НАПОМИНАНИЕ ВСЕЧЕСТНЫМ ИНОКИНЯМ О ТОМ, ЧТО ТРЕБУЕТ ОТ НИХ ИНОЧЕСТВО

Vows to God must certainly be fulfilled. Vows of all Christians and monastics. The order of monastic life. Creation of the spirit of monastic life. Hear what was said to the ancients: Do not swear to lies, but repay your oaths to the Lord 314. So our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, among other instructions, spoke to the people who had gathered around Him from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seaside of Thirsk and Sidonsk. The meaning of this saying is this: what is promised to God with an oath must certainly be fulfilled. It was as if the Gospel now began on purpose, beginning with these words, so that on my first visit to you, sisters, I would have a reason to remind you, and with you, myself, of the vows we have made. For all Christians make vows to God in the sacrament of baptism, and those who enter into monasticism add new vows to those common to all, which lie exclusively with them alone. You know, sisters, what these vows are - you repeated them publicly in front of the Church - aloud to all Christians, monastics and non-monastics - and, moreover, you heard an admonition from your father. Promises are good; but remember that the Lord will reward you not according to what you promised, but according to what you manage to do. I bring this word to your memory not because I think that you do not care about the word given to God, and so that there is a need to tell you: do this and that. No, I am sure that you do and work - every way according to your strength. for my part, calling upon God’s blessing for your labors, I wish one thing: continue as you began, do not weaken, remembering that the end crowns the work and that only the one who endures to the end will be saved 315. Just as a skillful spinner leads a thread evenly, no matter how much she spins, so the thread of zeal for monastic life must be kept evenly from the moment you cross the threshold into the monastery until the moment you cross the doors of the tomb. Unabated jealousy means a lot, if not everything. Have you ever seen complex machines that are driven in pairs? It happens there that when there is steam, the car is in motion, and the more steam, the stronger the movement. If the vapors weaken, the movement will weaken, and if they stop, the movement will also stop. What couples are in a car, jealousy is in a godly life. When there is jealousy, all things go smoothly, all work is not effort; If she doesn’t exist, there will be no strength, no labor, no order—everything falls into disarray. So do not weaken in the labors of monastic life! Move and disturb your soul yourself, so that it does not indulge in dormancy and do not give the enemy a chance to laugh at you. Do everything so that this strength of spirit does not weaken, for all the strength lies in it. Namely: remember often the first inspiration with which you, leaving your family, kinship, your hopes, came here. Remember how your soul burned then, how you thought that, having entered the monastery, you would only pray both in the cell and in the church, only engage in contemplation of God, soul-saving conversations or reading spiritual books, that you would live in solitude, not get into fussiness, be at peace with everyone, in unquestioning obedience to the abbess and the elders. Of course, your desire was sincere. Bring this first inspiration to your memory more often, and it will be renewed in you even now, just as you refresh the air in a room by introducing new air from outside. Add another to this stimulating thought: renew in your memory as many examples of zeal as possible presented in the lives of the saints. Read the Chet-Minea and collect in your memory how tirelessly the saints of God, men and women, worked, sparing neither their strength nor even their stomachs. And then, in every free moment, remember Eudokia, Pelageya, Synclitia, Sarah, Theodora, Euphrosyne of Egypt, Mary of Egypt, Eupraxia, Fevronia, Euphrosyne of Suzdal and Polotsk and others, with all the works of their tireless asceticism. Do not think about this idly, but attach to it the obligatory conviction that you should all be the same as those blessed virgins showed themselves to be, and every such thought will be a stone 316, butting and urging. Just as during races the running of one arouses tension in the other, or as you yourself, working together, take care not to fall behind each other, so your zeal will be kindled by thoughts of the great labors zealously undertaken by the holy ascetics. But aren’t there any zealous people among you, so zealous that their zeal is more noticeable among everyone? But even without that, encourage each other with advice and examples. What do you talk about when you are together? Don't talk about anything other than your main cause, which you took part in. Just as traders, when meeting with each other, talk about how to bargain better and more successfully, so when you meet, do not allow yourself empty speeches, but in every possible way incline the conversation to the main thing - how to proceed, how to finish what you started, so as not to stumble and become the laughing stock of the enemy. Do you notice how one word gives birth to a number of other words, and each word is a series of thoughts; rows of thoughts turn into rows of undertakings and deeds, good or bad. He who speaks about empty things is empty in his head and heart, empty in his life... He who speaks about good things becomes more and more passionate about good and becomes rich in it. If, thus, maintaining the first inspiration, you fuel it either with the examples of ancient ascetics, or with mutual coercion, you can hope that your jealousy will not weaken. But do not forget that no matter what you do to preserve this living spirit of jealousy in yourself, everything will be of no use if in the order of your life - I mean the private cell and the general monastery - there is something that can directly extinguish this jealousy. Get yourself in such an order that you know only the church and the cell (or general obedience), and in the cell - handicrafts, reading and prayer. Move from one of these things to another and do not allow yourself to be entertained by anything extraneous. Let the elders guide the younger ones. Choose the most convenient time and method of execution for everything. Above all, avoid external distractions and wandering with internal thoughts. Beware of gossip, maintain peace among yourself, mutual preference and obedience without grumbling. Just as you cannot heat rooms when the windows and doors are open, just as you cannot light a fire when the wood is damp or is deliberately poured with water, so you cannot keep the fire of jealousy unquenchable in yourself if the opposite of this is allowed in the order of life. For all that, do not let go of your thoughts - the end to which a zealous and careless life leads. Remember the parable of the wise and foolish virgins and put yourself in the same mood that both of them should have experienced. Some are received into the palace by the Bridegroom, while others hear from Him: we do not know you 317. Stand mentally at this palace and imagine what will happen to you if you hear - we don’t know you! And thus irritate your spirit. Whatever someone sows, that will also be reaped. What will a field give birth to when its reins are not watered with sweat? Thorns and thistles, whose fate is burning. Remember how one son kept pestering his mother: “I’m going to save myself, I want to go to a monastery, let me go.” No matter how much she tried to persuade him: “Wait, I’ll die, then you’ll go,” and he didn’t want to listen - he left. But when he arrived there, he thought, probably, that he had already done everything by entering into the monastery of those being saved, and gave in to carelessness: he slept a lot, was lazy in obedience, and rarely went to church. No matter what they said to him, he, like a deaf man, did not hear anything. But the Lord, who did not want the sinner to die, this is how he rescued him from sleep. His mother, who lived in a worldly, secular way, with all the comforts, in all the pleasures that seem to be the customs of the world, died and accepted the lot according to the nature of her life. His son, a careless monk, also fell ill and was approaching the end. The brothers, surrounding his bed, shed tears, knowing how he lived, and fervently prayed to the Lord to have mercy on him. He soon forgot and walked away. They had already prepared him for the funeral when he woke up. The brothers rushed to him with joy, but he only beat himself in the chest and cried bitterly. No matter how much they asked him: “Tell us what it is, what it is,” he could not utter a single word because of the intense grief that consumed his soul. Having finally calmed down, this is what he told them: “When my soul approached the end, another world opened to my gaze; I saw how the Angels retreated from me and evil - tormenting spirits - approached. I can’t describe the horror to you. They took me and carried me through places of impenetrable darkness, screaming, laughing and cursing. We all rushed down for a long time. Then the smell of sulfur and stench was smelled, noise was heard, more and more audible, groans and cries of despair could already be heard. I was frozen in horror. But here are the doors - the mouth of hell! They had just opened the door to throw me in, when someone flew in quickly and stopped the executioners. I became. My eyes were opened, and I saw a boundless sea of ​​fire, in which the condemned were crammed, and I could hardly catch my breath. Suddenly my mother appeared from the fire and said: “And here you are, son?! Why didn’t you give me peace, saying: I’m going to save myself, I’m going to save myself! Is that how you saved yourself?!” With this word one splash from the fire of hell fell on my hand. All the parts of my being shook, and I woke up. I cannot come to my senses from the trembling and horror that my soul experienced.” From then on, this brother lived another twelve years, mourning his previous careless life, and then in peace, safely, he departed to the Lord. Remember this, sisters, thereby kindle the spirit of jealousy in yourself. The end of the careless and careless is one. But the Lord does not give such stunning admonition to everyone as he did to the aforementioned brother, but by bringing to light one example or incident, he wants everyone to be admonished and excited by it. The fact that you left the world is good and valuable before the Lord. But take care to complete this matter perfectly. Look, look at what the current Apostle is preaching! It is said there that he is not a true Jew who outwardly belongs to the Jewish people, but he is a Jew who is inwardly such in his mood of spirit 318 . The same can be said for us. If someone is within the walls of a monastery, one should not conclude from this that he is already a monk... No, one must also create within oneself the spirit of monastic life. Be jealous about this. Amen. In the Sofia Usman convent of the Tambov province Predictions of monastic life in the life of the Holy Forerunner All the hermits followed in the footsteps of the forerunner. The desire for a world-denying life is God’s election and the beginning of monasticism. Monasticism is a matter of heavenly origin. How appropriate it is to celebrate a holiday in honor of the holy prophet, Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord in a desert monastery! For the holy Forerunner was the first inhabitant of the desert after the Nativity of Christ. All subsequent hermits followed in his footsteps, inspired by his example and imitating his rules. Therefore, everyone who leaves the world should delve into the features of the life of the Forerunner of the Lord John, in order to guide their course through them. Come, sisters, let us learn the world-denying life from the Forerunner of the Lord. You know why you are more motivated to do this than others. Today we remember the birth of Saint John, the Baptist of the Lord - the beginning of his life. Pay your most attention to it. For just as the destiny of the whole plant is seen in the seed, so the Nativity of the Forerunner is the complete outline of what happens to everyone who begins to become a monk. Look. Did anyone think that a child would be born from the elderly and childless Zechariah and Elizabeth? But behold, no one knows how, the fruit of the mother 319 is conceived, ripens, and John, the co-name of grace, comes into the world. Thus, unknown to anyone, in the secrets of the heart the desire for a world-denying life is conceived, matures and strengthens. For the Spirit, the idea wants, breathes, and you hear its voice, but do not know where it comes from and where it goes 320, so it happens with everyone who leaves the world. The thought of this, like a spark, falls into the soul secretly, although among visible works of piety, like an angel who brings good news. Despite the fact that human considerations constantly rise up against it with bewilderment: how will it be? Is there a possibility for this to come true? - it grows stronger and stronger, gathering around itself all that is good, until, having fulfilled the whole being, it begins to break through into words, and into deeds, and into customs, and will appear to everyone, and will be called a gracious deed by everyone. This is God’s election, God’s call, an indication of the beginning of monasticism. Whoever begins this way, the Lord is with him, and no troubles will lead him astray. Whoever starts according to other calculations will fall, like a sleepless leaf falling from a tree. See further what bright signs surround the Nativity of the Forerunner of the Lord! The appearance of an Angel, the muteness of Zechariah, the leaping of a baby in the womb, an unusual and unusual name given, the prophecy of a father about a son born. Every beginning of monasticism is surrounded by some kind of signs. Beginners know this. More than one desire captivates, even though it is the root of everything. There are other contacts in which we clearly see the finger of God and which then serve as a support for trust in the completion of what is begun or begun, assuring that the one who begins will complete it 321. What exactly happens cannot be described. Everyone has something that is known to him alone and, for the most part, something that is unusual for him alone. This gives confirmation that monasticism - both in the beginning and in its completion - is a matter of heavenly origin, and a monk is a wonderful, grace-filled phenomenon on earth, although in appearance he is humiliated, and even the more humiliated, the more grace-filled. The wondrous signs around John’s cradle had just ended when persecution began. It is unknown how he was saved from the sword of those who beat infants, but, most likely, not without special help from God. Every beginning of monastic life is surrounded by troubles. One has more of them, the other has less, one has them more internal, the other more external. But everyone has them, and they are difficult for everyone accordingly. It is necessary to break off previous ties, it is necessary to renounce old customs and become contrary to them; It is sometimes necessary to overcome more than one will, to fight with an entire family, and sometimes with an entire kinship; you have to bide your time, tormented by the uncontrollable desire to leave everything as quickly as possible; for others, the path to the monastery and the very entrance to it is fraught with great difficulties; and there is nothing to say about the fact that the world does not like those who renounce it and openly and secretly oppresses them. All this is in the order of God’s works and is not a sign of God’s displeasure, but a field of testing and strengthening the will at first for the subsequent most reliable course. Perhaps there has not yet been a single direct monk who could easily obtain monasticism! But let the beginner not be discouraged. The harder it is at the beginning, the harder the monk is after. After Herod's persecution, Saint John remained in the desert and was raised there in a miraculous way. How? Only God knows that. But the end showed how fruitful the desert life was for him. This is an image of entering the abode of those who have renounced the world. With a ripe desire to devote oneself to the one Lord, having overcome all obstacles both from the world and sometimes from the side of the monastery itself, the soul, thirsting for peace in God, finally takes refuge within its walls and sings with the prophet: behold, I ran away and settled in the desert, hoping for God to save me 322. The world does not know what happens to those who take refuge in the monastery. For him, this is a dry, lifeless desert. It certainly is, but only for the flesh, and not for the spirit. Here the apostolic words are fully fulfilled: although our outer man decays, yet our inner man is renewed all the days 323. For this inner life there is no more fertile and watered soil than a monastic monastery. How many streams of sweets are here that will nourish the soul! And the word of God, and daily worship, and reading, fasting, the guidance of elders, God's admonition, secret and obvious warnings, unhindered prayer, from which all good and all prosperity. Of course, there are many unevennesses here too, but if only the good intention is sound - to serve the Lord and the monastery - everything will finally be equalized and the end will crown the matter with the appearance of the perfection of what was begun and intended... We will not go further in comparisons. For not everyone has what happened next with Saint John. I mean that he was called from the desert to serve the salvation of the human race. And from the monasteries many are taken to serve the good of people; but this is a special dispensation of God, and not the goal of monasticism. What everyone needs to have in their thoughts and hearts is a good stay in the monastery in accordance with all the rules of monastic behavior and monastic asceticism. This is just what I wanted to remind you, sisters. In the circumstances of the birth of the Forerunner of the Lord, I showed you how the monastic life of almost everyone who renounces the world begins. Many of you may see this as the general outline of your own lives. But not for idle thoughts, I wanted to direct your thoughts to this, but so that each of you, in the circumstances of the beginning of your monastic life, would find the strongest motivation for good monasticism. Remember how the first desire for monasticism entered your soul, how warm it was, how often and sweetly it nourished your soul. Then the Lord laid His blessing hand on you. Be careful not to despise God’s expectations of you, and through good monasticism show yourself worthy of His election. Remember what instructions the Lord gave you both to leave the world and to choose this particular abode and not another. See, do not be shaken by doubt that what you have chosen was not chosen according to God, and do not be faint-hearted when it turns out that the Lord has turned His face away from you. Remember how much work was spent in the beginning to enter the monastery, and how many obstacles were overcome. Be careful not to make these labors fruitless, having already achieved what you were looking for, and do not lay down your weapons of war. They are even more needed in the monastery. Here you have everything for successful monasticism. But monasticism itself is not given for free. How much sweat and illness it requires, both internal and external! – You know that. But you also know for sure the consolations that fall to the lot of working women, and you clearly see the end, where everything will lead. Do not weaken, God will not forget your work, just as He did not forget others who labored for glory for His name. Your memories of those who laid the foundation for the monastic stay here are still so fresh, the succession of their spirit is still so close. Do not extinguish, but inflame this fire even more, rousing yourself by their example. Your advantage is that you have such leaders. But it is good for you only when you follow their paths. For this we pray to the Lord, may He bless you in your labors, with the prayers of the holy prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John. Amen. In the Sezenovsky convent of the Tambov province Features of monastic life in the life of the Great Martyr Catherine Dishonor to God. Mysterious combination with the Lord. Conquering passions is spiritual martyrdom. The procession is close. For those celebrating in honor of St. Catherine, it is best to engage in the features of the life of the Great Martyr. For you and me, sisters, it is all the more fitting that the life of Saint Catherine is, in its main features, a complete depiction of monastic life. I do not make any stretch in this application. - See for yourself. Here is the icon of St. Catherine in front of you! She kneels before the Mother of God, holding in her arms the Infant Savior, who gives Saint Catherine a wedding ring. This is the main moment in the life of a saint - disgrace to the Lord. But, as you know, it was preceded by a desire and search for something better, and followed by martyrdom. The desire for the best led the great martyr to the Lord. Having united with the Lord, she was led into the feat of martyrdom and crowned with His crown. These are the main features in the life of St. Catherine. The same main moments are in your life, if you go through it as you should. The Holy Great Martyr was of high birth, rich, intelligent and educated. Possessing great talents, she did not find satisfaction in everything around her and decisively abandoned the then usual order of life. Another, higher image of perfection was in her soul, and she would be ready to marry someone who possessed it. She did not know the path of truth then. The Lord sent her a leader, and He showed her the One who is more beautiful and nobler than all. Having recognized Him, she decided to devote all the days of her life to Him, and for this she was rebuked by Him. Disgrace against the Lord comes from the determination to serve Him alone, and determination from the confidence that everything is possible - the best and perfect thing that anyone would want to possess, he can find only in the one Lord - the Savior. In Him not only are all the highest needs of our spirit satisfied, but, moreover, we acquire something that the seeker had never even thought of. Не эта ли уверенность и у вас, сестры, была первым толчком к тому, чтобы все оставить и предать себя Господу. At least that's how it should have been. Разница у вас та, что тогда как святая Екатерина, сознав неудовлетворительность окружавших ее порядков жизни, должна была еще искать, где же лучшие порядки и в ком найти удовлетворение, вы, почувствовав жажду лучшего, наперед знали, что утолить сию жажду можно только в Господе, Который всех зовет: аще кто жаждет, да приидет ко Мне и пиет 324 ! Потому вместе с тем, как росло охлаждение к окружающему, росло и возжелание Господа. Лик Его пресветлый запечатлелся в сердце вашем, и глубже и глубже возгревалась любовь к Нему, пока, наконец, вы, оставив все, потекли вслед Его. Ваша решимость единому Господу принадлежать всем существом своим есть таинственное сочетание с Господом. Господь не давал, может быть, видимого удостоверения, что Он приемлет вас и сочетавается с вами, тем не менее, однако же, несомненно истинно, что вы уневещены Ему одному и Его одного состоите невестами. Not commendable, however, I am writing a word to you here, sisters. No, I want to direct your thought to what must have happened in you before and at the hour of entering into the way of life you perceived, in order to rekindle the first heat with this memory and tell you: as you were in the beginning, such you will always be. A new turn of feelings arises in the heart, not so that, having begun, it fades away, but so that, having begun, it then serves as a stimulus throughout the entire course of life. If what was in you at the beginning fades away, then you are no longer what you should be! The external image is the same, but the internal image is not the same. I want to say that dissatisfaction with the ordinary course of life, the desire for the best, the confidence that all the best can be acquired only in the Lord, deep warm love for Him, the determination to serve Him alone and the readiness to sacrifice everything to Him, for the sake of pleasing Him, should constitute the characteristic of your life, the spirit that constantly enlivens and moves it. This is the same as the movement of sap in a tree and the beating of the heart in a person. In whom these feelings are extinguished, there is no life. He bears the name that he is alive, but in reality he is dead. Если все сие в вас есть, то вы перенесли на свою жизнь две черты из жизни великомученицы Екатерины – желание лучшего и сочетание с Господом. Next came martyrdom for St. Catherine. What should you have? Also a kind of martyrdom, and this martyrdom should have begun from the moment the determination to devote yourself to the Lord matured in your heart. After all, why were martyrs tortured? - Because, having believed in the Lord and united with Him, they did not want to worship false gods. The false gods were spirits of passions and vicious deeds. Because the one who does not submit to passions and vicious desires does the same as one who refuses to worship idols. He who refused to worship idols was subjected to external torment, and whoever refuses to satisfy his passions strikes himself and makes his heart suffer until the passions subside in him. The victory over the passions is a spontaneous spiritual martyrdom, accomplished invisibly in the heart, but, nevertheless, strongly felt. When you made a vow to serve the Lord, what did you promise? They promised to put off the old man, which is decaying in deceitful lusts, and to put on the new man, created by God in righteousness and perfection of truth 325. The old man is entirely made up of passions. To be overcome by it means to conquer passions. If the victory over the passions is spiritual martyrdom, then you have determined yourself to be a martyr. You probably know from experience that this really is the case. It is not so much external labors and exploits that are painful, but rather the pacification of thoughts, the extinguishing of passions, the cessation of temptations. If such movements can occur every minute, then you are constantly in labor, in ulcers and bitterness. The monk is rightly depicted as crucified on a cross, struck from all sides by spears and arrows, or as a man walking on spikes and spikes, among thorns tearing his body apart. But many illnesses mean many rewards. The One to whom you are betrothed sees your exploits, rejoices in them and makes your heart glad. The more sorrows, the more consolations there are, although also through illnesses, until everything, both internal and external, is pacified. This is the crown of everything that few people receive in this life. I am bringing all this to your memory not to frighten you, for you are already on this path, and although reluctantly you must face everything that is inevitable on it, but so that, if you are at peace on all sides, you will take the trouble to recognize whether it is good and whether you are on the right path? Know that peace and contentment is either the height of perfection, or a state of extreme decline, in which all spiritual aspirations and demands extinguish. Just as the first state is the fullness of life, so the last is spiritual death. The state of those moving towards perfection is a state of struggle, intense, difficult and painful. This is a close procession. By these signs judge where you are? I wish, of course, that everyone would be on the good side; but not everyone has intelligence. May the Lord make you wise for salvation. Amen. In the Tambov convent The main task of monasticism is cleansing the heart from passions The order of monasticism takes place inside. The general path of salvation is monasticism - a continuous feat in the eradication of passions. Благодарение Господу, – Вот и еще на древе вашей обители показались завязи, еще на поле, вами возделываемом, прозябли благонадежные ростки и возникли из-под земли, еще новые невесты приводятся и обручаются Жениху. Thank the Lord! But we must not forget that it is not a matter of numbers, but of strength. Помните, сколько народа собралось к Гедеону, и, однако же, по знаку, указанному Богом, из них только триста оказались благонадежными воинами. Прочие, увеличивая число, не придавали силы и только мешали бы производству брани, почему отосланы восвояси. Привожу это на память вам не для того, чтобы ослабить желание вступить в обитель или отбить охоту принимать в нее желающих, но чтобы и во вступивших уже и в желающих еще вступить – раздражить большее рвение явить себя достойными предначинаемого и предначатого. For although it is not a matter of numbers, but, of course, the more good ones, the better. I don’t think that any of you, entering the monastery, did not have the zeal to be a good nun, but, together, I think it is very likely that not everyone is jealous as they should be, and a considerable part, perhaps, spends the strength of their zeal on things that they should not. Why both? Most of all, because at first it was not clear what the purpose of monasticism is and what one should achieve upon entering the monastery. It is advisable that among you there be as few as possible those who only care about being - first well-groomed, then ryasophore, then - monastic. This is the end of desires, having reached which, they indulge in peace and, as there was nothing else in their thoughts, remain satisfied with their position. Of course, without such order it is impossible to be in the monastery; but the external order of monastic life is not always the order of monasticism. The latter is accomplished internally with difficulty and then, invisible to others, known to the one God and the soul, zealous for its salvation. Did you go out into the desert and see 326? So the Lord asked the Jews, because some of them came out to John the Baptist just to see how he was dressed in clothes made of camel’s hair and girded with a belt, where he was in the desert and what he was doing. And they had to go out then to repent and cry about their sins. I will also ask you: why did you go out into this desert?.. I will ask not to denounce anyone, but out of a sincere desire, so that among you there are not those who put all the power of monasticism in black clothes and in the order of receiving them. The business you are deciding to undertake is a great and valuable matter; but it must be done properly. It is all internal; the external in it is only an appendage. All the power lies in cleansing the heart from passions. Look how. Man was originally created right 327, but fell and was upset 328. Selfishness came to him and brought with it an entire horde of passions, distracting him from goodness and leading him into sin. A person suffers in this state. So the Lord established a medical clinic on earth - the Holy Church with the holy sacraments. In baptism, Satan and all his works, and all his ministry, and all his pride, that is, all passions, are denied and the power to overcome them is accepted. Those who have fallen after baptism are offered the sacrament of repentance, in which the vows of baptism are repeated again and the lost powers of grace are renewed... The repentant, if he falls again, rises again in the same way of repentance... He will fall again, and he will rise again... and so on until the end of his life... And this is the general path of salvation. Then we have fasting fasts. Of course, it would be better not to fall after baptism, or, having fallen once and risen through repentance, not to fall again; but passions are close to the heart, and life in the family and society presents many reasons for their irritation - and it happens that a Christian cannot stand and falls, or he stands twice and three times, and falls the fourth and fifth time. He repents, but falls again. But it hurts to fall as long as your conscience is true and your sense of piety and fear of God is alive. How to eliminate this nuisance partly lies in our will, then someone else flares up in spirit - to arrange oneself in life in such a way as to fulfill the vows of baptism and repentance without failure, or to live without hurting one’s conscience and without offending God - in overcoming and eradicating passions. Not hoping to successfully fulfill this in society, another leaves, running, and settles in the desert 329, that is, leaves society and enters the monastery. Thus, entering into monasticism is the determination to live, no longer succumbing to the passions of passions, and monasticism itself is a continuous feat in overcoming passions and eradicating them in order to appear pure and blameless before the face of God. So that's your business! Pay all your attention to it and direct all your strength. The monastic rule, the main points of which are fasting, obedience and prayer, provides you with an order of life that does not provide food for passions, or in which they may not be aroused. But it does not destroy passion. You can be completely correct in the behavior required by the monastic rules, and be full of passions in your heart. There are laywomen dressed in light dresses - nuns in spirit, and there are monastic ones - laywomen in heart. You need to get close to your heart and see what comes from there, and cut off everything that is passionate. The struggle is before you, and the struggle is unceasing. You have few reasons to do bad things, but your thoughts and feelings are not always consistent with the outside. Managing them as they should is the goal of your exploits. Lay people struggle most with evil deeds, and nuns - with thoughts and lusts. If you want to be saved, go inside yourself, pay attention at the entrance of your heart and consume everything that is enemy, coming out and suitable. Entire books have been written and written about how to succeed in this matter. I'll tell you one thing... Be zealous for purity, and in this zeal, fall painfully to the Lord, praying for help. He who trusts in the Lord will receive mercy 330. At the right time, you don’t know where admonition and strength will come from... See it in action, and action will teach you the art of managing yourself. Do not reject external guidance, in scripture and the living word; but the inner is stronger and more fruitful. Having lived like this, you will appear unflatteringly as servants of God in monasticism. Whatever you succeed in, may the Lord grant you both meaning and strength. Amen. Saint Alexy, the man of God, is the image of true monasticism. Monasticism is crucifixion of oneself to the world. Bearing the cross leads to perfection. Marvelous is the life of Saint Alexis, the man of God! How could he endure this and not speak out for such a long time, having before his eyes faces for whom he burned with love, knowing that he would have made them happy if he had spoken out, and enduring trouble from them only because they did not know who he was? Yet he was a man - and a living man, with a heart - and what a heart! His soul was probably hurting and hurting hard; but he conquered this pain with a firm determination to be faithful to his adopted intention, and softened it with the strong love that he burned for the Lord. In this position, he looked like someone crucified on the cross, but who had not yet given up the ghost. Just as in this crucified man, a slight movement or vibration of the body tears open the wounds and, increasing the pain, pinches the heart, darkens the head, so with him - whether he saw his father or heard the voice of his mother, or met the stern look of a servant or the affection of a stranger, whether they forgot him for a long time or increased care for him, all this, and much like this could not help but torment his heart! But he endured everything, covered everything with silence, was always in the same calm and serene state - he did not rush here and there like a desperate person. This is how the Lord endured on the cross, and this is how all the martyrs endured. Here is an image of true monasticism and a very close example for you, sisters of this monastery, to follow! Those who dedicated one of the thrones here to Alexy, the man of God, probably wanted to inspire you so that, having before your eyes the example of such a patient man, you would imitate his life. For you too have taken upon yourself to crucify yourself to the world. Continue patiently in this self-crucifixion. Imagine that your monastery is the same as the cabin of Alexy, the man of God, and the city before your face is the same as the house of his parents. And just as he was not carried away by the thoughts and feelings that were aroused in him by objects so close to his heart, so remain unshakable in your intention, despite the fact that temptations are so close to you. Do not come down from the cross to which you have raised yourself. I'll tell you briefly how to do this. The crucified man will never come down from the cross unless the nails with which he is nailed to the tree are removed. Do not take away from your heart those dispositions with which, like nails, you can be chained to the monastery and monastic life, and you will not come down from your cross and will remain in cross-bearing, and this cross-bearing will lead you to perfection and will directly transfer you into the Kingdom of God’s love. Exactly - that's what you do. 1) Keep unquenchable that fire of jealousy with which you sought the monastery and entered it. Remember what vows came from your heart then, what plans were made in your head about deeds of pleasing God, what feats you were ready to undertake in order to show your selflessness! Remember all this more often... and thereby inflame your jealousy if it begins to cool in you at least a little. You probably know from experience that when this jealousy is strong, nothing matters... You are the first in the church, the first in obedience, the first in loyalty to the monastic rules. And when it weakens, the arm does not rise, the leg does not walk... the church is not nice, and the eyes look at the monastery gates. You see what a disaster it is to weaken the first jealousy!.. Keep it and do not allow it to weaken in you. 2) You left the world and everything worldly outside the monastery gates. And let him be there... Don't bring him inside the fence. This is what it means: do not allow your heart to again become addicted to anything worldly, material, carnal, no matter how insignificant it may be. Don’t worry too much about your needs and don’t make busywork your main priority, don’t stir up storms of controversial thoughts about ranks and advantages in your head and heart, don’t hoard unnecessary things, and when you have food and clothing, be content with these 331 . Otherwise, how will you differ from people who work not for the Lord, but for mammon?! Don't say: how is this possible? It's difficult, it's true, but not impossible. By doing everything that you do, you can keep your heart detached from everything. Do this and you will benefit... 3) Remain in patient obedience, in mutual agreement and strong peace, covering with loving condescension the infirmities that fall to everyone’s lot, remaining in fidelity and the monastic rules, reading the instructions of holy ascetics and the private advice of your spiritual fathers and experienced elders. Be like a ball that rolls without a crack wherever it is pushed. Each of you can easily accomplish all this, as long as you resolutely renounce your will. As long as there is one’s own will, one cannot help but be in the midst of chaos and commotion, discord and disobedience in the most peaceful abode. One’s own will is the seed of hell, it is the road for Satan and his hordes to the peaceful dwellings of God. 4) The main thing is to convince your mind and your heart that you are already dead to everything here; move with your consciousness and feeling to another world - and stay there, showing yourself to be alien to everything around you, to everything created and earthly... So settle inside, as if there is no one and nothing in the world except you and the One God worshiped in the Trinity. Let this thought of your heart touch even a little - and you will see for yourself how it will reorganize everything external and internal!.. Here are four nails for you! Zeal for salvation is unquenchable, expulsion of everything worldly from the monastery fence, renunciation of one’s will, death to everything and living to the one God! Pierce the hands and feet of your heart with them, and you will appear crucified, and you will be able to speak with the apostle that not only the world has been crucified to you, but you to the world too 332. May the Lord set you up for this work and strengthen you in your labors and the heart diseases that are inevitable with this - through the prayers of Alexy, the man of God. Amen. Creating an inner cross within yourself The heart is Golgotha ​​for the inner cross. What is the internal cross made of and how is it erected. From crucifixion on our cross is our salvation. We now celebrate the glorious Exaltation of the honorable and life-giving Cross of the Lord. Everyone knows why it was necessary, how it was accomplished and why it is celebrated with such greatness in the Christian Church. Remember all this. After the removal of our Lord Jesus Christ from the Cross and His placement in the tomb, the honest life-giving Cross remained on Calvary and then, together with other crosses, robbers, was thrown into a deep cave that was right there, near the very place of the crucifixion. Over time, this place was littered with all sorts of rubbish and forgotten. When Constantine the Great converted to Christianity and his mother Helen decided in her heart to build the Church of the Resurrection at the very site of the resurrection, then, by God’s special guidance, the Cross of the Lord was found. The people, who were present in countless numbers, wanted to see the Cross. The queen ordered the people's desire to be fulfilled, and the bishop, lifting it up, showed it to everyone. This action of uplifting, or erection, as the crown of the labors that preceded it, together with the wonderful actions of God touched upon it, the Holy Church established to be remembered every year as a sign of God’s special mercy to His Holy Church. Let us thank the Lord’s providential care for us, but together we will learn from her what she obliges us to do. For remember also that each of us has his own cross, with which, at the calling of the Lord, he follows Him and on which he must, following the example of the Apostle, be crucified with Christ. Golgotha ​​for this cross is our heart; it is raised or established by a zealous determination to live according to the spirit of Christ, and is composed of different heartfelt dispositions, main and inaccurate in Christian life. Just as the salvation of the whole world comes from the Cross of the Lord, so our salvation comes from our crucifixion on our own cross. But just as the life-giving Cross of the Lord was thrown into a pit and covered with rubbish, so we can throw our cross and throw it away with negligence and carelessness, and then we are not among those being saved, but among those perishing. Therefore, we urgently need to clearly understand for ourselves what our cross is made of, in order to correctly understand whether it stands in our heart or has been thrown off it, whether we are walking with this cross after the Lord or have deviated from it, and, having thrown off this good yoke of Christ, we are wandering, not knowing where and why? I will explain the composition of our inner cross, especially in relation to your monastic life, sisters, with whom the Lord destined me to now celebrate the honorable Exaltation of His Cross. And your cross, that is, the monastic cross, is similar to ordinary Christian crosses, only it has its own structure and some features in the same parts. True, it is a little, or maybe not a little, heavier, but it is also more fruitful. And if from the cross there is life in general, then from under the monastic cross there are abundant streams of life. I will not explain everything in detail to you, but I will only point out those feelings and dispositions without which you cannot take a single step in monasticism, without which you cannot live in a monastery like a monastery, without which monasticism is not monasticism, but ordinary life, only within the monastery walls. So listen! The lower part of the cross, the one that enters the earth, corresponds in the inner cross to selflessness, with which the earth of the heart is torn apart and the cross is implanted into it. To reject oneself means to treat oneself as others treat the rejected one. In monasticism, this action takes on a new form - killing oneself and the whole world. A monk is the same as a dead person buried in the ground. The walls of the monastery are his tomb. His clothes are a funeral shroud. He leaves everything outside the walls of the monastery and in all that exists has nothing akin to himself: he is alien to everything and everything is alien to him, so the word of the Apostle suits him perfectly: the world has been crucified to me, and to the world 332. Whoever has acquired such a disposition has laid a solid foundation for the internal cross and monasticism. The upper part of the inner cross, or going upward, standing straight, longitudinal, is patience, that is, such firmness to stand in the intentional, which is not shaken by any obstacles, any displeasure and labor. Without patience, it is impossible for anyone to stand in goodness, much less for a monk to stand in monasticism. For a layman, patience is constancy in enduring all the labors to fulfill his duties; for a monk, moreover, it is the firmness of staying in his rank and in his place. Every step here is an exercise in patience, and, therefore, not even a step here can be taken without patience. Look through the monastic charter, and you will see how wide the field is for works of patience. Only one who has died to himself and the world can endure everything required here, as it should. The transverse part of the internal monastic cross is obedience - an attitude in which they do not undertake anything themselves, do not plot anything, but only listen and unquestioningly carry out the orders of others. The obedient one is like a ball that rolls without a crack wherever the blow imparted to it directs it. He voluntarily renounces independence and gives himself up as a tool for another. He acts either on advice or on command, trusting neither his thoughts nor his desires. That's why everything is open. If others do not see something, he himself reveals himself to the chosen or appointed one, so that something evil does not hide under the guise of good. Now put everything together, and you will see that the mortification of everything gives entry into the monastery, patience makes it safe to stay in it, obedience embraces all the activities of those staying inside it. Here is a three-part cross from which true monastic life flows! But what kind of life is this, who might think? Alienation from everything, renunciation of one's will in obedience, extinguishing almost every feeling in patience - is this life?! But don't stop at just appearance. Each of the monastic virtues shown, in addition to the external - harsh - side, also has an internal, living and joyful side, which is either presupposed by it or develops from it. So, patience is supported and lives by the hope that the monastic work is not in vain. Anticipating the desired good, hope feeds patience and makes it insatiable. Hope fills the heart with joy from the certainty of possessing what is desired, and with this joy it dissolves the sting of patience of labor. That is why the one who endures rejoices and does not suffer so much as enjoys, despite the fact that others see him as suffering much. Obedience is enlivened by love. Obedience is the renunciation of one’s self-activity and one’s reasoning—the actions that are most dear to us. You must have great strength to overcome yourself and abandon them. By force of will you can, of course, overcome yourself, and firm determination succeeds in this. But while she acts alone, acts of obedience are like breaking dry branches. Only love is strong to impart painless flexibility to novitiate. Love is ready for all sacrifices and cannot consider labor, waste of time, waste of strength and property to be anything. Where there is love, everything happens willingly, easily and quickly. Only obedience out of love makes all the labors to which it is obliged joyful. Finally, mortification to oneself and to the world is enlivened and caused by the faith that it must be this way and it cannot be otherwise, if the one who desires this life wants to be in it what he should be. Holy faith tells us that we were created for life in God, but fell away from Him and fell into the bonds of selfishness and the charms of the world, and that therefore he who wants to rise again to life in God must die to himself and the world. This conviction of the inevitability of such an order, with a living desire for one’s true good, feeds the mortification of everything and gives it life, especially in connection with another conviction that only by this disposition can one be grafted onto Christ and, having been crucified with Him, draw complete revival from Him. Thus, the basis of the inner cross is faith with self-sacrifice or death to everything; its longitudinal part is patience, strengthened by hope; the transverse part is obedience inspired by love. If the cross is imagined as a tree, then its root is faith, from which first of all self-sacrifice and determination grow - to give up everything and take on the one task of saving the soul at a distance from everything. From self-denial is born love, ready for any obedience; out of obedience, or contemporaneously with it, patience develops, crowned with hope that ascends to heaven - into the inner veil, as the apostle says 333. Where all these dispositions exist, there the tree of the cross does not stand alone bare, but branches into many shoots of various virtues, is covered with the leaves of external virtue and abounds in the fruits of good deeds. There is oblivion of the world and its customs, an unceasing stay in the monastery without an outcome, love of solitude, prayerful work in cells and churches, fasting, tirelessness in handicrafts, willingness to help each other, mutual forgiveness, mutual encouragement for good, peace, abstinence of the eyes, tongue and ears, and so on and so forth. Blessed is the soul that, having entered within itself, finds all this in its heart! This is an obvious sign that the tree of the cross has been erected in him, planted firmly and abounding with living inner strength, so that it can truly be called a life-giving tree, not only in general, but specifically for this heart. What we have with you, sisters, see for yourself! If all the virtues I have indicated are really in your heart, then your cross is standing - erected. If not, then know that it is buried with the opposite of unkind feelings and dispositions. I do not name these last ones, because they are self-evident. But I cannot apply a desire or even a petition: if you find that your cross has either bowed down, or completely fallen, or, even more, is covered with dust and debris of bad thoughts and desires, take care to open it, cleanse it with repentance and erect it again and plant it in your heart with a firm determination to be zealous for the salvation of your soul - to the point of your stomach. Believe that without this cross there is no spiritual life and no salvation, and there is no joy in monastic life. Without the cross, no one has been saved and will not be saved. Just as the Lord entered into glory by suffering on the cross, so all those who follow Him, through a kind of cross, enter into co-glorification with Him. Do you wish to enter into this glory? Climb first to the cross, and from the cross you will go to heaven. Amen. In the Sukhotinsky convent of the Tambov province The Mirror of Monasticism in the Life of Saint Alexis, the Man of God The beginning of monasticism is leaving the world. Burnt offering practice of monastic life The life of Saint Alexy, the man of God, presents us with a mirror of monastic life in its full perfection. Come, sisters, let us look in this mirror; Having seen enough, we will believe 334 whether everything is as it should be with us, so that later we can be more firmly established in what should be, remove what is not necessary, and fill in what is missing. The beginning of monastic life is supposed to be the abandonment of the world and everything that is appropriate in human cohabitation. He who enters monasticism leaves not only sinful and vicious things, which every Christian is obliged to do, but also everything natural; leaves father, mother, relatives and every worldly sweetness, becoming truly dead in his soul to everything. You know how necessary this is and how without it you cannot act freely in monasticism, feeling yourself bound, as if hand and foot. There are different degrees and different ways of this renunciation... But almost everyone who truly renounced found it more convenient, while renouncing the world, to completely move away from the world and everything worldly. Because, although this holy work is undertaken out of predominant love for the Lord and, therefore, presupposes the heart to be occupied and captivated by other objects better than those that are abandoned, it is nevertheless impossible not to feel pain when natural connections are abandoned. This pain fades away with distance, but comes to life again in strength with meeting and vision. Therefore, to remain in the face of such objects and, however, to be with them in obligatory heartfelt separation means to put oneself in a position of continuously painful sensations. But who can hope to always have so much strength in his heart to endure these illnesses complacently, to build himself up... That is why those who renounce the world almost all flee to the desert or behind the walls of monasteries! This was not how Saint Alexy, the man of God, was! It was not enough for him to follow the common path. He chooses for himself a new one, as much as a strange one, as well as a tall one. Did he love his father, mother and bride? Certainly? loved and, perhaps, more than how much they loved him. He left them not out of hatred, but because he was consumed by overwhelming love for the Lord. So, has this love dried up and he is returning to his father’s house?! No. But it required new victims, just as fire requires the constant addition of new combustible substances in order to burn more fieryly. And this is what he gave her to eat! The most tender, natural feelings are constantly renewed in the heart by his vision, hearing and very presence. I saw my father and, probably, tried to hug him, but out of love for the Lord I suppressed this impulse. I heard the cry of the mother or the lamentation of the bride and, no doubt, was deeply indignant in my heart, but I overcame this anxiety with love for the Lord. Abraham was heartbroken, but he was ready to sacrifice his son, defeating his parental feelings. But even if he had actually made this sacrifice, he would have made it only once. And the man of God constantly felt the strongest kindred feelings and constantly sacrificed them to the Lord, as if he himself were tempering his heart. The martyrs suffered greatly; but, having suffered for days, months, rarely years, they went to rest with the Lord. The man of God arranged for himself continuous suffering - from the minute he entered his father’s house until he closed his eyes. He looked like someone who would be cut line by line with a knife, or like someone who would be whittled with iron nails and would not stop whittling, or like someone who would be shod with iron boots with sharp nails inside and forced to walk without stopping in order to rip apart painful wounds more and more. He was in his position truly a burnt offering. His nature burned within him; the fire in which it burned was the fire of love for the Lord. Man of God! Should we just praise you or, while praising, strive to imitate you?! In every possible way, however, you who have renounced the world, stand here and decide for yourself: having renounced the world, have you renounced everything of this life, and, having renounced this, are you making a sacrifice to God - or are you only bringing peace to yourself? Having renounced the world, they enter the monastery and begin a difficult life there in fasting, prayer and patient obedience with renunciation of their will. This is the practice of monastic life and a test of the art of remaining in it. Upon entering the monastery, they renounce the world; in the monastery one must renounce oneself, renounce one’s belly with all embitterment of the flesh, renounce one’s desires by surrendering oneself to patient obedience, renounce all one’s thoughts, limiting the gaze of one’s mind to the one God, and renouncing everything from it, in prayerful immersion in God. You know that this is the case and that this embraces the entire life lived within the monastery walls. Each of you spends it this way according to your strength and zeal: fasts according to your strength and zeal; He prays to the best of his ability and zeal in church and at home; To the best of his ability and diligence, he novitiates and ensures that he does not leave the monastery. May the Lord bless your efforts. Work hard! - but do not think that having done certain things once or several times, you have completely gotten rid of them. No. You must do it continuously, go higher and higher without stopping, until you achieve the measure of perfection destined for each part of monastic life. How to do this and what is needed here, do not look far for instructions. Look closely at the works of the man of God and you will see everything to what extent your exploits should bring you. Look at how little he has achieved in satisfying the needs of his body, what his prayers are and what his renunciation of his will is, and force yourself to become like him. The servant who followed him testified about him before the king and the consecrated cathedral that he ate little, slept little, never went out, and prayed all day and night; and what he suffered from the servants cannot be retold. Do not consider all this to be inapplicable to you, remembering that strength is not in form, and do not dismiss yourself from a conscientious answer: are the beginnings of the traits of the life of a man of God laid in the monastic life of each of you? For those living in the monastery, the external fence and protection is the monastery itself with a fence, while the internal refuge, protection and peace is the church of God. What does the man of God have?! His fence and monastery are decisive self-sacrifice, and his church is the sky he constantly contemplates, where, intelligently standing before God, he sang songs of praise to God in a choir of Angels and saints. Only in such a mood does it become clear how it was possible to endure everything that he suffered! His heart was in another world. Warming himself with the breath of God's love, anticipating the expected cohabitation of the blessed inhabitants of heaven and, as if having already moved there, he courageously bore all the illnesses and labors of his life, just as on the lists, with the aspiration to accept honor and prize, everyone is inspired to move forward as quickly as possible, without feeling exhaustion of strength and fatigue. Imitating him, we, sisters, should also comprehend the mother-in-law, abandoning all earthly hopes and feeding on heavenly hopes alone. For if we hope to achieve something earthly through our monastic stay, then we are the most damned of all people. Here is a short sketch of the mirror of the monastic life! Look, but not so that, having looked, you forget what you saw, but so that in what you see you have either the joy of inspiration for the best, or an incentive to cleanse and correct what is bad. May the Lord make you wise for salvation through the prayers of Saint Alexis, the man of God. Amen. God gave the church - we must use it as it should The construction of the church is a gift from God. God's blessing for one's work is sought through prayer in church. Common prayer in church is always more fruitful. How should one go to church? Thus, your labors and your worries about building another church that will benefit you have now ended. Thanks be to the Lord for this gift! I say - freely, for although you had a lot to do, what could you have done if not for the Lord?! In unexpected benefits, and in everything else, have you not felt His close, beneficent hand? Having confessed the gift, what shall we render to the Lord the Benefactor? Let us pay tribute, according to His intention, to the use of the gift, namely: 1) The church was built not to be only an external - an empty witness of piety, but in order to be always full of those for whom it is appointed. And this imposes on you the obligation to attend all services required by the charter in this church. Having made a vow to work for the Lord in labors of asceticism and prayer, you, of course, do not intend to indulge your laziness in this regard. But don’t let any plausible excuses that are common among workers like you tempt you. Let the urge not tempt you, firstly, to omit this or that Divine service, to complete the required work out of necessity. Remember that work is not successful when there is no blessing from God on it, and this blessing must be attracted and brought down from heaven... With what and where? Prayer in the church. When a blessing is asked, one hour replaces the work of a whole day, while without it everything is torn and confused - and the day passes in vain. I think you yourself already have a lot of experience with this. Don’t become your own slanderers! Secondly, do not let the flattering thought tempt you - to stay in your cell when others go to church, out of a desire to pray more diligently in solitude from others. Is there no other time for solitary prayer than the hours appointed for public prayer? Then pray alone. And you must always go to the general service required by the charter... Here in the congregation, prayer is warmer and more fervent and always more fruitful. Where there are two or three gatherings in My name, says the Lord, there I am in the middle 336, and where the Lord is, there is every spiritual good... What a pity that others deprive themselves of this treasure! Doesn’t it also happen that others, remaining in their cells, miss the general prayer, and do not have time to pray at home, and thus commit two evils - they violate the order and cause harm to themselves... Therefore, isn’t it better to once and for all make it a rule for yourself: never indulge such a thought? Thirdly, do not let that indulgence tempt you, because you come to church not at the beginning of the services or leave before they end. Remember that every service is one whole, and only in its entirety does it provide complete benefit. Just as food is only tasty when it has all the seasonings, so the service only satisfies the completely spiritual taste when it is heard in full. Consequently, whoever misses the beginning of it or does not achieve it to the end, he works and deprives himself of the fruit of his labors, or creates with one hand and ruins with the other. So, having created, decorated and consecrated this church, go to it without regret, rejecting all empty pretexts - and this is the first thing. 2) And you need to go to church not somehow, but as you should. For you can always go to church, not for praise, however, but for self-condemnation - to go and not receive any spiritual benefit from it. Everything related here can be combined in the following rules. With the first strike of the bell, you must drop everything and prepare your soul for church prayer by reading: “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice...” or “Heavenly King...”, “Our Father...”, or some other prayer. When approaching the church, at its threshold one must leave all worries and worries about matters, no matter what they concern, in order to enter inside with an undisturbed thought. When entering a church, we must clothe ourselves, as with clothing, with reverence, remembering Whom we are coming to and Whom we intend to address in prayer. In the church, having taken your place, the best thing is always the same, you need to gather your thoughts together and stand with your mind in the face of the omnipresent Lord, bringing reverent worship to Him with body and spirit in a contrite and humble heart. After this, one must, with an undistracted mind, follow everything that is happening - what is sung and read in the church, and this until the very end of the service. That's it! By doing this, we will not get bored in church, look around here and there and start conversations, and we will not wish that the service would end sooner. For then, moving from one prayerful feeling to another and from one reverent thought to another, we will be like those who in a fragrant garden move from one group of flowers to another, as a result of which spiritual warmth - the fruit of attentive prayer - will fill our heart with inexpressible sweetness, which will not allow us to notice the physical in the standing of labor and will make every service short. On the contrary, someone who is inattentive to what is happening in church dreams of empty things and deeds, but does not help these matters, and wastes prayer time in vain, upsets himself and deprives himself of the fruit of prayer - ready-made, which, so to speak, is given into his hands. May the Lord deliver you from this sin! 3) Using church services in this way, little by little, we will achieve the main thing for which these visible churches are given to us, namely, unceasing prayer to God, performed mentally in the heart, which makes our heart a church to God not made by hands. The commandment about this prayer was taught to us by the holy apostles; All the holy ascetics cared about her. And we will be ashamed if, having built this material church, we do not take care of building the immaterial church, for which, in fact, the material one exists. What is the use of having a tool and not being able to use it to do what it is designed for?.. Whoever attends all services unfailingly and listens to them as he should, can easily achieve this invaluable spiritual benefit... He still needs to add a little to this work of unforgiving going to church, namely, to take care to preserve unquenched the warmth of the heart aroused in the church through the preservation of the attention with which the soul was overshadowed here. And for this - to love solitary sitting in cells (excluding necessary work), frequent worship of the Lord in front of icons, reading from time to time the word of God, the patristic writings, and most importantly - to acquire the skill of constantly saying a short but strong prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me...” As such labors, the soul will be more and more overshadowed by grace. the presence of God, which will lead the mind to God and fill the heart with sweet sighs, which is unceasing prayer. I wish you this gift of God as a reward for your work most of all. Having created this church and decorated it, so that you yourself may be built into a dwelling place of God in the spirit—into a spiritual church—offering sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ... 337 Amen. In the Temnikovsky convent of the Tambov province On rousing yourself to prayer and teaching it Keeping an unquenchable prayer desire. The feeling of need prompts prayer. How to acquire the art of prayer and experience in it. Thanks be to the Lord, who has deigned to establish this church in your monastery, which is so beneficial to you. Seeing this, one cannot help but rejoice both because this means the prosperity of your monastery, and because, therefore, the monastery wants to prosper from the very side that constitutes an essential feature of the way of life you have perceived. You are prayer books. The church is a house of prayer. By being concerned about its arrangement, you showed that you have a need and a thirst for prayer. What should you do after this? All that remains is to apply to the task of building a church the work for which it was appointed, that is, to irritate in oneself more and more the desire to pray - and by the very act of praying. So, irritate yourself with prayer. When, leaving everything, you entered this monastery, what was in your mind and heart then? There was only one thing - to pray and pray. This means that the desire to pray is no longer alien to you. Keep this desire unquenchable, and not only keep it, but also kindle this fire more and more. This matter is simple; just as you maintain an ordinary fire by adding wood, so manage to maintain the prayer fire in your heart, one after another putting into it various spiritual thoughts, which will form spiritual fuel. Most of all, beware of spiritual satiety. He who is full does not care about food. And whoever considers himself spiritually full will not pray. What water is to fire, this satiety is to prayer. Meanwhile, spiritual satiety is a deception, for how can we be satisfied when we are burdened with spiritual needs? And we need admonition, and strengthening, and consolation - and this is every minute, both from the outside, and even more so from the inside. Just as it is impossible not to feel these needs for those who want to behave as they should, so it is impossible to spend even a minute without crying out for their satisfaction. This cry is prayer. Only a numb soul does not pray. Maintain the feeling of need within yourself and you will always be motivated to pray. And for this, do not look at what is in you, but look at what is not yet there. It is impossible for you to have nothing; but even if you had the wisdom of Solomon, the faith of Abraham, the patience of Job, the fervor of the spirit of David - and all this is small compared to what still needs to be achieved. Realizing this, those great righteous people said about themselves: I am earth and ashes 338, a worm, not a man, a reproach of people and humiliation of people 339. So set yourself up so that on earth it would be impossible to think of such insignificance with which you could compare yourself. When this happens, there will be a feeling of need and misfortune; and when this happens, there will be a need to pray. But if only this need were constantly in your soul, and then it itself will teach you how to pray in action. Need teaches everything. The need for prayer will teach you to pray. Where will wisdom and intelligence come from! And alone, and in general obedience, and in the cell, and on the road, and in church, and at the table, and at handicrafts - everywhere the soul will try to keep up with prayer and prayerful appeal to God. By the very act of prayer one acquires both the art of prayer and experience in it. All this is true, you know. Just don’t think that the matter of prayer is somehow cunning and confusing. The child wants to eat, comes to his mother and says: “Give me bread.” What's the point of this trick? The same is true in prayer to God. Sins bother you, come and say: “I have sinned. Lord, have mercy!” Sorrow overcomes, come and say: “Comfort, Lord.” Moral forces are weakening, come and say: “Help, Lord.” So it is in everything. If you feel a need, come and tell it to the Lord in the simplicity of your heart. Call upon the Mother of God as a prayer room. Your guardian angel and all the saints, and together with them, under their protection, fall before the all-merciful Savior. That's it! And all tricks or tricks in prayer must be put aside. The best guidance in matters of prayer is the prayer rule established by the charter. It was decreed by the holy God-bearing fathers, such as those whom the prayer of the mountain represented. Imitate them and live by their rules. As it is commanded in the statute to pray in the cell, pray so. As you are told to pray in church, do so. Just as you are instructed to get into the habit of unceasing prayer, so get into the habit. Start to pray, collect your thoughts and, while reading or listening to the prayer, connect thought and feeling with every word - and that’s it. To this we only need to work to control our thoughts, which reluctantly stand on one thing, and also to take care in every possible way so that the work of prayer does not stop with the end of the prayer rule, but occupies us at all other times. Whoever has this is a real prayer book. And the more someone establishes himself in such prayer, the deeper he goes into prayer. And the deeper one goes into prayer, the more one detaches oneself from the visible, the surrounding, and further from the very words of prayer, and comes closer to speaking to God in prayer not with someone else’s word, but with one’s own, and not even with a word, but with the thought and feeling of the heart. That's the whole prayer ladder - simple, uncomplicated, uncomplicated! But know that just as every work requires its own labor, so in prayer you need to work, and even overwork, both in body and, especially, in spirit. For the body - standing, bowing, praying; to the spirit - attention, feeling, detachment from everything and striving towards God, joint work! And you have to force yourself to do both. The farmer sweats over fertilizing the field and sowing - and, with God's help, receives a good harvest... Work hard in prayer, and you will receive what you ask for, and you will achieve perfection in prayer. And without labor you will not get anything. They rub wood against wood and they get fire. Challenge yourself to stand, vigil, and bow, and receive the fire of prayer. You need to force yourself to do every good thing, and especially to pray. Then the Lord, seeing our work and zeal that we want to achieve perfection in prayer, will send us His grace and overshadow our spirit with a cloud of prayer, into which the soul, like Moses on Sinai, will intelligently converse with the Lord face to face. May the merciful Lord give you this gift, and may you appear perfect in prayer, as the great prayer books, the founders of the entire prayer order, were perfect in it. The Lord helped you complete the church. Take care now in yourselves to imagine to Him a spiritual church, a holy priesthood, to offer a sacrifice of the spirit acceptable to God Jesus Christ, so that otherwise the reproach does not apply to you: what is the multitude of your sacrifices to me 340? The trees that make up the church are not you. Give your hearts to the Lord and from them make a church for Him, in which His Spirit will blissfully rest, bringing blessings to you - both internal and external. Amen. In the Kadomsky convent of the Tambov province Construction of an internal church to God The visible church is a direct image of the internal church. How to go inside yourself. A spiritual sacrifice is made in the church of the heart. External and internal doing. Behold, the church of the living God has been erected and consecrated! This is also the place of the settlement of His glory, the place of rest for the souls of the grieving, the place of feeding and drinking the souls of the hungry and thirsty - with the word of God and the holy sacraments, a place of sincere communication with the invisible world of Angels and saints! Thanks be to the Lord, who crowned this good deed with success! May He bless those who started it, those who carried out the labors of bringing it to an end, those who helped, assisted and everyone who came into contact with it in some way. This church is designated for you, sisters, who have left the world and have become ignorant of the Lord. You left, running, and settled in the desert so that you could more easily approach your beloved Lord and, undisturbed by the dust of worldly vanity, behold the beauty of His face. So the Lord shows a sign of His benevolent approach to you, stretches out His hands to you to receive you, appoints a place where He is ready to listen to the desires of your heart, which is open to Him. I think that it is impossible to find a stronger motivation for you to rush about 341 in this house of God, if not constantly, then at least every time you are called here according to the rules of the Holy Church. I have no doubt that this has been and will be so. But I cannot help but remind you that it is not enough for you to appear before the face of the Lord in the church that exists outside of you; you need to build a church for the Lord within yourself, so that you can always have Him in you and with you. For if it applies to everyone, then how much more does the word of the Apostle come to you: Do you not know that you are the church of God 342 ... And therefore, if it applies to everyone, then how much more should the commandment apply to you: as to living heat, to be built into a spiritual church, holy holiness, to make sacrifices acceptable to God Jesus Christ 343 . It is all the more appropriate for you to think about this now, since the church built and consecrated now is a direct image of that invisible church that should be built for Him in our hearts. Add to the work already accomplished in building this visible church another work, which cannot have an end - about preparing your heart for the eternal spiritual church of the Lord. Don’t think that it would be so tricky and so high that it would completely exceed your strength. You are already being built into this church. You just need to continue what you started continuously and with the same zeal with which you started. To see, however, what exactly needs to be done, I will briefly depict to you the entire building of the church of the Lord in the heart. A place for the visible church is chosen and cleansed. We need to clear the place of the heart within us for the building of a spiritual church. This clearing is accomplished by repentance, that is, by sincere awareness of one’s sins and blaming oneself for them, so that one can stand 402 before the face of the Lord unrequited and expect salvation from His sole mercy. The Lord does not love those who are righteous to Him, and is favorable only to those who cry out to Him with a publican’s voice: “God, be merciful to us sinners.” In the cleared area, the foundation is deepened and laid. The foundation of the spiritual church in the heart is faith and the determination to live by faith. Only faith, combined with determination, makes the inner building unshakable and even inaccessible either to doubts and perplexities, or to inconveniences, resistances and sorrows. He who decides to live by faith no longer fears sorrows or death itself, which is why he is considered to be invincible or standing on an indestructible foundation. Having laid the foundation, they then erect the building, laying stone on stone, fastening them with known substances and directing everything according to the assumed plan and scale. All this, in its corresponding properties, is or should be in the inner church; here the stones are different virtues, for which when and where the opportunity presents itself: meekness, abstinence, patience, obedience, mercy, hard work, etc., which, when added to one another, create the restoration of the body of the inner church; the cement that holds them together is, on the one hand, influxes through the holy sacraments of grace, without which everything we have remains dry, incoherent, fragile, and on the other hand, love, without which no exploits and no labors have any value or, as the apostle says, everything is nothing 344; plan and scale - a reasoning that determines the measure, weight and number of labors, enterprises and exploits, without this internal co-measurer, they can disfigure the entire building, and, consequently, make all the labors already raised insignificant and useless. The skill for this reasoning, thorough and sound, is acquired by obedient living under the guidance of shepherds, spiritual fathers, elders and elders, who, for the first time, and sometimes for life, should constitute the only leaders in the creation of the heart for the Lord. The work of doing good, imbued with love, under the influence of God’s sacraments, with the guidance of shepherds and one’s own reasoning, raises the building to the top. Then its roof will be formed by deep humility, which will save this building from the dampness of vanity and man-pleasing, from the dryness of arrogance and pride, from the shocking blows of willfulness and disobedience. All that remains after this is to lead the building and put a cross on it. Both will be accomplished by one act of devotion to the will of God, which is precisely the head of the virtues of self-sacrifice and the cross on which our selfhood is finally crucified. Here is the church! Do you want to know what makes up its outer fence? - Unshakable loyalty to all the rules and regulations of the Holy Church of God, and in you, moreover, to your monastic rules. Behind this fence one can safely hide from all the storms and unrest raised by the spirit of the age, superstition and passions. As long as there is this loyalty, the building is safe; where it is not there, everything will go bankrupt little by little, until no stone remains upon another. But we are still outside this inner church. It is necessary to enter inside it, decorate it, sanctify it, and make it fragrant, in order to worthily perform holy priesthood there - to offer sacrifices favorable to God. For the Lord does not want to dwell only in us, but also to dwell with us in us. The question is: how can we go inside ourselves? Attention, sobriety, composure. When thoughts are scattered, they all float above external objects; but as they detach themselves from these latter, they gather inward, and as they gather together, they further detach themselves from the outside. Through this interaction, inner sobriety finally matures, in which the eye of the mind always looks inside the heart, and deep, unperturbed attention is established to what is there and to everything that comes there. How to decorate the inner church of the heart? Good thoughts, consisting of deep convictions in the truths of faith with corresponding feelings and dispositions, that is, thoughts about the Trinitarian God, His boundless perfections, creation, providence, about the mystery of redemption and about the entire economy of salvation, about the future restoration of everything, and so on. Such thoughts cannot but fill the heart with fear, or contrition, or hope, or courageous readiness for everything, etc., which all together constitute the beauty of the church of the heart. The illumination of this church is provided by the undisturbed, unceasing contemplation of the omnipresent God, without which it is impossible to gather inside or be filled with any good feelings, although it itself is mutually supported by these latter and matures together with them. This light of vision of God, illuminating and warming the heart, arouses in it incessant cries to God or sighs from the depths, with the presentation to Him of various transient and incessant needs of the spirit or with the expression of movements of love for Him - the sweetest, which all constitutes the incense of heartfelt prayer, rising like the morning, or, like a fragrant censer, ascending to God. In the church of the heart thus fragrant, a spiritual sacrifice will also be made, favorable to God, consisting of an offering to Him of consciousness, self-activity and freedom and expressed by a painful falling towards Him in a contrite and humble heart. The Lord expects this sacrifice from us, He delights in it, and for its sake is ready to send down every good gift and every perfect gift. This completes the construction of the internal church to God and the internal sacred rites in this church. That's it! Whether this matter is difficult or easy, it is necessary. We cannot stop at external activity alone, although without it nothing internal can take place or be established. Once the external is done, let’s take care of the internal. There is no doubt that it exists, and perhaps for its sake this external thing also exists; but one can be afraid that this visibility, so obvious, would not eclipse or obscure that invisibility, almost elusive. Therefore, be vigilant and do not allow the enemy to destroy the fruits of your labors by stopping you halfway. Son, rain upon my heart, says the Lord 345. And we'll give it back. Remember the parable of the ten virgins... What did the holy fools lack? Internal doing. Outwardly, they were in good order - they observed virginity, and did not break fasts, and went to the church of God, and fulfilled everything else prescribed by the charter; but they didn’t care about the organization of thoughts and feelings. And their heart, instead of a church to God, was a wilderness, overgrown with all sorts of wild plants, full of reptiles and insects, or a deserted building, the home of eagle owls and bats. Take care so as not to fall into their fate. What you have started is good and valuable, but if you complete it 346 as it should be. Otherwise, the very beginning would not serve to condemn you for starting and not finishing. And pray to the Lord and His Most Pure Mother, our Lady, to Whom this church is dedicated, may they show you the favor of His goodness, perfect in everything, and may your spirit, soul and body be preserved at the coming of the Lord, may God grant you with the power to be strengthened by His spirit in the inner man, to indwell Christ with faith in your hearts. Amen. Spiritual feelings required during the march to the heavenly fatherland. Prayer cross. Without prayer there is no life and no access to the kingdom of heaven. The All-merciful Lord especially deigns to be present in churches consecrated by prayerful invocation of His grace. Therefore, such churches are rightly called the tabernacle of God with people - a place of special dwelling among the people of God, as He Himself certifies: I will dwell in them and like them, and I will be like God for them, and they will be among my people 347 . In ancient Israel this was evidenced in a way visible to all. A cloud overshadowed the tabernacle and the word came from the cloud. Then, throughout their wanderings in the desert, the pillar of cloud, rising and standing over the tabernacle, was the leader of the Israelites in their procession to the promised Canaan. We do not see a sensual cloud over the Christian church, but, nevertheless, we are confident in the reality of the gracious overshadowing of God inherent here. This church will not be erected and move like the tabernacle - the marching church of the Israelites - but, nevertheless, it is a sure sign of the way for those marching to heavenly Canaan. This last property of it gives me a reason to show you the structure of the 348 Israelis’ march around the tabernacle, in order to deduce from there what good dispositions we should surround this church with, so that it would be your guide on the way to heavenly Canaan. When the tabernacle was consecrated and built, God commanded Moses from that time on to arrange the procession so that three tribes walked in front, three behind, three on the right and three on the left, and in the middle moved the tabernacle, carried by the tribe of Levi. This is an image of the fact that in our procession to the heavenly fatherland, under the leadership of the Church, three feelings and dispositions should be in front, three behind, three on the right and left sides, and one more, core, corresponding to the tabernacle itself. I will briefly show you what these are, not allegorically interpreting the names of the sons of Israel, but arranging the feelings according to their inner meaning. The three front ones are the highest spiritual feelings. This is faith that the Lord truly is here from now on with His gracious presence, that this church has become His house, where His eye is always turned and where His heart always dwells; the hope that the Lord, who is here, clearly listens, like a loving father, to all the requests sent to Him and is ready to satisfy them; love for the church, for which it is sweet to dwell in it, as in the house of one’s own father, for which the spirit rests peacefully in it, as a child rests peacefully in the bosom of its mother. These are the main, imprecise, secret dispositions that serve as exciters and drivers of others. They mature in spirit and are turned, one might say, face to face to God Himself - this intelligent east. On the corresponding back side there should be bodily works in relation to the house of God, like a house of prayer - prayerful works lifted by the body. And there are also three of them: the labor of unlaxly going to church - to all services at the first call, without reservations and without self-pity or rewarding imaginary obstacles, according to the following law: as soon as you hear the call, drop everything and hurry to the church; the work of patiently staying in church from the beginning of the service to the end - without moving, always in one place, without loosening the limbs, with some tension giving vivacity; the work of reverent standing - quietly, with bows - with eyes turned to the valley or mountain, to icons or sacred rites; with ears fixed on what is sung and read; with a silent tongue, without looking around, wandering eyes and without talking. All such dispositions express bodily labor in prayer, supported by the inner prayerful spirit and, in turn, supporting it. After these arrangements of higher and lower, front and back, the cross line is formed by spiritual prayer works, or activities, namely: on the right side there will be three positive deeds. This is standing with the mind in the heart in the presence of God, accompanied by sobering fear, imparting alertness and refreshing our inner church, like fresh morning air; an in-depth understanding of the power and meaning of everything that is sung, read and acted, with a heart open to the acceptance of possible feelings and dispositions that may be born in it - with a readiness to bring them into fulfillment as the suggestions of God; a peaceful disposition of a benevolent spirit towards all people, not excluding the enemies themselves, according to the commandment of the Lord: if you remember that your brother has something against you, leave the gift before the altar and go and make peace 349 . On the left side there will be three negative deeds, namely: not plundering thoughts, or not allowing the mind to wander to different places and objects when we are standing in the church, and returning it back every time it voluntarily indulges in dreams; not burdening the heart with everyday worries, mercilessly driving the devotee further and further and leaving him no free time to occupy himself with heaven; non-attachment to anything earthly, or freedom from all attachments that drag you down and do not allow you to rise to grief. Here is a prayer cross, performed spiritually in our nature, under the shadow of which prayer itself acts in the middle - both as prayer with bows, and as a peaceful aspiration of feelings towards God, and as a hidden approach to God in the spirit. Whoever sets himself up in this way in relation to the church, in this very mood he will find the right guidance and a way to achieve the heavenly fatherland. One might say that he is already floating towards him. For do you notice how all these feelings and deeds, being arranged in appropriate order, represent a soaring bird? Its head is faith, hope and love; right wing - standing in the presence of God, a heart open to receiving God's suggestions, and peace with everyone; left wing - undistracted mind, freedom from worries and addictions; the back part is the labor of going to the church, standing in it and doing prayer, but its body is prayer itself. The bird, inhaling and exhaling air, setting its wings in motion, acting with its head and other members, successfully flies, and does not even fly otherwise than that. Likewise, ascent to God in prayer in churches is no other way possible than when we have all the aforementioned dispositions. Without one, the work of prayer will be distorted or stop, just as the flight of a bird stops when it lacks, for example, a wing or other parts. Everyone experiences this, and will test it on himself if he wants to test it. Anyone who wants to pray will certainly encounter all these dispositions, and everyone who prays already has all of them. On the contrary, those who do not have them have not yet begun to pray as they should. And without prayer there is no life, no ascent into the Kingdom; man is bowed down and perishes. Rise up and honor the houses of God, scattered everywhere, in order to awaken the spirit of prayer 350 in us and, lifting it from earth to heaven, on earth still give us a foretaste of eternal blessings. He who shuns churches is an enemy to himself; but even he is not a great well-wisher who walks in them not as he should, but somehow. Why is it that some people go to church for decades and still don’t know how to pray, don’t even understand what prayer is? - Because it does not fulfill all the internal structure necessary for a prayerful stay in the church. Have mercy on yourself: everything I said is not new to you, sisters. Almost constantly staying in the church, you, of course, soar to the sky like birds - with light, full flights... However, take the trouble to check your prayerful mood according to the proposed model, and if you notice that what feather is missing in the prayer wings, take care to acquire it, for our prayer bird has the advantage that it is possible to give birth to it again at any time and reproduce everything that is sometimes lacking in parts of its structure. Amen. Seeking the Highest is the first task of monasticism Are we what we should be? The seed of likeness to Christ is placed in us. How to fulfill the virtues outlined in the Beatitudes. Crying over sins. joy created by the student! It is written in the Gospel that the apostles, having seen off the Lord who had ascended into heaven, returned to Jerusalem with great joy 351. It’s true that with their minds and hearts they felt all the greatness of the blessings poured out on our race through the Ascension of the Lord, that when, judging humanly, they should have grieved, they rejoiced; and not only did they themselves rejoice, but they later passed on this joy and the basis for joy to the Holy Church, which convenes us to this celebration every year. So we celebrate. But the Holy Church does not want us to forget about what makes us celebrate, behind the splendor of the celebration, and to obscure the greatness of the Ascended One and the beneficence of the Ascension with external festivity. No - she wants us to renew in our thoughts what the Lord’s ascension brought us, and in our conscience to restore the consciousness of what we should be as a result of that, and whether we are such. Come, let us mentally ascend to the Mount of Olives, let us fix our intelligent eyes on the ascending Lord and learn from this contemplation. Come, let us all come, especially you sisters, who have called us to celebrate with you in your monastery. More than you, I say, because in the ascension the life characteristic of you is depicted, or the perfect image of your rank is written from its inner side. Look. Behold, the Lord ascends! As a deity, He was constantly with the Father. This nature of ours is exalted in Him and with Him is seated at the right hand of God, in royal glory and majesty. Those who believe in the Lord become one with Him: they are baptized into Christ and put on Christ - so that later they will not be deprived of the same honor with which our nature is vouchsafed in Christ Jesus. We are so highly esteemed! So great is our purpose! The seed is placed in us to resemble Christ in perfection - here, in glory - there. Take note of this and do not allow your high rank to be disgraced by inappropriate deeds. But you, sisters, have taken on the image of an angel so that, like the Angels in heaven surrounding the throne of the Lord, you must remain on earth before His face, forming an intelligent choir of yourself singing and praising the Ascended One. Here is the apostolic commandment for this: seek the things on high, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Be wise above, not earthly 352. Others are busy acquiring food, clothing, housing, favorable relations with others, contentment, honor, power. Leave all this, says the apostle. Seek what is there where Christ sits at the right hand of God. Ask: what should be done? I will answer you: acquire what the Lord commanded when speaking about the blessings, and you will find what you are looking for. Blessed are the poor in spirit, He says, for of them is the Kingdom of Heaven 353. The Kingdom of Heaven is where Christ the King is. It became that the poor in spirit already possess that highest thing, where Christ sits at the right hand of God. Start with this: seek your spirit - and move on, looking for weeping and tears of contrition, meekness and truth, mercy and peace, purity of heart and all-round patience. For to all these virtues belongs the Kingdom, they are all confidantes of Christ, and to all who are adorned with them, they pave the way to where Christ sits at the right hand of God. Look for them, acquiring one virtue after another. This work of searching for you will be like how someone prepares to appear before the king and puts on one garment after another, inspecting and cleaning each one until he is completely dressed and prepared as he should. Your clothes, sisters, have no other meaning. From head to toe, everything is covered with your special clothing, and each clothing indicates its own virtues in the rank of monastics. Be zealous in your heart to be what your clothes show, and you will be where Christ sits at the right hand of God. You will say everything: it is difficult; who is satisfied [sufficient] with this? The course of life in general is so difficult; it is more difficult when someone is zealous for virtue, and even more difficult when someone undertakes to monk as he should. Alienation from everything, all-round deprivation, although voluntary, spiritual and physical exploits, struggle with passions and lusts, the machinations of the enemy, troubles from people; and who can list everything? But hear the word from the mouth of the Lord who has ascended and is seated at the right hand of the Father: Where I am, there will My servant also be 354 - and be encouraged. – The passions of the present time for the glory that wants to appear in us are unworthy 355. How long will you have to wait? - One blink of an eye; and bliss is eternal. And how much to endure? - And there is something that the eye has not seen, the ear has not heard, and that has not entered the heart of a person 356. Take courage and let your heart be strong 357. Carry the yoke you have lifted graciously. When you begin to faint, look at the Lord, sitting at the right hand of the Father, and repeat His promise in your heart. As much as God is false, it is equally true that the glorious blessings promised to us are ours, unless we ourselves reject the opportunity to bring us into their possession. Others may be embarrassed not so much by external hardships and sorrows as by spiritual infirmities and failures that offend the Lord and torment their conscience. But take comfort! - If anyone sins, the imams intercede with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous 358, who is at the right hand of God, who intercedes for us 359. Do not forget, however, that this alone is not our justification. The Lord intercedes for everyone, but the power of His intercession descends only on those who, with a contrite heart, themselves bother Him with tears and sighs. God will not despise a contrite and humble heart 360. Just as there is no person without sin, so there is no one to whom the call to weeping and contrition does not apply. And you and I, sisters, have deplorable clothes. Let us cry morning and evening, day and night; like every monk. The laity cry when they bury someone; and the monk, who has buried himself for the world, cries as long as he sees that there are still some signs of life left in him for the world. When will this end? Cry without stopping. Now I will briefly repeat what the Ascension of the Lord teaches you in your monasticism. You have determined yourself to cry about sins. And weep in order to attract the power of the intercession of Him who, having ascended into heaven, is at the right hand of God the Father, and may intercede for us. Having begun with weeping and repentance, you entered into labors and exploits, with all kinds of hardships, voluntary and involuntary. Don't shy away from what you started. The ascended Lord, to whom you have enslaved yourselves, invites you to this from the height of the throne, saying: work, for for your labors I have prepared a place for you, when you are ready, I will take you to Myself. Working in the sweat of your brow, in the strain of your mental and physical strength, you, however, are not looking for earthly things, but are jealous to reflect in yourself the spiritual perfections outlined by the Lord in His word about the beatitudes. And be jealous. This is the main thing for you. This is what the apostle meant when he said: seek the things on high, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God 362. Is this all true for you and me, sisters? Grant, Lord, that everything will be like this! For only by walking in this way will we ascend the spiritual Olivet, in order from it to be taken up into heaven, where Jesus 363 was the forerunner of us. Amen. Holy myrrh-bearing women - an image of seeking the Lord Every gift comes from the Lord to those who rush after him. Where to find the Lord. How, having demanded it, keep it. In the myrrh-bearing women I see your image, sisters, the image of your characteristic mood of heart! For what is the distinctive feature of the holy myrrh-bearing women? – Their constant patient following of the Lord and, as it were, seeking Him. They serve Him from their estates, accompany Him to Jerusalem, and on the way of the cross they follow Him carrying the cross; they surround Him crucified on Golgotha; they see where they laid Him, taken down from the cross; after Saturday, early in the morning, they rush again to the tomb, still in the present darkness, and here, rejoiced at the appearance of the Risen One, they run to announce Him to the apostles. So zealously did they cleave to the Lord and so insatiably desired to see Him and be with Him. So you, leaving everything, followed the Lord. Blessed is your path! Go and seek His face always. And how not to go, how not to look?! Who is more beautiful than the Lord? – He is handsome in kindness more than all the sons of men, 364, handsome not only in Divine beauty, but also in the beauty of human nature - a harmonious combination of all the perfections inherent in man. He who contemplates this beauty is drawn to the Lord, and the Lord mutually fulfills all His lovers with it. What are His eyes like? Brighter than the sun, penetrating like morning. He looked at the sinner and made her chaste; looked at the publican - and made him an apostle; looked at Peter - and drew rivers of tears from his eyes. Drawing to Himself with His eyes, He imparts visual power to the souls of those who cling to Him, with which they penetrate 365 into the sky and clearly see everything visible and invisible. What is His speech? - He spoke, and the fishermen left their lakes 366; He spoke a lesson, and those who came to seize Him listened to Him; He uttered a word, and the waves subsided, the demons departed, the sick were healed, the dead arose. - Drawing to Himself with such a word, He gives to those who cling to Him the word to which God inclines His ear, to which the Angels listen, in which men delight. The Lord is rich and makes rich; strong and gives invincible strength; wise and wise; Holy and sanctifying. And every good gift and every perfect gift comes from Him to those who rush after Him. Seek such a Lord! Seek in all the divine order of prayers and sacred rites of the Church, where He is hidden, like in a thicket of fragrant plants. And you will see Him, like Mary Magdalene, who saw Him in the garden, or like the bride of the Song of Songs, who saw the red image of her groom among the Krin, when the day breathed and the shadows moved. 367 Seek Him in the Divine sacraments, especially in the sacrament of the Body and Blood. - And He will be known to you, as He was known to the disciples of Emmau in the breaking of bread, or as He was known to the bride of the Song of Songs, who confessed that He is sweetness in the throat and all desire 368 . Seek Him in the dogmas of faith, with undoubted conviction in their truth, in the commandments, with zeal in fulfilling them, in all paths of life with patience and devotion to Him. And He will appear to you and allow Himself to be touched by you, as by the disciples on the evening of the Resurrection, and you will cry out like Thomas: My Lord and my God 369. Search everywhere without being lazy. Or what I say: look. He has already been sought by you, and as one who is faithful in his word, he has surely already given Himself to you, and more than once confirmed you of this gift. He is among you as a shepherd of the little flock, and in you as if in His habitation. There is only one piece of advice left to add: keep the Lord within you. Hold him by constant thought about Him and constant intelligent conversation with Him - about Him and the salvation of your souls. Keep the loving aspiration of your heart towards Him alone, not allowing it to be attached to anything other than Him, whether it be small or great. Keep yourself in His providential right hand, with a God-devoted disposition of heart and unceasing prayer. Retain by exact fulfillment of the monastic rules, unhypocritical obedience, meekness, peacefulness, mutual compliance, helping each other, humility, non-judgment, dislike of worldly things, persons and customs, solitude, hard work, not giving rest to the flesh, always remembering the outcome of this life and the reward awaiting you. Grant, Lord, that all this may be so among you, sisters, so that your promise will not be false and may not everyone’s expectations placed on you be in vain! – Peace is before you, and the Lord is in you. Turn away your eyes so as not to see vanity - and be always with the Lord. Seek Him and direct your steps, thoughts and feelings after Him. Many unspoken gifts are associated with your life. The Lord is near to fill you with His goodness. But you also have to work hard. Work hard without being afraid of empty fears and without feeling sorry for yourself. Among the crucifiers of Christ, the myrrh-bearing women flocked to the Lord. – Don’t look at anything outside of you. Let the world scream, let superstition go crazy, let troubles arise - go your own way, without looking around, without looking at your surroundings, without listening to empty speeches. Just look at your own feet and patiently walk according to the instructions of the commandments and your enlightened conscience. And among the world there are many workers of piety, seeking the Lord, zealous to comprehend Him. See, don't leave them behind. Thanks be to the Lord if His eye sees among the laywomen - nuns. But do not allow Him to ever see among you a laywoman under a monastic robe. Amen. An example of monasticism is what happened to the apostles after the miraculous feeding of five thousand at sea Spiritual law. Let the fear of God never leave your heart. The order of monastic life. Everything requires patience. Have you, sisters, paid attention to today's Gospel? How the Lord, by miraculously feeding the people, forced His disciples - alone - to get into the ship and boil Him for half the sea 370; how the disciples were in distress at sea, and the Lord approached them already in the fourth watch of the night; how the holy Apostle Peter, after outbursts of strong faith, began to drown, seeing the wind strong, and was saved by the Lord; and how then everyone with the Lord, who entered the ship, landed on the shore 371. This legend briefly presents the image of your monastic life! That’s why I don’t want to let it pass without attention and I use it to learn lessons from it for you - during my actual visit to your monastery. If you haven’t forgotten, each of you had something similar to a miraculous satiation of a hungry people. I mean that joyful, inspired state of spirit when, having finally renounced everything, you decided to devote your life to the Lord, paying attention to and following His commandments and teachings. Then you gave yourself to the Lord, and the Lord gave Himself to you. This is not the lot of only the chosen ones. This is the law of the spirit of your life. The Lord gives Himself to everyone to taste in the beginning, so that they know that if the beginning is like this, what will happen in the end? But then the Lord reduced the flow of His grace in you - and demanded more of your own efforts and labors. It was as if he had retreated to the mountain, and he had let you alone into the sea to surf the waves of sorrows and temptations of the difficult monastic life. What lies with you now? Let the waves beat your boat - without being embarrassed, try in every possible way to reach the shore, on which, undoubtedly, the Lord will meet you and forever calm you in Himself. So, sisters, take care of your boat, do not spare labor when operating the oars, know how to straighten the sails and direct your voyage according to intention. Let me remind you of the words of St. Isaac the Syrian about monastic life. Our life, he says, is the sea. Repentance is a boat; the fear of God is the mover; sighs - sail. The fear of God takes the soul, places it on the boat of repentance and, with the sails of sighs, leads it to the shore of God’s love, or the union of the heart with the Lord - this bliss, the beginning of eternal bliss. First of all, look around - is your boat intact - the spirit of repentance, contrition of heart and humility? Do not think that it was only until then that you needed to lament and grieve for your sins while you were laywomen, and that by hiding within the walls of a monastery and donning black, you can ease yourself up and indulge in soporific peace. No - now, even more so, arouse in yourself a spirit of contrition, and even more so, the more subtle the sins with which you can offend the Lord, for the laity’s deeds are sins, but yours are thoughts and feelings. Know that the diminishment of contrition is the destruction of the boat, ready to plunge us into the abyss of destruction. There is nothing the enemy can do to overcome us more than by calling our hearts to relax. Have pity on yourself, she says, she will torment herself, she’s grieved and that’s enough, now you can give yourself peace! Just listen, relaxation of contrition will cause relaxation of both thoughts and feelings; after weakening of thoughts and feelings there will come cooling, and after cooling - life in the spirit of the world, despite the monastic clothes and stay in the monastery. To prevent this from happening, let the fear of God and, in general, fear and fear for yourself and your salvation not leave your heart. God is everywhere, sees everything, even the most intimate. Confirm this thought in your heart. Keep an eye on God constantly, looking into your heart, and beware of offending God with anything displeasing to Him. Stand before the king with fear. How can one be before the Lord, in Whose hand is life and death, without fear? On the other hand, what is our life?! We are like someone walking along a rapid, constantly ready to slip and fall into the abyss. How to walk without fear and apprehension? Besides, we have enemies on all sides. How to live without insurance and prudence? And here today, tomorrow - death; What will we come to the next world with?! So in every way instill fear, sobriety, and vigilance over yourself. Otherwise, trouble! With the diminishing of fear, labor will diminish, and with the diminishing of labor, the movement will be reduced, or the flow of monastic life will stop. But let us go further in comparison: may the boat of repentance and the oar of the fear of God be intact. We still need to act so that the rook moves. Just as in an ordinary voyage a boat moves when the oarsmen use the oars, so in our life everything moves forward if it is full of works of obedience and feats of monasticism: I mean bodily labors, prayer, spiritual conversations, reading, meditation. Labor is the striking of the oars and the unfurling of the sail. The speed of life depends on them. Just as movement warms the blood and thereby excites it to more intensified movement, so the feats of monasticism irritate jealousy for the monasticism that gave birth to them. Where there is no work, there is stagnation and the extinguishing of the sparks of life, which is dangerous everywhere, even more so in your case. You are working hard! Blessed be your labors. And I remind you of this only so that no one would think that work does not suit her. People don't go to the monastery to become a lord. Add peace and unanimity to your labors. Just as an ordinary voyage is successful when all the rowers act in harmony, so it is with you. Maintain peace and mutual love, help each other, excite each other, care for and pray for each other. And you won’t notice how successful your mother-in-law 372 life will be, and you won’t encounter insurmountable labor in anything. The spirit of the world is the strongest and most active spirit. Where there is peace, there one woman works for ten, and ten for hundreds; where there is no peace, nothing can be sung - everything is torn and ruined. Having thus tuned in, flow with patience towards the intentional. Patience completes everything and gives support and strength to everything. Repentance and contrition, fear of God and vigilance, labors and exploits, peace and mutual cooperation - constitute the order of monastic life. But for life itself to flow, one must remain in this order, and one cannot remain in it without patience. Everything requires patience - prayer, handicrafts, reading, and any other obedience, large and small, and especially the whole monastic life, in order to reach its limit. Without exerting one's strength one cannot take a step; tension requires effort, effort of patience. Be patient in the undoubted hope that your labors will finally be crowned with success. But in your work, do not take on anything beyond your strength. Make it your law to do everything and everyone, so that you don’t lag behind and don’t get ahead of yourself. Do not stand apart from others even in the labors of asceticism. You can take it high and not stand it. Remember the impulse of the Holy Apostle Peter, which ended with the exposure of human weakness. Specialness means self-aggrandizement and the desire to leave everyone behind. And God will not bless this, as a sinful disposition. For if it is not the Lord, we labor in vain 373. Living by this rule, sisters, graciously endure all temptations, both internal and external, remembering that the Lord is near. He is walking on the waters and will soon be seen near your boat. He is always ready to help and always gives it to all who turn their hearts to Him and work for Him in fulfilling His commandments. If He sometimes hesitates, He does so because the hour has not yet come. Wait a little. In the fourth watch of the night, at the appointed hour, He will appear to you and give you quick help, therefore, in hope, do not cease to stretch out your hands to Him, begging Him to come and tame the waves of your life. When everything is arranged like this for you, your life will mature more and more, or, what is the same, your boat will come closer and closer to its shore. By the end of the voyage, the Lord Himself will come to you, as He promised, speaking about those who keep the commandments: I will come and appear to them Himself 374. Then all the waves will subside, and with the Lord, at the end of the voyage, the morning will begin on the other shore - eternal, endless life. May the Lord grant this to all of you. Amen. In the Kirsanovsky convent of the Tambov province Rise from community to monastery The Lord rewards all who abide in His will with blessings. Monastic life skills. Prayer is a way of prosperity and evidence of perfection. A monk is one who is one with God in his heart. Seeing the constant rise of your community from strength to strength, one cannot help but rejoice; One cannot help but rejoice at the multiplication of your tabernacles, and the increase in the number of those who work and want to struggle in the same field with you, and this zeal to have a separate, more secluded place for trusting the Lord with the innermost desires of your heart and attracting from Him the help that is so much needed in your internal and external life. Thanks be to the Lord, who so arranges everything! Your society in its present state is like the ovary of a fetus. The fruit is already visible, but it still has to ripen - and appear in all the beauty destined for the first formation. The hand of the gracious Lord is not stingy. He who began this work in you will complete it for the glory of His holy name. I believe that you believe the same. And believe; hope will not be put to shame. But know that hope is a mutual matter. You expect special help and assistance from the Lord; and He expects from you - special fidelity to Him in everything - both big and small, He expects that you will always show yourself worthy of His special favor. This is what you are most concerned about, sisters. “No matter has ever been or is before the Lord.” The Lord rewards with His blessing all who abide in His will. If you keep My commandments, He Himself says, you will remain in My love 376. Do you know what God's will is for you? - Stay in it. And the Lord will not deprive you of His good things, who walk in kindness 377. In your present form, you are a community. But this is only a preliminary state, half-worldly and half-monastic. You can't stop halfway there. We must go further, therefore, demonstrate the virtues of the most perfect rank that has been revealed, so that we do not enter it unprepared. As for the community, here is the law for you, represented by the example of the first Apostolic Church: the people who believed were one in heart and soul, and not a single thing was said to be from their possessions, but they had everything in common 378 . Just as everything was common there, so let everything be common among you: one goal, the same work, the same joy and sadness, the same cares and worries. Like-mindedness and unanimity, uniting you internally with mutual sympathy, will lead you to quick cooperation and mutual assistance and, making one body out of everyone, will make each of you as strong as all of you together are strong. The model for you is bees. Look at the constant troubles they are all in... But they are all building one cell - together, under the control of one queen. That is why their honey is sweet, because the world that animates them is sweet. For what is good and what is red, but how can the brethren live together 379? Like a well-tuned harp, so is a peaceful community, rendering to the Lord a harmonious song of praise and a friendly tribute of unanimity and unity of command. Like a multi-colored field, so is a kind community, flaunting the variety of good heartfelt qualities that distinguish the sisters. Like a garden with many fruits, there is a hardworking community, rich in an abundance of acts of love and reciprocity. Show yourself as such, one jealous of the other to succeed in obedience, peacefulness, in forgiving occasional insults, merciless work for others, in non-judgment, in mutual respect, in mutual care, maintaining the honor of the community before outsiders, in unfeigned love for everyone. But being such as community members, plant the seeds of virtues and the monasticism and even hermitage that has to open in you. Get used to detachment from everyday customs, reducing them more and more, and from this move by succession to the solitude and sojourn with the one and only Lord that is possible for you. Learn to keep your senses intact: the eye from seeing, the ear from hearing, the taste with smell and touch from sweets and tenderness. And from this, according to correspondence, move on to keeping thoughts undistracted and not carried away by the feelings of the heart. Get used to working according to orders and undertakings according to advice, so as not to do anything according to your own will and your own intelligence, but everything according to the judgment of your elders, and thus in advance show yourself to be students of true obedience, zealous to succeed in renouncing your will. Most of all, get used to the work of prayer, rushing to the house of God and alone, in the cell, painfully falling to Him, as often as possible. Prayer is both evidence of perfection and a way of prosperity. The higher the prayer, the purer the soul. The burning of the spirit in prayer is the fruit of his communication with God, Who is fire and kindles fire in the spirit of everyone he touches. Start with the simplest and ascend to the most perfect: from day-night prayers, standing and kneeling - to the inner presence of the Lord in your heart, or to unceasing prayer. When this is seeded, then the soul is ready for monasticism, or it is already a nun; for a monk is one who in his heart constantly remains one with the Lord. The more sisters achieve this perfection, the more your community will approach the level of a monastery. And when you all become such, then spiritually you will enter the rank of monastics, whether you are externally defined as such or not. Desiring this for you, I pray through my unworthy prayer to the Lord to help you both in the labors of external organization and internal prosperity, so that you may achieve everything to the extent of the age of the fulfillment of Christ. Amen. In the Troyekurovskaya community of Tambov province Heavenly help is given to labor. A big job requires a lot of work. Asceticism is constant martyrdom. Attention of the mind. My desire was to see your young humble monastery, sisters, so that together with you I could offer prayers to the Lord and ask Him for blessings on the monastic practices that are beginning with you. I rejoice, having obtained what I desired, and, moreover, on a day dedicated to the glorification of the Mother of God - the Mother of all Christians, and especially the Mother of virgins and virgins. May Her cover overshadow you always, and may Her merciful intercession never depart from you. If anyone, then you especially need heavenly help. We have embarked on a difficult feat, we have begun a very difficult task. Take heart. For the price of sacrifice, heavenly help and heavenly reward are ready for you! But help and reward are given to work. You have not come to rest, and do not seek rest, and do not regret its scarcity, but its excess. I don’t consider it necessary to give you a lengthy lesson on monasticism. It’s true, you yourself know its laws more than just by hearing. I just want to remind you that you should be extremely jealous of their fulfillment. Your monastery is just beginning: but in the beginning, the foundations of everything that follows are usually laid. Everyone who comes after you will look at you and be either encouraged or relaxed by your example. Take care to establish within yourself - both for your internal and external actions - such orders that, being filled with the spirit of monasticism, would constantly support it and give it strength and settledness in your monastery. What you start, it will be difficult to get out; and what you don’t start, it will be difficult to start later. So everything good and everything bad that happens later in the monastery will be reflected on you, to your praise or condemnation. Don't spare your efforts. And every business requires work, and a big business requires a lot of work. You yourself know that it is not easy to monk properly, and do not expect benefits. After all, no one forced them - they did it themselves. Pull this yoke complacently, without grumbling, without looking back or to either side, as if seeking whether it is possible to shift your burden onto someone else. On the contrary, encourage each other and, as it were, push each other in your work, and you won’t notice how easily the hardest work will go through. There is prayer work. There is the work of fasting. There is the work of obedience. Not a single one of them can be avoided, for monastic life is based on them, which all consists in the transition from one of these labors to another, or is the cumulative bearing of all of them! So settle down. Pray obediently with fasting; and fast with prayer not of your own free will; and bear all obedience, strengthened by prayer and fasting. Having settled in this way, you will flow harmoniously and successfully along the path of your life; every day, then a step forward, imitating the apostle, who said about himself: I persecute, even if I comprehend 380. Weakness, exhaustion, and relaxation will come. Beware of succumbing to the promises of sweet peace with which the enemy will seduce you for leaving what you started. Pull yourself over, be patient a little and, at least through force, do your job. The infirmity will pass; courage will return, and again labor will not be labor. This is how the Lord has already arranged for us. If you endure it, then it will be easier; but if you give yourself a benefit in anything, you will want benefits more and more; and then even the easiest work will become unbearable. Who has achieved heaven without difficulty?! Review the calendar! All the holy ascetics and martyrs are there! Martyrdom is difficult, but isn’t asceticism constant martyrdom? If there is no other way to heaven, you have to work, because in hell you will have to work forever, but with useless and joyless work. And this work is saving and sweet, and is performed in the presence of the Lord, who sees it and always gives it the full price, always the same as it is worth, judging by the zeal and effort of the worker. The unslothful worker, who does not spare herself, is still noted here by the Lord and her work is rewarded with rapid success. He who does not feel sorry for himself keeps moving forward, and he who is lazy keeps falling behind and falling behind, even though outwardly this is not entirely noticeable. To work without self-pity, add mutual love, peacefulness and submission to one will. You all need to form one body, as it were. How can you be one when you allow your thoughts and dispositions to separate you? When you disperse, you weaken, and the enemy will overcome each of you one by one and confuse you into something bad; But if you are unanimous, the enemy can do nothing to you. Where there is peace, unanimity, harmony and love, there is the Lord; and where the Lord is, there is His strength and consolation, facilitating and delighting all work. A peace-loving person is always cheerful and lives joyfully. He falls asleep peacefully and gets up, and has peaceful dreams. A non-peaceful person is gloomy, and non-peaceful thoughts and feelings do not give him peace. His work is not going well in his hands during the day, and his dreams disturb him at night. If so, one, two, three and more - what kind of peaceful refuge will your abode be?! But it costs very little to avoid this misfortune and gain the good of the world. We all need to agree on one will - and listen to it. This should already be the case in the beginning. And you will have unity of will, unity of will will be followed by unanimity, and then everlasting harmony and indestructible peace. All our trouble comes from our thoughts. Thoughts will wander and enter into suspicion, distrust, condemnation, weaken work and give birth to discord and disobedience. Therefore, it is necessary to watch your thoughts and not give them free rein. Whoever has his thoughts in order, everything is in order. The feat of keeping thoughts in order is called attention of the mind. It’s impossible not to think—that’s what the mind is for. But you can think about good and bad or empty. Attention is to drive away bad and empty thoughts, and to keep only good thoughts, in agreement with the will of God and His holy commandments, in every deed that someone does, and in every situation in which someone finds themselves. The measure of the goodness of thoughts is the word of God. Keep your thoughts as it is written in any case. If you do this, you will have order in your mind; If there is order in your mind, there will be order in your affairs and there will be harmony between you. So, work, mutual agreement and ordering your thoughts - these are the producers of a good life in you! Go into yourself and write for yourself on these points a charter or laws for your behavior, in which each of your external steps and every internal movement will be determined, and everything will be directed towards the single most successful achievement of salvation. God bless you to arrange it this way! Amen. In the Svyatoozersk convent of Gorokhovsky district, Vladimir province To be jealous of the cause of monasticism, without making excuses Learn from and be inspired by the life of St. Anthony. The law of monasticism is not weakened by time. Conquer temptations without giving in to them. Monastic life is difficult, but it is for salvation. Collected thoughts give strength to the will. I serve you first, sisters, in this city, and on your feast day I serve the venerable and God-bearing father of ours, Anthony of the Kiev-Pechersk. Another will say: it happened. And I will say: the Lord arranged it this way, and through this he commanded me to remind you and all monastics about the duties of monasticism. The Monk Anthony is the head of monastic life in Russia. But as the beginning is, so must be what flows from that beginning. All monks and nuns must borrow both the rules and the spirit of monasticism from him. Why, having the duty to tell you something in support of your approval, I do not need to bother my mind for a long time to choose a lesson suitable for you. I will limit myself to a simple reminder: look at the Monk Anthony and imitate him. Look at his life, learn from it and be inspired to organize your life according to it. Looking through the life and exploits of the monk, what will you see? You will see in him complete non-covetousness, strict fasting, merciless toil of the flesh, long vigil, unceasing prayer, decisive cutting off of one’s will, love of solitude, unquestioning obedience, the height of chastity and purity, complete mortification of the world and everything present, transmigration of the mind and heart into another world, all external and internal asceticism, attention of the mind, purity of thought, walking before God and all active and contemplative virtue. Such was the Monk Anthony; This is how all monastics should be. Going through all this in thought, you too strive to imitate, and let not one of you say - who is happy with this? Don't cut yourself some slack and don't make excuses for your slack. Don’t tell anyone: then, perhaps, it was possible to live like this, but now where are we?! I repeat again: what is the beginning, so must it be what comes from that beginning. The law of monasticism is not weakened by time. You can stop being a monk; but whoever wants to be a monk must show himself as what monasticism was from the beginning. No matter how far someone stands from his origin, everything must fully correspond to it, just as the branches of, for example, a tall cedar, no matter how far they are from the root, even at the very top, they all have the same properties as the part that comes directly from the root. Let any branch on a cedar change in properties and composition - through, for example, grafting - then it will no longer be cedar. So here too, let someone change the rules of monasticism, then his life will no longer be monasticism, but something else - life, neither worldly nor monastic, - an invention of a new life, which is difficult to give a name. Do not say: we live in the midst of the world, or in the face of the world. How can you guard against the attack of the spirit of the world? Walk constantly where everything is soot, and reluctantly become blackened with soot. It is true that the delights of the world are close to you; but just because they are close, it does not follow that one should already be carried away by them. When temptation arises, is it really necessary to give in to it? When an enemy meets you, is it really necessary for you to surrender into his hands just because you met him? So it is with you; let the world multiply its charms before you - you take from this a reason not for hobbies, but for disgust, not for surrendering yourself into captivity, but for struggle and victory. The fact that the world is before you is more advantageous for you than disadvantageous, I mean, in relation to monasticism. The world before you is more temptations; more temptations - more struggles and victories; more struggles and victories - more success in renunciation and purification of the heart and, therefore, more success in monasticism. The charm of the world is encountered and temptation is annoying; enter the fight and win, and through this you will take a step forward. Do the same with another temptation, with a third, etc. Every time you encounter a temptation, overcome it, without succumbing to it, without indulging yourself, and you will soon become skilled nuns. How does a warrior become a skilled warrior? When there are frequent fights with the enemy. So it is with you. You are more likely to succeed than those who have taken refuge in the desert. Only, of course, you must strictly adhere to one rule: never succumb to worldly affairs and delights - neither in small nor in large. He who is carried away by the worldly and succumbs to it already accepts the spirit of the world. If you soon accept the spirit of the world, you will become nuns in dress and laywomen in heart. Don’t say: we don’t have a community, each of us gets our own food and clothing; and at the same time, how far are we from strictly following the monastic rules? – The fact that you don’t have a hostel is a very disadvantageous aspect of your life! But it can only complicate your monasticism, and does not in the least weaken your duty to be strict fulfillers of your vows, and does not deprive you of the opportunity to do so. How did Saint Anthony live? Through the labors of your own hands. The ancient ascetics also lived by the labor of their hands - both before their union into communal monasteries, and after their union. They were saved and glorified. The same can be available to each of you. Work in itself is a holy thing. Eliminate from him timelessness, vanity, envy, the desire to show off and other inappropriateness - and he will not hinder the cause of your monasticism. Then remove from the ways of obtaining content for yourself all the methods that connect you with the world and intertwine you in the cycle of its current transactions, and from the content itself everything that you can do without - and you will see for yourself that your external way of life will not reduce your success in the internal and will not serve as an obstacle to the strict fulfillment of monastic rules. Earn your living and be supported as befits nuns, without making yourself into a society of people living according to their own desires and to please themselves. For otherwise you will differ from laywomen only in that you live in a monastery enclosure and wear black, specially cut clothes. You say: is it difficult? - It’s true, it’s difficult. Monastic life is a high life; that's why it's difficult. It is difficult, but it will save you. So what, run away from this work?! And worldly life is also not easy, and perhaps even more difficult; but her work does not directly lead to salvation. When you entered the monastery, did you enter into rest? If not for peace, why be horrified by difficulties?! Remember your first determination more often and warm it up in yourself more often, bringing it to its initial fervor. She is a force that is not afraid of difficulties, but faces them cheerfully. Take solitude as an aid. Go outside only in extreme need, reluctantly, as if drawn by an alien force. Solitude will give birth to collected thoughts, and collected thoughts will give strength to the will. Combine prayer with solitude - both private and church, verbal and mental. Stick to one thing: do not cancel the rules of prayer for any apparent respect, and you will see the fruit of prayer. She will sanctify every work and every deed; it will detach the mind and heart from everything and unite it with God; and this latter is what a monk should be. Keep this - and you will undoubtedly appear as shameless workers of monastic life, which may the Lord vouchsafe you through the prayers of our reverend and God-bearing father Anthony. Amen. In the Suzdal Women's Robe Monastery Those who strive to heal their mental illnesses (passions) can also be a healing font for others How can a weak and passionate person be a healer of spiritual infirmities and passions? How does spiritual life go? Cleansing the heart from passions. Why were monastic monasteries established? Today is the week in which we remember the miraculous healing of the thirty-eight-year-old paralytic by the Lord. The Gospel commemorates the miraculous Old Testament font, which was disturbed by the Angel of the Lord every summer, and whoever first climbed into it, when the water was disturbed, was healthy, no matter what illness he was possessed by. There were five porches near the font, in which lay many sick people - the blind, the lame, the dry - waiting for the movement of the water 381 . That this day commemorates Saint Abraham the Martyr is very clear. His incorruptible relics resting here are our miraculous font. Come whoever wants, and not once a year, but every day and hour - and do not wait for the Angel, but stir up its miraculousness yourself with prayerful movements and sighs, and, undoubtedly, you will recover healthy from the illness that afflicts your soul and even your body, if the providential grace of God finds you worthy of it. So this is understandable. But it’s not entirely clear why there was a holiday in your monastery on this day, sisters? It is obvious that by this they wanted to more strongly imprint that Gospel event in your thoughts. But why this very impression? And why do you, monastics? What thought does this give about you – to you and to us, outsiders? Is it that you are a sheep’s font for those who come to you who are sick of various kinds of mental ailments, or is it that you in your cells are like five porches in which the sick lie, who themselves are looking for and expecting healing movements outside themselves, from elsewhere? It’s not clear that you are a healing font or a porch with the sick? I want to explain this to you because there is a very edifying lesson for you from here. In my opinion, you must be both. In yourself, in your feelings and in your opinion of yourself, you must be the sick, and for others - the healer of mental illnesses. You yourself must feel and consider yourself filled with spiritual ailments - spiritually blind, lame, dry; and for those who come to you with spiritual weaknesses, you must provide every kind of healing, enlighten those who are blind in mind and self-righteous, correct those who are sluggish on both sides - the indecisive, and revive the holy feeling in souls dried up by the vanity and worries of life. Don't think that there are inconsistencies here. Maybe you will imagine how it is to have yourself mentally weak, and to provide spiritual healing to others? – Where will the weak person get the healing power within himself for others? – I will say to this that in external life it is exactly the same way that the meager does not give contentment, and the powerless does not give strong support, but in spiritual life, on the contrary, the more weak someone sees himself, the stronger he becomes; for in weaknesses the power of God is made perfect, and the more humble a person is, the more glorious and salutary he performs his deeds, for he who humbles himself in feelings about himself is exalted by the deeds God does through him. You, of course, know how spiritual life goes. When a person is devoted to passions, he does not see them in himself and does not share them, because he lives in them and by them. But when the grace of God influences him, then he begins to distinguish between the passionate and the sinful in himself, - he admits it, repents and sets the intention to abstain from it, - The struggle begins, - First this struggle is waged with deeds, and when a person weaned himself from bad deeds, the struggle begins with bad thoughts and feelings, - And here it goes through many degrees; but the main thing here is what happens: thoughts and feelings are not suddenly freed from passions and sin, but before this they are still in captivity and after the bad deeds have already stopped. “Then even though there are no sinful deeds, the soul thinks about sinful things and delights in passionate objects. Those who are zealous in the work of salvation will now notice this. The attention he pays to himself constantly reveals to him the entire web of passionate thoughts swarming inside him. Noticing this discord, he begins to drive away bad thoughts and suppress passionate movements, learns to recognize what passionate thought begins, how it creeps up, how it captivates and seduces the soul, and at the same time, he learns how to defeat it, drive it away and extinguish it. The struggle continues; passions are increasingly torn out of the heart. It also happens that passions are completely expelled from the heart. They are expelled! – Pay attention here, what does this ejection of passions from the heart mean? Passions are erupted, but the struggle does not stop; are torn out of the heart, but do not leave our nature and remain in it. A sign that passion has been torn out of the heart is when the heart begins to feel disgust and hatred towards the passion. But when a person achieves this, this does not mean that passionate thoughts no longer come and try to captivate his soul - no, and at the same time they will attack and seduce, although without success, for then the heart then strikes them with hatred and disgust from the first time. Passion was torn out of the heart, but remained near it, became outside it, like a seducer. Let us suppose that this is done with one, another, third passion - and with all that one has. All of them are thrown out of the heart, rejected and hated by him; but everyone stands outside him and seduces him. How do you think the person in whom this is happening will perceive and feel? - Nothing other than unclean; for unclean passions, although they are already hated by him, he still sees in himself. Here comes vanity, here comes condemnation, here comes laziness, here comes envy, here comes lust. Although he drives them all away and rejects them, he still cannot help but see that they are in him and that, therefore, he cannot help but recognize himself as being powerless by them. Remember the legend about one great ascetic, how, sitting in his cell, he loudly condemned himself for various sins. - His disciples from outside heard what he said, for example: “You’ve already scolded,” a little later: “You’ve already eaten - it’s not light or dawn”; then: “You have already become a judge and judged everyone,” and so on; So he went through all the sins he allegedly committed. These were not sins, but thoughts came to him, and he judged himself not pure from them, an accomplice in them and a sinner. Meanwhile, as life progresses, he and others like him stand at a high level. And it turns out that the more perfect someone is in practice, the weaker he feels in his heart, feels passionate and condemns himself in passion, when passions have already been rejected and hated. It must even be said that this is why he recognizes himself as passionate because passions are rejected; for, until they are rejected by the heart, a person reluctantly admits himself to be guilty of them, and everything somehow apologizes for them. But let him feel humiliated - as if he were covered in sins and wounds, so he should. We look at what actually exists. After all, he has already overcome all the passions and plucked them from the heart, which means that he has actually learned how what passion and what passionate thought operates in us and how they can be overcome, he has known all the tricks of sin and passions and all the measures against them prescribed by spiritual wisdom - and he knows all this from his experience. But such a person is a treasure of spiritual healing: come to him with whatever mental weakness you want - he will tell you everything, what to do in what case and how to strengthen yourself and overcome yourself. For he has experienced everything and knows experimentally the healing properties of his remedies and their suitability in different cases - he himself was tempted, perhaps tempted by help, as the apostle says, 382 and even so that only such a one can be a real doctor of souls. When someone, without having been healed himself, wants to heal others, then both the doctor and the healed fall into destructive delusion and increase their leprosy mutually, rather than being healed; just as if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit. Now you see, sisters, how someone who feels weak and passionate can be the most reliable healer of spiritual weaknesses and passions! From here, take a decision - just as you can have yourself sick, and for others represent a healing sheep font. Enter into a ruthless struggle with passions and thoughts, and in this way you will achieve both. It is difficult for you to have any sinful deeds, but at the same time you can have sinful thoughts and still be sinners before God. Pay all your attention and all the zeal of asceticism to your thoughts. When through this internal struggle you purge passions from your heart, then you will be able to heal others, and thereby fulfill your purpose in the Holy Church. Why were monastic monasteries established? Then, to prepare spiritual healers and healers. And you must certainly achieve this - this is what the Church expects from you, this is what all Christians expect from you. If this cannot be achieved without fighting passions, then fight, and fight without laziness. What will we have? In the world, passions rule and consume everyone. Someone comes to the monastery to rest his soul, and here the same passions arise. Where then can the laity go from passions? Take into account what you should be, and be jealous not only of appearing, but of being what everyone wants you to be. Amen. In the Vladimir women's monastery What kind of nuns should be in order to enter the palace of the immortal bridegroom with the wise virgins? The Mother of God is your Mother. The appearance of the heavenly glory of the virgins. Work on establishing virtues in your heart. Monastic clothing is a symbol of virtues and perfections. If there are no good dispositions in our hearts, the door will be closed in our face. What good intention came to the one who built this church for you, sisters - to dedicate it to the Mother of God, Who, being the Mother Virgin 383, is truly the Mother of virginity - this main sacrifice of yours and your, especially, vow. This is comforting, but also necessary! The Lady Theotokos is your Mother. Why, having Her virgin face before your eyes and bringing to mind Her beloved perfections, be inspired by zeal to arrange yourself in such a way, both externally and internally, so as not to lose Her protection, intercession and guidance and, spending your earthly days in Her abode, to be led by Her into the heavenly abodes at the end of your days. The prophet David saw in a prophetic vision the glory of the Mother of God - how She appeared in gilded robes and adorned as a Queen, at the right hand of the Lord - and immediately saw how after Her the virgins would be brought to the King - Her sincere ones would be brought to Him and brought into the Church of the Kings 384. This prediction has come true! Many choirs of virgins now surround the Lady in heaven and rejoice and rejoice with Her, calling to them all those who are willing and zealous. So, sisters, the way has been paved. Hurry along it, following the already glorified virgins. I will give you one experience of the appearance of the heavenly glory of virgins. It was necessary to strengthen the exhausting patience and inspire the fading jealousy of one working sister. And so, through the prayer of a husband, strong in spirit, the Mother of God appears, accompanied by two Angels, John the Baptist and John the Theologian, and surrounded by twelve virgins. These maidens were of indescribable beauty, all in light, in crowns and various shining robes. And it was said to the soul that needed it: “You see what glory; but it was not for nothing that they got it! They entered it after many sorrows, cramps and labors!” And those who do not work as they should will not enter this glory. Thus, with much effort and sweat, one gains access to the choir of virgins who rejoice around the Mother of God! You see - your Lady is dressed in robes speckled, and the virgins around Her stood in variously shining robes. This is a sign of the various virtues with which they adorned their souls, on which they worked throughout their entire earthly life. While they were on earth, no differences or features were visible in them. Their spiritual perfections were hidden within them. And there they appeared in all their splendor - and were reflected in an attractive outer light. Everything is the same, like flower seeds, while hidden in the ground, they have nothing attractive and glorious; and when they sprout and come out, then they are clothed with color, which Solomon did not clothe himself with in all his glory. So the virgins on earth spent their lives in humble and humiliating labors and caring for one thing, so that they could be internally built up in all virtue. These virtues constitute their inner glory, hidden from others, and even from them. When they stripped off the outer shell of the body, then the hidden perfection within them was revealed in a variety of visible glory. Behold, sisters, you too are now neither glorious nor visible; and your dwellings, and clothing, and food, and relations with outsiders - everything is humiliated among you. And don't mourn about it. This is how it should be. Just do not forget to work zealously to install all kinds of virtues in your heart, so that when you finish your earthly career, there will be something to be revealed from you with glory, and you will not be ashamed to stand among the virgins - in shining clothes surrounding the Lady Theotokos. Just as flowers in your flower garden will not come out if you do not sow them and do not follow them, so if you do not sow the seeds of virtues in yourself and do not diligently follow them, diverse spiritual glory will not unfold from you and will not overshadow you in the future. You are already wearing clothes that are called angelic images. Why is this so? - Because it depicts various virtues and perfections characteristic of celestials. By putting on this robe, you give an obligation before heaven and earth in your heart, secretly for everyone, to seed and increase the virtues they remind you of, so that you will appear pure and perfect like the Angels when, leaving the earth, you enter the heavenly regions. If anyone needed an explanation of what kind of virtues you need to seed in your heart here, so that they appear outside with glory, you can answer: become such in your heart as your clothes signify you, and that’s enough. Wear a doll on your head - a symbol of the gentleness of an infant - and be like children, gentle, obedient, not over-caring, friendly and hospitable to everyone, accepting each other with love. Wear Analav 400 on your shoulders - the image of the cross of all-round patience - and be patient and complacent, remain in labor, prayer, fasting, kneeling, forgive one another, help one another and endure everything without grumbling. Wear a belt - a symbol of readiness for any task and mortification of passions - and be like this: cheerful, not self-pitying, not self-indulgent, quick to do everything good to the point of your stomach. Wear a mantle - the image of a funeral shroud - and be dead to everything that is outside of you and around you: if they scold - do not be offended, and if they praise - do not be arrogant; if you have received a blessing - do not get carried away, and if you are in poverty - do not be faint-hearted. Keep one thing in your mind and heart - the salvation of your soul and a life pleasing to God. Have a rosary - a symbol and rule of unceasing prayer - and get into the habit of praying in such a way that, sitting and walking, at home, outside, in church, at meals, and in every activity and place, you constantly have prayer in your heart - fall asleep with it and wake up with it. Be jealous of all this and the like that your clothing reminds you of, sisters, so that in due time this clothing does not serve you as a reproach. Now the laymen and laywomen respect us, confident that we are inwardly what our clothes show us outwardly. And they do it well, thereby giving honor to virtue, at least supposed, which cannot but be honored. They don't see what's in our hearts. But what is in our hearts is hidden only in time. Everything will be revealed there. How ashamed we will be when it is revealed to everyone who knows us now that we are not the same in our hearts as we are in our clothes! How we will bear their reproach, which they will then turn to us! We considered you humble, but you are condemned as proud and vain. We thought that you were alien to the passions of your heart and thoughts, but you are condemned for incontinence of your eyes and feelings. We thought that you were fasting, but you are being condemned for voluptuousness. We thought that you were prayer books, but you are being condemned for not remembering God. We thought that you were hard workers, but you are condemned for laziness and sleeping too much. We thought you were patient, but you are condemned for complaining. We thought that you do not love the world, nor those in the world, but you are condemned along with the peace lovers. We thought that you were meek, obedient, peace-loving, but you are condemned for anger, disobedience, rudeness and quarrels - How can we endure such and similar reproaches?! And they will be even more painful when the laity go to heaven for their virtues, and we are driven to hell for our negligence and carelessness. Having now in mind the possibility of such a bitter event for us, take care to remove it from here, sisters. The fact that you are within the walls of the monastery is not enough. That you are virgins is not enough. That you are fasting is not enough. Why don't you work hard enough? It’s not enough that you bow down. You need to fill your heart with all sorts of good dispositions. What did the holy fools lack?! In appearance, they were exactly like the wise ones, but when the moment came to meet the groom, they turned out to be worthless. - Why? Because they had no oil in their lamps. Oil - here means the totality of all good feelings and dispositions of the heart that make the soul a dear bride to the Lord and give entry into the palaces of His glory. The same will happen to us. If we do not have these good dispositions in our hearts, the door will be closed in our face and we will hear from behind them: go away - we do not know you! I remind you of all this, sisters, on your bright holiday, not in order to disrupt your festive rejoicings, but in order, on the occasion of this fleeting holiday, to arouse in you cautious concern, lest we celebrate here an endless celebration, in the choir of brightly beautiful virgins, who, like sincere ones to the Lady Theotokos, will be brought after Her and led into the Church of the Kings. If someone’s conscience is alarmed, it will be for good and not for worse. It is better to keep yourself here in anxiety, so that you will be rewarded with peace there, than to recklessly indulge in peace here and be caught there by anxiety, which, having been reborn, will have no end. May the Most Holy Lady Theotokos - your closest Intercessor and Patroness - nourish you to Her quiet refuge, and for this may she enlighten you with the dawnings of Her light, heal spiritual ailments, drive away taxes from demons, deliver you from the darkness of passions, give health to your soul and fill your heart with imperishable spiritual beauty, and with it, as dressed in light-colored clothing, in joy and joy, you will enter the heavenly bright abodes, following the Queen of the Mother of God and all the virgins who, through their earthly labors, shone with glory in heaven. Amen. The Savior comes and brings salvation How to meet the Lord worthily. Let his inner well-being be a worthy meeting for him. Kindle the desire for salvation. Do not weaken in the task of doing everything necessary for salvation. Of all the sayings with which the Nativity of Christ and our attitude towards the Born One are depicted, the following words come closest to you, sisters: “Christ from heaven - hide.” Christ descends from heaven, come out to the meeting! I say this, adapting to the parable of the ten virgins, for there, too, at midnight a voice sounded: Behold the bridegroom is coming, go ye out to meet him 385 . The difference is that there the Judge comes, and here the Savior comes. There, as He found the virgins, He decided them forever, the wise remained wise, and the holy fools remained holy fools, unable to correct their fate. But that’s not the case here; but let some turn out to be holy fools at the hour of meeting - there is still time for them to become wise, just as the wise are not without the danger of becoming one of the holy fools. With all the more caution we must learn and carry out how to worthily meet the born Lord, “for us, man and for our salvation, who came down from heaven.” When news spreads in any country that the Tsar is coming, all the inhabitants of that country begin to move and carefully begin to prepare to receive the Tsar in a manner worthy of a Tsar: they fix the streets, decorate the houses, put on display everything that they have best, in order to show both the Tsar and everyone else that they are not in ordinary circumstances. It's the same with us. From a distance we began to prepare for the holiday: the cells were cleaned, the work was put away, new clothes were sewn, and something extra was prepared for the table, so that both our own and outsiders could see that we were having a holiday. This is how everything is done for appearances; but will the born Lord be satisfied with this?! For us, such visibility may not be superfluous, but for the Lord it is not necessary. Look how He was born! “In the den the Child is nursed, lying in a manger.” All the glory is within. The inner well-being of the spirit will also be a worthy meeting of Him descending from heaven. Look at the icon of the Nativity of Christ! The Mother of God and Joseph the Righteous on their knees, between them the Eternal A baby surrounded by shepherds or wise men. The eyes of all are fixed on Him—everyone disappears in Him and rests in Him. So settle yourself internally... Meet the Lord together with the shepherds - the desire for salvation, together with Joseph and the Mother of God - reverent tranquility in Him, together with the wise men - willingly following Him, together with the Angels - grateful praise to Him. So – the Savior comes and brings salvation. Kindle the desire for salvation. You entered the monastery precisely because of this desire, but the length of time, the beginnings of success, and perhaps other things could have weakened or completely extinguished it. Take care now to kindle 386 this fire within yourself more powerfully. Bring up the thought of our distress from everywhere: from our sinful deeds, from passions and attachments, from our primordial enemy; add another thought to it, that besides the born Christ the Lord there is no other name under heaven in which we could be saved. And your spirit will run to the Lord like trees to springs. This will mean that you will go out to meet the Lord and meet Him, preferably, as a thirsty earth receives rain. The Savior comes and brings salvation. Accept with all your heart this dispensation of salvation brought to earth by Him - in all its fullness and details, without giving up anything and without applying crooked interpretations to anything. You have already entered into the matter of the strictest fulfillment of everything necessary for salvation. Don't weaken. The Magi, despite the uncertainty of the heavenly instructions, immediately rose up and went to look for the Indicated One, and found... Hope will not deceive you, despite the fact that you may not see the obvious successes of your search. The time will come - you will see the fruit - salvation itself - shining in your heart. Just do not refuse any suggestions of the Gospel. This heartfelt perception of the entire will of Christ the Savior, which determines the path of salvation, will be the same as an embrace at the first meeting of the desired one; how, on the contrary, renunciation of this will make us like those about whom it is written: they came to their own, but their own did not receive Him 387 . The Savior comes and brings salvation - the Savior is all-powerful and all-desirable. Calm down about your salvation in Him - and in Him alone. Don't look for anything else: everything is with Him, and everything that He has is yours. And intelligence, and strength, and joys, and beauty, and peace - and everything is ready for you, just lean towards Him with all the aspiration of your spirit... As the Most Pure Virgin Mother of God put all the verbs in Her heart, so put them in your heart and you, and believe without hesitation that everything, down to the iota, will be as it is written. The Savior comes and brings salvation ready for you, proven strong in countless multitudes of those saved, glorified in heaven. Glorify now the richness of God’s bounty and condescension. Give thanks to the Lord both for the fact that He did not abandon our family and arranged for it a wondrous image of salvation, and for the fact that He brought this salvation closer to us and showed us examples of the saved in excitement for the salvation of our spirit. The angels glorified God with a loud voice only in the beginnings of the salvation being arranged. With what lips should we glorify the Lord, seeing so many wondrous deeds accomplished for our salvation in our very deeds!.. Sing without ceasing: glory to God in the highest!.. This is how you build a manger from your heart for the born Lord and surround them with these sacred dispositions - the desire for salvation, active perception of the entire dispensation of salvation, tranquility in the Lord and grateful praise to Him. This will provide the highest occupation for your spirit in these days, will sanctify your holidays and give, together, the opportunity to most accurately fulfill what is contained in the song: “Hide Christ from heaven.” Amen. In the Tambov convent. On the 2nd day of Christmas Honest, immaculate. – Ed. Lost the right dispensation. – Ed. Rome. 5:4–5; Heb. 6:12–15 Let's check and inspect. – Ed. Here: arrive, located. – Ed. Wanderings, travel. – Ed. In. 20:11–18; Song 2:14–17 ...And go before Him to the other side... -Ed. Hesitate, stumble, rush around The church in the community is parish. – Ed. Belonging to the vestments of a monk of the great schema; a small quadrangular plaque depicting the passion of the Lord. You might be interested in: