Слово 36. О том, что не должно желать или домогаться без нужды – иметь у себя в руках какие-либо явные знамения

The Lord does not, at every time when He is close to His saints, to help them, unnecessarily, clearly show His power in some deed or sensory sign, so that the help provided to them does not become useless and does not lead to any harm. And he does this, providing for the saints and wanting to show them that he does not stop His secret care for them even for an hour, but in every matter he allows them, to the best of their ability, to show their feat and work in prayer. If the work overcomes them with difficulty, when they are exhausted and are unable to complete the work, because their nature is insufficient for it, He Himself does it according to the greatness of His power; and, as He Himself knows, they receive proper help, and, as much as possible, strengthens them in secret until they are strengthened against their sorrow. For he does so that by the knowledge 209 which he bestows upon them, their manifold sorrows are resolved, and by the understanding of it he encourages them to glorify, which is useful in both cases. If the matter requires discovery 210, then for the sake of necessity he does this too; and His ways are the most wise, sufficient in poverty and need, and not any random ones. He who unnecessarily dares to do this or prays to God and desires to have miracles and powers in his hands is tempted in his mind by the scolding demon and turns out to be boastful and weak in his conscience. For in sorrow we must ask for God’s help. It is dangerous to tempt God unnecessarily. And whoever desires this is not truly righteous. And what the Lord created with good will is found among many saints. But whoever wants and desires this according to his own will without need, falls, losing his guard, and crawls in the knowledge of the truth. For if the one who asks is heard in this, as he dared to ask God for it, then the evil one finds a place in him and leads him to even more of what he asked. But the true righteous not only do not desire this, but also refuse when it is given to them; and not only in front of people, but also secretly for themselves, they do not want this. For one of the holy fathers, for his purity, by grace, received the gift of foreknowledge of those coming to him and prayed to God (and other saints prayed with him, asked for this by the elder) so that this gift would be taken from him. If some of them accepted gifts, they accepted them out of need 211 or out of their simplicity; and others were encouraged to accept God’s call 212, and, of course, not without special reasons. When the blessed Saint Ammun went to greet Saint Anthony the Great and got lost on the way, look what he then said to God 213, and also what God did to him 214. Remember also about Abba Macarius and the others. True righteous people always think to themselves that they are unworthy of God. And that they are truly righteous, this can be seen from the fact that they recognize themselves as damned and unworthy of God’s care, and confess this secretly and openly, and are wise to this by the Holy Spirit, so as not to be left without the care and labor appropriate to them while they are in this life. God kept a time of rest for them in the next century. And having the living Lord within them, for this reason they themselves do not want to be at peace and free from sorrows, although from time to time they are given consolation in the spiritual. It is not virtue that a person, when he achieves it 215, does not have care and labor in it; but here is the habitation of the Spirit - to constantly force oneself to work, although there is a way to do the work in peace, because such is the will of the Spirit: in whom He dwells - not to accustom those to laziness. On the contrary, the Spirit encourages them not to seek rest, but to devote themselves more to work and the greatest sorrows. Through temptations the Spirit strengthens them and causes them to draw closer to wisdom. This is the will of the Spirit, that His beloved should remain in labor. It is not the Spirit of God that lives in those who are at rest, but the spirit of the devil, as one of those who love God said: “I swore that I was dying every day.” This is what distinguishes the sons of God from others, that they live in sorrows, while the world rejoices in pleasure and peace. For God did not deign that His beloved should rest while they were in the body, but rather He wanted them, while in the world, to remain in sorrow, in hardship, in labor, in poverty, in nakedness, in loneliness, need, illness, humiliation, in insults, in contrition of heart, in a weary body, in renunciation of relatives, in sad thoughts, to have a different appearance, than all creation, a place of residence unlike an ordinary human one, a monastic dwelling, which is silent, not visible to human eyes, and does not contain anything that makes a person happy here. Monks cry, but the world laughs. They sigh and the world rejoices. They fast, and the world enjoys luxury. They work during the day, and at night they indulge in exploits in cramped conditions and labor. Some of them are in voluntary sorrow; others are in labor, struggling with their passions; some are persecuted by people, while others suffer from passions, from demons and from other things. And some were expelled, others were put to death, others “came to pass away” (Heb. 11:37), and so on. And the word of the Lord was fulfilled on them: “In the world you will have sorrow,” but in Me you will rejoice (John 16:33). The Lord knows that it is impossible for those living in bodily peace to abide in His love, and therefore Christ our Savior, whose love overcomes bodily death, forbade them peace and enjoyment thereof. May He show us the strength of His love! In Greek reads “did not encourage,” but in ancient times. glory, without denying: he labored. “I pray to You, Lord my God, do not destroy Your creation!” And a human hand appeared to him, hanging from heaven, showing him the way. See “Memorable Tales of the Ascetic Asceticism of the Holy Fathers.” You might be interested in: