Twelve words

The collection “Twelve Words” includes selected pastoral instructions from St. Simeon the New Theologian, calling for an experimental knowledge of God. The essay covers the following topics: - a vision of Divine light, which is available not only to the elect, but also to every sincerely seeking Christian (Words 7, 12); - the need for repentance, the fight against passions and purification of the heart (Words 2, 6, 10, 11); - the role of the Holy Spirit and deification (Words 9, 12); - about the shepherds of the Church of Christ and the importance of spiritual leadership (Words 7, 8); - instructions for new Christians and those who have entered the monastic path (Word 1); - about perfect love, freedom, the cross, the righteous Judgment of God, the seal of Christ (Words 3, 4, 5). Word 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 The Monk Simeon the New Theologian lived at the end of the 10th and beginning of the 11th century. The son of noble and eminent parents, he was raised at the royal court and was a close associate of the Greek Kings Basil and Constantine Porphyrogenitus. Having studied verbal sciences, he abandoned higher philosophical education so as not to be damaged in morality by his fellow students. At the age of 20, he left the court and his relatives and hid in the Studion monastery, where he was taught both the new monastic life and high spiritual work by the elder of this monastery, Simeon the Reverent. Subsequently, he moved to the monastery of St. Mamant, where, after the death of the Rector, he was elected to the Igumen and was ordained a Presbyter by Patriarch Nicholas Chrysoverg, at which apparently the light of the Spirit of God descended on his head, which then descended on him at every celebration of the Liturgy throughout the 48 years of his presbytery. The Monk Simeon died in 1032, leaving behind many works. In his life (published in Moscow in 1856) it is said: “he received the word of teaching from above, writing all night, sometimes the words of the Theologian, sometimes catechumens, sometimes the stories of the Divine Scriptures, sometimes again compiling zealous Songs in civil verses, and sometimes writing messages to his disciples.” Very few of the works of St. Simeon the New Theologian have been published in the Slavic language. a) The Philokalia contains: its active and theological chapters, numbering 152; A Word about Faith and a Word about Three Types of Prayer. b) In the prayer books: the 7th prayer for Holy Communion, borrowed from a book full of high Theology called Stishnaya, and c) In 1852, twelve “Words”, taken from among the 35 in Greek, were published in Moscow in the Slavic translation of Elder Paisius Velichkovsky. These twelve words are now offered in a Russian translation, made after careful comparison with the Hellenic Greek manuscript (located in the Moscow Synodal Library), with which certain additions have been made to the Russian text, indicated in their places. The works of St. Simeon contain such a height of theology, such deep knowledge and explanation of mental work, that the Church adopted the title of Theologian for him, calling him, in contrast to John the Theologian and Gregory the Theologian, the New Theologian. Memory Ave. The Greek Church celebrates Simeon twice a year: on March 12th and October 12th. This is a very useful instruction about the beginning of life, which is very useful and saving, which is especially appropriate for those who have just renounced the world and everything in the world, and for those who have entered monasticism and in general for beginners. Brethren! Every person who has just renounced the world and everything in the world, and has begun to live and become a monk, if he has renounced for God’s sake and wants to learn this art of art, and wants his departure from the world not to be in vain, must from the very beginning, with all zeal and the warmest will, carefully perform deeds of virtue. And in order to convey in writing to those who have come here again from the world, as if to a school, some outline of the alphabet of this science of sciences, that is, our asceticism, we, starting from the first rules, offer it, as if in an image, to them, as well as to those who will come after them, just as we ourselves received from our fathers. So, one should know that one who, in an external image, has already put off the old man with his wisdom 1, and through the adoption of a monastic image, has put on the heavenly one, must get up at midnight before Matins and pray the established prayer 2; and then get up with everyone for the doxology and listen to it all wisely and wakefully, carefully listening to the beginning of the Divine Service, that is, the six psalms, the poetry (kathisma) and the readings of the teachings without laziness, without relaxing the body, without shifting from foot to foot and without leaning against a wall or pillar. But he must keep his hands decently folded, his legs stand straight and motionless, his head should not be turned to one side or the other, but slightly tilted, his mind should not be distracted, and his thoughts should not be curious or distracted by lazy ones that talk to each other and whisper, but in every possible way keep his eyes and soul from being distracted, listening, as much as possible, to the mere psalmody and reading and the power of the words of the Divine Scripture that are sung and read, so that not a single word in it miss idly; but so that from all this his soul, being fattened, would come into tenderness and humility and enlightenment of the Divine Holy Spirit. I ask you all, as if one, my fathers and my brothers and children, and I offer this as a saving law, that each of you try to make such a beginning in the work of virtue, or better to say, in the work of God, for which, according to the extent of our labors, we will generously receive reward from God: so that, if possible, none of you goes through a single service (service) and reading without tears. For if you, brother, accustom yourself to do this in this matter, you will soon succeed and achieve a perfect man, according to the age of the fulfillment of Christ (Eph. 4:13). For by forcing yourself not to carry out the established sequence of church services without tears, you will become accustomed to this virtue: and then by the very verse of the psalms and troparia that you sing (and read or listen to), your soul will be nourished, perceiving their Divine understanding; and by what is spoken, your mind will be raised to the mentally spiritual, and thus, tearing up sweetly, you will remain in the church, as if in heaven itself with the heavenly powers. Make this a law for yourself, so that before the last prayer you never leave the church meeting without extreme necessity or bodily need; but be patient, as we said, and do not move from your place. For the Scripture says: “He who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:13). And besides this, you will also receive help from God Almighty, at first not tangibly, then with sensation, and eventually with enlightenment. At the end of the morning praise, immediately leaving, do not start conversations with one or the other, or become distracted in your mind, or idle, but you must have some kind of bodily activity; (and when you come from church) and pray alone in your cell with the prayer assigned to you with tears and great attention, immediately get to work on it: whether it be some kind of service (by obedience), then for this service, or handicraft - for handicraft; whether reading - for reading. And avoid sitting idle in your cell in every possible way, so that idleness does not teach you all kinds of evil (Sir.33:28), which is better not to talk about. Also, do not walk around the monastery, asking curiously about those working or undergoing obedience. Keep silent and move away from everyone: this is true pilgrimage. Pay attention to yourself alone and to your handicrafts, such as you have. And do not enter anyone’s cell except your father’s cell according to God, unless you are sent by the superior or steward according to your obedience. And when you go, try not to say or hear a word beyond what you were sent for; but, having fulfilled the order, return without delay. If, as you pass, you see some brother, alone or with others, sitting and talking untimely, then, having bowed to them, pass silently; do not approach them and do not sit with them, remembering the word of the Psalmist: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, and does not stand in the way of sinners, and does not sit in the seat of the destroyers” (Ps. 1:1). Such, in truth, are destroyers, as St. Paul testifies: “Corruption of customs is good, conversation is evil” (1 Cor. 15:33); for what is destroyed, corrupts (corrupts). So, beloved, do not sit down with those who talk idle; do not say: here I will listen to what you are talking about; but, as it is said, having bowed, pass by. Remain silent and wandering (that is, withdrawing from everyone). Keep silence with the following thought: “What good can I say, being completely unclean and senseless, and, moreover, an alien, and even unworthy of speaking, or hearing anything, or being counted among the people”? But maintain wandering and distance from everyone, thinking and saying to yourself like this: “Who am I, an outcast, insignificant, rootless and beggar, that I should dare to enter someone’s cell? “When he sees me, won’t he turn away as if from absolute abomination?” “Won’t he say: “Why did this nasty one come to me to desecrate my cell?” At the same time, put your sins before your eyes, and say this from your soul, and not just from the edge of your lips. And if at first you cannot say this from your heart, then over time, little by little you will achieve this, with the assistance of grace. Just listen to me, humble brother, just make a beginning for this and just begin to act, say and do this, and God will not leave you: for He loves you very much and wants you to come to the knowledge of the truth and receive salvation. Thus, having spent the time before the liturgy, enter, brother, again diligently into the church meeting and stand there with much zeal, as we presented to you when speaking about the morning doxology, without forgetting the lament. Stand in awe, as if seeing the Son of God sacrificed for you, and if you are worthy and have permission for this, then approach with fear and joy and partake of unspeakable blessings. After leaving (the church) after the last prayer, go to the meal with everyone, without separating from your brothers. And if you are appointed to serve there, then appear as before Christ, and not before men, serving everyone out of pure disposition and with love, as saints, or better, as if you were to serve, as we said, Christ Himself; to each of them, as if clinging to his soul, and with zeal and love, devoting himself to them, firmly hoping to receive fruit from this service - sanctification. If you sit down to a meal with everyone, take heed of what I command you in the Lord, as my beloved father and brother: do not boldly stretch out your hand to the food presented at the meal before the eldest of your brothers begin to eat, and before the blessing is first given from the priest. And having begun to eat with your fathers and brothers, pay attention to yourself alone, sitting with all modesty and silence, not speaking to anyone at all, but listening to the reading, feeding both on the body and on the inspired words of the Holy Spirit on the soul. For as you are dual, i.e. If you consist of a soul and a body, then, in accordance with this, it is appropriate for you to have twofold food and meals: to feed the body, sensual and earthly, with sensual food and taken from the earth, but to nourish the rational and Divine soul with the rational food of Divine words. Do not be curious about which of the parts offered to you at the meal will be more or which will be less, but whichever they give you, take and eat with all thanksgiving; but even this with abstinence, avoiding satiation in everything. And at the same time, consider yourself unworthy of the common meal of the brothers, thinking and saying to yourself like this: “Who am I, insignificant and unworthy, that I sit and eat with these saints?” – And saying this to yourself, from the bottom of your heart consider yourself the only sinner. And just as some beggar, and one of those dressed in rags, if he happens to be among princes and rich people, dressed in shiny and precious clothes, he is ashamed, hides and does not even dare to approach or approach any of them: so you behave with all the brothers, always choosing the last place and being ashamed, so that they do not see you sitting above one of them, considering them all rich in virtues, and yourself poor and naked and even completely unworthy of being with them and seeing them. Also, before you touch food, again, remembering your sins, think and say to yourself like this: “Will it not be a judgment and condemnation for me if I touch anything that is offered to me? For from childhood I disobeyed God, who created this and gave it to us as food, and did not keep His holy commandments: so how can I, unworthy and condemned, partake of His blessings, together with these Holy Fathers? With what face will I, rejected from the presence of my Master, an evil, unreasonable and ungrateful servant, having not yet repented and not having received perfect forgiveness from God, the lover of mankind, begin to eat and drink and be comforted with the saints, like those who have not sinned, or, although they have sinned, have repented and thereby received forgiveness? Not at all! But I will eat and drink only to be alive; I will exhaust myself, sadden myself and condemn myself, so that God, looking from above and seeing my free tightness and sorrow, will have mercy on me and forgive me my many evils.” Think about this and always keep it in your memory. In addition, assign yourself to eat such a portion of the bread so that not only will you not be satisfied, but you will eat much less than you need, as much as you can bear; also drink one or two cups, and then at one specific time of the day. When you eat food, do not listen to the thought that inspires you to choose something better from what is available and taste it; but refrain from eating what seems good to you, and eat only what lies before you. But if you like something from this, be it a vegetable or something else from food, and your thought tells you: this is good, take it and eat, then try not to be overcome by this and not even touch it. For Adam was expelled from paradise for no other reason than because the fruit of that tree seemed to him beautiful in appearance and good for eating, and he ate from it: for which he was cast out and expelled and condemned to death and corruption. Therefore, those who wish to ascend to this paradise, or better to say, to the Kingdom of Heaven, must maintain abstinence, not violating it in anything, not even seven (seemingly unimportant), so as not to little by little get carried away into greater harmful desires. If the brethren sitting with you force you to eat or drink something extra, then do not object to this, but only, folding your hands, standing up a little and bowing your head, say in a quiet voice: forgive me. And in all cases, always answer this way. Do not offer what you have left to others, and do not accept anything from others. If you do not drink wine, then do not take it at all, and do not offer it to anyone from the brethren, unless some stranger happens to come to you on some business. Never allow yourself to taste anything with anyone before lunch, or have a midday meal, or have a special dinner: for from this comes all evil, and all these are ambushes and snares of the devil, and on the surface it seems good, but inside hides mortal poison. Whoever believes us will escape these snares, and whoever keeps our words, through the assistance of God’s grace, will remain unhurt and undamaged by this. And others want to lead their worldly life in a monastic way, without realizing it, and they fall into abysses and rapids and do not feel it. You, beloved brother, try with all your might to preserve this, even if you had to die; for otherwise you cannot escape the demon of gluttony. Know this: if you keep this, the devil, not tolerating seeing you like this, will raise up all the lazy people against you, and they will annoy you, and laugh, and envy, and dishonor, and will inflict on you countless sorrows in order to remove you from your good intentions and saving deeds. If you endure all this, beloved, you will receive great help and consolation from God and our Savior. Therefore, even while others are sitting at the table, eating food, you are not eating with them, but whether you serve or not, do not forget to say to yourself the following: “If I had completely repented and received forgiveness for my sins, then I would have been comforted and would have eaten food together with my brothers. But since I, the accursed one, have made myself unworthy of this through my shameful deeds, I will suffer here according to my deeds.” Saying this, curb your belly as much as you can. Never seek or covet the first place between those sitting, but hate it with all your heart, since this is the cause of pride and contributes to it. Your humility will elevate you; and the very fact that you will be the last of all will make you the first, as it is said: “Everyone who exalts himself will humble himself, but he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14). Having risen from the meal with all the brotherhood and having given thanks to God and having received leave from the priest, hurry silently to your cell and, having closed the door, take up a book and read a little. Then, if the days are summer, lie down on your matting and pine for a while; for by avoiding satiety and eating scanty food - bread and water in moderation and vegetables or seeds, you will sleep less and get up sooner. If the days are winter, then, after reading a little, take up your handicraft and do it until they strike for Vespers. Then, having come to church again, stand with fear and attention before God, praying to Him and confessing and not talking to anyone at all. And at the end of Vespers, if you can completely abstain from food and drink, allowing yourself to eat once a day, then you will receive considerable benefit from standing at the Vespers Service and in your nightly prayer and vigil; otherwise, be content with one cracker and one cup of water, except for illness and weakness of the stomach. Together with your brothers, having offered your evening prayers to God, bowed down at the feet of the abbot, as if at the very feet of Christ, and having accepted his blessing, venerated the holy icons, enter, silently and without speaking to anyone, into your cell, and, having closed the doors, first take up the book and, having carefully read three pages to yourself, stand in prayer, and serenely remain in psalmody, silently singing and praying to God as if no one could hear. Stand vigilantly, gathering your thoughts and not allowing them to scatter. Keep your hands decently folded; stand with your feet straight and motionless in one place. Keep your eyes closed so that you don’t look at anything else and your mind doesn’t wander. Raise your very mind and your whole heart to heaven and to God, calling on mercy from Him with tears and groaning. And let your spiritual father assign you psalms that contain words of repentance and tenderness, and as many as correspond to your strength and your mood. With strength and courage you must measure the measure of psalms and the number of kneelings and the time of standing, so that your conscience does not tell you in reproof that you still had the strength to stand and sing and confess to God. In addition, let you have prescribed prayers, morning and evening, 4 containing confession to God. Having finished the prayer, read a little again, then take up your needlework and study until the first watch, that is, until the third hour of the morning. Then, after singing “Immaculate” (17th kathisma), he lay down on the mat, marking his entire body with the sign of the cross. After sleeping until midnight, do in the same order as explained to you above. Also, confess the thoughts of your heart to your father, if possible, every hour; if not, then at least let not a single evening pass without it, O beloved; and also after matins, having tested yourself, explain to him everything that happens to you. Have undoubted faith in him, even if the whole world annoys him and mocks him; even if you yourself see him committing fornication with your own eyes, do not be tempted and do not diminish your faith in him, obeying him who said: “Do not judge, neither will you be judged” (Luke 6:37). If you do this every day and strive in this way, God will not hesitate to visit you from above and will send you help from His holy dwelling and the grace of His Most Holy Spirit to overshadow you; and, little by little, succeeding in your work, you will grow in spiritual age and reach a perfect husband, according to the age of the fulfillment of Christ (Eph. 4:13), being enlightened and, like the sun, illuminating with the light of the mind all who approach you and converse with you, and glorifying through the life and word of God, who gave you the gift of His Holy One and Life-Giving One Spirit. To Him belongs all glory, honor and worship, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. About spiritual work and about what the work of the ancient saints was, and how we can achieve to be, like them, partakers of the Most Holy Spirit. About perfect dispassion and holiness. About what complete withdrawal from the world consists of, and about the fact that he who loves human glory does not receive any benefit from other virtues, even if he has acquired everything. Brothers and Fathers! Since some, having a high opinion of themselves (which should not be the case), consider themselves equal in deeds and in reason and perfection to the ancient saints and our God-bearing fathers and to the Spirit Himself, by whom they lived and labored, and are content with mere words, without deeds, being seduced by the spirit of conceit: then I considered it necessary to briefly talk with them, as if with one, in the simplicity and artlessness of the word, for the sake of God who said: “And you, having turned, strengthen your brethren” (Luke 22:32), and for the sake of the common love that we are commanded to have for our neighbor. So, let us now begin to converse in simplicity of speech and convince your love. Do you want, brother, to hear what our fathers did while sitting in their cells? Read their lives and first understand their bodily work; and then I will tell you the spiritual work that they went through. For those who wrote the lives of the saints told us their bodily deeds: non-covetousness, fasting, abstinence, patience, and (so as not to prolong the words too much by counting everything), everything else in order; and they revealed their spiritual work through their physical work, in a small measure, and as if in a mirror, so that those who by their deeds show the exploits and faith of the saints, through these deeds reached the mind and the communion of their spiritual gifts. Laugh-makers don’t even deserve to hear about this. However, since we have reached such a depth of madness that even without the deeds that they performed, we think to be clothed in grace equal to them: then let us begin to study this and, being satisfied with the attested deeds, even if we cannot achieve them, we will at least try to follow after these saints. Starting from above and gradually descending, we will reach ourselves. What did the Great Anthony do while sitting in the tomb, if he did not yet know spiritual work at all? Didn't he shut himself up in the coffin like a dead man, taking nothing worldly with him and not having any care for himself? Was he not completely dead to the world and, lying in the tomb, was looking for God, who could revive and restore? Wasn't he content with only bread and water? Didn't he suffer a lot of evil from demons and lay half-dead from an unbearable beating? And when he was carried into the church as if dead, didn’t he, having come to his senses, rush again without permission to the opponents? For if he had not returned to them, but had remained in the world, and if he had not suffered to the end, betraying himself to death with zeal and willfulness, then he would not have been rewarded with the much-desired vision of his Master and would not have heard His sweet voice; but he sought Him with all his soul, pushed Him without laziness, endured to the end and received a worthy reward. For, as it is said, he willingly died for Christ, lay as if dead, until the One who gives life to the dead came and raised Him up from hell, i.e. from the darkness of his soul, and raised Him up into the wonderful light of His face, seeing which and having been delivered from all sorrows, he, overjoyed, cried out: “Lord! Where have you been before? “Where were You” are the essence of the words of someone who does not know where He was; and the word “hitherto” proves the knowledge, sensation and intelligence of the coming of the Lord. If we do not want to renounce (the world) in the same way, and if we do not have the will to endure, like him, and endure to the end; How then will we be worthy, like him, to see God in the Holy Spirit and be filled with joy? No way. If you like, let’s turn our attention to something else. What did Arseny the Great do from the very beginning of his abdication? Having left the royal court, and kings, and slaves in silk robes, and all his wealth, did he not come to the monastery alone, like a beggar and wretched, trying to hide who he once was, avoiding the glory and praise of man, in order to become glorified by God? What then? Was he satisfied with this alone? No. He didn't stop there. What then? He did not even want, as the last of the people, to consider himself on a par with the last, but considered himself to be a dog: for when the Abbot threw him bread, and it fell to the ground, Arseny came up on all fours and, not with his hand, but like a dog, took the bread with his lips and thus ate it. Sitting in his cell, he not only worked for himself in handicrafts, but also relied very little on it for his needs and drank water like fetid mud. Therefore, while working and praying, he constantly cried and shed his tears; and starting prayer in the evening, stood on it until the morning, and until the end of his life he remained in poverty and humiliation. For what? In order for him to achieve and see in every possible way what the Great Anthony was honored to see and experience. How is it not written about him that he saw the Lord? Did he really only put in the work, but was not worthy to see Him? No: he also was honored to see God, although the one who wrote his life did not say this clearly. And if you want to know this for sure, read to them yourself, that is, Saint Arsenius, the folded chapters, and you will learn from them that he, too, was truly a Seer of God. So, whoever imitates them in deeds and deeds will truly be worthy of the same grace. If someone does not want to imitate their humility and patience, why does he talk about an impossible thing (considering himself to have the same spiritual gifts as them?) Who will express the actions of Euthymius, Sava and other saints who are higher than man? For, either before accepting the grace of the Holy Spirit, or after accepting it, however, without many labors, sufferings, exploits, compulsions, oppression and sorrow, no one got rid of the darkness of the soul and saw the light of the Most Holy Spirit. “The kingdom of heaven is in need, and the needy are delighted” (Matthew 11:12) and “through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). And the Kingdom of Heaven is the communion of the Holy Spirit. For what is said: “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21) means that we strive to receive and have the Holy Spirit. So, let those who are not in constant constraint, oppression, humiliation and sorrow say: “We have the Holy Spirit in us.” Without deeds, exploits and works of virtue, this reward is not given to anyone 5. Therefore, it seems to me that the saying that many repeat is good: “show the deeds and demand retribution.” I know a man 6 who, without having yet put in any work and without yet making any compulsion, just by the rightness of his thoughts and the simplicity of his soul, having delved deeply into the Divine Scriptures, and for a few days and nights, so to speak, without any labor, having won and prayed, he was so enlightened by grace from above that it seemed to him as if he were outside the body, outside the home and outside the whole world. For it was night, but it became as perfect day. But since he received the treasure without difficulty, he soon neglected it. Therefore, being careless, he suddenly lost all this wealth, and to such an extent that he could not even remember that he had once seen such glory. How then do those who have never been worthy to receive this glory, or even partially see it, say that they have it all within themselves? I'm perplexed. About insensitivity! O darkness! O ignorance and vain opinion! Where, when, or from what scriptures did they learn this? Truly, “they became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Rom. 1:21), and they remained in Egypt, i.e. in the darkness of his passions and voluptuousness. For those who desire to see the land of promise, which the eyes of the meek, the humble and the poor are worthy to see, accept all oppression, and all sorrow, and humiliation, and with all their might withdraw from all and all kinds of bodily pleasures, honor and joy. And not only this, but they also move away from every person, small and great, running away from everyone without hatred, in order to be considered worthy to enter the promised land before their course along the path of real life is cut off. Humbling themselves and considering themselves, truly, evil and very fallen people, moreover, enemies of God and transgressors of His commandments, they spend their days constantly lamenting and grieving, wanting to know one thing: what should they do to be reconciled with the Lord Christ? For this, the Lord gives them not only an understanding of what they should do, but also gives them strength and patience, so that, having fulfilled everything that is due, they can see and acquire Him who is above all and in all God, and then, whether they are in caves, or mountains, or cells, or live among cities, they can remain as in heaven, and have residence there, and thus unceasingly, with joy and gladness and serve Him with inexpressible joy. This is the work of the saints, this is the work of those led by the Spirit of God, as in our time the holy and most blessed Simeon the Reverent 7 was, who shone like the sun in the glorious monastery of Studite. Having previously been in the middle of the world, he completely renounced not only worldly affairs, friends and relatives, but also the worries, cares and pleasures of life, so that he did not even have the memory of them, but he also drove them far away from himself; Having lived among many monks, he uttered this blessed word: “Brothers! Know that complete renunciation of the world is the complete mortification of one’s will.” O blessed word! Or better yet, O blessed soul, worthy to be such and separated from the whole world! He also said: “A monk should be in a monastery, as if staying (in it) and not staying, not revealing himself and not being known by anyone.” Explaining this, he said: “A monk abides (among the brotherhood) in body and does not abide in spirit; he does not manifest, that is, does not reveal himself to anyone, except to those who have cleansed their hearts with the Holy Spirit 8; We don’t know anyone because we have nothing with anyone.” O blessed words! They proclaim his, the highest human, angelic life; by them he himself testified, moved by the Holy Spirit, that he had acquired residence in heaven; with them he revealed to us to be with God, telling us not to have anything with anyone. No one can achieve this or say it in truth unless everyone is united to everything with God. If he does, he is deceiving himself. “Thou shalt say, for thou shalt not sin; blind is a liar” (2 Pet. 1:9). He who has God, “cannot sin, for His seed abides in him” (1 John 3:9), as John the Most Evangelical, the Apostles’ thunder, says. And that he had all of God within himself, he said this through his life, and after his death, in his own writing, he loudly proclaimed: “Make God your friend, and you will not require human help.” And again: “Acquire God, and you will not need books.” This holy and blessed father of ours worked so hard that he surpassed many of the ancient Holy Fathers. He endured such great sorrows and temptations that he was compared with many of the most glorious martyrs, for which he was glorified by God, and became impassive and holy, having received the Comforter into himself. For, just as a reservoir is filled from a source, so it also received from the “fulfillment” of our Master Jesus Christ; and was filled with the grace of His Spirit, Who is living water, as John the Evangelist says, and even more so the Son and Word of the Living God Himself, from Whom John was enriched with the word: “He who drinks from water (that is, from sensual water), will thirst again; But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst, but there will be in him a fountain of water flowing into an everlasting belly” (John 4:13–14). Explaining this, the Evangelist says: “This is the verb about Dus, whom those who believe in His name want to receive” (John 7:39). And the Apostle says: “We do not receive the spirit of this world, but the Spirit who is from God, even the things that are given to us by God, even as we speak” (1 Cor. 2:12-13). For with such water, evil is washed away from the soul like dirt; and without it, and having worked hard, you will not receive any benefit. Therefore, the Lord said: Do not remember that he came to destroy the law, or the prophets: he did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. (Matthew 5:17). Fulfilling the law consists in not defending one's own in anything; for complete withdrawal from the world is the complete mortification of one’s will; on the contrary, no matter what grief they inflict on us, so that we do not hesitate at all and do not contradict others in confusion, but to be for everyone and in everything like one dead, but to live and strive and act in the same commandments of God and in observance of His commandments, like a lion, or some other giant Sampson, or someone else from the past, or from the present, and those who are the most courageous. Says the Lord, “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me: and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father: both I and the Father will come to him, and will make our abode with him” (John 14:21,23). To this and to such, the Master says: “You are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world” (John 15:19). “Come to Me, and I will give you rest” 9 (Matthew 11:28). Those who spend their lives in any other way, according to their own will, at least in some, in their opinion, good deeds, will not see the life that those who have rejected the world and died of their own will see. So, if I do not want to humble myself and submit, to endure sorrow, dishonor, humiliation and annoyance, if I do not agree to be like one of the unknown, insane, insignificant and very lowly people, and to be despised by every person and considered as one of the beggars (sitting) along the roads and in city squares: then otherwise, tell me (to me), how will I be dead to my will? If God commanded us all to endure with patience this, which befalls us to test and temptation, or better, not to test and temptation, but sent to the purification of our souls, and we do not want to endure this, but it is still alive in us that we do not want to suffer this - which is the earthly wisdom of the flesh - then how will we be dead? No way. If we do not become dead to the world and to the things in the world, then how, like those who died for God’s sake, will we live the hidden life in Christ 10? So, let us imitate Christ God, let us suffer for the sake of our salvation, just as He suffered for our sake. He was called a madman, a flatterer, a food drinker and a wine drinker (Matthew 27:63, 11:19). For they said to Him: “Besa imashi” (John 8:48); and again: “Behold a poisonous man and a wine drinker, a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 11:19). 11 Again we hear that the Lord, like a murderer and a villain, was bound and dragged; that He, as one of the last to stand before Pilate, accepted strangulation from a slave; that He was thrown into prison and taken out of prison; soldiers with staffs led Him, then Pilate handed Him over to the people, saying: “Take Him and crucify Him” (John 19:6). So, let us think how He who is Highest of all heavens and holding everything with His hand was betrayed to them; how they pushed Him, now in this direction, now in the other, beat him with the metacarpus, choked him, ridiculed him, took him to the praetorium; and He who is invisible to all creation, and to the Seraphim themselves, was naked, tied to a pillar, and received the full fourty strokes, meaning a sentence of death. Then what? In mockery, they dressed Him in the royal scarlet robe, beat Him on the head, and asked “Who is it that struck Thee” (Matt. 26:68), crowned Him with thorns, cursed, bowed to Him, spat on Him, and in mockery they said: “Hail, King of the Jews” (Matt. 27:29); then they again clothed Him in clothes and led Him, bound by the neck, to death, laid a cross on Him, with which He reached the very place and watched as they erected it; (and was left alone by His friends and disciples) 12. After this, when they again took off His clothes, they hanged Him; the soldiers nailed His hands and feet and left Him hanging, gave Him bile to drink, and pierced Him with a spear; how the thief reviled Him, how they laughed at Him and said: “Destroying the church, and in three days He who built Himself was saved, come down from the cross” (Matt. 27:40); and again: “If the Son is God, let him come down today from the cross, and we believe in Him” (Matthew 27:42). And finally, after all this suffering, how He thanked and prayed for those who killed Him, and gave His soul into the hands of His Father. Are we, brothers, dissatisfied with all this to follow? But are we really ashamed to suffer in the same way? For what other deeds shall we be glorified with Him? “Whoever,” says (the Lord), “will be ashamed of Me and My words, and the Son of man will be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of His Father” (Mark 8:38). That is why Paul says: “For as long as we suffer with Him, we also will be glorified with Him” (Rom. 8:17). If we are ashamed to imitate His passions, which He endured for us, and to suffer as He suffered, then it is clear that we will not be partakers of His glory. For being such, we are believers not in deed, but only in words. And if there are no works, then faith is dead. If faith without works is dead (James 2:26), then with evil deeds it is not even faith. For something that is dead while it is recent, i.e. something that has just been killed is called dead; if it lasts for many days, then they no longer call it dead, but say that it is rotting, has given over to decay and stinks. Since the essence of works is twofold: those pleasing to God and those hated by God, and if faith is dead without works, as it is written, i.e. Of course, without deeds pleasing to God, then a faith that is not only without deeds pleasing to God, but also with deeds hated by God, how can it be called dead? No, it must be called rotten and corrupt, or, more precisely, unbelief and wickedness. This is what Isaiah the prophet seems to be talking about: “Let the wicked not see the glory of the Lord” (Is. 26:10). Therefore, I say and will not stop saying that those who through repentance and obedience did not imitate the passions of Christ and were not partakers of His death, as we explained in detail above, are not partakers of His spiritual resurrection and do not accept the Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit brings about the resurrection of all. I am not talking about the resurrection of bodies (which will follow) at the end (of the world), for then the Angel will sound the trumpet and dead bodies will be resurrected; but (I speak) about the spiritual rebirth and resurrection of dead souls that takes place spiritually, every day, which is given by His Most Holy Spirit by He Who once died and rose again, and rises through all and in all those who live worthily, and raises up the souls who died with Him by will and faith, giving them, already here, the Kingdom of Heaven. Do not disbelieve my words, brethren, and know that if we try to gain every virtue, if we perform miracles, if we do not deviate from the commandments in anything, neither small nor great, but at the same time we desire only human glory and seek it by some kind of tricks and try to get it: then we have lost the reward for all other (virtues); for by accepting human glory and not preferring God’s, we are condemned as unfaithful and idolaters, serving the creature more than the Creator, as the Lord Himself says to such: “How can you believe, receiving glory from one another, and seeking not the glory that is from the one God” (John 5:44). Even the one who with delight and joy accepts the earthly glory offered to him and is lifted up and rejoices in his heart with it, will be condemned as a fornicator. For such a person is like a man who has the will to preserve virginity, and has renounced consideration of wives, and does not approach them, and does not want to be with them, and when one wife comes to him, he immediately accepts her with pleasure and fulfills his passion with her. The same thing happens in every sinful desire and in every passion: for if anyone willingly gives himself over to envy, or love of money, or zeal, or strife, or any other evil, he will not receive the crown of righteousness. For God, being righteous, does not tolerate having the unrighteous as accomplices; being pure, he is not defiled with the unclean; being dispassionate, he does not hang out with the passionate, and being holy, he does not enter the defiled and evil soul. And he is wicked who, having received in his heart the seed of the wicked sower, brings to the devil, as fruit, the thorns and thistles of sin, the arson of eternal fire, i.e. envy, hatred, resentment, zeal, discord and conceit, vanity, pride, deception, curiosity, slander and, in general, every vile and worthy of spitting passion, which is carried out with pleasure by the flesh and defiles our inner man, according to the word of the Lord (Matthew 15:18-19). We, brothers, will try to never, instead of fruits, bear such tares, having through negligence accepted into our hearts the seed of the evil one. On the contrary, let us bring to Christ at thirty and sixty and a hundred (Matt. 13:8), the fruits cultivated in us by the Spirit, that is, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, mercy, faith, meekness, self-control (Gal. 5:22). Let us feed on the bread of understanding, and grow in virtues, so that we may become a perfect man, according to the age of the fulfillment of Christ (Eph. 4:13) 13. To Him belongs all glory, honor and worship, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. Another, more extensive translation, as indicated in footnote 1. (p. 24). (Blessed Simeon of Studium) showed this by his deeds, compiling a book, the fruit of his labors, and moreover, the Spirit living in him, although he did not learn the art of writing. We also confess and testify about our holy father, and do not hide his good deeds, fully believing that you will not consider us to write anything incorrectly. For just as a reservoir 14 (is filled) from a source, so St. our father, received from the “Fulfillment” our Lord Christ, and was filled with the grace of His Spirit, Who is the living water. And again, just as someone takes from a reservoir 15 water that cannot be contained in it and overflows, and (drinks) with it to the point of satiety: so we, from our holy father, saw the grace that abounded in it and always flows from it, and accepted it, and drank, and washed our faces, and hands, and feet with it; then we washed all of ourselves, our whole body, and our very soul with this immortal water. O wonderful and incomprehensible mystery, brothers! And do not disbelieve this, for this is not just my word, or it did not come true only on me; but listen to what the Evangelist John said about this water, and moreover, the Son and Word of the Living God Himself, from Whom John was enriched with the word: “Whoever drinks,” he says, “of this water, that is, from the sensual, you will get excited again. And whoever drinks from the water that I give him will never thirst; But the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water flowing into an everlasting belly” (John 4:13–14). And explaining this, the Evangelist says: “This is what is said about the Spirit, whom those who believe in His name desire to receive” (John 7:39). For by sowing water, all evil is washed away from the soul, like dirt; but without it, and having worked hard, no one receives any benefit. Therefore, we, being unable to hide the talent of our Master, and not to proclaim the Divine gift given to us, openly confess the mercy of God, that we, unworthy, were infinitely filled and insatiably satisfied with the water that we received from God through our father, to the glory of His Holy Name. And according to our strength, as the last and indecent, we glorified, and now we glorify God, who glorified our holy father, and through our father, us humble and unworthy. So, let no one think that I am lying and slandering my soul and my father, and do not consider me a liar and idle talker 16. For I know that “the Lord will destroy all who speak lies” (Ps. 5:7). And this is what the Divine Paul teaches me, saying: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, blessed be he forever; I lie not” (2 Cor. 11:31). A person's knowledge of Christ, before he was fourteen years old (2 Cor. 12:2), and so on. And again: “We do not receive the spirit of this world, but the Spirit who is from God, even the things that are given to us by God, even as we speak” (1 Cor. 2:12-13). And what benefit would such praise be to me or my holy father? Absolutely none. But, as I said above about the other saints, I did not bring them any benefit with my words, but raised my listeners to jealousy and encouraged them to imitate them, so I will not stop talking about Saint Simeon; out of necessity and without wanting to, I speak about ourselves, unworthy. For the unbelief of many, who say to the detriment of those who listen, that no one can now be such 17, nor by exploits achieve the work of the great holy fathers and be worthy of the gifts bestowed upon them, compels me, and involuntarily, to say what I would never want to say, and to declare publicly, truly, God’s love for mankind, in order to expose the laziness and negligence of those who say this. Our blessed and holy father Simeon worked so hard that he surpassed many of the ancient holy fathers. He endured such great tribulations and temptations that he was compared with many of the most glorious martyrs. For which he was glorified by God, and became dispassionate and holy, having accepted into himself, so to speak, the entire Comforter. And then, just as a father passes on his wealth as an inheritance to his son, so he, too, me, his unworthy servant, without my labors, filled me with the Holy Spirit. For, tell me, which one of you - I don’t say that he accomplished in action what he did and what he spoke about as possible - but could at least understand it as he should? For, setting out his teaching in order, he first of all wrote this: “Brother! Understand that complete renunciation of the world is the complete mortification of one’s will.” O blessed word! or better, O blessed soul, worthy to be such and excommunicated from the whole world! To these and to such, the Lord Christ says: “You are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world” (John 15:19). “Come to me and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). What do the words mean: “Whoever has faith and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not have faith will be condemned” (Mark 16:16)? What are the signs of love for God and neighbor? About perfect love. About what its action is. And that if we are not yet here striving to be partakers of the love and gifts of the Most Holy Spirit, then we can be neither faithful nor Christians, and we will not be called children and sons of God, but on the contrary, we will be condemned on the day of judgment as unfaithful. Our Lord and God Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God and the Father, Consubstantial, One-Substantial and One-Glorious, Co-Throne and One-Throne, abiding in the Father, as the Father is in Him, looking at our damned and oppressed state and at our enslavement, as we through sin enslaved ourselves to the enemy who deceived us, and having mercy on us, in an inexpressible way Out of His love for mankind, and desiring to deliver us from slavery and the worst deception, He descended (from heaven), without leaving the bosom of His father, as He Himself will introduce. And having come to earth, He appeared to us, sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, incarnated by the Holy Spirit and the Holy Ever-Virgin Mary, walked and lived with us, with sinful people, showing us an example of Divine life, gave saving commands to His Saints, disciples and apostles, and ascended again to His Father with glory, and commanded them, saying: “Go and teach all languages, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe” not this or that, but “all the great things commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). Having said “all,” He did not leave anything that He did not command to be preserved. Then what? “Whoever has faith (says the Lord) and is baptized will be saved; and whoever does not have faith will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). So, beloved brethren, do you know what the words mean: “he who has faith is baptized,” then again, “he who has no faith”? What was said (by the Lord) seems understandable and simple, but at the same time it has a deeply hidden meaning. Here we are talking not only about the faith that Christ is God, but about the general faith regarding all the holy commandments given by Him, which embraces, so to speak, every single one of His Divine commandments, when we believe that there is nothing idle in them, not even a single feature; on the contrary, everything, even to the last iota, is life and the source of eternal life. Whoever by faith accepts them in such strength and in holy baptism vows to observe and fulfill all this without omission, will be saved. And whoever does not believe His words in anything, even, as it is said, in one feature, or one iota, will be condemned as having rejected all of Himself. And fair enough. For whoever believed Him in great things, i.e. that He, being God, invariably became man, that He was crucified, died, rose again, and after His resurrection He entered through closed doors and appeared to His disciples; that He has ascended and sits at the right hand of God the Father; that He will come to judge the living and the dead and will reward everyone according to his deeds, first raising all of us who were from Adam and who are to be born until the last day; (who believes this), and when He says: “I tell you that every idle word that men speak will be given back on it on the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36), (this) does not believe: how will (such) be called a believer and be among the faithful? So, whoever believes in Christ in these terrible things that surpass the mind and every human thought, and in everything that has been and is to be from our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, obeys in the soul and agrees, and (at the same time) does not believe Him when he hears Him saying: “Whoever wants to walk after Me, let him deny himself; and he will take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24); and “Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37), and: “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, and also his own soul, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26); and: “Whoever destroys these little commandments, I will be called the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:19): how can such a person be called a believer? Will he not, on the contrary, be condemned as an unbeliever, or even more than an unbeliever? For in great things he confesses that he believes in Christ, but in small things he despises the God of all and the Master himself, like a liar; in others he says that he believes Him as God, and when He says that even about an idle word “men will repay the word on the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36), he does not believe Him as if he were a simple man, and thinks to be saved by laughing, and blaspheming, and idle talk, while (the Lord) mourns the fate of those who laugh and pleases those who weep. And without denying yourself, and without wearing a cross, i.e. in order to endure, even to death, all the temptations sent down on him, he imagines that he follows Christ, who suffered for his sake. Loving his parents and relatives more than Him, in his soul he considers himself a disciple worthy of Christ. Without denying their soul, but, on the contrary, loving themselves and fulfilling their desires, preferably before the will of Christ, they hope in vain to be His disciples. Ruining every hour not one, and not the least of the commandments, but many and great ones, they think that they are doing absolutely nothing contrary, and even believe that they, being such, are great in the Kingdom of God, and - the greatest evil of all - they say that this is not at all a violation of the commandment; and they foolishly try to teach us, who adhere to the word of truth. For there are two kinds of evil. First, when a person, having fallen into a multitude of sins, despairs of his salvation; and another when he takes evil for good and is sure that he is doing something good. The first is when to instill in him about repentance and God’s love for mankind, and he will understand that there is no such multitude of sins that repentance would not blot out, and: “even though sin abounded in grace” (Rom. 5:20), and that: “there will be joy in heaven for one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:7): then maybe Perhaps, having come to his senses and moved, someday he will desire to get rid of sins and, with warmth (spiritual) flowing to repentance, he will rise up and relieve his conscience from the unbearable burden. It is much more difficult to restore the other, because he completely refuses to heal himself with such means: for will he agree to heal himself who does not at all admit that he is in illness or has fallen? No way. Therefore, brothers, let no one deceive you. Everything that Christ God commanded the Apostles, he commanded us to keep equally, and we can observe this even while living in the world; but we have no will for this because our faith in Christ and love for Him are weak. And that all this is true, everyone testifies to this before the law, and in the law, and after the coming of the Savior (who lived) with children and wives, and among all the worries and cares of everyday life, those who pleased the Lord, having renounced all this by impartial will, and more than those who lived in the mountains and dens, shining with faith, life and love for God. For the first and great commandment is to love God with all your heart and all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, as God Himself and the Old Testament say. The second is to love your neighbor as you love yourself (Luke 10:27). The distinctive characteristics of a person who loves God are observance of the commandments of Christ and the patience of suffering for Him, until death. “He who says (the Lord) keeps My commandments and keeps them, he is the one who loves Me” (John 14:21). And the Apostles (say): “Who will separate us from the love of God? Is it sorrow, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or trouble, or sword? Just as it is written: For for Your sake we are slain all day long; we are counted as sheep of the slaughter” (Rom. 8:35-36). For those who have become above all thoughts of this life and do not think about anything other than the will of God alone, so that they can achieve the perfect love of Christ, die every day. Blessed Paul also desired this, saying: “Even if I am persecuted, I am also comprehended because of Christ” (Phil. 3:12), i.e. May I love (Him) by Whom I was loved, Christ, revealing with such words perfect love. The reproof (of a person) who does not love God and His Christ is failure to keep His commandments, as the Lord Himself testified, saying: “If you do not love Me, you will not keep My words” (John 14:24). Therefore, brethren, let the commandments of Christ be for us a single and common path, leading us to heaven and to God. For, although Scripture presents different ways, it is not at all according to the very essence of the matter; but it is said that there are many ways, in relation to the strength and will of each. For, starting from many and different deeds and deeds, as if coming from different places and many cities, we all try to reach one dwelling - the Kingdom of Heaven. By the actions and ways of men who live according to God we must understand spiritual virtues: for every virtue is a commandment of God. However, one thing is the fulfillment of a commandment, and another thing is the fulfillment of virtue, although they mutually contribute to each other in good. We fulfill the commandments when we do what is commanded; and we practice virtue when what we do truly pleases God. For another, apparently, fulfills the commandment, and at the same time, works with passions and destroys a good deed with evil thoughts. So, those who have begun to walk along the path of Christ’s commandments must strive for one goal, so that from various countries and places they can come together into one city, as has already been said, into the Kingdom of Heaven and be honored to reign together with Christ, having One King - God. The city is one, and not many; understand here the holy and indivisible trinity of virtues, and moreover, of the three, the first, which is also called the last, since it is the end of all good, i.e. Love. From it and in it all faith is based and hope is created, and without it neither one nor the other is accomplished and in no way can be accomplished. All virtues without it are vain and useless; and those who do not have love, on the day of judgment they will find themselves naked of the glory of the Divine, even if they had all the virtues: for a body without a head is dead and lifeless. There are many of her names, many of her actions, even more of her signs, her properties are innumerable and Divine; its nature is one, and for everyone equally completely ineffable, for Angels, and people, and every other creature, which is equally unknown to us, as well as to us. She is incomprehensible in word, unapproachable in glory, unexplored by thought; it is eternal because it is also flightless. It is not subject to consideration, because it is experienced by thought, but not comprehended. Numerous are the beauties of this holy Zion, not made by hands: whoever begins to contemplate them is no longer delighted by the sight of the sensory world, no longer carried away by the glory of this world. O love exceeding! Blessed is he who loves you: for he will no longer desire to have a passionate love for the beauty of anything earthly. Blessed is he who is embraced by you in the Divine desire: for he will reject the whole world and, approaching every person, will not lose any purity. Blessed is he who kissed your kindnesses and enjoyed their endless desire: for he was spiritually sanctified by the most pure water and blood dripping from you. Blessed is he who kissed you longingly: he has changed with a good change, he will rejoice spiritually and mentally, for you are joy unspeakable. Blessed is he who has acquired you: he cannot count the treasures of this world as anything, for you are the only wealth, truly inexhaustible. Blessed and blessed is the one whom you have accepted: for, in visible dishonor, he will be more glorious than all the glorious, more honored and venerable than all those who are revered. He who is jealous of you is worthy of all praise, and has found you more worthy; even more blessed is he beloved by you (accepted by you, taught by you), 18 who dwells in you, fed by you with food - the immortal Christ. O Divine love! Where do you keep Christ? Where are you hiding Him? Why, having accepted the Savior of the world, did she move far from us? Open a little of your door 19 to us, too, who are unworthy, so that we too may see Christ who suffered for us and believe in His mercy, for having seen Him, we will no longer die. Open to us, which became a door for Him when He appeared in the flesh; forcing the heart of our Master, filled with compassion and alien to compulsion, to bear the sins and ailments of all. And do not reject us, saying: we do not know you (Matthew 25:12); be with us, know us, for we do not know you. Dwell in us, so that, for your sake, the Lord, having come, will visit us, the humble, who are met by you, and we are in every way unworthy (of this); talking with you, may he wait a little and allow us, sinners, to fall at His most pure feet. Intercede for us with goodness and beg (Him) to forgive us our sinful debt, so that through you we may again be worthy to serve the Master Himself, so that He will provide for us and nourish us. For, having no debts, but dying of hunger from poverty causes almost equal torment and languor. Through you, holy love, may we receive forgiveness, through you may we be rewarded with the enjoyment of the blessings of our Master, the sweetness of which, if not through you, no one will taste. For whoever does not love you as you should, and whom you do not love as you should, may be flowing (towards the goal), but has not yet reached it. And everyone who flows, but has not yet completed the flow, is in doubt; and whoever has reached you or is comprehended from you is beyond all doubt; for you, the end of the law, you (who embraced me, scorched me and with the wounding of my heart kindled me to the endless lust of God and my fathers and brothers) 20 . You are a teacher to the Prophets, a helper to the Apostles, strength to the Martyrs, inspiration to the Fathers and Teachers, perfection to all the Saints. So, we, brothers, will flow with all our strength, chasing after her with faith and fulfilling all the commandments of Christ. For those who were deemed worthy to achieve it were never deceived in their hopes. Let us try, both in everything else and in love for each other, to serve God. For all diligence and all (ascetic) training with many labors, which does not achieve love with a contrite spirit, is vain and does not lead to any useful end. For the disciples of Christ are known from the love of the Lord for each other, but by any other virtue or by the fulfillment of any other commandment of the Lord, no one can be recognized as a disciple of Christ. “This is what (the Lord) says, everyone understands, because you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35), which is also proven by blessed Paul, in whom Christ Himself spoke. For, taking the five supernatural gifts: tongues, prophecy, faith, almsgiving and martyrdom, he shows that without love they are useless and dangerous. “As much as I speak in the tongues of men,” he says, “and in the tongues of angels; if the imam has prophecy, and all the secrets, and all the mind; Even if the imam removes all the faith, he also removes the mountains; And if I give away all my wealth, and if I sell my body, it will be burned, but love is not imam, it will profit me nothing” (1 Cor. 13:1-3). Then, explaining who truly has love, he points to its deeds and says: “Love is patient, merciful, does not envy, does not become proud, is not proud, does not act outrageously, does not seek its own, is not irritated, does not think evil, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, rejoices in the truth, covers all things, has faith in all things, has all hope, all endures. Love no longer falls away” (1 Cor. 13:4–8). For her sake, “The Word became flesh and dwelt in us” (John 1:14). For her sake (the Word), having become human, willingly endured all life-giving passions, so that His creation, human nature, cut into many parts by the devil, could be gathered together by right faith and spiritual love, freed from the bonds of hell and, having taken (on Himself), raised to heaven. For the sake of love, the apostles flowed around the entire universe in a non-stop flow, and, having caught it with the fish and net of words, they pulled it out of the depths of idolatry and brought it to the haven of the Kingdom of Heaven. For the sake of love, the martyrs of Christ shed their blood, so as not to lose Christ. For the sake of love, our God-bearing fathers and ecumenical teachers zealously laid down their souls for the Catholic and Apostolic Church. For the sake of love, all the saints stood against sin to the point of bleeding, counting real life for nothing and endured various types of death in order to gather from the world to themselves and to God and unite in themselves the torn parts of nature. For it is the true and immaculate wisdom of God, the end of which is goodness and truth: goodness is love of mankind, and truth is love of God in faith, which are the indications of love that unites people with God and with each other, and therefore remains in goodness without falling away. She is the door (John 10:9) and the way (John 14:6), as the Word of God called itself, which presents those who walk by it to God and the Father as pure from all passions. I saw, brothers, a man who used various means and methods (so that nothing was hidden from him that was done or said in his brotherhood; he did this not to the detriment of the brothers - let it not be - but 21) in order to distract them from nasty deeds and thoughts, some with a word, some with gifts, some in some other way. And I saw him sometimes weeping for someone, sometimes weeping for another, and sometimes beating his chest for the sake of someone: for he took upon himself the face of the sinner in word or deed, and considered himself as if he were the one who had done evil, and confessed to God, falling down to Him and weeping bitterly. And I saw another who rejoiced so much over those who were successful and striving, and boasted so much about their successes that (one could) think that he himself would receive a reward for their virtues and labors more than they did; for those who sinned in word or deed and remained in evil, he grieved and groaned so much, as if he alone, truly, had to give an answer for them all and be subjected to torture and torment. I also saw another who so encouraged the salvation of his brothers and desired this, that often with warm tears, with all his soul, he prayed to God, the lover of mankind, so that he could either be saved with him, or he and them would be condemned; and he did not even want salvation for himself alone, prompted by God-imitating and Mosaic love: for he connected with them in the Holy Spirit with holy love, and having been separated from them, he did not even want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven itself. O holy union! O ineffable power! O soul, filled with heavenly wisdom, or, better to say, God-bearing and achieved perfection in love for God and neighbor! And whoever has not yet achieved this love, has not seen a trace of it in his soul, and has not at all felt its coming, he still lives in the earth and in the earthly, or even underground, like the so-called mole, and, being as blind as he is, he only hears by hearing those speaking above the earth. O misfortune! Having been born of God, having become immortal, partakers of the heavenly title, heirs of God, joint heirs of heaven, we have not yet achieved the sensation of so many blessings: but, so to speak, as iron is put into fire, or as soulless skin is painted with red paint, without feeling it: so we, being in the midst of so many blessings of God, remain insensitive, showing that we are deprived of any sensation of them; and meanwhile, as if already saved and among the saints, we inwardly exalt ourselves, taking upon ourselves the image of holiness, adorning ourselves and dissimulating it and spending a miserable life, as if in places of dancing or in spectacles, we are likened to actors and harlots, who, not having natural beauty, madly think to adorn themselves with artificial rubbings and embellishments. But these are not the characteristics of saints who are born again. You need to know that just as a baby, when he comes out of his mother’s womb, unconsciously feels this air and is immediately prompted by himself to cry and sob: so one who has been born again, and has come out of this world, as if from a dark womb, and has entered into the mental and heavenly light, and, as it were, penetrated somewhat inside him, is immediately filled with inexpressible joy and painlessly sheds tears, thinking, as he should, from what darkness he was delivered and in what light he was worthy to be. For only one who has been delivered from darkness knows exactly the plight of those contained in it. And this is the beginning of becoming a Christian. Those who have not yet achieved the understanding and vision of such a good and have not sought it with much patience, sobs and tears, so that, having been purified by such deeds, they will receive it, and, completely uniting with it, enter into communion with it - how, tell me, will such people be called Christians, when in fact they are not such? For if that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit is spirit, then the one who was born bodily and became a man, but did not even think about the fact that he should be born spiritually, or did not believe, or never tried, how will he be spiritual and count himself among the spiritual flies? Will he secretly join the luminous saints, as one clothed in unclean clothing (Matthew 22:11), and, having reclined with them at the royal table, will he be cast out, bound hand and foot, as a son not of light, but of flesh and blood, and will be sent away into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels? So, faithful ones, let us sweat diligently, let us labor, careless ones, with heartache; let us arise, lazy ones, so that we may acquire love, or better yet, be partakers of it and, thus, having departed with it from this world, appear before the Creator and Master, remaining in the light beyond visible creatures and united to the invisible, uncreated and beginningless God. Let us unite with Him through the invisible and imperishable. “For the image of this world passes away (1 Cor. 7:31), and heaven and earth pass by with a noise, and the elements are destroyed by burning (2 Pet. 3:10); and those who are found without love, together with visible creatures, as those remaining among the (visible) creation, will find themselves in fire and tartarus and terrible places of torment. For love is God, and not a creature, and while God abides in him (1 John 4:16), just as beloved John says. But maybe someone will pointlessly object: “How? Is there no other place of salvation or joy outside the palace and the kingdom and the face of the righteous? Madman, don't you hear what St. says? Scripture that the place of all those who are saved is God: “Let me say (St. David), in God’s protector, and in the place to save me firmly” (Ps. 71:3). Salvation is grace, filled with deification, which God bestows on the worthy, which is barely received by those who faithfully preserved the grace given to him in St. baptism, and with many sufferings he fully observed the sonship bestowed by the Holy Spirit in this present age. For, truly, there are few who are not shaken by the worries of life, not overwhelmed by its thorns and not deceived and enslaved by its pleasures. The house of God, the palace and the kingdom is the all-surpassing Divinity, which is unapproachable only to demons and sinners: for It is unapproachable for everyone, but is accessible (only by the mercy of God) to only the faithful and prudent. So, if God is light, then, having separated from this light, how can we escape darkness? If we find ourselves outside the palace, how will we rejoice? If we lose joy, how can we get rid of sadness? If we fall away from the kingdom, i.e. visions of Christ and our God, then what salvation or consolation, and in what other place will we find it? Truly, nowhere. For place means space that is not outside the outline: God is not in place, but immeasurably above all, as incontainable and incomprehensible, and in Him there is a place for all those who are saved. So where will there be room for those who fall away from His kingdom? Don’t we hear that our forefather Adam and Eve with him, having transgressed one commandment in paradise, were exposed to the glory of the Divine and were immediately expelled from paradise? Know that this will be the case on the terrible day of judgment: whoever finds himself exposed to the Divine glory of virtues and love will, like him (Adam), be immediately expelled from the heavenly palace and the kingdom of God, even if he had no sin, having heard from the righteous Judge: “We do not know who you are and how you entered this, not having the wedding robe”? (Matthew 22:12). For whoever received the right in this age to be the son of God and the heir of the Heavenly Kingdom and eternal blessings, who was taught in many and various ways through what works and commandments he should be elevated to this honor and glory, and despised all this, and preferred earthly and perishable things, chose a swine life, and placed temporary glory above eternal glory: how can such a person, in all fairness, not be subjected to excommunication from all the faithful and condemnation with the unfaithful and with the devil himself? “For this reason, says the Scripture, the essence of the child of God and the child of the devil has been revealed” (1 John 3:10); “Whoever does righteousness is born of God (1 John 2:29), but whoever does sin is of the devil.” (1 John 3:8): Just as the Lord Himself testified to the disobedient Jews, saying: “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the lusts of your father” (John 8:44). Therefore, I pray to you, fathers and brothers, let us sweat while there is time and we are alive. Let us strive to be called sons of God and children of light. And this gives us birth from above, as our Lord Jesus Christ said: “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). So He said again: “Unless one is born again (by the Spirit), he cannot see the Kingdom of God” (John 3:3). And again: “You are about to be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5) (and with fire); for this is the seed of Christ, through which we humans become His relatives. So let us hate the world and the things in the world. Let us hate the flesh and the passions born from it. Let us hate every sinful desire and every excess, even to the slightest form and thing. And we can do this when we understand the majesty of the glory, joy and pleasure that awaits us. For tell me: is there anything in heaven or on earth greater than that someone should be the son of God, and His heir, and joint heir with Christ? Truly, there is nothing: “But those who truly believed, having received Him, gave them the right to be children of God (John 1:12), and they cannot sin, as it is written: “Whoever is born of God does not commit sin, for His seed abides in him, and cannot sin, for it is of God.” is born" (1 John 3:9) and keeps His commandments: "And he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He also dwells in him (1 John 3:24), and the evil one does not touch him" (1 John 5:18). We, by the very fact that we prefer earthly things and those that are at our fingertips, do not seek the blessings set aside in heaven, and are not embraced by love for them, firstly, we clearly show to everyone who sees that we are possessed by the disease of unbelief, as it is said: “As much as you can believe, you accept glory from men, and you do not seek the glory that is from the One God” ( John 5:44). Then, having become slaves of passions, we are nailed to the earth and to what is on it, not at all wanting to look up to heaven and God: but in the madness of the soul, rejecting the commandments of God, we fall away from His sonship. Tell me, what is more foolish than the one who does not obey God and does not try to receive His sonship? For, believing that there is a God, he thinks something great about Him and knows that He is the only Master, Creator and Lord of all, that He is immortal, eternal, incomprehensible, ineffable, incorruptible and His kingdom will have no end. Knowing that this is what God is like, how can one not love Him? How can he not be jealous, out of love for Him, to give up his very soul to death in order to be considered worthy, not to say, to be His son and heir, but at least one of His closest servants, one of those standing near Him? If everyone who struggles and inviolably keeps the commandments of God becomes both a child of God and a son of God, born again, and is recognized by everyone as a truly believer and Christian; we despise the commandments of God and reject His laws, for which He will avenge when He comes again with glory and terrible power: then in faith we, in fact, show ourselves to be unbelievers; in unbelief - believers in mere words. Do not be deceived: without works, faith alone will not bring us any benefit, since it is dead. The dead are not partakers of life unless they first seek this by fulfilling the commandments. For through this, as it were, some abundant fruit grows in us: love, alms, compassion for one’s neighbor, meekness, humility, tears, enduring temptations, chastity, purity of heart, with which we are privileged to see God, and by which the coming of the Holy Spirit and illumination takes place, and this regenerates us from above, makes us sons of God, and clothes us in Christ, kindles the spiritual lamp, reveals us as children of light, frees our souls from darkness, and even here makes us tangible 23 participants in eternal life. So, let us not despise this doing of the Lord’s commandments, hoping for the fulfillment of some other virtues, i.e. to fasting, or vigil, or lying on the ground, and various other hardships, as if without this (doing), one can be saved by these alone; for it is impossible, impossible. And let the five foolish virgins assure you of this, and those who performed many signs and wonders in the name of Christ, who, because they did not have in themselves the love and grace of the Most Holy Spirit, heard from the Lord: “Depart from Me, all the works of unrighteousness; “We don’t know where you come from” (Luke 13:27). And not only these, but with them many others who were baptized by the holy Apostles and by the saints who came after them, and because of excessive wickedness were not worthy of the grace of the Holy Spirit, did not show a life worthy of the calling to which they were called, did not become children of God, but remained truly flesh and blood and did not even ever believe that there is the grace of the Spirit (Acts 19:2) (and did not seek, and did not hope to receive it) 24. Therefore, such people can never be the masters of either carnal desires or spiritual passions and will not show anything valiant in virtues, for the Lord says: “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). But I pray to you, fathers and brethren, that we strive as much as possible, so that we may still here be deemed worthy to be partakers of the love and gift of the Holy Spirit, so that we may receive both present and future benefits through the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Him be glory forever and ever. Amen. About running away from corrupt and evil people, and avoiding their conversations, and motivating yourself to practice virtues. Why is it possible to find out whether someone has acquired spiritual freedom? And who is he who took up the cross and follows Christ? How will the faithful enjoy God's ineffable blessings both in this age and in the age to come? And about God's righteous judgment over the righteous and sinners. Whoever wants to find God must deny himself and not spare his soul, and also put enmity between himself and all those who walk in the flesh, so as not to be carried away, as if involuntarily, by their deceitful words. May he not sit on the seat with them and may he not enter into disastrous conversations that poison the soul and encourage it to remain in its former passions and thoughts. Fear, O man, who cunningly hide the oud in the bait; listen to me and keep yourself away from them, so that you do not again send your soul to hell. Hold your thoughts and do not let them wander, so as not to hear vain speeches and not return to your former self. Don't be lazy and don't weaken yourself with despondency. Do not give sleep to your eyes and do not delight your larynx with the sweetness of any food until you see the One by whom and for whose sake you are called and to whom you are trying to reach according to your desire. Do not accept the thought that inspires you: “Why do you work hard and suffer in vain? You’ve spent a year, two, three 25 in this, and you don’t see any benefit.” No, my brother, do not get entangled in this net and do not be a traitor to your salvation, but, on the contrary, apply more diligence and courage to doing virtues, without disbelieving the words and teachings of your fathers according to God. And resolve in your soul to die rather than retreat from this life-giving quest. For if you had done this first without double-mindedness, then the good God would not have despised you, but would have truly granted you the opportunity to enjoy what you wanted. Having risen at midnight, remember the one who said: “I rose at midnight to confess to You about the destinies of Your righteousness” (Ps. 119:62), and thank God, who aroused you to His praise; rejoice and leap that you were honored to sing to God with the holy Angels. For if a Christian, after committing sins, repents of his previous sinful life, but does not adhere to a life pleasing to God; If he does not feel within himself, in the depths of his heart, during Divine services, sacred rites and prayers, joy and cheerfulness and does not show the same great zeal and attention to this as he had for the pleasures and cares of everyday life, but performs it as if it were some kind of work and feels a burden, as if against his will he endures coercion, violence and torment: then let him not think that he has freed himself from the hand of the devil and let him know that he mentally still held under the yoke of the evil tormentor. When he sees himself that (he) prays and sings with joy and zeal, and in thought hates all the pleasures and honors of this life: then let him be convinced that he is under the kingdom of Christ. This is a clear sign of deliverance and freedom, about which the Apostle speaks: “By the freedom by which Christ freed us, stand firm” (Gal. 5:1). Let everyone strive for this freedom, asking it from Christ above all others. If anyone is indignant at the usual church service, and grumbles and laments about the length of the hymns sent out, he truly does not know how sweet the words of God are to the throats of those who love Him, and that they are better than honey and the honeycomb of the lips of those who know Him (Ps. 119:103); but, being all flesh, and having carnal wisdom, and an even more carnal feeling, he is unable to partake spiritually of what God has given us as a blessing; on the contrary, everything that is from God seems bitter to him. He does not even understand the words: “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps. 33:9). And whoever does not clearly understand this is alien to the love and sweetness of God; he who has not tasted and is alien to these things, woe is me! - the enemy of God and alien to the Kingdom of Heaven. Tell me: in what else will he place his hope? Or what kind of love will another love nourish, and what kind of consolation will it find, either here or after death? What answer will he give on the day of judgment, when Christ comes to reward everyone according to their deeds, when He will demand from the monks who were united with Him, before many witnesses, the vows that they promised to fulfill and keep before the holy altar and the holy Angels? For the questions asked of us (during tonsure): “Why did we approach the holy altar and this brotherhood? Desiring a monastic life and choosing the angelic life"? – what do we answer? Isn’t it this: “Hey, honest father.” What is the priest telling us again? – “Know, brethren, that since you have come to join the ranks of the soldiers and slaves of the Heavenly King Christ, prepare yourselves for temptations. Know that from now on the enemy will especially incite all sorts of intrigues against you; therefore you must hunger and thirst, and endure cold, dishonor, spitting and reproach, and endure all sorrows for God.” How do we respond to this? Do we not promise to suffer and endure everything? And to every question about enduring suffering, don’t we say: “Hey, honest father”? Do we not promise before God and the Angels to maintain abstinence, vigilance, and obedience to the abbot and the entire brotherhood, even to death? Why did we want to become warriors and join the ranks of Christ’s warriors? Is it not in order to struggle against invisible enemies, to enter into a struggle against passions? And now we are and remain in such dispassion of God and contempt for His commandments, as if no one would demand an account from us in fulfilling the vows we have given. Horror comes over me: how have we reached such darkness that we do everything to the detriment of our souls; we temper ourselves, and reject life, and, binding ourselves to sins, we rejoice, and do everything that God hates, and that sends our souls to fiery hell. And whoever removes these bonds from us, we are ready to eat them: for if someone prevents us from doing something to the detriment of our souls, then we, like dogs, bark furiously at him, and reproach him, and do not stop until we do it our way and destroy our souls. Then, having become accustomed to such an illegal life, we, so to speak, by nature become evil and no longer want to improve. Has anyone ever been heard of anyone plotting against themselves like this? What demon would invent this most evil method for the destruction of our souls? And why should demons care and worry so much about us? We took a vow that we would be monks - and we became worse than worldly people. We promised, as has already been said, to hunger, and to thirst, and to suffer - and yet we are not ashamed to argue and fight for a piece of bread, when, perhaps, we demand it at the wrong time for food. We came in order to renounce everything in the world, that is, parents, brothers and friends - and we do not, on the contrary, stop feeding them with monastic bread. We fled the world as an enemy - and yet we love those who are in the world, and what is of the world, more than Christ Himself. If someone wants to receive what he desires and desires, i.e. the good of God, and in order to become an earthly Angel from a person, he must love bodily sorrow, must embrace suffering, and rejoice in temptations, as a guarantee of all good. Just as rusty gold cannot otherwise be cleansed and regain its characteristic brightness, unless it is cast into the fire and beaten a lot with a hammer, so the soul, defiled by the rust of sin and become completely indecent, cannot otherwise be cleansed and perceive its former beauty, unless it is subjected to many temptations and does not go through the crucible of sorrows. This is shown by the very word of our Lord: “Sell your name, and take up the cross, follow Me” (Matthew 19:21; Mark 10:21), meaning the cross of sorrow and temptation. If you give away all your possessions and all your property, but do not valiantly endure the temptations and other sorrowful situations that befall you, this, it seems to me, is characteristic of a careless soul that does not understand what is for its benefit. From simply rejecting possessions and things, those who reject them and enter monastic life will not gain anything, unless they endure temptation, sorrow and sorrow to the end for the sake of God. For Christ and God did not say: “gain your souls by denying your things,” but “by enduring your patience” (Luke 21:19). That distributing property to the poor and withdrawing from the world is good and useful is obvious; but this alone, in itself, without patience with temptations, cannot make a person perfect according to God. And that this is so and that God is pleased with this, hear what He says to the rich: “If you want to be perfect, sell what you have and give to the poor, and take up the cross and follow Me” (Matthew 19:21; Mark 10:21), meaning the cross, as it is said, of sorrow and temptation. For the Kingdom of Heaven is in need, and the needy delights it (Matthew 11:12). Otherwise, it is impossible for the faithful to enter into it except through the narrow gates of temptation and sorrow; This is what the Divine Word clearly commands us: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate” (Luke 13:24); and “in your patience gain your souls” (Luke 21:19); again: “Through many tribulations it is fitting for us to enter into the Kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). This is what the Old Scripture says: “Child, while you are beginning to work for the Lord God, prepare your soul for temptation. Guide your heart and be patient” (Sir.2:1). And the Apostle: “If you are without punishment, all are partakers of him; for you are by nature adulterers, and not of sons” (Heb. 12:8). And in another place it is said: “Accept everything that happens to you as good, knowing that without God nothing happens. He who has distributed his possessions to the needy and withdraws from the world and worldly things, enjoys much in this consciousness, boasts of the hope of reward, and sometimes because of vanity we are deprived of all reward; and whoever, having given everything to the poor, endures everything sorrowful with gratitude in his soul and suffers adversity, although he feels all the grief, sorrow and labor, he has now and in the future an inalienable reward and great reward, as an imitator of the passions of Christ and surrendered to Him in the days of the temptations and sorrows that befall him. Therefore, I pray to you, brethren in Christ: just as we have renounced the world and the things in the world, let us strive, according to the word of the Lord God our Savior Jesus Christ, to enter through the narrow gate (Luke 13:24), i.e. to reject and run away from our carnal wisdom and will. For without mortifying the flesh, its lusts and its will, it is impossible for us to receive joy and deliverance from evils, and the freedom that comes from the consolation of the Holy Spirit. Without this, i.e. without the influx of the Spirit, no one will see the Lord, either in this age or in the future. You distributed all your possessions to the needy, renounced the world and what is in the world, fled worldly life and its cares, and, flowing into the haven of life, took upon yourself the image of piety: you did well; I also recognize this, and I praise you for this feat. But you must now take off both the (worldly) dress and the wisdom of the flesh and, according to the garment in which you have put on Christ for the sake of Christ, acquire spiritual disposition and spiritual wisdom itself; and above all, by repentance, put on a bright robe, which is the Holy Spirit Himself. This cannot be achieved otherwise than by constantly fulfilling the commandments and enduring sorrows. For the soul, oppressed by sorrowful temptations, is disposed to tears, but tears, cleansing the heart, make it a church and abode of the Holy Spirit. The monastic robe and external decoration of a visible person alone is not enough for salvation and perfection, but, accordingly, the external and internal of our person should be decorated with the utensils of the Spirit and sacrifice ourselves completely to God, soul and body. Through bodily exploits, one must introduce the body to the works of virtue in order to more firmly come to terms with difficulties according to God: i.e. to valiantly endure the sorrow of fasting, the compulsion of abstinence, the labor of vigil and all suffering. And through piety of the spirit, one must train the soul in order to philosophize as it ought to philosophize (Rom. 12:3), and constantly learn in what pertains to eternal life: to be humble, meek, contrite, tender, weeping every day and kindle in oneself the light of the Spirit with prayer; and all this, as a rule, happens in her through ardent repentance, when she is cleansed with many tears, without which she can neither ever cleanse her robe, nor ascend to the height of vision. For just as clothing, stained with dirt and completely defiled by some kind of uncleanness, cannot be cleaned otherwise unless washed in water and washed for a long time, so the robe of the soul, defiled by the mud and pus of sinful passions, cannot be washed otherwise than by many tears and the enduring of temptations and sorrows. We essentially have two outflows from the body, i.e. tears flowing from above and seminal moisture; the latter defiles the soul when it flows against nature and law; and the first ones cleanse it when they are from repentance. Therefore, it is necessary for those who have desecrated the soul through the lawless commission of sin and the passionate movement of the heart, and have inscribed in it the images of wordless lusts, to be cleansed with many tears in order to acquire the purest robe of the soul: otherwise it is impossible to see God, the very Existing Light, Who enlightens the heart of every person who comes (John 1:9) to see God through repentance. So, I pray to you, my fathers and brothers and children, let us try by correcting our morals and by always confessing our secret spiritual thoughts to acquire a pure heart. For such a confession, driven by heartfelt repentance and repeated often and daily, leads us to (perfect) repentance in deeds and thoughts; repentance awakens tears, cleanses the heart and destroys great sins; and when sins are blotted out by tears, the soul comes into the consolation of the Divine Spirit and is infused with streams of the sweetest tenderness, every day it becomes spiritually fattened and produces spiritual fruits, which, at the right time, are offered to the soul, like abundant wheat, as endless food for its incorruptible and eternal life. And when she achieves this good with diligence, she is assimilated to God and becomes the home and abode of the Divine Trinity, purely in vain of her Creator and God and conversing with him every day, raptured from the body and the world and this air, and exclaims with virtues, and ascends to heaven with the wings of God’s love, rests from her labors with all the righteous, and soars in the infinite and Divine light, where they rejoice together the ranks of the Apostles of Christ, Martyrs, Saints and all the heavenly Powers. Brothers in Christ! Let us also strive to be the same, so as not to lag behind our holy Fathers, but through zeal for good and fulfilling the commandments of Christ, may we achieve “a perfect man, according to the stature of the fulfillment of Christ” (Eph. 4:13): for in this nothing can forbid us, if only we desire; and in this way we will glorify God in ourselves, and God will rejoice in us; and, departing from this life, we will meet God, we will be taken into the great bosom of Abraham and we will enjoy in the Kingdom of Heaven. Whether one lives in the midst of worldly rebellion, or in hostels, or in mountains and dens, but if one lives one’s life according to the commandments of Christ, one is saved and is rewarded by God with great gifts, “for He will do the will of those who fear Him, and He will hear their prayer, and I will save” (Ps. 144:19). Thus says the Divine Gregory: “Where there is the fear of the Lord, there is the keeping of the commandments, and where the keeping of the commandments is, there is the cleansing of the flesh from the cloud that lightens the soul, which does not allow the purely Divine ray to be seen. And where there is purification, there is radiance; illumination is the fulfillment of the desires of those who desire great gifts, or great, or more than great.” Having said this, St. Gregory showed that the endless end of all virtue is spiritual enlightenment; whoever has achieved it has reached the end and limit of everything sensual and has acquired the beginning of spiritual reason. Therefore, I pray you, follow the narrow path of the commandments of Christ, and your faces will not be ashamed (Ps. 33:6). But since the Lord opens the gates of His Kingdom to everyone who persistently interprets, He gives the Righteous Most Holy Spirit to those who ask, and it is impossible for those who seek Him with all their soul not to find Him and not to be enriched by the wealth of His gifts: then we will enjoy within us the sweetness of His ineffable blessings, “which is prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:3), but now in part (by feeling) and by better wisdom 26 , and in the next century, all-perfectly, with all the saints from the ages. For to those chosen by God and those who are saved, eternal blessings, as a pledge, are partly given here, laid before them and revealed to them tangibly and visibly; quite - after death and resurrection. So, know, beloved brothers, that the ineffable treasure, higher than all beginning and power, which the righteous have to inherit, is not only in the future century, but even now is already before our eyes, hands and feet; but we do not see it, because our spiritual eyes are blinded by ignorance, unbelief, rebellion of passions and our darkness. Come and believe that the treasure of which I tell you is the Light of the world; and I am not saying this on my own behalf, but that Treasure Itself has said and is saying: “I am the light of the world” (John 8:13). “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). “I am the grain of a pea, hidden in the earth” (Mark 4:31). “I am pearls, (Matthew 13:46) purchased by the faithful.” “I am the Kingdom of God, within you” (Luke 17:21) hidden. And just as now those who have sought and found Me see Me, so I will shine on them and above all of them, just as I now shine, hidden, above all the heavens. Even here, I, who cannot be contained within you by nature, by grace am made contained and invisible am seen. And if I am visible, then I reveal myself not as I am, but as much as the nature and power of those who see can perceive. “I am leaven” (Luke 13:21), which, having received and put into its tripartiteness, the soul is leavened and becomes all like Me. For as is the leaven, so is the flour mixed with it, with water and salt. With Me, the Son, says the Lord, My Only Father and His Comforter. They come in place of water and salt. I am a mental paradise for My servants, instead of a sensory paradise, and into it I bring all those who believe in Me and are born of the Spirit, who can no longer sin, and over whom the prince of this world has no power. For “I am in them, and they in Me (John 6:56; John 17:21), and they overcome this world” (1 John 5:4); because they are outside the world and have Me with them, the strongest of all. I am the light-like Source of the immortal stream and river, in which those who love Me from the soul, not after death, but at every hour, are washed away by the water flowing from Me, and are cleansed from all bodily and spiritual defilement, and they all shine like a lamp and like the light of a ray of sunlight. I am shining in them every hour, as in the early morning. I am the mental Sun and I am seen by them, as I previously revealed myself in the prophets, and they, looking at me, constantly sang and called on me. “In the morning, says David, hear my voice, in the morning I will appear to You and see me” (Ps. 5:4), and another prophet: “Then Your light will open early, and Your healings will quickly appear” (Is. 58:8), that is, when you keep My commandments. But why am I so compelled to say everything that God speaks to us, thirsting for our salvation? In every possible way, so that from all this, having learned, you will be convinced that those who walk in darkness (Is. 9:2) must see the radiance of the great Light, if they can see at all. And let none of you think that even if He has shone, it is impossible for people who are still in the body to see Him. If this were impossible, then why would He shine and shine when He cannot be seen by them? On the contrary, the Light has always been, and has always shone, and shines in those who are purified, and “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not comprehend It” (John 1:5), and now it shines, and “the darkness does not comprehend It,” i.e. does not touch Him. And when we say that now the Light shines on people sitting in darkness, this means that even now He deigns to reveal himself to whom he appears. But others who are in darkness cannot accommodate Him. The Invisible One then appeared in the flesh to all who saw Him with bodily eyes, unfaithful and faithful; but he was known, and the Light of His Divinity was revealed only to those who were faithful in deeds, who said to Him: “Behold, Lord, we have forsaken everything, and followed You into death” (Matthew 19:27). And the word “all” here includes acquisitions, possessions, and will, and that they despised real life and abhorred it, for they tasted the essential and eternal Life itself, since its sweetness is greatest and above all - it is God Himself. Here, my brothers, are God's miracles. Let us have mercy on ourselves, I beg you, and be zealous to become partakers of such a life, which is the Light of God and the Holy Spirit Himself, sanctifying His partakers and making them, by communion, gods. Let us put our trust in the Lord with all our hearts, let us leave our present life and everything that passes. Let us come to Him and cleave to Him. For in just a little while, heaven and earth will pass away; and outside of Him there is no place for sinners, there are no limits, there is no end to their descent. If God is inconceivable and incomprehensible, then tell me, if you can, where will be the place of those who fall away from His Kingdom? I cannot help but weep, my heart burns and I melt when I think that we have such a generously gifted and philanthropic Master, who gives us, solely through faith in Him, such blessings that surpass the mind, hearing, and thought, and even the heart has never dreamed of man (1 Cor. 2:9). We, like dumb animals, place above all only the earth and that which, by the great mercy of God, grows from the earth to satisfy the needs of the body, so that we can feed moderately from this, and our soul would freely make its way to the things above, also feeding on spiritual food from the Spirit, as it purifies and ascends. For she is man, and for this we were created, and for this we were brought into the world, so that, having received a small benefit here, we, through thanksgiving for it and love for God, would receive a greater and better one there. But, alas for me! Far from caring about the future, we remain ungrateful for what we have in our hands; and we become equal to demons or, to tell the truth, even worse than them, and therefore we deserve greater torment to the extent that we were more blessed and gifted with the knowledge of God, who for our sake accepted all our likeness, except for one sin, in order to save us from delusion and free us from sin. But after all this, what else can I say? Truly, we believe only in words, but are rejected by deeds, just as Blessed Paul says, denouncing our unbelief: “They confess God, but their deeds reject Him; They are abominations and disobedient, and unskillful in every good work” (Titus 1:16). Isn’t Christ named everywhere: in cities, villages, hostels and mountains? Search, if you want, and look carefully, are His commandments being kept? Truly, in thousands and thousands you will hardly find one who is a Christian in deed and word. Isn’t it in the Holy Gospel that our Lord and God said: “Believe in Me, the works that I do, He will do this, and greater works than these” (John 14:12). So, which of us will dare to say: “I do the works of Christ and rightly believe in Christ”? Don't you see, brothers, that on the day of judgment we will be unfaithful and will have to endure torment, even more than those who do not know the Lord? For, of necessity, either we will be condemned as infidels, or Christ will appear as a liar. And this is impossible, my brothers, impossible. If we look at heaven and earth and down at earth, and consider what creatures and how many of them God has created for all of us: then we will see and know for sure that not one of all creations lasts forever; The human soul, among visible creatures, is the only one invisible and, as we believe, immortal: existing together with the body and dwelling in it, it sees and examines everything material and created and made up of bodies; Having been torn away from the physical, she, at that very hour, leaves the ranks of all material things and becomes among the immaterial and intelligent beings, is illuminated by the light of the commandments of Christ and enters the infinite light of His benevolent Divinity, having acquired ineffable and endless joy. If she is enveloped in the darkness of sin, then - alas! - it then lies in impenetrable darkness, like a scorching, gloomy fire. 27 If this is so, and we rightly confess this, why do we hesitate and do not run away from the bitter darkness? Why do we say: “Woe to the voluptuous and peace-loving!” and, being among them, we do not notice this? Why do we say: “Blessed are those who truly seek the Lord and put their trust in Him!”, but we do not see our wretchedness and do not move away from it? Why do we say that we confess God and believe in Him when we do not want to honor Him with our deeds and serve Him? He who knows God, the Creator of all, infinite and incomprehensible, honors Him and serves Him, that is, believes and worships as God, and fears Him, and lives as it pleases Him; and the one who commits sin, as an infidel and a slave of sin (John 8:34), did not know Him from among God’s creations, nor did he prove by his own life according to God that he saw Him, as beloved John says: “Whoever sins has neither seen God nor knows Him” (1 John 3:6); and again, “everyone who commits sin is of the devil” (1 John 3:8). What do we hope for when we leave the blessings that are in our hands and become attached to vain and fleeting things? I address my word to each of you, who hold on to the vanity of this world. Tell me how you say: “I know everything: that I am mortal, that what is seen is a shadow, that death comes unexpectedly, that the glory of the righteous is eternal, that the shame of sinners is endless?” Why don’t you yourself retreat from evil deeds? If you see, how did you, like a blind man, stumble and become blackened with all your body and all your soul? If you know the best, why do you, as if deprived of feelings, do the worst? If you know that everything visible is a shadow, and everything passes, how are you not ashamed to play with the shadow and collect the fleeting? Don't you notice that you, like a child, are scooping with a broken vessel? And do you really think, O beloved, that you are acting wisely? How scary it is to think about yourself, and think: “I mean something!” It is enough to think “I have” to lose it. Do you believe, O man, that Christ is God? If you believe that Christ is God, then fear and keep His commandments. If you don’t believe, then at least ask the demons themselves, whom perhaps you consider more worthy of faith. Learn from those whom you are enslaved and whom you follow, that there is no other God but Him, to Whom there is no and cannot be like. For He is the Ruler of all, the Judge of all, the King of all, the Creator of light and the Lord of life. He is the ineffable, unapproachable light, the One Existing. When He appears, His enemies and those who did not keep His commandments will disappear before His Face, just as the darkness of the night disappears from the rising sun. And the Lord God will be the One, inconceivable in the incomprehensible and incomprehensible in the incomprehensible, being the only one worthy, according to the measure of their faith in Him; sinners will be, as if darkened by the light itself, put to shame by joy, melted away by joy itself, and severely burned, and tormented by various types of their passions; just as the righteous will be enlightened by light and crowned with various virtues. For God by nature is Love and is called; and neither does he hate those who are judged, being by nature free from all passion, nor will he hate those who are judged righteously. But whatever evil aspirations we in this century, by our own choice, voluntarily followed, with such, accordingly, in the next century, out of necessity and against our desire, we will inherit condemnation. For whatever pledge of the heart (good or evil) has been established in everyone here, in accordance with this, God, uniting with everyone at the end of the ages, gives everyone, as He Himself knows, a feeling corresponding to his spiritual disposition. Thus, uniting by grace with the righteous, he gives them a higher natural and unimaginable sweetness; for the unworthy, being united outside of grace and not by nature, it produces in them inexpressible suffering, compounded by the deprivation of grace, just as the great Gregory the Theologian says: “Oh, Trinity, which everyone will once know, some through illumination, others through torment!” So I found, and externally studying what was contained in the Inspired Scriptures, and learned this spiritually from the Spirit, and, out of great love, did not hide it; but for your teaching I wrote what I heard, and said, and was commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ through His Most Worshipful and Holy Spirit about the high gifts and gifts of the co-original God and His Father, which through faith at all times, even to this day, our good and benefactor Himself communicates to those who are constantly seeking them with difficulty. So I told you everything and didn’t hide my talent. Now let each of you choose what he wants; and I have been freed from responsibility for you in Christ Jesus our Lord. About what we should look at to see if we have in ourselves what is spoken of in the beatitudes of Christ 28: for this constitutes the imprint of Christ’s seal and the distinctive features of His image. And that it is impossible for anyone who is not imprinted with the seal of Christ and who does not bear His image to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. All of us, who are not sealed with the seal of the Lord and God and our Savior Jesus Christ, strive to take upon ourselves this seal. All of us who do not have His sign in us will try to be marked by the sign of the Spirit. For death does not possess the first-born souls, sealed by the Blood of Christ and the grace of His Most Holy Spirit, and the mental wolf does not even dare to look at the seal of the Archpastor - Christ, with which He seals His sheep. There is no way he can do this, faithful, God-wise brethren. Therefore, let us try to do and fulfill everything that is pleasing only to Christ, so that, having received the imprint from Him, we may live the rest of the time without fear: and not only this, but in order to accept mercy from His hands, and become worthy of becoming worthy of understanding the Mysteries of Christ. Understanding, I say, is not conveyed in words and hearing alone, but in the very deeds and actions of the visible 29 . And how this is visible to us more intelligently than the Mysteries of Christ in their very deeds and actions, listen. Christ and our God clearly calls out every day in His Gospel and says: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for to them is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Hearing this, we must look and carefully test ourselves to see if we are truly poor, so that the Kingdom of Heaven is truly ours, and so that in our soul we are confident in acquiring it, and possess its wealth to such an extent that we undoubtedly feel it within ourselves, and, enjoying the blessings there, have fun. And that it is inside us, said the same Lord (Luke 17:21). One can know and be sure whether someone has it within himself from the fact that he does not desire anything visible or perishable, i.e. things and worldly pleasures of real life, neither wealth, nor glory, nor sweetness, nor any other worldly or bodily joy, but on the contrary, so much of all this is removed and, according to his spiritual disposition and will, he is so far from enjoying all this, as those invested with royal power and honor withdraw from those living in a fornication, and as those dressed in clean robes and anointed with fragrant mud turn away from the stench and mud. And whoever bows to just one of the things that has been said has neither seen nor smelled that Heavenly Kingdom, nor tasted its joy and sweetness. Again the Lord said: “Blessed are those who mourn: for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). Let us look again and test ourselves, do we have weeping within us, and what, according to the word of the Lord, is the consolation that follows weeping? Before this, He said that blessed are the poor in spirit, because theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. And the poor in spirit, as it has been said, are those who do not have any attachment to the present, whose thoughts do not passionately copulate with it and do not even subtly enjoy it. How will someone cry, and for what reason, who is disgusted with the whole world and moves away from it with his spiritual structure more than he approaches it with his body? Whoever does not desire anything visible will be sad or happy about what? How will he weep who has the Kingdom of Heaven and rejoices over it every day: for it is said that those who mourn will receive consolation? But I ask you, listen to my words, and you will understand the meaning and essence of what you want to know. A believer who carefully listens to the commandments of God, when he has fulfilled everything that is commanded in the Divine commandments, and to the height of them, that is, to immaculate life and purity, will be elevated by his thoughts: then, testing his measure (spiritual age), he will find himself weak and unable to achieve such a height of commandments, but also completely poor, that is, unworthy of the perception of God, and thanksgiving, and glorification, as not yet having anything good of his own. And whoever, in the feeling of his soul, thinks about himself in this way will cry in every possible way, a cry that is truly the most blessed, which will bring both consolation and a gentle finish to the soul. For the consolation generated in the soul by weeping is the betrothal of the Kingdom of Heaven, because faith is the message of hope according to the Divine Paul (Heb. 11:1); and consolation is the coming of God, which occurs in weeping souls through the illumination of the Spirit, and gives them humility, and is also called seed and talent; for, growing and multiplying in the souls of those who strive, it brings to God the holy fruit of the gifts of the Spirit in thirty, and sixty, and a hundred. For where there is genuine humility, there is the depth of humility, and where there is humility, there is the illumination of the Spirit, and where there is the illumination of the Spirit 30, there is the outpouring of the light of God and God in the wisdom and understanding of His mysteries; and where this is, there is the Kingdom of Heaven, and the knowledge of the Kingdom, and the hidden treasures of the mind of God, and at the same time the manifestation of spiritual poverty; and where there is a feeling of spiritual poverty, there is joyful crying, there are incessantly flowing tears, which cleanse the soul that loves them and completely enlighten. Through this, the soul, looking at grief and recognizing its Master, begins to carefully bear fruit in other virtues for itself and Christ, as it should. For, being constantly fed and fattened with tears and extinguishing all her irritable part, she becomes meek and completely motionless to anger, but desires and strives, hungers and thirsts to learn the justifications of God. Through this she becomes both merciful and compassionate; and from all this her heart is completely cleansed, and she achieves a vision of God and purely contemplates His glory, as promised. Those who have made their souls as such are truly peacemakers and are called the sons of the Most High, who purely know their Father and Master and love Him with all their souls, i.e. For His sake they endure all suffering and all sorrow: annoyance, reproach, hardship for the sake of His righteous commandment, which we are commanded to observe, and with joy they endure for the sake of His name reproach, persecution and all slander falsely brought against them, rejoicing that in every possible way they were honored to accept dishonor from people out of love for Him. Do you understand, brethren, what is the true imprint of the seal of Christ? Do you, faithful ones, recognize the real features of His image? One true seal is the illumination of the Spirit, although there are many types of His actions and many indications of His fruits, 31 of which the first and most necessary is humility, as the beginning and foundation, for “to whom will I look,” says the Lord, “but to him who is meek and silent and trembles at my words” (Is. 66:2). The second is crying and outpouring of tears, about which I want to say a lot, and I cannot find words to express what I would like to say about them. An indescribable miracle, like tears flowing sensually from the eyes, mentally washes the soul from the mud of sins and, falling to the ground, scorches and confuses the demons and frees the soul from invisible sinful bonds. Oh, tears flowing from the Divine radiance and opening the very sky and interceding for me Divine consolation! I often talk a lot about the same thing, carried away by sweetness and love. For where there is an abundance of tears with true reason, there, brothers, is the illumination of the Divine Light; and where the illumination of the Light is, there is the bestowal of all blessings and the seal of the Holy Spirit, imprinted on the heart, from which all the fruits of life: from this are brought to Christ as fruit: meekness, peace, alms, compassion, kindness, mercy, faith, abstinence; This is why we love our enemies and pray for them, rejoice in temptations, boast in sorrows, mourn the sins of others as our own and consider them our own, and willingly lay down our souls to death for our brothers. So, listen, I pray to you, Christian brothers, take it in and see if this Light has shone in your hearts? Have you seen the great Light of the mind (spiritual)? Has the East visited you from on high, illuminating you, in which is the shadow of those who sit (Luke 1:78–79)? For God, lacking in nothing, but abounding in Himself, has no other need for us than the salvation of ourselves. Salvation cannot be accomplished unless our mind is changed by the power of God, so that the mind is deified, that is, dispassionate and holy. The deified mind is the one that has God in itself; but the mind cannot become such by itself. And whoever united with God by faith and came to know Him by fulfilling the commandments, he was truly honored to see Him with spiritual eyes 32; for, through undoubted faith in Christ, Christ lives in him, and the mind becomes deified. Deification is maintained by constant thinking about Him and teaching in His law. For from teaching in the law of Christ comes the keeping of the commandments of Christ; just as from the deification of the mind comes the ability to philosophize according to the (law) of Christ and fulfill the commandments. For each of these creates the other and is created, confirms it and is established from it. So, let us strive, to nourish the Divine fire in ourselves more by fulfilling the commandments of Christ, through which the Divine Light, as a rule, shines more and increases. For just as it happens with sensual fire in the material world that even a small spark, falling into matter, creates a great fire, and when matter is added, a great flame rises: so is mental fire in the mental world; and what matter is to the sensual fire, the rational soul, fulfilling the commandments, is to the Divine fire. For the Divinity itself is not visible unless It is united with a rational (creature); and just as there is sensual fire in sensual objects, so there is mental fire in (creatures) mental. And just as sensual fire is not visible if there is no substance, so mental fire is not visible in rational (spirits) if there is no substance of the sacred commandments. For, “He who loves me, says the Lord, keeps My commandments, and I will love him, and I will appear to him” (John 14:21). The sensual fire is hidden before it is shown in sensual objects: the Divine Light is hidden before it appears in rational creatures. The beginning of sensual fire is incomprehensible, since it is hidden from sensual creatures; the beginning of mental fire is incomprehensible, as it is hidden from intelligent creatures. But sensual fire is one being with sensual objects; and mental Fire is not of the same creature with rational creatures; for the Creative and the created are not identical. And therefore the mental Fire is much more hidden from mental (creations) than the sensual from the sensual. So, let us examine ourselves, brothers, examine ourselves carefully and test our souls to see whether that seal of Christ is in us. From the indications presented we will know whether Christ is in us. If we have not yet accepted Christ or His seal and do not see the previously indicated properties in ourselves, but, on the contrary, if a deceptive world lives in us and we lead a cursed life in it, considering temporary things to be something great, if we lose heart in sorrows, are hurt by dishonor and deprivation, but delight and have fun in honors, wealth and pleasures: then - alas! - destruction, alas! - ignorance and darkness, alas! - our misfortune and insensibility, which holds us and draws us to earthly things! Truly, we are poor and damned, alien to eternal life and the Kingdom of Heaven, who have not yet acquired Christ within ourselves, but we have this world living within us, since we live in it and think about earthly things. And whoever is such is a clear enemy of God, for addiction to this world is enmity against God (James 4:4), as the Divine Apostle says: “Do not love the world, nor those who are in the world” (1 John 2:15), because no one can serve God and live according to the flesh 33. Truly, brethren, there is nothing better in the world than to have nothing of this world and to desire nothing more than the necessary needs of the body; and Scripture recognizes the following as a necessary need: bread and water, clothing and shelter 34, according to the Divine Apostle: “Having food and clothing, we will be satisfied with these” (1 Tim. 6:8). If we need something more than this, He will give it to us in every possible way, He who has given more to those who trust in Him and believers and fulfills “every good will among animals” (Ps. 114:16). Let’s just leave behind everything else that relates to temporary life, that is, vain glory, envy, irritation with each other, deception, grumbling, discord, lies, false oaths, untruths, excesses, annoyance, slander, reproaches, contentiousness, slander, slander, pride, hatred of people, sneakiness and everything else that only the devil taught the human race. For for this reason we are commanded not to love the world, nor anyone in the world (1 John 2:15): not so that we would foolishly hate God’s creatures, but to cut off the reasons for sin. So, I pray you, let us run away from the world and everything that is hateful to God and lead us into spiritual trouble; because everything that is of this world serves as an obstacle to loving God and pleasing Him. For who, loving glory and honors from people, will ever consider himself the last of all and the worst, and become humble in spirit, or contrite in heart, or will be able to cry, even if only a little? Who, loving wealth and being obsessed with the love of money and covetousness, will become merciful and compassionate, and will he not be more ferocious and cruel than any beast? Who, being overcome by vanity and possessed by conceit, will ever get rid of envy and slander? And the one who is carried away by carnal passions and wallows in the swamp of unclean pleasures, will he ever become pure in heart or when and how will he see the God who created him? How can one be a peacemaker who has made himself a stranger to God and does not hear the one who says: “We pray for Christ, as I pray to God by us: be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). For anyone who resists and opposes God by transgressing His commandments, even if he pacifies everyone with each other, is still an enemy of God; because even in reconciling those with each other, he does not do it in the way that pleases God. For since he himself is the first enemy of himself and God, then they also became enemies of God who have peace through such, because the one who is hostile to someone does not know how to correctly advise others, what is pleasing and pleasing to his enemy, and cannot teach how to fulfill his will, since he himself goes against his will. Therefore, beloved brethren, let us hate the world and the things that are in the world. For what do we have in common with the world and with the people living in the world? Let us love from our hearts what God commands us to love: spiritual poverty, by which Scripture understands humility, incessant crying day and night, from which for those who love God flows spiritual joy and consolation every day. Through him, all who truly strive, hunger and thirst for righteousness and constantly seek the Kingdom of God, which surpasses all human understanding, achieve meekness. And not only this, but from daily crying a person becomes merciful, pure in heart, filled with peace, becomes a peacemaker and courageous in temptations. From this (i.e. crying) it happens that we hate evil; From this, Divine jealousy is kindled in the soul, which does not allow it to calm down at all or to deviate into evil with the evil, but fills it with courage and strength to endure adversity to the end. We sweat, we will be mothers-in-law, until we achieve something immutable, and not fleeting; for everything present decays and passes like a dream, and in the visible there is nothing permanent and solid: the sun, the stars, the sky and the earth - everything passes, but only one person remains. What of the visible can benefit us during the time of mortal need, when we move from here to the rest of the next century, and everything visible will remain behind and will soon pass away? If what is visible does not even pass soon, then what benefit will we have when we ourselves go away and leave this body here dead? For when the soul leaves its body, then through it it can no longer see or be visible from another, but from then on the mind remains in the invisible and has no care about this here, having inherited one or another life and field there: either the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal glory, or, on the contrary, Gehenna and fiery torment; for one of these is to receive from God as an eternal inheritance, depending on what you have earned here by your deeds. Therefore, I pray to you, let us flee the seduction of this life and its imaginary joy and let us resort to the One Savior of souls - Christ. Let us try to find Him who is omnipresent and, having found Him, let us fall at His feet, hug them and kiss them with warmth of soul. To her, I pray, let us still strive in this life to see Him and contemplate Him! For if here we are worthy to see Him in a good feeling 35, then we will not die. Death will not prevail over us. Not only will we expect to see Him in the future, but we will try to see Him now, because John the Theologian says this: “We know that God is in our hearts from the Spirit, who received Him from Him” (1 John 4:13). All of you, who through your deeds have shown firm and undoubted faith in Him, carefully and carefully examining what we have said, be careful lest you be deceived by the opinion that you have Christ in you, having nothing, and depart from this life empty-handed, and hear (oh, lest this happen!) that terrible voice: “Take away from this evil one, which you think you have, and give to those who have (Matthew 25:28–29), more.” Then you will weep and lament and be in sorrow for endless ages, which may not happen. Oh, that we would all be worthy to see Christ in this life, so that when we die, we could have Him with us, and be with Him in another life, and rejoice with Him in His Kingdom! Amen. About repentance and tenderness, and about what deeds can be used to acquire this, and that without tears it is impossible for anyone to achieve purity and dispassion. Fathers and brothers! Once, when the divinely inspired words of our holy father Simeon of Studium were being read, which he, moved by the Divine Spirit, served for the benefit of many through his lofty deeds and in which, along with his other supernatural exploits, he wrote this, which he himself kept unchanged throughout his life: “Brother! “Never receive communion without tears,” the listeners, hearing this, for there were many here not only laymen, but also monks who were famous and renowned for their virtue, were surprised at this word and, looking at each other, smiling, said unanimously, as if in one voice: “It follows that we will never receive communion, but we must all remain without communion.” Hearing this, I, poor and damned, remembering in private about them, who said this, and about their words, I was saddened and wept bitterly in the pain of my heart, saying to myself: “Do they really think so about this thing and from the heart consider it impossible, and that’s why they uttered these words? Or, on the contrary, they consider it insufficient to cry only during communion, and therefore they laughed at the saying.” For truly, if someone does not have this work to cry before Christ our God every day and every night, even during the communion of the Divine Mysteries he will not be able, even if only a little, to shed a tear, or cry before God, or cause a drop of tears; – and can this happen occasionally due to some incomprehensible providence or some special (sorrowful) circumstance. And this does not seem surprising to me at all, when how many, even at the very end of their souls, cried and shed tears? I believe that there are few, and very few, and they are easy to count. If they consider it completely impossible to partake of the Divine Mysteries every day with tears: then - alas! - what ignorance, what insensibility, what madness, negligence and petrification of those who say this! For if they had judged themselves, they would not have been condemned by their words. If they cared about repentance, they would never have said that it was impossible. If they had not gone through their struggles fruitlessly, they would have tasted in every possible way such a good thing, such a gift of God. If they had acquired the fear of God in their hearts, they would testify that not only during communion of the Divine Mysteries is it possible to cry and shed tears, but also for every hour, if possible. Therefore, wanting to confirm your love for this, I turn my word, as if to those who said so, and ask: tell me, good brethren, why is this impossible? Because, they say, some are inclined and disposed to be touched, while others, having a cruel and petrified heart, are not touched even when they are beaten. Being such, how can they shed tears and cry, and always receive communion with tears? And how can the priests themselves cry while performing a Divine and bloodless service? But where - tell me, if you know - comes from the fact that they are hard-hearted, as you say, and are not easily moved to emotion? If you do not know, then without shame, descend a little from your height and, having inclined your ears favorably, do not consider it unworthy to learn from me, the last. For it is written: “If it is revealed to the last, let the first be silent” (1 Cor. 14:30). So, tell me, why is one hard-hearted, while the other is prone to tenderness? Listen: from will: one is good, the other is evil, and from thoughts: one is evil, the other is not, and from deeds: one is God-loving, the other is contrary. And, if you wish, look and you will find that from these three (reasons) alone, from time immemorial many of the good have become evil and of the evil have become good. Let me start from above: why did the day itself fall? Is it not because I was formed with willfulness and evil thoughts? Why did Cain become a fratricide? Is it not because by evil will he chose himself over the Creator and, following evil thoughts, indulged in envy and committed murder? Why did Saul seek to captivate and kill David, whom he previously revered as himself and loved very much as a benefactor? Is it from nature or from evil will? (Obviously from evil will). 36 No one is evil by nature, because God is not the Creator of evil deeds, but of very good ones; for He is good and this is not by position 37 and will, but by nature and truth. Further, why did one of the thieves crucified with the Lord Jesus Christ say: “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and ours; the other, on the contrary, answered him: “Aren’t you afraid of God, for we are in truth: worthy of deeds we have accepted: This one has not done a single evil.” (Luke 23:39–41). Why, tell me, did one say this, and the other another, and one was acquitted, while the other was convicted? Is it not because of will and thoughts that each one has his own, one good, the other evil? For through this one acquired unbelief, and the other acquired faith and said: “Remember me, O Lord, in Thy kingdom” (Luke 23:42). But let’s leave others - there are many of them: from what I want to say, you can understand and learn that by the autocracy of will, everyone becomes either tender and humble, or hard-hearted and proud. And indeed it is. It happens that two people renounce the world, the same state, the same race and the same age, sometimes brothers, of the same thoughts and the same morals, that is, crafty, cruel, merciful, the most severe, carnal and money-loving, equally committing every kind of sin and malice; and then, when they enter the field of asceticism together, one performs every virtue in general, cutting off all evil with ardent will; the other becomes worse than he was before the renunciation. Why is it that they now do not progress equally in virtue as they previously grew in evil? Is it not because one, by the good will of the soul, endures all sorrow for God’s sake, and at the same time, from the very entrance (to the monastery) and renunciation (from the world), he wisely listens to the Divine Scriptures, and by his own will he chose to do good: he imitates the life of the most reverent men and competes with them in fasting, in prayers, in supplications, in guarding his lips, in tenderness and tears, in abstaining from delicious food and timeless conversations, away from irritability, anger and screaming; painfully endures vexation, sorrow and hardship, chooses the worst and most dishonest of occupations, does not argue or complain when he receives orders, but diligently carries out everything, always chooses the last place, and considers himself the worst of all, and, simply to say, does with reason everything that the Divine Scriptures teach us, so that, having received mercy and forgiveness of past sins, we gain boldness before God. The other, by the evil will of his soul, doing the opposite of all this, remained evil, as he was before the renunciation, not to say that he became even worse than he was. Thus, not by nature, as some think, but by choice, every person becomes either humble and prone to tenderness, or hard-hearted, insensitive and incapable of tenderness. For when, tell me, will the soul be touched and tears flow from the eyes of the one who walks here and there almost all day, and does not care about prayer? neither about keeping the mouth, nor about reading and silence, but sometimes he talks with a brother during the service and deprives not only himself, but also the one with whom he is talking, of benefit: sometimes he ridicules and blames the reverent of the brethren, sometimes even the abbot himself? When someone who is curious about all the monastic affairs, and not only about the monastic affairs, but about the life of each of the brothers, has acquired tenderness, and sometimes says to some of them: “Yesterday I heard this”; sometimes: “Do you know what happened to the humble so-and-so; Have you heard about so-and-so’s trouble?” When will such a person remember his sins and, having ached his heart, shed a tear from his eyes? Another leaves the church while reading the Divine Scriptures, and, sitting at a distance, talks with some, so that sometimes he, sometimes they start useless conversations, saying, for example, like this: “Did you hear what the abbot did to such and such a brother”; and he now continues: “What will you say if I tell you what he did to such and such a humble man”? In similar and worse conversations than this, entertaining others and engaging in such idle talk himself, when will he come to a sense of his sins and weep for himself? Whoever does not listen to the Divine words, does not put a door on his lips (Ps. 140:3), does not turn his ears away from vain speeches, does not remember the final answer and the terrible judgment of Christ, how we must all appear before Him, naked and open, and give an account of our deeds: how can such a one shed a tear and weep warmly for himself, even if he lived more than a hundred years in a monastic form? Whoever arrogates to himself the first place at church services and at meals and constantly argues and grieves about it, how will he grieve for his soul and weep bitterly before God? And if someone, being strong, strong and young, comes up with excuses for sins and, exposing his weakness, equates himself in church services with long-time workers from the most reverent brethren and those who have become rigid in asceticism and says: “Am I no longer so-and-so or so-and-so who is standing leaning?” He walks away and stands, equating himself with them, being unworthy, perhaps, of a lower place: when does such a person recognize his weakness and, groaning from the soul, be touched in his heart and tear up with his eyes? For vanity, having made him a slave to laziness, no longer allows him to endure anything with patience. Since then, he has been conducting every service in despondency and negligence, engaging in empty conversations and old wives' tales with everyone who comes up to him and agrees to listen to him. And thus, he insensitively, or, better said, senselessly, with spiritual and pious men, entering the Divine services, leaves there without benefit, not feeling in himself any change for the better, which through tenderness is given from God to those who struggle, and thinks that it is enough for him not to leave only the established services, i.e. Matins, Vespers and the departure of the hours in order to acquire virtues and achieve the perfection of being perfect according to the stature of Christ. For I know some who have fallen into such delusion and are trying not to fall into any carnal sin through bodily intercourse with others, but do not care at all how to avoid what happens to them secretly, or what they think about in the secretness of their hearts: they think of being saved without any other doing, i.e. without prayer, guarding one’s mouth, vigil, abstinence, spiritual poverty, humility and love, but simply by going to services. But that's not true. For God does not look at the face, nor at the outward mere decorum of morals, nor at our cries, brethren, but at the heart that is contrite, and humble, and silent, and that carries within itself the fear of God. “On whom, says the Lord, will I look, but to him who is meek and silent and trembles at My words.” (Isa.66:2). What can I say about those who, being unworthy, come to the abbot and express their petitions to him? And those who care about piety, i.e. one external, or, better to say, who are attached only to acquisitions, fame and real life, they say: “Are we, honest father, unworthy to serve the monastery and only so-and-so is worthy of such and such obedience and knows how to manage affairs better than us? Test us, if you want, and you will find that we are better able to carry out monastic affairs and manage them than they.” Those who, since the very time of their renunciation, under the pretext of bodily weakness, have given themselves over to negligence and laziness, who came from the world yesterday and the day before yesterday, and are full of countless vices, without being forced to obedience, without shedding sweat and without putting in labor in the cause of God, become, as it is said, having labored a lot and stand leaning. And if someone standing nearby says to one of these: “Go, brother, to your usual place, stand there and sing with the brothers, for you can,” he responds, saying: “From here I can listen more clearly and sing better than from my usual place.” If that brother again tells him: “You cannot stand here without the abbot’s permission, brother,” then, having heard this, he immediately goes and, under the pretext of weakness and ill health, begs the abbot until he gets what he wants. “Let me,” he says, “father, stand in first or second place, so that I can hear the first canonarch, next to so-and-so,” equating myself with those who have worked hard. When his wish is fulfilled, from then on he can never stand on the choir. Little by little, and in every other case, such a person, trying to be among the first, hypocritically displays outward piety, feigns a reverent appearance, 38 tries to be the first to meet the acquaintances of any of the brethren and noble people who come to the monastery; and to those brothers whom they visit, he comes more often to get to know them under the pretext of benefiting from their conversations and interviews from the Divine Scripture. Then he begins to walk around the monastery, moving from cell to cell, and says to everyone: “Believe me, brother, I love you so much that when I don’t see you, it’s as if I’m not living that day.” If the brother to whom he comes and says this has the fear of God, then he answers him like this: “My brother, may God remember your love; What good do you see in me?” The same one says: “What good qualities are you lacking? And who is so meek, reverent, wise, reasonable, straightforward and, most of all, so brotherly loving and has fatherly mercy in everything? By saying this, he means to eat with him. The spiritual brother begins a conversation with him, according to the grace given to him, about what serves to save the soul and, if possible, rejecting his praises, corrects that brother. If he is not like that, but, on the contrary, lived according to the flesh and is not established, he immediately prides himself inwardly at his praises and says to him in response: “What is better than love, father and brother? Truly there is nothing; and blessed is he who acquires it.” He will say something else as best he can, praising the flatterer and encouraging him to new praise. Then, out of frivolity, enjoying the flattering praises, he relaxes, and if he is one of the rich, then he does not allow him to leave himself, but asks to share a meal with him and, offering him food, in return accepts empty praises, which disappear into the air, but cause no small harm to his soul. If he is not rich, then after many useless conversations he answers the praiser: “Do not judge me, brother; your love knows that I have nothing to decently treat you with. But since you have such affection and love for us, the humble, from now on we will jointly and friendly enjoy everything that the Lord sends us for a meal, and be comforted together.” Since then, both of them have devoted themselves to tireless care and never cease to seek means, no matter where they come from, just to strengthen their imaginary love with an abundance of food. So, under the pretext of love for everyone, or better yet, through seduction, he binds himself to everyone, and sometimes he invites another, sometimes one of the others reciprocates, and so he does not lack a plentiful meal and a variety of tasty food to the point of satiety. And thus he begins to live like a pig, and is bound by voluptuousness, and constantly serves the belly. I don’t want to talk about what’s worse than that 39 . And at these gatherings, being fed up every day, at the onset of evening, after Compline, he comes to his cell and says to the one serving him: “Behold, brother, I am tormented by thirst: prepare something warm for me, give me something to drink and quench my thirst.” And he, as he is accustomed to this work, immediately turns out to be a zealous and most diligent servant, for with him he himself treats himself, and drinks, and drinks more whole wine, without mixing it with water; darkness helps to hide it. And as soon as he drinks, the desire to eat more is aroused in him, and, carried away by the pleasantness of the food, he little by little becomes satiated without feeling it, and his belly becomes burdened, becomes disobedient and does not obey the advice of his soul. Then a thought says to him: “Let the servant go, stand and say the usual prayer.” Another thought objects to him and says: “Where should you stand, full and burdened? Sleep a little, help your nature while the food is digested, and get up before the service; then your body will be lighter and you will pray better.” He obeys this thought, lies down and sleeps; and if he wakes up, he doesn’t get up, but says: “It’s early, I’ll sleep a little more.” And while he puts it off like this, the time for Matins comes. And so he gets up and goes to church, and his conscience accuses him of laziness and negligence. And since he has the habit of often going to the cells of friends and beloved fathers, as we said above, and until late he sits with them, has dinner, drinks and talks: then, when he comes to the cell, he is not only unable to correct the evening rule, but also at the morning service he is completely incapable of any spiritual understanding or action. Also in his cell, if another comes to inform him, he spends the night in a similar way, sorting out and reproaching the lives of others. And in such overeating and drunkenness and useless cares he wastes all the time of his life. But why am I saying this? To show you, brethren, that he who leads such a life can never put tears out of his eyes. For is this possible for someone who constantly serves his belly and, like the pagans, always cares only about what to eat and drink tomorrow, and serves, like a ruler, the delight of the larynx? Let us assume that he is alien to everything that has been said, and does not go to anyone else in his cell, and does not receive others in his cell, and does not indulge in filling his belly, drinking and idle talk, but closes the door and remains alone inside the cell: what good is it for him if his work is not spiritual and with reason, if, for example, he sits and reads, memorizing something in order to speak in meetings, or at visiting friends, and through this seem like a reasonable person? But let us suppose that he does not read the Divine Scriptures for this purpose, but for the sake of benefit and in order to hear the word of God; then, getting up, he stands for prayer, and let his prayer be, if you wish, two psalms, or three, or ten, or a hundred, and let him also make as many bows as he likes, then, having completed everything, he lies down, and nothing more. What is the benefit to him, tell me, from this and only this kind of doing, if the fruit of prayer and reading does not flourish in his soul through tears of repentance, that is, dispassion, the acquisition of humility, and at the same time meekness, and reason with the wisdom of the Spirit? For everyone, as he goes through the spiritual work of God’s commandments with reason, without any doubt he also acquires those fruits of his ascetic work. If, as he thinks, he works and strives, but those fruits do not come, then his work is not according to God, but only according to man-pleasing, and he, in justice, is deprived of the best. Whoever spends his entire life like this will ever be able to acquire tears or tenderness like the one who, from the beginning of his renunciation, gave himself up to endure all sorrows for God and to suffering, as we said above? Or will he be able to reject the malice, wickedness and hard-heartedness he has learned in the world and acquire humility? Never. Whoever thinks this way or teaches this way deceives himself, no matter who he is. Just as it is impossible for iron that has not been kindled by fire to shine like one that has been kindled; or just as it is impossible in any other way to bring it into softness to forge in order to make a necessary instrument out of it: so it is impossible for a careless and lazy person, who leads such a soul-harmful life as described in this word, to compare with one who from the beginning, through obedience to the spiritual fathers, adopted good morals and led a virtuous life, and thus enjoy the same gifts and endowments of the Holy Spirit. And rightly so. For one, being humble in heart, having the humblest thoughts and contrite thoughts, having a zealous will to follow the Divine Scriptures, enduring every sorrow and enduring every temptation, and moreover considering himself worse than everyone else, remembering his sins and transgressions, daily reproaching himself and seeing himself as a sinner, soon succeeds; and if he does not have a person, then from Divine grace he learns what serves for salvation, and little by little he expels from his soul the evil and wickedness he has acquired in the world, and in their place he introduces virtues. The other, being filled with impurity, and at the same time with exaltation, does not want to humble himself under the strong hand of God and open his heart thoughts to his spiritual father, and cleave to him, and do, and endure everything that, when done with reason, leads to virtue and to God and makes a person according to God, and therefore becomes worse than he was in the world, since the spirit of this world returns with the seven spirits of wickedness and dwells in him. And so one outstrips and surpasses the brother who came with him as much as one who runs freely outstrips one bound in chains and iron fetters; and he remains behind and remains in his former sins, or even worse ones, not wanting to choose and do good on his own in order to begin and take up deeds of virtue. Therefore, as I said, tenderness is the fruit of fulfilling the commandments, it is also the cause of the fruit, or even more, it produces all the virtues and promotes them, as the Inspired Scripture generally testifies. So, whoever wants to cut off passions or acquire virtues must first of all diligently seek this (tenderness) along with all the virtues: and without it he will never see his soul pure; without cleansing it, he will never have his body clean. For just as you cannot wash soiled clothes without water, so without tears you cannot wash and cleanse your soul from filth and impurity. Let us not make excuses that are harmful to the soul and empty, or better yet, completely false and leading to destruction, but with all our hearts we will seek this queen of virtues. For he who wholeheartedly seeks her finds her, or rather, she, having come, finds him who painfully sought her. And even if he had a heart stronger than copper, or iron, or even diamond, but as soon as tenderness comes, it becomes softer than any wax: for tenderness is the Divine fire that destroys mountains and stones, equalizes everything and turns it into hills and renews everything in the souls that receive it; for it becomes within them a source, pouring out the water of life, which always (beats and jumps and waters them abundantly) 40 and, as if from some reservoir, flows down to those near and far, and overflows the souls who receive the word with faith. For it first washes away its participants from uncleanness, then washes away passions and sweeps them away like scabs of wounds, destroying them, i.e. wickedness, envy, vanity and everything else that follows. This is not enough, it, like a flame, engulfs them, gradually destroys them, hourly burning and incinerating them like thorns; it first gives birth in them to the desire for perfect freedom and purification (passions), then gives birth to the desire for the blessings set aside and prepared by God for those who love Him. All this is done by the Divine fire of tenderness together with tears or, better, through tears. Without tears, as we said, none of these have ever been or will be, neither in ourselves nor in others. For even from the Divine Scriptures no one can prove that any of the people, without tears and constant tenderness, ever became cleansed, or became holy, or received the Holy Spirit, or saw God, or felt His visit within themselves, or when they accepted Him as a complete dweller in their hearts - if that is. will not precede repentance and tenderness if tears, like a source, do not constantly flow, pour out, and wash away the spiritual church, and water and cool the very soul, embraced and scorched by an impregnable fire. So, those who say that it is impossible to shed tears and cry every night and every day testify that they are alien to all virtue. For if our holy fathers teach this: “Whoever wants to cut off passions, cuts them off by crying, and whoever wants to acquire virtues, acquires them by crying,” then it is clear that whoever does not cry does not cut off passions or fulfill the virtues, although he thinks that he is passing through all of them. For, tell me: what is the use of the tools of any craft if there is no artist here who knows how to get down to business and make the right thing? Or what good is it for the gardener if he cultivates the whole garden and sows and plants all kinds of plants in it, but the rain from above does not water them, and they are not watered? Absolutely none. So, even if someone goes through other virtues and strives in them, no one will receive any benefit without this holy and blessed mistress and perfecter of all virtues. Just as a king without an army is powerless and easily defeated, and is not even considered a king, but a simple person, and vice versa, how numerous troops without their king or military leader are easily scattered and destroyed by opponents: so understand about crying in relation to other virtues. By military strength you mean all the virtues of beginners; and the king and their military leader are blissful weeping and lamentation, which arranges the entire army in formation and takes up arms, excites them to zeal and encourages them, strengthens them and teaches them how, when and where to take the weapons they should; against whom and which of the enemies, at what time to act; what spies to send, what kind of guard to keep, what to say and to whom of those sent by the enemy; for sometimes you can hope to defeat them all with a word (and sometimes without even entering into an explanation with him) 41 - how to set up ambushes against them and lie in wait for them, and when and who from the army to send for this and to what places. All this is well distributed by the same crying; without him, the entire army of virtues is easily defeated. Therefore, brethren, first of all and in everything, let repentance and the weeping associated with it and subsequent tears be our work; for without repentance there is no crying, and without crying there are no tears; but these three are connected with each other and it is impossible for one to appear without the other. So, let no one say that it is impossible to cry every day; for whoever says this asserts that it is impossible to repent every day, and distorts all Divine Scripture, not to mention the very commandment of the Lord: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven will draw near” (Matthew 3:2), and again: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; press and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). For if you say that it is impossible to repent, cry and shed tears every day, then how do you recognize it as possible for a corruptible person to be humble, always rejoice, pray unceasingly, and also to acquire a heart pure from all passions and sinful thoughts in order to see God? No way. And in this case, you cannot be considered faithful, but must be counted among the infidels; because if God said, and speaks, and cries out every day that we can achieve this, and you, on the contrary, contradict Him, saying that this is impossible for us and beyond our strength, then you are absolutely no different from the infidels. So, do you want to not take communion without tears? Do what you sing and read every day; then you will be able to do this constantly. What is this? Don't you know this? Listen: “For the hearers of the law are not righteous before God, but the doers of the law, (they) will be justified” (Rom. 2:13). But in order not to prolong the words, I will remind you of the original words of David: “If I go up,” he says, “to my bed; If I give sleep to my eyes, and slumber to my every side, and rest to my eyes, until I make the place of the Lord, a habitation for God I will make” (Ps. 132:3-5). And again: “There is no peace in my bones because of my sins. For my iniquities have exceeded my head, for a heavy burden has weighed down upon me. My wounds have grown stale and rotten in the face of my madness. I suffered and got wet to the end, walking around lamenting all day. I became embittered and humbled myself to the point of bitterness, groaning with the groaning of my heart” (Ps. 37:4–7, 9). And: “It was like a bird specializing here. He became like a tawny owl in the desert. Ashes have become like bread, and my drink has been dissolved in weeping” (Ps. 102:7-8, 10). “I am weary with my sighing, I will wash my bed every night, I will wet my bed with my tears” (Ps. 6:7). And St. John Climacus says: “Thirst and vigil oppress the heart; from the constriction of the heart the animal waters flow” (Step. 6, section 13). And if anyone wants to know what else he says about this, then let him delve into this book himself and find out. If you, for a long time, with all your heart, with humility and faith, persistently do what you sing and read and listen to every day - amen, great joy is brought to you: if you constantly do this, i.e. to thirst, to be vigilant, even to the point of death to undoubtedly and unfeignedly submit and obey your superior, to endure all sorrow, annoyance, reproach, slander, and not only this, but also to endure beatings and blows from the worst of the brethren with all thanksgiving and at the same time do not harbor any ill will towards them, but pray for them - rejoice and be glad with inexpressible joy: because not only evening, and morning, and noon, but whether you eat and drink, often even during a conversation, whether you sing, read, pray, or recline on your bed, this Divine and ineffable gift, having come, will marry you all the days of your life (Ps. 22:6), will accompany you on the way, and will be with you on vacation, (in service to serve you) 42, comforting and rejoicing you in the burden of your labors. Then you will know that St. Simeon said very rightly and well that no one should receive communion without tears and that this is possible and truly necessary for everyone. It was not he, but the Holy Spirit who spoke and wrote this through him. For if no one is sinless, even just one day of his life, and no one can have a pure heart, then it is clear that a person should not even spend one day in his entire life without repentance and tears, as much as possible. Even if he does not have tears, at least he must seek them with all his strength and with all his soul, otherwise he cannot become either sinless or pure in heart. If someone does not want to lie down on the ground and stay vigil, thinking about the multitude of his sins and the severity of his transgressions, and does not have the courage to correct the wounds of his passionate desires and predispositions that have grown stinking and rotted from negligence and neglect, which have led him to insensibility - which is true madness - how will he come to the feeling and consciousness of the future judgment and condemnation of sinners and weep in heart disease? yours? If he does not want to endure, in order to suffer, and rejoice to the end, and walk all day in the light, to be embittered, and to humble himself to the point of bitterness, and to roar with the groaning of his heart (Ps. 37:7,9), and to be like a bird that takes flight here, and to be like the desert owl (Ps. 101:8,7) in that, i.e. so that the disposition of the soul is alien to everyone in the monastery and in the world, and not to be bold with either the great or the small, so as to be weary with groaning (Ps. 6:7) and eat ashes like bread, and dissolve one’s drink with tears (Ps. 102:10): brethren, how and when such a one can wash his bed every night or wet his bed with tears ( Ps.6:7)? Truly, never and in no way will he not only see all this come true for himself, but even during his prayer he will not experience this and will not be able to prepare a place for the Lord, nor a worthy habitation for the God of Jacob (Ps. 132:5), Who is Christ the Lord, Savior and our God. If someone does not prepare this in a decent manner in advance, he will not receive communion with tears, and therefore will not accept the Tsar and God into himself worthily and as he should, even if he did this once a year. “Holy of Holies” is repeated (by the priests) every day and loudly proclaimed to others - oh, if only for themselves! – you listen to their cry. Therefore, whoever is not holy is unworthy? No, not like that. He who does not reveal the secrets of his heart every day, who does not bring due repentance for them and for the things he has done out of ignorance, who does not always go around crying and lamenting, and does not carefully go through what has been said before, is truly not worthy. And whoever does all this and goes through the course of his life with sighs and tears is very worthy to be a partaker of the Divine Mysteries, and not only on a holiday, but also every day and even, although I will boldly say, from the very beginning of his repentance and conversion. For such a one received forgiveness, as he decided to continue to the end in these and similar matters, walking in humility and contrition of heart; for by doing so and being such, he, always strengthened by the communion of the Holy Mysteries, is spiritually enlightened and quickly raised to complete purification and holiness. In any other way, our defiled vessel and our desecrated church cannot be washed or cleansed. Apart from what was said, I found nothing in the Divine Scriptures and could not come up with anything on my own. Every day we hear the words of the Apostle: “Let a man tempt himself, and let him eat of the bread, and let him drink of the cup; He who eats and drinks is unworthy of the Blood of the Lord, eats and drinks his own judgment.” (1 Cor. 11:28–29). And again: “Whoever eats this bread, or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily, will be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord... without discerning the Body of the Lord” (1 Cor. 11:27, 29). If someone who has not shown fruits worthy of repentance from all of the Inspired Scripture is considered unworthy: tell me, how can he cleanse himself without tears and, if possible, worthily partake of the Mysteries? Tears are the first fruit of repentance. And just as the outflow that defiles our body, and the voluptuous combination of the heart with every passion, is offered from us to the devil as a kind of sacrifice: so, on the contrary, tears flowing from the heart are offered to the Master as an auspicious sacrifice, and cleanse the shame of this passionate pleasure. Showing this, David said: “The sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; God will not despise a broken and humble heart” (Ps. 50:19). And fair enough. For our soul, having come to such a habit, humbling itself daily in this way, will no longer spend a single day without tears, according to David: “I will wash my bed every night, I will wet my bed with my tears” (Ps. 6:7). Therefore, I pray to you, my fathers and brothers, carefully train each of your souls in such matters, so that the soul, having come to tenderness and little by little changed, becomes a source flowing rivers of tears of tenderness. If we do not strive to cleanse ourselves in this way, but live in negligence, laziness and relaxation, then, sparing your love, I will not say anything burdensome, except one thing: although it will happen when someone receives communion with tears, i.e. to cry before the Divine Liturgy, or during the Liturgy, or at the very time of Divine Communion, but on other days and nights he does not apply zeal to this work, then there will be no benefit to him from having cried once. For this alone does not make us worthy, as if immediately purifying us, but to cry every day and incessantly until death, as the Master Himself commanded us to do, saying: “Repent” (Matthew 2:3), “ask” and “seek” and “press” (Matthew 7:7). Until when? Until, he says, “it will be given to you,” “you will find it,” and “it will be opened to you.” What? Of course, the Kingdom of Heaven. For this is what repentance consists of. Thus, constantly until death, with difficulty and sorrow, the tenderness performed little by little forces us to shed bitter tears, with which it erases and cleanses spiritual filth and impurity. Then he produces pure repentance in us, and turns bitter tears into sweet ones, and gives birth to unceasing joy in our hearts, and makes us worthy to see the unfading light. If we, spiritual fathers and brethren, do not strive with all diligence to achieve it (tenderness), then we will never completely get rid of passions, we will never acquire all the virtues, we will never be able to worthily or with tears for God daily partake of the Divine Mysteries, or to see the Divine light that resides therein, and we will never have a pure heart. The Holy Spirit will never perceptibly 44 dwell in us, and we will not be worthy to see God, like the saints, as it seems to me, either here or there, if we go away naked 45; but, as Gregory the Theologian says, the vision of Him will fall away to the extent that each of us (brings) from here the dullness of vision, to the extent that in real life we ​​have voluntarily deprived ourselves of His light. But, - oh, so that all of us, purified and purified, may be worthy to see Him! For those who come out of this life without these two 46 the final verdict about them is unknown. And what is not known is not true, and not reliable, and not authentic. Whoever does not have a message from grace in his heart, I believe, will not gain shameless and undoubted hope from anything else, but he who does not have hope, what else will he be caught up with the saints at the meeting of the Lord in the air? (1 Thessalonians 4:17). How will our lamp be lit then, extinguished here? Where and from where can I get oil? Where, and how, and with what kind of fire should we light it, so that we then, prepared, bright, with bright lamps, will meet the Bridegroom? When we get up, as if from sleep, immediately, as you heard, we must go to meet you. When this trumpet sounds and awakens us, sitting and sleeping in the tombs, and our souls, like lamps, will not yet be lit here, but will find themselves either without light at all, or with little light and, according to the Gospel parable, ready to go out: where then will we find oil for rekindling those who have completely extinguished, or for adding oil to those who are fading due to the scarcity of oil? Truly, we will not find anything anywhere. Therefore, let us still strive here to brightly decorate our souls with repentance and tears, so that in the resurrection we, the bright ones, will brightly meet the Bridegroom and, together with Him, enter the Heavenly Kingdom and enjoy eternal blessings. Oh, that we may all receive them in Christ our God Himself, to whom belongs all glory, honor and worship with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages, amen. About the rejection and cutting off of the will, and how the ascetic life should proceed, and that for this it is good and useful to have an experienced mentor, that is, a spiritual father, in order to learn the difficult work of virtue and the science of monastic life. About faith in spiritual fathers and about the vision of light, by which every soul, being enlightened, succeeds in the love of God. Brother! If you live with your father, never in any way want to be an opponent of the one who received you from tonsure, even though you see him committing fornication, or getting drunk and, in your opinion, managing the affairs of the monastery badly. Even if he beats you and dishonors you and causes you many other sorrows, do not sit with those who annoy him and do not go to those who talk against him. Stay with him to the end, without being at all curious about his sins. All the good that you see in him, imprint it in your heart, and force yourself to remember this one thing; if you see that he does or says something indecent and bad, attribute it to yourself, and count it as your sins, and repent with tears, honoring him himself as a saint, and calling on his prayer. If you are in a hostel, pray earnestly to God that He will show you a person who could well fall for you; and whomever God shows you either secretly by Himself, or openly through His servant, go to him and, looking at him and talking with him, honor him as Christ Himself; listen to Him as God Himself and you will learn useful things. Whatever he tells you, do it without doubt, even if what is commanded seems disgusting to you and, in your opinion, harmful. 47 For it is better to be called a disciple of a disciple, and not to live arbitrarily and rob the useless fruits of one’s will. So, if you hear from him: come out of the land of your will and from the generation of your wisdom (Gen. 12:1); Do not hesitate and do not be ashamed, overcome by vanity. If he says to you: Go to the land of obedience, I will show you: hurry, my brother, as much as you can. Do not let your eyes sleep and do not kneel to laziness or despondency from relaxation. Perhaps God will appear to you there, make you the father of many spiritual children and give you the land of promise, which only the righteous will inherit. If your father leads you to a mountain (Matthew 17:1), ascend diligently, for I know for sure that you will see Christ transformed and incomparably brighter than the sun, shining with the light of the Divine; and perhaps you will fall on your face, unable to bear the vision of what you have never seen, and you will hear the voice of the Father from above and see the overshadowing cloud and the prophets standing by and confirming that He is God and the Lord of the living and the dead. If he orders you to follow him, boldly go through the cities with him and you will receive the greatest benefit if you only look at him alone. If you see him eating with harlots, tax collectors and sinners (Matt. 9:11), do not think of anything passionate and human, but everything dispassionate and holy, and keep in mind: “I have become all things, that I may win them all” (1 Cor. 9:22), seeing him condescending to human passions. But, seeing with your own eyes, do not believe them at all: for they too are deceived, as I have learned by doing. Following him and obeying what he says, do not look at those living with you and do not say about anyone: “Lord, what is this one?” (John 21:21). But always pay attention to yourself, have death before your eyes, and rationally test with what virtue you can glorify God. Do not be arrogant, you who are honored by the great for the sake of your teacher, or if they listen to you for the sake of his name; Moreover, rejoice if your name is written in the heaven of humility (Luke 10:20). If you see that demons and your shadows are trembling, attribute all this not to yourself, but to the prayer of your father, and they will fear you more. If he orders you to sit at a meal and near him, then accept this with gratitude and observe reverence and respect for him with silence; do not touch anything that is offered to you without his blessing, and do not give anything to others or do not dare to offer anything without the will and order of your father. If he calls you after all, then do not say: “I will sit on the right hand or on the left” (Matthew 20:21), knowing that this is prepared for others, and hearing that although you are first, you will be last of all (Matthew 20:27), sit in the last place, so that through it you may receive the first, and love your teacher, as he who wisely brings you great things through small things. Do not insolently stretch out your first hand into the salt with him; for whose boldness this is is not unknown to you (Matthew 26:23). If he wants to wash your feet, be ashamed of him as your Lord and teacher, and do not deign to do this; If you hear: “Unless I wash your feet, you have no part with Me” (John 13:8), then with zeal, give your whole body for washing, so that from what is happening over you you will understand the great height of God-created humility; and then, if at the same time you look at yourself in conscience, you will receive much more benefit than if you washed your father’s feet. If, having reclined, he says: only one will betray Me from you (John 13:21), or “thou art a temptation” (Matthew 16:23): do not hide flattery, but if your conscience convicts you of anything, then confess it; if not, then, falling prostrate at his feet, ask with tears: “Am I food, Lord?” (Matthew 26:22). For very often we sin out of ignorance. Falling on your father's chest is not good for you. For, although John, out of great love for Christ, showed this boldness as for a man (John 13:25), but together with everyone else he received the commandment: to call himself an unbreakable servant, even if he had created everything (Luke 7:10). If you see your mentor working miracles and being glorified, have faith and rejoice and thank God that you have found such a teacher. Do not be tempted if you see that envious people dishonor him or strangle him and drag him down, but, like the hot Peter, take the knife of a strict word (Matthew 26:51) and cut off not only the ear, but also the tongue of the one who tries to speak against your father or reproach him, i.e., do not allow anything bad to be heard or said about him. Even if you receive a ban, like that one, you will still receive praise for your great faith and greater love. If, being afraid as a man, you say: “I don’t know this man” (Matthew 26:72), then weep bitterly about this, but do not give in to despair, and I firmly believe that he will be the first to draw you to himself. If you see that he is crucified as a villain, and is subjected to suffering from evil people, then, if you can, die with him; if not, then do not join the evil ones, like an evil one and a traitor, and do not join them (in shedding) innocent blood, and, like a fearful and cowardly person, leaving the shepherd for a short time, maintain faith in him. If he is released from bondage, come to him again and, like a martyr, honor him even more. If he dies during the temptations, then, daringly, ask for his body, and almost more of it than when he stood before him alive, and, having anointed it with myrrh, bury it splendidly: for if not on the third day, then in the end he will rise with everyone. Believe that he boldly stands before God, even though you put his body in a tomb, and without a doubt invoke his prayer: he will help you here too and save you from all evils, and after you leave your body, he will receive you and prepare for you an eternal abode. If, after everything that has been said before, he calls you, commands you to remain silent in private and says: “Sit here without beginning, until you are endowed with power from on high” (Luke 24:50): you obey with firm hope and insatiable joy, for such a teacher, my brother, is untruthful and true. For even now the same power of the Holy Spirit will descend upon you, not in the form of fire, visible sensually, and not with much noise and stormy breathing; - this was then for the sake of the unbelievers - but in the form of mental light it will spiritually appear to you with all calmness and joy; and this light is the beginning 48 of the eternal and first Light, the illumination and luminosity of 49 eternal bliss. When this light appears, every passionate thought is destroyed, every spiritual passion is driven away, every bodily ailment is healed. Then the eyes of the heart are cleansed and see what is written about in the beatitudes. Then the soul, seeing, as in a mirror, its small sins, descends into the abyss of humility and, contemplating the greatness of glory, is filled with all joy and gladness and, amazed at the miracle that exceeds aspiration, releases springs of tears, and thus that person is completely renewed, comes to know God, and first comes to be known from Him. This alone makes a person despise everything earthly and heavenly and joyful and makes him a friend of God, and a son of the Most High, and God, as far as it is possible for a person to achieve this 50. Be careful, brother, that through imprudence 51 you do not follow the worst. Whoever sees will distinguish the wolf from the sheep, and the robber from the shepherd, as our Master and God Himself commanded, saying: “Take heed from the lying prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” By their fruits you will know them.” (Matthew 7:15–16). For just as a tree is known by its fruit, so a man, what he is, is known by his words and deeds; but those, however, who have a sound mind and spiritual feelings. Ordinary people cannot distinguish between these matters, because they have neither feelings nor spiritual reasoning. He who fasts out of vanity is praised; and those who are with humility are condemned. Another abstains with humility, but he is considered a hypocrite; and whoever is with gluttony is mistaken for a simple-minded and artless person, with whom they themselves, indulging their passions, often feast. Likewise, about those who pretend to be fools, inopportunely speak funny and empty words and do indecent things and induce others to laugh, they think that with such tricks, appearance and words they seem to be trying to hide their virtue and dispassion, and they are revered as dispassionate and saints; and those who live reverently, virtuously, and in simplicity of heart, and are truly holy, are despised and passed over like ordinary people. Others again consider someone who is verbose and vain to be a wise and spiritual teacher, while someone who is silent and keeps himself from idle talk is affirmatively called ignorant and dumb. Others turn away from the one who speaks with the Holy Spirit as if he were highly intelligent and proud, being more offended by his words than touched; but they exalt with praise and accept the one who from the womb or from books rants and lies to their destruction. So between them there is no one who could correctly see and judge the thing as it is. Truly rare, and especially now, are those who know how to wisely shepherd and heal verbal souls. Fasting, vigil and an image of piety, perhaps, many have feignedly, or perhaps acquired by deed; there are even more of those who can speak a lot from Persians and easily teach with words; but there are very few who have cut off passions by crying and acquired the most important virtues. The most important virtues we call humility, which kills passions and gives heavenly and angelic dispassion, and love, which never stops or falls away, but constantly strives forward, perceives desire with desire and zeal with zeal; from love is born perfect reasoning, which guides both itself and those following it and seamlessly carries it across the mental sea. For this, you must ask God to grant it to you, especially now, so that you can judge yourself pleasingly to God and do so; and strive to acquire it, as Christ Himself, Who would prosper you in the present age, and in the future would give you abundant enjoyment of His radiance. Do not follow the wolf instead of a shepherd, and do not enter into an ailing flock, and do not be left alone, lest the wolf, destroying souls, kidnap you, or so that you, having been sick with illness after illness, die spiritually, or so that, being alone, you do not fall and it would not be necessary to say about you: “Woe and alas, for woe to one who falls” (Eccl. 4:10). He who has a good teacher and is completely devoted to him will not worry about any of this, but, having lived without care, will be saved in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever. Amen. That the shepherd of the verbal flock of Christ must first consider and carefully examine himself; for he must learn the will of God and constantly fulfill it, and then teach others how to do it, so that the word of his teaching, as active, would be acceptable to those who hear. Otherwise, he must take care of his own salvation, so as not to be guilty of his own destruction and the destruction of those under his control. Our Lord and God Jesus Christ pleases not the one who only teaches, but the one who himself has first fulfilled what he says. Blessed is he who creates and teaches, this one will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew 5:19). Our holy fathers, church luminaries and teachers did not write anything and did not teach anything in which they themselves had not previously labored and which, having labored, they did not accomplish. Listening to such a teacher, the students diligently imitate him, and not so much benefit from his words as they are excited by his good deeds and are forced to do the same. And woe to us, brothers, that we, monks, have reached such insolence and darkness that we are attempting to shepherd Christ’s sheep without Christ. Alas for me, humble and damned! For the sake of bodily pleasure and joy, for the sake of acquiring money and honor from people, we try in every way to achieve the rank of apostle and buy their power with gold, neither fearing God nor being ashamed of those who see us. No one dares to sit on the royal throne if the king does not want it, or to accept the title of teacher or rhetorician, being ignorant, or to read anything in the public assembly if someone is not literate; but we seek the rank of apostle, or accept it, without having yet accepted the grace of the Apostles, nor having seen its fruits cultivated in ourselves. Can we, brethren, grasp in thought how great this audacity is? Tell me, beloved, if this great and populous city (Constantinople) begged someone, saying: “Would you like us to make you a preposite and protovestar of the king (a great dignitary and a nobleman close to the king), and you go alone to the palace and, having entered, intercede for us before the king and ask him to do this and that for us?” Meanwhile, he never entered the palace, and is unknown and unfamiliar neither to the king himself nor to those in the palace. Would he have ever dared to do this or accept that rank? We must agree in every possible way that he would never dare to do this, and would even reproach those who proposed it to him as raging and insane, and would laugh at them, and would reject the rank itself as a reason not for honor, but for dishonor and execution. If we consider it impossible to do this in human affairs, then don’t you think it’s scary, and isn’t it really scary, brethren, to boldly accept the apostolic rank and approach the unapproachable light. and be intercessors between God and people? Is it really, in our opinion, that taking on this task is an unimportant and insignificant thing? Alas, brothers! I am afraid that we have reached complete darkness and therefore do not understand what we are daring to do. For, if they had understood, they would never have reached such audacity and fearlessness - to laugh at Divine objects and to preserve greater honor and fear for an earthly king than for the immortal King Christ. Therefore, we will not cease to test ourselves and those who unworthily attempt to ascend to such leadership, in every way to turn away and remove them from such an undertaking, and, as much as we can, we will try to stop them in their reckless endeavor, in order to save them from punishment, and to live in safety ourselves. If anyone, carefully examining himself, finds that he is free from all love of glory, and does not have even a trace of sensuality and bodily lust, and is completely pure in heart from the love of money and memory of malice, has perfect meekness and lack of anger, and such a love for God that from just hearing the name of Christ he is immediately kindled with love and sheds tears, and, in addition, cries for he counts the sins of his neighbors and others as his own, and from the bottom of his heart he considers himself the most sinful of all, and, finally, if he sees in himself the abundant grace of the Holy Spirit, which enlightens and illuminates the inside of his heart like the sun 52; if he sees that the miracle of the bush is clearly taking place in him, because it burns, united with an unapproachable fire, and does not burn, since his soul is free from all passion: also, if he is so humble that he considers himself insufficient and unworthy, knowing the weakness of human nature, he trusts in grace from above and in the strengthening from it and, being prompted by its fervor, decides on this matter with zeal, rejecting every human thought and willingly laying down your very soul for the sake of the one commandment of God and love for your neighbor; and besides everything that has been said, if he has a mind that is naked from every worldly thought, clothed in a luminous robe of humility, so that even subtly, with his heart, he does not prefer those who cooperate with him and does not turn away from those who resist, but is completely equal to everyone with the goodness, and simplicity, and gentleness of his heart: then even then, let him not dare to accept superiors without the advice of his spiritual father, but must resign himself to his blessing and at his command to decide on this, and to accept authority solely for the sake of the salvation of the brethren, and then if he knows that his spiritual father is a partaker of the same Spirit and is vouchsafed the same mind and gift, so that he proclaims to him not what is contrary to the will of God, but what is pleasing to God and useful to his soul, in accordance with his own spiritual measure and gifts, so that it does not turn out that (who accepts authority) obeys man, and not God, and not would have lost his glory and the Divine gift given to him. For if he finds a good companion and spiritual adviser, then this matter will be firmer for him and his thought more humble. If such a one, seeing, sees, then, truly, not only all this, but much more than this, he will find and will know by himself and, better said, will learn from the Sun of Truth, if he has ever looked at this Sun. If this is how entry into leadership is, and it is so inconvenient and difficult to understand whether it is according to God, then business management and management, patience in temptations and subtle reasoning in spiritual warfare are much more important. So, as you examine, consider your heart, spiritual father, and above all, always wash your mental eye so that it is clear and not clouded, through which you will see your heart and wisely reason about the affairs of the sheep entrusted to you, or better yet, your fathers and brothers, and how you should govern them: for this assembly, according to the word of Scripture, is a body, and the head of it is the abbot. And just as out of all the members of the body, each has one action of its own, i.e. a leg to walk, a hand to hold and work, the head is the composition of the whole body, since it contains in itself all the feelings and the mind and the very word: so are the brethren in the monastery, not everyone does everything, but, as a rule, everyone has some special work and obedience, and therefore you will hardly find one or two virtues together in one novice - and it is not at all surprising, for they come from a part (1 Cor. 12:27). The abbot is required to have all the virtues in himself, not only spiritual, but also physical, and even more so, along with the virtues, mysterious and great gifts. For, just as the head of a husband, even if it has a beautiful and respectable appearance in its external structure and splendor, if it lacks intelligence and intact and intact feelings, it is not suitable for anything and without honor for anyone: so the abbot must decorate and shine not only with physical and mental virtues, but even more abound in spiritual gifts. One thing is virtue and another thing is talent, namely: virtues are corrected by one’s own diligence and are acquired through the labors characteristic of them; spiritual gifts are gifts given to those who strive from God. For example: fasting and abstinence are virtues, because they suppress voluptuousness and extinguish bodily inflammation, and this is a matter of our will; and to do this without sorrow and without labor and to achieve purity and perfect dispassion, this is the gift of God and the highest talent. Or: to overcome anger and irritability is a matter of a wonderful feat and great work, but to achieve that these passions are not excited and to achieve silence of the heart and perfect meekness is the action of the One God and the change of His right hand. Or again: to squander and distribute all property to the poor and become a beggar ourselves, begging for alms, is a matter of our will; and to desire nothing, but to endure the tempting fire of poverty with joy and cheerfulness, is some mysterious and Divine action. Thus, every good and beneficial deed performed according to the commandment of the Lord is called virtue. But like a farmer, he only works, plows, digs and throws seeds into the ground, and for them to sprout and bear fruit, late or early, this is God’s gift. You will find the same thing in the spiritual: it depends on us to do every work and, with great labor and suffering, to sow the seeds of virtues, but the One God has the gift and mercy to send down the rain of His love for mankind and grace and to make the barren land of our hearts fruitful, so that the seed of the word that fell into our souls receives the moisture of Divine goodness, vegetates, and grows, and grows into the great tree, i.e. has reached into manly perfection the measure of the age of the fulfillment of Christ (Eph. 4:13). So, it is fitting for you, the shepherd of Christ’s sheep, as the head of the entire body under your control of the Israeli host, to acquire every virtue, both physical and spiritual, so that the brethren, looking at you as a prototype of goodness, will imprint in themselves an image of virtues that is truly royal. Let your pastoral trumpet never cease to sound: but with one foreshadow the sword coming on the rebellious and inflexible, so that in case of disobedience you will deliver at least your soul from the terrible wrath of God; admonish others, teach, beg, and sometimes those in need of reproof and rebuke, reprove and rebuke and rebuke in timely and untimely ways, and stop their inclination toward evil, as the Divine Apostle commands you (2 Tim. 4:2). Let your heart be open equally for all your brothers and let your love for all your brotherhood be equal; and you must give honor to each of them according to the dignity and greatness of virtue, not preferring to the spiritual and virtuous even the one who is first in the official affairs of your flock. For those who serve bear upon themselves the office of the seven deacons, about whom it is written in the Acts of the Apostles; they are also ministering spirits sent into service (Heb. 1:14), and service, like those, sincerely, faithfully and without any bad gain, in justice receives both here and there a great reward; those who remain in prayer, silence and the service of the word, patiently going through the high feats of monasticism, bear with you the rank of the Supreme Apostles themselves. Have them as collaborators in the gospel of your spiritual teaching, and they will bear the burden of the brothers and make it easier for you in your labors. You must distinguish them like precious stones from a heap of simple stones. May you have no bodily peace and no pleasure in this matter; the nights, as well as the days, will be exhausted by you in caring for the souls entrusted to you, so that not one of them is stolen by a beast, or devoured by the bear of lust, or swallowed up by the serpent of wrath, or torn to pieces by the vultures of thoughts of exaltation, so that in this way one single soul, scattered into diverse (passions), does not become many parts. But preserve to the Archpastor Christ God your flock whole and numerous, so that everything is fruitful, full of virtues, enlightened by the Divine mind, and do not bring anything that is beautiful, or ugly, or lame (Lev. 22:22-23). For in this way you will save many, making them perfect in perfect deeds and not alien to any of the virtues; bringing to your Christ everyone chaste, clean from bad deeds, and you yourself will be honored with great rewards from above, being installed together with the Apostles and Shepherds of Christ and reigning with the Son of God Himself for endless centuries. Let your life be an infallible rule for your brothers and fathers, so that the deviations of others can be corrected by it. Do not be material-loving, nor love-loving, nor voluptuous, nor a lover of food or wine, nor an idle talker or a blasphemer, nor a lover of money, nor angry, nor vain, nor an annoyance, nor vindictive, do not repay evil for evil: but on the contrary, be non-covetous, hating fame, all worldly pleasure and tranquility of the flesh, humble, humiliated, inclined to tender, kind, meek, without anger, not avaricious, not curious, silent, modest, patient, faithful, self-controlled, not overprotective, 53 cheerful, thorough, zealous; take care of the souls entrusted to you as if they were your own members, and, if necessary, lay down your life for them daily. Do not prefer anything else from the things of this world to their love, for since you were chosen above others to shepherd the verbal flock of your Master and God, then it befits you, according to His word (Mark 9:35), to be the last of them all, with wisdom and humility according to God, so that you, like a strong man, bear the infirmities of the weak (Rom. 15:1) and, like a doctor, heal the passions and ailments of those who are mentally ill and, like a shepherd, he converted those who went astray, made those who were healthy abundantly fruitful in virtues, and cut off the infected and unhealed from your verbal flock, so that they would not pass on their illness to the healthy ones from your verbal sheep. Try to increase the flock of your Lord. Do not shy away from luxury or bodily pleasures. Do not waste the wool and fat of Christ’s sheep in vain, collecting the property of the monastery more for your own pleasure than for your brethren. Do not do or acquire things needed for the monastery for the sake of human glory. Do not like to make frequent trips on expensive horses, accompanied and preceded by many; It is enough for you to go out once a month to carry out the most necessary matters and needs of your flock; the rest is to fulfill the ongoing assigned obediences, protecting you from rumors, when you exercise in edification by word and constant care - with prayer for the brethren 54. May your meal not be rich in value, but your children’s be simple, unseasoned and of the most insignificant kind; but besides any weakness, or receiving friends who share the same way of thinking and life with you, let your cellarer prepare a common meal for you and for your children: either boiled vegetables and seeds, or fish once a week, on Sunday and the Lord's holiday. Do not rush with irritability, anger and shouting at your children and brothers, except for some matter that causes spiritual harm, but with a gentle word and speech teach them how everyone should walk and live in the midst of brotherhood. Teach the young and unconvinced to take care of themselves and other brothers by modest behavior, and not to be a stumbling block for others with their gait, insolence and indecent actions of youth. Teach those who have spent a long time in asceticism, with the word of reason, patience with temptations coming from the enemy, humility, contrition of heart, tenderness, tears, careful and inexhaustible prayer, blessed crying and so that, in general, in word and deed they serve as an edification for others. Teach the priests reverence, silence, teaching in the Divine Scriptures, exact knowledge of the Apostolic canons and traditions, the correctness of dogmas, purity of heart, constant prayer and tenderness, standing before the Divine throne with the fear of God and trembling, the sacraments of sacred rites, the revelation of God's mysteries: because, according to the word of the Lord, it is given to them to understand the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven ( Matthew 13:11), so that they, having the word of life in themselves, would be for the whole brotherhood and for outsiders Divine salt and light. If you ever need to move against the outrageous with blessed anger, with a rod and a club, in order to stop any evil and stop the destructive infection in them, so that the evil deed and evil will do not spread even further: then this too is not recognized as indecent by the Apostles in their decrees and by our God-bearing fathers. For every impulse and every deed of ours, which blocks and removes evil, promotes truth and virtue, is praiseworthy and pleasing to God and pleasing to all the righteous: this is proven by Jesus Himself, Who beat with a whip the stubborn Jews who had made a house of prayer a house of purchase, and overthrew the tables of the merchants (Matthew 21:12) 55. For the sake of human praise alone, do not despise, under the guise of meekness, even some insignificant deed committed against the commandment of God to the subversion of the Apostolic rules and regulations and to the violation of the Gospel life and monastic order. But, imitating your Jesus and God, with prohibition and dispassionate anger, give tribute to the violation of the commandments of God and the Apostolic rules. Above all this, strictly watch over the revelation of everyone’s thoughts and know correctly which of the brethren should stand with those praying and taking communion, and who is subject to excommunication and demands repentance with tears and should stand with those who repent, so that, through ignorance or knowledge, you, through partiality, do not make the church of God, instead of a holy church, a cave of thieves or a fornication, and for this escape the terrible judgment of the wrath of God. Know that the witnesses of the Word and His disciples rightly assigned a decent place to each of the above, and you must carefully adhere to the particular reading of their traditions and decrees in order to know what the secret sacraments of believers in Christ are, and so as not to sin by doing something that does not correspond to God. According to the word of Scripture, make your spiritual sons reverent and teach them to revere the sacred Divine places, as well as the vessels of the consecrated church of God and before His service, because it is written: “Blessed is the man who fears all for the sake of reverence” (Prov. 28:14). Know that using these vessels and touching them is permitted by the Holy Fathers and Apostles only to those dedicated and purified through labors and many tears of repentance, and those who partake of the Most Pure Mysteries of Christ, sanctified and most reverent monks. Do not allow entry into the Divine Altar to everyone who wants to, but only, as it has been said, only to those who are sacred and sanctified, the most reverent of your brothers and fathers: for the rest of the brethren who live disorderly, (listen to what I say to you), prohibit entry (to the Divine Altar); for, know for sure that many were cut off from real life for contempt for the sacred; and if you, through your neglect, allow this to happen, then the blood of those who are cut off from real life for this will be exacted from your hands in every possible way. All this and much more you must, O shepherd of Christ’s sheep, know exactly and carefully carry out for the preservation of your flock. Therefore, if you have realized that you have achieved such perfection and have been vouchsafed such gifts that with one shining light of good deeds and Divine wisdom and reason, everyone who approaches you, your own and others, is enlightened: then boldly feed the sheep of Christ with the intelligent word of grace, actively given to you, according to the charter and law taught to you from above. Feed His lambs in the saving pastures of His commandments until they grow and reach the measure of the age of the fulfillment of Christ (Eph. 4:13): and you will be a co-throne and a co-dweller with His Apostles. Otherwise, retire to yourself if you listen to me at all, who cares about your salvation; for our God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29). To Him belongs all glory, honor and worship forever. Amen. About the communion of the Holy Spirit. That deeds of virtue cannot be certain otherwise than through the coming of the Spirit, without Whom no one commits virtues and cannot edify others or accept the thoughts revealed to him. What kind of teacher and priest should be like, who has received from above the power to bind and decide. About equality in everything and the identity of the Trinitarian Deity. Like a lamp, even if it has a lamp and is full of oil or other easily combustible substance, however, if it does not touch the fire and is not lit, there will be darkness: so is the soul. God is fire (Heb. 12:29), and is so called throughout the inspired Scriptures. The soul of each of us is a lamp. So, even though she, in our opinion, was adorned with all the virtues, but if she has not touched this Fire, that is, has not become a participant in the Divine Being and Light, then she is not yet kindled and dark, and her deeds are doubtful; for it is necessary for this Light to expose everything and make it obvious. Whoever does not yet have such a lamp of the soul, that is, is not involved in the Divine Fire, needs a mentor, or better a lamp, who would illuminate, and at the same time reason about his actions, and through confession, sympathize with him in his revealed sins and correct what he constantly sins. For, just as it is impossible for someone who walks at night not to stumble, so it is impossible for someone who does not yet look at the Divine Light not to sin, as Christ says: “Whoever walks in the days will not be stumbled, for he has seen the light of this world; If anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, for there is no light in him” (John 11:9-10); Having said “in it,” the Lord pointed to the Divine and immaterial Light, for no one can have the sensual in himself. And just as one who walks in darkness does not receive any benefit, even if he holds many beautiful but extinguished candles, for he sees neither himself nor anyone else: so he who believes that he has in himself - if it were possible - all the virtues, but who does not have the light of the Holy Spirit cannot clearly see his own deeds, nor be completely sure whether they are pleasing to God, and also cannot instruct others or teach the will of God, nor accept those of others. thoughts until he acquires the sanctifying light in him, even if he was appointed patriarch by the people. For Christ says: “Walk while you have light, lest darkness have you: and he who walks in darkness does not know where he comes” (John 12:35). So, if he does not know where he is going, how will he show others the way? And what is the benefit if they place a lamp on a candlestick that is extinguished, devoid of fire to burn and shine? This is not the right thing to do: but how? As God, the Highest Above All, Himself said: “No one has burned a lamp, nor kept it hidden, but in the candlestick, so that those who enter may see the light” (Luke 11:33). Having said this, He also adds the signs of one who has already become a lamp and has light in himself, saying this: “The lamp of the body is the eye” (Luke 11:34). What eye does He mean by this? Of course - a mind that will never be simple until it sees the simple light. The simple light is Christ. And whoever constantly has His light shining in his thoughts is said to have the mind of Christ. So, when this eye of yours is simple, then the entire incorporeal body of your soul will be light; when the mind is evil, that is, darkened and extinguished, then this body of yours will be dark. “Take care of the light that is in you” (Luke 11:35). Look, he says, don’t you think you have something you haven’t acquired. Do you see how the Master Himself speaks to you together with us, His servants? Be careful, he says, so that you do not make a mistake in believing that there is light in you, when it is not light, but darkness. Do you see that we, too, are speaking to you, our brothers, the same as the Master, and we are not saying anything perverted or bad? For we say: “Be careful, brothers, that someday, thinking to be in God and believing to have communication with Him, you do not find yourself outside of Him and separated from Him because you do not yet see His light here. For if He touched your lamps, that is, your souls, then He would shine clearly in you, as our God and Lord Jesus Christ Himself said: “If your body is all light, without any part being dark, it will all be light, just as when a shining lamp illuminates you” (Luke 11:36 ). What other evidence greater than this can lead to your identification? If you don’t believe the Lord, then tell me, how will you have faith in me, a slave like you?” But what can I say to those who love to be important persons and want to be appointed priests, bishops and abbots, and perceive other people’s thoughts, and say that they are worthy of the power to knit and decide, when I see that they do not know any of the necessary and Divine subjects, do not teach this to others and do not introduce them to the light of reason? What else but what Christ says to the Pharisees and lawyers: “For you have taken the key of understanding; You yourself are not allowed to enter, and those who enter are forbidden.” (Luke 11:52). And what else is the key of understanding if not the grace of the Holy Spirit, bestowed through faith, which through enlightenment reveals true reason and knowledge in us and opens our closed and covered mind, as I often told you in many parables and fortune-telling, (sometimes) in clear words and now I will say again 56. Let us not deceive ourselves and let us not go astray in our affairs, walking after the lusts of our flesh, setting ourselves up as teachers and ascending to the abbess, priesthood and bishopric, with contempt for God and our salvation. For when Jesus said to Nicodemus: “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” and Nicodemus answered him: “How can an old man be born?” Can the second food take into its mother’s womb and be born?”, then Jesus reproached him and said: “Thou art the teacher of Israel, and art thou not these?” (John 3:3, 4, 10), although he still did not believe at all and did not know grace. How much condemnation are we worthy of, teachers by grace and ignorant of grace, 57 having enjoyed so much teaching and being taught every day by the Apostles, (Prophets) Teachers, by the Lord Himself and hearing their testimonies? For if we do not know how we should conduct our lives and in what virtues we should first of all educate ourselves, in order to present ourselves as slaves of truth, as before the Lord, and not before people who stand and promise to serve blamelessly God (the living), 58 we do not know what and what we must first be in order to rule over others: then how, tell me, will the guardianship of the Master’s flock be entrusted to us and care for him? How will we preserve it according to the will of the Archpastor - Jesus Christ and bring it to the pastures forever alive? But, oh our insensibility and contempt for God and all that is Divine! For, having stopped our ears like an adder, as if we were deaf and numb like the dead, and blinded by spiritual feelings, we do not feel with our senses what is being said, nor what Christianity is, we do not understand, nor the secrets of God’s providence, but we understand and do not know exactly the sacraments of Christians, and we teach others about the light of reason, even more so, we shamelessly attempt to show others the very light of reason. This mind is not light; but this light is intelligence, for “from Him, and in Him, and in Him are all things” (Rom. 11:36). By denying His sight, we clearly show that we are neither born, 59 nor came into the light that comes from above, but are still in the womb carrying babies or, better said, miscarriages, but we covet sacred places and ascend to the Apostolic thrones. And what’s worse is that, without fearing God, we buy the priesthood mostly with money; and having never been sheep, we wish, like shepherds, to shepherd the royal flock, and this only in order, in the likeness of beasts, to fill our belly and accomplish everything that the vicious desire and lust and desire of the earth requires. Are these, brothers, like the Apostles at first? Are these the successors of the Apostles? Are our fathers and teachers like this? Alas! What terrible audacity of such people! They, looking at one reliquary, not only become traitors and blasphemers through perishable money, but also dare to touch the Divine wealth itself, and therefore are not ashamed to say: “It is ours to knit and decide, and we have received this power in this life from above.” Oh shamelessness, not to say extreme madness! From whom, tell me, and why did you receive this power from above? Was it because, having left everything, he followed Christ? Is it because he despised earthly glory? Is it because he has become humble in spirit? Was it because he sold everything and gave it to the poor? Was it because he destroyed your soul, that is, he killed it for the world and did not find it in any carnal lust? Or you, like Christ’s disciples of old, heard Him blow on you and say: “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Forgive their sins, they will be forgiven them; and to whom ye hold, they hold” (John 20:22–23)? But you say that this power belongs to the priests. I also know that this is truly so. But not everyone is equal to the so-called priests, but to those who, in accordance with the will of God, minister the Gospel in the spirit of humility, lead an immaculate life, who first presented themselves to the Lord, and inside the church of their body spiritually offer a perfect, holy, acceptable sacrifice, their pure service (Rom. 12:1), which were accepted and placed on the altar above, and offered by the Bishop - Christ, as perfect offering, to God and the Father and redeemed (and by the power of the Holy Spirit transformed and changed) 60 and transformed into Christ, for us for the sake of the one who died and rose again in the glory of the Godhead; who, in complete humility, repent night and day and cry and pray with tears not only for themselves; but also about the flock entrusted to them and about all the Holy Churches of God in the world. And not only that, but they cry bitterly before God and about the sins of others; they do not use anything beyond necessity, they do not please the body in the least and do not care the least about bodily pleasure, but, as it is written, “They walk in the Spirit and do not commit carnal lusts” (Gal. 5:16); besides this, in the matter of truth and the commandments of God they do not give preference to either the poor or the rich, or the superior, or the subordinate, or even the one who is crowned with a diadem; and neither under the pretext of mercy, nor for the sake of gifts, nor out of fear or love, nor for the sake of any other thing or motivation, do they yield or violate the commandments of the Most High God. To such belongs the power to knit and decide, to officiate and teach, and not to those who receive election and ordination only from people. “No one receives honor to himself, but he who is called of God” (Heb. 5:4). The holy Apostle did not say: “he who received election from men,” but “from God” he was preordained and ordained for this purpose. For those (supplied) from people and by people are thieves and robbers, as the Lord said: “I am the door. As many as they have come, they come not by Me, but by stealing elsewhere, and they are also thieves” (John 10:9, 8:1). Do not be deceived, brethren: he who abides in darkness is outside the door; whoever thinks that he has entered, but if he did not enter by light, he is outside the fence. For, if Christ is the light of the world and the door (John 10:9, 8:12), then in every way a door of light (and not just just a door) 61, and whoever entered it entered the light of the world. The key of this door is the Holy Spirit. “Receive, says the Lord, the Holy Spirit. Forgive their sins, they will be forgiven them; but those who hold, hold fast” (John 20:22–23). The House is the Father, for “in My Father’s house are many mansions” (John 14:2). Consider carefully the meaning of these words. So, if this key does not open - “it is said that the doorkeeper opens” (John 10:3) - then this door will not open. If this door does not open, then no one will enter the Father’s house, as Christ says: “No one will come to the Father except by Me” (John 14:6). And that the Holy Spirit first opens our minds, teaching us about the Father and the Son, He again said: “When He comes, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me, and will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13; John 15:26). You see how by the Spirit, or, more precisely, in the Spirit, the Father and the Son are known inseparably. And again: “If I don’t go, the Comforter,” he says, “will not come to you.” When He comes, He will remember everything to you” (John 16:7, 13; John 14:26). And again: “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, that the Spirit of truth may be with you forever” (John 14:15–17). And a little later: “In that day, that is, when the Holy Spirit comes to you, you will understand that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (John 14:20). And again: “John baptized with water, but you must be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5); and fair. For if someone is not baptized in the Holy Spirit, then he cannot be either the son of God or a joint heir with Christ. But the Lord also says to Peter: “I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 16:19), truly, not copper or iron keys, but keys corresponding to that house. What kind of house is this, hear from Paul in his letter to Timothy: “I make a charge before God, who gives life to all things, and in Christ Jesus”; and a little later: “Blessed and only mighty, King of kings and Lord of lords, alone has immortality, and is unapproachable in the light of life” (1 Tim. 6:13, 15-16). For if this house is an unapproachable light, then it is obvious that the door of this house is also an unapproachable light. If you say that one is approachable and the other is impregnable, then destroy the impregnable that is approachable; and that key could never have been opened if it had not been impregnable and of the same nature; otherwise he will be burned by the door or the door by the house, and the house will be equally impregnable for everyone; Moreover, if the Holy Trinity is divided into the approachable and the inaccessible, and the greater and the lesser, then our faith will be ruined. Be careful that, hearing this and accepting the analogy from sensory houses and doors, you do not form any bodily image in your mind, and that your soul does not fall into bewilderment and blasphemy; but looking at everything that is divine and good in yourself, if you can, according to the word of reason and the law, you will find that everything is explained correctly; If you cannot understand this so divinely, then accept it by faith alone and do not at all want to experience much. For we call the Holy Spirit the key because from Him and in Him we first shine in the mind and, being purified, are enlightened by the light of the mind, are baptized from above, are reborn and become children of God, as Paul says: “The Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered” (Rom. 8:26); and again: “God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying: Abba Father!” (Gal.4:6). So He (the Holy Spirit) shows us the door because He is light; This door (the Son of God) shows us that He who lives inside the house is also an unapproachable Light. There is not another God, living (in the house) and another Light - His House, just as there is no other God and another Light - His Divinity: but He alone is the House and Living in the House, just as He is both Light and God. Theologically, the Son is called House, like the Father, for He says: “You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, and I in them, that they also may be one in us” (John 17:21,23). And the Spirit in the same way: for it is said: “I will dwell in them and go away” (2 Cor. 6:16) “I and the Father will come and make an abode with him” (John 14:23), that is, through the Holy Spirit, as Paul says, the Spirit is Lord (1 Cor. 12:4–5). It is not that the Holy Spirit is the Son: depart from this blasphemy: but this means that the Son of God is seen and perceived in the Holy Spirit. So, if the Holy Spirit is the Lord, and the Father in Him, and He in us, then again we are in Him, and He is with God the Father and God is in Him. If it is necessary to say something with greater precision, then it turns out: where something is said about one Person, two are seen in the same 62; for these Three (Persons) are in triumph and are recognized in one being and nature and kingdom. So, what is said about one thing, this is by nature seen in others, besides this: Father and Son and Holy Spirit, that is, in addition: to give birth and to be born and to come; for these alone (properties) will unquestioningly follow the Holy Trinity hypostatically and by nature 63 . Changes or rearrangements or changes in Their names are impossible for us to conceive or say. For in these names three Persons are recognized, and in this neither the Son can be placed before the Father, nor the Holy Spirit before the Son; but speak collectively like this: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, without allowing in Them any division regarding time, even to the slightest moment, because together with the Father there is 64 both the begotten Son and the proceeding Spirit. In everything else, the same name or likeness is seen in each of the Three. For example: if you say Light, then each of them is Light. Likewise, each of these (Persons) - the Son and the Spirit and the Father - is eternal Life, and these Three are one Life. Also God and the Father is Spirit, and the Lord is Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is God. Each of these (Persons) is a Spirit, and together these Three (Persons) are one Spirit. And the Father is God, and the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; each of these (Persons) is God, and together these Three are One God. Each (of the Three Persons) is the Lord, and these Three are the One Lord, who is God above all. God is the Creator of everything. Each (of the Three Persons) is the Creator of everything, and These (Three) are the One God, the Creator of all. The Old Scripture also says: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1) “And God said: Let there be light: and there was light” (Gen. 1:3). This word must mean the Father. And David says: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were established” (Ps. 32:6): this, as we know, is said about the Son; “and through the Spirit of His mouth all their strength” (ibid.); and we attribute this to the Holy Spirit. And John, the son of thunder, says in the Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was to God,” i.e., the Father, “and God was the Word,” i.e., the Son; “All this was, and without Him nothing came into being” (John 1:1, 3). So, learn all this, I pray you, who are called children of God, who consider themselves Christians, who teach others with empty words and think to rule, but falsely. Priests and monks, ask your elders and bishops, gather together and with the love of God, and try first to learn this and experience this, and then desire to see (this) and, in fact, 65 be like God; and do not worry only about one external image 66 and about clothes; and then already accept the apostolic rank, so as not to hear to you, who do not yet understand the mysteries of God and are recklessly rushing to authority over others: “Woe, who are wise in themselves, and understand before themselves. Woe to those who put light in darkness and light in darkness” (Is. 5:20–21). So, I pray to you, brethren in Christ, in the creation of virtues, first lay the foundation of the goodness of humility, then, through deeds of piety, build a house of understanding of the mysteries of God and be sanctified by Divine light, and with the purified eye of the heart, see God, as far as is possible for us, humans, and through this secretly learn the most perfect mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven; and then, from this understanding, bestowed from above by the Father of lights, go out to the word of teaching and teach our neighbors what the good and acceptable and perfect will of God is (Rom. 12:2), so that by our teaching we may bring chosen people (Titus 2:14) to God, who ordained us by His Holy Spirit as teachers of His Church, so that we may not be cast out from the palace. Christ, as despisers and those who do not have the wedding garment, but, on the contrary, as wise stewards, rightly ruling the word of teaching to our brethren, and before this having well organized our own lives, it is not forbidden to enter there with the lightness of life and heavenly mind, luminous and filled with the Holy Spirit, and so that we may reign together with Christ, inheriting with Him the Kingdom of God and the Father in the Holy Spirit, eternally living and immortal Source and Life, to Whom is due all glory, honor and worship, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen. About repentance and the beginning of monastic life, and how a person, gradually succeeding on the path of virtue by fulfilling the commandments, achieves perfection. A person who has despised everything visible and his very soul so that, according to the commandment of the Lord, he could show true repentance and begin this work, cannot learn this on his own, but comes with great fear and trembling to a skillful and experienced man, obeys him with all attention and from him is instructed and trained in the spiritual performance of feats of virtue and what a repentant should do. I say with fear and trembling, so as not to be deceived in achieving such a good and, like an unskillful keeper of the commandments, not to be condemned to eternal fire. For, accepting the words of the teacher as coming from the mouth of God and as the cause of life and death, whether, that is, to keep them or to despise them, he strictly observes them. And thus (so as not to prolong my words by saying too much), such a one begins and, led by undoubted faith in the promises of God, prospers in God daily and, moving along the path, grows in spiritual age and becomes a perfect man in Christ our God. And what are these promises of our Lord Jesus the Son of God, listen with understanding to what He says to us: “Amen I say to you, for there will be joy in heaven for one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:7), and again: “He who comes to Me, that is, in this way, I will not put away” (John 6:37), and again: “If anyone thirsts, yes He will come to Me and drink” (John 7:37); and: “believe in Me to have eternal life” (John 6:47); and in another place: “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8); “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). And in another place: “Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he is the one who loves Me: and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father: both I and the Father by the Spirit will come, and will make our abode with him” (John 14:21, 23); “If you,” says the Lord, “are wicked men, you know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him” (Matthew 7:11; Luke 11:13). Trusting with undoubted faith in such promises and promises of God, man, as we said, fulfills 67 all His commandments with great zeal and uncontrollable desire. This first commandment is: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven will draw near” (Matthew 3:2); and again: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and ye shall find; push and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives it, and everyone who seeks finds it, and it will be opened to the one who interprets” (Matthew 7:7-8). Wanting to teach us how we should ask - with what words and what deeds, God says: “Whoever wills to be in you, let him be your servant; and whoever wants to be first among you, be your slave.” (Matthew 20:26-27) “Whoever exalts himself will humble himself, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14). Whoever contains all this and the like in his thoughts, and practices in this day and night, and considers this mentally and sensually, and carefully implements it, he little by little withdraws from the remembrance of this world and everyday things, possessions, relatives and loved ones, and to the same extent unites with the spiritual. Successful in this way every day, he feels how the thoughts of the previously accepted pledges of the heart gradually recede, then how these pledges themselves diminish and the heart, softening, comes into humility; and how it again gives rise to thoughts that produce humility. But even with such a feeling it barely reaches emotion and tears; and if he achieves it, it will be through many sorrows, and the more the heart humbles itself, the more it is touched. For humility gives birth to crying, and crying feeds what gave birth to it and helps it to grow. This work, done by fulfilling the commandments, washes away - oh, miracle! - all uncleanness from the soul and drives away all passion and all evil desires, that is, bodily and worldly. And thus, that person’s soul becomes free both from the desire for everything earthly and from fear for damage to his body, just as if someone takes off the sap and is completely naked. And indeed, it is so. For, firstly, the soul is covered with insensibility, which the Divine Apostle calls a veil lying on the hearts of unfaithful Jews; and not only then, but also now everyone who does not fulfill the commandments of new grace with all his strength and a burning heart has such a veil lying on the mental strength of his soul, and cannot ascend to the height of knowledge of the Son of God. Then, just as someone who has taken off his clothes sees the wounds on his body, so this one then clearly sees the passions in his soul, that is: love of glory, memory, hatred of brothers, envy, jealousy, bickering, exaltation and others. Applying the commandments to these wounds as medicine, and temptations as cauterizations, humbling himself, crying and warmly asking for God's help, he sees the clearly coming grace of the Holy Spirit, which destroys and destroys all passions one by one until it makes the soul completely free from all of them; for the coming of the Comforter grants her freedom not in part, but completely and purely, and with the named passions it drives away all despondency, all negligence, all laziness and ignorance, oblivion and gluttony and all voluptuousness. And thus it restores and renews a person mentally and physically to such an extent that such a person, apparently, is not surrounded by a corruptible and heavy body, but by a spiritual and immaterial one and capable of admiration. And the grace of the Spirit not only does this in him, but also does not allow him to see any of the sensory things; but arranges it in such a way that even when he sees, he remains with feeling, like a person who does not see. For when the mind is united with the spiritual, it becomes completely outside of sensory things, although, apparently, it looks at the sensory. Being such, as St. Paul says: “our life is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20), “not to those who see us, but to those who are invisible” (2 Cor. 4:18), he is illuminated and enlightened, and every day he grows in spiritual age, putting aside the infantile meaning and ascending to manly perfection. Thus, as he grows older, he is renewed in his spiritual strength and actions and becomes more courageous and stronger in doing the commandments of God. By doing them every day, in proportion to doing them, one becomes even more purified, brightens, becomes enlightened, and is made worthy to see revelations of great mysteries, the depths of which have never been seen, and none of those who have not strived to ascend to the same purity can even see. Mysteries, I say, are visible to everyone, but not comprehended. For such a one receives the mind, enlightened by the new-creating Spirit, as well as new eyes and ears, and therefore sees not as a person, the sensual sensually, but as one who has become superior to man, he looks at the sensual and bodily spiritually and as an image of the invisible, and looks at their external images as having no image and form. He hears (i.e. listens) not to (all) human speeches or words 68, but only to the living word when it is pronounced, albeit in a human voice; for only this, as known and beloved, does that soul take in through hearing and allow it to enter; and those who come inside joyfully welcome, as the Lord said: “My sheep hear My voice” (John 10:27), but they will not listen to the voice of someone else. Yet he hears all other human words, but does not accept them and does not at all allow them to enter inside and, turning away from them, drives them away as futile. Sometimes he doesn’t even feel their coming and their noise, but if he hears them, he has such an internal disposition towards them, as if he were deaf and don’t hear. When he becomes such, then God dwells in him, and he is given everything he desires, and even much more than what he desires. For God, like every good, fills with every good the soul into which it dwells, as much as our nature can accommodate, since for every created nature God is inconceivable and unbearable. I’m talking about those blessings “for which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has a man’s heart sighed” (1 Cor. 2:9), that is, if he is not like that. And God, having inhabited such a person, teaches him about the future and the present not in word, but in deed and experience and in action itself 69 . Opening his mental eyes, God shows him how much he wants and how much is useful for him; and besides this, nothing allows him to experience, or seek, or explore with curiosity. For he can never boldly look at what God reveals and shows him; but penetrating into the depths of the wealth, wisdom and mind of God, he is immediately plunged into darkness 70 and is horrified, seeing himself, what he is like, and what (mysteries) he is honored to be a spectator. Wondering and horrified at the greatness of God’s love for mankind and from the bottom of his heart considering himself unworthy of seeing such blessings, he does not want to look at them directly or understand them, but overwhelmed with fear, trembling and reverence, he cries out: “Who am I, O Lord, and what is my house (2 Samuel 7:18), that he has entrusted to me, unworthy, such mysteries and, moreover, every aspiration, made me not only a spectator, but also a partaker and accomplice of such great benefits? 71 Such a one, having become above all creation, does not want to turn back and be curious about creation. Having acquired the Lord of the Angels, he does not want to test the essence and nature of the Angels serving Him, for he knows that God does not want man to explore with curiosity that which is higher than man. If we are commanded not to test the Divine Scripture beyond measure, then it is all the more inappropriate for us to be curious about what is not written. Such a person sees God as much as it is possible for a person to see and as much as God Himself pleases. He strives to continually see Him and prays that even after His death He will always see Him; being satisfied with one vision of Him, he does not need anything else. That is why he does not want to leave the Master and God, from Whom he is filled with light, from Whom he has the pleasure of immortal life, but to look to his brothers - slaves. Such, being visible, i.e. we shine from above from God, and he himself, looking at His all-surpassing glory, cannot even imagine that others would ever see him as he is and in what glory. For every holy soul is delivered from all love of glory, since it, being dressed in the brightest and royal robe of the Spirit and filled with the surpassing glory of God, not only does not desire human glory, but even turns away from that given to it by others. Being visible by God and also looking at Him, she will never want to look at any other person, or be seen by anyone else. So, I pray to you, brethren in Christ, that we strive with words alone to understand the inexpressible, which is equally inconvenient both for those who teach about this and for those who listen, for neither those who teach about spiritual and Divine subjects can accurately, through comparisons, give sufficient explanations and present the very truth of them in reality, nor those who study can learn from words alone the power of what is being explained, but let us try through deeds, deeds and labor to comprehend this and to reach the vision of this, in order to thus secretly learn the words about such (things), and so that God would be glorified in us, having reached such a measure, and with such understanding we would glorify Him, and He would glorify us in Christ our God Himself, to Whom belongs all glory, honor and worship, with the Father and His Most Holy and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. About repentance and the fact that the mere distribution of property and the rejection of things is not enough to cleanse the soul, if we do not gain money and cry. About the expulsion of Adam and the fact that if he had repented of his crime, he would not have been expelled from paradise, and what benefit repentance did for him after his expulsion. And about how one who truly repents should swear. Brothers and fathers! Good is repentance and the benefit that comes from it. Knowing this, the Lord and our God who foreknows all, Jesus Christ, said: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near” (Matthew 3:2). Do you want to know how impossible it is for us to be saved without repentance, without repentance from the soul, and such as the word of God requires of us? Hear the Apostle himself, crying: “Every sin exists except the body, but the fornicator sins in his own body” (1 Cor. 6:18), and again: “It is fitting for us all to appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that everyone who has the body may receive done, either good or evil” (2 Cor. 5:10). As a result of this, someone may say: “I thank God that I have not desecrated a single member of my body in any sinful deed,” which, at least, I, a doer of all lawlessness, cannot say, and with this, as it were, he is consoled that he is clean from carnal sin. But the Lord says the opposite to this, proclaiming the parable of the five foolish virgins (Matthew 25:1-12) and declaring to all of us and decisively saying that we receive no benefit from bodily purity if we do not have other virtues. For the holy fools, although they had some of the oil in their vessels, i.e. certain virtues and external deeds, and became partakers of certain talents, and therefore their lamps burned until a certain time: however, for their negligence, lack of understanding and despondency, they were condemned to pitch fire, because they did not care about the passions lurking within them, excited by the evil ones, and did not know them reliably; but their minds were corrupted by the actions of the enemy through the acceptance of thoughts, through seduction and victory from them and secret communication with them, i.e. envy, jealousy, strife, contentiousness, hatred, anger, grief, memory malice, hypocrisy, irritability, pride, vanity, man-pleasing, self-indulgence, love of money, carnal lust, thoughts of voluptuousness, unbelief, fearlessness, fear, laziness, sadness, bickering, relaxation, sleep, opinion about his truth, arrogance, arrogance, gluttony, lust, covetousness, hopelessness and other subtle acts of malice. In agreement with the Master, the blessed Apostle Paul also proclaims to us, saying: “Perish the world and that which is holy with all, for none shall see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). Why did he say: drive (i.e., seek)? Because it is impossible for us to become and be saints in one hour; for it is appropriate to start small and, progressing, ascend to holiness and purity, and even if we remain in this life for a thousand years, we will never be able to achieve this perfection; but as those who make a daily beginning must always strive for this. And he explained this again, saying: “I persecute even if I understand the same thing that I understood from Christ (Phil. 3:12). Therefore, I pray to you, listen to what I say, and come, let us worship and fall down before our good and humane God. Let us anticipate His face in confession. And we will cry before Him, who created us. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. (Ps.95:6-7). And He will not turn His face away from us; Let us only repent with all our souls and renounce not only our evil deeds, but also destroy the most evil and unclean thoughts of our hearts, as it is written: “Rend apart your hearts, and not your garments” (Joel 2:13). For what good, tell me, if we distribute all our property to the poor, but do not abstain from evil and do not hate sin? What if we do not commit carnal sin by deed itself, but mentally combine with shameful and unclean thoughts and commit sin in secret, and we are dominated and possessed by uncontrollable spiritual passions? Together with property, we will reject, I pray you, the usual slavery to the numbered sins and will not stop there, but will carefully wash away their filth with tears of repentance. For if a king, adorned with the royal diadem and scarlet, possessing countless treasures of gold and silver and sitting on a high and exalted throne, decides to take dirt and soot from somewhere, and smears his hands, his whole face, and covers all his senses, so that he can neither see, nor hear, nor smell, and if then, after thinking about it and trying to get rid of this uncleanness, If he immediately enters his spoon and does not wash off the dirt and soot with abundant water, and thus will not sit again on the royal throne clean, as before, but instead will only squander all his treasures on the poor and distribute to them all his movable and immovable property, then he will not receive any benefit from this without washing off the soot and dirt with water; but he will even be a laughing stock for those who see him, appearing here and there, and among the synclite, like a monster. Likewise, everyone else, even if he distributed all his property to the poor and accepted all poverty and lack of covetousness, but if he does not move away from evil and does not cleanse his soul with repentance and tears, he will not receive any benefit for himself. For every person who has sinned like me, the condemned one, and has covered his spiritual feelings with the impurity of sweets, even if he has distributed all his property to the poor and left all the glory of dignitaries, and the splendor of houses, and horse herds, herds, and slaves, and his very friends and all relatives, and, having accepted the monastic image, has become poor and non-covetous, however, needs tears of repentance, as necessary for eternal life to wash away the uncleanness of his sins, and especially if, like me, he has the soot and uncleanness of many of his evils not only on his face and hands, but even on his whole body. The distribution of property alone is not enough, brethren, to cleanse the soul, if at the same time we do not cry and shed tears from our hearts; and I think that if with all diligence I do not cleanse myself with tears from the filth of my sins, but depart from this life defiled, then, in fairness, I will remain desecrated before God and His Angels, and I will be cast into eternal fire with demons. Indeed, it is so, brethren. “For nothing was brought into this world” (1 Tim. 6:7), so that, having sinned, one could give something to God as a ransom for sins, and what will a man give to God, says the Apostle, that it may be repaid to him (Rom. 11:35)? This is a fair judgment, this is correct and true humility! So the Holy Spirit, through the prophet David, says: “I will not accept bulls from your house, nor goats from your flocks, for they are all Mine,” and so on. (Ps. 49:9). And again: “If you had desired sacrifices, you would have given them: you do not favor burnt offerings. The sacrifice to God is a broken spirit: God will not despise a contrite and humble heart.” (Ps. 50:18–19). Knowing this, the Lord said: “Do not remember that he came to destroy the law, or the prophets: he came not to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). For the law could not use earthly healings, i.e. through bodily cleansing, 72 gifts, sacrifices, burnt offerings and others, to heal the soul from the invisible illness of sinful passions. Scripture says: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29) and again; “the law of the Spirit of life, i.e. Gospel, we are free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2). But do you want to know how Christ fulfills (i.e. complements) the Law and the Prophets? The law says: you shall not kill. Christ: don't be angry. Law: You shall not commit adultery. Christ: do not lust. Law: do not swear to a lie. Christ: do not swear in any way (Matthew 5:21–22, 27–28, 33–34). How can someone who is not irritated kill? How can one commit adultery without lust? Thus, the Savior, by the law of His Spirit, cuts off the very roots of sins in the soul. Fulfillment of the law consists in this, that a person should be and live in His commandments alone, and keep and fulfill His commandments alone. For all the commandments of Christ were given to us in opposition to every sin, and in them alone anyone who wants to receive eternal life must live and act: and in everything else be without action, like a dead man. “If you remain in Me, says the Lord, My words will remain in you: if you want, ask, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). Let us follow this verb with zeal until we reach the place where Christ Himself is. For there He draws those who follow Him and, as the Great Bishop, leads them into the Holy of Holies, where He Himself, for our sake, ascended as our forerunner (Heb. 6:20), as He Himself says: “I am the way and the truth and the life: no one will come to the Father but by Me.” (John 14:6). And again: “Father, these things which you have given to Me, I will, that even where I am, they also may be with Me, that they may see My glory, which you have given to Me.” (John 17:24). Let us be crucified together with Him through the patience of all the temptations that befall us, let us mortify ourselves together with Him to the pleasures of this life, so that together with Him we may live. Let us go with Him with purified thoughts along the path that leads to heaven; for when we walk in the path of the commandments of the Lord and our God and follow Him irrevocably, then the enemy will not be able to harm us in any way, especially if we walk together with a mentor and good companions. Let us fear the example of the fig tree, cursed for barrenness, and bring worthy fruits to Christ through repentance. Let us not allow the burning lamp to go out, having dozed off from mental negligence, and let us not become like foolish virgins, wandering during the purchase in the deceptions of this life; but let us multiply the talent of grace with good deeds to the best of our ability. For it is possible for everyone, brothers, not only monks, but also lay people, to always and unceasingly repent, cry and pray to God, and through such deeds to acquire all other virtues. And that this is true is confirmed by the golden-tongued John, the great pillar and teacher of the Church, speaking of David, when explaining the 50th Psalm: It is possible for one who has a wife, children, female slaves, many slaves and large property, and is noble in the world, not only to cry daily, pray and repent, but also to achieve, if he wants, the perfection of virtue, to receive the Holy Spirit, to be a friend of God and to be worthy of a vision of Him. Such were also those who lived before the coming of Christ, that is, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Lot, who lived in Sodom, and - I leave many others - Moses and David; in the new grace and after the appearance of God and our Savior, the fisherman and the unlearned Peter, with his mother-in-law and others, preached the revealed God. Who could count others who are more than drops of rain and more than the stars of heaven: kings, princes and nobles (not to mention the poor and those who had only daily food) - who had in their possession cities, houses, church buildings, generously erected by them, shelters for the elderly and for strangers, preserved and existing to this day, and who acquired all this in their lives, and piously used them, not as their property, but as slaves, managing according to the will of the Master what was given to them from Him, demanding this world, according to the word of Paul (1 Cor. 7:31), as if not demanding (using the world, but not abusing it); and therefore in this life they were exalted and glorified, both now and in endless ages, and will be even more exalted and glorified in the Kingdom of God. If we were not lazy, and careless, and despisers of God’s commandments, but were careful, cheerful and attentive, then we would have no need for renunciation, tonsure, or flight from the world. To see this, listen. God first created man as king over everything on earth, and even over everything in the vault of heaven: for the sun, moon and stars were created in every way for the sake of man. What then? Being the King of this and everything visible, did he suffer from this damage in virtue? Not at all. On the contrary, if he continued to thank God, who created him and gave him everything, he would turn out to be well-skilled. For if he had not transgressed the commandment of the Lord, he would not have lost this kingdom and would not have lost the glory of God. And since he did this, then, in justice, he was cast out and expelled, lived and died. I’ll tell you something that, it seems, no one spoke about clearly, but was said only in secret. What's happened? Listen. Divine Scripture says: “The Lord called Adam, that is, after a crime, and said to him: Adam, where are you?” (Gen.3:9). Why does the Creator of everything say this? In every possible way wanting to bring him to consciousness and calling him to repentance. "Adam! Where are you?" - says the Lord. “Look at yourself, understand your nakedness; Look what clothes, what glory you have lost. Adam! Where are you?" As if begging him and saying: “Come to yourself, unfortunate one, come out from where you hid: are you thinking of hiding from Me? Say: I have sinned.” But he does not say this: I, the accursed one, do not say this; for this is my passion. But what? “The voice says, I heard You walking into heaven, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.” What about God? “Who will tell you,” He says, “that you are naked, except from the tree, whose commandments you are not to eat, from which you came” (Gen. 3:10–11)? Do you see, beloved, the long-suffering of God? For when He said, “Adam, where are you?” - and he did not immediately confess his sin, but said: “I heard Your voice and realized that I was naked, and I hid myself”: then God was not angry, did not turn away immediately, but deigns him to answer a second time and says: “Who told you that you were naked, if you had not eaten from the tree, of which I gave you a commandment not to eat from it alone?” Understand the depth of the words of the Wisdom of God. He says: “Why do you say that you are naked and hide your sin? Do you think that I only see your body, but I don’t see your heart and thoughts?” For Adam, in his deception, hoped that God did not know his sin, and said to himself, as it were: “If I say that I am naked, then God, not knowing (what happened), will ask: “Why are you naked? Then I can refuse and say: I don’t know, and I can hide from him (what I did) and get the first clothes again; if not, then at least He won’t kick me out and throw me out of here.” When he thought this - as many do even now, and I myself am the first, hiding my sins - God, not wanting to increase his condemnation, says: “How did you understand that you were naked, if not from the tree, of which you were commanded not to eat, from which you ate (Gen. 3:11).” As if to say: “Do you really think to hide from Me? Don't I know what you did? Why don't you say: I have sinned? Say, O accursed one: “Truly, Lord, I have transgressed Your commandment, I have sinned by listening to the advice of my wife; I sinned greatly by fulfilling her word and disobeying Yours. Have mercy on me!” But he doesn’t say this, doesn’t humble himself, doesn’t bow down. The neck of his heart is more unyielding than iron, just like mine, the accursed one. And if he had said this, he would have remained in paradise; and through one word at that time: “sinned,” he would have gotten rid of the whole cycle of countless evils that he suffered, having been expelled and spending so many centuries in hell. This is what I promised to say. Listen to what follows, and you will see that this word is true and there is no lie in it. God said to Adam: “On the same day that you eat of the tree whose commandment you are not to eat, you will die” (Gen. 2:17, 3:11), of course, spiritual death, which happened at the same hour, and thus he was stripped of his immortal clothing. God predicted nothing more, and nothing more happened. For God foreknew that Adam would sin, and wanted to forgive him as he repented, and therefore, as it is said, he no longer assigned any punishment to him in advance. But he, on the contrary, did not confess his sin and did not repent, even being rebuked by God, for he said: “The woman that you gave with me, she gave to me from the tree, and I died” (Gen. 3:12). - “Which you gave me!” - O foolish soul who says to God, as it were: “You have sinned; the wife you gave me, she deceived me.” - Similar things happen to me now, humiliated and damned: I never want to humble myself and say from my heart that I am guilty of my death, but I say: so-and-so prompted me to do and say so-and-so; so-and-so advised me to do this and that. O damned soul, uttering words full of sin! O most shameless and vile words of a shameless and insane soul! So, when Adam said this, then God said to him: “By the sweat of your brow, eat your bread; The earth will grow for you with thorns and thistles; and finally: you are earth, and you will go back to earth” (Gen. 3:18–19). I told you to repent and be back in your previous state. And since you are so adamant, now depart from Me, and for your admonition, your retreat will be enough for you, because you are earth, and to earth you will return.” So, have you now understood that Adam, due to his crime, because he did not repent and did not say: “I have sinned,” is expelled and condemned to remain in labor and sweat and return to the ground from which he was taken. This is obvious from the following. Having left him, the Lord then comes to Eve, wanting to show that, in fairness, she too will be expelled together if she does not want to repent. “Alas,” says God, “what have you done?” - so that at least she would say: “I have sinned.” For, tell me, what else could prompt God to speak these words to her, if not precisely that she said: “In my madness, Master, I, humiliated and damned, did this, disobeying You, my Master, have mercy on me”? But she didn't say that. What then? “The serpent,” he says, “deceive me” (Gen. 3:13). O insensibility! Why did you talk with the serpent, who spoke to you against the Master, and preferred him to God who created you, and considered his advice more excellent and truer than the commandment of God? But since she did not want to say: “I have sinned,” they are thrown out of their bliss, expelled from paradise and pleasure, and even more so move away from God. Consider the depth of the mysteries of a man-loving God and understand and learn from this that if they had repented, they would not have been expelled, would not have been condemned, would not have been sentenced to return to the land from which they were taken. How is that? Listen. When they were expelled and immediately subjected to suffering and bodily labor, they began to hunger, thirst, chill and tremble and endure what we ourselves are now enduring, and even more, since they were the first to feel this misfortune and exile, and, moreover, their evil wisdom and God’s ineffable mercy: then they, walking and sitting outside of heaven, repented, wept, sobbed, and beat face, tore out their hair, mourning the stubbornness of their hearts and did this not for one day, or two days, or ten days, but, believe me, throughout their entire lives. And was it possible for them not to cry always and incessantly, at the memory of that meek Lord, that unspeakable sweetness, the indescribable beauty of those flowers, the carefree and effortless life, the ascension and descent of Angels to them? For as slaves chosen by any of the princes of the present age for his personal service, as long as they strictly maintain fear, reverence and slavish devotion to their master, and love him and their comrades, they enjoy boldness towards him, and his favor, and love, in all peace and in constant abundance and pleasure; and when, carried away by pride, they raise their necks to their ruler and become proud before their comrades, they are deprived of their boldness towards him and his love and favor, they are exiled to imprisonment in a distant country and are subjected, at his command, to countless trials, and then, toiling and exhausted, they will more and more feel the deprivation of the happiness that they enjoyed, and the benefits that they lost: in the same way they suffered and the primeval ones, who were in paradise and enjoying the blessings there, when they fell away from them and were expelled: feeling their deprivation, they always sobbed, always cried, bowing to the mercy of their Master. What is Great in mercy and Slow in punishment? Since He saw them humbled, He does not cancel the pronounced sentence, having done this for our admonition, and so that no one would be proud of the Creator of all, but, foreseeing even before, like God, the fall of man, and his repentance, before He created everything, He predetermined everything: the time, the year, and how, and when, with destinies ineffable and unsearchable by every breath, will call him back from exile. If these destinies were revealed to anyone, and they wanted to write this, they would not have enough time, paper, or ink 73 . As God, having mercy, predestined and predicted, so he created: for the sake of those whom he expelled from paradise for shamelessness and for an unrepentant heart and will. When they repented as they should, humbled themselves worthily, wept and sobbed, the One Himself from the One, the Only Begotten Son and Word of the pre-existent Father, descended, as you all know, and not only became a man like them, but wanted to die like them, choosing a violent and blasphemous death, and descended into hell, from where He brought them out. So, who suffered so much for them, as we hear daily, in order to call them back from that long exile, would he really not forgive them if they repented in paradise? And how could He not forgive them, when He is by nature a lover of mankind, and for this purpose He created man, so that in paradise he would enjoy His blessings and glorify his Benefactor? Yes, brothers, I think, truly, this would be so. And so that you understand and so on, and believe this word even more, listen to the following. If they had repented while still in paradise, they would have received that same paradise again - and nothing more. And since they were expelled for unrepentance, then, having repented, they cried and mourned a lot - which, as I said, they would not have suffered if they had repented in paradise: - then for these sufferings, exploits, labors and good repentance, their Lord God, although he would honor and glorify them, and even make them forget all those disasters - what is he doing? - Look at the greatness of humanity: He descends into hell and, having raised them up, brings them back to heaven, only not from where they fell, but into the very heaven of heaven; and having sat at the right hand of God, His eternal Father, the Lord, tell me what He does for him (Adam), by nature His servant, and by grace His Father? Do you know to what height the Master elevated him for the sake of his repentance, humility, sobbing and crying? O fortress of repentance and tears! O abyss of indescribable love for mankind and unsearchable mercy, brothers! God honored and glorified not only him, but, like him, all his seed; those. us - his sons, imitating his confession, repentance, crying, tears and other things that I said before, as well as everyone who does this until now or will do it later, whether laymen or monks. “Amen,” said the true God: “I will never leave them, but I will make them My brethren, and friends, and fathers, and mothers, and My relatives and joint heirs (Mark 3:35); and I have glorified and will glorify them, both in heaven and down on earth; and there will never be an end to their life, and their joy, and their glory.” Tell me, brother, what benefit did the effortless and carefree stay in paradise bring to the pristine ones, when they were careless, showed contempt for God through their unbelief and violated His commandment? For if they had believed Him, then Eve would not have considered the serpent, and Adam would not have considered Eve more trustworthy than Him, but they would have kept the commandment not to eat from that tree; having tasted it and not repenting, they were expelled. But did they not gain anything else through exile? Truly, they received the greatest benefit from this, 74 and this happened for the salvation of us all. For our Lord, having descended from above, with His death put to death the death that possessed us, completely destroying the condemnation for the crime of our forefathers, and reviving and re-creating us in holy baptism, and completely delivering us from it (crime), grants us perfect freedom in this world and delivers us from the violence of the enemy; He honored us with the original autocracy and gave us another fortress against him, so that those who want to defeat him more easily than all the saints who were before the coming of Christ; when they die, they are not relegated, like those, to hell, but are raised to heaven and into the bliss and pleasure there, now in part, but after the resurrection from the dead they will be fully worthy of the sacrament of eternal joy. So, let those who seek excuses not excuse themselves, and let them not say that Adam’s crime acts violently on us and attracts us to sin. For whoever thinks or says this way believes that the coming of our Master and God was useless and in vain; and this is the opinion of heretics, not of believers. For why did He descend? Or why did you taste death? Precisely in order to destroy the condemnation of sin and free our race from slavery and the violent actions of the enemy and the enemy. For true autocracy consists in this, so as not to be possessed in any way from someone else. Coming from the one who sinned, we are sinners; from the criminal, we are criminals; from the slave of sin, we ourselves became slaves of sin; from the damned and the dead - cursed and dead; just as he fell under the influence of the evil one, and became enslaved to him, and lost his autocracy, so we, as his children, fell under the influence of the enemy and violence and were possessed by it. God, having descended, became incarnate and was born (as a man) like us, but without sin, and destroyed sin. Having sanctified conception and birth, and growing little by little, he blessed every age and began preaching when he became a perfect man, teaching us that we should not violate gradualism in anything and, being still young, and not men of wisdom, should not place ourselves above gray minds and virtue. He took everything that was ours upon Himself and, keeping all the commandments of God and His Father, destroyed crime and freed criminals from condemnation. Having assumed the image of a slave, he became a slave and raised us, slaves, to the dignity of rulers, giving us again dominion over our recently former 75 ruler: witnesses to this are the saints, who even after death drive him and his servants away as weak. Having been crucified, He was cursed for our sake (Gal. 3:13): for cursed is, says the Scripture, everyone who hangs on a tree (Deut. 21:23), and thereby he destroyed the entire oath of Adam. He died - and with His death killed death, He rose again - and destroyed the power and action of the enemy, who had power over us through death and sin. For, having invested in the deadly poison and poison of sin the ineffable power of His Divinity and the life-giving effect of His flesh, He completely delivered our entire race from the action of the enemy. By holy baptism and communion of His Most Pure Mysteries of the Body and His venerable Blood, cleansing and revitalizing us, makes us holy and sinless. And again he allows us to use autocracy, so that we serve the Lord not by force, but by will; and just as at first Adam in paradise was free and without sin and violence, but with an autocratic will he listened to the enemy and, being deceived, transgressed the commandment of God: so we, reborn by holy baptism, are delivered from slavery and become autocratic; and if we ourselves do not listen to the enemy of our own free will, then he cannot act on us otherwise. For if before the law and the coming of Christ and without all these benefits, many and countless were pleasing to God and turned out to be blameless, from whom the righteous Enoch was taken away and honored by transfiguration, and Elijah was taken into heaven in a chariot of fire: then what shall we answer, who (by grace and so many such benefits, after the destruction of death and sin), 76 after regeneration through baptism, and under the protection of the saints By angels, and by the overshadowing and influx of the Holy Spirit, we do not even find ourselves equal to those who were before grace, but we have become negligent, despised the commandments of God and transgressed them? And that we will be punished for our sins more than those who sinned in the old law, St. Paul explained, saying: “If the word spoken by the angels were known, and every crime and righteous disobedience would be accepted as a reward: for how shall we escape from those who have neglected salvation” (Heb. 2:2-3 )? So, let each of us, who fall into any sin, blame and blame not Adam, but himself, and let, like him, each of us show worthy repentance if he wants to receive eternal life in the Lord, crying with the pain of his soul and crying out in despair to the Almighty Lord: “You see, Lord, and there is nothing that you have not seen. I am the work of Your hands, but I have not kept Your commandments, but in madness I have committed all kinds of evil. You, Lord, are good; I did not know You, but now I heard about You and was horrified; and I don’t know what to do. I have understood Your judgment; and the blessed answer 77 was not found in my mouth. For I have not done anything on earth that could atone for even one idle word of my mouth: because if a person creates all righteousness, he will do it as a slave and a debtor, and will not find anything with which he could atone for even one sin. You alone have mercy. Sin is death; and is it possible for someone to die through him and rise of his own accord? Not at all. You alone, having died, have risen; because You have not created iniquity, and flattery will not be found in Your mouth (Is. 53:9; 1 Pet. 2:22); and whoever dies in sins and does not repent, there will be no benefit to him. 78 So I, Lord Almighty, repent, having committed evil deeds, but this repentance will not serve as my justification. For repentance is knowledge (only) of sin. And now you see, All-Seeing Lord, that there is no means of salvation left for me, but hell has devoured me alive. You alone can lift me up and heal the illness of my heart, because Your hand is strong in everything and reaches to the depths of the abyss, and everything works through Your mania. I don’t dare say: “Have mercy on me,” for I am unworthy of this, but, truly, I am worthy of all torment. You, Lord, know everything; and as You know Your love for mankind, do with me, unworthy of life itself.” Truly, brethren, (such) will be (everyone) 79 who has sinned before the Lord God Almighty, and in his heart has received the fear of judgment and the feeling that God has turned away from him. For the fear of God and the feeling of His righteous reward melts the flesh and crushes the bones, just as an artificially lowered stone squeezes out and completely squeezes out grapes trampled in a grindstone. For people first trample the grapes, and then squeeze them with a stone, and thus deprive them of all moisture. If a person enters into the fear of God, then the very fear of God forces him to be trampled upon by everything; and when his proud and vain carnal wisdom is erased and completely crushed, then holy humility, this mental lightest and good stone, having descended from above and dried up all the moisture of carnal pleasures and passions, represents the soul crushed by it no longer indecent, but, watering it with a river of tears, creates the fact that living water flows from it, heals sinful ulcers, washes away their pus and scabs and makes that person as pure as snow. Just let him approach God not with doubt in his heart and not with double-mindedness. Doubt of the heart consists of thinking and contemplating within oneself: “Will God have mercy or not”? This “or not” comes from unbelief. If you don’t believe that He wants to have mercy on you even more than you wait, then why do you approach Him in prayer? Double-mindedness means not completely giving yourself up to death for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven, but taking care of your carnal life. For a painfully repentant person must only be careful not to take his own life without permission and not to become a suicide, that is, not to throw himself into a rapid, or hang himself, or do something similar to himself. Let him not worry about the rest with which the body usually feeds and lives, according to the Holy Scripture: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things, that is, those necessary for the needs of the body, will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). For one who goes through an ascetic life and lives according to the Gospel can eat bread and water every day, and live and be healthier than those who enjoy luxurious meals. That is why Paul, knowing this, said and always says: “Having food and clothing, we will be satisfied with these” (1 Tim. 6:8); and again: “We have a condemnation of death in ourselves, so that we should not trust in this, but in God, who raises the dead” (2 Cor. 1:9). Behold, beloved brethren, we have said how one should approach God and what kind of repentance to show Him. So, let us not retreat from Him until our last breath, and let us not forget this good advice. If we, with the assistance of God, do this and remain for a long time in this work of repentance, then we ourselves, little by little, will understand other greater mysteries, being taught them from grace from above, and we will be given not only a source of tears, but also liberation from all passions through such doing. For if a person constantly seeks repentance and tenderness, and tries to find out what helps and facilitates sobbing, crying and being touched, and does it with care, and does not prefer himself in anything and, in general, does not fulfill the carnal will, then this soon leads him to prosperity and purity and dispassion, and makes him a partaker of the Holy Spirit (and not only this, but makes him equal to the great fathers Anthony, Savva, Euthymius) 80 if he loves repentance and tenderness. If someone does not want this and is not always concerned about acquiring the said deeds, let him not blaspheme and say that this is impossible. Let him also not say that he has repented, and that it has been so many years; Let him not calculate for me the distribution and squandering of wealth and gold and say: “From my property I have clothed so many naked people, fed the hungry, given drink to the thirsty; I squandered all my wealth, came to this mountain, entered this cave; bowed to the Holy Sepulcher, ascended the Mount of Olives, and now entered this monastery and took monastic vows”; or: “And having long ago taken monastic vows, I am sitting in my cell alone, fulfilling so many prayers: by this I will be saved, and that is enough for me.” Don't flatter yourself, brother, whoever you are. Don't console yourself with empty thoughts while acting crazy. All this is good and very good; but know, beloved, it is true that this is only a seed. I'll tell you, as it were, in comparison. You cleared the field, plowed it twice and thrice, and sowed it. Did you see that the seed sprang up from the depths of the earth? Did you see it grow? Did you see that the ears of corn had formed? Have you seen that your spiritual fields have turned white and are ready for harvest? Have you plucked the ears from them? Have you erased them with your hands and seen the fruit of your labors clean? Having seen it, were you filled with satiety and received strength? So, if you know this, then I worship your feet, kiss them and kiss their footprints, for I am not worthy to kiss your face. Rejoice and be merry, reaping with joy what you sowed with great labor and suffering. If you do not even understand what I am saying, and have not yet seen whether any of the best fruits have been sown on your land, that is, in the field of your heart: then tell me, what benefit have you received by going around the ends of the earth and reaching the distant seas? Not at all. For if I show mercy to the whole world out of what is not mine, or even out of mine, but leave myself naked and wretched, and in such poverty of (spiritual) blessings I die and stand before the terrible judgment of Christ, then what good is it to me? We must leave this life and body clothed and adorned if we want to recline at the Tsar’s wedding together with the Tsar’s friends. What is it that I and all of us must put on, so as not to appear naked (2 Cor. 5:3)? This, brothers, is Christ and God. And again: if I go around the whole of heaven, like one house, and do not leave a single country or city or church where I do not go to bow and pray, and I recognize everything there well and thoroughly, but I lose the Kingdom of Heaven - then wouldn’t it be better for me not to be born, not to appear on earth, not to breathe this air and not to see the sun with my own eyes? She truly would have been much better off for me. What should I do so as not to lose this? Complete all works of repentance and receive the Holy Spirit. For He is the seed of Christ, and through Him we, the poor and mortals, become His relatives, and if this seed falls on good soil, it bears fruit in thirty and sixty and a hundred. And this very thing is the Kingdom of Heaven. Anything else, without this, will not bring any benefit. If we, brothers, do not have mercy on ourselves and do not, through repentance, gain our souls purified and filled with light, then all other deeds will not bring us any benefit, as our Lord and God says: “What good is it for a person, if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul” (Matthew 16:26). And again: whoever loses his soul for My sake, that is, by killing it to the world and to what is in the world, he will find it (Matthew 16:25); and whoever finds it in any carnal will will destroy it. If in this way we do not lose our souls for Christ, and do not find them again, having come to life in Christ into eternal life, then what benefit do we have from everything else? Truly, nothing will bring us any benefit, beloved servants of Christ, and will not deliver us from eternal fire. Therefore, having left everything and everyone, we will listen only to ourselves and what is in ourselves, until the worst in us is defeated and submits to better wisdom, 81 and, thus, having enjoyed the spiritual world, we will not be freed from the constriction of carnal and earthly wisdom and will not enter the haven of our blessed peace. Blessed is the one who listens to these words with faith and unswervingly follows them, secretly taught this true example of repentance and teaching, which was first fulfilled by deed and then committed to scripture; such, as having acquired great blessings that surpass mind and word and thought, will gratify my accursed hand, which wrote this, and will glorify the Merciful and Most Merciful Lord, Who with my foul tongue and unclean and foul lips committed this to writing, as a model of conversion and repentance and as an indication of the unlost and true path for those who with all their hearts want to be saved and have to inherit the Kingdom Heavenly. So, I pray to you, brethren in Christ, that we cast far away from ourselves every attachment, every care of this life. Let us hate all carnal pleasures, bodily pleasure, joy and idleness, by which the worst in us is strengthened against the best. Come, let us have pure faith in God and in our fathers and teachers according to God. Let us acquire a contrite heart, humble wisdom of the soul and heart. Purified by repentance and tears from all filth and impurity of sin, may we also soon be able to reach the measure of spiritual age and see and enjoy in this life the ineffable benefits of the Divine Light, although imperfectly, but in part and as much as we can accommodate, as we are purified; for in this way let us unite ourselves with God, and God will unite with us, and for those who draw near we will be light and salt, for great benefit, in Christ Jesus our Lord. To Him belongs all glory, honor and worship together with the Father and His Most Holy and Life-giving Spirit. Now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. That the soul, through faith and fulfillment of the commandments of Christ, is purified, clothed from on high with the power of the Most Holy Spirit and granted to see God; and that those who want to receive God's blessings must joyfully endure all sorrow, malice and temptation, and that everyone must test themselves whether they are worthy to enter the Kingdom of God. Wonderful visions are seen by the mind that has united with God by faith, and has come to know Him by deed, and has been vouchsafed to see Him by vision. He is completely enlightened and becomes light-like; cannot understand or express this; because that very mind is light, and sees that everything is light, and that light is living, and gives life to the seer. He sees himself completely united with that Light and, seeing, hides within himself; and is as it was; sees that Light in the soul and is amazed and, amazed, sees that it is far away; Having turned, he again finds himself in the midst of this Light, and what to say, and how to comprehend what he sees, he is completely unable to find words or thoughts. Hearing these sacraments, who, without marveling, will not flow to Christ? Who would not desire to see God’s miracles and would not love the One who gives these gifts and wondrous gifts? Let us strive, beloved brethren, to find Christ and see Him as He is in beauty and sweetness. He says: “Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me, and whoever loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and I will appear to him Myself.” And again: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and we will come to him by the Spirit, and make our abode with him” (John 14:21, 23). Such a one has put on from above the power of the Most Holy Spirit, which is manifested not in the form of sensual fire and not with much noise and stormy breathing - which was then for the sake of the unbelievers 82 - but visible spiritually, in the form of mental Light, with all calmness and spiritual joy. This light is the beginning of the 83 eternal and first Light, the illumination and lightness of eternal bliss. When this light appears, every passionate thought is destroyed, every spiritual passion is driven away, every bodily ailment is healed. Then the eyes of the heart are cleansed and see what is written about in the beatitudes. Then the soul, seeing, as in a mirror, its small sins, descends into the abyss of humility and, contemplating the greatness of that glory, is filled with all joy and gladness and, amazed at the miracle that exceeds aspiration, releases springs of tears and, thus, that person is completely renewed, comes to know God, and first comes to be known from Him. This alone 84 makes a person despise everything earthly and heavenly, the present and at the same time the future, sorrowful and joyful, and makes him a friend of God, and a son of the Most High, and a god, as far as it is possible for a person to achieve this. O the greatness of God's gifts! People, almost all of them, seem to abhor the weak and poor: the king of the earth does not want to see them, princes turn away from them, despise the rich and, when they meet, pass by as if they were nothing, and communicating with them is not considered bliss by anyone. God, having left the strong, wise and rich of this world, according to His great and ineffable goodness, chose what was weak and foolish and wicked in him (1 Cor. 1:26-28). Who can worthily thank God for this alone? He Who is served by countless and innumerable Powers, Who wears all kinds of His power (Heb. 1:3), Who has the unbearable splendor of His glory for all, did not refuse to be the Father, and the Brother, and the Friend of these outcasts, and even wanted to be incarnate in order to be like us in everything, except for sin, and to make us partakers of His glory and kingdom. O the riches of His great goodness! O ineffable condescension of our Lord and God! Why don’t we, brethren, resort to the gracious God, who loved us so much? Why do we not give up our souls to death for Christ and God, who died for us? Do we not see many people who, out of desire for something temporary, endure many toils and sufferings, undertake long journeys, and not only that, but leave their wife, children and all other glory and pleasure, and above all else they put the one thing they strive for, just to achieve what they want? If some people put all their care and their very soul on account of the temporary and perishable, then will we not give up our souls and bodies for the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, and the Creator and Ruler of all? For He Himself says: Whoever destroys his soul, that is, dies it for the world and does not find it in any carnal will for the sake of Me and the Gospel, he will save it. And whoever finds his soul in any sin will destroy it (Mark 8:35). Where shall we, brethren, flee from His presence, or where shall we hide? If we ascend to heaven, we will find that He is there. If we go down to hell, He is there too: if we go to the edge of the sea, we will not escape from His hand, but His right hand will hold our bodies (Ps. 139:7-10). We, brethren, cannot resist the Lord or flee from His face: come, then, and let us give ourselves over as slaves to God, who for our sake put on the form of a slave and died for us; Come and let us humble ourselves under His mighty hand, which exudes eternal life to all and abundantly gives it to those who seek it through the Spirit. Let us seek Christ, in Whom we have put on through Divine baptism and Whom we have again been put off through evil deeds; for, having become sanctified when we did not feel this, being still infants in age and sense, we desecrated ourselves in our youth, not to mention the fact that we daily defile our souls and bodies by breaking the commandments. Therefore, let us arise again through saving repentance, doing and fulfilling everything that is pleasing to Christ, so that, having received the imprint from Him, we may then live without fear, and not only that, but also to receive mercy from His hand and be worthy of understanding the Mysteries of Christ. For if we want to receive what we desire and desire, that is, the good of God, and in order to become earthly angels from people, let us love bodily sorrow, let us kiss evil suffering - and let us love temptations as the source of all good. What is more beautiful than a grieving soul with reason? For, having endured everything, she inherits joy. What is more courageous than a contrite and humble heart, which without difficulty puts to flight the armies of demons and completely drives them away? What is more glorious than spiritual poverty? She introduces you to the Kingdom of Heaven; But can anything compare with this, either in the present or in the next century? And if you don’t have any earthly concerns about yourself, but have your whole mind in Christ, then do you know what eternal benefits this can be a source of and what kind of angelic residence? And if you also despise everything temporary, and even the most necessary needs of the body, so as not to argue with anyone about this, but in unshakable peace of mind, maintain undisturbed peace and love: do you know what rewards, what crowns and honors you are worthy of? Truly, this commandment is above nature, and reward is above words. For such, Christ will be everything instead of everything. Hearing about Christ, do not stop attention on this one word and the brevity of expression, but imagine the glory of the Divine, exceeding both mind and thought, His incomprehensible power, inexhaustible mercies, immeasurable wealth that He abundantly and generously gives to them; and this serves them instead of everything, as those who have accepted Him Himself, the Author and Giver of every good. For whoever is worthy to see Him and gaze upon Him will not desire anything else, but, having been filled with Divine love, he can no longer love anyone else on earth. Truly, brethren, there is nothing greater in the world than to have nothing of this world and to desire nothing more than the necessary needs of the body, and not to desire rest and its pleasures, but as it is written: to walk in the Spirit and not to commit carnal lusts (Gal. 5:16). Scripture recognizes the following as a necessary need: bread and water, clothing and blood, 85, according to the Divine Apostle: “having food and clothing, we will be satisfied with these” (1 Tim. 6:8). And when we need something besides this, then He who has bestowed and fulfills “every living good will” (Ps. 145:16) will give it in every possible way to us who trust in Him and believe in Him. Let’s just leave behind everything else that is from temporary life, that is, vain glory, envy, irritation with each other, deception, murmuring, strife and everything that God hates and that damages the soul. Let us desire with all our hearts what God commands us to love: spiritual poverty, by the name of which Scripture means humility, and incessant weeping day and night, from which flows spiritual joy and ever-present consolation for those who love God. Through mourning, meekness is also granted when we truly struggle, hunger and thirst for righteousness, and constantly seek the Kingdom of God, which surpasses all human understanding. And not only this, but also to be merciful, pure of heart, full of peace, a peacemaker and courageous in temptations - all this is achieved by the same thing - to cry every day; From this comes hatred of evil and Divine jealousy is kindled in the soul, which never allows it to weaken 86 or to deviate towards evil with the evil, but fills it with courage and strength to endure adversity to the end. So, beloved brothers, let us flee the world and the things in the world. What do we have in common with the world and with the people living in the world? Let us strive and strive until we achieve something immutable and not fleeting; for everything present decays and passes away like a dream, and in the visible there is nothing permanent and solid: the sun, stars, sky and earth - everything passes, but man alone remains. What of the visible can benefit us during the time of mortal need, when we depart from here to the rest there in the next century, but the visible will remain behind and will soon pass away? But even if what is visible does not pass quickly, what good will it do us when we move away and leave here only one dead body? For when the soul leaves its body, it can no longer see through it, nor be visible from another, but from then on its mind remains in the invisible alone and has no concern for what is here, having inherited one or another stay and field: either the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal glory, or, on the contrary, Gehenna and fiery torment, for it will receive from God as an eternal inheritance one of these, according to the merits of the deeds it has accomplished here. I pray you, for this sake let us flee the world. Let us flee the seduction of this life and its imaginary joy and let us resort to the One Savior of souls - Christ. Let us strive to find Him, the Omnipresent One, and having found Him, let us fall at His feet, embrace them and kiss them with the warmth of our souls. To her, I pray you, we strive, while still in this life, to see and behold Him. If we are worthy to see Him with our common sense while still here, we will not die. Death will not prevail over us. Not only will we hope to see Him in the future, but we will strive to see Him even now, as John the Theologian says: “We know that God is in our hearts from the Spirit, which He gave us to eat” (1 John 3:24). So, all of you, who through your deeds have shown a strong and firm faith in Him, considering carefully and correctly everything that we have said above, see to it that you are not deceived by the opinion that you have Christ in yourself, having nothing, and that you do not accidentally leave this life empty-handed and not hear - (oh, lest this happen!) - that terrible voice: “Take up, if you think that you have this evil one, and give more to the one who has” (Matthew 25:28–29). Then you will weep and wail, and you will be in sorrow for endless ages. Oh, lest we hear this voice and suffer this, who have renounced the whole world and the things in the world, and have fled to Christ; but keeping the commandments of God, let us purify our hearts with tears and repentance, so that here too we may see the Divine Light - Christ Himself, and acquire It abiding in us, and feeding and life-giving our souls with His Most Holy Spirit, and giving us the indescribable sweetness of these blessings of His Kingdom, which may we all be worthy to achieve in Christ Himself, our Lord, to Him be glory and power with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. In glory: the earthly man with his visible wisdom having been stripped away. In Greek hand: μετὰ τοῦ φρονήματος αὐτοῦ διὰ τῶν φαινομένων ἀπεκδυσάμενος. By which we must mean the cell rule, also the Midnight Office, which, apparently, was not read in church at that time. In glory: God-loving. In Greek: φιλαγάθως. Here, probably, we mean the prayers we use in the morning and for bedtime, which in the East are not found in common church traditions even now. In glory: not given to some. In the Greek manuscript it is noted in the margin: οὗτος ἦν αὐτός - it was he himself. Simeon, Elder of Studium, who was the spiritual father and mentor of Simeon the New Theologian. In glory: By the one Holy Spirit with a pure heart. In Greek: μόνοις διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος τοῖς καθαροῖς τῇ καρδίᾳ. At the end of the word we place another, more extensive one from this place (from: “This saint has labored” ... to: “I will give you rest”), made by us from the Greek manuscript and from the ancient Slavic translation, which in the 1852 edition is placed under the line pp. 27–31. In Greek manuscripts and old glory. translation added: “How, according to Saint Simeon, will we see God living in us like light? No way, brothers! Let no one deceive you. But do you consider blessed Simeon crazy and are you ashamed to imitate his deeds? Imitate Christ God!” In the Greek manuscript and the old Slavic translation it is added: “Our father, that is, blessed Simeon, heard this for us, or better, for our sake.” Added from a Greek manuscript. There is no such conclusion in Slavic; it was added from the Greek Synodal manuscript. In the old glory as if anyone accepts. In Greek δεξαμενή τις. The ancient Slavic translator probably did not understand the noun δεξαμενή (font, pond) and took it for a sacrament. In the old slav.: from perception. In Greek ἀπὸ τῆς δεξαμενῆς. In the old glory Speech: Hegumen is a false and false speaker. In Greek: κομπολόγον με καὶ τορνολόγον ἡγούμενος. The participle ἡγούμενος is accepted by the translator as a noun. In the old slav.: it is impossible to have such virtues. In Greek: τοιοῦτον ἄρτι. Added from Greek. and glory hands In glory: your door is small. Added from Greek. manuscripts. This place is supplemented from the Greek manuscript, in which it is also added in the margin: “in all this he hides himself: for he himself does this, and wrote, and told about this.” This place is supplemented from Greek. manuscripts. In glory time (in Greek: χρόνον) has already fulfilled, and twice (in Greek: δύο) and three times (in Greek: τρεῖς) doing this. Χρόνος in modern Greek means year. In glory: with better wisdom (i.e. when a person is wise from above and not from earth). The Monk Abba Isaiah says: “Then God, having taken away the light from the flame, will leave in that fire only burning power and darkness, for great punishment of the wicked and sinners.” (Venerable Abba Isaiah, spiritual and moral words. Moscow, 1860. Sermon 29; chapter 7; p. 319). In glory: are the imams of the bliss of Christ within themselves? In Greek: τὰ τῶν μακαρισμῶν. In glory: by deed and deed of the visible. In Greek: ἔργῳ καὶ πράξει θεωρουμένης. The words: “where is the illumination of the Spirit” in glory. no translation. They were added from Greek. In glory: you have been vouchsafed to see Him with all your sight. In glory: pretends to be a dean's clothes. In Greek: προσποιεῖται κοσμίαν καταστολήν. In glory: I am lazy because I say, and to the hypogastric. Added from Greek. handwritten Those. without one of two things: without touching repentance or spiritual enlightenment. In Greek hands a note is written on the margin: “He calls here disgusting and harmful that which is contrary to bodily health or the zealous desire for exploits and care for them, as in another place it is written: when you see a young man flying, take him by the leg and draw him to the ground.” According to Greek προοίμιον – beginning, introduction. According to Greek ἀπαύγασμα καὶ λαμπηδόν - reflection and radiance. In Greek hands here the following is inserted: “I wrote this to your love, so that you, having in writing what you once wanted to hear from my curse, can now read it whenever you want. If you believe that this is providential and for your benefit, the Most Holy Spirit commands you through us, then everything will happen in order, as we said; and what we have not said—for there is much more—Christ will teach you by Himself. If this seems incredible and unacceptable to you, then forgive me, who advises what I have learned; and you follow everything that is best, as you know.” According to glory: not forbidden. In Greek: ἀβουλήτως. In glory: like the sun I perfect the inner heart. In glory "unsad." In Greek handicraft: ἐμμέριμνος – caring. In the old glory. translation: “Let your obedience be spiritual care for the brethren. Give monastic obediences to reverent and God-fearing brethren, whom you test in all obediences, according to the tradition of our Venerable Father Theodore the Studite.” In the old glory translation: “Keep monastic things carefully, as dedicated to God, because you will give an account to God for even the smallest things. If you are poor, you can help your parents and relatives, just like other poor people; give them only what is necessary for their life.” In Greek: ignorant of the mysteries of grace. Translated by Art. Paisia: We create slaves for ourselves below the birth; and in Greek hands δήλους ἑαυτοὺς ποιοῦμεν…. In the manuscript from which the elder translated, it was probably written (instead of δήλους) δούλους, which does not have such a clear meaning. Added from Greek hands. The Holy Spirit in Scripture is usually called either the Spirit of God or the Spirit of Christ. Where the Son is spoken of, it is always expressed as follows: Son of God. About the Father: blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In glory: more natural and by nature. According to Greek φυσικῶς τε καὶ κατ᾽ ἰδιότητα. In glory: about the one tabernacle. In Greek: σκηνῇ. In Greek hands added: unlazy, ἀόκνως. In glory: he hears, not as if someone were advertising, a voice or voices. In glory: darkened; in Greek: ἰλιγγιᾷ. In glory: so much greatness. In Greek: τοιούτων με ἀγαθῶν. In Greek hands added in the footnote: The whole world could not contain these books. In Slav.: Is it worth nothing to grow up again from expulsion? In Greek hands: From the expulsion again they did not suffer any harm (ἐβλάβησαν). Handwritten Paisius (Velichkovsky), probably read ἐβλάστησαν. In glory formerly small; in Greek: πρώην. In Greek hand: “and words of justification” (καὶ λόγος ἀπολογίας). In Greek hand: τίς δὲ ἀποθανεῖται ἐν ἁμαρτίαις καὶ οὐ μεταμεληθήσεται; ἔσται δὲ αὐτῷ οὐδὲν ὄφελος. In glory For the sake of the apostles. In Greek διὰ τοὺς ἀπίστους. Compare above, word 7, p. 109. Handwritten Paisius (Velichkovsky) made a note: i.e. the power of the Holy Spirit. In Greek ἠρεμῆσαι. In glory translation: empty.