I часть

Student. Give an accurate and detailed concept of beauty. What is beauty? Elder. Prelest is the damage to human nature by lies. Delusion is the state of all people, without exception, produced by the fall of our forefathers. We are all in a state of delight 1 . Knowing this is the greatest protection against delusion. The greatest charm is to recognize oneself as free from delusion. We are all deceived, we are all deceived, we are all in a false state, we need liberation by the truth. The truth is our Lord Jesus Christ (John VIII.32–14, 6). Let us assimilate this Truth by faith in It; Let us cry out in prayer to this Truth, and She will take us out of the abyss of self-delusion and seduction by demons. Our condition is sad! It is a prison from which we pray to lead our soul, “to confess the name of the Lord” (Psalm 141:8). It is that dark land into which our life was cast down by the enemy who envied us and persecuted us (Psalm 142:3). It is “carnal wisdom” (Rom. 8.6) and “false reason” (1 Tim. 6:20), which infects the whole world, which does not recognize its illness, proclaiming it as blooming health. It is “flesh and blood”, which “cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 15:50). It is eternal death, healed and destroyed by the Lord Jesus, Who is “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). This is our condition. His sight is a new reason for crying. We cry out to the Lord Jesus, so that he would lead us out of prison, take us out of the abysses of the earth, and snatch us from the jaws of death. “Our Lord Jesus Christ,” says the Monk Simeon, the New Theologian, “came down to us because he wanted to take us out of captivity and from the worst delusion” 2. Student. This explanation is not quite accessible to my concepts: I need a simpler explanation, closer to my understanding. Elder. The fallen angel used lies as a means of destroying the human race (Gen. III, 13). For this reason, the Lord called the devil “a lie, ... the father of lies and ... a murderer from time immemorial” (John 8:44). The Lord closely connected the concept of lying with the concept of murder: because the latter is an indispensable consequence of the former. The word “from time immemorial” indicates that lies from the very beginning served as an instrument for the devil to commit murder, and constantly serves him as an instrument for murder, for the destruction of people. The beginning of evil is a false thought! The source of self-delusion and demonic delusion is a false thought! Through lies, the devil struck humanity with eternal death at its very roots, in its forefathers. Our forefathers were “deceived,” that is, they recognized a lie as the truth, and, having accepted the lie under the guise of truth, they damaged themselves with an incurably deadly sin, which our foremother also witnessed. “The serpent deceived me,” she said, “and I died” (Gen. 3:13). Since that time, our nature, infected with the poison of evil, has arbitrarily and involuntarily striven for evil, which appears to be good and pleasure to a distorted will, a perverted mind, a perverted feeling of the heart. Arbitrarily: because we still have a remnant of freedom in choosing good and evil. Involuntarily: because this remnant of freedom does not act as complete freedom; he operates under the inherent influence of the corruption of sin. We are born this way; we cannot help but be like this: and therefore all of us, without any exception, are in a state of self-delusion and demonic delusion. From this view of the state of people in relation to good and evil, a state that necessarily belongs to every person, the following definition of prelest follows, explaining it with all satisfaction: prelest is the assimilation by a person of a lie that he has accepted as the truth. Charm acts initially on the way of thinking; Having been accepted and perverted the way of thinking, it is immediately communicated to the heart, perverting the heart’s sensations; Having mastered the essence of a person, it spills over all his activities, poisoning the body itself, as if it is inextricably linked by the Creator with the soul. The state of delusion is a state of destruction or eternal death. Since the fall of man, the devil has had constant free access to him 3 . The devil has the right to this access: by obeying him, man arbitrarily subjected himself to his power, rejecting obedience to God. God redeemed man. The redeemed person is given the freedom to obey either God or the devil, and in order for this freedom to manifest itself spontaneously, the devil is given access to man. It is very natural that the devil uses every effort to keep a person in the same attitude towards himself, or even to bring him into greater enslavement. To do this, he uses his former and ever-present weapon - lies. He tries to seduce and deceive us, relying on our state of self-delusion; our passions - these painful attractions - he sets in motion; their destructive demands are clothed in plausibility, and are strengthened to incline us to satisfy our passions. He who is faithful to the Word of God does not allow himself this satisfaction, curbs his passions, and repels the attacks of the enemy (Jas. 4, 7): acting under the guidance of the Gospel against his own self-delusion, taming passions, thereby destroying little by little the influence of fallen spirits on himself, he little by little emerges from the state of delusion into the realm of truth and freedom (John 8, 32), the fullness of which is delivered by the overshadowing of Divine grace. He who is unfaithful to the teachings of Christ, following his own will and reason, submits to the enemy, and from a state of self-delusion passes to a state of demonic delusion, loses the remainder of his freedom, and enters into complete submission to the devil. The state of people in demonic delusion can be very diverse, corresponding to the passion by which a person is seduced and enslaved, corresponding to the degree to which a person is enslaved by passion. But all those who have fallen into demonic delusion, that is, through the development of their own self-delusion, who have entered into communication with the devil and enslavement to him, are in delusion, they are churches and tools of demons, victims of eternal death, life in the prisons of hell. About mental and spiritual jealousy A monk must be very wary of carnal and spiritual jealousy, which appears pious on the surface, but in essence is reckless and harmful to the soul. Lay people and many monastics, out of ignorance, greatly praise such zeal, not realizing that its sources are conceit and pride. They call this zeal zeal for faith, for piety, for the church, for God. It consists in more or less harsh condemnation and denunciation of neighbors in their moral errors and in errors against church deanery and order. Deceived by the false concept of jealousy, unreasonable zealots think, indulging in it, to imitate the holy Fathers and holy martyrs, forgetting about themselves that they, the zealots, are not saints, but sinners. If the saints denounced the sinners and the wicked, then they denounced them at the command of God, according to their duty, according to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and not according to the inspiration of their passions and demons. Whoever decides to spontaneously denounce his brother or make a reprimand to him clearly reveals and proves that he considered himself more prudent and more virtuous than the one he denounced, that he acts out of passion and seduction by demonic thoughts. It is appropriate to remember the Savior’s commandment: “Why have you seen the bitch that is in your brother’s eye, but have you not sensed the beam that is in your eye? Or how do you say to your brother: leave him alone, so that I may remove the speck from your mind: and this log is in your eye? O hypocrite, first remove the plank from your hair; and then you will see to take away the speck from your brother’s hair” (Matthew 7:3-5). What is a log? This is carnal wisdom, as thick as a log, taking away all ability and correctness from the visual power bestowed by the Creator on the mind and heart. A person led by carnal wisdom cannot in any way correctly judge either his own internal state or the state of his neighbors. He judges himself and others as he appears to himself, and as his neighbors appear to him in appearance, according to his carnal wisdom, erroneously: and therefore the Word of God very correctly called him a hypocrite. A Christian, after healing himself with the Word of God and the Spirit of God, receives a correct view of his spiritual structure and the spiritual structure of his neighbors. Carnal wisdom, hitting a sinning neighbor with a log, always confuses him, often destroys him, never brings and cannot bring benefit, and has no effect on sin. On the contrary, spiritual wisdom acts exclusively on the spiritual illness of a neighbor, having mercy on the neighbor, healing and saving him. It is worthy of note that after acquiring spiritual intelligence, the shortcomings and errors of one’s neighbor begin to seem very unimportant, as redeemed by the Savior and conveniently healed by repentance - those same errors and shortcomings that seemed immensely great and important to the carnal mind. It is obvious that carnal wisdom, being itself a log, gave them such great importance. Carnal wisdom sees in one's neighbor such sins as are not in him at all: for this reason, those who were carried away by reckless jealousy often fell into slandering their neighbor and became a tool and playground of fallen spirits. The Monk Pimen the Great said that a certain monk, carried away by jealousy, was subjected to the following temptation: he saw another monk lying on a woman. The monk struggled for a long time with a thought that forced him to stop the sinners, and, finally, defeated, he pushed them with his foot, saying: stop it! Then it turned out that these were two sheaves 4. The Monk Abba Dorotheos says that while he was in the hostel of Abba Serida, a certain brother slandered another brother, being carried away by reckless jealousy, which is always associated with suspicion and suspiciousness, and is very capable of writing. The accuser blamed the accused for stealing figs from the garden early in the morning and eating them: according to the research carried out by the abbot, it turned out that the slandered person on that morning was not in the monastery, but in one of the neighboring villages, having been sent there by the steward, and returned to the monastery only by the time the Divine Liturgy ended 5. If you want to be a faithful, zealous son of the Orthodox Church, then achieve this by fulfilling the Gospel commandments regarding your neighbor. Don't dare denounce him! Don't dare teach him! Do not dare to condemn and reproach him! This is not an act of faith, but of reckless jealousy, conceit, and pride. They asked Pimen the Great: what is faith? The Great One answered: “Faith consists in remaining in humility and doing mercy,” 6 that is, humbling yourself before your neighbors and forgiving them all insults and insults, all their sins. Since reckless zealots cite faith as the primary reason for their zeal, let them know that true faith 7 , and therefore true zeal, must be expressed in humility before one’s neighbors and in mercy towards them. Let us leave the judgment of men and the chastisement of men to those men who are entrusted with the responsibility of judging and governing their brethren. “He who has false zeal,” said Saint Isaac of Syria, “suffers from a great illness. O man who thinks of carrying out jealousy against the illnesses of others, you have renounced the health of your soul! Work diligently for the health of your soul. If you want to heal the weak, then know that the sick need more care for them than harsh reproofs. But by not helping others, you plunge yourself into a serious and painful illness. This jealousy in people is not recognized as one of the types of wisdom, but is ranked among the ailments of the soul, it is a sign of the poverty of (spiritual) reason, a sign of extreme ignorance. The beginning of the wisdom of God is quietness and meekness, characteristic of a great and strong soul, a most thorough way of thinking, and bearing human infirmities. “For you are strong,” says Scripture, “and bear the infirmities of the weak” (Rom. 15:1), and: “correct the one who sins... with a spirit of meekness” (Galat. 6.1). The Apostle lists peace and patience among the fruits of the Holy Spirit 8 . In another word, the Monk Isaac says: “Do not hate the sinner, because we are all sinners. If you struggle against him (the sinner) for God’s sake, then shed tears for him. Why do you hate him? Hate his sins, and pray for him, and thereby you will become like Christ, Who was not indignant at sinners, but prayed for them. Don't you see how He wept for Jerusalem? And in many cases we serve as a laughing stock for the devil. Why do we hate the one at whom the devil laughs and laughs at us? Why do you, O man, hate the sinner? Is it because he is not as righteous as you? Where is your truth when you have no love! Why did you not weep for him, but do you persecute him? Some who imagine themselves to have a sound judgment about the deeds of sinners, and (on this occasion) are angry with them, act so out of their ignorance” 9 . The great disaster is conceit! The great disaster is the rejection of humility! A great disaster is that mental dispensation and state in which a monk, without being called or questioned, out of his own consciousness of his dignity, begins to teach, reprove, and reproach his neighbors! When asked, either refuse to give advice and say your opinion, as if you know nothing, or, in extreme need, speak with the greatest caution and modesty, so as not to hurt yourself with vanity and pride, or your neighbor with harsh and reckless words. When, for your work in the garden of commandments, God grants you to feel the Divine jealousy in your soul, then you will clearly see that this jealousy will encourage you to silence and humility before your neighbors, to love them, to have mercy on them, to condole for them, as Saint Isaac of Syria said 10. Divine jealousy is a fire, but not one that heats the blood! It extinguishes the heat in her and brings her into a calm state 11 . The jealousy of carnal wisdom is always associated with heated blood, with the invasion of numerous thoughts and dreams. The consequences of blind and ignorant jealousy, if a neighbor resists it, are usually indignation at him, resentment, vindictiveness in various forms, and if he submits, vain self-satisfaction, excitement and an increase in our arrogance and conceit. On caution when reading patristic books on monastic life The books of the Holy Fathers on monastic life should be read with great caution. It has been noticed that the new monk cannot apply the books to his situation, but he is certainly carried away by the direction of the book. If the book teaches advice about silence, and shows the abundance of spiritual fruits gathered in the deep desert, then the novice will certainly have a strong desire to retire into solitude, into the deserted desert. If the book speaks of unconditional obedience under the leadership of the Spirit-bearing Father, then the desire for the strictest living in complete obedience to the elder will certainly appear in the novice. God has not given our time either one or the other of these lives. But the books of the Holy Fathers, written about these residences, can affect the novice so strongly that he, due to his inexperience and ignorance, easily decides to leave his place of residence, in which he has all the convenience of being saved and spiritually succeeding by fulfilling the Gospel commandments, for the pipe dream of perfect residence, which is depicted picturesquely and seductively in his imagination. Saint John of the Climacus speaks in the Word about silence: “At the meal of good brotherhood, there is always a certain dog who tries to steal the bread from it, that is, the soul, then runs away, holding it in its mouth, and devours it in a secluded place” 12. In his word on obedience, this mentor of monks says: “The devil instills in those who live in obedience the desire for impossible virtues. Likewise, he advises those who remain in silence to perform feats that are unusual for them. Reveal the way of thinking of unskilled novices, and you will find there a concept born of self-delusion: you will find there a desire for the strictest silence and fasting, unceasing prayer, complete lack of vanity, unstoppable remembrance of death, constant tenderness, all-perfect lack of anger, deep silence, excellent purity. They, having been deceived, rushed in vain (they moved from the fraternal hostel to deep solitude), not having in themselves at their new beginning the mentioned virtues according to the special vision of God: the enemy taught them to strive for these virtues prematurely, so that they would not receive them in due time. The seducer (the devil) pleases, in front of the silent ones, the hospitable love of the novices, their service, brotherly love, sociability, going after the sick, in order to make the latter, like the former, impatient” 13 . The fallen angel tries to deceive and draw the monks into destruction, offering them not only sin in its various forms, but also offering them the most sublime virtues that are unusual for them. Do not trust, brethren, your thoughts, understandings, dreams, inclinations, even if they seem to you the best, even if they represent to you in a picturesque picture the most holy monastic life! If the monastery in which you live gives you the opportunity to lead your life according to the Gospel commandments, if you are not tempted into mortal sins, then do not leave the monastery. Gently tolerate its shortcomings, both spiritual and material, and do not think in vain of seeking the field of exploits that God has not given to our time. God desires and seeks the salvation of all. He always saves everyone who wishes to be saved from drowning in the worldly and sinful sea, but He does not always save in a ship or in a comfortable, well-appointed shelter. He promised salvation to the holy Apostle Paul and all the apostle’s companions. He gave this salvation, but the apostle and his companions were saved not in the ship, which was broken, but with great difficulty, some by swimming, others on planks and various debris from the ship (Acts 27:21–49). About keeping yourself from the good that belongs to fallen human nature Will any good thought come to you? Stop: don’t rush to fulfill it recklessly, thoughtlessly. Do you feel any good attraction in your heart? Stop; don’t dare to get carried away by him. Master the Gospel. Consider whether your good thought and your good desire of heart agree with the all-holy teaching of the Lord. You will soon see that there is no agreement between the good of the Gospel and the good of fallen human nature. The good of our fallen nature is mixed with evil, and therefore this good itself has become evil, just as tasty and healthy food becomes poison when it is mixed with poison. Be careful to do the good of fallen nature! By doing this good, you will develop your fall, you will develop conceit and pride, and you will achieve the closest resemblance to demons. On the contrary, by doing the good of the Gospel, as a true and faithful disciple of the God-man, you will become like the God-man. “Love your soul,” said the Lord, “he will destroy it: and you who hate your soul in this world will preserve it for eternity” (John 12:25). “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and come after Me. If anyone wants to save his soul, he will destroy it; and if anyone destroys his soul for the sake of Me and the Gospel, he will save it” (Mark 8:34-35). The Lord commands the complete rejection of fallen nature, hatred of its motives, not only the obviously evil ones, but also everyone without exception, and the supposedly good ones. The great disaster is to follow the truth of a fallen nature: with this comes the rejection of the Gospel, the rejection of the Redeemer, the rejection of salvation. “Whoever... does not hate... his own life cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26), said the Lord. Explaining the above words of the Lord, the Great Barsanuphius says: “How does a person deny himself? – Only by abandoning natural desires and following the Lord. That is why the Lord speaks here about the natural, and not about the unnatural; for if someone leaves only the unnatural, then he has not yet left anything of his own, for God's sake, because the unnatural does not belong to him. And the one who has left the natural always cries out with the Apostle Peter: “We have left everything behind, and become dead after You; what then will happen to us?” (Matthew 19:27–29.) and hears the blessed voice of the Lord, and is assured of the inheritance of eternal life by the promise. What did Peter leave behind, not being rich, and what did he boast of, if not abandonment of his natural desires? For unless a person dies to the flesh while living in the spirit, he cannot be resurrected in soul. Just as in a dead person there are no natural desires at all, so there are none in someone who is spiritually dead to the flesh. If you are dead to the flesh, how can natural desires live in you? If you have not reached the spiritual level, and are still an infancy in mind, then humble yourself before the teacher - “may he punish you with mercy” (Psalm 140:5) and “do nothing without advice” (Sir. 32:21), even if something seems apparently good to you; for the light of demons subsequently turns into darkness” 14. The same should be said about the light of fallen human nature. Following this light and developing it in oneself produces complete darkness in the soul and completely alienates it from Christ. Someone who is alien to Christianity is alien to God: “let everyone reject the Son, so that they may not have the Father” (1 John 2:23) - an atheist. In our age, proud of their success, the majority of people, proclaiming themselves Christians and doers of the most abundant good, rushed to perfect the truth of fallen nature, rejecting the truth of the Gospel with contempt. Let this majority hear the definition of the Lord: “These people draw near to Me with their lips and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. But they honor Me in vain, with teaching, the commandment of men” (Matthew 15:8,9). The worker of human truth is filled with doubt, arrogance, and self-delusion; he preaches, trumpets about himself, about his deeds, not paying any attention to the Lord’s prohibition (Matt. 6:1-18.); pays with hatred and vengeance those who would dare to open their mouths for the most thorough and well-intentioned contradiction of his truth; recognizes himself as worthy and worthy of earthly and heavenly rewards. On the contrary, the doer of the Gospel commandments is always immersed in humility: comparing his fulfillment with the sublimity and purity of the all-holy commandments, he constantly recognizes this fulfillment as extremely insufficient, unworthy of God; he sees himself as having deserved temporary and eternal punishment for his sins, for unbroken communication with Satan, for the fall common to all people, for his own stay in the fall, and finally, for the most insufficient and often perverse fulfillment of the commandments. Before every sorrow sent by God's providence, he bows his head with humility, knowing that God teaches and forms his servants through sorrows during their earthly wanderings. He has mercy on his enemies and prays for them as brothers carried away by demons, as members of a single body stricken with illness in their spirit, as his benefactors, as instruments of God’s providence. Demons use dreams to disturb and damage human souls; also, inexperienced monks themselves, by paying attention to their dreams, harm themselves, for this reason it is necessary to make here a definition of the meaning of dreams in a person whose nature has not yet been renewed by the Holy Spirit. During human sleep, the state of the sleeping person is arranged by God in such a way that the whole person is in complete rest. This rest is so complete that during it a person loses consciousness of his existence and comes into self-forgetfulness. During sleep, all activity associated with labor and performed voluntarily under the control of the mind and will ceases: that activity that is necessary for existence remains and cannot be separated from it. In the body, the blood continues its movement, the stomach cooks food, the lungs send out breath, the skin allows perspiration; thoughts, dreams and feelings continue to multiply in the soul, but not depending on reason and arbitrariness, but according to the action of the unconscious nature. From such dreams, accompanied by characteristic thinking and sensations, a dream is composed. It is often strange, as not belonging to the system of voluntary and intentional dreams and thoughts of a person, but being spontaneous and self-righteous according to the law and requirement of nature. Sometimes a dream bears the incoherent imprint of arbitrary thoughts and dreams, and sometimes it is a consequence of a moral mood. Thus, a dream in itself cannot and should not have any meaning. It is ridiculous and completely illogical that some people want to see in the ravings of their dreams a prediction of their future or the future of others or some other meaning. What about something that has no reason to exist? Demons, having access to our souls while we are awake, also have it during our sleep. And during sleep they tempt us with sin, mixing their dreams into our dreams. Also, having seen in us attention to dreams, they try to make our dreams entertaining, and to arouse in us greater attention to these nonsense, to lead us little by little into confidence in them. Such trust is always associated with conceit, and conceit makes our mental view of ourselves false, which is why all our activities are deprived of correctness: this is what the demons need. To those who have succeeded in conceit, demons begin to appear in the form of angels of light, in the form of martyrs and saints, even in the form of the Mother of God and Christ Himself, they bless their lives, promise them heavenly crowns, and thereby elevate them to the heights of conceit and pride. Such a height is also a disastrous abyss. We need to know and know that in our state, which has not yet been renewed by grace, we are unable to see dreams other than those formed by the delirium of the soul and the slander of demons. Just as during a state of vigor thoughts and dreams constantly and incessantly arise in us from fallen nature, or are brought by demons, so during sleep we see only dreams based on the action of fallen nature and the action of demons. Just as our consolation during our wakefulness consists of tenderness born from the consciousness of our sins, from the memory of death and the judgment of God - only these thoughts arise in us from the grace of God living in us, implanted in holy baptism, and are brought to us by the Angels of God, in accordance with our state of penitents, so in a dream, very rarely, in extreme need, the Angels of God present to us either our death, or hellish torment, or a terrible near-death and afterlife judgment. From such dreams we come to the fear of God, to tenderness, to crying for ourselves. But such dreams are given very rarely to an ascetic or even to an obvious and severe sinner, according to the special unknown vision of God; are given very rarely, not because of the stinginess of Divine grace towards us - no! For the reason that everything that happens to us outside the general order leads us to conceit and shakes in us the humility that is so necessary for our salvation. The will of God, the fulfillment of which consists in the salvation of man, is depicted in the Holy Scriptures so clearly, so strongly, in such detail that promoting the salvation of people by violating the general order becomes most unnecessary and unnecessary. To the one who asked for the resurrection of the dead man and his sending to the brethren to exhort them to move from the wide path to the narrow one, it was said: “Moses and the Prophets will listen to them.” When the one who asked objected: “neither!.. but if anyone comes to them from the dead, they will repent,” he received the answer: “if they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, and if anyone rises from the dead, they do not have faith” (Luke 16:27-31). Experience has shown that many who were granted visions of ordeals, the Last Judgment and other afterlife horrors in a dream, were shocked by the vision for a short time, then scattered, forgot about what they had seen, and led a carefree life, on the contrary, they did not have any visions, but carefully studied the law of God, gradually came to the fear of God, achieved spiritual success, and in the joy born of the announcement of salvation, they passed from earthly life. vale of sorrows into blissful eternity. Saint John of the Climacus discusses the participation of demons in monastic dreams in the following way: “When we, having left home and household for the sake of the Lord, give ourselves up to wandering for the love of God, then the demons, taking revenge for this, attempt to disturb us with dreams, presenting to us our relatives either weeping, or dying, or being kept in prison and exposed to misfortune for us. A believer in dreams is like one chasing his shadow and trying to catch it. The demons of vanity become prophets in dreams, foretelling the future with their cunning, and foreshadowing it to us, so that when the visions are fulfilled, we become bewildered, and, as already close to the gift of foreknowledge, are elevated in thought. For those who believe the demon, he is often a prophet, and for those who humiliate him, he is always a liar. Being a spirit, he sees what is happening in the air, and, realizing that someone is dying, he announces this in a dream to the frivolous. Demons do not know anyone's future by foreknowledge, otherwise sorcerers could predict our death. Demons transform into angels of light, often take on the image of martyrs and in dreams show us our communication with them, and those who awaken are immersed in joy and exaltation. Let this be a sign of delusion (demonic seduction) for you. The Holy Angels show torment, which is death, which is why, when we wake up, we are filled with trembling and lamentation. If we begin to submit to demons in our dreams, they will begin to mock us in our waking state. He who believes in dreams is completely unskilled, and he who does not believe in any dream is truly wise. Trust only those dreams that announce to you torment and judgment, but if because of them despair begins to disturb you, then such dreams are from demons” 15. The Monk Cassian the Roman tells about a certain monk, a native of Mesopotamia, that he led the most solitary and fasting life, but died from the seduction of demonic dreams. The demons, seeing that the monk paid little attention to his spiritual development, but directed all his attention to the physical feat, and gave it, and therefore himself, a price, began to present him with dreams, which, through demonic cunning, actually came true. When the monk established confidence in his dreams and in himself, the devil presented to him in a magnificent dream Jews enjoying heavenly bliss, and Christians languishing in hellish torment. At the same time, the demon - of course in the form of an angel or some Old Testament righteous man - advised the monk to accept Judaism in order to gain the opportunity to take part in the bliss of the Jews, which the monk did without the slightest delay 16. Enough has been said to explain to our beloved brothers, modern monks, how foolish it is to listen, much less trust, to dreams, and what terrible harm can arise from trusting them. Attention to dreams inevitably creeps into the soul to trust them, and therefore attention itself is strictly forbidden. The nature renewed by the Holy Spirit is governed by completely different laws than the nature that is fallen and stagnant in its fall. The ruler of the renewed man is the Holy Spirit. “The grace of the Divine Spirit shone upon them,” said the Monk Macarius the Great, “and settled in the depths of their minds: this is the Lord as the soul” 17. Both in wakefulness and in sleep they abide in the Lord, outside of sin, outside of earthly and carnal thoughts and dreams. Their thoughts and dreams, which during sleep are outside the control of the human mind and will, acting in other people unconsciously, according to the demands of nature, act in them under the guidance of the Spirit, and the dreams of such people have spiritual significance. Thus, righteous Joseph was taught in a dream the mystery of the incarnation of God the Word; in a dream he was commanded to flee to Egypt and return from it (Matthew 2:13–15). Dreams sent by God carry in themselves an irresistible conviction. This conviction is understandable to the saints of God and incomprehensible to those who are still struggling with passions. In the previous chapter, grains are the name given to the spiritual dwelling provided by God’s providence to our time. It is based on guidance in the matter of salvation by the Holy Scriptures and the writings of the Holy Fathers, with advice and edification borrowed from modern fathers and brothers. In its proper sense, this is the obedience of the ancient monks, in a different form, adapted to our weakness, mainly spiritual. To the ancient novices, their Spirit-bearing mentors immediately and directly proclaimed the will of God: now monks themselves must search for the will of God in Scripture, and therefore be subjected to frequent and prolonged perplexities and errors. Then success was fast in the nature of doing: now it is again sluggish in the nature of doing. Such is the good will of our God toward us: we are obliged to submit to him and revere him with thanksgiving. Our modern monastic life, according to Scripture and the advice of the fathers and brothers, is sanctified by the example of the head of monasticism, St. Anthony the Great. He was not in obedience to the elder, but in his new beginning he lived separately, and borrowed instructions from Scripture and from various fathers and brothers: from one he learned abstinence, from another - meekness, patience, humility, from another - strict vigilance over himself, silence, trying to assimilate the virtue of every virtuous monk, showing obedience to everyone as much as possible, humbling himself before everyone and praying to God unceasingly 18. Do you too, beginner, in this way! Show the abbot and other monastic authorities unfeigned and inhumane obedience, obedience that is alien to flattery and caresses, obedience for the sake of God. Show obedience to all fathers and brothers in their orders, which are not contrary to the Law of God, the charter and order of the monastery and the order of the monastic authorities. But do not be obedient to evil, even if you happen to suffer some sorrow for your inhumanity and firmness. Consult with virtuous and wise fathers and brothers, but take their advice with extreme caution and prudence. Don’t get carried away with advice based on its initial effect on you! Due to your passion and blindness, other passionate and harmful advice may please you solely due to your ignorance and inexperience, or because it pleases some hidden passion, unknown to you, living in you. With tears and heartfelt sighs, beg God that He will not allow you to deviate from His all-holy will to follow the fallen human will, yours or your neighbor, your advisor. Both about your thoughts and about the thoughts of your neighbor, about his advice, consult the Gospel. Vanity and conceit love to teach and instruct. They don't care about the merits of their advice! They do not think that they can inflict an incurable ulcer on their neighbor with absurd advice, which is accepted by an inexperienced beginner with an unconscious trust, with carnal and blood heat! They need success, no matter what the quality of this success, no matter what its beginning! They need to impress the newcomer and morally subjugate him to themselves! They need human praise! They need to be known as saints, wise, perspicacious elders, teachers! They need to feed their insatiable vanity, their pride. The prayer of the Prophet has always been fair, and it is especially true now: “Save me, O Lord, for I have become impoverished, for the truth has fallen away from the sons of men. Every one speaks vain words to his sincere: a flattering mouth is in the heart: and evil words are in the heart” (Psalm 11:2, 3). A false and hypocritical word cannot but be an evil and harmful word. Caution must be taken against such sentiments. “Study the Divine Scripture,” says Simeon, the New Theologian, “and the writings of the Holy Fathers, especially the active ones, so that by comparing the teaching and behavior of your teacher and elder with their teaching, you can see them (this teaching and behavior) as in a mirror and understand, assimilate and keep in mind what is consistent with the Scripture, recognize and reject what is false and bad, so as not to be deceived. Know that many deceivers and false teachers have appeared these days.” 19 The Monk Simeon lived in the tenth century after the Nativity of Christ, nine centuries before our time, when the voice of the righteous was heard in the holy Church of Christ about the lack of true, Spirit-bearing leaders, about the multitude of false teachers. As time passed, satisfactory teachers of monasticism became increasingly scarce. Then the Holy Fathers began to offer more and more guidance from the Holy Scriptures and the writings of the Fathers. The Venerable Nil of Sorsky, referring to the Fathers who wrote before him, says: “It is no small feat, they said, to find a charming teacher for this wonderful work” (true monastic heartfelt and mental prayer). They called the one who has work and wisdom attested by the Divine Scripture and has acquired spiritual discernment unprecious. And then, the Holy Fathers said, that even then it was hardly possible to find an unprecious teacher of such subjects; now, when they have become extremely scarce, we must search with all care. If it is not found, then the Holy Fathers commanded to learn from the Divine Scriptures, hearing the Lord Himself saying: “Test the Scriptures, and in them you will find eternal life” (John 5:39). “For it was written beforehand in the Holy Scriptures, for our punishment (instruction) it was written” (Rom. 15:4) 20. The Monk Neil lived in the 15th century; he founded a monastery not far from Bela Ozero, where he practiced prayer in deep solitude. It is useful to listen to the elders of modern times, with what humility and selflessness the Monk Nilus speaks about the instructions that he taught to the brethren. “No one should conceal the word of God through his own negligence, but confess his weakness and at the same time not hide the truth of God, so as not to make us guilty of transgressing the commandment of God. Let us not conceal the word of God, but let us proclaim it. The Divine Scriptures and the words of the Holy Fathers are as numerous as the sand of the sea: eagerly studying them, we teach them to those who come to us and those who need them (demanding, questioning). It’s more correct: it is not we who teach, because we are unworthy of it, but the blessed Holy Fathers who teach from the Divine Scripture” 21 . Here is an excellent example for modern instruction! It is completely spiritually beneficial for the mentor and the mentored, it is the correct expression of moderate success, it is combined with the rejection of conceit, insane arrogance and audacity into which those who imitate in appearance the Great Barsanuphius and other standard-bearing Fathers fall, without having the grace of the Fathers. What was in those an expression of the abundant presence of the Holy Spirit in them: in the reckless, hypocritical imitators it serves as an expression of abundant ignorance, self-delusion, pride, and insolence. Beloved fathers! Let us pronounce the word of God to our brethren with all possible humility and reverence, recognizing ourselves as insufficient for this service and protecting ourselves from vanity, which greatly chills passionate people when they teach the brethren. Think that we must give an answer for every idle word (Matthew 12:36), the more painful is the answer for the word of God spoken with vanity and prompted by vanity. “The Lord will consume all flattering lips and lofty tongues; Let us magnify our tongue, our lips are ours: who is the Lord to us” (Psalm 11:4-5). The Lord will consume those who seek their own glory, and not God’s. Shall we fear the rebuke of the Lord? Let us pronounce the word of edification as required by essential necessity, not as teachers, but as those in need of instruction and striving to become partakers of the instruction taught by God in His all-holy Word. “Everyone receives the gift,” says the holy Apostle Peter, “serving among themselves, as good builders of the various graces of God. If anyone speaks as if he were the words of God,” with the fear of God and reverence for God’s words, and not as his own words, “if anyone serves, as with might, God bestows,” and not as if from his own: “Let God be glorified in Jesus Christ in all things” (1 Peter 4:10-11). He who acts out of himself acts for vanity, sacrifices both himself and those who listen to him to Satan; he who acts from the Lord, acts for the glory of the Lord, accomplishes his own salvation and the salvation of his neighbors by the Lord, the only Savior of men. Let us be afraid of teaching a novice any thoughtless instruction that is not based on the word of God and on the spiritual understanding of the word of God. It is better to admit ignorance than to show knowledge that is harmful to your soul. Let us protect ourselves from the great disaster of turning the gullible novice from a servant of God into a servant of man (1 Cor. 7:23), by attracting him to the creation of the fallen will of man instead of the all-holy will of God 22. The humble attitude of a counselor towards his disciple is completely different from that of an elder towards an unconditional novice, a servant in the Lord. The advice does not contain conditions for necessarily fulfilling it; it can be fulfilled or not fulfilled. The adviser does not bear any responsibility for his advice if he gave it with the fear of God and humility, not spontaneously, but being asked and forced. Likewise, the one who has received advice is not bound by it; it is left to his arbitrariness and reasoning to carry out or not to carry out the advice received. It is obvious how the path of advice and following the Holy Scriptures is consistent with our weak times. Let us note that the fathers forbid giving advice to one's neighbor on one's own impulse, without asking one's neighbor; unauthorized giving of advice is a sign of one's awareness of spiritual knowledge and dignity, which is obvious pride and self-delusion 23 . This does not apply to superiors and leaders, who are obliged at all times, in every need encountered, and without being asked, to instruct the brotherhood entrusted to them (2 Tim. 4:2). But, when visiting other monasteries, they should be guided by the advice of St. Macarius of Alexandria to St. Pachomius the Great. Pachomius asked Macarius about the instruction of the brethren and the trial of them. Abba Macarius answered: “Teach and judge your subordinates, and do not judge any of the strangers” 24. This rule was and is observed by all abbots who want to please God. Let it not be hidden from our beloved brethren that the most sublime kinds of monastic life, such as hermitage in the deep desert or silence in a seclusion, as well as living with the Spirit-bearing elder with unconditional obedience to him, were arranged not by chance, not by the arbitrariness and reason of man, but according to the special vision, determination, calling and revelation of God. Anthony the Great, the head of monasticism, the founder of desert life, withdrew into the desert, already clothed with power from Above, and none other than called by God. Although this is not clearly stated in his life, further events in the life of the Rev. prove this clearly. The fact that he was guided into the deepest (inner) desert for the strictest silence by the Divine voice and command is also said in his life 25. A Cherub appeared to the Monk Macarius the Great, a contemporary of the Monk Anthony, somewhat younger than him, showed him a barren, wild plain - later the famous Egyptian Skete - commanded him to take up residence in it, and promised that the desert plain would be populated by many hermits 26 . Arseny the Great, being in the royal chambers, prayed to God to show him the path of salvation, and heard a voice: “Arseny! run from men and you will be saved.” Arseny retired to the mentioned Skete, there he again begged God to instruct him in salvation and again heard a voice: “Arseny! Flee (people), be silent, remain silent: these are the roots of sinlessness” 27. The Venerable Mary of Egypt was called to hermitage in the Trans-Jordan desert by the command of God 28. God, who called His chosen ones to silence and seclusion, that is, those whom He foresaw capable of silence and seclusion, provided them with such benefits and means for this life that a person cannot have on his own. And in those times in which monasticism flourished, in which there were many Spirit-bearing leaders, few were recognized as capable of silence, especially of hermitage. “True, reasonable silence,” says Saint John Climacus, “can only be experienced by few, and only by those who have acquired Divine consolation, encouraging them in exploits and helping them in battles” 29. “Silence destroys the inexperienced” 30. Hermits and hermits were often subjected to the greatest spiritual calamities: those of them who entered the seclusion spontaneously, not called by God, were subjected to disasters. In the Prologue the following story is read: in Palestine there was a certain monastery at the base of a large and high cliff, and in the cliff there was a den (cave) above the monastery. The monks of that monastery said: “Some time before this, one of our brotherhood had a desire to live in a den in the mountain, and asked the abbot about it. The abbot had the gift of reasoning. He said to his brother: “My son, how do you want to live alone in a den, having not yet overcome your carnal and spiritual passionate thoughts? Anyone who wants to remain silent should be under the guidance of a mentor, and not control himself. You, having not at all achieved the proper measure, ask my thinness to allow you to live alone in a den, but I think that you do not understand the various networks of the devil. It is much better for you to serve your fathers, to receive help from God through their prayers, to glorify and glorify the Lord of all with them at the appointed times, than to fight wicked and evil thoughts alone. Have you not heard what the God-voiced Father John, the writer of the Ladder, says: “Woe to the one who lives alone, if he falls into despondency or laziness, then there is no one to restore him! And where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of them, said the Lord.” This is what the abbot told him, but he could not distract the monk from his soul-destroying thoughts. Seeing his brother’s irresistible desire and his persistent requests, the abbot finally allowed him to live in the den. Encouraged by the abbot's prayer, he entered the den. During the hours of eating food, one of the monastic brethren brought it to the nativity scene, and the hermit had a basket on a rope, which he lowered, and ate food. When he had spent some time in the den, the devil, who always fights with those who want to live godly, began to confuse him with evil thoughts day and night; A few days later, having transformed into a bright angel, he appeared to him and said: “Let it be known to you that for the sake of your purity and good living, the Lord sent me to serve you.” The monk answered: “What good have I done for the angels to serve me?” The devil objected: “Everything you have done is great and lofty. You left the beauties of the world and became a monk, working in fasting, prayers and vigil; again, you left the monastery and took up residence here: how could the angels not serve your shrine? With these speeches, the murderer-snake made him arrogant, proud, and began to constantly appear to him. One day a man, robbed by thieves, went to the monk. The unclean demon, who, deceiving him, appeared to him in the form of an angel, said to him: “This man has been robbed by thieves; the stolen goods are hidden in such and such a place: tell him to go there and take what is his.” The man, having come to the nativity scene, bowed, and the monk from above said to him: “It’s good, brother, that you came! I know that sorrow has befallen you, because thieves came to you and stole this and that. Don't be sad! They put the stolen goods there: go there and you will find everything, and pray for me.” The man was surprised, obeyed and found what was stolen. He glorified the monk throughout that country, saying that the monk living in the den is a prophet. Many people began to flock to the monk; listening to him, they were amazed at the teaching that he taught at the suggestion of the devil. He predicted, and his predictions came true. The unfortunate man spent a considerable time in such seduction. On the second day of the second week after the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, a nasty demon appeared to the monk and said to him: “Know, father, that for the sake of your immaculate and equal life, other angels will come, and you, in the body, will be taken to heaven: there, with all the angels, you will enjoy the sight of the indescribable beauty of the Lord.” The demon, having said this, became invisible. But the humane and merciful God, who does not want human destruction, put it in the monk’s heart to inform the abbot about what had happened. When the brother who usually brought food to the hermit arrived, the hermit, looking out of the den, said to him: “Brother! Go and tell the abbot to come here.” The brother passed this on to the abbot. The abbot hurried to come; He went up the stairs to the den to the hermit and said to him: “For what reason, my son, did you command me to come here?” He answered: “How will I repay you, holy father, for everything that you have done for my unworthiness!” The abbot said: “What good have I done to you?” Monk: “Truly, father, through your agency I have been granted many and great blessings. By you I am clothed in an angelic form; through your medium I see angels and am privileged to converse with them; through your mediation I received the gift of clairvoyance and prophecy.” - The abbot, hearing this, was surprised and said: “Unfortunate! Do you see angels? Have you been granted the gift of clairvoyance? Woe to you, unfortunate one! Didn’t I tell you: don’t go to the den, so that the demons don’t deceive you?” When the abbot said this, the brother objected to him like this: “Don’t say that, honest father! For the sake of your holy prayers, I see angels: tomorrow I will be taken up by them into heaven with my body. Let your shrine know that I want to ask the Lord our God that the angels take you too, so that you too may be with me in heavenly glory.” Hearing this, the abbot said to him menacingly: “You are seduced by the demon, unfortunate one! However, if I came here, I will not leave here: I will stay here to see what happens to you. I won’t see the nasty demons that you call angels, but when you see that they have come, tell me.” The abbot ordered the ladder to be taken away, and remained in the den with the seduced one, remaining in fasting and incessant psalmody. When the hour arrived at which the seduced man hoped to ascend to heaven, he saw the demons come and said: “They have come, father.” Then the abbot embraced him and cried out: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, help your deceived servant and do not allow unclean demons to dominate him.” When the abbot said this, the demons grabbed and began to drag the seduced man, trying to tear him out of the abbot’s embrace. The abbot forbade the demons. They tore off the seduced man’s mantle and disappeared. The mantle was seen rising through the air to a height and finally disappeared. After quite some time, the mantle again seemed to be flying down and fell to the ground. Then the elder said to the seduced man: “Mad and unfortunate! You see what the demons did with your mantle: this is what they intended to do with you. They intended to lift you up into the air and lower you, like Simon the Magus, so that you would be crushed and miserably cast out your accursed soul.” The abbot called the monks, ordered them to bring a ladder, brought the seduced man from the den to the monastery and assigned him service in the bakery, in the cookery and in other monastic obediences, so that his thoughts would be humbled. In this way he saved his brother." 31 Our compatriots, the Venerable Isaac 32 and Nikita 33 of Pechersk, were subjected to a grave temptation due to their early entry into seclusion. It is noticeable from the biography of the Monk Isaac, a contemporary of the Monks Anthony and Theodosius, that he entered into seclusion of his own volition. He underwent the most intense physical feat; the desire for feat, even more intensified, inspired him to imprison himself in one of the cramped caves of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery. His food was prosphora, and his drink was water, and he took this meager food every other day. With such an intense physical feat and a lack of experienced information about the feat and the struggle of the soul, it is impossible not to give some value to both the feat and to yourself. The temptation inflicted on him by demons is usually based on the inner mood of the ascetic. “If a person,” says the Monk Macarius of Egypt, “does not give Satan a reason to subordinate him to his influence, then Satan cannot dominate him by force” 34. The demons appeared to Isaac in the form of bright angels; one of them shone more than the others; the demons called him Christ and demanded that the ascetic worship him. The ascetic, by worship befitting the only God and given to the devil, subjugated himself to demons, who tortured him with violent bodily movements (dancing) until he was half to death. The Monk Anthony, who was serving the hermit, came to him with ordinary food, but seeing that the hermit did not give any voice, and realizing that something special had happened to him, with the help of other monks he broke the entrance, tightly sealed, into the cave of Isaac. They carried him out as if dead and laid him in front of the cave; Noticing that he was still alive, they carried him to his cell and onto his bed. The Monks Anthony and Theodosius, one after the other, followed him. Isaac weakened from temptation in mind and body: he could neither stand, nor sit, nor, lying down, turn from side to side; for two years he lay motionless, mute and deaf. In the third year he spoke and asked to be raised and put on his feet. Then he began to learn to walk like a child, but did not express any desire, even the thought of visiting church; they barely forced him to do this; he began little by little to go to the church of God. After this, he began to go to meals, and little by little learned to eat food; in those two years in which he lay motionless, he did not taste either bread or water. Finally, he was completely freed from the terrible and wonderful impression made on him by the appearance and action of demons. Subsequently, the Monk Isaac achieved high levels of holiness. The Monk Nikita was younger than the Monk Isaac, but contemporary with him. Carried away by jealousy, he asked the abbot to bless him for his feat in seclusion. The hegumen - the Monk Nikon was then the abbot - rebuked him, saying: “My son! It is not good for you, young man, to be idle. It is better to live with the brethren: by serving them, you will not lose your reward. You yourself know how Isaac the cave dweller was seduced by demons in seclusion: he would have perished if the special grace of God, for the prayers of our reverend fathers, Anthony and Theodosius, had not saved him.” Nikita replied: “I will not be seduced by anything like that, but I want to stand firmly against the demonic machinations and pray to God, who loves mankind, that he will grant me the gift of miracles, like Isaac the recluse, who still performs many miracles.” The abbot said again: “Your desire is higher than your strength; Be careful that, having ascended, you do not fall. On the contrary, I command you to serve the brethren, and you will receive a crown from God for your obedience.” Nikita, carried away by intense jealousy for the reclusive life, did not at all want to listen to what the abbot told him. He fulfilled his plan: he locked himself in seclusion and remained there, praying and not leaving anywhere. After some time, one day, during the hour of prayer, he heard a voice that was praying with him, and smelled an extraordinary fragrance. Having been deceived, he said to himself: “If it were not for this angel, he would not have prayed with me, and the fragrance of the Holy Spirit would not have been heard. Then Nikita began to pray diligently, saying: “Lord, appear to me Yourself intelligently, so that I can see You.” Then a voice came to him: “You are young! I will not appear to you, lest you, having ascended, fall.” The recluse answered with tears: “Lord! I will not be seduced in any way, because the abbot taught me not to listen to demonic seduction, and I will do everything that you command me.” Then the soul-destroying serpent, having assumed power over him, said: “It is impossible for a person in the flesh to see me, but behold! I send my angel to stay with you: do his will.” With these words, the demon appeared before the recluse in the form of an angel. Nikita fell at his feet, bowing to him like an angel. The demon said: “From now on, don’t pray, but read books, through which you will enter into an unceasing conversation with God and get the opportunity to teach soul-helping words to those who come to you, and I will constantly pray to the Creator of all for your salvation.” The recluse, believing these words, was even more deceived: he stopped praying, took up reading, saw the demon constantly praying, and rejoiced, believing that the angel was praying for him. Then he began to talk a lot with those who came from the Scriptures and preach like the Palestinian recluse. Fame spread about him among worldly people and at the grand ducal court. Actually, he did not prophesy, but told those who came, being informed by a co-present demon, where the stolen goods were placed, where something happened in a place distant to him. In our times in Moscow, in a mental hospital, there was a similar prophet, to whom many curious people flocked. The name of the prophet is Ivan Yakovlevich. Moscow residents visited a certain desert monk and began to exhort their prophet before him. They said that they were convinced of his gift of foresight by their own experience, asking him about their relative, who was in Nerchinsk doing hard labor. Ivan Yakovlevich did not give an answer for an hour. When the questioners pressed him to give an answer quickly, he told them: “Is it far from Nerchinsk?” They answered: “More than 6000 versts.” - So how soon will you run there? - the prophet objected. His answer was that the exile’s feet were rubbed until they bled. After some time, the inquirers received a letter from a Nerchinsky relative in which he described the severity of his situation and mentioned that his legs were rubbed raw with shackles. “Imagine the insight of Ivan Yakovlevich!” – the Muscovites concluded their story with this exclamation. The monk answered: “There is no insight here, but here is obvious intercourse with fallen spirits. The Holy Spirit has no need of time: He immediately proclaims mysteries, both earthly and heavenly. Ivan Yakovlevich sent the demon who was with him from Moscow to Nerchinsk, and brought information empty, material, satisfying the vanity of the prophet and the curiosity of the carnal people who questioned him. The Holy Spirit always proclaims something spiritual, soul-saving, essentially necessary, and the fallen spirit always proclaims something carnal, like one that reptiles after its fall in sinful passions and materiality.” As an example of action and character belonging to the holy vision bestowed by God, we present a remarkable event from church history. Saint Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria, telling Bishop Ammonius about his flight from the apostate Emperor Julian, says: “During these times I saw the great men of God, Theodore, abbot of the Tavenisiot monks and Pammon, abba of the monks who lived in the vicinity of Antinous. I, intending to take refuge with Theodore, boarded his boat, which was covered on all sides; Pammon accompanied us out of respect. The wind was not favorable; I prayed in a constricted heart: Theodore’s monks, having gone ashore, were dragging the boat. Abba Pammon, seeing my sadness, consoled me. I answered him: believe me, that my heart does not have as much courage during times of peace as it does during persecutions: because, having suffered for Christ and strengthened by His grace, I hope to receive even greater mercy from Him, even if they killed me. I had not yet finished these words when Theodore looked at Abba Pammon and smiled; Pammon looked at him in return, smiling. I said to them: “Why are you laughing at my words, aren’t you accusing me of timidity?” Theodore, turning to Pammon, says: “Tell the Patriarch the reason for our laughter.” Pammon answered: “This belongs to you.” Then Theodore said: “This hour Julian has been killed in Persia, as God predicted about him: “a disdainful and touchy man and a majestic man will die in vain” (Habak. 2:5). A Christian emperor will rise, an excellent man, but a short life. Why don’t go deeper into Thebaid, don’t bother yourself, but secretly go to meet the new emperor: you will see him on the way, you will be received by him very favorably and return to your Church, and God will soon take him from this life. That’s how it all happened.”35 So he let Grand Duke Izyaslav know about the murder of Novgorod Prince Gleb, and advised him to send the Grand Duke’s son to reign in Novgorod. This was enough for the laity to proclaim the recluse a prophet. It has been noticed that lay people and even monks themselves, who lack spiritual understanding, are almost always carried away by deceivers, hypocrites and those in demonic delusion, recognizing them as saints and blessed ones. No one could compare with Nikita in knowledge of the Old Testament; but he did not tolerate the New Testament, never borrowed his conversation from the Gospel and the Apostolic Epistles, and did not allow any of his visitors to remind him of anything from the New Testament. Based on this strange direction of his teaching, the fathers of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery realized that he was seduced by a demon. At that time there were many holy monks in the monastery, adorned with gifts of grace. They drove the demon away from Nikita with their prayer; Nikita stopped seeing him. The fathers brought Nikita out of seclusion and asked him to tell them something from the Old Testament; but he swore that he had never read these books, which he previously knew by heart. It turned out that he even forgot to read from the impression produced by demonic delusion, and barely, with great difficulty, they taught him to read again. Brought to his senses by the prayers of the Holy Fathers, he recognized and confessed his sin, mourned it with bitter tears, and achieved a high measure of holiness and the gift of miracles through a humble life in the midst of brotherhood. Subsequently, Saint Nikita was consecrated Bishop of Novgorod. The latest experiences confirm what the experiences of past times clearly prove. And now delusion - this is what self-delusion, combined with demonic seduction, is called in monastic language - is an indispensable consequence of premature withdrawal into deep solitude or a special feat in cell solitude. While the writer of these ascetic councils, a young man, in 1824-1825, visited the Alexander Nevsky Lavra to consult about his thoughts with the monk Ioannikiy, a candle-bearer of the monastery, a disciple of the elders Theodore and Leonid, many laymen who led an ascetic life went to this monk for spiritual advice 36 . The soldier Pavel, who had recently converted from the schism, had previously been a mentor to schismatics, and was literate, also visited him from the Pavlovsk regiment. Pavel's face shone with joy. But he, due to the strongest zeal that was kindled in him, indulged in an immoderate and incongruous physical feat, having an insufficient understanding of spiritual feat. One night, Paul stood in prayer. Suddenly, a sun-like light appeared near the icons and in the middle of the light a dove shining white. A voice came from the dove: “Receive me: I am the Holy Spirit; I have come to make you my abode.” Paul expressed joyful agreement. A dove ascended into him through his lips, and Paul, exhausted by fasting and vigil, suddenly felt a strong lustful passion in himself: he abandoned prayer and ran into the whorehouse. His hungry passion made saturation with passion insatiable. All the fornications and all the harlots available to him became his permanent hangout. Finally, he came to his senses. He outlined his seduction by the demonic phenomenon and desecration by the consequences of delusion in a letter to Hieroschemamonk Leonid, who then lived in the Alexander-Svirsky Monastery. The letter revealed the fallen man’s former high spiritual state. The mentioned young man was then the cell attendant of Hieroschemamonk Leonid (1827–1828), and with the blessing of the elder he read Paul’s letter. Hieroschemamonk Leonid in the spring of 1828 moved from the Svirsky Monastery, initially to Ploshchanskaya, then to Optina Pustyn. He was accompanied by his cell attendant, who on this occasion visited some monasteries of the Kaluga and Oryol dioceses. When he was in the famous Beloberezh desert, then the ryasophore monk Serapion was famous there for his ascetic life, who saw an angel in his solitary cell rule. Not only the laity, but also the monks - since in Russia the physical feat dominates, and the very concept of the spiritual has almost been lost - glorified Serapion and held him up as a model of monastic life. In 1829, Serapion moved due to mental illness to Optina Pustyn to lead the councils of Hieroschemamonk Leonid. During one of the meetings with the elder, he pulled out a significant part of the elder’s beard. Serapion, placed in the skete of Optina Pustyn out of respect for his ascetic glory, came one night to the head of the skete, Hieromonk Anthony, announcing that John the Baptist had now appeared to him and ordered the slaughter of this Anthony, Hieromonk Leonid, Hieromonk Gabriel and the landowner Zhelyabovsky, who was then visiting the skete. “Where is your knife?” asked the quick-witted and undaunted Anthony. “I don’t have a knife,” answered the seduced man. “So why do you come to cut without a knife?” - Anthony objected and removed the seduced man into his cell, who was supposed to be transferred to the insane asylum, where he died. Before his death, as we hear, Serapion came to his senses and departed with the hope of salvation. It should be noted that the fallen spirit, wanting to take possession of Christ’s ascetic, does not act in a powerful manner, but seeks to attract the person’s consent to the proposed delusion and, upon receiving consent, takes possession of the one who expressed consent. Saint David, describing the attack of a fallen angel on a person, expressed himself with all precision, saying: “The hedgehog catches the beggar; The Holy Spirit acts sovereignly, like God; comes at a time when a person who has humbled himself and humbled himself does not at all expect His coming. Suddenly changes the mind, changes the heart. By its action it embraces all the will and all the abilities of a person who does not have the opportunity to reflect on the action taking place in him. Grace, when it is in someone, does not show anything ordinary or sensual, but secretly teaches what has never been seen or imagined before. Then the mind secretly learns high and hidden secrets, which, according to the Divine Paul, the human eye cannot see, and below to comprehend the mind by itself... The human mind, by itself, not being united with the Lord, reasons according to its strength. When he is united with the fire of the Divine and the Holy Spirit, then we all possess the Divine Light, the whole becomes light, burns in the flame of the All-Holy Spirit, is filled with the Divine mind, and it is impossible for him in the flame of the Divine to think about his own, and about what he would like.” This is what St. Maximus Kavsokalivit said to St. Gregory of Sinai 37. On the contrary, when a demonic phenomenon occurs, a person is always given the freedom to judge the phenomenon, accept or reject it. This is evident from the demon's attempts to deceive the saints of God. Once, when the Monk Pachomius the Great was in solitude outside the monastic rumors, the devil appeared to him in great light, saying: “Rejoice, Pachomius! I am Christ, and I have come to you as to my friend.” The saint, reasoning with himself, thought: “The coming of Christ to man is united with joy, free from fear. At that hour all human thoughts disappear: then the whole mind is fixed on the vision of the visible. But seeing this person present himself to me, I am filled with confusion and fear. This is not Christ, but Satan.” After this reflection, the Reverend boldly said to the one who appeared: “Devil! Get away from me: cursed are you, and your vision, and the deceit of your evil plans.” The devil immediately disappeared, filling the cell with stench 38 . It is impossible for a person who is still in the realm of carnal wisdom, who has not received a spiritual view of fallen human nature, not to give some value to his deeds and not to recognize some dignity in himself, no matter how many humble words such a person utters, and no matter how humble he appears in appearance. True humility is not characteristic of carnal wisdom and is impossible for it: humility is an attribute of the spiritual mind. The Monk Mark the Ascetic says: “Those who have not considered themselves debtors to every commandment of Christ, honor the Law of God bodily, not understanding either what they say or what they are based on: that is why they think of fulfilling it by “deeds” 39 . From the words of the Reverend Father, it is clear that anyone who acknowledges any good deed is in a state of self-delusion. This state of self-delusion serves as the basis of demonic delusion: the fallen angel finds refuge in the false, proud concept of a Christian, conveniently grafts his seduction onto this concept, and through seduction subjugates a person to his power, plunges him into the so-called demonic delusion. From the above experiences it is clear that not one of those who were seduced recognized themselves as unworthy of seeing the Angels, and therefore recognized some dignity in themselves. Otherwise, a carnal and spiritual person cannot judge himself. That is why the Holy Fathers generally said about all ascetics who are not sufficiently educated by spiritual activity and who are not overshadowed by grace, that silence destroys them. The behavior of the Monk Barsanuphius the Great and his fasting companion John the Prophet, who themselves were hermits in the hostel of Abba Serida, is instructive regarding hermits and silence. All the brethren of that monastery, or at least most of the brethren, were guided by the instructions of these great saints of God, filled with the Spirit of God; Hegumen Serid himself, whom Barsanuphius the Great called his son, was guided by their instructions. Serid served the holy Elder, who remained hopelessly in his cell, receiving Serid alone and through him giving written answers to the other brethren. The brethren of the monastery, guided by the edifications of God-inspired men, experienced rapid and abundant spiritual progress. Some of them became capable of a reclusive life, to which they were called by God, who foresaw their ability. Thus, the Great Barsanuphius foretold to John of Mirosavsky that silence was destined for him by God, and, having prepared this monk to live according to the Gospel commandments among the monastic community, in the crucible of obedience, at the time indicated by God, he brought him into seclusion 40. From the correspondence of the Great Barsanuphius with John of Mirosavsky it is clear that John, even upon entering the seclusion, was overwhelmed by passionate thoughts. Other monks, who were allowed to go into seclusion, were even more indignant at the passions; but the shutter was not forbidden to them. On the contrary, the reverend Abba Dorotheos, who was distinguished by both worldly and spiritual wisdom, the ability to lead other monks, who proved this spiritual gift in fact, was forbidden by the spirit-bearing elders to retreat, no matter how much he desired it. “Silence,” they told him, “gives a person a reason for arrogance before he acquires himself, that is, he is blameless. Only then does true silence take place when a person has already bore the cross. And so, if you have compassion for your neighbors, you will receive help, but if you hold yourself back from compassion, wanting to ascend into something that is beyond your measure, then know that you will lose what you have. Do not deviate either inward or outward, but keep in the middle, understanding that this is the will of the Lord, “for the days are evil” (Eph. 5:16) 41. My words mean: do not dare to remain silent, and do not neglect yourself when you are in the midst of care: this is the middle path, safe from falling. In silence one must have humility, and in times of concern one must be vigilant over oneself, and hold one’s thoughts. All this is not limited to any specific time. Everyone must endure with thanksgiving what befalls him out of necessity. The more a person descends into humility, the more successful he is. Staying in a cell does not make you experienced, because you stay in it without sorrow, it is obvious: by not having fought with demons, what leads someone shut up in a cell into such severe sorrow and struggle, which are completely unknown to the common monk 42 . And because you abandon all concerns ahead of time, the enemy prepares not peace for you, but rather confusion, so that he will finally force you to say: “It would be better if I had not been born” 43. The Monk Dorotheos, recognized as a saint by the universal Church, one of the most excellent ascetic writers, remained in a hostel among the brotherhood, and after the death of the holy mentors he founded his monastery and was its abbot. Saint John of the Climacus notes that those inclined to arrogance and other spiritual passions should in no way choose for themselves a solitary life, but remain in the midst of brotherhood and be saved by doing the commandments 44: because all life, whether in the desert, or in community, when it is in accordance with the will of God, and when its goal is to please God, is blessed 45. From a premature retreat, demonic delusion vegetates, not only obvious, but also invisible in appearance: mental, moral, incomparably more dangerous than the first, as it is very difficult to heal, and often incapable of healing. This kind of delusion, based on arrogance, is called by the Holy Fathers opinion, 46 and consists in the fact that when an ascetic accepts false concepts about spiritual objects and about himself, he considers them true. False concepts and contemplations, due to the natural sympathy and assistance of the mind to the heart and the heart to the mind, are certainly accompanied by seductive, sweet, heartfelt sensations: they are nothing more than the action of refined voluptuousness and vanity. Those infected with this delusion became preachers of false ascetic teachings, and sometimes even heresiarchs for the eternal destruction of themselves and their neighbors. Saint Isaac of Syria in the 55th Homily mentions that a certain Malpas led a strict ascetic life in seclusion in order to achieve a high spiritual state, fell into arrogance and obvious demonic delusion, and became the inventor and leader of the Euctite heresy. An example of an ascetic book written from a state of delusion, called opinion, is the work of Thomas à Kempis entitled Imitation of Jesus Christ. It breathes refined voluptuousness and arrogance, which in people blinded and filled with passions produce pleasure, which they recognize as tasting Divine grace. Unhappy and darkened! They do not understand that, having smelled the refined stench of the passions living within themselves, they enjoy it, recognizing it in their blindness as the stench of grace! They do not understand that only saints are capable of spiritual pleasure, that spiritual pleasure must be preceded by repentance and cleansing from passions, that a sinner is incapable of spiritual pleasure, that he must recognize himself as unworthy of pleasure, reject it if it begins to come to him, reject it as unusual for himself, as obvious and harmful self-delusion, as a refined movement of vanity, arrogance and voluptuousness. Like Malpas, Francis d'Asiz, Ignatius Loiola and other ascetics of Latinity 47, recognized in its depths as saints, achieved the strongest demonic delusion in their hermitage. “When Francis was caught up into heaven,” says the writer of his life, “God the Father, seeing him, was for a moment at a loss as to who to give priority to. Whether to His Son by nature, or to His Son by grace—Francis.” What could be more terrible, uglier than this blasphemy, sadder than this beauty! At present, in our country, hermitage in a deserted desert can be considered absolutely impossible, and seclusion very difficult, as more dangerous and more incompatible than ever. We must see the will of God in this and submit to it. If you want to be a silent person pleasing to God, love silence and get used to it with all possible effort. Do not allow yourself idle talk, either in church, or at meals, or in your cell; do not allow yourself to leave the monastery except for the most extreme need and for the shortest time; do not allow yourself to make acquaintances, especially close ones, either outside or inside the monastery; do not allow yourself free circulation and harmful entertainment; behave like a wanderer and stranger both in the monastery and in earthly life itself - and you will become a God-loving silencer, a hermit, a hermit. If God sees you capable of desert or seclusion, then He Himself, by His ineffable destinies, will give you a deserted and silent life, as He delivered it to the blessed Seraphim of Sarov, or He will deliver a seclusion, as He delivered it to Blessed George, the recluse of the Zadonsk monastery. Beginning of the 3rd Word of St. Simeon, the New Theologian. Edition of Optina Pustyn in 1852. Quote from the Venerable Simeon, the New Theologian, in the Homily of Nikephoros the Monastic, Dobrot., part 2. - Venerable Macarius the Great, Homily 7. ch. 2. Venerable Abba Dorotheus Teaching 9th. Here, of course, faith is active, not dogmatic. For their differences, see Philokalia, part 2. Monks Callista and Ignatius ch. 16th. Philokalia part 1. Interview of St. Maximus Kapsokalivit with St. Gregory of Sinaite. Addition to Word 3. Saint John Climacus. A word about reasoning. Philokalia, part VI. Chet'i-Minei, January 17th. Chapter 33, Philokalia. Part 1. Preface to the Charter or Tradition. Venerable Nile of Sorsky Tradition. It would not be out of place to note here that the Monk Nilus of Sora, although he had the grace of God, did not dare to explain the Scriptures spontaneously, but followed the explanation made by the Fathers. The path of humility is the only true path to salvation. Here we are not talking about external monastic obedience, not about monastic labors and activities assigned by the monastic authorities, but about moral, hidden obedience, performed in the soul. Opinion of the Hieromartyr Peter, Metropolitan of Damascus and other Fathers. Philokalia, part 3. Alphabetical Patericon and Memorable Tales of Abba, Macarius of the City, ch. 2. Life of St. Anthony the Great. Chetiy-Minea January 17th and Vitae Patrum Patrologiae coursus complectus, T. LXXUI. Alphabetical Patericon and Memorable Tales. Patericon of Pechersk and Chetya-Mineaion on February 14th. Patericon of Pechersk and Chetyi-Minea January 31. Sancti Athanasii opera omnia. torn. 2, glad. 979–982. Monk Ioannikis was Theodore's nephew. After the death of Theodore, he did not stop communicating with Leonid and subsequently moved to Optina Pustyn to live with him. The Word on the Spiritual Law, ch. 34. See the lives of St. Anthony the Great, Onuphrius the Great and other hermits and hermits. Word 8, ch. 10, 18, 21, 25. – Homily 27, ch. 13, 36. Chapter 88 of St. Simeon, the New Theologian. Philokalia, part 1. St. Gregory of Sinai, chapters 128, 131, 132. Philokalia. Part 1. After the Western Church fell away from the Eastern. You might be interested in: