is the power to create the commandments and he alone is capable of lifting all this burden. If fulfilling the commandments is the basis of salvation, then the spirit of zeal is the only saving power for us. Where he is, there is diligence, zeal, readiness, liveliness for deeds pleasing to God. Where it is not there, everything stops and falls: there is no life of the spirit - it grows cold and freezes. There, let there be the creation of good deeds - they will be good only in form, and not in strength and spirit. This is the fire that our Lord Jesus Christ came to kindle on earth and which is kindled by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers, descending in the form of tongues of fire. The Lord says about this spirit of jealousy: “Fire came to light” (Luke 12:49). The Apostle commands “not to quench the spirit” (1 Thess. 5:19) and testifies about himself: “I persecute with zeal” (Phil. 3:14). And among the holy fathers it is called differently: search, proposal, zeal, diligence, warmth of spirit and burning, and simply zeal. Judging by this great importance and great significance of zeal, the first task of a Christian ascetic should be to preserve this zeal and zeal as the source of power for a godly life. Keep, therefore, use special kinds of techniques and exercises that contribute to this. Which ones exactly? Jealousy must be preserved in the same way as it was born, and it was born by an internal change of heart, under the invisible action of God’s grace. The internal, invisible ascent of our spirit to jealousy began with a gracious awakening and ended with a decisive vow to walk unswervingly in the will of God. In this ascent, the strictest gradualness was observed. Man-sinner, who lives entirely outside and is therefore called external, is forced inside himself by the coming grace and here, as if awakened from a dream, he sees a completely new world, hitherto unknown to him. This is the first push, after which, with the help of God, through various thoughts and feelings, he is little by little freed from the first world, moves into another and throws himself before his King and Lord, offering Him a sworn covenant to forever be His slave. So, someone who wants to maintain unquenchable zeal must: a) stay within, b) see the new world and c) stand in those feelings and thoughts through which he, as if on the steps of a ladder, ascended to the foot of the Throne of the Lord. This is what should be the constant exercise, feat and work of a Christian ascetic! When a hen, having found grain, lets her cubs know about it, then they all, wherever they are, fly to her in summer and gather with their beaks to the point where there is a beak. In the same way, when Divine grace affects a person in his heart, then his spirit penetrates there with his consciousness, and behind it all the powers of soul and body. Hence the law for staying inside: keep your consciousness in your heart and gather there with tension all the forces of your soul and body. Staying inside, in fact, is the imprisonment of consciousness in the heart, while the intense gathering there of the forces of soul and body is an essential means, or doing, a feat. However, they mutually give birth to each other and presuppose each other, so that one cannot exist without the other. He who is confined in the heart is collected; and whoever is collected is in the heart. Around consciousness in the heart one must gather all one’s strength, mind, will, and feeling. The gathering of the mind in the heart is attention, the gathering of the will is vigilance, the gathering of feelings is sobriety. Attention, vigilance, sobriety are three internal activities by which self-assembly is accomplished and inward abiding acts. Whoever has them, and moreover, everything, goes inside; whoever doesn’t have it, and even just one, is out. Following such spiritual activities, the bodily organs corresponding to them should also be directed there: for attention - turning inward to the eyes, for alertness - muscle tension throughout the body, in the direction of the torsos, for sobriety - pushing aside phlegm, as Nikifor puts it, some kind of relaxing movements approaching the heart from the lower parts of the body, suppressing pleasure and peace of the flesh. Such bodily activities, acting inseparably from spiritual ones, are the most powerful, helping those mental means without which they cannot exist. So, all the doing of inward-dwelling through self-assembly consists of the following. In the first minute after waking up from sleep, as soon as you become aware of yourself, go down inside to the heart, into these bodily perios: after that, convene, attract, strain there all your mental and physical forces, with the attention of the mind, with the eyes directed there, with the vigor of the will, with the tension of the muscles and the sobriety of feelings, with the suppression of pleasure and peace of the flesh, and do this until the consciousness is established there, like a seat in its place, will not stick, will not become attached, like something sticky, to a strong wall; and then remain there continuously as long as you use consciousness, often repeating the same act of self-assembly both to renew it and to strengthen it, because it is constantly either relaxed or disrupted. You need to know that this inward abiding and gathering is not the same as deepening during reflection, or duma (from the word “to think”), although it is a lot like it. The latter stands only at the origin of the mind, leaving other forces unoccupied, and is kept in the head, and then it stands in the heart, at the origin of all movements, below and deeper than everything that exists and happens in us, or it happens in such a way that all this happens on top of it, before its eyes, and is sometimes allowed, sometimes prohibited. From here it is self-evident that inward abiding is, in its true form, a condition for a person’s true dominion over himself, therefore, for true freedom and rationality, and therefore for true spiritual life. This is similar to how in the outside world the owner of a city is considered to be the one who occupies a fortress. Therefore, every spiritual work and every feat in general must be performed from here, otherwise it is not spiritual, lower than asceticism and should be rejected. “The Kingdom of God is within you,” says the Lord (Luke 17:21), and then for one spiritual work he commanded: “Go into your cage and shut the doors...” (Matthew 6:6). This is the cage of the heart, according to the understanding of all the holy fathers. For this reason, a spiritual person, who is saved, who strives, is called internal. That gathering inside is the most suitable means for preserving jealousy, this is now clear: The collected one must burn, for it gathers all the forces together, just as scattered rays, being collected at one point, reveal intense heat and ignite. And indeed, warmth is always connected with the gathering: the spirit here sees itself, as Nicephorus says, and plays with joy. The gathered one is strong, like an organized army or a bunch of weak canes tied together. It, like girding the loins, signifies readiness and strength to act. The uncollected is always weak and either falls or does not do anything. The collected one sees everything in himself. He who is in the center sees along all radii, sees everything in the circle exactly and as if at once, and he who comes out from the center sees in the direction of only one radius; in the same way, the one who is collected inside sees all the movements of his forces - he sees and can control. The burning of the spirit is strength and sight, and constitute the true spirit of jealousy, which is made up of them. Therefore, it should be said: just be inside, and you will not stop being jealous. So that's a significant inside-stay! This means that one must work hard to acquire it, for it does not appear suddenly, but through time and much searching. It comes first because it is a condition for spiritual life. Its improvement depends on the perfection of the three mental and three bodily activities that produce it, namely: the attention of the mind with turning inward to the eyes, the alertness of the will with the tension of the body, and the sobriety of the heart with the suppression of pleasure and peace of the flesh. It will appear in full light when purity of mind from thoughts, purity of will from desires, purity of heart from addictions and passions is achieved. But even before that time, it is still an inward abiding, although imperfect, immature, and not continuous. From here it is self-evident what the means are for non-existent inward abiding, or, better, there is only one means: remove everything that can disrupt the three actions shown, in their double combination, or everything that can distract outward the powers of the soul, with their corresponding functions of the body: mind and feelings, will and muscles, heart and flesh. The senses are entertained by external impressions, the mind by thoughts, the muscles are relaxed by the licentiousness of the limbs, the will by wishes, the flesh by peace, the heart by captivity or clinging to something. Therefore, keep your mind without thoughts, your feelings without entertainment, your will without desires, your muscles without weakness, your heart without captivity, your flesh without pleasure and peace. So, the condition and at the same time the means to stay inside: in the soul there is a struggle with the thoughts, desires and captivities of the heart, in the body it is bound, and behind them is a change in the external order. Judging by this, all subsequent exploits, which will be directed towards the mortification of the self, are also means to stay within. That is why in the instructions of the holy fathers (the teaching on sobriety, guarding the mind) inner life is always presented in inextricable connection with ascetic warfare. However, a meeting is not the same as a fight. This is a special spiritual work, the most basic. It is a place where everything spiritual is done - warfare, reading, contemplation of God, and prayer. Whatever the ascetic does, first always go inside and act from there. “Try to enter the church that is inside you, and you will see the heavenly church,” says Saint Isaac the Syrian. And indeed, one who has entered within himself sees another certain world, like an immense church, invisible and unimaginable, but imprinted in consciousness, in which, however, a person does not see himself and not what is happening in him, for all this should be silent - and is silent. At the first blow of calling grace, along with the entry inside, this world also opens, regardless of a person, whether he wants it or not. Afterwards, his vision, as well as being inside, is given over to human freedom and must be done. Such an activity as reproducing the second change, when a person ascends to determination and jealousy, is the second means of preserving and kindling jealousy. It consists in containing in consciousness and feeling the entire structure of the spiritual world. Just as one who enters a room is said to behold it when he holds it all in his consciousness, with all its arrangement, so whoever enters into himself, as if on a threshold, will behold another world when he impresses upon his consciousness its entire structure. Everything, therefore, related here will be fulfilled when the mind understands what the structure of the spiritual world is, when it imprints it on consciousness, or closes itself in it with consciousness, and will stand in it without origin. The entire structure of the spiritual, invisible, mental, but nevertheless real world can be briefly expressed as follows: the One God, worshiped in the Trinity, who created everything and contains everything, raises, or, according to the Apostle, heads (see: Eph. 1:10) all things in our Lord Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit, active in the Holy Church, Who, after perfection believers, transfers them to another world, which will continue until the time of the fulfillment of all, or the end of the age, when, after the resurrection and judgment, everyone is rewarded according to their deeds: some will fall into hell, others will live in paradise, and “God will be all things in all” (1 Cor. 15:28). This is the all-encompassing frame of all that truly exists, exists and has to be. Here is an abbreviation of the entire content of Divine revelation. Everything possible and real enters here and is here. This is also the content of the Creed. The main subjects here are: the sovereignty of God, the economy of salvation and the last four - death, judgment, heaven and hell. These are precisely the objects that Saint Tikhon of Christ commands all Christians to constantly remember from infancy to the grave. The ascetic Christian must imprint this structure on his mind, bring it, that is, to a bright clarity of consciousness, or enter into it so deeply, or perceive it into himself, so that it is, as it were, imposed on him - so merge with it that consciousness cannot come into motion without feeling it in himself or on himself, just as one cannot make movements of one’s hand without shaking the air, or open one’s eyes without being subject to the impression of blows of light. The best means to this: establishing oneself in this structure, just as one who looks around himself sees himself established in a certain measured relationship with all the things surrounding him, establishing, therefore, in the omnipotence of God, in His right hand, feeling oneself held by Him, permeable and visible by Him, or, as Basil the Great says, remembering that you are supervised; establishment of participation in the economy of salvation, as a member of the Church, the feeling, according to Chrysostom, that you are a warrior of Christ and are recorded in that city; establishment in death and judgment, with the eye turning either to heaven or to hell. This establishment is not given suddenly... It is the goal. Seeking it, doing it with the goal of acquiring it, is a mental feat, difficult and lengthy, but one cannot say that it is complex. It all consists of simple intense vision of these objects with the mind. See yourself contained by the right hand of God and the visible eye of God, saved in the Lord, standing in death, under judgment, so that as a result you will either receive heaven or be swallowed up by hell. All labor is first directed towards seeing all this. When someone once achieves sight, he will then begin to see more easily and more often; and the more continuously, intensely and diligently someone does this, the sooner he will achieve unceasing vision, or, what is the same, standing in the spiritual world, before God, in the Church, at the hour of death and judgment, on the eve of hell or heaven. The final limit of this activity is standing in the spiritual world, or, as it were, feeling oneself in it. Namely: in relation to the omnipotence of God, existence is in such a feeling as a child in the arms of its mother; to the all-spectacle of God, in which a subject is before the king; to the economy of salvation, in which a warrior is in the ranks, or a son in his father’s house, or an artist at work, or as a comrade in a circle of friends, or as one of his own in his family; to death and trial, like a criminal awaiting a moment-to-moment verdict; to heaven and hell, as if standing on the narrowest plank, on one side of which there is an abyss bubbling with fire, and on the other - a most beautiful garden. Whoever the Lord grants to perceive all this into his senses, it must be said that he came from this world and remains in another with his consciousness and heart, that he entered the Kingdom of God or took it into himself. “The Kingdom of God is within you.” This departure from the present world and entry into another must be a goal and constitute the subject of intense quest. The condition for this is, of course, inward abiding, in an inextricable connection with which it begins, matures, and is completed, so that when an inextricable inward abiding is formed, then standing in the world of God is formed; and vice versa: only then is it safe to stay inside when one’s standing in the other world is strengthened. The work itself consists, as has been said, in the compulsion to look at these objects as often as possible, with the desire to see them continuously. From the first minute of awakening to consciousness, go inside and with all possible tension insert yourself into this system and order. First, it is better to fix your gaze on one object and contemplate it until it is imprinted, and then move on to others. When everyone gets over, then the whole system can be recognized in an instant. Some distribute this work by day, others by parts of the day: for example, about death - after lunch, as someone finds it convenient or for what he feels his spirit is most mobile. Only one law must be adhered to - not to change often, for this takes away all the fruit from doing. We should also not lose sight of the fact that this variable vision is only a means, while the goal is a non-starting position in that entire system. Anyone who, having become accustomed to seeing one thing, does not move on to another, has stopped on the path and deceives himself, imagining that he already has what he has just moved toward or began to strive for. Having become accustomed to one, always move through it to another, both in order not to destroy what you have acquired through labor, and in order to thereby prepare for the speedy imprint of another. It must be remembered that this is not reflection, but the motionless vision of the mind, or faith in that subject; the movement of the mind towards a thought, as an involuntary accident, happens, but is not advised, not favored, but must be stopped immediately by the consciousness of it. As a guide to successfully completing this task and achieving perfection in it, you can take a passage of Holy Scripture relating to one or another subject, and repeat it continuously for a day or more, for example: “Where shall I go?” (Ps. 139:7); “One must die, and then judgment” (Heb. 9:27); “You store up wrath for yourself for the day of wrath” (Rom. 2:5); “There is no other name by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12), and so on; have a picture of death, the cross or the Last Judgment and place it in such a place that it hits the eyes as often and involuntarily as possible; choose books and articles that sharply depict these subjects, and conversations, if they happen, with like-minded people, conduct more about the same thing; remember more often the invisible and unexpected judgments of God, mortal cases, deceased relatives and their condition, see yourself on your deathbed, watch funerals. All this has a sharper effect on a person’s spirit if he stands in these objects during prayer. With God's help, the impression is made very quickly in this order. You just need to not throw away the object imprinted in prayer later, but walk with it as long as you can, even for several days, trying to maintain the impression by writing, reading, talking, or in other ways. It is good to imprint them all together, to mentally strain, to see them in one moment, or at least at one time, at least one after the other. The best thing, however, is to read the Creed as often as possible, also straining to look at all its truths in one moment. Labor, tension, effort will soon lead to the desired goal; just don’t weaken, don’t interrupt, but do everything and do it, even though the fruit and skill are not visible. Years will pass without fruit, and one minute will give everything to the tireless worker in the garden of the Kingdom of Christ, for the sake of his constancy in work and patient diligence. Such vision of another world is capable of containing and kindling the spirit of jealousy by providing a true field for action for the jealous spirit. “You are not from here,” says Chrysostom, “but from another world; therefore, one must act as if in that world, and for this purpose one must contemplate it. On the other hand, whoever sees it will always have before his eyes some kind of norm and example, reminding him not to deviate, not to do something crookedly. This is good even when someone only grasps these objects with their minds. If someone comes to the point of perceiving them even just a little, they instantly raise his jealousy to great tension. All the holy fathers call them “the spines (stings, needles - Ed.) of the future.” And whatever of this is accepted by feeling, it will not allow the one who accepted it to sin. “Remember,” Sirach teaches, “the last is yours, and you will never sin” (Sir. 7:39). “I have foreseen,” the prophet David testifies, “the Lord, and let me not move” (Ps. 15:8). Macarius the Great was dried up, as he himself says, by the memory of the fire of Gehenna, while others cried incessantly from the memory of death. And there are many sayings from the holy fathers regarding these subjects and regarding how much they strain a person’s spirit and kindle jealousy. Those who have come to their senses see themselves in great cramped conditions, and in extremes, it is known how intense the tension can be. B. Standing in feelings that lead to determination But all this is only a preparation, a condition and a means to kindle jealousy. The restoration of the most decisive zeal and strong zeal is accomplished through the reproduction of those feelings and thoughts through which initially, following the awakening from sinful sleep, one ascended to it. Upon awakening, you saw yourself in extreme danger, perishing, you were in great need and hardship, and now restore this same feeling of danger and extremity, for they really exist. Be in fear and do not allow yourself to think and calm down that everything seems to have passed. Then you, renouncing everything, spat on and despised everything, choosing other blessings - insensible, invisible, spiritual: renounce now, tear away everything and incline towards the invisible, spiritual; See him and try to love him. You then renounced man-pleasing: now consider yourself lower than everyone else; Be prepared for all kinds of contempt and reproach. You valued everything then as nothing; don’t value anything now; Bear the readiness, having abandoned everything, to remain naked. Self-pity was trampled upon by you then: rise now to the point of readiness for the steepest crosses and continue your self-bitterness. Then I analyzed my life: continue to grow in self-knowledge now; delve into the commandments of the Gospel and see what is not in you; the seed has been laid there - now grow it. Then, upon the knowledge of sinful living, you saw yourself unresponsible and lamented: do not cease now to stand unresponsible in the face of God’s truth; condemn yourself always and in everything without any justification or flattering deviation, hate your own will, desire, and understanding; hit yourself with shame and fear of hopelessness; See yourself hanging over the abyss and unworthy of mercy. Then you arose spiritually and, by faith in the Lord and in the hope of His help, you vowed to work diligently for Him all the days of your life, until you torment yourself most mercilessly, and now cry out: “I am worthy of all condemnation and torment, but, for the sake of God’s boundless desire for our salvation, for which the Only Begotten Son was not spared, I do not despair of my salvation. I don’t know when or how, but I believe that I will be saved. Only, Lord Himself, let You fight all the time of my life, seeking salvation from You - in the hope that You will not leave me with help, for the sake of Your mercy and the intercession of Your saints. In the image of fate, save me!” These are the feelings! It is proper to call all of them spiritual activity. And indeed, when they exist, it means spiritual life is in action; and when you need to kindle a weakening life, you need to get into one of these feelings. The Holy Fathers always talk about them, sometimes in aggregate, sometimes in parts. And this is general advice and a commandment - to certainly stand in some kind of feeling. Whoever emerges from them, does not look for them, does not regret their absence, is cold and therefore in danger - frozen, perhaps, and will forever remain that way, that is, in death. So, having entered inside, establish yourself in the vision of the spiritual world and begin to warm up the activity of spiritual life, or move first to thought, so that you can then have the states shown in feeling - all this is a saved structure of the mind and heart. The essential and inevitable preparation for this is inward abiding and vision of the spiritual world. The former introduces, and the latter places, a person in a certain spiritual atmosphere conducive to the burning of life. Therefore, one might say, just carry out these two preparatory works - and the latter will go by itself. They often complain: the heart has hardened... It’s not surprising. It doesn’t gather inside and doesn’t have the habit, it doesn’t settle down where it should, and doesn’t know the place of the heart - how can there be proper functioning? This is the same as moving your heart and demanding life. Whoever builds faith, seeing the spiritual world and himself in it, cannot help but come into an anxious state, not soften, and when this is there, then it is not so difficult to impress other feelings. As a guide for this, as well as in the vision of the spiritual world, they take passages of Scripture that briefly and strongly express this or that state, for example: “spare Your creation, Master; my wounds have become stale and rotten” (Ps. 37:6); “except his own Son he shall not have mercy” (Rom. 8:32); “Beholden by fate, save me...” and so on - and they act with them, often repeating the same thing until it is printed. Not every feeling is always easy, but sometimes it is one, and sometimes another, and one must use such predispositions to quickly acquire these feelings. It opens easily in the morning or should be done so that it opens at this time, so that later you can be with it all day. Open your heart and pray, and whatever moves in your heart, be persistent and pay attention. Cover this feeling with Scripture and repeat it. By acting this way, you will be fully aware of your feelings and will soon become accustomed to doing spiritual things. It must, however, be remembered that it is not always useful to expect a predisposition: sometimes it must act, although there is nothing in the soul, and sometimes, when there is one thing, it is necessary to supplant it with others, for, judging by the state of the spirit, sometimes it is necessary to lean towards one, and sometimes predominantly towards another feeling. It goes without saying that this will be the happiest structure of the spirit if someone can go through them all at once. Such perfection of spiritual life must be set as a goal and sought after. In order to do this, every time someone comes to prayer, after gathering inside and entering the spiritual world, begin to reproduce them in order, one after another, first at least in thoughts, until the Lord willing and in feelings. For this, it is good to choose some kind of prayer that contains them all, consolidate it and re-read it often with attention. There are many prayers in the Psalter, and everyone can find one for themselves, for there is not one prayer for everyone. They are briefly contained in the twelve day and twelve night petitions of St. Chrysostom. But there is no doubt that there is no more reliable means of imprinting them than being in church during a divine service. How these feelings contribute to the burning of the spirit of jealousy is obvious: be at least one, and it will already glow, because each of them is part of it and has its own piece in it. The spirit of jealousy is simple and isolated, but all-encompassing. The initial feeling should always be the fear of God, and the final feeling should be self-abasing surrender to the good will of God, which saves us. The first is taken out of sight of the spiritual world, while the last is born from all those that follow by faith. However, it is impossible to determine which feelings degenerate from which ones and how – it happens in everyone’s own way. That is why the holy fathers have different instructions for this, or different explanations. For the most part, they are offered in fragmented instructions: have the fear of God, know everything 53, do not love the world, keep yourself under everyone and condemn yourself in everything, see your sins, resort to God alone. The totality of all is in a painful, fear of God, falling to God with the words: “Lord, in the image of fate, save me, I will work according to my strength.” Everything is here. Whoever learns to place himself in spirit in such a feeling has a ready and safe refuge. To be in any feeling is very significant in spiritual life. Whoever has it, he is already inside himself at the heart, for we are always paying attention to the active part, and if this is the heart, then it is in the heart. Whoever goes inside himself, the spiritual world is open to him. From this it is clear that both being inside, with the vision of another world, is a condition for the warming of spiritual feelings, and vice versa - the latter presuppose the former and by their birth cause them. It is through the combined interaction of both that spiritual life is sung. He who has feeling has his spirit bound and attached, and he who does not have it floats. Therefore, in order to stay inside more successfully, hurry to the feeling, although also through intense self-implementation. Therefore, whoever wants to remain with one mental gathering works in vain: one minute - and everything scatters. It is not surprising after this that scientists, despite all their education, constantly dream: this is because they work with one head. There is no need to set out in particular the rules and properties of each feeling - this should be the subject of private instructions, reflections, and readings. Among the holy fathers they are mostly presented fragmentarily, in the form of sayings. The main thing they were looking for and what they advised was to understand the spiritual structure and be able to maintain it. Whoever achieves this, one rule remains for him: be inside, have the secret teaching in your heart. They called the sight of some object from the spiritual world or the arousal of a spiritual feeling through some word of the Holy Scripture, or a word of a father, or a prayer, a secret teaching. So with them: study in the memory of God, in the memory of death, in the memory of sins, self-reproach, that is, become aware of this subject and talk about it inwardly constantly, for example: “Where shall I go?” (Ps. 138:7) or: “a worm, and not a man” (Ps. 21:7). This and the like, done in attention and feeling, is a secret teaching. It follows from this that all the methods or techniques for igniting and maintaining the spirit of jealousy can be abbreviated as follows: after awakening, enter into yourself, stand in your place near the heart, go through all the spiritual activities of life and, stopping at one thing, be in it without origin. Or even shorter: gather yourself and create a secret teaching in your heart. By this means, with the help of the grace of the Lord, the spirit of jealousy, in its true structure, will be supported and will either warm or glow. And this is done internally. You need to know that this is the most direct path to a saving dispensation. You can leave everything and do only this work - and everything will go successfully. On the contrary, although we will do everything, without paying attention to this we will not see the fruit. Anyone who does not turn inward and not to this spiritual work is only procrastinating. True, doing this is extremely difficult, especially at the beginning, but it is direct and fruitful. Therefore, the leading priest should introduce his disciples into this work as quickly as possible and confirm them in it. You can even introduce into it first of all the external, but in every possible way together with it - and not only is it possible, but it must be. This is because the seed of this work is laid in circulation, in which it all takes place. You just need to explain it, explain how important it is, and guide you. Then everything on the outside will go willingly, quickly and maturely. On the contrary, without this it is alone, like rotten threads, everything will be torn. Notice the rule that it is necessary not suddenly, but gradually; it must have great limitations, for it can lead not to this internal activity, which is the essence of the matter, but to external rules. Therefore, even though there are people who ascend from the outside inward, the rule must remain unchanged - to quickly go inside and here warm up the spirit of jealousy. Seems like a simple thing; but without knowing about it, you can sweat for a long time - and everything will be fruitless. And this is due to the nature of bodily activity. It is lighter and therefore attractive; the inner one is difficult, and therefore repels. But he who is attached to the first, as material, gradually becomes materialized in the spirit, therefore he grows cold, becomes more motionless and, consequently, moves more and more away from the inner. And it turns out that at first he will leave the inner, as if until the time of maturity, the time will come, but then, looking back, he finds that the time has passed and, instead of preparing, he has become completely incapable of it. Again, the external should not be abandoned: it is the support of the internal, and both should go together. It is only obvious that the advantage goes to the first, for it is worthy to serve God in spirit and to worship Him in spirit and truth 54 . Both must be in mutual subordination, according to their specific dignity, without violence to each other or violent separation. 2. Indication of exercises that contribute to the affirmation of a person’s mental and physical strength in goodness Thus, a life that is gracious within, in the spirit, will burn and flare up. For the sake of the zeal and zeal of a person who devotes himself to God, grace will flow into him and penetrate him with its sanctifying power, and more and more, or assimilate it to himself. However, this cannot and should not stop there. This is still a seed, a fulcrum. It is necessary to ensure that this light of life passes further and, penetrating the nature of the soul and body and thus sanctifying them, appropriating them, tearing away the unnatural passion that has come in and elevating them to their pure and natural form, does not remain in itself, but spreads throughout our entire being, throughout all our forces. But since these forces, as said above, are all saturated with the unnatural, the spirit of grace, the purest, coming into the heart, cannot directly and immediately enter into them, being blocked by their impurity. Therefore, it is necessary to establish some means between the spirit of grace living in us and the forces through which it would flow into them and heal them through them, like through plasters applied to sore spots. It is obvious that all these means, on the one hand, must have the character and properties of Divine or heavenly origin, and on the other, stand in perfect harmony with our powers in their natural structure and purpose, otherwise grace will not pass through them and the powers will not derive healing from them. Such means must be in their origin and internal properties. In themselves, they cannot be anything other than actions, exercises, labors, since they are applied to forces whose distinctive property is to act. So, we must now look for what God Himself, in His Scripture or through the teaching of the saints after him, chose and indicated works and exercises as a means of healing our strength and returning them to lost purity and integrity. It is not difficult to discover this kind of exercises and doings; you just have to review a few lives of men who labored, and they will appear by themselves. Fasting, work, vigil, solitude, withdrawal from the world, preservation of feelings, reading Scripture and the Holy Fathers, going to church, frequent confession and communion, vows and other deeds of piety and good deeds - all this together, and sometimes mainly in some parts, can be found in almost every life of the Holy Fathers. All of them have a common name - feat - which seems to frighten, but should be attracted by the shown meaning, that is, their healing nature. Let us only indicate to each of these feats and exercises its place, in what strength and to what purpose which feat should be applied. In order to do this more successfully, we will show the course of each of our actions and, consequently, of all activities. Every free action, originating in consciousness and freedom, therefore in the spirit, falls into the soul and by its forces of reason, will and feeling - it is prepared for execution and then carried out by the forces of the body in a certain time, place and other external circumstances. For the most part, external affairs pass without a trace when they are not repeated, noticed, or adopted by others. When this happens, it turns into a permanent rule, custom, custom, like a law. The totality of these customs constitutes the spirit of the society or circle of people in which such customs are established. If their origin is good, then the customs are good and the society is good. If the origin is bad, then the customs are bad and the society is bad. But in the latter case, whoever has entered into this rotation of customs and morals is inevitably their slave and, despite the labor of slavery, subserviently unquestioningly. He who lives in a worldly way is servile to the customs and spirit of the world. But even those who enter this world fresh are inevitably imbued with its spirit and soon become equal with others, for these customs are the elements for the formation in us of a sinful, passionate, God-fighting spirit, because they themselves are nothing more than walking passions. Having the goal of cleansing and correcting a person, Divine grace first of all heals the source of all his activity, namely: turns consciousness and freedom to God, so that from here he can then carry out healing to the best of his ability, through their own activity, assigned to them or aroused in them from the source of what has already been healed and sanctified. We saw before this how this origin is healed and how it is stored. Now it is necessary to determine what actions should proceed from it, with healing power, in the meaning that is indicated before this. This, however, does not allow the arbitrary purpose of these works, but only that they must be accepted with unconstrained consciousness and freedom, for otherwise there will be no expected fruit from them. So, following the formation and maintenance of zeal with all the internal structure, we must determine the exercises indicated in the word of God and the writings of the holy fathers, first for the forces of the soul, as the closest recipients of everything conceived in the sanctuary of the spirit, then for the forces and functions of the body, as recipients of what is maturing in the soul; finally, for external behavior, as the general drain of all internal activity or its field and, at the same time, formation. All these exercises should be directed in such a way that they do not extinguish, but rather inflame the spirit of jealousy with its entire internal structure. In the soul we meet three forces: mind, will, heart, or, like the Holy Fathers, the power of reasoning, concupiscence and irritability. To each of them, the holy ascetics attached special healing exercises, akin to them, both attractive and conductive in relation to grace. They do not need to be built according to theory, but only to choose from the already tested feats which go to which strength. So: Reading and hearing the word of God, the writings of the holy fathers and the lives of the saints of God. The study and printing of all God-given truths in brief summaries (catechism). Questioning the most experienced and elders. The mutual interview and meeting are friendly. Strict observance of all ascetic rules now prescribed. Submission to all church rules. Submission to civil or official and family order, for in it the will of God is mediated. Submission to the will of God in the fate of your life. Attention to conscience in doing good deeds. Obedience to the spirit, zealous for the fulfillment of vows. Attending holy church services. Prayer, determined by the Church, is a household rule. Consumption of the holy cross, icons and other sacred substances and things. Observance of the sacred customs established by the Church and always proposed by it. The body is naturally pure. Therefore, it is only necessary to remove the unnatural from his needs and strengthen himself in what is natural for him, or, what is the same, return him to nature. In addition, it must be an assistant to the soul, like its everlasting friend, and therefore, in addition to returning to the limits of nature, the satisfaction of its needs must also be applied to the benefits of the soul and spirit. To satisfy these requirements, a kind of exercise is prescribed for each function of the body, as a means both for healing our physicality and for spiritual benefits. These include rules that prescribe: in relation to feelings: storage of feelings in general, especially hearing and eyes (nervous function); storage of mouth and tongue (muscular); bodily vigor, with labor and handicraft (muscular); abstinence and fasting (abdominal); measure of sleep and wakefulness (abdominal); bodily cleanliness (abdominal). In general, in relation to the body: exhaustion (muscular), embitterment (nervous) and exhaustion (abdominal). It is self-evident how through such feats little by little the body will return to its nature, become alive and strong (muscular), light and pure (nervous), light and free, and will become the most suitable instrument for our spirit and a worthy temple of the Holy Spirit. Our external is the drain of our affairs, their field, and together the reason and support are the origin and the end. It could be left alone if it did not affect us back. But in reality it strongly dominates and even rules us. Therefore, as an expression of the image of the activity of forces or the nature of the internal, when they change, it must certainly be changed. His field is family, position, connections. So, this should include all the rules obliging: to abandon evil customs, all without exception; then - to cleanse connections and relationships, leaving what is salutary and eliminating what is harmful, and determine the behavior or treatment of people; according to a new procedure, distribute or re-establish occupations by position, if any; establish order of family affairs, or generally adapt the home to spiritual life. It is necessary to do this so that everything external, with things, persons, deeds, constitutes some kind of spiritual atmosphere, nourishing and creating, and not ruining. Here are the exercises and feats! Their use should be continuous; they should be with us, like a bandage with a plaster on different parts of our composition. But the most suitable place for them, where they must appear in the purest and most perfect form, the strictest, is the fasting - the most salvific institution of the Holy Church, appointed for our purification and sanctification through the Sacraments. This name means: completing all the feats in perfect form, as preparation for receiving the Sacraments; the very acceptance of the Sacraments of confession and communion of the Body and Blood of Christ. These are exercises that embrace the whole person, nourishing the spirit, soul, and body. Let us call them grace-filled means of education and strengthening of spiritual life. Here are some general comments about all these feats and exercises. All such feats and exercises must be completed by every ascetic in a special form applied to him, because in themselves they are still like materials and a framework for rules. Rules are built from them by applying them to time, place, person, circumstances, etc. This must be done by each ascetic, either himself, or under the guidance of his leader and spiritual father - done over every exercise, and then from the entirety of them one comprehensive order of spiritual exercises, or exploits, is built, where there is a place and time for everything, large and small. This order, as well as the rules, cannot be sufficiently indicated in a written manual, except in the beginning. Here we can only describe each exercise and show its healing properties and general principles of use. It is not difficult to see how all such feats and exercises correspond to internal work. It is the rules of external behavior, with the structure of the body, that are essential for maintaining inward abiding and spiritual consciousness, while pious exercises are essential for spiritual life. Therefore, in spiritual life, as much as the inner is essential, they are just as significant. The holy fathers call them bodily, material work, or active life, while the internal is called contemplative life, as well as spiritual and mental work. It is a delusion that the inner can stand, although the outer is not adapted to it; just as it is wrong if someone stops at only the external, forgetting the internal, as it is indicated by us, or not caring about it. Both must go together, so the whole thing can be briefly expressed as follows: having entered into yourself and become in spiritual consciousness, arouse vital activity, or spiritual structure, and then walk in the order of asceticism that you have built. At the same time, one must firmly keep in mind that exercises, deeds, behavior, with all their essential necessity and full suitability for the preservation and formation of spiritual life and the restoration of nature, do not have the power to do this from themselves - they do not create the spirit and purify nature, but the grace of God, passing through them and receiving, as it were, access, a channel to our forces. Therefore, walk in them with all diligence, zeal, and constancy; but commend your very prosperity to the Lord, so that under their cover He Himself can build us up as He wants and knows. When embarking on a feat, do not focus your attention and heart on it, but pass it by as something extraneous - open yourself to grace, like a ready vessel, completely surrendering yourself to God. He who finds grace finds it through faith and diligence, says Saint Gregory of Sinaite, and not through diligence alone. No matter how good our work may be, if we do not surrender to God through it and do not attract grace, it does not create a true spirit in us, but a flattering spirit, it produces a Pharisee. Grace is their soul. They are true to the extent that they nourish and preserve self-abasement, contrition, the fear of God, the need for God’s help and devotion to God. Satiety and contentment from them is a sign of their untrue use, or foolishness. This is the entire order of the positive work we have named, or the beginning of self-compulsion. We should now reveal each of them separately, although in general terms. A. Exercises that contribute to the formation of mental strength in the spirit of Christian life There are three forces: mind, will and feeling. The exercises are distributed accordingly. They directly turn to the formation of forces, but in such a way that the spirit is not extinguished, but, on the contrary, is ignited more and more. The latter serves as the measure and gradation of the former, which submits to it to the point of silent submission or complete cessation. a) Exercises that form the mind, with warming up and spiritual life The Christian education of the mind is the imprinting on it of all the truths of faith so deeply that they constitute its being, or that it consists of them alone, so that when it begins to reason about something, reason or believe everything that is cognizable from them, and without them it would not be able to make even a small movement. The Apostle calls this the content of “the manner of sound words” (2 Tim. 1:13). The exercises or activities related here are: reading and hearing the word of God, the writings of the Fathers, the lives of the holy fathers, mutual conversation and questioning of the most experienced. It’s good to read or listen, better – a mutual interview, and even better – the word of an experienced person. The most fruitful is the word of God, and behind it are the writings of the fathers and the lives of the saints. However, you need to know that lives are best for beginners, the writings of the fathers are for average people, and God’s word is for the perfect. All these sources of truths and ways to draw them obviously contribute to imprinting them on the mind and, together, maintaining the spirit of jealousy. Often one text warms the spirit for more than one day; there are lives of which one memory evokes the heat of jealousy; There are passages in the holy fathers that are all-stimulating. Therefore, there is a good rule: write out such passages and keep them in case of need, to excite the spirit. Often neither internal nor external activities help – the spirit remains in a state of sleep. Hurry up to read something from anything. This won’t help - run to talk to someone. The latter with faith rarely remains without fruit. There are two types of reading: one is ordinary, almost mechanical, and the other is selective, according to the demands of spiritual needs, from the council. But the first one is not useless either. It is, however, more fitting for those who have already established themselves, who, as it were, only repeat and do not study. It is absolutely necessary for everyone to have a person to talk about spiritual things, who already knows everything we have and to whom one can safely reveal everything that happens in the soul. It’s better if there’s one, many – two. Idle conversations, for the sole purpose of passing time, should be avoided in every possible way. Here are the rules for reading: before reading, the soul must be abolished from everything; arouse the need to know what is being read about; turn to God in prayer; follow what you read with attention and put everything in an open heart; what has not reached your heart, stand there until it does; it is obvious that one must read very slowly; stop reading when the soul no longer wants to feed on reading - it means it’s full. If, however, a passage strikes your soul, stand there and read no more. The best time to read the Word of God is in the morning, the Lives - after lunch, the Holy Fathers - shortly before bed. You can, therefore, touch a little of everything every day. During such activities, one must constantly keep in mind the main goal - the imprinting of truths and stimulation of the spirit. If this is not brought about by reading or conversation, then they are idle scratching of taste and hearing, empty questioning. If this is done with the mind, then the truths are both imprinted and arousing, and one helps the other, but if one deviates from the right image, then there is neither one nor the other: the truths are packed into the head like sand, and the spirit grows cold and callous, puffed up and puffed up. Printing truths is not the same as researching them. All that is required here is: understand the truth and keep in mind until the one face of truth disappears with him, without arguments, restrictions. Therefore, the easiest way to achieve this can legitimately be considered as follows: all truth is in the catechism. Every morning, take the truth from there and understand it, carry it in your mind and feed on it for as long as your soul feeds, a day, two or more; do the same with the other and so on until the end. The method is easy and generally accepted. He who cannot read, ask one truth and walk with it. Apparently, the law is for everyone: imprint the truths so that they excite. The methods of doing it are varied, and it is impossible to specify one for all. Consequently, reading, listening, and conversation that do not impress the truths and do not excite the spirit should be considered wrongful, those who have deviated from the truth. This is a disease of reading a lot due to mere inquisitiveness, when one follows with one’s mind what one reads, without bringing it to the heart, without delighting its taste. This is the science of dreaming, which does not create, does not teach, but ruins, always leading to arrogance. The whole matter, as has been said, should be limited to the following: understand the truth and keep it in your mind until your heart tastes it. The Holy Fathers say simply: remember, keep it in mind, have it before your eyes. b) Exercises for the formation of the will and with an appeal to excite the spirit To form the will means to imprint in it good dispositions or virtues: humility, meekness, patience, abstinence, compliance, helpfulness, and so on - so that, having dissolved or fused with it, they constitute, as it were, its nature and so that, when something is undertaken by the will, it is undertaken according to their arousal and in their spirit, so that that is, they become rulers and reign over our affairs. Such a mood of will is safe and durable; but since it is the opposite of a sinful mood, acquiring it involves labor and sweat. Therefore, the actions related here are primarily directed against the main weakness of the will, that is, self-will, disobedience, impatience of the yoke. This illness can be cured by submission to the will of God, with the rejection of one’s own and everyone else’s. The will of God is revealed in different types of obedience that lie on everyone. Its first and most important requirement is the preservation of laws or commandments according to each person’s own position or title: then the preservation of the charter of the Church, the requirements of civil and family order, the requirements of circumstances, which are from the providential will, the requirements of a jealous spirit, all with reasoning and advice. All this is a field for righteous deeds, which are open to everyone, and that’s all. Therefore, just know how to manage, and you will not feel the scarcity of means for the formation of will. To do this, understand for yourself the entire sum of right deeds possible for you, in your place, rank, circumstances, along with consideration of when, how, to what extent and what can and should be done. Having understood everything, determine the general outline of affairs and their order, so that everything done is not accidental, remembering that this order is only appropriate in general; in particular, it can be changed according to the demands of the course of affairs. Do everything with reasoning. Therefore, it is better to list possible cases and possible cases every day. Those who are accustomed to doing what is right never determine anything, but always do what God sends, for everything is from God; By chance He reveals His definitions to us. All this, however, is just business. Walking in them only makes it serviceable. In order to attain virtues through them, one must intensely hold on to the spirit of true good deeds, namely: with humility and fear of God, do everything according to the will of God and for the glory of God. He who acts out of self-confidence, with boldness to the point of insolence, for self-indulgence or man-pleasing, even though he does just things, forms in himself the evil spirit of self-righteousness, arrogance and pharisaism. While maintaining the right spirit, one must remember the laws, especially the law of gradualness and continuity: that is, always start with the least and ascend to the highest, and then, having started to do, do not stop. This can be avoided: embarrassment that is imperfect, for not suddenly; another time will come; the thought that everything has already been done, for there is no end to the degrees; arrogant enterprise, feats beyond one's strength. The last limit is the naturalness of doing good, when the law is no longer a burden. The one who achieves this most successfully is the one who is granted the grace of living together with the virtuous and active, and even more successfully if he is under science. There will be no need to do it again and redo what was done due to inability and lack of habit. Don’t read, don’t think, as they say, but find someone who is reverent, and you will immediately learn the fear of God. The same can be applied to any other virtue. It is good, however, judging by yourself, your character and place, to choose primarily one good deed and stick to it unswervingly - it will be ground, like a canvas - and move on to others along it. This is a lifesaver when relaxing - it reminds you strongly and quickly excites you. The most reliable of all is almsgiving, which leads to the King. However, this applies only to deeds, and not to dispositions, which must have their own internal structure, based in the spirit, in some way independent of consciousness and freedom, as the Lord wills. All saints recognize the fear of God as its beginning, and love as its end; in the middle, all virtues are built one from another, although not for everyone in the same way, but certainly on humble and contrite repentance and pain over sins. These are the juices of virtues. The depiction of each virtue, its properties, performance, degree of perfection, deviation is the subject of special books and paternal instructions. Learn all this through reading. This kind of good deed directly forms the will and imprints virtues in it, but at the same time it keeps the spirit in constant tension. Just as heat is aroused by friction, so zeal is aroused by good deeds. Without them, even a good spirit grows cold and evaporates. This is usually the case for non-doers, or people who limit themselves to not doing evil and untruths. No, it is necessary to appoint and elect good deeds. There are, however, also those who are too busy at work, who therefore quickly become exhausted and dissipate their spirit. There is a measure for everything. To educate the heart means to cultivate in it a taste for holy, Divine, spiritual things, so that, turning among them, it feels as if in its element, finds sweetness and bliss in it, but is indifferent to everything else, has no taste, and even more so, has an aversion to it. All spiritual activity of a person converges on the heart: truths are imprinted on it, good dispositions are implanted in it, but his main business is the taste we have shown. When the mind sees the entire structure of the spiritual world and its various objects, or various good undertakings are sung in the will, the heart underneath them should feel sweetness in all this and emit warmth. This accompaniment to the spiritual is the first sign of the revival of a dead soul from sin. Therefore, its education is a very important point even in the rudiments. The work directed towards it is our entire priestly service in all its forms - general, private, home, and church, and mainly the spirit of prayer moving in it. Priestly service, that is, all daytime services, with the entire structure of the church, icons, candles, incense, singing, reading, acting, as well as services for various needs, then home service, also with things consecrated by the church - icons, oil, candles, holy water, cross, incense - all this totality of sacred things, affecting all senses - sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste, are the wipers of feelings from a dead soul, strong and the only true ones. The soul has become deadened by the spirit of the world, which washes over it through the sin living in it. The entire structure of our church service, both in its structure, and meaning, and the power of faith, and especially the grace hidden in it, has an irresistible power to ward off the spirit of the world and, freeing the soul from its burdensome influence, makes it possible to breathe freely and taste the sweetness of this spiritual freedom. Anyone who enters the church enters a completely different world, is influenced by it and changes accordingly. The same thing happens to those who surround themselves with sacred things. The frequency of the spiritual impression penetrates inside more quickly and quickly completes the transformation of the heart. So: 1) It should be established to stay in churches as often as possible for church services, and usually at Matins, Liturgy, and Vespers. To have aspirations for this and at the first opportunity to be there every day and at least once, and if possible, even hopelessly. Our church is heaven on earth or heaven. Hurry to the church in faith that it is the place of God’s settlement, where He Himself promised to hear sooner; While in church, be in fear and reverence as before God, which you express by patient standing, bowing, and attention to the service in general, without plundering thoughts, weakening, or negligence. 2) We should not forget other sacred services, private, whether performed in a church or in a home, as well as our home prayer with the entire church structure. It must be remembered that this is only a supplement to a certain church service, and not a replacement for it. The Apostle, commanding not to deprive oneself of meetings, made it known that all the power of ministry belongs to the common service (see: Heb. 10:25). 3) One should perform all church celebrations, rituals and customs, in general the entire charter, and impose it on oneself in all matters, so as to constantly remain, as it were, in some special atmosphere. It's easy to do. This is the structure of our Church. Accept it only with faith. But the main thing that gives strength to church service is the spirit of prayer. Prayer is both a comprehensive duty and an all-effective means. Through it, the truths of faith are imprinted in the mind, and good morals are imprinted in the will, but primarily the heart is enlivened in its feelings. Then only the first two go quickly when there is this one thing. Therefore, the formation of prayer must begin first of all and continue constantly, tirelessly, until the Lord gives prayer to the one praying. The beginnings of prayer are laid in conversion itself, for prayer is the aspiration of the mind and heart to God, which is what conversion is. But through inattention or inability to do so, you can extinguish this spark within yourself. Then one must immediately begin a certain kind of work, with the goal of warming the spirit of prayer. In addition to performing services and participating in them, which were mentioned, personal prayer, no matter where and how it is performed, comes closer to this. There is only one rule: learn to pray. For this: Choose a rule of prayer - evening, morning and afternoon. The rule is small at first, so as not to turn away the unaccustomed spirit to this activity and work. But it must always be done with fear, care and all attention. What is required here is: standing, bowing, kneeling, making the sign of the cross, reading, and sometimes singing. The more often you attend such prayer, the better. Others do this for every hour: a little, but more often. What prayers to read are written in prayer books. But it’s good to get used to one, so that when you start it, your spirit immediately lights up. The rule of prayer is simple: when you stand in prayer, say it with fear and trembling, as if in the ears of God, accompanied by the cross, bowing and falling on your face, according to the movement of the spirit. The rule adopted must always be followed; but this does not prevent one from adding according to the heart’s desire. Reading and singing out loud, or in a whisper, or silently - it’s all the same, for the Lord is near. But sometimes it is better to do the entire prayer in one way, sometimes in another way. One must firmly hold in one's thoughts the limit of prayer. That prayer is good, which ends with falling to God with the feeling: “Whoever weighs fate, save me.” There are degrees of prayer. The first degree is physical prayer, more in reading, standing, bowing. Attention runs away, the heart does not feel, there is no desire: here is patience, labor, sweat. Despite this, however, set limits and pray. This is active prayer. The second degree is attentive prayer: the mind gets used to gathering at the hour of prayer and saying it all with consciousness, without plunder. Attention merges with the written word and speaks as if it were its own. The third degree is the prayer of feeling: attention warms the heart, and what is in thought becomes here a feeling. There is a word of destruction, and here - destruction; there is a request, and here is a feeling of need and need. He who has turned to feeling prays without a word, for God is the God of the heart. Therefore, this is the limit of prayer education - when you begin to pray, you move from feeling to feeling. In this case, reading can stop, as well as thinking, and let there only be a stay in feeling with well-known prayer signs. This kind of prayer comes little by little at first. In church or at home the feeling of prayer attacks... And here is the general advice of the saints - do not let this pass without attention: that is, when the feeling is there, stop all other activities and stand in it. Saint Climacus says: “An angel prays with you.” Attention to these manifestations of prayer succeeds in the education of prayer, but inattention ruins it: education is where the work lies. However, no matter how much someone considers himself to have improved in prayer, he should never abandon the rules of prayer, but do it as indicated, and always begin with active prayer. The smart one should be with her, and the warm-hearted one will come after them. Without this, these latter ones will be confused, and a person will think that he is praying, but in reality this will not happen. When the feeling of prayer rises to the point of continuity, then spiritual prayer begins, which is the gift of the Spirit of God praying for us - the last degree of prayer comprehended. But there is, they say, also a prayer that is incomprehensible to the mind, or that goes beyond the limits of consciousness (as in Saint Isaac the Syrian). The easiest way to ascend to continuity in prayer is to become accustomed to the Jesus Prayer and root it in yourself. The most experienced men in spiritual life, admonished by God, found this one simple and at the same time all-effective means for strengthening the spirit in all spiritual endeavors, as well as in the entire spiritual ascetic life, and in their instructions they left detailed rules about it. By working and asceticism, we seek purification of the heart and restoration of the spirit. There are two ways to this: active, that is, walking in those exploits that are indicated before this, and speculative - turning the mind to God. There the soul is purified and accepts God; here the visible God burns away all impurity and comes to dwell in the purified soul. Concluding the latter in one Jesus Prayer, Gregory of Sinai says: “We acquire God either by doing and labor, or by artistic invocation of the name of Jesus,” and then we add that the first path is longer than the last - the latter is faster and more effective. As a result, others gave the first place between labors to the Jesus Prayer. It enlightens, strengthens, revives, defeats all enemies, visible and invisible, and leads to God. So omnipotent and omnipotent! The name of the Lord Jesus is a treasure of blessings, strength and life in the spirit. From here it naturally follows that anyone who has repented or begun to seek the Lord can and should be given full instruction in doing the Jesus Prayer the very first time, and with it introduced into all others, because in this way one can quickly strengthen oneself, quickly gain spiritual sight and enter into the inner world. Not knowing this, others, or most of them, stop at physical and mental activities and almost idly waste their time and work. This doing is called “art”. And it's very simple. Standing with consciousness and attention in your heart, constantly say: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me,” without any image or face, in faith that the Lord sees you and listens to you. To be confirmed in this, one must set a certain time in the morning or evening, a quarter, half an hour or more, as much as possible, just to say this prayer. This is after morning and evening prayer, standing or sitting. This will lay the beginnings of skill. Then during the day, every minute, strain to create it, no matter what you do. The skill will be acquired more and more, and it will begin to be created as if by itself, in every activity and occupation of a person. The more decisively someone takes it, the sooner they succeed. You must definitely keep your consciousness close to your heart and, while doing it, restrict your small breathing, to express the tension with which you are doing it. But the highest condition is faith that God is near and hears us. Speak your prayer in the ear of God. This habit brings warmth into the spirit, and then enlightenment, and then admiration. But all this is sometimes achieved over years. At first, this prayer for a long time is only practical, like any activity, then it turns into mentality and, finally, takes root in the heart. There are deviations from the right path of this prayer. Therefore, you need to learn it from someone who knows it. Misconceptions depend more on who is paying attention where – in the head or in the chest. He who is in the heart is safe. It is even safer who painfully falls to God at every hour in contrition, with a prayer for deliverance from charms. The Holy Fathers expounded in detail the teaching about this work. Therefore, the one who has taken up this task must read them, but still leave something else. The best instructions: in Hesychius 55, in the prefaces of Elder Basil, in the life of Paisius 56; from Gregory of Sinaite, Philotheus of Sinai, Theoliptus 57, Simeon the New Theologian, Nil of Sorsky, and the holy monk Dorotheus (Russian). Whoever gets used to this, going through everything previously shown, is a husband - a worker of Christian life. He will quickly mature in self-purification and Christian perfection and achieve the desired peace in communion with God. These are activities for the forces of the soul, adapting them together to the movements of the spirit. Here we see how each of them is adapted to the life of the spirit, or spiritual feelings. But they also lead to strengthening the initial conditions of being inside, namely: doing the mind - to gathering attention, doing the will - to alertness, and doing the heart - to sobriety. Prayer or prayer covers all of them and combines everything; even in its production it is nothing more than internal, previously explained activity. All these activities are intended for the formation of the forces of the soul, according to the spirit of new life. This is the same as the spiritualization of the soul, or its elevation into spirit and co-dissolution with it. In the fall they are connected to the contrary. In conversion the spirit was restored, but the soul remained with a cruel neck of disobedience and reluctance of the spirit and the spiritual. These activities, imbued with spiritual elements, make her akin to the spirit and dissolve her. From here it is obvious how essential they are and how bad those who dismiss themselves from them are doing. They themselves are the reason that their work goes on without fruit - they sweat, but do not see the fruit, then they soon cool down, and that’s the end of everything. But we must immediately remember that all their fruit comes from the spirit of jealousy and seeking. He conducts the restorative power of grace through those works and brings revival to the soul. Without him, all these activities are empty, cold, lifeless, dry. Readings, bows, services and everything else are of little fruit when there is no inner spirit. This doing can teach vanity and pharisaism and be supported by it alone. Therefore, everything falls away when one who does not have spirit encounters opposition. And they themselves are tiresome. The Spirit conveys to the soul the strength due to which it does not find satiety in these activities and would like to always turn to them alone. Thus, it is extremely necessary, during these works, to always keep in mind that the spirit of life burns, with a humble and painful fall to God, our Savior, and this is best nourished and preserved by prayer and prayerful deeds. You need to look and pay attention so that you don’t stop at them alone, because they are nourishing for the soul. Therefore, you can remain spiritual with them, at the expense of the spirit. Most of all, this can happen with reading and, in general, with the knowledge and assimilation of truth. B. Keeping the body in the spirit of new life The distinctive feature here is the tightness of the flesh. To restrain the flesh means not to do anything to please it in lust, or not to do anything with pleasure. Neither food, nor drinking, nor sleep, nor movement, nor looking, nor hearing, nor other feelings, impressions should be accepted as if it were good, but accepted as if in passing, something extraneous, without attention to it, both before and after, and even more - with some deprivation, not according to the desire of the flesh, but according to the reason and good proposal. Give the body what it needs with little deprivation and, leaving it, turn your entire attention to the soul. The holy fathers call this the running of the rest of the flesh - the most dangerous ailment and disgusting to God. He who has pity on the flesh cannot have the Spirit of God abide in him. And the private, in fits and starts, from inattention and laziness, the occurring pleasure of the flesh cools. What can we say about those for whom carnal pleasure has become the law? The rest of the flesh is for the spirit what water is for fire. The flesh is the seat of all passions, as Cassian teaches 58 and as one can believe in every experience, therefore its constraint is a drying up of the passions. Anyone who pleases the flesh even in the smallest way cannot be inside; he is in what pleases the flesh, therefore he is not collected and, therefore, cold. The soul, having attached itself to the carnal, dissolves with it; This is why she becomes burdened, gravitates toward the earth, and is unable to freely contemplate the spiritual with her mind. On the contrary, how pure is the vision of one who has constricted the flesh, how easily does he gravitate inward, how homeless are his passions, in general, how the spiritual life in him tangibly comes to life! “As much as the outer one decays, only the inner one is renewed all the days” (cf. 2 Cor. 4:16). The flesh, if it grows stronger, grows stronger at the expense of the spirit; and the spirit, if it matures, then matures only in relation to the repose of the flesh. We do not find a single saint living a preferential life: they all lived harshly, in oppression, weakening, drying out, and embittering of the flesh. Then, among Saint Isaac the Syrian, oppression of the flesh is considered a condition of salvation. He who takes pity on the flesh stands on a charming, slippery, deceptive, suspicious path. The flesh must be constrained in all its parts, members and functions, in order to present all its members as instruments of truth. Of the members of our bodily life, some are animal-spiritual, the closest instruments of mental activity, while others are purely animal, instruments of animal economy, nutrition and cultivation. The first have more freedom, are less bound; the latter are more coherent, fleshier, rougher. The first include: feelings, language, movement; to the latter: nutrition, sleep, sexual function and various skin impressions - warmth, cold, softness, etc. Hence the following rules of flesh constraint: Master your senses, especially sight and hearing, control your movements, hold your tongue. Whoever does not curb these three, his inner being is in plunder, in relaxation and captivity, he is not even inside; for these are the passages of the soul from the inside to the outside, or windows that cool out the inner warmth. Express your power over them by forcibly attracting them to useful objects now. Previously, they uncontrollably strove to where selfhood and a more important passion could be nourished. Now we need to turn them towards what creates the spirit. Measure the food your flesh needs, simple, healthy, weigh it by measure and weight, determine by quality and hour, and be at peace with that. Do the same with sleep. Kill the sexual function by drying up the flesh. From the outside, keep the flesh in a kind of embitterment, cold, cruel, etc., so that there is no tenderness. Having established everything, fight the flesh until it pacifies and, having become accustomed to this modest and embittered state, becomes a silent slave. Humility of the flesh is finally given. We must keep it in mind and strive for it as a reward for our labors. Through physical exploits, bodily virtues are developed: solitude, silence, fasting, vigil, labor, patience in hardships, purity, virginity. We must, however, remember that this colleague will sit down to our graves. They say: do not trust the flesh - it is deceitful. And as soon as you relax, hoping for her humility, she will immediately grab you and overcome you. The struggle with it is deathly, but still very difficult at first, and then easier and easier, until finally all that remains is attention to order, with slight sensations of impulses of the flesh. For lasting success, if anywhere, then mainly in physical feats, it is necessary to observe the law of gradualness. Here is general advice: first keep the flesh in the law of abstinence in all parts, paying all attention to internal work. When passions begin to subside, warmth begins in the heart, then, as the internal heat rises, the needs of the body themselves will weaken and, as if naturally, great bodily feats will begin. The most important bodily feats that constrain the flesh: fasting, vigil, labor, purity. The latter is the most effective, the most necessary and necessary. Therefore, virginity is the fastest path to Christian perfection. Without it, neither such strength nor such gifts can be acquired by a person. One must only remember that, in addition to bodily purity, there is spiritual purity, which may not exist in someone who has preserved bodily purity to the grave. It is more significant than the physical one. Therefore, spouses, to a certain extent, can approach virgins through spiritual purity. A worker devoted to God is helped by grace. That is why we see spouses possessing perfections of the spirit. B. The order of external life according to the spirit of the new life Everything related to the order of external life, according to the spirit of the new life, can be called removal from the world, or the expulsion of the worldly spirit from the entire course of our external life. “I have chosen you out of the world,” that is, taken it away, - this is what the Lord said to the Apostles (John 15:19). He does the same with Divine grace with every believer: he takes his spirit out of the world. And the conversion itself consists in the turning away of consciousness from the vain world and the opening before it of another world - the spiritual. But what at the beginning was accomplished invisibly in the spirit, then later, in life, must be fulfilled by deed, becoming a permanent rule. Those who seek the Lord must withdraw from the world. By the world we mean everything passionate, vain, sinful, which has entered into private, family and public life and has become a custom and rule there. Therefore, withdrawing from the world does not mean fleeing from family or society, but leaving behind morals, customs, rules, habits, demands that are completely contrary to the spirit of Christ, accepted and maturing in us. Citizenship and family are blessed by God; therefore, one should not renounce them or despise them, as well as everything belonging to their essential well-being. But everything lustful and passionate that comes to them, like an outgrowth that harms and distorts them, must be despised and rejected. To escape from the world is to establish oneself in true nepotism and citizenship; It’s another thing to make it so that it’s not ours, it doesn’t concern us. “They demand this world, but they do not demand it” (1 Cor. 7:31). Why this should be done is self-evident. Vanity, saturated with passions, inevitably conveys the same to our soul, excites or instills passion. Just as one who walks near soot is blackened or one who touches fire is scorched, so one who participates in worldly things becomes saturated with passionate, ungodly things. Therefore, having fallen into the world, the repentant one falls again, and the innocent one is corrupted. It's almost inevitable. Immediately the mind is darkened, oblivion, weakness, captivity and plunder are born, and then there is wounding of the heart, followed by passion and action - and the person falls. All stories of corruption bear witness to this; just as the witnesses of how inevitable and necessary it is to abandon everything are all those who have converted, who flee all these customs like fire. And what exactly to leave and how, this is taught more by experience than by our scripture. The law is this: one must leave behind everything that is dangerous for a new life, that inflames passion, causes vanity and extinguishes the spirit, and in all this there is so much variety!.. Let the measure of this be the own heart of everyone, sincerely seeking salvation without guile, not just for show. Nowadays, theaters, balls, dancing, music, singing, traveling, walks, making acquaintances, jokes, witticisms, laughter, idle leisure, and even the time of getting up, sleeping, eating, etc. - everything needs to be canceled and changed. At other times and in other places it may be different. But the measure is always the same: leave what is harmful and dangerous to life, what extinguishes the spirit. But what exactly? Another may have the most trivial things, maybe even a walk in a famous place, with a famous face... “Everything is worthwhile, but not everything is for good” (1 Cor. 6:12). It follows that leaving the world is nothing more than cleaning out your entire outer life, eliminating everything passionate from it, replacing it with something pure that does not interfere with spiritual life, but helps it - in family, private, public life; establish a general image of your external behavior at home and outside, with others and in your position; at the request of the spirit of the new life, define everything by rules, establish order in the house in all parts, order by position, order of acquaintance and relations with whom, when and how. How to do this? As anyone can, just do it with advice and reasoning, according to the guidance of your spiritual father or someone in whom you trust. Some do it suddenly and, it seems, better, while others do it gradually. One must only from the very first minute hate everything worldly and sinful in one’s heart and be alien to it, not want it and not enjoy it. “Do not love the world, neither those in the world” (1 John 2:15). This internal abandonment of the world can be followed by a visible abandonment, both suddenly and gradually. A person weak in spirit will not endure a long period, will not resist, will weaken and fall. Such are especially those who possess carnal passions, which receive the power of the second nature. Therefore, it is inevitable for such people to suddenly fall behind everything, to move away from the place where they wallowed in sin. A person with a strong spirit of jealousy will bear it, if only gradually, but still for both, from the first minute of conversion, it is absolutely necessary to stop all contact with the sinful world and everything worldly, until the forms of a new life are established. This will be the same as fencing off a transplanted tree from the wind, which, even if it is not strong, can knock it down due to its still weak rooting. The idea that one can live like a Christian and adhere to peace and secularism is an empty, delusional thought. Whoever lives according to it will learn nothing more than pharisaism and a suspicious life, that is, only in his opinion he will be a Christian, but in reality he will not. First, he will destroy with one hand what he created with the other, that is, what was collected at a distance from the world will again be plundered at the first entry into it, and from this there is a direct transition to opinion. What is lost from the heart may still remain in memory and imagination. Now, remembering and imagining how it was before, a person can think that it actually exists, while it has evaporated, and only a trace of it remains in memory. And he will imagine that he has something that in fact does not exist. Here is the judgment for him: “whatever he thinks he has, it will be taken from him” (Matthew 25:29). From opinion there is one step to pharisaism. Tempered Pharisaism is a terrible state. It's scary though; what to do if you leave the world? It is scary only on the outside, but on the inside, leaving the world is entering paradise. From the outside - immediately anger, sorrow, loss: what then? - Strengthen yourself with patience. What is more valuable: the world or the soul, time or eternity? Give the little and take the immeasurable in all dimensions. It also happens, however, that a strong onslaught from the world occurs only at the beginning, then it subsides, subsides, and the one who has left the world is left alone, for in the world they rarely value anyone, they will talk, they will talk, and then they will forget. It is the same with those who leave the world as with the dead. Therefore, you can not be so afraid of the hostility of the world, for the sake of its fussiness and pride - for the sake of the fact that it loves the present and forgets the other. He is a spectacle: he is busy only or keeps within himself those who are in him, but he cares little about others. Thus, either by activities aimed at building the forces of the soul, or by constricting the flesh in all its parts, especially those that are the closest organs of the soul, or by repurifying the external order, a person seeking a good and strong stronghold will secure his inner. Having strengthened himself inwardly through the first spiritual and mental pursuits in solitude, with the constraint of the flesh, he goes to family or civil or communal affairs, to pure and saving affairs, according to the will of God, and by all this he is built up in the spirit, or, at least, is not squandered. One thing else that can entertain him is the constant seeing and hearing of things - sometimes mundane, sometimes simple, which, just because they act on the soul, draw it out through attention and plunder it. If these openings were also blocked, the peace inside would be undisturbed. Obviously, the most reliable and decisive means of achieving this is to block the feelings, but this is not possible or necessary for everyone. Therefore, the holy fathers invented a saving remedy: to be influenced by external things, and not to entertain, but to build the spirit. It consists in giving a spiritual sign to every thing, everything visible and audible, and to become so strong in the thought of this spiritual sign that, when looking at a thing, it is not the thing that touches consciousness, but its sign. Whoever does this for everything he meets will constantly go to school... And light and darkness, and man and beast, and stone and plant, and house and field - everything, every last thing, will be a lesson to him; you just have to interpret it for yourself and strengthen yourself in it. And how saving it is!.. “Why are you crying?” - the disciples asked the old man, who saw a beautiful, dressed-up woman. “I am crying,” he answered, “for the destruction of God’s rational creature and for the fact that I do not have the same zeal for the soul for salvation as it does for the body for destruction...” Another, hearing the cry of his wife at the grave, said: “So a Christian should cry for his sins.” D. Grace-filled means of educating and strengthening spiritual life Such are the deeds by which the soul, body and our outer behavior are formed according to the spirit of new life, after the spirit is revived by the grace of God in conversion, rising to determination and vow and sealing them with the Holy Sacraments. But just as at first turning to God is unreliable if it is not sealed with grace through the Sacraments, then in all subsequent times zeal is fragile, zeal is powerless, the will is weak, life is empty, if one is not renewed through the Divine Sacraments of confession and holy communion. The Christian life, evidenced by zeal, is a life of grace; therefore, the most powerful means of storing, nourishing and warming it should be the attraction and acceptance of Divine grace. There are special elements that nourish our animal life; There are also elements that nourish spiritual life. These are the Sacraments. In fact, the Lord gave the Sacrament of Body and Blood to nourish and elevate our spiritual life. “I am the bread of animals,” said the Lord, “My Flesh is truly food, and My Blood is truly beer,” therefore, “this poisonous bread will live forever” (John 6:51, 55, 58). Spiritual life is a consequence of communication with the Lord; Outside of Him and without Him we have no true life. But He says: “He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me, and I am in him... I live for the Father’s sake, and he who eats Me will live for My sake” (John 6:56–57): that is, communication with the Lord operates through the communion of Body and Blood. True spiritual life is strong, busy and fruitful. But “without Me,” says the Lord, “you cannot do anything.” Whoever “is in Me will produce much fruit” (cf. John 15:5). “The poisonous Me abides in Me.” From all this it follows that “unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, nor drink His Blood, you have no life in you... This poisonous bread will live forever” (John 6:53,51). Here is a fertile source of preserving and strengthening our spiritual life! Therefore, from the very beginning of Christianity, true zealots of piety have set frequent communion as the first good. Under the Apostles, it is everywhere: Christians are all in prayer and breaking bread, that is, receiving communion. Basil the Great, in his letter to Caesar, says that it is saving to partake of the Body and Blood every day, and about his life he writes: “We receive communion four times a week.” And this is the general opinion of all saints, that there is no salvation without communion and there is no success in life without frequent communion 60. But the Lord, the source of life, who quickens those who partake of Him, is also a consuming fire. He who partakes worthily tastes life, but he who partakes unworthily tastes death. Although this death does not follow visibly, it always takes place invisibly in the spirit and heart of a person. He who receives communion unworthily departs like a brand from the fire or iron residue. The seed of death is either placed in the body itself, or it happens immediately, as it happened in the Church of Corinth, according to the Apostle’s remark (see: 1 Cor. 11:29–30). Therefore, when receiving communion, one should approach it with fear and trembling and contented preparation. This preparation consists in cleansing your conscience from dead works. “Let everyone tempt himself,” teaches the Apostle, “and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup” (1 Cor. 11:28). Confession, with hatred of sin and a vow to avoid it in every possible way, makes the human spirit a vessel capable of containing the incontainable God, by His grace. Determination and vow are the place in which the Lord communicates with us in communion, for this is the only thing that is pure, but everything else in us is unclean. Therefore, no one comes worthy, but only by the Lord, by grace, are considered worthy for the sake of confession with contrition and vow. Everything could be limited to this: confess worthily and you will be a worthy communicant. But confession itself is a Sacrament that requires worthy preparation, and, moreover, for its perfection it requires special actions, feelings and dispositions that cannot be performed and revealed suddenly, but require time and, in some way, exclusive occupation with them. Therefore, it was always performed according to a certain order, with preliminary works and exercises preparing for it, which contribute either to a better knowledge of sins, or to the excitement and manifestation of contrition for them, or to the protection of the strength of the vow. All of them together make up fasting. It follows from this that in order to exalt and strengthen a life of grace through the Sacraments, it is necessary to establish a fast with all its accessories - to confess and, having thus prepared, to worthily partake of the Holy Mysteries. That is, it is necessary to establish a fast, or, better yet, to take upon oneself a fast, because it has already been established among us by the Holy Church. Four fasts were established for this purpose, so that in them those who are zealous for piety would fast, confess and receive communion. That is why it should be a rule that those seeking perfection should fast four times a year, during all major fasts. This is what is written in the “Orthodox Confession”. However, this does not hinder the zeal to fast more often and even incessantly; nor is it imposed, like a yoke, on those who, due to their circumstances, are unable to fulfill this. You just need to do this: use everything in your power to fast four times a year. For the laity, four times is a modest, average, and, as has been tested, very saving measure. He who does this does not stand out from the circle of others, and therefore will not boast as if he has surpassed them. You can, however, fast twice during Lent and Christmas - at the beginning and at the end. So all six goveniyas will be compiled. Retreat must be distinguished from fasting, or worthy, according to the charter of the Church, fasting. It is part of fasting, but differs from it in its greater severity regarding food and sleep and in that it is always combined with other pious activities, such as: stopping everyday worries and affairs as much as possible, reading holy books, whoever can, going to church without delay for the prescribed services, etc. In general, this time is exclusively devoted to pious activities, which are all aimed at bringing proper repentance and confession and then receiving communion. Thus, it is obvious that in its entirety, fasting is a cleansing of all life, restoration of its entire structure, purification of goals, reunification with the Lord, renewal of the spirit and our entire being. This is the same as washing a blackened dress or washing in a bathhouse after a journey. A Christian, on the way and with all caution, will not hide from the dust - passionate thoughts and stains of the fall. No matter how small the impurity is, it is the same as a grain of powder in the eye or a grain of sand in a watch - the eye does not look, the clock does not go. Therefore, it is inevitable to cleanse yourself from time to time. How wise it is for us to structure the Church and how saving it is to obey such an institution with humility! This is the meaning of fasting! It is a means of nourishing, warming and preserving life in us, but most importantly, it is a thorough review of life, falls, their causes and the establishment of means to avoid them. When sins are known, contrition and hostility are cast out of the heart, confession and vow are washed away, then the vessel is ready. In communion the Lord comes and communicates with the spirit of the worthy, which must feel: “I am not alone, but with You.” D. Approaching continuous fasting Fasting is a one-time thing, but the fasting spirit must be elevated to a continuously active one, and for this you need to use some kind of exercises that help to root it. Since the fasting contains three sanctifying works: fasting, confession and communion, then these three should be raised to possible continuity, or possible increase. For this you must: Observe all great fasts 61 or spend the time of fasting in fasting, that is, more than in abstinence, so that the flesh itself feels the damage, lack, and pain. A certain number of days of fasting are assigned for fasting, when work is abandoned and everything is turned exclusively to cleansing the conscience; in fasting things go in the same order, fasting is diminished and other activities are determined by opportunity. Just the dejection of the flesh with the cessation of all pleasures, as befits a time of mourning, either lightens the spirit or attracts the mercy of God. What a powerful means of spiritualization this is! Fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays. This from time to time strongly reminds a person that he is not in freedom, but in slavery, under burden, tames the overflow of sensuality, sobers up and gives vigor; this is, as it were, the bridling of an ardent horse with a bridle and reins, interrupted for a short time. And, in addition, the arbitrary appointment of fasting on other days, especially on Monday, as is customary. Some deny themselves certain types of food and constantly eat lean food, others every other day, and so on. There are different types of fasting, and all are useful and are advised according to one’s strength and diligence. Any sin that burdens the conscience must be hastened to be cleansed by repentance, without waiting for a specific time of fasting. It is good not to keep it on your soul for even one day, and even better not for an hour, for sin drives away grace, deprives one of boldness and prayer, and hardens and cools the more the longer it persists. The one who is cast out through repentance leaves a touching dew of tears. Every day, when going to sleep, make a private confession to the Lord, in which everything sinful - in thoughts, desires, feelings and passionate movements, and equally everything unclean in righteous deeds is revealed to God, in a feeling of repentance, as something that, although it is supposedly happening against the will, nevertheless is in us and makes us unclean and indecent before God and our own sense of purity and perfection. When you go to bed, it’s like going to the next world; Confession prepares for this. During sleep, what we have acquired during the day turns into our nature - we must cleanse it and reject the obscene with contrition; everything happens after that. Make confession every minute, that is, every thought, every desire, feeling and movement that is vicious and unclean, immediately confess with consciousness to the all-seeing God, with contrition of spirit, and ask for forgiveness and strength to avoid it in the future; as well as to be cleansed at this moment from filth. This doing is very saving. It is the same as rubbing your eyes while walking against dust; it requires the strict attention of the heart. The one who is gathered is always zealous and zealous. On the contrary, leaving thoughts and wishes untouched by contrition and repentance leaves a wound in the heart. And how many unnoticed wounds there are, how many battles there are! It is not surprising that after this there will be a cooling and a fall. Thought to thought will more easily give birth to desire, desire to desire - agreement, and then there will be internal adultery and fall. The one who repents continually cleanses himself and clears the way for himself. To have revelation, that is, to reveal any bewilderment, confusion or new understanding to another like-minded person or to one’s spiritual father, so that he can decide and determine dignity and pronounce judgment. This avoids stagnation and evasion, acquires the skill of making decisions on one’s own and, therefore, saves time that is sometimes wasted on empty daydreaming. And most importantly, there is uninterrupted security, unshakable firmness of conviction, with which is connected both firmness of will and strength of action. With all these acts, confession truly becomes continuous. The spirit is held in contrition, in tenderness, self-abasement, prayerful prostration - therefore, it lives. This of all works is the most suitable for maintaining the spirit of jealousy, the heat of zeal, so that for others, all work was limited, both for themselves and for others, to one thing: repent every minute and cry for sins. Attend, as often as possible, at the Liturgy and during its celebration, to stand in strong and bright faith in the sacrifice of God being performed at that time. The Sacrament of Body and Blood is Divine food for Christians and is a sacrifice. Not everyone and not always receives communion at the Liturgy, but sacrifice is made from everyone and for everyone. That's why everyone should participate in it. They participate by faith, by painful contrition for sins, by self-abasement falling before the Lord, who devours Himself like a lamb for the belly of the world. One living contemplation of this Sacrament greatly enlivens and excites the spirit. Faith and contrition always bring cleansing of sins, and often the hidden touch of the Lord on the heart of a Christian, delighting him and reviving him, as if communion in the spirit. Such a touch is sweeter than honey and honeycomb and more restorative than all spiritual restoratives. But we must remember that it is completely a gift from God. When, to whom and how to bestow it depends on the Lord Himself. A Christian should accept it with reverence and joy and triumph if it is presented, but not strain on it, not invent ways to achieve it, it is even better not to trust whether it happens, or whether it happens. This is to avoid arrogance and prevent delusion. If you cannot be in church, then do not miss the hour of the sacred and Divine sacrifice without sighing and turning to God; If possible, stand for prayer and make several bows. Something terrible in nature makes the whole creature tremble: thunder, for example, an earthquake, a storm. At the moment of the Divine sacrifice in the church, the most terrible thing, the greatest thing on earth and in heaven, is accomplished, but it is accomplished invisibly, spiritually, before the face of the infinite Triune God, the holy Angels, the entire host of the Heavenly Church, before the eye of faith of all who labor and live on earth, invisibly, nevertheless, but really. That is why a believer should not let these minutes pass without attention. But when they are remembered, then by this very remembrance the spirit warms up and admires God, which attracts grace. This is how the doings of fasting can approach continuity, so that, together with internal doings, they can contain in constant tension and strength the heat of jealousy and the seeking spirit, and with its help, transform all spiritual and physical exploits into saving means for the return and strengthening of our inner man. This is the general order of the governing rules. Being based on the essence of life, it is essential for anyone who seeks the Lord. But here only the beginnings, spirit and power of the rules are indicated: for example, in relation to the body - displeasure of the flesh in all functions of the body; or in relation to external life - withdrawal from everything imbued with the spirit of passions, the duty of the soul to the best of its ability and walking under the influence of grace-filled means. These are the essence of the essential points of ascetic activity. As for the application of these principles, then, due to the many different states of individuals, it must be many different and in this case it is impossible to lay down one rule. For example, to heal the mind, it is necessary to imprint Divine truths on it, according to the understanding of the Holy Church. This can be done by reading, listening and talking and borrowing from the word of God, the teachings of the Fathers, the lives of saints and sermons. The spiritual father must now look at which method is more appropriate for someone and how it can be performed. How can anyone do this, just do it. Therefore, singular in itself, asceticism appears outward in infinitely varied forms. It must only be kept in mind that that spiritual father is a destroyer of the soul and a murderer who extinguishes the spirit of jealousy with various indulgences and indulgences or calms and lulls those standing in coldness, for there is only one way - narrow and regrettable. The fullest and most successful fulfillment of all this belongs to monasticism. This is a way of life that in its best, purest and most perfect form fulfills the requirements of asceticism, precisely in spirit. He is difficult and repentant; always consists of those who lead and those who are led; by deed it is removed from the outside, by deed it is bound to the needs of the body; represents the largest space for the application of exercises, readings, worship, prayer, obedience; especially adapted to the active eradication of passions, both in general - through non-covetousness, severity, restlessness, self-disdain, and in particular - under guidance. Then, an attentive monk soon develops an inner attraction to God, for the sake of the most decisive self-sacrifice and renunciation of everything, for the sake of a greater opportunity to remain within himself and for the sake of abundant nourishment in the spirit of prayer. Therefore, the attentive one soon ascends here to silence, solitude of the mind and retires to rest - into the desert or seclusion. 3. Rules for fighting the passions, or the beginning of self-resistance Staying in the order shown is a strong and powerful means for the destruction of passion, our purification and correction. Living in it with consciousness and freedom, a person, by the very fact that he leaves passion aside, destroys it, not giving it food or covering it, as if with oppression, with the rules shown throughout the entire length of his powers and his activities. Passions suppressed in this way go out like a candle under a bushel. However, there is no way to limit yourself to this positive activity alone. Rules are established as healing for forces that are corrupted and saturated with passion. The same power that is in evil must now act in good. Therefore, it is impossible not to encounter evil at the very first beginning and origin of activity in the first movement of forces. If it is impossible for good and evil to be together, and pure good is required of us, without any admixture of evil, then we must drive away evil in every matter in order to begin and accomplish pure good. Thus, in continuous connection with the direct positive exercise of forces there is always an indirect one, aimed at driving away evil and passion that arises in them, otherwise the fight against passions and lusts. The very establishment of oneself in the demonstrated feats and accustoming oneself to them is achieved through struggle and warfare, through the victory of temptations and enticements. Who was a faster without struggling with his stomach, or a true childlike believer without overcoming his own wit and self-comprehension? And this is not in any one thing, but throughout the entire duration of positive activity, starting from the origin of the inner to its last edge in the distance from the world. There is warfare everywhere, so the shown order, being a restorer of strength and nature, is also a field of continuous spiritual warfare. Conquer the unnatural in strength, then it will enter into the natural; shake off, wipe away the evil - you will see the good. Asceticism is constant victory. The possibility, foundation, condition of all internal victories is the first victory over oneself - in breaking the will and in surrendering oneself to God, with hostile rejection of everything sinful. Here arose a dislike for passion, hatred, hostility, which is a military spiritual force and alone replaces the entire army. Where it is not there, there, without warfare, victory is already in the hands of the enemy; on the contrary, where there is, there victory is often ceded to us without fighting. From this it is clear that just as the starting point of positive activity is our inner neck, it is also the starting point of warfare, only in the other direction. Consciousness and will, the transition to the side of good, with its love, strikes with hatred all evil and all passion, and, moreover, its own. This, in fact, is the transition, the turning point. Therefore, the force that fights passions is also the mind, or spirit, in which there is consciousness and freedom - a spirit held and strengthened by grace. Through him, as we have seen, the healing power passes to the forces through exploits; through it the power, striking, destructive, passes to the passions in struggle. And vice versa: when passions rebel, they aim directly at the mind or spirit, that is, at the conquest of consciousness and freedom. They are in the sanctuary of our inner being, where the enemy, through passions, shoots his kindled arrows from the soul and body, as from ambushes. And as long as consciousness and freedom are intact, that is, they are on the side of good, then no matter how great the attack, the victory is ours. This, however, does not assert that all the power of victory comes from us, but only shows the source. The fulcrum for warfare is our restored spirit; The victorious and destructive power for passions is grace. She creates one thing in us, and destroys another - but again through the spirit, or consciousness and will. He who struggles with a cry commits himself to God, complaining about his enemies and hating them, and God in him and through him drives them away and defeats them. “Be of good cheer,” says the Lord, “for I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” the Apostle confesses (Phil. 4:13), “just as we can do nothing without Him. Whoever wants to win himself will undoubtedly fall either into the passion with which he is fighting, or into a secondary one. He who has given himself up to God, as if from nothing, gains victory. This, again, does not reject our opposition, but only shows that, despite all the opposition, its success or victory can never be ours, and if it exists, it is always from God. Therefore, resist and fight in every possible way, but do not leave casting all your sorrow on the living God, Who says: “I am with you on the evil day - do not be afraid.” How should a person act now, or what methods are generally suitable for conquering passions? To determine this, it is necessary to consider and indicate all his enemies, as well as in what forms they appear and act; from here the manner of warfare with them will be determined by itself. Success in warfare depends a lot on the vision of its entire composition. Our progress in good does not happen peacefully, because passions are still alive and are strongly reinforced by the world before us, vain, visible, and the dark forces that rule in it. These are the sources of the movements that rebel in us against goodness. The person is all passionate before conversion. Upon conversion, the spirit, filled with zeal, is pure. The soul and body remain passionate. When their cleansing and healing begins, they persist and rebel for their lives against the spirit that persecutes them. These uprisings are carried out primarily through physical and mental forces and affect the spirit, as long as these forces are assimilated by them. But there are movements that are directly aimed at the spirit. These are kindled arrows, which the enemy launches from ambushes of the physical soul at a captive who has escaped his tyranny. Hence, despite the fact that there is a part of us that is healed or whole, the uprisings of sin and passions are manifested and felt throughout our being. In the body: their source is carnality, or the rest of the flesh, with which the surge of bodily life and sensual pleasure are directly connected. Where they exist, there is lust, gluttony, voluptuousness, laziness, effeminacy, wandering of the senses, talkativeness, absent-mindedness, restlessness, freedom in everything, laughter, idle talk, drowsiness, slumbering of the eyes, thirst for pleasant things and all kinds of creations to please the flesh in lust. in the mental part, self-witness, faith in one’s own mind alone, contradiction, rebellion against the mind of God, doubt, arrogance 63 and arrogance, inquisitiveness, plundering of the mind, wandering of thoughts; in the desirable part - self-will, insubordination, lust for power, cruelty, enterprise, arrogance, self-appropriation, ingratitude, covetousness, covetousness; in the part that feels the shaking peace and peace of the heart of passion, or various kinds of pleasures and troubles: anger, envy, hatred, malice, revenge, condemnation, contempt, love of glory, vanity, pride, melancholy, sadness, sorrow, despondency, joy, gaiety, fears, hopes, expectations. The source of all these mental and physical passions is pride or selfishness, which, although defeated or rejected at first, often rebels and, clothed with some kind of passion, enters into battle with the spirit. This remaining self, with the entire army of passions, constitutes the now decaying carnal man and is precisely that “other law in udeh”, which the Apostle mentions (Rom. 7:23), from which something always arises that is contrary to what the spirit wills. The Holy Fathers, in order not to distract the attention of the spiritual Christian fighter, tried to reduce all passions to their beginnings, in order to see what the fighter should aim for. For this purpose, near the origin, selfhood, they place three: sweetness, love and pride, and then five more others, which further come from these. Having limited themselves to this, they described their uprising and indicated the method of struggle. He who has cut off sweetness by self-bitterness, love by non-acquisitiveness, pride by humility, has conquered selfishness, for it is easier to destroy it in its children than in itself. All this is in the soul and body. But the spirit, revived or, better yet, revived, is not free from attacks, which are all the more dangerous because they relate to the origin of life and are often unnoticed in their subtlety and depth. And here, just as in the soul and body, against the entire composition of the spiritual life of the inner there is a nasty series of movements and states, driving away and overshadowing it. So, it often happens that instead of staying inside and being collected, there is an eruption from oneself, an exodus into the senses; instead of the three acts of inward abiding: attention, alertness and sobriety - plundering of the mind, inner confusion, vanity, weakness, indulgence, self-deprecation, freedom, insolence, captivity, addiction, wounding of the heart; instead of consciousness of the spiritual world - oblivion of God, death, judgment, everything spiritual. Since the main thing in the spirit is consciousness, based on abiding inside, then when it falls, vital activity also falls. From this, instead of the fear of God and the feeling of dependence on Him, fearlessness arises, instead of choosing and valuing the spiritual, indifference to it, instead of renunciation from everything, self-rest (why force yourself!), instead of repentant feelings, insensibility, petrification of the heart, instead of faith in the Lord, self-justification, instead of jealousy, cooling, lethargy, lack of excitement, and instead of devotion to God, self-doing. Having attacked consciousness or freedom, one of these feelings either completely blocks or reduces the source of our spiritual life and puts us in extreme danger. This is when outside help is essential. Sometimes a person himself is not aware of these tempting movements, for they belong to the most subtle thoughts. Mental and physical passions are more obvious, coarser, although they also have subtle ones, such as the rest of the body or self-will and contradiction. In words they are clear, but in deeds they are often hidden. Here is a horde of sin uprisings, ready every minute to extinguish our new life... Man walks on the earth of his being, as if through a quagmire, ready to fail at every moment. When you walk, walk with caution, lest you dash your foot against a stone. Being, however, inside under the yoke of new rules and order, with the activity of the spirit, all these wrong movements would not be so fierce if they were not assisted by their neighboring parents - the world and demons. The world is a realized world of passions, or walking passions in persons, customs, and deeds. Touching it with any part, one cannot help but disturb the corresponding wound or passion within oneself, due to their similarity and similar mood. Therefore, everyone living in the world rushes towards them through the passions living within themselves, according to reasons and temptations. But there are some excitements that actually belong to the world. These are: his charming appearance and success in everything, terrifying power - a feeling of abandonment and emptiness among many, in everything - obstacles, barbs, ridicule, contempt, inattention, torment by lawless deeds. This is then followed by oppression, persecution, bitterness, deprivation, and sorrow of all kinds. And demons, as the sources of all evil, surrounding people everywhere in their hordes, teach them every sin, acting through the flesh, especially the feelings and that element in which the soul and the demons themselves are. That is why every passion and every sinful rebellion can be attributed to them as a cause. But there is something in the sinful circle that demons alone can inspire, for which, despite all the corruption, nature seems incapable: thus, blasphemous thoughts - doubts, unbelief, extraordinary aversion, darkness, various kinds of charms and, in general, passionate, smoldering temptations, for example: indomitable lustful passion, death-defying and persistent hatred and other. In addition to these invisible struggles from demons, there are attacks from them that are visible, tangible through the body: these are various kinds of ghosts, even extending to their power over the body. To recognize all the cunning of demons, it is useful to read the lives of Nifont, Spiridon and others. This is everything that rises up against the new man, inside and outside. Those who are attentive say that not a minute passes without the attack of one of these movements, which is inevitable, for we see how the inner face, jealous of goodness, is surrounded by a hostile horde on all sides, immersed in it as in the sea. However, in addition to seeing this multiplicity of enemies, to succeed in battle you also need to know what form these attacks take. Let's imagine where the person's face is when addressed. It is inside, in another world, it stands and acts differently. He has spiritual things in his thoughts and spiritual things in his intention. This means that he moved away from passionate, sinful things. When an order in the rules favorable to the development of good is then built, it will be possible to see that it all stands in the realm of spiritual, holy light. Sinful and passionate things are removed from attention and lie under the yoke of rules. It pops up occasionally, from time to time, and runs back again, occupying or not occupying attention. It only shows itself to the inner eye, reminds of itself, it only wants to be occupied with, to be thought about, to be thought about. Therefore, the main form in which the hostile appears in us is thought. When the enemy manages to occupy our thoughts with a bad thought, he is no longer without profit, and often can triumph and win, because a desire can soon be inclined to the thought, and the desire can lead to a decision and action, and this is already a sin and a fall. On this basis, the holy fathers, who listened to themselves, noticed the following types and degrees of rebellion of passions and infatuation with them: an attack of thought, thought, pleasure, desire, passion, attraction, decision, and then action. In the form of their appearance, sometimes they develop gradually, one after another, sometimes each appears separately, as if out of order, except for the decision, which is always an act not immediate, but preceded by reflection and inclination of freedom: while it is not there, purity is intact and conscience is clear. Therefore, all acts before it are denoted by one word: thought - simply or with an application, a simple, passionate, lustful thought; because it appears in us either as a simple thought, a representation of only a sinful object, or as lust, lust, desire, or, finally, as a passion, as an attraction. They all call, tempt the mind or spirit to something passionate, sinful, but this is not evil, not sin, until the mind deigns to attack them, enters into a fight with them every time they appear, until it drives them out. The limits of warfare are from the appearance of thoughts, lust, passion, attraction until their disappearance and the cleansing of every trace of them; This is what all the rules of this warfare are aimed at. True, the world acts from the outside, as well as Satan, but their tempting actions reach our consciousness no other way than in one of these three, for their whole concern is to shake the inner state, to incline to them. This is where all their cunning is directed, so in this regard, it is not the method, not the deeds that they turn on us, but what they aim to arouse in us that is important and valuable in life and activity. For example, in persecution, the goal is not a person’s suffering, but the thought of grumbling or despair, or abandonment of virtue. As a result of this, in relation to spiritual warfare, one can decisively put it: regardless of where and how the sinful thing is aroused, pay all your strength and all your attention to this most sinful thing, begin work with it and fight. This law is of great importance: it will keep a person inside, therefore in strength and in some way safe. That is why among the holy fathers all the rules are directed towards thoughts, passions, wishes and are applied to their properties; the reasons are not mentioned, or if they are mentioned, it is without giving them special significance in this regard and often without differentiation. For both the world, and demons, and lust can and do excite the same passion, but from this it does not receive a special character. So, this is where the ascetic’s entire attention should be directed, inside himself - to thoughts, wishes, passions, inclinations - mainly, however, to thoughts, for the heart and will are not as mobile as thought, and passions and desires rarely arise separately, but for the most part are born from thoughts. Hence the rule: cut off a thought and you will cut off everything. After this, it is very easy to make a general outline of spiritual warfare. He is amply depicted in Letters on the Christian Life. We discharge him from there 64. Of the rules of spiritual warfare that make up the military art of a Christian, some contribute to the prevention of attacks, others - to the easiest and most successful end of the battle, others - to the strongest affirmation of the fruits of victory, or to the speedy destruction of the consequences of defeat, and which therefore are naturally divided into three classes: a) rules that must be observed before the battle, b) during the battle itself and c) after this one. Before a battle, a warrior must act in such a way that, through his actions, he either prevents attacks, or gives himself the opportunity to notice them at the very beginning, or even prepares victory. Therefore, first of all, he must constrict the area of ​​sinful movements, bring them into one place, because in this way it will not only be easier for him to notice disturbances, but also more clearly where to direct his forces. The external outline of the sinful area in general is this: having established itself in the center of life - the heart, sin penetrates the soul and body along all their functions, then passes into all the external relations of a person and, finally, casts its cloak over everything around him. Now, even expelled from the depths of the heart, he still hovers in its surroundings, still feeds on what he fed on before; faces, things, cases can easily arouse the same thoughts and feelings that a person connected with them when he worked under sin. The prudent warrior must now block this enemy's external supply. And for this he needs: to rebuild all his external behavior, to give everything in him a new look, new motives, new time, etc., in the spirit of the new life; distribute your time so that not a single hour remains without proper occupation. The intervals free from necessary activities should be filled not with anything, but with activities that contribute to the mortification of sin and the strengthening of the spirit. How useful some bodily feats are in this regard, contrary to noticed inclinations, anyone can experience; bind your senses, especially your eyes, ears and tongue, the easiest conductors of sin from the heart to the outside and from the outside to the heart; give a spiritual signification to everything in general that needs to be encountered - things, persons, occasions - and especially fill the place of permanent residence with things most striking for the soul, so that, thus, living in the external, a person lives, as it were, in some kind of Divine school. In general, we should arrange our entire appearance in such a way that, on the one hand, it no longer requires special attention and relieves us of any concern for ourselves, and on the other hand, it not only makes us safe from unexpected uprisings of sin, but nourishes and strengthens the emerging new life in spirit. With this order, sin will be completely fenced off from the outside; it will no longer receive food and reinforcement from here. If now, from the inside, a person makes every effort to preserve himself as he is, in the form in which he emerged from the first victory, if, that is, he constantly rekindles those feelings and dispositions that were revived in him then, then sin will be repelled from the inside and will remain here forever without support and firmness. Sin, thus deprived of food and support, if it is not suddenly destroyed, then at least must weaken more and more, to the point of complete exhaustion. After this, the battle with sin will obviously be reduced and everything will be concentrated in the battle with thoughts (which will especially tend to upset the new order), rarely with passions and inclinations, where all that remains is to be carefully guarded... It is precisely two vigilant guards that a warrior of Christ must constantly have: sobriety and prudence. The first is turned inward, and the last outward; the one observes the movements coming out of the heart itself, and the other predicts the movements that are about to arise in it due to external influence. The law for the first: after every thought has been expelled from the soul by the memory of God’s presence, stand at the door of the heart and carefully watch over everything that enters and leaves it, especially do not let feelings and desires prevent actions from happening, for that is where all evil comes from. The law for the second: from the beginning of each day, sit down and calculate all possible meetings and cases, all possible feelings and movements that may occur in connection with them, and first prepare in yourself the necessary stronghold against it, so as not to be embarrassed and not fall in case of an unexpected attack. In order, however, to act more successfully during the attack itself, it is useful to first organize a deliberate mental battle, mentally put yourself in certain circumstances, with certain feelings, with certain desires, and here invent different ways to keep yourself within the proper boundaries, and observe what especially helped us in that other case. Such preliminary exercise creates a warlike spirit, teaches you to meet the enemy without timidity and defeat him without great difficulty, as if using experimentally learned techniques. Moreover, before we begin the battle, we must first know when to act offensively, when to act defensively and when to retreat. Besides the fact that the use of one or another method of warfare corresponds to the degrees of spiritual growth, at first it is best to retreat, that is, to take refuge under the shelter of the Lord without resisting. Further, when we have already experienced the enemies and studied their attacks, without wasting time, we can repel them, but we should not deliberately give freedom to passions to arouse in ourselves or place ourselves in such circumstances where they must act with all their strength in order to have a chance for battle and victory. There are special passionate arousals that can only be overcome in one way or another. Thoughts must certainly be driven away, but this is not always possible to do with inclinations and passions, especially bodily ones. In both cases, you can lose your victory due to ignorance alone. Finally, one should never go into battle without the main winning thought - it is like a victorious banner. Just as before she decided the matter between good and evil in favor of the former, so now, during the battle with each particular sinful movement of the soul, she will without difficulty make us winners. With its appearance, all hordes of enemies, all vicious thoughts and desires should dissipate. She has the power to inspire and lift a person above herself; therefore, it is necessary to bring it to consciousness as often as possible and bring it to feeling - to establish forever on the mental firmament this luminary, driving away the darkness. Nothing can more inflame zeal for the destruction of sin than this thought - zeal, this rapid stream of living water, which, agitated, but not indignant, makes all the waves from the casting of the stones of temptation unnoticeable. With such precautions and rules, go, warrior of Christ, with hope in battle. However, even during the battle itself, you must act according to known rules, so as not to become like randomly attacking enemies in defense. Often one course of action, without much effort, can crown you with success. Having noticed the approach of an enemy - the beginning of excitement or thoughts, or passions, or inclinations - first of all, hasten to recognize that these are enemies. It is a great mistake, and a universal mistake, to consider everything that arises in us to be blood property, for which we must stand as if for ourselves. Everything sinful has come to us; therefore, we must always separate him from ourselves, otherwise we will have a traitor within ourselves. Whoever wants to fight with himself must divide himself into himself and the enemy hidden within him. Having separated from yourself a certain vicious movement and recognized it as an enemy, then convey this consciousness and feeling, revive hostility towards it in your heart. This is the most salutary means of driving away sin. Every sinful movement is retained in the soul through a feeling of some pleasantness from it; therefore, when hostility towards him is aroused, it, deprived of all support, disappears by itself. However, this is not always easy and not always possible: it is easy to attack thoughts with anger, more difficult to attack desires, but even more difficult to attack passions, for they themselves are movements of the heart. When this does not help and the enemy does not concede victory without fighting in this way, enter the fight courageously, but without self-aggrandizement and arrogance. Timidity leads the soul into confusion, into some mobility and relaxation, and if not confirmed in itself, it can easily fall. Arrogance and conceit are the very enemies that must be fought: whoever allowed them to fall has already fallen and has also predisposed himself to new falls, because they place a person in inaction and negligence. The battle has begun - guard your heart first: do not let the emerging movements reach your feelings, meet them at the very entrance to the soul and try to hit them here. And for this purpose, hasten to restore in your soul convictions opposite to those on which the disturbing thought rests. Such counter-beliefs are not only a shield in mental warfare, but also arrows - they protect your heart and strike the enemy in the very heart. From then on, the struggle will consist of the fact that the sin that has arisen will be constantly protected by thoughts and ideas that protect it, and the one who fights will, for his part, destroy these strongholds with thoughts and ideas that are contrary. The duration of its continuation depends on many different circumstances, which are completely impossible to determine. We must not only weaken and in any way, even in thought, lean towards the side of the enemy - and victory is undoubted, for the sinful movement, as we noted before, does not have firm support in us and therefore, naturally, must soon cease. If even after this, however conscientious, action in defense of oneself, the enemy still stands in the soul like a ghost and does not want to give up his place, then this is a clear sign that he is supported by an outside force; therefore, you should turn to outside help, earthly or heavenly - open up to your mentor and in earnest prayer call on the Lord, all the saints and especially the Guardian Angel. Devotion to God never remained ashamed. It should be noted, however, that fighting with thoughts is another thing, another thing is fighting passions, and another thing is fighting desires: thought differs from thought, desire differs from desire, and passion differs from passion. In all this, one must use special techniques, which must first be determined either through reflection, or from ascetic experiences and instructions. But resistance should not always be taken strictly: sometimes contempt alone drives away the enemy, and resistance only multiplies it and irritates it. The enemy must be pursued until no trace of him remains, otherwise even a simple thought left in the heart, like an evil seed, will bear fruit, inconspicuously inclining the soul towards itself. During the battle itself, no means should be taken to prevent it in the future. The rules invented here are always very strict, and therefore it is always necessary to change them and, therefore, represent the experience of failure, which is so harmful in spiritual warfare and tempting for a warrior. The fight is over. Thank the Lord for deliverance from defeat, but do not indulge too much in the joy of salvation, do not allow carelessness, do not weaken jealousy - the enemy often only pretends to be defeated, so that when you indulge in a sense of security, it is all the easier to hit you with an unexpected attack. Therefore, do not take off your swearing weapons and do not forget the safety rules. Always be a cheerful and vigilant warrior. Better sit down and count the spoils: examine the entire course of the battle - its beginning, its continuation and, finally, what gave rise to it, what especially intensified it and what put an end to it. This will be a kind of tribute from the vanquished, which will greatly facilitate future victories over them; This is how spiritual wisdom and ascetic experience are finally acquired. Don’t tell anyone about your victory - this will greatly irritate the enemy and weaken you. Vanity, which cannot be avoided, will open the doors of spiritual strengthening and, after defeating one enemy, you will have to fight with a whole crowd of them. If you are struck, lament, but do not run from God, do not persist; hasten to soften the heart and bring it to repentance. You cannot help but fall, but you can and should, having fallen, rise up. A person running in a hurry, even if he stumbles over something, quickly gets up and again rushes along the path to the goal - imitate him. Our Lord is like a mother who leads her child by the hand and does not leave him, even though he often stumbles and falls. It is better, instead of inactive despondency, be encouraged to new exploits, having learned from a real fall a lesson in humility and prudence, so as not to walk where it is slippery and where it is impossible not to fall. If you do not blot out your sin with sincere repentance, then, having gained some strength in you, it will inevitably drag you down to the bottom of the sinful sea. Sin will prevail over you and you will again need to start from the first battle, but God knows whether this will be possible. Perhaps, by now giving yourself over to sin, you will cross the line of conversion; maybe after that there will no longer be a single truth that could strike your heart; Perhaps even you will not be given grace. Then, while still here, you will be one of those condemned to eternal torment. In general, regarding the rules of warfare, it should be noted that in their essence they are nothing more than the application of all weapons to particular cases, and that therefore they cannot all be depicted. The matter of internal warfare is incomprehensible and hidden; the cases for it are extremely diverse, the people fighting are too different: what is a temptation for one means nothing for another; What strikes one person is completely indifferent to another. Therefore, it is absolutely impossible to establish one thing for everyone. The best inventor of the rules of swearing is every person for himself. Experience will teach you everything, you just need to have a zealous desire to conquer yourself. The first ascetics did not learn from books and, nevertheless, represent examples of winners. Moreover, one should not rely too much on these rules - they represent only an external outline. What everyone learns when making up the essence of the matter is only from experience, when he begins to fight in action. And in this matter, his only guides are his own prudence and devotion to God. The inner course of Christian life in each person brings to mind ancient underground passages, extremely intricate and hidden. Entering them, the subject receives several instructions in general terms - to do this here, there to do that, here according to such and such a sign, and here according to such and such, and then he is left alone in the darkness, sometimes with the weak light of a lamp. His whole business depends on presence of mind, prudence and prudence, and on invisible guidance. There is a similar intimacy in the inner Christian life. Here everyone walks alone, even if surrounded by many rules. Only the feelings of the heart, trained, and especially the inspiration of grace, are for him the everlasting, undeceiving and inseparable guides in the battle with oneself; everything else leaves him. This is the course of the battle with every passion, desire and thought. Like passions, wishes and thoughts, they are all equal; therefore, there is no particular need to touch upon the struggle with each thought in particular. Let's just make a few comments: There are thoughts that are subtle and subtle, and there are thoughts that are coarse and coarse. Anyone can notice the latter themselves; the former are unnoticeable during the hour of their presence in the heart, but are revealed only later - from deeds, and moreover, more to others than to themselves. This is the urge not to believe one iota of your peace, kindness and purity, but to always suspect it, to carefully monitor the progress of things and see what thoughts they are accompanied and end with, in order to then judge by this what originally lay inside. It is best, however, to have another confidant - the usual eye from the outside will immediately indicate what is hidden inside us, although we do not notice it. When we talk about the subtlest thoughts, we do not mean only spiritual ones: they come from the body and soul. Their distinctive property is unnoticed, hidden in the depths, so that a person thinks that he acts purely, without any admixture of passion, but in reality - out of passion. The reason for this is the still unconfirmed purity of the heart or, better, the unformed resolution of the natural from the alien. When this happens, then the subtle and subtle will become coarse and coarse, for then attention will be sharpened by experience and the feelings of the heart will be trained to distinguish between good and evil. There are thoughts, wishes and passions - coming in the form of attacks and short-term disturbances, and there are constant ones that last for days, months and years. The first ones are easy, but one should not despise them either, but carefully look not only at them, but also at their order. The enemy seems to have a law - not to suddenly start with passion, but with thought, and repeat it often. Driven away by anger the first time, one can be more leniently accepted the second, the third, then desire and passion are born, and from here it is one step to agreement and action. Prolonged thoughts are heavy and murderous; They are primarily called tempters. What you need to know about them is that they are not from nature, although they are inherent in nature, but always from the enemy; that the Lord allows them with a special intention regarding our purification, in order to test and confirm our fidelity, faith, constancy and ability to create the inner man, therefore we must graciously endure them, even if they were too offensive for a new, gracious heart, such as blasphemy, despair, unbelief, the main thing is not to lean on them at all times, not to internalize them and keep the heart free from them, separating them from myself and my freedom by thought and faith. The thoughts that must be fought are not always bad, but often good in appearance and very often indifferent. Regarding the bad, there is only one law - to drive them away immediately; the latter must be analyzed or reasoned. This includes the much-praised experience of distinguishing between thoughts, which ones to fulfill and which ones to reject. Rules for this cannot be proposed: let everyone learn from his own experiences, for man does not come against man, so that something else may be suitable for us. It’s better this way: the order of affairs has been established - and walk in it, and throw away everything that comes again, no matter how plausible it may seem. If the thought does not represent anything bad either in itself or in its consequences, then even then do not suddenly incline towards it, but endure it for the time being, so as not to be rash. Others waited five years and did not fulfill their thoughts. The most important law is not to trust your mind and heart and trust your leader with every thought. Violation of this rule has always been and is the cause of great falls and temptations. A bad thought tempts, but a good one deceives. Whoever is carried away by the former is considered to have sinned, fallen, and whoever is carried away by the latter is considered to be in delusion. Is it possible to depict all seductions in their origins and properties? Their property mainly includes the fact that a person confidently considers himself to be what he is not, for example: called to admonish others, capable of an extraordinary life, and so on. Their sources are the subtlest thought that I mean something, and I mean a lot... The insignificant one thinks something about himself. The enemy clings to this secret pride and entangles a person. However, every subtle evil thought, unnoticed by us, keeps us in delusion; when we think that we are led by good and pious thoughts. In this regard, we can say that not a minute passes when we are not in delusion, walking around as if in ghosts, entangled in them in one form or another. This is because the evil is still inside, has not evaporated, but the good is on the surface; That’s why our eyes look like fog from fumes. As for each particular thought, it is good to first collect information about them, that is, to have an idea about them, the reasons for their origin, consequences and ways to drive them away. This will be a backup store, very suitable in case of battle, namely: when a thought is not driven away by hatred and begins to multiply, tempting and persuading, then it is necessary to counter it with something refuting. But to do this, you need to have thoughts in stock. In this regard, the holy fathers chose the most important eight passions and described them as a model, which can be used by every seeker. However, these are not exclusive objects of abuse, but only the most important ones. Therefore, in others we find descriptions of other passions and rules for them. The richest collection of them is in John Climacus. There are bodily thoughts, there are mental and spiritual ones. It is obvious to everyone that they can all be present at any time, but, naturally, at first it is more noticeable to be bodily, then to open up to the mental and spiritual. Accordingly, the swearing must shift, or change their positions. This must be known so that the one who has won, for example, the body, does not indulge in carelessness from a sense of security, because he can be defeated through the soul, and the one who has pacified the soul can be defeated in the spirit. In general, as long as there is breathing, the fighting will not stop, although it may subside, and sometimes for a long time. Saint Dorotheus says: “There is passion to act, there is passion to fight, and there is passion to conquer.” The first sins, the second begins to cleanse itself, the third is close to dispassion. The more decisively one rebels against passions, not giving in to them even in thoughts, and not just wishes and pleasures, or, if this happens, hastily uprooting them from the heart at the root, always bringing oneself to the point of counter-feeling, the sooner one achieves purity. The more compliant and self-indulgent one is, the longer the matter drags on, with stops and bumps. This depends on self-pity, or not separating oneself from passion: by seemingly feeling sorry for oneself, a person cherishes the enemy and acts as an enemy against himself. The consequence of warfare is purity of the mind from thoughts, the heart from passions, and the will from inclinations. When it is formed, a person enters into dispassion. His inner becomes a pure mirror reflecting spiritual objects. Mental warfare with thoughts, lusts and passions should not constitute an exclusive, all-other-removing and replacing means of cleansing our defilements, despite all the decisive necessity, inevitability and victorious power. With it, there must be an active struggle against passions, or the eradication, extinguishing and exhaustion of them through actions opposite to them. The reason for this is that passion penetrated our powers, and it penetrated because we acted passionately. Each passionate deed had its own particle of passion in its power, and the totality of all deeds filled the power with passion, like a sponge with water or like a dress with stench. In order to squeeze out this passion, one should also use actions that are opposite to the first, so that in this way each action, settling in force, displaces from it the corresponding part of the passion and the multitude of such actions, often and continuously done, the whole passion. Such a remedy, if used properly, is so powerful that those who act on it, after several experiments, begin to feel a diminution of passions, relief and freedom, and some light in the soul. Mental warfare alone drives passion out of consciousness, but it still remains alive, but has only disappeared. On the contrary, the opposite thing strikes this serpent at the head. It does not follow from this, however, that while doing it one can stop the mental struggle. This must be inseparable, otherwise it can remain without any fruit and even increase, and not diminish, passion, because when working against one passion, another can stick, for example, during fasting - vanity. If this is left unattended, then, despite all the effort, there will be no fruit from doing it. Mental warfare in connection with the active, striking passion from the outside and from the inside, destroys it as quickly as the enemy dies when he is surrounded and beaten both from behind and in front. In this active self-correction, one must observe a certain order and rank, in the construction of which one must pay attention to the quality of passion in general, to one’s character and to good deeds, which are mentioned in positive activity. In the first case, one must aim at the main passions: pleasure, love of love and arrogance - and, therefore, mainly, train oneself in self-bitterness and cruelty, in squandering property and destroying things, in subordinating and subjugating oneself to others, or insanity (see Barsanuphius). Among the saints who actively undertake to purify themselves, this kind of deed is always visible in the foreground. In the second - to your main passion. This main passion will appear during conversion, during the knowledge of one’s sinfulness and repentance. When a vow is made not to sin, it is this passion that is most kept in mind. Therefore, even after this, it should be the closest object of counteraction to the sin living in us. It obscures all passions, as well as binds them around itself, or gives it a fulcrum. Other passions can be revealed only after this one has been weakened and overcome, and together with it they can be dissolved 67 . One must arm oneself against it with all one’s strength the first time, especially since there is also a lot of hatred towards it, which gives one the strength to resist. And you cannot move on to conquering initial passions without conquering it. In the third respect, the order of doing good is evident by itself. It is precisely at first that things will go against the ruling passion, then against the original passions, and then, when both of them subside, the good deed remains free to finish off the remnants of the hostile horde at its own discretion, and more so according to internal instructions. Whatever passion comes to life and manifests itself, cases are to be assigned against it. These are anti-inflammatory drugs, and they must be dealt with according to a well-known law. In addition to the fact that the order shown must be observed, there must be sedateness and evenness in the counteraction itself, so as not to run from one to another, like an absent-minded person. There will be no true fruit, but arrogance will be sown. Act more decisively, more relentlessly - the closer to the end and peace. To endure in the work begun until the fruit appears, for the end crowns the work... And the other things that experience reveals to the worker must be observed. It seems that this is how things are going: right after conversion there is now an active struggle of passions; from him or with him - immediately there is an internal struggle; then, further, they are mutually reinforcing and strengthening: the internal grows - the external also grows, the external grows - the internal also grows; finally, when both have become quite strong, thoughts of exploits and deeds come to a person to decisively extinguish passions, to cut them off at the root. One should not undertake great feats and deeds either oneself or advise others. It must act gradually, gradually increasing and intensifying, so that it is uplifting and powerful. Otherwise, our action will be like a new patch on an old dress. The demand for achievement must come from within, just as sometimes a decisive healing medicine is indicated to a sick person by urge and instinct. The mental and active struggle of passions is strong in itself, but it is incomparably more urgent, fruitful and quicker when it is carried out under the leadership of another. You yourself will not always notice the enemy in a mental battle, you will not always be able to act against him and maintain jealousy and determination towards it, and most importantly, in both cases you cannot have one plan, a preliminary outline, in order to conduct the entire war according to it. Doing this is completely impossible on your own. It is necessary for someone to see both our present and our future from the outside. Therefore, surrendering oneself to a leader should be considered the best and most decisive means of self-correction. He will use the same means over us and in us - active-mental warfare, but most importantly - at his own discretion, outline, with the discretion of the goal, path and crossroads. So, if you want and seek purification, find and beg from the Lord for a guide-father, having found it, tell him everything about yourself, what you know and what you see in yourself. Then give him all of yourself, both internally and externally - give him over as raw material, so that he can build from it a house for the Lord, a new man. Having done this, abandon all concern for yourself and carelessly take refuge under your father’s arm. Let him lead where and how he wants, let him force him to do what, when and where he wants. On our part - unquestioning obedience to him, without thinking, believing, willing and complete opening of conscience to him, or telling him our thoughts, desires, passions, deeds, words - everything that we do and what happens to us. This gives him a way to see where we are and in what state our internal structure is, and gives him a reason, accordingly, to give us advice and assign us things to do 68 . Opening your thoughts and obeying your father are decisive destroyers of 69 passions and conquerors of demons. Every time a revelation is made and then what is prescribed for this purpose is fulfilled, it is the same as cleansing a wound and changing a bandage. Urgent medical care! The one who opens throws out everything unclean and, through obedience, then takes what is clean, new luggage, healing food, pure juice - like an emetic, whoever takes it, and then good food. But what is most important is that they cut at the very root of passions, namely: selfhood, I. He who leads the battle by himself still leads it himself and thus, while he acts against the self, in some way nourishes it. With a leader, our “I” decisively disappears in his will from the first time, and at the same time they lose support and all the passions then come and act without order, in confusion, but even here all their cunning is outwitted and made unsuccessful through frankness. In general, this is a powerful way to kill passions and quickly ascend to purity. All the experiences of the saints go here; and there are countless examples... It should also be noted that the sooner, after an appeal, a leader is found and elected, the better. Jealousy is alive and ready for anything, and there is nothing a wise ruler will do with it, especially when self-making has not yet had time to form, which imparts stubbornness, distrust, contradiction, corrections... Someone who suffers from it, and having chosen a leader, must first be healed of it in order to enter the rank of a good son, capable of education. The trouble is when the soul gets used to doing everything according to its own understanding and desire. Finally, the final, as it were, cleansing of our entire composition, its purification as if in fire, is accomplished by the Lord Himself. Namely: from without - with sorrows, from within - with tears. It cannot be said that they appear only at the end, and that they did not exist before. No, they begin from the first time, from the very beginning, and accompany a person in the form of various troubles and heartbreak, and the more a person grows, the more they intensify. But this is how the Lord introduces them into us, allowing and, as it were, blessing the ordinary course of external and internal affairs for our good. Towards the end, He deliberately arranges (corrects - Ed.) them, gives them tears, brings sorrow - either together, or one after the other, and then one before, then the other, and even one for one, and another for the other. Sorrows are fire, tears are water. This is baptism by water and fire. In Saint Isaac the Syrian this is depicted by the ascension to the cross, or the final crucifixion of the outer man. This moment, as they say, is the most tempting, similar to the one that Abraham had when he sacrificed his son: in the mind there is darkness, in the heart there is joyless languor, from above there is the aspiration of anger, from below there is ready hell; a person sees himself perishing, hanging over the abyss. From here some come out in triumph, others fall and return to climb this mountain again. Those who have passed this stage, as having ascended to heaven, are no longer earthly, but heavenly, taken up by the Divine Spirit and rushed by it, like the wheels in Ezekiel’s vision. God is in them and act. Their condition is incomprehensible to thought. He is recognized only by experience, which is why those who have passed through him do not speak about him; it is not useful, and perhaps not even harmless. So that's it at the end. Until that time, along with other methods, as the most powerful means of purification, the constant sorrows and troubles created by God and the spirit of contrition given by Him should be felt as constant. In strength it is equal to the leader and, in case of his deficiency, can sufficiently replace him, and indeed replaces him in a believer and humble person. For in this case, God Himself is the Leader, and He is, without a doubt, wiser than man. Saint Isaac the Syrian describes in detail how gradually the Lord introduces the person being purified more and more into purifying sorrows and how he warms up the spirit of contrition in him. On our part, all that is required is faith in good providence and a ready, joyful, grateful acceptance of everything sent from Him. The lack of this takes away the purifying power from sorrowful cases and does not allow it to reach our hearts and depths. This is in relation to sorrows. In relation to contrition - careful recognition of one’s sins, one’s disorder, through observation of oneself and what happens in us, and then frequent confession, with sincere repentance and pain. Without external sorrows, it is difficult for a person to resist pride and conceit, and without tears of contrition, how can one get rid of the internal egoism of Pharisaic self-righteousness 70? The one who does not have the first is considered by the Apostle to be an adulteress. Since they are not in our power, but in the hands of God, then, being afraid to ask for them out of distrust in our own strength and ignorance of whether we will stand in them, at least we should not remain neglectful of the latter. More than half of it is in our hands and we are not forbidden to pray for it. So, as many ways and wisdom as there are, try as hard as you can to lament before God in repentance, falling before Him and begging for mercy. Seeing the work, He will give constant contrition and, if necessary, abundant tears, with which the face of the soul will finally be washed and completely cleansed. Well-being should lead not to arrogance and grand praise, but to fear whether the Lord has already abandoned him as unnecessary, and therefore to the strongest jealousy about contrition of heart, which is always a sacrifice pleasing to God. Even, one might say, when you do not have external grief, then mourn internally, for it is as if God is calling you to this. Meanwhile, and vice versa, to those who grieve outwardly, the Lord Himself sends consolations - moments of delightful joy, making one forget sorrows, healing wounds, and even lamentation is impossible. There may or may not be tears: the whole point is in pain before God about one’s impurities. These are all the ways in which passions are destroyed in us - either by our own clever work, or by our leaders, or by the Lord Himself. It has already been noted that without mental internal struggle, external struggle cannot be successful; the same must be said about struggle under leadership, as well as about providential purification. Therefore, the internal struggle must be incessant and unchangeable. It itself is not so strong, but when it is not there, all the others are ineffective and not beneficial. Both doers and sufferers, tear-jerkers and novices have perished and are perishing from a lack of internal struggle or preservation of the mind. If we remember at the same time what was said before about internal positive work - namely, that it contains the goal and power of external positive work - then the full significance of internal work will be revealed in full force, and everyone will see that it is the origin, basis and goal of all asceticism. All our work can be reduced into the following formula: having gathered within yourself, restore spiritual consciousness and life activity, and in this mood, walk along the outlined external work under guidance or Providence, but at the same time, with strict and intense attention, notice and follow everything that arises inside. As soon as a passionate uprising is born, drive it out and defeat it, both mentally and actively, not forgetting to kindle within yourself a contrite and painful spirit over your sins. All the attention of the ascetic should be brought here so that, while asceticizing, he does not become distracted and is, as it were, bound or girded around the loins of his thoughts. Walking with such inward abiding and preservation is a sober walk, and the science of this is the science of sobriety. Now it is clear why all ascetics considered the virtue of sobriety to be the most important of the ascetic virtues and considered those who did not have it to be fruitless. That is why it should be especially noted. We have already talked about it, but that is just the beginning. It was talked about there in order to show that the activity of self-resistance and self-coercion must begin only from the inside or, better, walk in it - having established itself within. Now we will choose the same point for ascending upward, for there is a goal, and the external is a means. That is, it must show the essential attraction of the striving spirit towards God, the conditions for the speediest approach to Him and the state of one who is close or, better yet, capable of this, for approach itself is from God. 4. The beginnings of the ascent to living communication with God Having established himself inward, he turns all the power of his jealousy to works of self-correction from impurities and passions, to releasing his forces and strengthening them in activities pleasing to God. This work absorbs all his attention, all his work and all his time. As he accustoms himself to this activity and, at the same time, streamlines and organizes his internal state, he naturally enters more and more into himself, gathers himself inside and lays the foundation for a non-original stay within him. This is the goal of initial asceticism, entering into oneself. At the same time, as a person begins to assert himself, little by little the main goal is revealed to him, which he must seek and which previously seemed to be hidden behind many things. But it is also natural, as we move away from the realm of passions, to become the main aspiration and gravity of our spirit, for the sake of spreading the circle of which all the work is undertaken. This goal and desire is a gravitation towards God as the supreme good. It is possible under the condition of feeling the sweetness of life in God or tasting - how good God is, therefore he does not appear suddenly. At first, fear lies with the person: he serves like a slave, out of duty, a duty that he realized at the moment of awakening. Then the fear subsides and, without disappearing, gives way to sweetness in the work of the Lord, a feeling of pleasantness in it. The manifestation of this is the manifestation of the first revival of the soul for God, the vision of its bright goal. When this gravity appears, it begins to grow by itself in the same order in which it was born. However, one should not wait only for him, but remain inactive for him, no, a person himself must act in a certain way in order to promote the speedy revelation of this gravitation. To this, in the previous order, predominantly internal positive work is assigned, but all deeds done in this way, as long as they are done without leaving the inside, are capable of giving help to this gravity, growing and strengthening, with the expectation of everything from God and the conversion of everything to the glory of God. This must be the spirit of all the work shown, otherwise it will remain fruitless and, what is especially important, a person cannot bear its burden without this inner strength invested in it. Thus, previous exploits can develop an inclination towards God, but they must be directed towards that special inner mood that should be maintained while going through them. The ascent of the mind to God, or attraction to Him, is formed as internal activities become stronger. It originates in them like a seed and ripens on them like on soil. Therefore, preserving this inner, in order to quickly arouse attraction to God, one must: Get used to walking with God with your mind. Let a person continually strain to see God as He is at the right hand, and rise to the feeling that he is seen by God. The habit of this is the door to God, the opening of heaven to the mind. Do everything for the glory of God and in nothing - neither outward nor inward - have anything in mind except this glory: it must be the measure of undertakings and put its stamp on them. Do everything according to the consciousness of God’s will, walk in this will and obey it in everything and wholeheartedly submit 71. Acting according to the will of God embraces everything that happens to man, and submission to it embraces everything that happens to man. Whatever you do, try to see that God wants this from you; whatever comes your way, accept it as from the hand of the Lord. A face, a thing, an occasion, joy, grief - accept everything with joy, submit to everything with willingness, peace, pleasure, despite the opposition. Through these spiritual activities, the mind will more and more begin to see God and be established in the vision of God—the mind will become accustomed to standing in the vision of God with His infinite perfections. This vision is given for the most part during standing before God in prayer and matures through this same standing before God in prayer. It is the beginning of the ascent to living communion with God. Contemporaneously with the vision of God, reverent worship of God in spirit appears and is perfected when he, in a painful cry to God, falls before Him in self-abasement, like a creature, not with the painful feeling, however, that he is trampled upon and rejected, but with the consciousness that he is acceptable, pardoned and disadvantaged. As a result of this, uncontrollable inward attractions and admiration for God will appear. Striving for God is the goal. But at first it is only in intention, sought after. It must make it real, alive, like natural gravity, sweet, willing, uncontrollable. Only this kind of gravity shows that we are in our rank, that God will accept us, that we are going to Him. When iron is drawn to a magnet, it means that a magnetic force is touching it; the same is true in the spiritual sense: then it is only clear that God touches us when there is this living aspiration - when the spirit, bypassing everything, rushes to God and admires. At first this does not happen - a jealous person is completely focused on himself, although for God, but this view of God is only mental. The Lord still does not allow Him to be tasted, and man is unable to do so because he is unclean. He serves God, so to speak, tastelessly. Then, as the heart is cleansed and corrected, it begins to feel the sweetness of a godly life, walk in it with love and desire - it becomes its delightful element. The soul begins to break away from everything, as if from the cold, and gravitates toward God, who warms it. The beginnings of this attraction are laid in a spirit zealous for Divine grace. It is with her inspirations and guidance that it matures among the indicated order, which it feeds on even without the knowledge of the action itself. The sign of this birth is: willing, quiet, unstressed inward abiding before God, accompanied by a feeling of reverence, fear, joy, etc. Previously, the spirit forced itself inside itself, but now it is established and stands without origin. He is happy to be there alone with God, away from others, or without attention to everything external. He finds within himself the Kingdom of God, which is: “peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17). Such immersion within, or immersion in God, is called mental silence or admiration for God. It may be temporary, but it must be made permanent, because that is the goal. God is in us when our spirit is truly in God, for this is not mental communication, but a living, silent immersion in God, alienated from everything. Just as a ray of sun carries away a drop of dew, so the Lord delights the spirit by touching it. “Take my spirit,” says the prophet (Ezek. 3:12). Many of the saints were constantly in admiration for God, while others were attacked by the spirit temporarily, but often. This is how such attraction, or entry into God, begins, matures, and is perfected by Divine grace in one who seeks God sincerely, conscientiously, diligently. An essential condition for this is the purification of the heart for the acceptance of the alluring God: “those who are pure in heart will see God” (Matthew 5:8). Therefore, all the feats, exercises and deeds mentioned so far are necessary, inevitable preparation for this. Only all of them must be passed through properly, and precisely with the direction towards this. The main thing here is the storage of the heart: the storage of the jealous spirit is inward; the condition for the reality of feats, exercises and deeds when they come from within, the success of struggle only comes from within; The best way to develop an attraction to God is internal. Consequently, inner activity is the central source of spiritual, truly Christian life. Therefore, among the holy fathers it is one and is provided as the only path to perfection. “Be sober and watchful, watch and pray,” says the Lord (1 Pet. 5:8; Mark 14:38). Sobriety, or guarding the heart, is the main feat. For the holy fathers, everything is directed here: everything is in the heart, for what is in it is in action. The decisive step in ascent to God, the very threshold of communion with God, is the complete surrender of oneself to Him, after which He is already an agent, and not a person. What is all the power, or what are we looking for? Communion with God, that is, so that God would dwell in us and begin to walk in us, clothe himself, as it were, in our spirit, rule by His mind, will, and feeling, so that “whatever we want and do in us” would be His work, so that He would act in everything, and we would become His instruments, or acted from Him, in thoughts, and desires, and feelings, and in words and deeds. This is what the Lord, the Lord of all, seeks, for He alone does everything in creatures through creatures. The spirit that has understood itself should seek the same thing. The condition for this indwelling of God in us and enthronement, or acceptance of all-action, is the renunciation of one’s freedom. A free creature, by its consciousness and definition, acts on its own, but this should not be so. In the Kingdom of God there should not be anyone acting on his own, but for God to act in everything, and this will not happen as long as freedom itself stands - it denies and rejects the power of God. And only then will this stubbornness against the power of God cease, when our freedom, or independent and personal activity, falls before Him, when a decisive petition is pronounced in a person: “You, Lord, do in me what you want, but I am both blind and weak.” At this moment, the power of God enters the human spirit and begins its all-effect. So, the condition for the indwelling of God in us is a decisive surrender to Him. Surrendering oneself to God is the inner, most secret act of our spirit, instantaneous, like everything else, but not instantly achieved, but matures gradually, long or short, judging by the skill and prudence of the Christian worker. It begins in the first conversion, for there the penitent, making a vow, certainly says: “I will avoid evil and do good; Only You, Lord, do not forsake me with Your gracious help.” With this disposition, he enters the field of asceticism and zealously acts in it, in the hope of receiving God's help. But it is obvious that here his jealousy is ahead, and God’s action will follow him. This is necessary both according to the beginner’s mood and according to God’s intention. A beginner wants to work for the Lord, to serve Him - and he works. This creates in him trustworthiness and, as it were, courage in his view of God. But obviously it doesn't have to stay that way. It is necessary for a person to follow the attraction of God, extinguishing self-inflicted jealousy. Consequently, a person should not remain in his first mood, but, without weakening the same zeal, he should subordinate himself to God, be brought under His beckoning, and learn to follow His suggestions and inclinations. This is secretly hinted at when it is said to Peter: “When you were young, you belted yourself and went wherever you wanted, but when you grow old, he belts you and leads you, even if you didn’t want to” (John 21:18). At first the person himself is jealous, and then he says: “O Lord, in the image of fate, arrange my salvation. As a bound man, I will go wherever you command.” This is an act of decisive devotion to God. The first type of activity is so beautiful and beautiful - so many fruits! That's why he can tie you to himself forever. But this should be feared, because it will be the same as sweating over an ungrateful land: there is a lot of sand and stones, but no vitality. We must try to move away from it and move into devotion to God. True, in some way it itself can grow during the first work, but it must monitor this plant and contribute to it, or, better, accept what is formed and grown. Actually, even then it is God who acts, for without Him we are nothing, but man says: “I chose, I wanted, I worked, and God helped.” And will, and election, and labors are also good works and, therefore, God’s; but a person, behind all his troubles and efforts, thinks that this is his strength. Therefore, the transition taking place within from zeal to zealous devotion to God is nothing other than the revelation and manifestation to our consciousness of God’s action in us, or in the arrangement of our salvation and purification. A zealous person is reminded of this by frequent failures despite all efforts, by unexpected and great successes without much effort, by mistakes and falls, especially intelligible, as retreats from grace. All of them lead a person to the thought and belief that he is nothing, and everything is God and His omnipotent grace. This is the last point of the preparatory course for devotion to God. It is possible only when a person feels that he is nothing. For his part, a person can apply the following: consideration of cases and cases, how they are built, in order to see the power of God in them; deepening with strong faith in the conditions of justification, to the point of calling out: “In the image of fate, save me”; the sight of a countless number of enemies, the concealment of the path, the darkness before the face, the innumerability of crossroads, the hiddenness of God’s definitions. These mental preparations receive special strength from the active, namely: distributing all one’s property, surrendering oneself to general reproach (in foolishness), seclusion, desert life. These are such turns of life, after which there is nowhere else to turn but to God. All such people directly throw themselves into the hands of God and are accepted by Him. In this regard, the help of a leader is invaluable if, invisibly for the person being led, he puts him in such circumstances from which only the invisible help of God can free him. The ancient fathers said: crowns must be delivered to novices. Best of all, this feeling of one’s insignificance and devotion to God are formed by incessant sorrows and especially by extreme crosses sent by God, which we mentioned above. He who has given himself over to God, or who has been worthy of this gift, begins to be acted by God and to abide in Him. Freedom is not destroyed, but exists, because self-surrender is not a final, approved act, but an incessantly repeated one. Man casts himself upon God, and God takes him up and works in him, or by his powers. This is the true, Divine life of our spirit. He who casts himself into the hands of God receives from God and acts by what he receives. This is a living union, life in God, affirmation in Him with the whole being: thought, heart, will. It appears by self-surrender. But as self-surrender grows gradually, and precisely in the continuation of the first action, then at the same time it is impossible not to rise in both this acceptance of God and abiding in it. It is true; it rises on its own. But again, on our part there must be something to promote it or to hasten its maturation. The field of communication with God, the area in which it is formed and acts, is mental spiritual prayer... The one who prays abides in God and, therefore, is very ready and capable for God to begin to abide in him. But this prayer is not the same as praying; this is a special spiritual action, not so much guided, but more obscurely maturing both for the led and for the one leading. In it, one might say, is the final limit of the rules of asceticism (see Simeon the Theologian). For when this prayer becomes and is established, God is one with our spirit. And the rules concern only the beginnings of it, and what happens in it after improvement is hidden, becomes invisible, like Moses behind a cloud. B. Living communication with God takes place in a state of silence, leading to dispassion. Whoever has begun to experience these involuntary inward attractions and these admirations for God, and especially who has begun to experience perfect surrender to God and unceasing prayer, is ready and able to enter into silence. Only he is strong enough to endure this feat and complete it with fruit. It is impossible to keep such a person in a hostel and cohabitation with others. What drove Arseny the Great away from people? This is an inward pull towards God. “I love you,” he said, “but I cannot be with God and with people.” “A true silent person,” says John Climacus, “not wanting to lose the sweetness of God, moves away from all people, without hatred towards them, just as others diligently draw closer to them.” Let us write down what is necessary for the concept of silence from the 27th Word of the “Ladder”: “There is external silence when someone, separated from everyone, lives alone; and there is inner silence, when someone in spirit is alone with God, not tensely, but freely, as the chest breathes freely and the eye sees. They are joint, but the former cannot exist without the latter. Therefore, in fact, a silent person is one who is an incorporeal being who strives to keep his soul within the confines of his corporeal home. Let the cell of the silent man contain his body, and let this latter contain the church of the mind.” One who has not yet tasted the sweetness of God will not be drawn to silence; But those who have not yet conquered passions will not taste this sweetness. One who is suffering from spiritual passion and who is trying to achieve silence is like one who has jumped from a ship into the abyss and thinks to safely reach the shore on a board. Let none of those who are subject to irritability and arrogance, hypocrisy and memory-loathing ever dare to see even a trace of silence, lest they fall into a frenzy of mind. He who has tasted the sweetness of God strives for silence in order to be insatiably satisfied with it, without any obstacles, and to constantly generate in himself fire with fire, zeal with zeal and lust with lust. Therefore, “the silent one is the earthly image of the Angel; on the charter of lust, with the handwriting of diligence, he freed his prayer from laziness and negligence... The silent one is the one who cries out with spiritual movement: “My heart is ready, O God!” (Ps. 56:8). The silent one is the one who says: “I sleep, but my heart watches” (Song. 5, 2). Thus, the entire occupation of the silent man is to be with the one Lord, with whom he converses face to face, as the king’s favorites speak in his ear. This activity of the heart is protected and guarded by another – maintaining serenity of thoughts. Decency of thoughts and the unstealable thought of the Divine constitute the essence of silence and also carelessness. Sitting on high, watch, if you only know it, and then you will see how and when, from where, how many and what kind of thieves want to come in and steal the bunches of grapes. When this guard gets tired, he gets up and prays, and then sits down again and takes on his first task with new courage. Those who love blissful silence undergo the development of mental powers and imitate their way of life. They will not be satisfied forever and ever, praising the Creator; so the one who ascends to the sky of silence will not be satisfied by chanting the Creator. But neither lazy prayer nor the guarding of an unstealthy heart can be achieved if complete carelessness has not been established in the heart in advance. One cannot go through the first two with intelligence if one has not acquired the last, just as one cannot read without learning the letters. “A little hair troubles the eye, and a little care destroys silence.” Whoever wants to present a pure mind to God and confuses himself with worries is like someone who has tightly fettered his feet and is trying to walk quickly. Therefore, true silence begins by surrendering oneself to God and deep conviction of the heart in His care for us. Only those who combined with silence to enjoy the love of God, to quench the thirst of this love, being attracted by its sweetness, are the real silent ones. Such people, if they pass through silence with reason, soon begin to taste its fruits, which are: an undisturbed mind, a purified thought, admiration for the Lord, insatiable prayer, invincible guards, constant tears, and so on. Thus, the attraction to silence is the inward attraction to a sweet standing before God; the path to it is paved by purification from passions through all the exploits by which goodness is strengthened in us and evil is exhausted; its immediate threshold is surrendering oneself to God in carelessness; His essence is an unperturbed prayerful standing before God with the mind in the heart, from which fire is added to fire. The burning of the spirit from God's touch finally cleanses a person and elevates him to a state of dispassion. In this fire our nature is melted, like unrefined metal in a furnace, and is radiant with heavenly purity, making it a dwelling ready for God. Thus, on the path to living communion with God, there is inevitable silence, if not always as a well-known image of ascetic life, then always as a state in which the inwardly collected and deepened spirit, by the fire of the Divine Spirit, is raised to seraphic purity and ardor towards God and in God. This fire takes root in the moments of conversion and begins to act as soon as, according to a vow, a person enters into labor, but this is an initial warmth, now appearing, now hiding. It acts throughout the continuation of work on cleansing the heart; Otherwise, man cannot endure these labors. But at that time she cannot show all her strength, due to the coldness of the passions that still exist in man. She reveals all her strength already when passions are silent. The first heat is similar to the burning of damp and wet wood, and the second is like the burning of the same wood when the fire dries it out and penetrates its entire composition. In another comparison, the first heat is similar to that which occurs in water containing an ice floe that has not yet melted: there is heat, but the water does not boil and will not boil until the ice floe melts. When the ice floe melts, the heat, penetrating the entire mass of water, heats it up more and more; This causes the water to boil over and become purified. This is what second heat looks like. The last two images of the actions of fire depict the actions of spiritual combustion in the last degrees of Christian perfection, leading to perfect purity and dispassion. “The substance of the passions, being exhausted by the Divine fire, is consumed, and as the substance is eradicated and the soul is purified, the passions also depart” 72 . Here is the meaning of dispassion, as indicated by the “Ladder” in Homily 29: “Dispassion is the resurrection of the soul before the resurrection of the body.” The resurrection of the soul should be called the coming out of oldness, precisely when a new man appears, in whom there is nothing of the old man, according to what was said: “And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit...” (Ezek. 36:26) (see Isaac the Syrian). This complete and yet ever-increasing perfection of those accomplished in the Lord so sanctifies the mind and delights it from matter that it often lifts it from life in the body in a frenzy to heaven to vision. The Apostle showed dispassion when he wrote: “the mind of the Lord is imams” (cf.: 1 Cor. 2:16). Dispassion was also demonstrated by that Syrian ascetic who cried out: “Weaken me the waves of Thy grace!” (Saint Ephraim). Impartial to all objects that excite and feed passions, he has become insensitive so that they do not produce any effect on him, although they are before his eyes. This is because he is completely united with God. He comes to a fornication - and not only does he not feel the movements of passion, but he also leads the harlot to a pure and ascetic life 73 . Whoever is worthy to be in this dispensation is still here, covered with mortal flesh, and becomes the church of the living God, who guides and instructs him in all words, deeds and thoughts; and he, due to internal enlightenment, knows the will of the Lord, as if he heard a certain voice, and, being above all human teaching, says: “When I come and appear to the face of God” (Ps. 41:3), for I can no longer endure the actions of his lust, but I seek that immortal kindness that You gave me before I fell into corruption. But what is there to say? The dispassionate “no one lives for himself, but Christ lives in him” (cf. Gal. 2:20), as he said, “he who fought a good fight, finished his course and kept the Orthodox faith” (2 Tim. 4:7). Dispassion is the heavenly chamber of the Heavenly King. And here, finally, communion with God and the indwelling of God is the final goal of searching for the human spirit, when it is in God, and God is in it. The good will of the Lord and His prayer are finally fulfilled, that as He is in the Father and the Father in Him, so every believer may be one with Him (see: John 17:21). His comforting assurance is fulfilled: whoever keeps His word will be loved by His Father, and They will come to him and make their abode with him (see: John 14:23). The apostolic definition of those who have died in dispassion is fulfilled, that their life is hidden with Christ in God (see: Col. 3:3). Such are the church of God (see: 1 Cor. 3:16), and the Spirit of God lives in them (see: Rom. 8:9). Those who have achieved this are the mysteries of God, and their state is the same as the state of the Apostles, because they also know the will of God in everything, hearing, as it were, a certain voice 74, and they, having completely united their feelings with God, secretly learn from Him His words 75. This state is marked by the flame of love, by which they boldly affirm: “Who will separate us?” (Rom. 8:35). And love is the giver of prophecy, the cause of miracles, the abyss of enlightenment, the source of the Divine fire, which the more it flows, the more it inflames the thirsty 76. Since such a state is the fruit of silence, when one goes through it with reason, then not all those who are silent are left by God in silence forever. Those who achieve dispassion through silence and through this are worthy of sincere communion with God and the indwelling of God are brought from there to serve those seeking salvation and serve them, enlightening, guiding, working miracles. And Anthony the Great, like John in the desert, had a voice in his silence, leading him to the work of leading others on the path of salvation - and everyone knows the fruits of his labors. The same happened with many others. We do not know a higher apostolic state on earth than this. Here is the end of the review of the order of a godly life 77. Our Holy Father John Chrysostom lessons on education 78 Giving birth to children is a matter of nature, but educating and raising them in virtue is a matter of mind and will. By the duty to raise one's children I mean not only to prevent them from starving to death, to which people seem to limit their duties towards children. No books or regulations are needed for this: nature speaks about this very loudly. I am talking about the care to form the hearts of children in virtue and piety - a sacred duty, which cannot be transgressed without becoming guilty of some kind of infanticide. This responsibility is common to both fathers and mothers. There are fathers who spare nothing to please their children’s teachers and indulge their whims as rich heirs, but for their children to be Christians and to practice piety - they have little need for this. Criminal blindness! It is to this gross inattention that all the disorder from which society groans must be attributed. Let us assume that you have acquired a large property for them, but if they do not know how to behave prudently, they will not keep it for long. Property will be wasted; it will perish with its owners, it will be the saddest legacy for them. Your children will always be quite rich if they receive from you a good education capable of regulating their morals and well arranging their behavior. So, try not to make them rich, but to make them pious, masters of their passions, rich in virtues. Teach them not to invent imaginary needs and to value the blessings of this world for what they are worth. Carefully observe their actions, their communities, their connections - and do not expect any mercy from God if you do not fulfill this duty. If the Apostle commands us to be more concerned about others than about ourselves, and if we are guilty when we do not care about their benefit, then are we not much more guilty when this applies to those who are so close to us? Was it not I, says the Lord, who gave a place to these children in your family? Was it not I who entrusted them to your care, making you their rulers, trustees, and judges? I have given you complete power over them; I have entrusted all the worries about their upbringing to you. You will tell me that they did not want to bow under the yoke, that they overthrew it. But this was something that should have been prevented at the very beginning; you had to take possession of their first impressions, put a bridle when they did not yet have the strength to break it; to bend this young soul under the yoke of duty, to accustom her to it, to form her according to it, to bind up the wound when it was just beginning; to pluck out the thorns when they were just beginning to appear around this tender plant, and not to wait until they take deep roots, until passions, intensified by gradual development, become unbridled and indomitable. The Wise One says: “Are these children, I will punish them and bow their necks from youth” (Sir. 7:25). But the Lord not only instills in us this command through the mouth of His prophet, but also takes our side, ensuring the fulfillment of this commandment with a terrible punishment, with which he threatens children who are disobedient to the authority of their parents: “Whoever speaks evil to his father or his mother, let him die” (Lev. 20:9). He punishes with death those who become guilty against you, and you look with composure at the crimes they commit against the supreme power itself. They rebel against God Himself, breaking His commandments, and you look at this without any indignation, without the slightest reproach for the children. What does He lose from their insults? Nothing. But you, what should you not fear for yourselves? Because whoever leaves the Lord will no longer respect either his father or himself. Children, obedient and faithful to God, in obedience to His law would find an abundant source of happiness, even temporary. A poor person with Christian morals makes you respect and love yourself, while with an evil and corrupt heart, all your wealth will not save you from the indignation and disgust of everyone around you. The young man to whom you give a good upbringing not only gains universal respect for himself, but also becomes dearer to you! Your affection for him will not be one of the simple attractions of nature; she will be the fruit of his virtue. For this, during your old age, you in turn will receive from him all the services of filial love; he will be your support. Because just as those who do not honor the Lord despise their parents, so, on the contrary, those who honor God, the Father of all men, will always respect in every possible way those from whom they received life. Suppose you fulfill the commandments of the law in all other respects, but if you are unfaithful to this one commandment, you will be severely punished. Listen to evidence of this taken from the history of an ancient people. You will immediately see what terrible punishment fathers who neglect the education of their children expose themselves to. The Jews had one priest, respected for the meekness of his disposition; he was called Eli. This priest had two sons who indulged in all vices. The father did not care about this and hardly paid any attention to it; or, if their debauchery, reaching the highest degree, forced him to reprimand them, he did it without due jealousy and power. He should have punished them severely, driven them out of his sight, and taken strict measures to stop their disorder. Nothing happened; he limited himself to telling them in the form of an admonition: “Don’t, children... don’t do this; for the hearing that I hear about you is not good” (1 Samuel 2:24). Was this something that should have been said? They insulted God, and he called them his children? They forgot the One to whom they owe their existence, and he still recognized them as his family? In vain and uselessly he admonished them. No, what was required here was not exhortations, but strong lessons, strict tortures, healing as strong as evil. He had to act through fear and tear this young heart out of its torpor. Exhortations! The children of Eli had no shortage of them. Useless words! The criminal meekness to which they became victims! War begins, the unfortunate become prey to the enemy; the father, having learned about their misfortune, falls to the ground and, breaking his head, dies. I just told you that fathers who do not care to give a Christian education to their children are child killers, murderers of their own children. Isn't it true? Who should Eli blame for the death of his children? Yourself. True, the sword of the enemy killed them, but the carelessness of the false father directed his blow; abandoned by heavenly help, they appeared naked against the arrows of the Philistines. The father destroyed both himself and them. Meanwhile, we see the same thing before us every day. How many parents are there who do not want to take the trouble to correct their rebellious and depraved children! They seem to be afraid of upsetting their children if they use a stern word to curb the vicious inclinations to which they indulge. What happens? Unrest increases; impunity leads to state crimes; the courts are awakening; the unfortunates die at the place of execution. By not correcting them, you become their accomplices. You have renounced your personal rights over them and subjected them to the severity of public punishment; and so human justice exercised its strict rights over them. You are afraid to humiliate them with a light punishment in your presence, but what terrible dishonor will fall on you when your son is no more and your father, pursued everywhere by the gaze of accusers, does not dare to show himself anywhere. So, I beg you, take care of the good upbringing of your children. First of all, think about the salvation of their souls; God has made you heads and teachers of your entire family; your duty is to watch, and watch constantly, the behavior of your wife and your children. Listen to Saint Paul. If your wives, he says, want to learn something, let them ask their husbands about it. Raise your children in the teaching and admonition of the Lord (see: 1 Cor. 14:35; Eph. 6:4). Imitate Job, who constantly watched over his children and made propitiatory sacrifices for the secret offenses that they might have committed (see: Job 1:5). Imitate Abraham, who cared less about acquiring wealth than about preserving the law of God with all his household, and about whom the Lord testified: “I have commanded my sons... And they will keep the ways of the Lord to do righteousness and justice” (Gen. 18:19). David, approaching death, wants to leave Solomon the most lasting inheritance; he calls him to himself to repeat to him the following wise instructions: “If your sons keep their ways, and walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, your husband will not be cut off from the throne of Israel” (1 Kings 2:4). These are the models that we should imitate both during our lives and at our last breath! If good fathers tried to give their children a good upbringing, then there would be no need for laws, courts, trials, or punishments. There are executioners because there is no morality. We do not spare labor or expense in teaching children secular sciences, in order to teach them to serve the earthly authorities well. What is indifferent to us is the knowledge of the holy faith, the service of the Heavenly King. We allow them to attend spectacles, but we care little about that the church does not run away, that they do not stand in it irreverently. We force them to give an account of what they have learned in their secular schools; why not demand from them an account of what they heard in the house of the Lord? 79 Having made the admonition, as necessary, to the children, the Apostle also turns to the fathers, saying: “And fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and teaching of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). Do you want your son to be obedient? From childhood, raise him in the discipline and teaching of the Lord. Do not think that listening to the Divine Scriptures is unnecessary for him. There he will hear first of all: “Honor your father and your mother” (Mark 7:10) - words aimed at your benefit. Do not say: “This hearing of the Scriptures is the work of monks; Should I really make him a monk? There is no need for him to be a monk. Make him a Christian. For it is very necessary for the laity to pay heed to the teaching contained in Scripture, and especially for children, since at this age they still do not know much. But, not knowing Divine truths, they know something from pagan writings, studying in them the life of wondrous, according to their concepts, heroes who served passions and feared death. What an example - Achilles, inconsolable and dying for his concubine, or another, indulging in drunkenness, and so on and so forth! So, your son needs this saving guidance - the discipline and teaching of the Lord. Isn’t it reckless to teach children the arts, send them to school, spare nothing for their education, and not take care of raising them in the discipline and teaching of the Lord? This is why we ourselves reap the fruits of such upbringing of our children, seeing them as impudent, intemperate, disobedient, depraved! Let us not do this and listen to the admonitions of Blessed Paul; Let us raise our children in the discipline and teaching of the Lord, let us set them an example of piety, and make them practice reading the Holy Scriptures from an early age. Oh! I say this all the time; Only I wonder if I’m wasting these words in vain? But despite all this, I will not stop talking about it; this is my duty. Why, tell me, don’t you imitate the ancients? Especially you women should compete with the wondrous ancient wives. A child has been born to you - imitate Hannah, the mother of Samuel. Listen to what she did: she did not hesitate to present her child to the church of God. Who among you would not wish to have his son once and forever Samuel, rather than a thousand times king of the entire universe?! You say: how is this possible? Why is it impossible? Just wish it and entrust it to the One who can make it so. Who, you ask, can do this? God. That’s why she (Anna) entrusted her son to Him. Eli himself was not very capable of developing and educating him; and how could he do this when he was unable to cope with his own children? But the woman’s faith and her diligence achieved everything. Having given birth to her first child, one, and not yet knowing whether she would have other children, she did not say: “I’ll wait, the child will grow up; the way to enjoy life; I’ll let him spend his teenage years with me.” Without thinking about it at all, she thinks about one thing, how to quickly dedicate it to God. Let us, men, be ashamed of such wisdom in a woman; She presented her son to the church of God, and left him there. This also glorified her marital union, because, having brought the first fruit of this union as a gift to God, she showed that in this union she was not looking for sensual pleasures, but to please God; That’s why her womb became prolific, and she, previously barren, later had other children; for the same, without a doubt, she saw what glory and what honor her son enjoyed from people. Everything with us should be secondary in comparison with caring for children and raising them in the discipline and teaching of the Lord. Whoever first of all learns to be wise, through this acquires wealth that surpasses all wealth and the greatest glory. It is not so useful to educate a son by teaching him science and external knowledge through which he will acquire money. If you want to make him rich, do this. The rich man is not the one who cares about acquiring great wealth and owns a lot, but the one who needs nothing. Instill this in your son, teach him this; this is the greatest wealth. Do not worry about making him known by external learning and giving him glory, but try to teach him to despise the glory of this life; this will make him more famous and famous. This can be done by both the rich and the poor. This is learned not from secular teachers and not from the aid of science, but from the Divine Scriptures. Do not worry that your son will live here for a long time, but that there he will be rewarded with a boundless and endless life; give him great things, not small things. Heed the words of the Apostle Paul: “bring them up in the discipline and teaching of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). Don’t try to make him a rhetorician, but teach him wisdom. If he is not a rhetorician, no harm will come from this, and if he lacks wisdom, the most abundant rhetoric will not bring any benefit. Good manners are needed, not wit; morality, not power of speech; deeds, not words: this brings the Kingdom, this also bestows real benefits. Do not refine your tongue, but purify your soul. I say this not in order to prohibit secular education, but so that we do not become exclusively attached to it. Do not think that monks alone need instruction in Scripture; very many of these instructions are also needed for those children who must enter worldly life. Just as when outfitting a ship, a helmsman and a full number of swimmers are needed, not for the one who always stands on the pier, but for the one who is constantly engaged in navigation, exactly the same should be said about the monk and the layman. The former, as if being on a storm-free pier, goes through life unconcerned and freed from any excitement, while the latter is constantly stormed and sails in the middle of the sea, battling with many worries. Even though he himself (a worldly person) did not need (instruction), he may need it so that, if it happens, he will be able to stop the mouths of others. The more respected he is in real life, the more necessary is such education for him. Whether anyone serves in the royal palace, there are many Greek philosophers there, people arrogant with temporal glory. Everyone there is pompous and arrogant, and those who are not try to become like that. What is it like, think about it, if your son, having entered there, enters like the best doctor, with an instrument that is able to tame the arrogance of everyone, approaches everyone and talks, heals the sick body, applies a plaster from the Scriptures, lavishes wise evidence. Who will the monk talk to? Is it with the wall of your cell or the roof? With the desert or wilds? With mountains or trees?! So, it is not so much that such a teaching is needed for him; despite the fact that he tries to improve himself in it, not in order to instruct others, but himself. As for people living in this (worldly) life, they really need such teaching, because a worldly person is more tempted to sin than a monk. And if you wish, know that with such an education he will at the same time be the most pleasant person; everyone will respect him when they see that he is not hot-tempered and does not seek power. Knowing this, raise your children in the discipline and teaching of the Lord. What if someone is poor? Let him remain poor. That he will not be at court, this will not make him any worse than the one who serves at court; on the contrary, it can become a subject of surprise. For if the Hellenes are people worth no more than three pennies, the cynics who accepted the same philosophy, worth no more than three penies (indeed, this is Greek philosophy), or, rather, not the philosophy itself, but only its name, putting on a mantle and letting down their hair, put many to shame, then isn’t the true wise man capable of more? If one false form is only the shadow of philosophy so elevates, what can we say about if we fall in love with truly bright wisdom? Wouldn't everyone respect him? Will they not entrust houses, wives, and children to such wise men without any fear? Tell me which plants are the best? Is it not those who in themselves contain strength and do not suffer harm from rain, or hail, or the rush of winds, or any other similar causes, but, standing openly and having no need for either a roof or a fence, seem to neglect everything? Such is the true wisdom, such is his wealth... He has nothing, and has everything; and he has everything, and he has nothing. For the wall is not from within, but from without, and the fence is not built from nature, but from without. Tell me also, which body is especially strong? Is it the one that is healthy, that comfortably endures hunger, does not require satiety, does not suffer from cold, as well as heat, or the one that is unable to tolerate all this and, in addition, for its health needs cooks, weavers, hunters and doctors? Truly, only a true wise man, who does not need anything like that, is a true rich man. That is why blessed Paul said: “raise them” (children) “in the discipline and teaching of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). So, do not seek protection for your children in external goods, but raise them according to the instructions of the Apostle; this is wealth, this is glory. Wealth does too much harm when it makes us unfit to endure the vicissitudes of life. So, we raise children so that they can endure everything and know how to act in the midst of misfortunes; let us educate them in the discipline and teaching of the Lord, and we will be given a great reward. In fact, if people who depict kings and paint their portraits enjoy great honor, then we, who adorn the image of the Heavenly King (for man is the image of God), will not enjoy much greater benefits for the fact that we restore God’s likeness? It is with this that the virtue of the soul can be compared when we teach children to be kind, non-irritable, unmindful of malice, ready for good deeds, loving people (which is all characteristic of God) and when we instruct them not to value earthly goods. So, to educate and organize ourselves and them is our duty! Otherwise, how can we dare to appear before the Throne of the Lord? If one whose children are unbridled is unworthy of being a bishop, then even more so is he unworthy of the Kingdom of Heaven. Is it really possible that if our children are disorderly, we will be held accountable for them? Yes, if this happens because we did not use the strict measures on our part that should have been used 80. Neglect of children is the greatest of all sins and contains the extreme degree of wickedness. And that I conclude this not without reason, I will prove it by experience itself, so that you know that even though everything concerning us was arranged perfectly, we will nevertheless be subject to extreme punishment if we are careless about saving our children. You know the story about the high priest Elijah, contained in the Divine Scriptures. If nothing could justify a priest, an elderly, famous man, who for twenty years had blamelessly ruled over the Jewish people, who lived in times that did not require great severity (in life), - on the contrary, he died terribly and miserably for not caring for the children with full diligence, and the guilt of this lack of care, like a strong and great guilt, exceeded all these advantages and covered all the good deeds of Elijah - then what a condemnation will it befall us, who live in times that require much greater wisdom, but we do not have its virtues, and not only do we not instruct our children ourselves, but we also plot and arm ourselves against those who want to do this, and act towards our children more cruelly than any barbarism? For the cruelty of the barbarians only leads to slavery, to the devastation and captivity of the fatherland and in general to physical disasters, but you enslave the soul itself and, having bound it like some captive, thus betray it to evil and ferocious demons and their passions. This is exactly what you do, and not anything else, when you yourself do not instill (in children) anything spiritual and do not allow others to do this. And no one tell me that many, and more than Elijah, who neglected their children, did not tolerate anything like Elijah; no, they suffered many times, and many, and much more, and for this very sin. For where do premature deaths come from? Why do we and our children suffer from serious and long-lasting illnesses? Where does the loss come from, where does the misfortune come from, where does the grief come from, where does the countless evils come from? Is it because we do not try to correct our vicious children? And to make sure that this is not a guess, the disasters of this old man (Elijah) would be enough, but I will tell you another word from one of our wise men. He, speaking about children, says this: “Do not rejoice over the sons of the wicked... if the fear of the Lord is not with them, do not believe their life” (Sir. 16:1-2). For you will burst into tears prematurely and, without expecting it, you will learn about their death. So many, as I said, have suffered many similar things; if some escaped (punishment), they will not escape forever; if they escaped here, it was to the death of their own lives, because they would suffer the most severe punishment upon leaving here. Let us not act foolishly because God now does not send a prophet and does not foretell punishment, as was the case with Eli: now is not the time for prophets, but, however, He sends them now. How do we know? “They have,” it is said, “Moses and the prophets” (Luke 16:29). What was said to those (under whom Moses and the prophets lived) is also said to us, and God speaks not to Eli alone, but through him and his suffering, to all who sin like him. God is no respecter of persons, and if He destroyed the less guilty person along with the whole house, He will not leave those who committed more serious crimes unpunished. God Himself takes great care of the upbringing of children. This is why He put such an attraction (of parents towards children) into nature in order to place parents, as it were, in the inevitable necessity of caring for their children. And subsequently, while talking to us, he set laws regarding the care of them, and, having established holidays, ordered that their regulations be explained. So, having spoken about Easter, He added the instruction: “And you will tell your son on the day, saying: For this reason the Lord God did it for me when I came out of Egypt.” He does the same in the Law. For, having spoken about the firstborn, he again adds: “if... your son asks you about these things, saying: what is this; and you said to him: For with a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of the land of Egypt, from the house of work, when Pharaoh was hardened to let us go, the Lord smote every one... from the firstborn of man to the firstborn of beast; For this reason I sacrifice” (to the Lord) “everything that opens lies” (Ex. 13, 8, 14-15). With all this He commands to lead children to the knowledge of God. And He commands the children themselves many things in relation to their parents, rewarding the obedient (children), and punishing the disobedient, and thus making them even more precious to their parents. In fact, when someone makes us lords over someone, then with this honor he imposes on us the strongest obligation to take care of him, so that this one, without the other, is able to convince us that the whole fate of that person is in our hands, and we will not soon decide to harm the one who is entrusted to us in this way. When, after this, he is also angry and indignant more than the insulted themselves, and is a strict punisher, then this encourages us even more (to fulfill our duty). God did the same. To these (two) He added a third, natural obligation, and if you want, this is the first. Precisely so that parents, having received the command to raise their children, would not neglect His commandments, God bound them by natural necessity. And so that this connection, being insulted by the children, would not be completely dissolved, He protected it with punishments both from Himself and from the parents themselves, and thus subordinated the children to the parents, and aroused love for the children in the parents. However, not only in this way, but also in another, fourth way, God firmly and closely connected us with them. He not only punishes evil children in relation to their parents, and rewards good ones, but he does the same with parents, cruelly punishing those who do not care about their children, and honoring those who care for them with honors and praises. So He punished this old man (Elijah), in all other respects worthy of praise, for one lack of care for children, and rewarded Patriarch Abraham for his care no less than for other virtues. For, speaking about those many and great gifts that he promised to give him, God presents this virtue as the reason for such a promise: “For we know,” he says, “as a commandment (Abraham) to his sons, and to his household by themselves, and keep the ways of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice” (Gen. 18, 19). I have said this now so that you will know that God will not be lenient towards those who neglect those for whom He Himself cares so much. For it is impossible for one and the same (God) to do so much Himself for the salvation of these (children), and ignore it when their parents neglect them. So He will not ignore this; on the contrary, He will become even more indignant and angry, as it actually turned out to be. Therefore, Blessed Paul strongly urges, saying: “Fathers, raise your children in the discipline and teaching of the Lord.” If we already 81 are obligated to vigilantly care for their souls, “as if we were willing to reward the word” (Heb. 13:17); all the more so (is obliged to do this) a father who gave birth to a son, raised him and lives with him constantly. For just as he cannot find excuses and justification for himself in his own sins, the same is true in the actions of children. And this was also shown by Blessed Paul. Prescribing what those who assume authority over others should be like, he, in addition to all the qualities necessary for them, also demands from them care for children, so that we have no excuse when our children are depraved (see: 1 Tim. 3:4-5). And absolutely fair! If there were evil in people by nature, then everyone would rightfully resort to an excuse, but since we are depraved and honest of our own free will, then what plausible excuse can be presented by the one who allowed his son, (beloved) most of all, to debauchery and wickedness? Was it because he didn’t want to make him honest? But no father will say this; nature itself urgently and continuously encourages him to do so. Or that he couldn't? But this cannot be said either, for everything - the fact that he took his son into his care at a tender age, and the fact that he was the first and only to be given power over him, and the fact that he constantly had him with him - all this makes his son’s education very easy and convenient for him. This means that the corruption of children comes from nothing other than the insane attachment of fathers to everyday things; Paying attention only to this and not considering anything higher than this, they inevitably no longer care about the children and their souls. I will say about such fathers (and no one should consider these words a product of anger) that they are worse than even child killers. These separate the body from the soul, and both of them plunge both into the fire of Gehenna. That death is necessary and according to the natural order, but this one could have been avoided if the carelessness of the fathers had not led to it. In addition, bodily death can be stopped by resurrection as soon as it occurs, and nothing will compensate for the loss of the soul; it is no longer followed by salvation, but by the necessity of eternal suffering. This means that it is not unfair for us to call such fathers the worst child killers. It is not so cruel to sharpen a sword and, taking it in the right hand, plunge it into the very heart of the child, as to destroy and corrupt the soul, because we have nothing equal to it. If evil were limited only to the fact that parents did not give their children any useful advice, then the evil would not be so great. But you, parents, encourage them (children) to do the opposite. In fact, when fathers convince their children to study science, then in their conversation with their children you will not hear anything other than these words: “So-and-so,” they say, “a low man and from a low state, having improved in eloquence, received a very high position, acquired a very large estate, took a rich wife, built a magnificent house, became terrible and famous for everyone.” Another says: “So-and-so has studied Latin, shines at court and rules everything there.” One again points to another, and everyone points only to those who are famous on earth, but no one will remember those who are famous in heaven, and one day, even if another decides to mention them, he is persecuted as a person who upsets everything. So, when you instill this in children from a young age, you teach them nothing other than the basis of all vices, instilling in them the two most violent passions - that is, the love of money and an even more vicious passion - vanity. Each of them separately can destroy everything, and when they both together invade the tender soul of a young man, then, like united stormy streams, they destroy everything good and cause so many thorns, so much sand, so much rubbish that they make the soul barren and incapable of anything good. How do you think that your son can easily escape the devil’s snares, being young, living among Egypt, or, better, among the army of the devil, without hearing useful advice from anyone and seeing that everyone, and most of all his parents and educators, is leading him to the opposite? How could he do this? Is it with the help of your admonitions? But you inspire him with the opposite and, not allowing him to remember wisdom even in a dream, on the contrary, constantly occupying him with real life and its benefits, you only further contribute to his drowning. Or by yourself? Not at all, the young man by himself does not have enough strength to perform virtue, and even if he gives birth to something good, then this good thing will soon perish from the strong rain of your words before it grows. For just as the body cannot live long when it eats unhealthy but unhealthy food, so the soul, receiving such suggestions, cannot even think about anything good and great; no, being upset and weakened, like some kind of infection, she finally inevitably falls into Gehenna and into the destruction there. After all, you, as if deliberately trying to destroy the children, order them to do only what by doing, it is impossible to be saved. Here, look first of all. “Woe,” it is said, “to those who laugh,” and you give children many reasons to laugh. “Woe to the rich,” and all you are trying to do is make them get rich. “Woe, if all men speak good things to you” (Luke 6:24–26), and you often spend all your property because of human glory. Again, he who reviles his brother “is guilty of hell” (Matthew 5:22), and you consider those who silently endure offensive speech from others to be weak and cowardly. Christ commands us to turn away from warfare and strife, but you constantly occupy your children with these evil deeds. He commanded in many cases to tear out an eye if it leads to evil (see: Matt. 5:29), and you especially make friends of those who can only give money, even if they teach extreme depravity. He did not allow him to leave his wife, except for adultery (see: Matt. 5:32), and you, when you can get money, order you to neglect this commandment. He completely forbade swearing (see: Matt. 5:34), and you even laugh when you see that this prohibition is observed. “Love your soul,” said the Lord, “he will destroy you” (John 12:25), and you in every possible way involve them in this love. “If you do not forgive,” He says, “man their sins, your Heavenly Father will not forgive you” (cf. Matt. 6:15), and you even reproach the children when they do not want to take revenge on those who have offended, and try to quickly bring them into a position to do this. Christ said that those who love glory - whether they fast, pray, or give alms - do all this without benefit (see: Matt. 6:1), and you only try to ensure that your children receive it. And why list everything? If the aforementioned vices, not only all together, but each on its own, are capable of preparing a thousand hells, and you, having gathered them all together and placed this unbearably heavy burden of sins on the children, send them with it into the fiery river, then how can they be saved, carrying so much food for the fire? And it’s not only bad that you instill in your children something contrary to the commandments of Christ, but also that you cover up wickedness with euphonious names, calling constant presence on horse tracks and in theaters secularism, the possession of wealth - freedom, audacity - frankness, wastefulness - love of mankind, injustice - courage. Then, as if this deception were not enough, you call virtue by disgusting names: modesty as lack of education, meekness as cowardice, justice as weakness, humility as servility, kindness as impotence. You seem to be afraid that children, having heard from others the real name of these virtues and vices, will run away from the infection. For calling vices by their direct and real names greatly contributes to aversion from them. I know many people who were brought to their senses in this way and, hearing names that were defamatory to themselves, became more modest in life. But you also took away this allowance for correction from the children. And, what’s even worse, you inspire evil in them not only with words, but also with deeds: you build magnificent houses, buy expensive fields, surround them with other splendor, and with all this, like some kind of vile cloud, you darken their soul. So how can I be convinced that it is possible for them to be saved, when I see that you are inclining them to such deeds for which Christ has determined inevitable destruction; when I see that you neglect their souls as if they were something unnecessary, but take care of what is truly unnecessary, as if they were necessary and most important. You do everything so that your son has a servant, a horse and the best clothes, but so that he himself is good - you don’t even want to think about it; no, extending care for wood and stones to such an extent, you do not deign the soul even the slightest part of such care. You do everything, as long as there is a wonderful statue on the house and the roof is golden, but you don’t even want to think about it so that the most precious statue - the soul - is golden. Further, wanting to acquaint children with the sciences, we not only remove those things that hinder learning, but also provide them with everything that contributes to this: we assign mentors and teachers to them, spend money on them, free them from all other activities and, more often than teachers at the Olympic Games, shout to them about poverty from lack of learning and about wealth from learning - we do and say everything, both ourselves and through others, just to bring them to the end of the teaching set before them; however, even with all this we often do not have time. But modesty of morals and careful attention to honest behavior, in our opinion, will come by themselves and despite so many obstacles? What could be worse than this lack of understanding - to pay so much attention and care to the easiest thing, as if it were impossible to do it otherwise, and to think about what is much more difficult, that it will come to us like some empty and insignificant thing, even if we were sleeping? After all, the exercise of the soul in a pious life is so much more difficult and difficult than the study of science, how much more difficult it is to do than to speak, how much more difficult are deeds than words. But why, you say, do our children need philosophy and strict behavior? This is what ruined everything - that a task that is so necessary and serves as the support of our life is considered superfluous and unnecessary. Seeing a son with a sick body, no one will say why he needs perfect and good health? On the contrary, he will try in every possible way to bring the body into such well-being that the disease will no longer return. And when children have a sick soul, they say they don’t need any treatment - and after such words they dare to call themselves fathers! So what, you say, we will all begin to philosophize, and everything worldly will perish? No, most respected ones, it was not philosophy, but evasion from it that ruined and upset everything. For who, tell me, upsets the present state of affairs - those who live abstinently and modestly, or those who invent new and lawless ways of enjoying? Are they those who try to seize for themselves everything that belongs to others, or those who are content with their own? Are they humane and meek and do not seek honor from the people, or are they those who demand it from their fellow men more than any duty and cause a thousand troubles to anyone who does not stand before them, does not say the first greeting, does not bow, does not express servility? Are they those who love to obey, or those who seek power and superiors and are ready to do and endure anything for this? Are they those who consider themselves better than everyone else and therefore think that they can say and do everything, or those who consider themselves the last and thereby tame the insane self-will of passions? Are they those who are aware of the weakness of the human race, or those who do not even want to know this, but from excessive pride have ceased to consider themselves human? Are they those who keep harlots and defile other people's beds, or those who abstain from their own wives? Are the former not the same in human society as tumors on the body and stormy winds in the sea, and with their intemperance do they not drown those who could have saved themselves on their own? And aren’t the latter, like bright lights in the midst of deep darkness, calling those in distress in the middle of the sea to their safety and, having lit the lamp of wisdom in the distance on high, do they not thus guide everyone who desires to a calm haven? Is it not because of these disturbances and wars, and battles, and the destruction of cities, and captivity, and slavery, and imprisonment, and murder, and countless disasters in life - disasters not only inflicted on people from people, but also all sent from heaven, such as: droughts and floods, and earthquakes, and the flooding of cities, and famine, and plagues, and everything else that is sent to us from there? Thus, they subvert the social order and destroy the common good; They cause countless disasters to others, they, who outrage people seeking peace, drag them down and tear them apart from all sides. For them, courts and laws, and penalties, and various types of punishments. If we wanted to educate children from a very young age and hand them over to those who wish to educate them, they, of course, could become in the first rank of the army, because God would not despise such zeal and zeal, but would stretch out His hand and lay it on the image. And when His hand works, then it is impossible not to have success in business, or, better, it is impossible not to reach the highest degree of splendor and glory, as long as what depends on us is accomplished. If wives could bow down to God so that He would help in raising children, how much more could we do this if we wanted. In order not to spread the word too much, I will pass over the other wives in silence, although I could point out many, but I will mention only one. There was one Jewish woman - Anna. This Anna gave birth to one son and no longer hoped to have another, because she barely received this too, after many tears, due to her infertility. Although her rival often insulted her for this infertility, she, however, did not act as you do, but even having received that son, she kept him only as long as it was necessary to feed him with milk. And as soon as he no longer needed this food, she, taking him, immediately dedicated him to God and did not ask him to return to his parents’ house, but left him to live permanently in the church of God. And if, out of maternal feelings, she wanted to see him, she did not call the boy to her, but she herself came to him with his father and treated him carefully, as if he were a gift sacrificed to God. That is why the young man became so valiant and great that when God turned away from the Jewish people for their extreme wickedness, did not utter prophecies and did not reveal visions, he again attracted God with his virtue and begged to grant the Jews the same as before, and to renew the stopped prophecies. And he did this while not at a mature age, but still a small youth. “And the word of the Lord,” says Scripture, “was not honest in those days, without a vision being sent” (1 Samuel 3:1), and yet God often revealed His will to him (Samuel). It is so useful to always give your acquisitions to God and refuse not only money and things, but also children themselves. For if we are commanded to do this in relation to our soul (see: Matt. 10:37), much more so in relation to everything else. Patriarch Abraham did this too, or, better to say, much more than this, and therefore received a son with greater glory. And, truly, it is then that we especially have our children with us when we give them to the Lord. For He will preserve them much better than us, because He cares more about them. Don't you see that this happens in the houses of the rich? And there the lower servants who live with their fathers are not so respected and do not have such power, but those whom the masters, taking from their parents, assign to their service and make guardians of treasures, enjoy greater favor and freedom. If people are so kind and supportive of their human servants, much more so is the infinite Goodness, that is, God. Let us allow children to serve God, leading them not only into the church, like Samuel, but into heaven itself (to serve) together with the Angels and Archangels. For those who devote themselves to this chastity will actually serve with them (the Angels), this is obvious to everyone. Moreover, such children will intercede with great boldness not only for themselves, but also for us. For if some (children) received help from God for the sake of the fathers, how much more can the fathers receive for the sake of the children; because in the first case, the right to help is only the unity of nature, and in the latter, also education, which is much more important than nature. I will prove both to you from Divine Scripture. Thus, Hezekiah, a virtuous and pious king, but who in his deeds did not have the courage to stand against the great danger that threatened him, was saved by God for the virtue of his father, as He Himself says: “And I will defend this city, and I will save it for the sake of Me and David... My servant” (2 Kings 19:34). And Paul, in his Epistle to Timothy about parents, said: ... “a woman... will be saved for the sake of childbearing if she continues in faith and love and in holiness with chastity” (1 Tim. 2:14-15). And the Scripture praises Job both for the fact that he is “a man... true, blameless, righteous, pious, shunning all evil things” (Job 1:1), and for caring for children. And this care did not consist in collecting wealth for them, and not in trying to make them famous and famous, but in what? Listen to what the Scripture says: ... “When the days of the feast were ended, Job sent and cleansed them, rising in the morning, and offering sacrifices for them according to their number, and one bull for the sin of their souls. Job said: “It was negli when my sons sinned and in their thoughts they thought evil against God” (Job 1:5). What excuse will we have for acting so carelessly? For, if he who lived before grace and before the law and did not hear any teaching had such great care for children that he trembled for their secret sins, who will justify us, who live in the time of grace, we have so many teachers, so many examples and admonitions, and yet not only are we not afraid for secret ones, but we do not pay attention to obvious sins, and not only do we not pay attention to them ourselves, but we also persecute those who want to correct them? And Abraham, as I said before, was distinguished among others by this virtue. So, having so many examples, let us prepare godly servants and servants for God. If the one who trains fighters for cities or trains warriors for a king is awarded great honor, then what gift can we receive by training such valiant and great men, or rather angels, for God? Let us do everything to leave them the wealth of piety, which remains constantly, accompanies us even after death and can bring the greatest benefit not only here, but also there. Worldly wealth will not pass into eternity with people, but even here it will perish before them, and often destroys its owners, but the wealth of piety, both here and there, will itself remain constantly, and will preserve those who acquire it in great security. This is really so: whoever prefers earthly to spiritual will lose both, and whoever strives for (spiritual) heavenly things will probably receive earthly things as well. These are not my words, but the Lord Himself, Who promises to give these blessings: “Seek,” He says, “first the Kingdom of God... and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). What can compare with this honor? Take care, he says, about the spiritual, and leave everything else to Me. Just as a compassionate father takes upon himself all the care of the house, managing the servants and everything else, and advises his son to engage only in wisdom, so God does exactly the same. Let us be obedient, let us begin to seek the Kingdom of God, then we will see honorable children everywhere, and we ourselves will become glorified with them, and we will enjoy present blessings, if only we love the future and the heavenly. If you listen, you will receive a great reward, but if you resist and do not listen, you will suffer an especially severe punishment. For we cannot justify ourselves and say: “No one taught us this.” 83 Youth is indomitable and needs many mentors and teachers, leaders, overseers, educators. And only under such conditions is it possible to curb it. Like an unbridled horse, like an untamed beast, youth is the same. Therefore, if at the beginning and from the first age we set real limits for her, then later we will not have the need for great efforts; on the contrary, then the habit will turn into a law for them. Let us not allow them to do what is both pleasant and harmful; Let us not please them because they are children, but let us primarily preserve them in chastity. For this is what harms youth most of all. We must take care of this most of all; we must be especially attentive to this. Soon we will take wives for them, so that they, having a pure and uncorrupted body, will be united with brides. Such love can be especially fiery. Those who were chaste before marriage, for the most part remain so after marriage. On the contrary, whoever learned to commit fornication before marriage will do the same after marriage. For the Scripture says: “All bread is sweet to a prodigal man” (Sir. 23:23). This is why crowns are placed on their heads - as a sign of victory, that they, having not been defeated, enter the bridal chamber - that they were not overcome by lust. If someone, carried away by voluptuousness, gives himself over to harlots, then why does he have a crown on his head after this when he is conquered? We will instill this in them, we will reason with them, intimidate them, threaten them, doing this and that. We have been entrusted with an important collateral - children. Therefore, let us take care of them and use all measures so that the evil one does not steal them from us. Meanwhile, the opposite is happening. We make every effort to ensure that the field is good and to entrust it to a trustworthy person. And we look for the most skilled driver of donkeys and mules, and the overseer, and the trustee, but we do not pay attention to what is most dear to us, namely, entrusting our son to a person who could keep him in chastity, despite the fact that this acquisition is more valuable than all others and for the sake of it other benefits come. We care about their property, but not about them themselves. You see what madness has taken possession of us! First form the soul of your son, and he will receive the acquisitions later. If his soul is not good, then he will not have the slightest benefit from money; and vice versa, if she is given the right education, then poverty will not harm him at all. Do you want to leave him rich? Teach him to be kind. For for children who have not received the right education, poverty is better than wealth; even, against their will, keeps them within the limits of virtue; Meanwhile, the latter, even if someone wanted it, does not allow one to lead a chaste life, but carries away, overthrows and leads into countless crimes. You, mothers, look after your daughters most of all: this care is not difficult for you. Watch them stay at home, and above all teach them to be pious, modest, to despise money and not to worry too much about clothes. So give them away in marriage. If you educate your daughter this way, you will save not only her, but also her husband, but also her children, and not only her children, but also her grandchildren. If the root is good, then the branches will develop better, and for all this you will receive a reward. Therefore, let us do everything as is fitting for those who care about the good of not just one soul, but also about the good of many through one. For they (daughters), upon marriage, must leave their father’s house in the same way as wrestlers leave the place of competition, that is, they must know exactly the whole science, with the help of which they could, like leaven, raise the whole mixture to their own beauty. And sons again must be so modest that they can most likely be recognized by their good behavior and chastity, so that they deserve great praise both from people and from God. Let them learn to refrain from unnecessary expenses, to be prudent, tenderly loving, let them learn to obey authority. For in this way they can bring great reward to their parents. Then everything will be directed towards the glory of God and our salvation, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, power, honor, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. Saint Theophan the Recluse (1815–1894) left an extensive and truly precious spiritual literary heritage: numerous works on Christian morality, works outlining the foundations of patristic psychology, translations of ascetic writing (including a translation of the Philokalia), the deepest interpretations of the Holy Scriptures, which significantly enriched Russian biblical studies. He accomplished a real creative feat, and one of his biographers could rightfully claim that in its fruitfulness the works of St. Theophan are comparable to the works of the holy fathers of the 4th century - the Golden Age of Byzantium. At the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, dedicated to the millennium of the Baptism of Rus', Theophan the Recluse was canonized. The decision of the Council noted: “A deep theological understanding of Christian teaching, as well as its experienced implementation, and as a consequence of this, the height and holiness of the saint’s life allow us to look at his writings as the development of patristic teaching while maintaining the same Orthodox purity and enlightenment.” A special place in the spiritual and literary heritage of Saint Theophan is occupied by his letters to various people who asked him for advice or spiritual help, solutions to perplexed questions, consolation in sorrow, relief in troubles... These requests flocked from all sides of Russia to the Vyshenskaya Hermitage, where the Right Reverend Theophan stayed for the last 28 years of his life, and for twenty-two years of them he was in strict seclusion. Before this, they had already traveled a significant life and spiritual path, devoted to serving the Church of God in various fields and in different places. Saint Theophan was born, in the world Georgy Vasilyevich Govorov, on January 10, 1815 in the village of Chernavskoye, Yeletsk district, Oryol province, in the family of a priest. He studied at the Livensky Theological School, the Oryol Seminary, and the Kyiv Theological Academy. In 1841, in Kyiv, he took monastic vows with the name Theophanes, and in the same year he was ordained as hierodeacon and hieromonk. Then he served as an inspector in several theological educational institutions, as rector at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy; trips to Palestine as part of the Russian spiritual mission and to Constantinople as rector of the embassy church (during these trips there is an in-depth study of the ascetic writing of the Orthodox East). On June 1, 1859, in the Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, the consecration and naming of St. Theophan as bishop of the Tambov diocese took place, followed by a transfer to the ancient, more extensive Vladimir See... This is a brief outline of his external life path, full of tireless, versatile and always successful and fruitful activities for the benefit of the Church and the Fatherland. The inner path that followed the hidden spiritual life of the saint led to the fact that in 1866, being at the seemingly “takeoff” of practical activity, Bishop Theophan unexpectedly submitted a petition to the Holy Synod for his dismissal with the right to remain in the Vyshenskaya hermitage of the Tambov diocese. The request was granted, and he finally received what he had long felt his main spiritual calling to: complete detachment from everyday affairs, solitude, undistracted internal activity. In his letters, he testified that he was truly happy in Vysha: “Vysha can only be exchanged for the Kingdom of Heaven.” Having gone into seclusion, he set up a small church in his cells in the name of the Baptism of the Lord and spent his life in worship and prayer, in physical and spiritual exploits, in careful self-observation, sobriety and wakefulness, in intense reading and contemplation of God, in the works of writing... All this greatest and truly invaluable experience, accumulated in various fields of life, and especially during the years of seclusion, was mobilized by the saint in his enormous correspondence with numerous correspondents, among whom were representatives of all classes, from dignitaries to peasants. Every day the mail brought from 20 to 40 letters, and Bishop Theophan always answered each of them, sensitively guessing the state and needs of the writer and finding for each the necessary word that went straight to the heart. He had the rare gift of speaking simply, clearly, succinctly about the most profound and wise things. In the letters of the saint there is not even a shadow of boring edification or dry moralism. They are warmed by selfless love, heartfelt attention to people - and that is why they are written in such a lively, figurative, artless style. You can often find sparkles of light humor in the saint’s letters. So, for example, he notes with a playful sigh the frequent attempts of the arrogant human mind to penetrate the ineffable and unsearchable secrets of Divine life: “Nowadays there is no restraint from questioning. Our mind is like a mosquito, but everything squeaks!” But what characterization does Bishop Theophan receive for our unbridled language: “Language?! There is no more evil thing under heaven. It would be desirable to arrange it in such a way that for every impermissibility on his part, something would prick him (even a pin). Then he would have been more quiet, otherwise he’s like a machine that sings songs... how they started it up and let it go and... it started to chat.” Saint Theophan the Recluse, translator of the remarkable work “The Invisible War,” and in his extensive correspondence did not leave without attention a single area of ​​the spiritual struggle of a person who set foot on the narrow and thorny, but saving path leading to the Kingdom of Heaven. What topics, what questions does he not consider and reveal in spiritual conversations with his correspondents! Here are everyday troubles, and illnesses, and family and civil life, the true purpose of art, and the correct attitude in relation to various circumstances of external life, and the endless problems of internal life: the struggle with thoughts, with self-indulgence, with despondency, the acquisition of humility and patience, crying and warmth of heart, and guidance in the thought of God, and the teaching about correct prayer, about the various stages of prayer (he devoted to prayer the saint paid special attention, since he considered her the queen of spiritual life, whose fulcrum is humility). I would like to hope that this work, brought to the attention of the reader, will help him find the right and accurate guidelines on the path of salvation and will contribute to the great cause of our spiritual revival. Troparion to Saint Theophan, tone 8 Teacher of Orthodoxy, teacher of piety and purity, Vyshensky ascetic, Saint Theophan the God-wise, with your writings you have explained the Word of God and you have shown to all the faithful the path to salvation, pray to Christ God to save our souls. Kontakion to Saint Theophan, tone 4 Theophany of the same name, Saint Theophan, with your teachings you have enlightened many people, with the angels now standing before the Thrones of the Holy Trinity, pray unceasingly for all of us. Ascetic word, chapter 77. Ascetic word, chapter 90. Ascetic word, chapter 85. Ascetic word, chapters 82, 85. Ascetic word, chapter 89. Macarius the Great. Word 5. On the elevation of the mind, paragraph 13; Word 7. On freedom of mind, paragraphs 24, 20 and 21; Conversation 17, paragraph 4. Conversation 2, chapters 1, 2, 4, 12. Philokalia. T.5. Chapters on commandments and dogmas, threats and promises, ch.41. Philokalia T.1. Instructions on good morals and holy living, chapter 150. This intention is depicted in all its breadth by Saint Isaac the Syrian in his letter to Saint Simeon the Stylite. See the same in the 1st and 2nd Conversations of St. Macarius the Great. throw away rubbish, unnecessary things - Ed. More details about the leader can be found in a special brochure entitled “What does a person who has repented need” and so on. More details about the rules can be found in the brochure above. Consider everything as rubbish - Ed. The life and writings of the Moldavian elder Paisius Velichkovsky with the addition of prefaces to the books of saints Gregory of Sinai, Philotheus of Sinai, Hesychius the Presbyter and Nilus of Sorsky, composed by his friend and fasting elder Vasily of Polyanomerulsky, on mental sobriety and prayer. Edition of Kozelskaya Vvedenskaya Optina Pustyn. Moscow, 1892. – Ed. Metropolitan of Philadelphia - Ed. John Cassian the Roman – Ed. oppresses, attacks - Ed. For their opinion, see: Slavic Philokalia. Part 2. Callistus and Ignatius Xanthopoulos. Rule in one hundred chapters, chapter 2. sacrificer - Ed. See Appendices to Letters on the Christian Life. permeated, penetrated - Ed. dispersed, scattered - Ed. The book of Barsanuphius is all about this. In Saint Isaac the Syrian, external sorrows, tears and contrition are praised throughout the entire space of his words. Ladder. Word 27, paragraph 66. Ladder. Word 26, paragraph 63. Ladder. Word 26, paragraph 139. Ladder. Word 29, paragraph 11. Those who wish to know about the last degrees of Christian perfection should read Saint Isaac the Syrian, “The Ladder” and “The Philokalia”. Beginning taken from: Christian Reading. 1838. Part IV. pp.242–253. Hence from the 21st Discourse on the Epistle to the Ephesians. Henceforth from the Word to the believing father. Hence from the 9th conversation on the 1st Epistle to Timothy. You might be interested in: