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As the spiritual feeling of the fear of God intensifies, the feat of vigilance intensifies. But first you must force yourself to this feat, without which it is impossible to achieve the final and complete victory over the passions. We must come to the state commanded by the Lord: “Let your loins be girded, and your lamps burning: and you are like a man who waits for his Lord when he returns from marriage, so that when he comes and pushes, the door will be opened to Him. Blessed are the servants, for whom the Lord will come and find them vigilant. Amen, I tell you, he will gird himself and make them sit down, and he will serve them. And if he comes in the second watch, he will come in the third watch, and he will find them like this, blessed slaves. Behold, if the Lord of the church had known at what time the thief would come, he would have been vigilant and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. And you will therefore be ready: for at this hour, do not forget, the Son of Man will come” (Luke 12:35-40). This state is brought about by the feeling of the Fear of God. Those who come to it begin to live on earth, like travelers in a hotel, waiting hourly to leave it. The time of earthly life is shortening before their eyes, when an immense, majestic eternity opens before them. The idea that they can be called unexpectedly by the Lord keeps them in constant vigil, on constant guard against sin, which constantly attacks. They spend their nights like days, accepting sleep only when necessary, without allowing themselves to be deeply immersed in it and indulged in it. They lie down on their hard beds, clothed and girded, so that they can immediately rise up when the need demands. The feat of vigil must correspond to a person’s bodily strength. It, like solitude and fasting, intensifies with the gradual transition of the ascetic from a carnal and mental state to a spiritual or grace-filled one. A spiritual man, even if he is weak in body, endures an incomparably greater feat than a carnal and spiritual man is capable of. The first is excited to the feat by Divine grace and encounters fewer obstacles from his body, which usually puts aside a significant part of its plumpness when entering such a state. 2. 352–353 The Lord's disciples raised the issue of celibate life. To this the Lord said: “Not all can receive this word, but to them it has been given to eat... He who is able to receive it, let him receive it” (Matthew 19:11-12). Who can accommodate this? By what criteria should each of us judge and conclude about our ability and inability to live a celibate life? We borrow the answer from the writings of the holy fathers: according to our will. “The ability is given to those who ask it from God from the sincerity of the heart,” says Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria: “Ask,” said the Lord, “and it will be given to you; “Everyone who asks, receives” (Matthew 7:7). The sincerity of the request is proven by living in accordance with the request, and by constancy in the request, even if the fulfillment of the request is delayed for a more or less long time, even if our desire is attacked by various temptations. His own exploits, by which the monk strengthens himself to defeat and change the properties of fallen nature, are only witnesses of true will. Victory and change of nature belong to the One God. “Where nature is conquered,” says Saint John Climacus, “there the coming of the One who is above nature is recognized.” God changes the natural attraction in the one who, by all means depending on him, proves his sincere desire for this attraction to change: then the Spirit of God touches the human spirit, which, having felt the touch of the Spirit of God, all, with all thoughts and sensations, rushes to God, having lost sympathy for the objects of carnal lust. Then the words of the apostle come true: cleave unto the Lord; there is one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17). Then the body itself is drawn to where the spirit strives. 1.333 (See Virginity, Purity, Monasticism, Monastic Vows). True silence consists in the Jesus Prayer assimilated into the heart - and some of the holy fathers accomplished the great feat of heartfelt silence and seclusion, surrounded by human rumor. 1.224 Silence is useful for those who have succeeded, who have understood the inner struggle, who have become strengthened in evangelical morality by a thorough habit of it, who have rejected attachments: all this must first be acquired in the community. For those who have entered into silence without prior, satisfactory training in a monastery, silence brings the greatest harm: it deprives them of success, intensifies passions, and is the cause of arrogance, self-delusion and demonic delusion. “Silence destroys the inexperienced (those untrained in the secrets of monastic life),” said St. John Climacus. “Rare people are capable of true silence,” notes the same saint, “those who have acquired Divine consolation in encouraging their labors and Divine assistance and help in battles.” 1.278 Perfect silence in our time is very inconvenient, almost impossible: Seraphim of Sarov, Ignatius of Nikiforov, Nikandr of Babaevsky - monks who were very successful in mental prayer, remained at times either in silence or in the company of monks; Especially the latter never retired into silence noticeable to people, being a great silent person at heart. The method of silence that guided the Monk Arseny the Great was always excellent, and now must be recognized as the best. This father constantly maintained silence, did not go to fraternal cells, received people into his cell only in cases of extreme necessity, stood somewhere behind a pillar in the church, did not write or receive letters, generally removed himself from all relations that could disrupt his attention, and had the goal of life and all actions to preserve attention. The image of living and silence, with which the Monk Arseny achieved great success, is highly praised and offered for imitation by Saint Isaac of Syria, as a very convenient, wise and fruitful image. 2. 289–290 Others find that solitude is the closest means to spiritual success; and others say that love for one’s neighbor leads to spiritual success. My heart prefers the latter; because love for one's neighbor is an indispensable duty for everyone; and few are capable of silence. 6. 151–152 Do not think that to teach silence you need a seclusion or a deep desert. No! It is much better to learn it between people through spiritual achievement. The very falls, invisible to your neighbors, visible and known to God and conscience, falls of the mind and heart, will serve the benefit, making you skillful in the fight against sin, revealing to you all the weaknesses of man. An ascetic, brought up among people by the power of invisible inner feat, is strong, rich in knowledge and spiritual experience, filled with humility, and a refuge and treasure for his neighbor. He is like a tree grown on an open hill, exposed to gusty winds and all other weathers; Such trees take deep roots into the ground, are especially juicy, full of life and strength. On the contrary, the pet of the seclusion and the solitary desert is like a flower and a tree, nurtured and cherished in a greenhouse. He is characterized by destructive effeminacy: at the slightest bad weather he already suffers; the bad weather is a little stronger - he dies. Complete solitude, according to the rules of spiritual law, is allowed only to those whose feat, as St. John Climacus, the gracious dew of the Holy Spirit descended. For such people, it is definitely useful; strict solitude is needed, so that with its help you can freely surrender to the teaching and guidance of the Spirit. 6. 270–271 At present, in our country, hermitage in a deserted desert can be considered absolutely impossible, and seclusion very difficult, as more dangerous and more incompatible than ever. We must see the will of God in this and submit to it. If you want to be a silent person pleasing to God, love silence and get used to it with all possible effort. Do not allow yourself idle talk, either in church, or at meals, or in your cell; do not allow yourself to leave the monastery except for the most extreme need and for the shortest time; do not allow yourself to make acquaintances, especially close ones, either outside or inside the monastery; do not allow yourself free circulation and harmful entertainment; behave like a wanderer and stranger both in the monastery and in earthly life itself, and you will become a God-loving silencer, a hermit, a hermit. If God sees you capable of desert or seclusion, then He Himself, with His ineffable destinies, will give you a deserted and silent life. 5.70 (See Counseling, Heretical Writings, Hypocrisy). Demons not only live on the earth’s surface, but sometimes enter the bodies of people and animals (Luke 8:33) with their entire gaseous being. They enter the interior of the human body in the same way that air, attracted by the breathing mechanism, enters it, just as other gases can enter. The demon, having entered a person, does not mix with the soul, but remains in the body, violently possessing soul and body. Gases have a special development of the property of elasticity, that is, the property of taking on different volume measures. It is obvious that demons also have this property, according to which many of them can be located in one person, as the Gospel says about this (Luke 8:29). 3.232 In spiritual terms, God's punishment by demonization does not at all serve as a bad testimony about man: many great saints of God were subjected to such a tradition to Satan. The Monk Cassian writes about the Monk Moses of Skete, with whom he talked about the reasoning that Moses was subjected to madness and demonic possession for some contradiction with his elder Macarius the Great of Egypt. In another sacred work of the 4th century it is described that a certain Egyptian elder, due to his holy and pure life, was unusually abundant in the gift of miracles; his fame spread far away. Noticing the beginnings of pride in himself, the elder began to pray to God to send him a demon, which the Lord fulfilled. The elder spent eight whole months in a terrible situation, even eating his own eruptions. His worldly admirers, seeing him in such a position, as they should be, were tempted, they changed the good reputation about him for bad, and the old man in his time, having got rid of the demon, worked for the Lord in obscurity and peace and came to much greater prosperity. Becoming possessed is much less important than accepting any enemy thought that can destroy the soul forever. 6. 217–218 (See Holiness, Attitude to the Passions, Spirituality, Salvation and Perfection). To the question of the Venerable Abba Dorotheos: “What should I do? I am afraid of the shame of dishonor,” Saint John the Prophet answered: “Not to endure dishonor is a matter of unbelief. Brother! Jesus became man and suffered dishonor: are you greater than Jesus? This is unbelief and demonic delusion.” 1.327 Dishonor and other sorrows also reveal the hidden sin in the depths of the soul. Sorrow is called temptation for the reason that it reveals the hidden state of the heart. Naturally, in a person who is still under the power of sin, it exposes the sin living in the depths of the soul, which is revealed by heartfelt grief, sadness, thoughts of grumbling, indignation, self-justification, vengeance, and hatred. The intensified action of these passions in the soul, the special invasion and pressure of thoughts and dreams serve as an undoubted sign of the action of a fallen, proud spirit. 2.370 You should not grieve for those who have spoken unfavorable words about you. This is from ignorance and by the allowance of God’s Providence, apparently, seeing that you need humility and purification through human dishonor. Have love and peace with everyone, and with those who insult you, without which it is impossible to have spiritual success. Give thanks to God for everything that happened and surrender yourself to the will of God. 6.838 “Drink reproach every hour, like living water,” says Saint John Climacus; and whoever rejected a correct or incorrect reprimand rejected his own salvation. 6.216 What should we, sinners, expect - worthy of all punishment - when the sinless Lord suffered? He said: where I am, there will my servant be. If we are servants of Christ, then we must suffer with Him in order to be glorified together. The Lord is on the cross - and we must be crucified; The Lord is in the midst of dishonor and spitting - and we must expect the same and prepare for generous patience with all dishonor. If you are without punishment, you are adulterers and not filial. 12.48 Make it a rule to thank the Lord daily for your cup, i.e. for your illnesses, for all your sorrows, for the lot of your daughters; In particular, thanks to God, sorrowful thoughts are driven away: when such thoughts invade, “thanksgiving” is pronounced in simple words, with attention and often, until peace is brought to the heart. There is no sense in sorrowful thoughts: they do not relieve sorrow, they do not bring any help, they only upset the soul and body. This means that they are from demons - and you need to drive them away from yourself. Sorrowful thoughts are driven away by “thanksgiving” to God. “Thanksgiving” first calms the heart, then brings it consolation, and subsequently brings heavenly joy - a guarantee, a foretaste of eternal joy. 6.193 The Holy Apostle Paul, in his Epistle to the Thessalonians, conveys to them that the tradition emanating from God Himself is prayerful, unceasing thanksgiving for everything that happens. “Give thanks in everything,” he says, “for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus in you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). If there is not a single incident that is hidden from God, then for everything that happens we must praise God. Blessed be the providential God! Blessed is the God who allows! Nothing can happen outside His will. 6.841 (See Doxology, Murmuring, Temptations, Diseases). He who forces himself exclusively and with all his might to pray, but does not work to acquire humility, love, meekness and the whole host of other virtues, does not forcefully introduce them into himself, can only achieve that sometimes, at his request, Divine grace touches him, because God, by His natural goodness, lovingly grants those who ask what they want. If the one who has received it does not accustom himself to the other virtues we have mentioned and does not acquire skill in them, then he is either deprived of the grace he received, or, having ascended, falls into pride, or remains at the lowest level to which he ascended, no longer prospers and does not grow. The throne and rest, so to speak, for the Holy Spirit are humility, love, meekness and, consequently, all the holy commandments of Christ. 1.287 ...If you harbor an expectation of grace, beware: you are in a dangerous position! Such an expectation indicates secret self-esteem, and honor indicates hidden conceit, in which there is pride. Pride conveniently follows, charm conveniently clings to it. Prelest is a deviation from the Truth and the Holy Spirit who promotes Truth, a deviation towards lies and rejected spirits who promote lies. Prelest already exists in conceit, exists in self-esteem, in the very expectation of grace. These are its original views; so a bud, a flower, an embryo are the initial types of a mature fruit. 2.321 (See Baptism, Teaching, Commandments, Temptations, Holiness, Passion, Human purpose). (See Prayer, Prayer requests). The Lord shows His mercy to His servants not in earthly prosperity, but in earthly sorrows. This idea is expressed very comfortingly in the life of the Great Martyr Eustathius Placidas: it says that if the Lord gives earthly prosperity to his servants, it will be for a short time, so that they do not become spoiled. Constant well-being spoils the heart. 6.793 The son of this world and this age, living in so-called unchangeable prosperity, drowning in unceasing pleasure, entertained by incessant amusements - alas! - forgotten, rejected by God. His constant well-being and contentment is a sign of the greatest eternal disaster - alienation from God. 4.371 Earthly prosperity makes it possible to do more good deeds: thus, a rich man can help his poor brethren with alms, and a nobleman can help them with protection from violence and representation in courts. During this activity, one must be careful not to act out of oneself, as the Pharisee mentioned in the Gospel acted, who certainly did many good deeds, but with the wrong view of his activity. As a result, he fell into a wrong opinion about himself and his neighbors; his good activities became displeasing to God. The Apostle says that those who do good deeds should do them, “as vigorous builders of the varied grace of God” (1 Pet. 4:10). Let the rich man give alms from his estate, not as from his own, but as from what was given to him by God. Let a nobleman benefit from a high position, not as from his own, but as from one given to him by God. Then the look of contempt on the activities of one’s neighbors, even if they were insufficient, will be destroyed; then the question of one’s own activities will begin to appear in the conscience, as was the case with the righteous Job (Job 1:5). Does it satisfy God's requirement? Does it have any major or minor flaws? Then, little by little, the concept of a more perfect residence will begin to form. 1. 469–470 Physical labors are useful in small ways (1 Tim. 4:8), i.e. they can only tame passions, not eradicate them. Piety, which consists in the invisible exercise of the mind and heart, with the Orthodox faith, is completely useful: with it only can a person feel eternal life, partly tasted by the saints here, as in betrothal, which is fully revealed after the separation of the soul from the body. Eternal life consists in the diverse action of grace in the soul, which is felt as it is cleansed from passions. 2.139 (See Path of asceticism, Christian state). (See External Behavior). It is known that the Gospel beatitudes are spiritual states that are revealed in a Christian from the fulfillment of the Gospel Commandments; that beatitudes are revealed one after another, born one from the other. “Careful observance of the Gospel Commandments teaches a person his weaknesses” (St. Simeon the New Theologian). This means: careful observance of the commandments leads to the first bliss, called spiritual poverty, from which spiritual crying is born, which gives birth to meekness. 2.407–408 Your mind, instructed by the Gospel, will then humble itself before every neighbor when it sees Christ in every neighbor. All who are baptized into Christ are clothed with Christ. No matter what and how they defile themselves, the robe of Christ, until the judgment of Christ, is on them. It is necessary to recognize oneself as worse than all people: this is required by holy humility. The Apostle did not just say that he was the chief of sinners, he was convinced of this. And we need to convince ourselves: there is work and labor to be done here. 6.284–285 George the Recluse said beautifully: “I’m not looking to see if they love me, but I’m looking to see if I love others?” And the holy fathers do not order to seek from one’s neighbor the fulfillment of the commandment, because this only violates the peace. 6.830 Do not grieve that some of your colleagues are cold towards you. Saint Tikhon wrote from his experience that when a person devotes himself to God, then his acquaintances and neighbors become far from him, and the closer he gets to God, the more they will move away. 6. 748–749 Love for one's neighbor is preceded and accompanied by humility before him. Hatred of one's neighbor is preceded by condemnation of him, humiliation, slander, contempt for him, otherwise - pride. The holy monks constantly remembered the words of Christ: Amen I say to you: if you alone have made these least of my brethren, you have made me (Matthew 25:40). They did not enter into consideration of whether one's neighbor was worthy of respect or not; they did not pay attention to the multitude and obviousness of his shortcomings; Their attention was drawn to ensure that the concept that our neighbor is the image of God would not be hidden from them in any way, that Christ accepts our actions in relation to our neighbor as if they were done in relation to Him. The proud fallen angel hates such a concept and uses all measures to steal it from a Christian in an imperceptible way. This concept is not akin to the carnal and spiritual wisdom of fallen human nature, and special attention is needed to keep it in memory. A significant spiritual feat is needed, the assistance of Divine grace is needed in order to assimilate this concept to a heart damaged by sin, in order to keep it constantly in mind when communicating with the brethren. When this concept, by the grace of God, is assimilated to us, then it will become a source of the purest love for our neighbors, equal love for everyone. The reason for such love is one - Christ, revered and loved in every neighbor. This concept becomes a source of the sweetest tenderness, the warmest, undistracted, most concentrated prayer. The Monk Abba Dorotheos used to say to his disciple, the Monk Dositheos, who at times was overcome by anger: “Dositheus! Are you angry and not ashamed that you are angry and offend your brother? Don’t you know that he is Christ, and that you are insulting Christ?” The Venerable Great Apollos often told his disciples about accepting the strange brethren who came to him, that it was appropriate to honor them with earthly worship: when we bow to them, we bow not to them, but to God. “Have you seen your brother? You have seen the Lord your God. This,” he said, “we received from Abraham (Gen. 18), and we learned what should calm the brethren (shelter, provide hospitality) from Lot, who forced (persuaded) the Angels to spend the night in his house” (Gen. 19). 5. 90–91 Others fast, live alone and unacquisitively, beg God to curb the lusts of their nature; but at the same time they allow themselves to slander, reproach, condemn their neighbors, mock them - and God’s help retreats from them; they are left to their own devices and do not find the strength to resist the sinful impulses of fallen nature. In a certain hostel there lived a recluse named Timofey. One of the hostel brothers was tempted. The abbot, having learned about this, asked Timothy what to do with his fallen brother? The recluse advised to throw out the seduced one. When he was kicked out, the temptation of his fallen brother passed on to Timothy and led him into danger. Timothy began to cry out with tears to God for help and mercy. And a voice came to him: “Timothy! Know that I sent you temptation precisely because you despised your brother during his temptation.” The members of Christ - Christians - must be treated very carefully and prudently: we must sympathize with them in their ailments and cut off only those who, without giving hope for recovery, only infect others with their illness. 1.336 – 337 Through the grace-filled mercy that true Christians breathe towards their neighbors, they remain alien to the sinfulness of their neighbors, which is communicated through condemnation to the condemner, violating his own, calm, joyful, holy dispensation. 2.409 According to the fathers, those people who demand from their neighbors the complete elimination of shortcomings have a false concept about this subject. We also find this opinion of the Fathers among the apostles: one of them (John the Theologian) says: “If we speak as if we are not sinful, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). Another (Apostle Paul): “Bear one another’s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2). What can give rise to the reproach of a neighbor's infirmities, this is shown in Scripture over men who are the highest in virtues. Who is holier than the apostles? But we read in Acts that there was a quarrel between the apostles Barnabas and Paul, and because of the quarrel - separation. Without any doubt, this circumstance is told to us by Scripture for the purpose that we, the weak, should be careful, not be carried away by imaginary jealousy, but bear each other’s burdens. Thus fulfill the law of Christ! 6.223 How great a danger should one avoid getting to know a brother who lives carelessly, not out of condemnation of him, no! Another reason for this: nothing is so sticky, so contagious, as the weakness of a brother. The Apostle bequeathed: “We command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you separate yourself from every brother who walks disorderly, and not according to tradition, which he received from us” (2 Thess. 3:6). “If a certain brother is called a fornicator, or a covetous, or an idolater, or a drunkard, or a predator, with such a person is below food” (1 Cor. 5:11). Why? - Because, says the same apostle: “Good customs are corrupted by evil conversations” (1 Cor. 15:33). If you briefly met a drunkard, know that in his company you too will become accustomed to drunkenness. If you often talk with a fornicator, know that he will pour his voluptuous feelings into you. Your friends and short acquaintances should be those whose entire intention is to please God. This is what the holy prophet David did. He says about himself: I walked in the midst of my house in gentleness of my heart; but, despite such kindness, those committing the crime began to hate them with a godly hatred, consisting in moving away from them: the one who slandered his sincere secret, they drove him out: with a proud eye and an insatiable heart, with this he did not eat. My eyes are on the faithful lands, plant them with me: walk along the blameless path, serving them. Do not live in the midst of my house and create pride: do not speak unrighteously before my eyes (Ps. 100:2-7). “I am greatly honored by Your friends, O God” (Ps. 139:17). The Venerable Pimen the Great said: “The conclusion (end, crown) of all instructions to the novice monk: avoid bad society (acquaintance, friendship) and stick to good society.” 5. 20–21 There is no need to be very sad about those who disobey and do not heed the word of salvation; but, having told them what is appropriate, surrender them to the will of God, which can also turn them to the right path through other weapons and means, of which there are countless in His right hand. Prayer for them has a stronger effect on neighbors than a word to them: because prayer brings into action the omnipotent God Himself, and God does with His creation everything that is pleasing to Him. 6.335 The Holy Fathers said: “When you see a drowning person, stretch out the end of your staff to him and do everything you can to save him; but do not give your hand to him, lest he drag you into the abyss with him.” 6.595 Look at your neighbor’s struggle with coldness, as if it were a foreign matter to you. Maintain reverence for his struggle itself and leave everything to God. Such struggles are needed for testing and strengthening. 6.824 Remember that the Savior ordered Peter to follow Him, and when Peter asked and took care of another, he heard: what do you care about another, follow Me. By caring prematurely and incorrectly for others, we often forget or weaken caring for ourselves. 6.835 In the human heart there is bestial lust, brought into it by the fall, which is in relation to the lust of fallen spirits; We believe that there is also a spiritual lust in the heart with which we are created, with which God and neighbor are naturally and correctly loved, which is in harmony with the lust of the holy angels. In order to love God and our neighbor in God, it is necessary to cleanse ourselves of bestial lust. Cleansing is accomplished by the Holy Spirit in a person who expresses through his life the will to cleanse. 1.254 The sin of fornication has the property that it unites two bodies, albeit illegally, into one body (1 Cor. 6:16); for this reason, although he is forgiven immediately after repentance and confession, under the indispensable condition that the repentant leaves him, the cleansing and destruction of the body and soul from prodigal sin requires a long time so that the connection and unity established between the bodies, implanted in the heart, infecting the soul, wears out and is destroyed. To destroy the unfortunate assimilation, the Church allows those who have fallen into fornication and adultery very significant periods of repentance, after which it allows them to partake of the all-holy Body and Blood of Christ. 1.286 Fornication was a sin when the Old Testament reigned; It was a sin, as a dishonor of nature, as an abuse of an important property of nature, as a violation of the laws of nature. The crime was considered so significant that the perpetrator was executed by death. In the New Testament this sin received a new severity because human bodies received a new dignity. They have become members of the body of Christ, and the violator of purity already brings dishonor to Christ, breaks the union with Him, the hearts of Christ, and leads the harlots into the hearts (1 Cor. 6:15). An adulterer is executed by death. The Holy Spirit departs from those who have fallen into the sin of fornication; the one who has sinned is recognized as having fallen into mortal sin, a sin that takes away salvation, a sin that is a guarantee of inevitable death and eternal torment in hell, if this sin is not cured in time by repentance. What is purity? This is a virtue opposite to lust; this is the alienation of the body from actual falling into sin and from all actions leading to sin, the alienation of the mind from the thoughts and dreams of the prodigal, and the heart from the sensations and desires of the prodigal, then the alienation of the body from carnal lust will follow. Some argue that falling into prodigal sin with the body and falling into it with the mind and heart are crimes of equal gravity and significance. They base this opinion on the words of the Savior: Everyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matthew 5:28). Unfair opinion! Delight in lustful thoughts and sensations is fornication of the heart and defilement of a person, making him incapable of communicating with God, and fornication of the body is a change in the entire human being from mixing with another body, is complete alienation from God, is death, is destruction. To get out of the first state, you must become sober; in order to emerge from the second, one must be resurrected, one must be born again through repentance. Some argue that it is impossible for a person to be free from the enslavement of the flesh, especially from the thoughts and feelings of prodigal thoughts, that such a state is unnatural. God lays down the law, knowing what is possible and impossible for us, more than we; and therefore the achievement of purity, both bodily and heartfelt, is possible for a person. God, the Creator of nature, lays down the law; and therefore purity of heart is not contrary to human nature. It is unnatural to fallen nature; it was natural to nature after its creation and can become natural after renewal. It can be cultivated and acquired: bread, vegetables, fruitful trees do not grow on the earth by themselves; but when the earth is properly prepared and useful plants are planted and sown, then they grow in special abundance for the food and enjoyment of people. Uncultivated land produces only tares, or produces only grass, food for livestock and not for people. A feat is needed. 1. 331–332 “Like a body,” says St. Macarius the Great, “copulating with another body, it becomes infected with uncleanness; so the soul, combining with evil and nasty thoughts and agreeing with them at the same time, becomes corrupted. If anyone corrupts the soul and mind by agreeing with evil, he is guilty of execution. One must keep both the body from visible sin and the soul from obscene thoughts; for she is the bride of Christ.” Having removed from ourselves the causes of sin, such as free circulation and an absent-minded life, satiety and enjoyment of food and drinks, luxury and excess in clothing and other cell paraphernalia, condemnation of neighbors, slander, ridicule, idle talk and verbosity, let us decide to renounce the pleasure of voluptuous thoughts, dreams and sensations. Let us not arouse them in ourselves and let us courageously reject them when they arise from our fallen nature or are presented as enemies of our salvation - demons. 1.337 Our flesh is an unfaithful friend; lusts after other flesh not only according to his own motive, but also according to an alien impulse, according to the impulse of a fallen spirit, who finds pleasure for himself in the defilements of flesh that does not belong to him. 1.339 It was recognized by the most prudent fathers that when fighting the lusts of nature, abstinence from food and other bodily exploits must be prudent and moderate, that carnal lust is only curbed by these exploits, that it is overcome by humility and prayerful crying, attracting Divine grace to the ascetic, that enhanced bodily exploits are more harmful than useful when they, excessively weakening bodily strength, prevent you from engaging in prayer, crying and acts of humility. The following story is read in the Fatherland: “A certain pious husband in Egypt left his wife and children, renounced the world and retired into the desert. A strong attack arose against him from the prodigal demon, who brought him the memory of his wife. He confessed this to the fathers. They, seeing that he was an ascetic and fulfilled everything commanded to him, entrusted him with a special feat, borrowing it from various biographies of the holy fathers. From this feat he became so weak that he went to bed. By God's will, an old man from Skete came there. In the Egyptian Skete - that was the name of the barren and wild desert, located not far from Alexandria - lived venerable monks, especially those who were abundant in grace-filled gifts and the gift of spiritual reasoning. The wanderer visited the sick man and asked him: “Abba! Why are you sick? He answered: “I am one of the married people, I recently came to this desert, and the enemy brought abuse against me regarding my wife. I confessed this to the fathers. They assigned me various feats, borrowing them from the lives of the holy fathers. When I began to fulfill them, I became exhausted, and the warfare increased greatly in my body.” The skete elder, hearing this, was saddened and said to him: “The fathers, being strong, rightly commanded you to do this. But, if you want, listen to my humility and, leaving the performance of these feats, take a moderate amount of food in due time, perform a moderate rule and cast all your sorrow on the Lord; He will defeat the enemy who fights you. You cannot achieve victory in this battle by your own feat.” The betrothed brother began to behave on the advice of the skete elder; after a few days he felt relief from the illness, and the abuse left him.” The monk of Skete, Venerable Agathon, known for his own gift of spiritual reasoning, was asked about fornication. He answered the questioner: “Go, cast your strength into dust before God, and you will find peace.” Other great fathers gave similar answers on this subject. Quite right and true! If only God can measure nature, then the awareness of the damage caused in nature by original sin, and the humble prayer for healing and renewal of nature by its Creator, is the strongest, most effective weapon in the fight against nature. This weapon is weakened by self-reliance, which is caused by excessive and disproportionate bodily feat. The Monk Cassian the Roman notes that “the passion of lust necessarily fights the soul until the soul recognizes that this struggle is beyond its strength, until it realizes that it is impossible for it to gain victory through its own labor and effort unless there is help and protection from the Lord.” Quite a lot of people who want to lead a godly life are completely bewildered when thoughts and feelings of carnal lust arise in them. They look at this as something strange, something that should not exist, they become mentally relaxed and upset from this, and often decide to leave a God-pleasing life, recognizing themselves as incapable of it. The most erroneous view of yourself! Our nature is in a state of decline. In a state of fall, carnal lusts are natural to him and cannot help but arise from him. So, one should not be surprised or bewildered when thoughts, dreams, and feelings of lust appear: this is a natural necessity. Every person is subordinate to her; All holy men were subordinate to her. This is not enough. To succeed in spiritual life, it is absolutely necessary that our passions arise and thus be revealed. When passions are revealed in an ascetic, then he enters into a struggle with them. He who enters into the struggle and fights courageously can gain victory and be crowned with the crown of victory, the Holy Spirit. 1. 341–343 Then only we can come to humility of spirit when we see in ourselves the fall of humanity, its captivity, the cruel domination of demons and eternal death over us; only then can we cry out to God in prayer and weeping from the depths of our hearts, with all our souls; and with such a cry, such a consciousness of one’s destruction and helpless weakness, attract Divine grace to help oneself. For this reason, the rising battles within ourselves contribute to our spiritual success if we fight courageously and do not succumb to cowardice. The Monk Abba Dorotheos relates that a disciple of a certain great elder was subjected to carnal warfare. The elder, seeing his work, said to him: “Do you want me to pray to God so that He will make your battle easier?” The student answered: “My father! Although I work, I see in myself the fruit of labor; Better pray to God that He will give me patience in battle.” “Such is the one who truly wants to be saved!” - Rev. Dorotheos exclaims at the end of the story. The Monk Pimen the Great said about the great Pleasant of God, John Kolov, for the edification and consolation of his brothers, that he begged God - and was delivered from the effects of lusts, which is why he remained in inviolable peace. Then he went to a certain elder, very experienced in spiritual life, and told him what had happened to him. The elder answered: “Go, pray to God that the battles and that contrition and humility that you previously had because of the battles will return to you: because through their mediation the soul comes to prosperity.” Let us not indulge in confusion, despondency, cowardice, and relaxation when fierce waves of lust arise within us and thoughts attack us like strong winds! Let us resist sin, and through this struggle we will develop a living faith in God and a living knowledge of God. We harm ourselves a lot and often by demanding from ourselves things that are unusual for us. Thus, those who have barely entered into the feat, soaked, so to speak, and filled with lust, want to have no sympathy for thoughts, dreams and carnal sensations. It exists; it is natural; it cannot help but be. It is foolish to seek the impossible. Lust must necessarily arise from a nature infected by it; but as soon as it arises in any form, we must immediately, with self-violence, counteract it in the above ways. We must, in opposition to the strong will of our entire nature, through the action of the weak will of one mind, guided by the Word of God, break out of our captivity, from our decay, from our fallen nature. “The Kingdom of Heaven is in need,” the Lord told them, “and only those who force themselves, overcoming their sinful will, “take it away” (Matthew 11:12). When the grace of God begins to clearly help us, then the first sign of its help is an uncomplicated thought, as St. John Climacus says; those. Little by little, a lack of sympathy for prodigal thoughts and dreams appears in the mind, instead of the former sympathy, from which infatuation and victory arose in any case when no special effort was used for resistance. 1. 344–345 Blessed is the young man who understands, at the first appearance of the actions of lust in him, that he should not indulge in lust, that he should be curbed by the law of God and prudence. Lust, being curbed at the first demands, conveniently submits to the mind and makes demands that are already weak, acting like a slave bound in chains. Satisfied lust intensifies demands. Lust, to which reason will transfer power over a person with long-term and constant satisfaction, already dominates like a tyrant over both body and soul, destroying both body and soul. 1.377 Bodily lust fades away from confession more than from fasting and vigil. 1.488 One who indulges in excessive sleep and gluttony cannot help but become defiled by voluptuous movements. As long as the soul and body are excited by these movements, as long as the mind delights in carnal thoughts, a person is incapable of new and unknown movements that are aroused in him from the overshadowing of him by the Holy Spirit. 2.205–206 He who is overcome by prodigal passion for any person must avoid talking with him and being with him in every possible way, even touching his clothes and smelling him. He who is not guarded in all this commits passion and commits adultery with thoughts in his heart, the fathers said. Such a person kindles the furnace of passions within himself and introduces evil thoughts into himself, like animals. 3. 171 Saint John of the Climacus, as well as Barsanuphius the Great, commands especially intense prayer in the Name of the Lord Jesus to those struggling with fornication. The blessed elder Seraphim of Sarov testified, guided by his own experience, that the Jesus Prayer is a scourge against the flesh and carnal lusts. The flame of these lusts fades from its action. When it acts in a person, then, from its action, carnal lusts lose freedom in their action. Thus, a beast of prey, chained, while retaining the ability to kill and devour people and animals, loses the ability to act according to its ability. 1.275 (See Passion, Audacity). Scripture... calls sufficient people only stewards of property that belongs to God, turns out to be stewards for a time, so that they dispose of it according to the will of God. “All rich people are God’s servants and agents, not masters. God is the One Owner and Master of all good and wealth; and he gives it to whomever he wants, and he gives it for the common good. You torture the clerk about the money given to him, where and for what he spent it: the Lord will also torture you about the wealth given to you from Him, and for every ruble for which you spent it, you will give an answer to Him on the day of judgment” (St. Tikhon of Voronezh). 4.233 The Gospel calls earthly property unrighteous and alien, and heavenly property true and the property of man. “If you are not quick to return an unrighteous property, who has faith in you in the true? And if you don’t quickly return someone else’s, whoever will give you yours!” (Luke 16:11–12). Temporary wealth is called unrighteous because it is a consequence of the fall. We would not need money, nor protection from the elements, which we try to make magnificent, nor other benefits that turn into luxury items, if we had not been cast out of paradise to earth, on which we remain for the shortest time, given to us by the mercy of God to return the lost paradise. Temporary wealth is called alien: it is itself destroyed and constantly passes from hand to hand; it is not characteristic of man, it serves as a denunciation of his need to help himself, a denunciation of his fall. Unstoppable! It did not stop and did not remain in any hands; is always given for a more or less short period, equally short before infinite eternity. Eternal property is called true, as incorruptible, unchanging, always remaining the property of the one who once received it. It is called its own to man: man was created to possess and enjoy it; it is characteristic of man. To receive the true, inherent, and inalienable wealth, remain faithful to God when disposing of what is urgently entrusted to you. Do not deceive yourself: do not consider earthly possessions to be property! Do not deceive yourself: do not consider yourself entitled to dispose of this property at will! Do not deceive yourself: do not consider it sinless to use this property for luxury and entertainment! You are obliged to dispose as God, who entrusted you with the management, commanded. By using your property for luxury and entertainment, you are trampling on the law of God, robbing your neighbors of what God has instructed you to distribute to them. By indulging in feasts and amusements, you are destroying yourself. You enslave the spirit to the body; you muffle, kill the soul; you forget about God, about eternity, you lose your very faith. Developing in yourself only carnal sensations, strengthening them with exquisite and excessive nutrition, constant carnal amusements, you can no longer restrain yourself from fornication, you insatiably indulge in it. In this mortal sin you are finally burying your salvation. “Woe to you,” declared the Savior, “to the rich who abuse your wealth, for you defend your consolation. Woe to you who are now saturated, for you will hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will weep and weep” (Luke 6:24-26). - Give alms, create for yourself a vagina that does not decay, an infinite treasure in heaven (Luke 12:33) Find pleasure in the creation of virtues! As soon as you touch the task of completing them, you will be greeted by this spiritual, holy pleasure, and carnal pleasures will seem vile to you. From the alms you give, a living faith will begin to appear in you, through which you will see and experience God. It is common for mercy to give birth to faith, and for faith to give birth to mercy. 4 237–239 (See Love of Covetousness, Possessions, Demon Warfare, Temptations). Saints Demetrius of Rostov and Tikhon of Voronezh were engaged in the thought of God, i.e. holy reflection on the incarnation of God the Word, on His wondrous presence on earth, on His terrible and saving sufferings and other similar deep mysteries of Christianity. The holy reflections of the mentioned Saints are excellently presented in their writings. Saint Peter of Damascus, in agreement with other ascetic writers, classifies such reflections as spiritual visions and, in the category of these visions, gives them the fourth degree. Every spiritual vision is a vision of a certain kind of sacrament, which appears in the ascetic according to his purification by repentance... Repentance has its gradualness, and spiritual visions have its gradualness. The mysteries of Christianity are revealed to the ascetic gradually, according to his spiritual progress. The divine thoughts or pious reflections of Saints Demetrius and Tikhon serve as an expression of their spiritual prosperity. Anyone who wishes to exercise the thought of God, let him read the works of the saints. Such thinking of God will be the most infallible and most spiritually beneficial. On the contrary, thinking about God will become the most incorrect and harmful to the soul if the ascetic, before purification by repentance, without having an accurate understanding of the Christian teaching, allows himself to think without permission, which cannot but be erroneous and therefore cannot but bring harmful consequences to the soul and self-delusion, cannot but be drawn into the abyss of disastrous delusion. The saints were taught Orthodox Theology with all precision and detail, then by holy life they ascended to the heights of Christian perfection; Thought of God was natural for them, it is unnatural for an ascetic who does not have a thorough, accurate knowledge of theology, and who has not been purified by repentance. For this reason, the holy fathers forbade it for new monks, and in general for all monks who have not been prepared for it by science, who have not achieved it by living. Saint John Climacus says: “The depth of dogmas is immeasurable, and it is not safe for the silent mind to plunge into it. It is very dangerous to swim with clothes on; it is just as dangerous for one who is captive to the passions to touch theology.” This is a warning to those who are speechless; It is known that monks who have already succeeded are allowed to become silent. In ancient times, many monks fell into the disastrous abyss of heresy solely because they allowed themselves to consider dogmas beyond their ability to understand. “A humble monk,” the Climacus again instructs, “will not allow himself to curiously explore the mysteries; the proud, on the contrary, strives to test the fate of God.” Very true! The desire to indulge in the thought of God by someone who is incapable and immature for it is already an instillation of conceit, it is a reckless and proud desire. Practice in prayer, in soul-edifying reading, and this exercise will be an exercise in correct, God-pleasing thinking about God. Just as sensual eyes, having been healed of blindness, see according to their natural properties, so the mind, having been cleansed of sinful morbidity, naturally begins to see the mysteries of Christianity. Rely on God for your feat. If it is necessary for you and for the general benefit of Christianity that you be a spectator of deep mysteries and a preacher of them for your brethren, then God will certainly give you this gift. If this is not pleasing to God, then strive for what is essential for your salvation and what fully satisfies the requirement of this need of yours. Strive to acquire pure prayer, combined with a feeling of repentance and crying, with the memory of death, of God’s judgment, of the terrible prisons of hell, in which eternal fire burns and eternal darkness is present; such prayer, combined with such memories, is infallible, excellent, most soul-helping thought of God. 5. 118–119 ...You're coming! - I do not see the image of Your procession; I see Your coming, I see it not with carnal eyes, but with sensation. You give neither time nor a way to think - who are you? You suddenly appear in the soul, Invisible and Incomprehensible! You appear with indescribable quietness and subtlety, along with the power and strength of the Creator, because you change the whole person: you change, transform, recreate, renew the mind, heart, and body! You, the Strong One, enter the house, bind the strong, plunder the vessels of the house, plunder not for destruction but for salvation! Both the house and the vessels were Thine before; You arranged them, arranged them for Yourself; they themselves gave themselves up to the sad captivity of the predator. And until now they were - my mind, my soul, my body - under the power of a fierce ruler, they acted under his influence. You come - from now on they come at Your disposal, begin to act under Your holy, blessed influence. What shall I call you? How can I tell my brothers about You? How will I convey to them the name of the Wanderer, who has retreated under the roof of my soul, under a roof that has become dilapidated, has come to final destruction, open to gusty winds, to rain and snow - under a roof only fit for the camp of the dumb? What did You find in my heart, to which various sinful thoughts alternately came, entered into it unhindered, and found in it, like in a manger, like in a trough of pigs, the tasty food of various passionate feelings? It seems to me that I know the name of my Guest! “But, looking at my uncleanness, I’m afraid to say my name.” One irreverent utterance of the great and all-holy name can lead to condemnation! How much more terrible is the very presence of the Named One! But You are present! Your immeasurable goodness led You to the vile sinner, so that the sinner, having come to know the dignity and purpose of man, having tasted through experience, seeing with a feeling that the Lord is good (Ps. 33:9), left the paths of iniquity, left for himself the beloved wealth of stinking passions, took care of acquiring purity through repentance, and became Your church and dwelling. How can I call the Wanderer who hovers around me, who hovers within me? What can I call the wonderful Guest who came to console me in my exile, to heal me from an incurable illness, to take me out of the dark abyss, to bring the green grass to the Lord’s field, to guide me on the right and holy paths? Who came to take away the impenetrable curtain that had hitherto spread before my eyes, hiding from me the majestic eternity and my God? What shall I call the Mentor who proclaims to me the teaching about God, the teaching new and at the same time ancient, the teaching Divine, and not human? Shall I call the Mentor light? I do not see the light, but He enlightens my mind and heart above any word, above any earthly teaching, without words, with unspeakable speed, with some strange - so I will express the inexpressible - touching the mind or action within the mind itself. Shall I call Him fire? But He does not burn; on the contrary, it irrigates pleasantly and cools. He is a kind of “subtle voice of coldness” (1 Kings 19:12), but every passion, every sinful thought flees from Him as from fire. He does not utter any word - he does not pronounce it, and together he speaks, teaches, sings wonderfully, mysteriously, with indescribable quietness, subtlety, changing, renewing the mind and heart, listening to Him in silence, in the spiritual cage. He has no image or appearance; There is nothing sensual in Him. It is completely insubstantial, invisible, extremely subtle; suddenly, unexpectedly, with indescribable quietness it appears in the mind, in the heart, gradually pours into the whole soul, into the whole body, takes possession of them, removes everything sinful from them, stops the action of flesh and blood, unites the dissected parts of a person together, reveals our whole nature, which crumbled from a terrible fall, just as a meager vessel crumbles from a fall. Who, seeing the re-creation, does not recognize the hand of the Creator, the One who has the power to create and recreate? Until now I have only spoken about action, without naming who is the Actor. It’s scary for me to name Him! Look at me, brothers! Look at what is happening in me! You tell me - what is happening in me? Will you tell me who is the Performer? I feel, feel the presence of the Wanderer within me. Where He came from, how He appeared in me, I don’t know. Having appeared, He remains invisible, completely incomprehensible. But He is present because He acts in me, because He possesses me, without destroying my free will, drawing it into His will with the indescribable holiness of His will. With an invisible hand He took my mind, took my heart, took my soul, took my body. As soon as they felt this hand, they came to life! A new sensation, a new movement appeared in them - a spiritual sensation and movement! I did not know these sensations and movements before, I did not even know, I did not imagine their existence. They appeared, and from their appearance the sensations and movements of the flesh and soul were hidden or shackled. They appeared like life, and the previous state disappeared like death. From the touch of my hand on my entire being, my mind, heart and body united with each other, made up something whole, one; then they plunged into God - they remain there as long as they are held there by an invisible, incomprehensible, omnipotent hand. What feeling surrounds me there? My whole being is enveloped in deep, mysterious silence, beyond any thought, beyond any dreaming, beyond any spiritual movement produced by the blood; my whole being is sabbathed and acts together under the control of the Holy Spirit. This management is inexplicable in words. I remain as if intoxicated, I forget everything, I feed on unknown, imperishable food; I am outside everything sensible, in the realm of the immaterial, in a region that is above not only matter - above all thought, every concept; I don’t feel my body itself. My eyes look and do not look, they see and do not see; ears hear - and do not hear; all my members are intoxicated - and I stagger on my feet, holding on to something with my hands so as not to fall, or I lie, cast down on a bed, as if in a painless illness and in relaxation resulting from an abundance of strength. The cup of the Lord, the cup of the Spirit, rejoices with power (Ps. 22:5). This is how I spend my days and weeks! and time is reduced!.. A wondrous silence, enveloping the mind, heart, soul, rushing with all their strength towards God and lost, so to speak, in an endless movement towards the infinite, this silence is at the same time a conversation, but without words, without any variety, without thoughts, above thoughts; The wanderer who does all this has both a voice and an unusual word, speaking without words or sound and being heard mysteriously. I search in Scripture where it would be said about such actions in order to get to know the wonderful Wanderer, and involuntarily stop before the words of the Savior: “The spirit breathes where it wants; and you hear His voice, but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes: this is what happens to everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). What should we call the action itself? It reconciles, unites a person with himself, and then with God; It is impossible not to recognize in this action the breath of the grace-filled peace of God, which surpasses every mind, keeping the heart and mind in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:7), given to those who come to man, renewing man by the Holy Spirit. Exactly! With this action, the mind and heart are made evangelical, made Christlike: a person sees the Gospel inscribed within himself - on the tablets of the soul, with the finger of the Spirit. ...The Divine Wanderer departs, disappears as imperceptibly as he comes and appears imperceptibly. But He leaves in my entire being the fragrance of immortality, immaterial, just as He Himself is immaterial, a spiritual, life-giving fragrance, felt by a new sensation that He planted or resurrected in me. Enlivened, nourished by this fragrance, I write and speak the word of life to my brethren... 2. 314–318 (See Jesus Prayer Communion with God). From time to time, God leaves us to ourselves, so that we may learn by experience how weak we are in our loneliness, and because of this knowledge, we relentlessly cling to God, Who alone can be the conqueror of sin in those who truly will to see themselves defeated by sin. 1.379 Self-reproach alone is not enough, says Barsanuphius the Great; human humiliation is also needed to bring humility to a person. Against humility and patience, the enemy brings blasphemy against God Himself, allegedly abandoning those who serve Him; but let his blasphemy descend on his head through glorification, thanksgiving and confession offered to God by His servants, following the example of the three holy youths. 6.834 The opinion that you are abandoned as a man may still exist, for every man is a lie; but the opinion of abandonment by God is not only wrong, but also associated with blasphemy. If we do not see, then this exposes not the non-existence of God’s Providence, but the dullness of our vision. Because of this dullness of vision, we call that saving learning through sorrows, which is allowed to us by Divine Providence, abandonment. It seems that due to the sorrows and various difficulties you are allowed, you should rejoice and be consoled, for the sorrows you are allowed are evidence not only of the calling, but also of the election of God. 6.830 Whoever knows that the human race is in decline, that the earth is the place of our exile, our prison, where, having stayed for a short time, we emerge to receive either eternal bliss or eternal punishment, he, of course, also knew that the only treasure of man on earth is Christ, the Savior of the lost. Consequently, the only and invaluable acquisition of a person on earth is the knowledge of Christ and assimilation to Christ. Will the one who wants to acquire this treasure desire acquisitions and temporary pleasures? On the contrary, he will run away from them, fearing that they will not entertain him. He will be pleased not only with what is necessary, but also with what is scarce. And a contented person is richer than the rich! Brothers, we entered this world naked; leaving it, let us leave our bodies in it. Why look for perishable acquisitions? Why look for something that must definitely leave? Let us not waste precious time to decay, so as not to lose our only treasure - Christ. Let us direct both mind and heart to Him; having food and clothing, we will be satisfied with this; We will not allow ourselves excesses and whims, so that they, little by little attracting our love to themselves, do not deprive us of Christ. 2.144–145 (See Church Prayer). (See Faith, Sin, Dogma, Heresy, Heretics, Heretical writings). The Holy Truth, the Word of God says: through many sorrows it is fitting for us to enter the Kingdom of God. Sorrow is especially the lot of our time, which is given neither the feat of martyrdom nor the feat of monasticism. Our lot, Christians of the last times, is a land of sorrows, seemingly petty and insignificant. God's scales! Before Him, on His scales, every sorrow is insignificant, every sorrow is of little importance, no matter how great it may be, because the overshadowing of His power and grace can turn the greatest sorrow into the greatest pleasure. So a little sorrow has all its value before Him, no less than a great sorrow. Everything depends on His grace - and He mercifully accepts all sorrow from man, accepted with thanksgiving, with humility, with glorification. Through thanksgiving, involuntarily make the illness that has befallen you an arbitrary sacrifice, and may God accept it like a censer filled with the most fragrant spiritual incense. Incense - thanksgiving. 6.379 Man is like grass, and how much does it take to mow him down? One minute can decisively destroy his health and plunge his body either into the grave or onto the bed of a painful and prolonged illness. The Gospel teaches us that no sorrow can befall us without the will of God - it teaches us to thank God for all the sorrows that come to us at His behest. From your sick bed, bring thanks to God, just as Job, covered in stinking scabs, brought it from a heap of pus. Thanks to gratitude the severity of the disease is dulled. Thanksgiving brings spiritual comfort to the sick! A heart instructed and delighted by thanksgiving is renewed by the power of living faith. Suddenly illuminated by the light of faith, the mind begins to contemplate the wondrous Providence of God, vigilantly vigilant over all creation. Such contemplation leads to spiritual delight: the soul begins to abundantly thank, glorify God, begins to praise His holy Providence, and surrender itself to His holy will. The sickbed is often a place of knowledge of God and self-knowledge. The suffering of the body is often the cause of spiritual pleasures, and the bed of illness is watered with tears of repentance and tears of joy in God. During illness, you first need to force yourself to thank God, but when the soul tastes the sweetness and peace brought by thanksgiving, it itself hurries to it, as if to a refuge. She hurries there from the heavy waves of murmur, cowardice, and sadness. Through many sorrows we must enter into the Kingdom of God. Whomever the Lord loves, he sends sorrows, and they mortify the heart of God’s chosen one towards the world, accustoming him to hover near God. In all sorrows, including illness, the following medicines bring spiritual benefit and joy: devotion to the will of God, thanksgiving to God, reproaching oneself and recognizing oneself as worthy of God’s punishment, remembering that all saints have walked the path of earthly life in constant and fierce suffering, that sorrow is the cup of Christ. One who does not partake of this cup is not able to inherit eternal bliss. 6.432–433 May the Lord God remember you with His mercy. Soreness makes up for heroic deeds. Illness is a ready salvation when the patient moves away from bad words, thoughts and dreams, when he surrenders to the will of God, when he gives thanks for the illness that removes him from the world, which he would not have done solely of his own free will. 6.521 You reason very justly and pleasingly to God, saying that pain and the tightness associated with it were sent to you by God to protect you from sins and sinful temptations with which the world is now filled. But even now the elect are saved. The seal of election is tribulation. The Lord sends sorrows to whomever He accepts into His closest assimilation, and to whom He wants to crown He subjects him to many and various sorrows, so that the soul, shaken by sorrows, may receive its sight and see God in His Providence. In sorrows, it is very useful to surrender to the will of God and thank God for the sorrow sent. It is useful for those who mourn to read the life of the Great Martyr Eustathius Placis (Cheti-Minea, September 20). 6.521–522 One who is in a sick state is like one who is shackled in heavy fetters from the outside and inside. But it is sent or allowed by God, who punishes anyone who accepts it. For this reason, illness is included in the labors by which our salvation is achieved. Every feat is required to be correct. Then a person strives correctly in the work of his illness, when he thanks God for it. The Holy Fathers classify illness, accompanied by thanksgiving to God and glorification of God for His fatherly punishment, leading to eternal bliss, as two of the greatest monastic feats - silence and obedience. 6.527–528 You are in a painful state. I know from experience the difficulty of this situation. The body's strength and abilities are taken away; together the strength and abilities of the soul are taken away; disorder of the nerves is communicated to the spirit, because the soul is connected with the body by an incomprehensible and intimate union, due to which the soul and body cannot help but influence each other. I am sending you a spiritual recipe, which I advise you to use the proposed medicine several times a day, especially in moments of intense suffering - both mental and physical. When used, there will be no delay in revealing the power and healing hidden in medicine, which, by its appearance, is the most humble. When you are alone, say slowly, out loud to yourself, enclosing your mind in words (as St. John of the Climacus advises) the following: “Glory to Thee, our God, for the sorrow sent; I accept what is worthy according to my deeds; remember me in Your Kingdom." Since the essence of this exercise lies in concentrated attention, the body must be given a calm position so that body movements and the resulting heating of the blood do not interfere with the mind’s concentration. The best position is lying on a bed. And the Gospel says that the sick man in this position was presented to the Lord and received mercy from the Lord. For the same purpose of the most convenient attention, it is commanded to enclose the mind in the words of prayer; one must pronounce the prayer extremely slowly. After saying the prayer once, rest for a while. Then say it again and rest again. Continue praying like this for 5 or 10 minutes until you feel your soul calmed and comforted. You will see: after three prayers said in this way, you will begin to feel that peace is entering your soul and destroying the confusion and bewilderment that tormented it. The reason for this is clear: the grace and power of God lie in praising God, and not in eloquence and verbosity. Doxology and thanksgiving are acts taught to us by God Himself - they are by no means a human invention. The Apostle commands this work on behalf of God (1 Thess. 5:18). Let us voluntarily surrender ourselves to the will of God, because we want it or not, but we are and will be in the hands of God, although for some time we are presented with freedom in action, so that our will and the pledge of our hearts may be expressed. 6.528–529 Demons are also capable of causing illness and death to humans. The devil struck Job with fierce pus from his feet even to his head. He would have struck the righteous man he hated with death, if this had not been forbidden by God (Job 2:7,6). The Savior Himself testified about the crumpled woman that she was “bound by Satan” (Luke 13:16). The demon Asmodeus killed seven husbands, to whom Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, was married in turn (Tov. 3, 8). 3.226 Through many sorrows - not small, mind you, but many and varied - we must enter into the Kingdom of God. This is what the Word of God determined. This same all-holy Word commanded us not to be afraid of sorrows, because they are allowed to us by the Providence of God, and the Providence of God, allowing them to us according to their essential necessity and their benefit for us, vigilantly watches over us and protects us. Thus, in order to heal a patient, a doctor gives him bitter, disgusting and painful medicines and at the same time carefully looks after him. Believe this and bear the illness that befalls you complacently, thanking God for it. 6.531 The view of the spiritual mind on bodily ailments and their miraculous healings is completely different from the view of carnal wisdom. Carnal wisdom recognizes illnesses as a disaster, and healing from them, especially miraculous ones, as the greatest well-being, caring little about whether the healing is associated with benefit to the soul or with harm to it. The spiritual mind sees both in illnesses sent by God's Providence and in healings bestowed by Divine Grace, God's mercy to man. Illuminated by the light of the Word of God, the spiritual mind teaches God-pleasing and soul-saving behavior in both cases. He teaches that it is permissible to seek and ask God for healing of an illness with the firm intention of using the returned health and strength in the service of God, and not in the service of vanity and sin. Otherwise, miraculous healing will only serve to increase condemnation and attract greater punishment in time and in eternity. The Lord testified to this, having healed the paralytic, He said to him: “Behold, you are healthy: let no one sin, lest it be worse for him” (John 5:14). Man is weak and receptive to sin. If some saints, who had the grace-filled gift of healing, abounding in spiritual reasoning, were tempted by sin and fell, then carnal people, who do not have a definite understanding of spiritual things, can all the more easily abuse the gift of God. And many have abused it! Having received a miraculous healing from their illness, they did not pay attention to God’s good deed and their duty to be grateful for the good deed, began to lead a sinful life, turned the gift of God to harm themselves, became alienated from God, and lost salvation. For this reason, miraculous healings are rare, although the carnal wisdom greatly respects them and would very much desire them. “You ask and do not receive,” says the apostle, “you ask evilly, but depend on your desires” (James 4:3). Spiritual reason teaches that illnesses and other sorrows that God sends to people are sent out of God’s special mercy, like bitter healing treatments for the sick; they contribute to our salvation, our eternal well-being much more surely than miraculous healings. Often, very often, an illness is a greater blessing than healing, if it followed; an illness can be such a significant benefit that taking it away by healing would be taking away the greatest benefit, incomparable to the temporary benefit that is delivered by healing a physical illness. The poor, sick Lazarus, mentioned in the Gospel, was not healed of his serious illness, was not delivered from poverty, died in the position in which he languished for a long time, but for his patience he was lifted up by the Angels into the bosom of Abraham (Luke 16:22). The Holy Scripture throughout its entire space testifies that God sends various sorrows, and among them bodily ailments, to those people whom he loved (Heb. 12:6). The Holy Scripture affirms that all the saints of God, without exception, made an earthly pilgrimage along a narrow and thorny path, filled with various sorrows and hardships (Heb. 12:3). Based on this concept of sorrows, the true servants of God behaved in relation to the sorrows that befell them with the greatest prudence and self-sacrifice. They met the sorrow that came to them, no matter what it was, as their belonging, believing with all their souls that sorrow would not have come if it had not been allowed by the just and all-good God in accordance with human needs. Their first thing upon the advent of grief was the realization that they were worthy of it. They searched and always found within themselves the cause of grief. Then, if they saw that grief was preventing them from pleasing God, they turned to God with a prayer for deliverance from grief, leaving the fulfillment and non-fulfillment of the petition to the will of God, without at all recognizing their concept of grief as correct. It cannot be completely correct: the judgment of a limited, although holy, person does not embrace and see all the causes of sorrow, as the all-seeing eye of God, who allows sorrow to His slaves and beloved, embraces and sees them. The Holy Apostle Paul turned three times with a prayer to God that the Satanic angel, who was preventing the Apostle from preaching Christianity, would be eliminated. Paul was not heard: God’s judgment on this matter was different from that of the divinely inspired apostle (2 Cor. 12:7-10). Surrendering oneself to the will of God, a sincere reverent desire for it to be accomplished over us, is a necessary, natural consequence of true spiritual reasoning. Holy monks, when they were exposed to illnesses, accepted them as the greatest blessing of God, tried to remain in praise and thanksgiving to God, and did not seek healing, although miraculous healings are most often performed among holy monks. They wanted to patiently and humbly endure God’s permission, believing and confessing that it was more beneficial to the soul than any voluntary feat. The Monk Pimen the Great said: “Three monastic deeds are equal in dignity: when someone is silent correctly, when someone is sick and thanks God, when someone undergoes obedience with a pure thought.” In the Egyptian monastery, where the greatest holy monks lived, lived the Monk Benjamin. For his virtuous life, God gave him the abundant gift of healing ailments. Having this gift, he himself suffered from a severe and prolonged water illness. He swelled unusually. They were forced to take him out of his own cell to another, more spacious one. To do this, the doors with jambs in his cell had to be removed. In the new room they arranged a special seat for him because he could not lie on the bed. Being in this position, the monk continued to heal others, and those who, seeing his suffering, sympathized with him, exhorted them to pray for his soul, without worrying about his body. “When my body is healthy,” he said, “then I have no particular benefit from it. Now, having been exposed to illness, it does not bring me any harm.” Abba Peter said that he, having once visited the Monk Isaiah the Hermit and finding him suffering from a severe illness, expressed regret. To this the monk said: “So depressed by illness, I can hardly keep in my memory the terrible time (death and judgment of God). If my body were healthy, then the memory of this time would be completely alien to me. When the body is healthy, then it is more inclined to incite hostile actions against God. Sorrows serve as an aid for us to keep God’s commandments.” When the illnesses and other sorrows befell them, the Holy Fathers, firstly, themselves tried to show the patience that depended on them: they resorted to self-reproach and self-condemnation, raping their hearts and forcing them to be patient; they remembered death, the judgment of God, eternal torment, the recollection of which weakens the meaning and feeling of earthly sorrows; they raised their thoughts to the Providence of God, reminding themselves of the promise of the Son of God to continually remain with His followers and protect them, thereby calling their hearts to complacency and courage; they forced themselves to glorify and thank God for their sorrow, forced themselves to recognize their sinfulness, which required punishment and admonition because of the justice of God, because of the very goodness of God. In addition to their own feasible labor to acquire patience, they intensified diligent prayers to God for the granting of a spiritual gift - grace-filled patience, inseparable from another spiritual gift - grace-filled humility, serving together with it as a sure guarantee of salvation and eternal bliss. The Great Significant Fathers did not teach healing, which was so convenient for them, to their disciples who were exposed to illness by permission or by the Providence of God, so as not to deprive them of spiritual success, which must certainly be achieved by illness, borne according to the moral tradition of the Church. The abbot of the Naz hostel, the Monk Serid, a disciple of the Great Barsanuphius, who remained silent in the same hostel, was ill for a long time. Some of the older brothers asked the Great One to heal the abbot. Saint Barsanuphius answered: “Some of the saints who are here could pray to God for the health of my son (about which I informed him), so that he would not be sick for a single day - and this would be fulfilled; but then he would not have received the fruits of patience. This illness is very useful for him for patience and thanksgiving.” Explaining the need for sorrows for the ascetic of Christ, Saint Isaac of Syria says: “Temptation is useful for every person. If it is useful to Paul, then let every mouth be stopped, and the whole world will be guilty of God” (Rom. 3:19). Ascetics are tempted so that they increase their wealth: those who sleep - so that they awaken; your own - so that they become even more assimilated. An untrained son does not come into control of his father's wealth, because he will not be able to use this wealth usefully. For this reason, God first tempts and torments, and then gives the gift. Glory to the Lord, who with bitter medicine gives us the pleasure of health. There is no person who does not grieve during training. There is no person who would not find the time bitter in which he drinks to gain spiritual strength. And it is not ours to endure. How can a clay vessel withstand the thinness of water if it is not first strengthened by Divine fire? If in reverence, in an unceasing desire for patience, we ask God for it with humility, then we will receive everything about Christ Jesus our Lord. 4. 321–325 In our time, the abuse is not so much cruel as it is subtle. The fighter became unusually experienced, like some kind of homeopath, and, seeing that pins and needles are deadly when handled deftly, but do not make any noise due to their inconspicuousness, he left the swords and spears that had produced martyrs alone. But although for most people the burden of the current battles is inconspicuous, it is obvious to the All-Wise God, Who, in His great goodness, has prepared crowns for the current victors. 6.830 We must defeat battles in their place, and not by leaving space, which only makes the battles stronger. 6.217 You need to look at battles more calmly, as if they were happening in someone else, and not in you. Such a view of one’s struggles is done when a person casts concern for himself - on God. Coolness in commanders is praised: it gives them the opportunity to give proper orders during battle; for the same reason, it is necessary for the mind practicing invisible warfare. The state of warfare is necessary: ​​it provides the mind with precious experience and leads to true deep repentance. 6.823 It is better not to see the battle due to inattention to it and from attention to prayer, than, abandoning attention to prayer and prayer, go into an examination of the battle that exceeds our strength, and from this imaginary consideration come to arrogance, which is inseparable from opinion. It is enough for you to be convinced that fallen man is the treasury of all sins; Some of the sins are revealed by their action, while others live as if inactive and thus mislead the ascetic about their non-existence. Be before God as one whole ulcer and pray for healing and salvation, not paying more attention to the battles and not being surprised at their coming, as if occurring out of order. 6.832 The Monk Pimen the Great told about the Monk John Kolov, the father, filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, that he begged God - and the struggle in him, caused by the ailments of a fallen nature or passions, ceased. He went and announced this to a certain elder who had succeeded in spiritual reasoning, saying: “I see myself in indestructible calm, without any warfare.” The prudent elder answered John: “Go and pray to God that the battle will return, because because of the battle the soul comes to prosperity, and when the battle comes, do not pray that it will be taken away, but that the Lord will grant patience in the battle.” 5.359–360 You might be interested in: