Слово 66. О том, что рабу Божию, обнищавшему в мирском и исшедшему взыскать Бога, из страха, что не достиг уразумения истины, не должно прекращать искания и охладевать в горячности, порождаемой любовью к Божественному и исследованием тайн Божиих; о том, как ум оскверняется страстными припоминаниями

There are three ranks by which a person excels: the rank of beginners, the rank of intermediate and the rank of perfect. And whoever is in the first rank, although the way of thinking is inclined towards good, the movement of thought is in passions. The second rank is something between the state of passion and dispassion: both the spiritual and spiritual thoughts are aroused in a person equally, and, as already said, he does not cease to exude both light and darkness. If, however, one stops for a short time the frequent reading of the Divine Scriptures and the imagination in the mind of Divine thoughts, the representation of which inflames one to the images of truth to the best of one’s ability, with external guarding, from which both internal preservation and sufficient action are born, then a person is carried away in passion. If, however, he feeds his natural ardor with what has been said above and does not abandon the search, research and desire for this from afar, although he has not seen this, but, according to the instructions of reading 541 Divine Scriptures, nourishes his thoughts and keeps them from wandering into the land of the world, and does not accept into himself under the image of the truth any seed of the devil, and moreover, he lovingly preserves his soul and asks God with patience in difficult prayer, then God Himself will fulfill his request and open His door to him, especially for his humility; because the revelation of secrets happens to the humble. And if he dies in this hope, then, even if he did not see this land up close, however, I think, his legacy will be with the ancient righteous who hoped to achieve perfection and did not see it, according to the apostolic word (see Heb. 11:39); because they worked all their days and rested in hope. But what can we say? If a person does not achieve the goal of entering the land of promise, which is the image of perfection, i.e. in order to clearly, to the best of his natural strength, comprehend the truth, will he really be forbidden for this and will he remain in the last rank 542, in which all intentions are diverted to the land of the world? Or, just because he has not comprehended the whole truth, will he remain in ignorance of the 543 last rank, which neither knows nor desires this? Or is it appropriate for him to rise to this middle path that I said? For although I did not see it 544 except in the mirror, I nevertheless hoped from afar and with this hope attached myself to my fathers; although he was not worthy of perfect grace here, nevertheless, because he always partook of it, abided in it with his whole mind and longed for it all his life, he was able to cut off evil thoughts; and, since God filled his heart with this hope, he departs from this world. Everything that has humility is beautiful. Constant spiritual instruction of the mind in the love of God, guided by the understanding of the Divine Scriptures, protects the soul inside from former evil thoughts and preserves the mind by remembering future blessings, so that it does not relax from its negligence and, instead of the better, does not engage in remembrance of worldly things; because this gradually cools the fervor of his wonderful movements and he falls into vain and unreasonable wishes. To our God be the glory! That is, by remembering what was read in the Scriptures. You might be interested in: