Духовное завещание преподобного Варсонофия Оптинского

Finally, putting aside all the worries of this world, which so oppressed and tormented my spirit, I will briefly say my last word and my last testament to my dear spiritual children. And, firstly, I humbly ask: forgive me all my voluntary and involuntary sins that I have committed against you, and I forgive you all for all the sorrows and sorrows that I caused through some at the instigation of the primordial enemy of our salvation. Have faith in me, holy Fathers and brothers, that all my actions and deeds boiled down to one thing - to protect the holy covenants and institutions of the ancient ascetic fathers and our great elders in all their Divine and wonderful beauty from various pernicious trends of this age, the beginning of which is satanic pride, and the end is unquenchable fire and endless torment! Maybe I did this poorly - I repent of it and submit myself before the goodness of God, begging for mercy. And I ask and pray to all of you who have loved me in the Lord: keep my humble words. Do not quench the spirit 403, but rather warm it with patient prayer and reading the patristic and Holy Scriptures, cleansing your heart from passions. It is better to agree to suffer a thousand deaths than to deviate from the Divine commandments of the Gospel and the wondrous institutions of monks. Take courage in your struggle, do not deviate from it, even if all hell rises up against you and the whole world boils with anger and reproach against you, and believe: the Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth 404. Amen. R.S.: I also bequeath in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ not to bury my body until obvious signs of death are revealed - everyone knows what these signs are. Sinful Archimandrite Barsanuphius. Elder Barsanuphius reposed in Bose on April 1/14, 1913. The burial took place on April 9/22, 1913.