Писания Старца схимонаха Василия, спостника и друга блаженного отца Паисия

These are three prefaces to the books: St. Gregory of Sinai, Blessed Hesychius of Jerusalem and Blessed. Philotheus of Sinai, also an epilogue to the book of St. Nile of Sorsky and the blessing was written by the blessed elder Schemamonk Vasily in his monastery, called Polyanomerulsky, in the Moldovlakhian princedom. This God-bearing elder was the mentor, companion and friend of Blessed Father Paisius, abbot of the Nyametsky Ascension Monastery. He reposed in April 1767. Preface or foreword to those who want to honor the book like the Saints of our Father Gregory of Sinai, and not to err in the mind that lies in it Many who revere this holy book of Saint Gregory of Sinaite, and do not know the skill of intelligent work, sin in the right mind, imagining that this is the work of only dispassionate and holy men. And from here, holding, according to external custom, a single psalmody, troparia and canons, they rely on their single external prayer: and they do not understand this, as such song prayer for the weakness and infancy of our mind was given to us by the Fathers for a while, as if we are learning little by little, we ascend to the level of mental work, and will not remain there until our death. What is there (Grigor. Sin. Ch. 19.) More infantile than this, when we read our outer prayer with our lips, we indulge in a joyful opinion, imagining that we are doing something great, amusing ourselves with a single quantity, and thereby nourishing the inner Faisea? Taking us away from such infantile infirmities, the Holy Fathers, like infants from the breasts of mammals, show us the rudeness of this work, comparing the vowel of the tongue to the singing of a pagan. It befits this speech of Saint Gregory of Sinai, ch. V, To be an angel and to sing according to our habitation, and not carnally, and not paganly. Even if we sing with a loud cry, for the sake of our laziness and ignorance, it was given speed, for which we are brought to the true. What is the fruit from such external prayer, showing Saint Simeon, the new Theologian, in the second type of attention, saying: the second type of attention and prayer is this: when one collects his mind in himself, distracting it from everything sensual, and keeps his feelings, and collects all his thoughts, so that they do not wander in the vain things of this world, and always torture their thoughts his own, when he listens to the words of the prayer, he says: and at another hour he collects in himself all his thoughts, captive from the devil, and turned into evil and vain: and at another hour, with much difficulty and need, he comes to himself, having been possessed and overcome by some passion. And having this feat and war within himself, he cannot be at peace any less than to find the time to do virtues and accept the crown of righteousness. Zanezhey is likened to one who fights with his enemies at night in the darkness, who hears the voices of the enemy and accepts wounds from them, but cannot clearly see who they are, and where they came from, and how and why they are fighting him. Понеже тьма яже есть во уме его, и буря, юже имать в помыслех, приносят ему сию тщету, и не может николиже свободитися от враг своих мысленных, иже бы не сокрушали его: и таковый труд подъемлет, мзды же лишается, зане окрадается тщеславием, не понимая сего, мнит о себе, яко он внимателен есть: и Many times, out of pride, he despises others, and despises them, and considers himself worthy, according to his dream, to be a shepherd of sheep, and to guide them, and is likened to a blind man who tries to lead other blind people: long here is Saint Simeon. How powerful it is to preserve the mind with external feelings, or to collect it from these, even by nature they spread and soar on sensual things: vision, red or absurd sight; hearing: smooth or obstinate hearing; smell, fragrant or stinking olfactory; tasting, sweet or bitter taster; touch, touching with good or evil, and with such, like leaves, shaking and fighting with the wind: the mind alone, mixed with all of them and reasoning with their actions, is it powerful to stop from the thoughts of the gums and ears? Not at all and never. Are the external feelings of the mind unable to stop thoughts? Otherwise, the mind must flee from the feelings at the hour of prayer inwards to the heart, and stand there deaf and deaf from all thoughts. Even if someone outwardly withdraws from seeing, hearing, and speaking, he receives a certain silence from evil passions and thoughts: but much more multiplying, when he removes his mind from the five external senses, shutting it up in an inner and more natural cage or desert, he will enjoy peace from evil thoughts, and taste the spiritual joys that come through mental prayer and heartfelt attention. Just as a sword is sharp on both sides, and even if we turn it around, it cuts with its sharpness, becoming more sharp: so the prayer of Jesus Christ, sometimes against evil thoughts and passions, and sometimes for sins, or in memory of death, judgment and eternal torment, is reversed. If anyone (Isaac the Syrian and Nil Sorsk.), in addition to intelligent prayer, song supplication and external feelings with contradiction, wants to repel the enemy’s attack, and against any passion and evil thought, he is soon overcome by a multitude: the opposing demons overcome him, and then he repents of his will, as if we overcome with contradiction from him, they laugh at him, and incline his opinion to vanity and contempt, his teachers and shepherds of the sheep are condemned. And Saint Hesychius, knowing this, says: Our mind cannot defeat the demonic dream only by itself, and may it never hope to do so: for demons are cunning creatures, those who submit are hypocrites and pretend to be defeated, blaming thee with vanity. By invoking Jesus Christ, they endure and manage to subdue you for an hour. And again: be careful that you do not rise up like ancient Israel, and you too become a mental enemy. For God of all sorts got rid of the Egyptians, the helper of the idol of the ring. The idol of the ring, understand our weak mind, which Dondezhe prays to Jesus Christ against evil spirits, conveniently drives them away, and with artistic cunning defeats the invisible military forces of the enemy. When he senselessly places all his hopes on himself, like the so-called swift-winged one, he is broken and falls in a wondrous fall: here is Hesychius. The rest of this is enough to know the power and measure of doing smart things, this is prayers and singing. Do not think of this, O pious reader, since the Holy Fathers, by leading us away from much external singing and commanding us to learn mental work, inflicts a blemish on the psalms and canons. Do not be that: the essence of this holy Church was betrayed from the Holy Spirit, in which all sacred rites are headed by ordination, and all the sacrament of looking at God the Word, even until his second coming, is also carried in itself. And there is nothing in the church ceremony that is human, but all of God’s grace is a work that has no addition to our merits, nor any reduction from our sins for the sake of ours. But the word for us is not about the rites of the Holy Church, but about the rule and living in particular from the monks, but about mental prayer, which is the practice of diligence and heartfelt righteousness to attract the grace of the Holy Spirit, and not just the words of psalms, except for the attention of the mind with the mouth and the tongue. As the Apostle said: I want to speak five words with my mind rather than darkness with my tongue. It is proper to first cleanse the mind and heart with such five-numbered words, saying continually in the depths of the heart: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,” and thus rise to the singing of reason: since every beginner and passionate person can intelligently act on this prayer while observing the heart, but by singing in no way, Dondezh will not be purified by this. For this reason, this Saint Gregory of Sinai, having subtly experienced and judged all the saints’ lives and scriptures and spiritual art, more than all of them, by the Holy Spirit living in him, he instructs to have all the diligence about prayer. And again, the same Spirit and gift, Holy Simeon, Archbishop of Selun, commands and advises bishops, priests, monks and laymen to say and breathe this sacred prayer at every time and hour: there is no stronger weapon, as he said with the Apostle, either in heaven or on earth, than the name of Jesus Christ. Let this also be known to you, a good steward of this sacred, intelligent work, as if not just in the desert, or in a solitary hermitage, but especially in those very great Laurels and in the midst of existing cities, there were teachers and numerous doers of this intelligent sacred work. And he insists on wondering how His Holiness Patriarch Photius was taken from the senatorial rank to the Patriarchate, and was not a monk, having learned to such a high degree this intelligent work: and he succeeded only in shining his face, like the second Moses, from the grace of the Holy Spirit existing in him, says Saint Simeon of Selunia. And he testifies to it, as if he wrote a book with all-wise philosophical art about such clever work. The verb, like John Chrysostom, Ignatius and Callistus, His Holiness Patriarchs of the same Constantinople, wrote their own books about the same internal work. And what else do you, O Christ-loving reader, lack, putting aside all doubt, to touch upon the training of mental attention? Once again you say: there is no solitary life; The image of you is His Holiness Patriarch Callistos, learning smart work in the great Lavra of Athos, while serving as a cook. If you doubt that you are in the deepest desert; The second image is His Holiness Patriarch Photius, studying at the level of Patriarchal heartfelt attention to art. And if, by virtue of obedience, you become lazy towards mental sobriety; For this you are subject to ridicule. Below the desert, below the solitary vein, brings such success in this work, like obedience in the mind, the speech of Gregory of Sinaite. Or you will steal from the gums again, as if you do not have a teacher for such doing; The Lord himself commands you to learn from the scriptures, saying; try the scriptures and in them you will find eternal life. Or you get carried away by the noise, being embarrassed and not finding a place of silence; and about seven Peter of Damascus argues with you saying: “Behold, he said, the beginning of salvation for man, let him leave his own wills and understandings, and create God’s wills and understandings,” and so no thing or undertaking or place will be found in all creation that can hinder him. And yet, inventing even the most blessed guilt, you are stumbling from the many words of St. Gregory of Sinaite, much about the delusion that occurs in this work, saying: correct you, this Holy One himself, saying: “You must not, as we say, fear or doubt, calling on God: if you have also gone astray, you have committed harm.” formerly the mind: know, as if from self-indulgence and arrogance she suffered.” Whoever seeks God in obedience with questioning and humility will never receive harm, by the grace of Christ: for he who lives rightly lives and lives immaculately, and moves away from self-indulgence and arrogance, the entire demonic regiment, even if countless temptations are incited, do not harm, as the fathers say. Those who walk insolently and without self-advice fall into delusion. If the neti, stumbling on the stone of sacred scripture, accept the guilt that declares to us the path of delusion, for the prohibition of smart work, let these know for themselves the mountain that is above, and the sorrow that is below them. Not to prohibit this from being done, but to warn us against delusion, they declare guilt on us, and through them delusion finds us. Holy Fathers: like this Saint Gregory of Sinai, he commanded not to be afraid, but to doubt the student in prayer, inducing two sins of delusion: self-indulgence and arrogance. And from such people, the Holy Fathers, who want us to be blameless, command us to test the Holy Scriptures, and from this we will be instructed, so that brother and brother have good counsel, as Peter of Damascus said. If it is not possible to find a skilled elder in word and deed, in the image of the saints the father leads the good scripture of the fathers; Then, alone in silence, one should in every possible way take spiritual advice from the holy fathers of teachings and instructions, and the question of every thing and virtue. It is fitting for us, who respect the scripture, to preserve this measure and order, and we will not deviate from the teachings and instructions of that, as those who do not know the skill of mental work, and who pretend to be judges, inform themselves with three faults or warnings, and even more so, they turn them away from the training of this sacred work. First, referring to this as a holy and impassive man, and by this alone such an act must be, and not passionate. Secondly, there is a final impoverishment of mentors and teachers of such a life and path. Third, there is a charm in doing such a thing. And the first guilt of these, or known, is indecent and unrighteous; The first degree is for a novice monk to subdue passions with mental sobriety and heartfelt observance, which is mental prayer appropriate for those who are active. The second is unreasonable and without knowledge: instead of a teacher, Scripture is a teacher for us, a teacher who cannot be found, as if above speech. The third is self-stumbling: for they themselves, who respect delusions, stumble about themselves with the same scripture, she reasoning crookedly: instead of taking the scripture on caution and knowledge of delusions, these invent and accept the guilt of evading intelligent action: like someone who is a commander from the wars, having learned from whom, like the enemies sit on the way, wanting flatteringly and with a secret ambush to overcome him, unable to bring an open fight with him, but he is unreasonable, and instead of outwitting these, and accidentally attacking this secret ambush, setting up a victory, he will be afraid, even though he has no fear, and will run away, bringing shame to himself for eternal generations, especially before the king and that bolyars. If, out of sheer reverence and simplicity of your heart, I am afraid of doing and teaching such things, I am much more afraid because of you; but not according to simple fables, if you are afraid of a wolf, do not go into the forest. And it is proper to fear God, but not to run away from fear and deny it. Truly, this work requires fear and trembling, contrition and humility, and much testing of the Holy Scriptures, and the advice of unanimous brethren, and not flight and denial, below insolence and self-indulgence. The impudent one, he said, and the disdainful one, having sought more than his own dignity and dispensation, with majesty will marry him before the time to sing in visual prayer. And again: if anyone dreams of achieving a high opinion, a desire of Satan, and not having truly acquired it, the devil conveniently catches him with his snares, like his servant. And what do we need to achieve high success in intelligent and sacred prayer, even though hardly anyone from darkness is worthy, according to Saint Isaac? Enough, enough for us, passionate and weak, to know no trace of mental silence, which is active mental prayer, which drives away the pretexts of hostility and evil thoughts from the heart, the work of novice and passionate monks, from which anyone (if God pleases) flows into visual and spiritual prayer. And it is not proper for us to be despondent about this, for not many visual prayers are worthy: there is no truth with God. Let us not be too lazy to follow the path leading to this sacred prayer; this means, through active mental prayer, to resist excuses, passions and evil thoughts. And so, to those who have died on the path of the saints, we will be worthy of their lot, even if we do not receive fulfillment here, says Saint Isaac and many from the saints. And this is also worthy of astonishment and horror, as some who read the Scriptures do not experience this: the friends, leading lower, asking lower, dare with their minds to this intelligent attention, and also say that attention and prayer should have worked in the desired part; then they say there is an environment of the womb and heart: this is the first and self-inflicted delusion. Not only is it not appropriate to act on prayer and attention in this part, but also the very warmth that comes from the lustful part to the heart at the hour of prayer is not to be accepted at all. The middle is said to be the heart of the womb, according to Saint Theophylact, not at the navel, nor in the middle of the peres, but under the left breast, to have its place, since the tripartite of the soul is divided: the verbal in the peres; fierce or zealous in the heart; what is desirable is in the loins at the navel, to which the devil has a convenient entrance, according to Job: singing and liquefying, like the leech and toads in the lake of thieves, having food and pleasure, lustful sweetness. For this reason, the speech of Gregory of Sinai: there is no small need to achieve the truth clearly, and to be pure from those who resist grace, as in the image of truth in the new beginnings, the devil, more than usual, shows his charm, transforming his evil one, as if spiritual: instead of others, transforming inside the natural loins, as he wants, more dreamily: and instead of warmth, his burning sensation bringing, instead of joy, wordless joy and wet sweetness. It is also useful for the worker of the nobility to think about this, as if a burning or warmth from the loins comes to the heart, when about itself, except for lustful thoughts, it is natural. And this is not the essence of charm, but of nature, says Saint Callista the Patriarch. If someone has this, as if it is from grace, and not from nature, this is truly delusion. This, speaking, what is the essence, it is necessary for the ascetic to not care about these, but to send them away. But when the devil mixes his burning with our lust, he attracts the mind into lustful thoughts: and this is deception undoubtedly. If the body is all melted, and the mind is pure and dispassionate, and as if it is stuck, as if covered with it in the depths of the heart, starting and ending a prayer in the heart: this is truly from grace, and not from delusion. Some ascetics experience considerable obstacles to this sacred work and physical infirmity: because they are unable to hold back the supernatural labors and fasts that they have with the weight and measure of the saints, they think that they have no power to begin mental work other than these. And raising their vanity to the level of equality, the Great Basil teaches this: abstinence, speech, to anyone who will stare against the strength of the body. And so, I think, it is foolish to see that it is not through the immensity of abstinence that we destroy the strength of the body, but show it idlely and ineffectively towards good deeds. It is proper to have a body effectively, but not to be weakened by immensity. If only it were good to relax being a body and lie dead, barely breathing; God would have created all of us like this from the beginning. If nothing else he created this; They sin by not keeping what is good, even as it is. Let the ascetic of piety alone look to see if malice has hidden somewhere in the soul for the sake of corruption, if sobriety and prostration of thoughts diligent to God have been relaxed somewhere, if there has been some kind of spiritual sanctification, and if the enlightenment that was in the soul from there has been darkened. If the good thing said increases, no matter what time the bodily passions will rise, the soul will exercise itself on the things above and will not allow the body to allow the passions to rise up. Because there is a dispensation in the soul, the one who partakes of food and does not eat anything is opposed: it is not just fasting, but also the constant ineating that has been corrected, eating, and being praised for the considerable providence about the body: it is not known that the moderate burning of lust will inflame. And again Saint Isaac, according to this speech: if you force a weak body beyond its strength, you cause confusion upon confusion of the soul. And Saint John Climacus: I saw, speaking, this enemy (the womb) is given rest, and I give courage to the mind. And again: having seen that one fade away through fasting, I make a petition, so that we may not trust in ourselves, but live in God. History also agrees with this, and the Monk Nikon remembers about it: how in these times an old man was found alone in the desert, having not seen a man for thirty years, neither bread nor bread except rooting, and confessing that through all these years we had been fighting a prodigal demon. And the Fathers reasoned that there was no pride, no food, no wine, but there was battle, but the old man was not trained in smart sobriety, and in resisting the enemy’s tactics. For this reason, Saint Maximus said: give your body strength and turn all your efforts into smart work. And again, Holy Diadochos: fasting, speech, have praise for yourself, and not for God: for she is a worker, as she wills in chastity. It is not appropriate for an ascetic to philosophize about this, but to wait in the faith of God for the end of our thoughts. Below any tricks of the artist from the instrument of promise, the end is praised when, but they expect these every type of mark, and from it a well-known trick will appear. Having such an instruction about eating food, do not place all your care and hope on a single fast, but fast according to the measure and strength of yours, and extend yourself to mental work. И аще убо силу имаши, еже довлетися хлебом и водою, добро есть. Не укрепляют бо, рече, прочия снеди тело, якоже хлеб и вода; Otherwise, do not imagine that you have corrected virtue by fasting, but expect to gain chastity from fasting. And so in the mind there will be fasting, Saint Dorotheos said: if you are weak, Saint Gregory of Sinai commands you to eat a liter of bread and water, or drink three or four cups of wine, I want you to receive salvation, and from the food that comes your way, partake of a little from everyone, cutting off your satiety, as if you can avoid the arrogance of communion from everyone, and Do not disdain God’s good creations, thanking Him for all: and this is a prudent reasoning. If you have taken communion of all the dishes received, and have drunk little wine, you doubt your salvation: behold, this is unbelief and weakness of thought. The measure of accepting food, sinlessly and according to Bose, relies on three ranks: abstinence, contentment and satiety. There is abstinence, even if you still want to eat; I am content without being hungry or burdened; satiety is not enough to be aggravated. And if you eat again after you are satisfied, the door is gluttony, through which fornication enters. You, having looked, choose according to your strength what is appropriate, without violating the statutes: for those who are perfect are, and this, according to the Apostle, is to be satisfied, and hungry, and to be powerful in everything. This was revealed to you, O guardian of mental attention, from the very real words of the great and holy fathers, and what is the measure of abstinence and prudent fasting, and how to pay attention. Preface to the chapters of Blessed Philotheus of Sinai Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and powers and rulers of the darkness of this age, the spirit of wickedness in high places. The warriors of the Earthly King carry a sword, are ready and skilled in battle against adversaries; They wear a sword like this and are not warriors, just for the sake of custom, and not in preparation for battle, because they know the skill of how to confront the enemy. This, in all respects, is a perfect image of our spiritual warfare, about which the word is now presented. Everyone who renounces the world and is an experienced monk also accepts the spiritual sword, like a warrior of Christ, and goes to war against evil spirits. To him, and speaking at the hour of tonsure: “Take, brother, the spiritual sword,” which is the word of God, which you carry in your mouth, mind and heart, and say without ceasing: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” But about our time! How many, I won’t say all of them, wear this sword for the sole purpose of custom, and not for any abusive need! Not being aware of how to convert this before the eyes of enemies, and to live with them like a flame, they simply and carnally use this, and not really; in other words: for one glory of the psalter, one rope, and for kathisma, three more reverently, the number of external prayers ends. The multitude, having put aside this word of God at the end, rather than having uttered the flaming weapon that guards the gates of the heart, are content with a single psalmody, canons and troparia, which are the essence of church tradition, imagining that this holy five-word prayer was intended by a simple and unbooked monk to be the rule. correcting and deposing such wrong opinion in the Saints, Simeon Archbishop of Selunia, betrays and legislates for all Bishops, Archimandrites, Abbots, Hieromonks, Priests, Deacons, monks and laymen, having every rank and art, instead of every rule, like their breath and belly, this holy prayer of Jesus in their minds and act with their lips at every hour and time, even if they cannot recognize that artistic action, then there is a matter, speaking, of only monks who have renounced the world. Even though the Great Basil commands the unlearned monk to perform this rule with the Jesus Prayer in numbers and not artistically: understand that it is appropriate for the untrained, and for the ignorant and worldly, he lays down this law, for even these, according to their measure, glorify God, and there will be no idleness. Carry your sword, or verb in your mind, according to your inner attention, know the time when to turn it on the enemy, and pray for evil reasons and passions and thoughts, or for your sins. At times, due to some circumstance and lack of understanding, crawling with words or rage, eye and lust, or vanity and opinion, and the like, and for these we strike with our conscience, and not enduring that reproof, turns to God, repenting and praying from the heart and mind, seeking mercy to be. All this rule is based on a single repentance and attention from the heart, in the image of this widow, sitting before the judge day and night, and asking for vengeance from her rival. And this is the order of doing smart things, befitting the passionate: and let no one despise this word, as if he who dares to teach such sins to God can powerfully learn smart work. Положи бо ми пять степеней действующих страсти: а. I will move someone to anger and annoyance, so that he will always remain angry with the one who insulted him, c. опечален быв да помнит зло на многия дни точию; let him be angry for one week; д. един точию день да помнить зло; е. да будет враждуя, досаждая, смущая, и смущаяся, в в той же час прелагаяся. Behold the great difference in the dispensation: both under hell are all these passions, as Saint Dorotheos says, and it is not proper for such to touch powerfully on intelligent activity. These are the likenesses of a man who is shot from his enemy, and I receive the arrows in my hand, and I put them in my heart, about which the Theologian speaks: committing sin comes from the devil. Give me and from others five degrees: a. offended and grieving, not as if she accepted the annoyance, but as if she did not endure it; V. поучающася всегда терпению, последи же побеждающагося от совосхищения: г. не хотяща отвещати зле, от обычая же совосхищающася; д. подвизающася отнюдь не рещи зло, скорбяща же, яко досаждение прият, но зазирающа себе, и кающася о сем; that is, not grieving, as if she had received annoyance, but rather rejoicing. Сии вси сопротивляющаяся страсти суть: изволением бо уставиша страсть, и не хотят действовати, но и скорбят, и подвизаются. И подобни суть таковии стреляемому от врага своего, оболчену же в броня и не приемлещу язвы, рече той же святый Дорофей. Имже всячески подобает и мощно есть обучатися умного делания: очищаются бо сии вседневною благодатью Христовою, чрез молитву умную и всечасное покаяние, о нихже тайновидец рече: Аще речем, яко греха не имамы, прельщаем себе: и, аще грехи наша исповедуем, верен есть и праведен, да оставит нам, и очистит нас от всякия неправды. It is also known that this sacred Jesus Prayer has been a stone of stumbling and temptation to many in ancient times and today. Even if there are many, but not all of them, they pray simply and outwardly, and there is no one who is seditious about this; They know very little about artistic actions, such as watching over the heart with the mind in prayer. And Gregory of Sinai himself was first resisted by the most verbal fathers of Mount Athos, when he began to teach them about this. And if these fathers, having gone away from the city, stumbled about this work: then what should be said about the monastics who have been assigned to the world? However, whoever wants to save his soul must submit to the Scriptures and the teachings of the Holy Fathers, and not to a carnal man. Not in one corner, but in the midst of the reigning city itself, this sacred mental work flourished, and not in just monastics, but most of all the Patriarchs of Constantinople themselves were the workers and teachers of this. John, I say, Chrysostom, Photius, Callista, one of the former successors of time to the Patriarchal throne, about whom Saint Simeon of Selunion writes, as he wrote his entire book about this single practice of mental prayer, all wise and artistic. Otherwise, it is not appropriate to marvel at this, since today such teaching and scripture are not worn out by a word among monastics. Anyone can, if he so desires, monk or layman, sing psalms and canons for the common prayer of the Church of the Holy Fathers, devoted to: But no one can speak the Lord Jesus Christ with the mind, even with the Holy Spirit, according to the Apostle. For this reason, the Holy Fathers, former workers and teachers of this, liken outward singing to a little boy, but mental prayer to a perfect man. And just as there is no reproach for a youth, as he wants to be a husband and an elder in time, so there is no vice and contempt for external singing and prayer, for the weakness of our infancy given by God, when someone turns all his diligence to mental prayer, but little zealously sings psalms, canons and troparia, hoping through mental prayer to find reasonable singing, from him again flows into visual prayer, and to that equality, like a youth to a perfect husband, the singing of being cognizes. Паки мало даете время пению, множайшее же молитве; below, such a one can do a lot: outwardly singing and not leading with feeling what is spoken, these can sing a lot, in the words of Saint Gregory of Sinaite. И за сию вину уподобляет пение деннице, молитву же умную солнцу. Obviously, as if the morning star is visible for a certain hour or two, the sun shines all day long: this is how we understand singing and prayer. And let us not speak, for we have withheld much singing from the Saints; but understand and believe, as these Fathers command us, without a doubt, from singing to rise to prayer. Jacob and Saint Gregory of Sinai, who at first, for the unknown better, held only singing, was also instructed by a certain Cretan, exchanging a lot of singing for mental prayer, and from experience learning that there was no such quick and easy success from singing, as from prayer, he commanded everyone to have all the diligence in prayer, and sing little for despondency. Otherwise, you too, without any doubt, do this, so that it is not spoken to you, for your disobedience, the answer of the Apostle, saying: “This is the good pleasure of my heart, and prayer to God according to Israel - or is for salvation: I testify to them that they have the zeal of God, but not according to reason: because they do not understand God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they do not obeying. What does Scripture say? There is a saying in your mouth and in your heart, that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, you will be saved: for whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Yet behold: verb, confession and invocation: understand that Christ is within you, through holy baptism you are all present, and you must call upon Him and speak and confess Him unceasingly, sometimes with your heart, sometimes with your lips, saying: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” Pay attention, man, to yourself and your stubbornness, lest for this reason God send a spirit of bitterness upon you: eyes cannot see, and ears cannot hear; Don’t hope for anything else, just believe, to succeed in anything spiritual, if you don’t dare to call Jesus Christ against every evil thought and against every army of the enemy, says Saint Hesychius: you will not find the strongest weapon against your enemies, in heaven and on earth, than the name of Christ. And you cannot powerfully escape the bitter drink of evil thoughts, below the end of the tart 30 bread of eating, Until you are jealous of eating the pure bread that came down from heaven, the eaters of which will not hunger forever, accepting joy and joy, and not fear or wordless consolation, which is a joyful opinion. Just as the law, which cannot make a person sinless by itself, sends everyone to Christ, and even if we want this, even if we imagine it to be, we diminish it: so also external singing, having previously trained the worker, gives over to Christ, and is the mental prayer of Jesus, as if it cannot raise it into spiritual action, even if that very singing for the sake of prayer is shortened and the second happens: Even if not everyone wants to be converted to Christ: there is no fault in singing, just as there is opposition to the Jewish law, but only their carnal mind and ignorance of the power hidden in the Holy Scripture. They think that to utter sweet voices and shed red words from the tongue, that is, is the beginning and the end of prayer to God: they do not understand what was spoken from the Lord: “For if you believe in me, rivers will flow” from his belly “living water”, for everyone who is baptized from above receives this living water in the depths of his heart mysteriously, about which it is written in the life of His Holiness Ignatius the God-Bearer, as if he had cut his unfaithful heart, saying: “How does he carry his God in his heart”? And I found this word inside of gold: Jesus Christ. This sign was for the shame of the unbelievers, for the assurance of all the faithful, that everyone at holy baptism receives Christ within themselves. For this reason, for the sake of the most perfect and deepest spiritual gifts, the Holy Fathers first command us to cleanse ourselves from passions by invoking with our minds and hearts the name of Jesus Christ for every evil thought, and the host and excuse of the enemy: it is a sensual, and not just a customary prayer, which is also a sin for the dead. And in such reasonable attention and prayer, having laid a firm foundation for us to continue to fight with our enemies and passions until death, the fathers teach us the blessing that even a thousand plagues every day are acceptable, in no way to retreat from this life-giving work, that is, the invocation of Jesus Christ, who is in our hearts, as he has already spoken about this above. And so, if God sees for our benefit, he elevates, as he wants, the message, through such a good beginning, to mental visual prayer. But the netizens, even those who are frivolous, should be called, hearing, as if speedy pre-arrival occurs through this active mental prayer, marry before their time in the visual, thinking, as if this is found in the hands of those who want it. Friends, having realized that not all visual prayers are worthy, but only minor ones, weaken, or in the end they do not care about active mental prayer, except that there is no one who can powerfully escape the influence of passions and the formation of evil thoughts, for which they will be tortured at the hour of death, and the answer will be given at the terrible judgment. For this reason, we must understand that we are not condemned in every way for visual prayer, not being worthy of sowing for our weakness, but for mental and heartfelt observance, with them we can powerfully stand against the devil and evil thoughts, defeating him not by ourselves, but by the terrible name of Christ, the imams give the word to God: for, bearing Christ within ourselves by the gift of holy baptism, We, speaking most truly, do not want to learn how to call upon Him for help in the hour of battle. And for this alone the Apostle reproaches us, saying: Do you not know that Jesus Christ is in you? Are you not skilled in nature: are you not trained to act with the mind in the heart the name of Christ? But for the ancients, and not for the present, for sure, the end has multiplied, not yet worthy of visual prayer in the belly; there should be no doubt about this: untruth, for God has no place, but in every possible way for their labors, having labored with them in the true fatherly path of active prayer, gives them action at death, or after death, these visual prayers, from which, like a fiery flame, the aerial mythoimists pass away, the speech of Saint Hesychius; and their lot is with those Saints who did not receive the promises here according to the Apostle, and who labored with all their belly in hope. This is why, with the testimony of Holy Scripture, we have formulated a single active and appropriate mental prayer for the passionate, and let us speak according to need and about the delight that is found in such measures. First, as His Holiness Patrarch Callistus said, warmth comes from the kidneys, like a girdle, and it seems to be a charm: this is not the essence of charm, but the essence of nature, like the properties born from the feat of it. If anyone thinks that this is from grace, and not from nature, this is truly delusion: this, whatever its essence, must strive not to love, but to reflect. A different kind of warmth comes from the heart, and even if the mind descends into lustful thoughts, delusion is truly a thing. If the body is completely melted from the heart, but the mind is pure and passionless, and seems to be stuck in the inner depths of the heart, this is truly grace, and not delusion. For those who see this, it is appropriate at the very beginning to train the mind at the hour of prayer to stand on top of the heart and look into the depth of it, and not halfway to the side, or at the end from below. The fault is this: when the mind stands above the heart, and prayer acts in the middle of it, then, like a king sitting on high, he looks with all freedom at all the evil thoughts lying below. And he smashes them against a stone in the name of Christ, like the second Babylonian babies. Whoever, even for the sake of removing himself from the loins, can in every possible way escape the burning sensation of lust, which exists in our nature through the crime of Adam. If someone begins to pay attention to prayer on half of the heart from the chest, then: because of the occasional depletion of the warmth of the heart, but because the mind is exhausted and its vision is dulled by the frequent action of prayer, or by the very movement of battle from the enemy, the mind descends about itself to the loins and mixes with lustful warmth, although not even though it draws closer to the one doing the prayer on half the heart. However, out of extreme lack of consideration, moreover, not knowing what is the top, or the middle of the heart, and what is the half, and what is the end of that, the prayer begins to operate from below at the end of the heart at the loins, and thus touches the heart with part of the mind, and part of the loins. They call upon themselves charm, like the charmers of the serpent: it is not so powerful for those who create attention to escape the association of the enemy. Friends, afflicted by the latest lack of understanding and rudeness, do not know lower than that very place of the heart, under the left nipple and side of the existing one, but imagining it in the middle of the navel of the womb, they dare, alas for their charms! So act with your mind and pray. Otherwise, knowing from such signs, it is appropriate, as it was said, to create attention and prayer with the mind in the middle of the heart from the top from the breast, and not halfway from the chest, and especially from the bottom from the loins. Also, to recognize with mental feeling the warmth in prayer, which is Divine, poured out in the heart, like fragrant ointment, through holy baptism, and which came to us from the crime of our ancestors, or which was driven from the devil. The first one begins in one heart with prayer and ends prayer in the heart, giving the soul notification and spiritual fruits. The second begins from the kidneys, and the prayer ends at the kidneys, but cruelty and coldness and confusion inflict on the soul. The third, from the placement of a lustful burning sensation, inflames the heart and soul with lustful lust, captivating the mind into evil thoughts, and attracting bodies to the copulation of bodies, even in a powerfully diligent manner to soon be known and destined. Otherwise, as Grigorsh Sinait said, the enemy transforms inside the natural loins, as he wishes, inducing his own burning sensations instead of spiritual warmth, and instead of joy, bringing wordless joy and wet sweetness, and like acting grace, he forces his charm not to eat; but time, skill, and manifest feeling teach him to create. And with time, and with experience, and with feeling, delusion is recognized: for this reason, it is not appropriate to be afraid or doubt God invitingly, in the words of the same Saint. If you have not been seduced, you have suffered damage to your mind, understand that this has suffered from self-indulgence and arrogance. It is not out of fear, or our driving away from the sacred work of this work, that the Holy Fathers wrote a lot about delusion, of various types and faults found by the doer, but for our caution and knowledge of the delusion and evil action of Satan, for whose sake the royal path that does not fall is commanded to keep all those who struggle with passions in two or three, living in the desert, where good advisers are brother and brother, and The scriptures of the saint are testing day and night; they can, by the grace of Christ, learn unpretentiously in this mental work. Some, from the multitude, have arisen from nowhere, perhaps some of the current monks are not given the actions of the Holy Spirit, like the previous ones: for it is already past, they say, such are the times. But this is a stumbling block for those who say: because the fathers spoke of these signs and wonders, for their sake there is a certain loss of faith, according to the words of Christ: those who have not seen bliss have believed; and not about the cessation of the action of the Holy Spirit. This, in the beginning of every faithful one, is undoubtedly given and remains in us without being lost, even if we do not feel them, having been killed by sins: and we must, by doing the commandments, and by calling on Jesus Christ, who is in our hearts, accept this gift and see wisely, even as we undertake, as if the spiritual law is written on the tablets of our hearts, vouchsafed to speak directly to Christ with pure, cherubic prayer from the heart. I am glad to bear this righteously, by not repenting of the guilt of sins to inflict a vice on time, or on God in the impoverishment of the action of the Holy Spirit. But the three most fierce giants have attributed all this guilt to unbelief, I say, and laziness, and negligence, ceasing from lies, and eating the truth, we will undoubtedly begin to learn smart work, putting aside from ourselves and the most important three adversaries: self-love, I say, love of money into vanity, with them we can consume others from our souls. First of all, a certain movement begins in the body of one who strives and listens in prayer, like jumping under the skin, which they imagine to be a certain thing, to be a charm. Warmth comes from the kidneys, as if they were encircling, and that charm seems to exist: I am not the essence of charm, but the essence of nature is the property that is born from this feat. If anyone glorifies this, as if it were from grace, and not from nature: this is truly delusion. Whatever this essence is, one must strive not to love it, but to reflect it and sweep it aside. A different kind of warmth also comes from the heart, and even if the mind descends into lustful thoughts, delusion is truly deceptive. If the body is completely melted from the heart, but the mind is pure and passionless, and seems to be stuck in the inner depths of the heart, this is truly grace, and not delusion. Sometimes it happens that there is such a feeling and sweat from the amount of heat that occurs in the body. And then the holy action moves from the heart, taking in like a leaf from the heart, and moving the mind from the inner ones, as if clinging to that very divine action, as if crying out often: My Jesus, my Jesus. Because in the opening of the heart this mind exactly cries out: My Jesus, and the mind cannot say everything: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, from frequent openings of the heart, but exactly: My Jesus. Those who say that they perform all prayers in such a dispensation are deceived. Whenever the mind clings, like a die, to the Divine action, having come into the innermost heart, it cannot cry out more, except for sure, my Jesus. Then there is a holy prayer and horror from the heart, while the consolation from a holy action is great. And then he jumps: and a tear flows sweetly from the heart, and flows sweeter from the eyes, and this is joyful sorrow. Then the heart becomes angry from the many sacred rites, and the whole body is inflamed, and the mind cries out in horror: Lord, have mercy. And like a vessel full of oil, we heat the herb from the fire; from much of the faith it is poured out; This is what happens in the heart: sometimes it returns from the Divine action, pours out warmth on the body, and creates it inflamed, and then the sufferer understands this, as if his inner being will jump out more clearly. There are also some other glorious sacraments for those who have the spoken dispensation: there is always light, and also enlightenment looks within, enlightening him more than the sun, emanating light from the heart. There are other sacraments inside my heart that I cannot express in writing: for the mind sees all creation, and, horrified by the movement of the holy action and by the Divine sacraments that I see, it sends out from the depths of my heart hymns that I cannot express in writing. The whole person is then deified from the Divine movement, outside of all material and sensory everything, and as if he were uncontrollable with joy, as if someone were immersed in much wine. It is also from this that the mind admires the vision of the Divine, and sees the mysteries that are terrible, even if I cannot write in detail. The mind sees the Divine vision, and it also sees the pleasure of the righteous, heavenly goodness. Even higher, the mind sees the terrible and glorious mysteries in heaven, and as much as a person admires the pretext of the opposite, he still sees the greater ones, as if the Spirit was given to him. To him be glory forever. Amen. Preface to the book of blessed Hesychius The life and teaching of the Holy Fathers is in a small way likened to the outward providence of man, dealing with all the necessary bodily requirements: for he who has studied all kinds of arts and cunning acquires all the necessary things for his life; diligent in other ways to agriculture in motley hands 31, he receives every demand for his house; Some of the most thoughtful, instead of these and other arts and crafts, acquire one ship, or one grape, and from here they acquire every demand for themselves, except for all the rumors and torment that come from the rough and unequal motley trade in life. In this way, it also happens in spiritual life: one of the saints is the father, looking at the weakness of those who are newly coming to monasticism, to give them continued psalmody with the doing of the commandments of Christ, the canons and troparia, established by the Holy Spirit for the praise of God and ruled by the monk. Friends, having learned the subtlest skill of the spiritual mind, do not want to teach the beginners to remain in the body only, but give them moderate singing with the commandments of Christ, which is the Midnight Office, Matins, Hours, Vespers and Vespers, and instruct, instead of continued psalmody and canons, to do mental prayer, adding this too, if it comes The Holy Spirit, through the action of heartfelt prayer, then undoubtedly abandons the spoken external rule; This is completed by internal prayer; and such in part, and not very much, betray intelligent work, says Saint Gregory of Sinaite. Still others, from the many trials and trials of all the Saints, live and write, especially through the action and wisdom of the Holy and Life-Giving Spirit, instructing, sustained 32, and not private training for beginners or doing mental prayer: this they say to be the condemnation of passions in doing the commandments of Christ, and they divide this into two principles, like another paradise, draining the ocean from itself, and divided into two streams, that is, into active and visual prayer; and so they command to have all the care for smart work, little green singing is acceptable in the hour of despondency: the hours and church songs are traditions for all Christians in general, and not for those who want to remain silent. Otherwise, by the instruction of the Holy Fathers, about which we spoke at the beginning, someone comes to prosperity, but it is very inert and painful; the second is the most convenient and easiest; thirdly, in everything, quickly, with the joy and frequent presence of the Holy Spirit, confirming and informing the heart, this happens, especially with the most diligent zeal and good will, and not from the compulsion of legal fear: for the sole sweetness of the heart and spiritual consolation, one strives diligently to pray, and not for anything else, and there is only one internal prayer for him instead of all external works, If you speak a rule, or sing, or pray, or teach: all this is contained in it. The memory of death, and even more so, the feeling of judgment and eternal torment and the renunciation of God, are intertwined with her as if they were one and the same. For this reason, for the sake of a single sow, like a single ship, or grapes, as they say, someone can manage his entire life in silence. How is it that this holy prayer is dissolved by the commandment of the Lord, and drives away demons and passions, and again: and how is it that one who is careless about the commandments, less concerned about doing smart things, but is diligent in singing, sometimes suffers from passions and falls into eternal languor? The transgression of the Lord's commandments is seen uniformly in everyone, but diversity acts like a tit river: someone makes it a point not to transgress the commandments, nor to strive for passion, but due to some circumstance, or embarrassment, or abuse, it happens to him to offend someone, or to be offended, or to condemn, or to become angry and be overcome by vanity, and become selfish and to justify yourself, or to speak idlely, or to lie, to explain yourself or get drunk, to have a bad thought or to stir up a passion, and the like, which is a clear violation of the commandments and the fall of the soul. And this one, having fallen in love with God, at the same hour begins to look upon himself, and with repentance to fall before God with a mental prayer from the heart, may he forgive him and give him help, so that no one will fall into the recess of sin. And this is the beginning of keeping the commandments, and guarding your heart from the temptations of evil in prayer, fearing and trembling, so that they do not fall away for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. And yet, having no proposal to keep the commandments, and so simply, if he falls or stands, he is negligent, I think, as in modern times no one keeps the commandments and cares about their transgression, and as everyone, even if unwillingly, worships God, and is guilty of the subtleties of sins and passions: and so, as if about an impossible thing, he does not want to pay attention to these: exactly the word he creates about adultery, and fornication, sodomy and bestiality, murder, and theft, and poisoning, and similar mortal and major sins, from which, and keeping oneself, it seems to stand. The Fathers say to this: it is better to fall and rise than to stand and not repent. Here one wonders how both of these, under the same ever-present sins, are not one before God, the younger ones, nor before spiritual people. One thing is that from these there is very little news of such a fall, and a rebellion, even if passions act, as discussed below. The other falls and rises, is defeated and conquers; another struggles and toils, but the latter is overcome by the chill of passion; the other does not want to repay evil, but admires the custom; the other struggles, not at all saying that it is evil, but grieves, as if the annoyance is accepted; the other does not grieve, for he has accepted the annoyance, but rather rejoices: these are all resisting passions, because they have tired out the passion by will and do not want to act, but they grieve and strive: the Fathers rekos, as if every thing the soul does not want, is of little time. I want to speak about those who eradicate passion: there is someone who rejoices when he receives annoyance, but has a reward for it: this is from those who eradicate passion, but not with reason. Another rejoices, the annoyance is accepted, and he has, as if he should be annoyed, for fear of giving guilt to that one: this one eradicates passion with reason. There is another, who not only rejoices at being annoyed, and makes a bath for himself, but also grieves for the embarrassment of the one who annoyed him: May God lead us into such a dispensation! I tell you a parable, who is like the one who acts on passion and accepts it: like a man who was shot by his enemy, I receive the arrows in my hand and put them in my heart. But if you resist passion, you are like someone shot at by your enemy, but wrapped in armor, and will not accept the wound. And when I eradicate a passion, I am like someone who is shot, and I shoot the arrows and crush them, or return them to the enemy’s heart. May God give us strength, but even if we do not eradicate passion, let us not act and resist it! It is fitting, then, that Saint Dorotheus, having disposed of such resistance and condemnation of the passions, shows this to be one of the commandments. And here we speak, as if you resist passion, I am likened to one who is shot by the enemy, but is wrapped in armor, and does not accept ulcers: otherwise, what fault will it be for him who is not wounded to be afraid of doing smart things? Having been tied to this sacred work by the commandments, does it not really want to be successful, rather than through the commandments alone? Most clearly, for the sake of knowledge of both of these dwellings, let each one be spoken of here by name. The first one, subordinating himself to the law, performs his own singing. The second, forcing himself to do intelligent work, always take with him the name of Jesus Christ to consume the enemy and passions with evil thoughts. He rejoices even if he finishes singing; This one thanks God, if in silence, except for evil thoughts, prayer works. For this reason there is carefully quantity: for this there is quality; To him, in a hurry to fulfill the number of songs, a joyful opinion is quickly attached, relying on nothing, to call on the Lord Jesus Christ, not knowing, nourishes and grows the inner Pharisee, if he does not heed himself. Related to this quality of prayer is, sometimes, the knowledge of one’s own weakness and God’s help. Praying more than the river, calling on the Lord Jesus against the pretexts of the enemy and passions and evil thoughts, he sees these destruction from the terrible name of Christ, and understands God's power and help: and again, we are forced and confused by evil thoughts, he recognizes his weakness, as if he is not able to resist these things by himself. And this is his entire rule and life: even if the enemy can attach a joyful opinion to this and the Pharisee, then he is ready to call on Christ for such an excuse, as well as for all evil thoughts, and no enemy will have time to attack him. But someone says that it is powerful for him to call on Christ for such an excuse: it is powerful for her; On the other hand, as every message is a temptation, there is no such custom now, so that those who practice this rule should learn to pray against evil thoughts. Such people especially do not accept words spoken or written about internal attention, which contains the art of praying for evil thoughts. Not exactly do they not accept, but they also resist, and provide teachers for themselves, saying not to be new to this intelligent work from the tradition of the Holy Fathers, except for a single psalmody, troparia and canons, acted by mouth and tongue. Even if they say and teach these things unrighteously, everyone will listen to them; There is no need for training or renunciation of worldly lusts for such prayer, but anyone, even if he desires, can pray in this way, either a monk or a layman: sacred mental work, since it is a glorious and godly art more than all arts, and besides the renunciation of the world with its lusts, also much instruction and training, no one gains it, this Because of this, this work in monastics is very poor: and unsuppressive warfare occurs ignorant of the power of holy scripture, and more than the temptation of intelligent attention to the inner man. With all these things, it is proper to be wary of the right and wrong deviations, this is despair and insolence. Seeing what is written here, as if learning smart work, there are by chance, and not by suggestion, continuous and involuntary falls, which the Fathers call everyday sins, let us not doubt this: as everyone progresses, there is also a fall from the good to the opposite: if they are beginners, or middle-aged, or near the completion of existing ones, relapse Fathers. And again, hearing God’s great compassion for us sinners, we should not dare to dare our mother-in-law fearlessly, except with great humility and doing the commandments, to the best of our ability, for this intelligent sacred rite; but knowingly, the audacity and despair of being from the enemy, run both strong; and so, with many tests of the Holy Scriptures and the advice of the skilled, in humility learn this work. To lead away, this too must be applied, as a great weapon against the enemy and the evil lusts of the memory of death, or Gehenna and eternal torment, or the Last Judgment, the tormentors of the aerial tormentors, or the kingdom of heaven and the joy of the saints, and other similar things. Otherwise, all this is very weak for us, passionate and insensual, except for mental attention and calling on the name of Jesus Christ. Remember them too! And in those who have overcome insensibility, the message is to quench the lusts of the flesh and destroy evil thoughts from the soul: but the terrible name of Jesus Christ has great and incomparable power to consume all of them from the heart and mind. For this reason, we harness the essence of mental work to such memory, we act with extreme strength, giving that prayer itself no small haste: especially, from prayer ourselves, like a shining light, driven away from the existing darkness from the mind and the darkness of passions by the name of Jesus Christ. To complete all that is written here, this is also attached from the words of St. Anastasius of Sinai, who also said: We understand and reflect on those who receive the Holy Mysteries of the body and blood of the Lord, as if some human and convenient sins have venial sins, such as: with the tongue, with hearing, or with the stealthy eye, or with vanity, or with sadness, or with rage, or From such people, blaspheming themselves, confessing to God, and thus accepting the Holy Mysteries, we believe that such acceptance of the Holy Mysteries happens in the cleansing of sins. This reason, and this measure, also applies here to the falls that happen to those learning to do mental prayer. And yet the fathers say that the key is the understanding of the scriptures, mental and sacred prayer, but those who do not want to learn this, clearly, as not everyone can know the power of Holy Scripture and the Fatherly: for this reason, those who speak little and much about mental sobriety, bring this from the scriptures, as it is appropriate first to correct the bodily senses, which are sight, smell, eating, speaking and touching, so that man does not sin with these; and so, having corrected this good, begin mental prayer. And to such people he answers: there is no one, O friends, speak contrary to the correction of bodily feelings; But if we separate the correction of these from smart work, much disagreement will appear. First of all, Saint Hesychius says to his mother: Fear God, and keep His commandments, sensually and intelligently: if you force yourself to keep it intelligently, little by little and sensually you will imprint the work on those. And again: if not in the middle of the belly, but in the middle of the heart, a person will do the will of God and keep the law, but he can do this outside. And Simeon the New Theologian said: The Holy Fathers know that with internal work it is convenient to correct all external virtues, abandoning external work, and placing all care on internal care, and so on. You, O friend, set distance and time for the preservation of bodily feelings in order to train mental prayers, and thus appear ignorant of the order and doings of the heart: the leading skill of mental prayers does not separate the time in both of these, but equally and collectively instruct them in training: they immerse the mind in the hour of prayer inside the heart, quench the insanity of the senses, not allowing the mind to flow to the ground; I have not raised my mind to the feelings of the body, these idle ones remain outside, and thus give great silence to the mind and heart, just as mothers-in-law themselves are little by little trained by the guarding of the mind for carnal lust. It is also known that neither time, nor things, nor an hour of those who love to argue about such things, remain scarce, and yet this remains written in the new Theologian: as it behooves one who wants to learn intelligent work, first of all preserve his conscience towards God, and man, and things. Because I believe that in one hour or minute a person can reconcile his conscience to God, both by man and by things, according to the great teacher: the sting, this is the cry of the conscience, mental activity does not satisfy, it is useful for someone to evade this good accuser. I also see this great sinner going to the holy church surrounded by demons, and emanating from the church with Holy Angels rejoicing over his conversion. You, out of extreme admonishment of conscience, set the distance and time for reconciliation with God, and thereby show yourself teaching that dispassion is achieved before learning to do smart things, or there is something higher than this. And from here it happens to you, not only when mental sobriety has begun, but also from those Holy Mysteries themselves. No one else, without having reconciled his conscience to God, receives communion: I do not say this to you, man, from my dispensation about the reconciliation of conscience, but the very confession of the Holy Fathers I bring these things, because I am getting closer to God, only in vain have I sinned: and will not, in your opinion, the Saints themselves not reconcile their consciences to God? But, for the sake of humility, speak, thus deciding about yourself as a Holy One. Stop the multiplicity of words, and obey the rules of the Holy voice. If anyone says that the Holy One is humble for the sake of and accepts the face of sinners, he says: forgive us our debts, let us be anathema. Other things, if anyone wants to receive the right reason about these things, let him believe that God created the first body for Adam, and also the soul and not during the time of separation, but created together by reason: even if otherwise, Origen was proud of this. In the same way, the preservation of our bodily feelings and conscience, reconciliation to God with reason and mental attention, works together: even if it seems otherwise that one does not know the power and skill of internal work. Do not be surprised, O pious reader, that this preface comes with such an objection: even the sail stretches against the breath of the wind. In the times of the Holy Fathers, many who are zealous, who want to undergo this intelligent work from self-initiation and daring, have time and feat, to satisfy such audacity into lawlessness, as if they would not fearlessly jump into such. Now, however, such teaching has come into extreme oblivion and neglect, and many from the gums and ears begin to fight and corrupt this inner path, and sprinkle this dust on the sorrow and valley, as if in the end it will be unknown to everyone, it would be necessary to write about this, and add these before the holy book of Hesychius of Jerusalem, in It is not something else, but just one mind and instruction on the path of sacred mental work is found. And whoever wants to learn this first, let him understand and do what was said by Saint Maximus: give your body strength, and focus all your efforts on your mind. And again: bodily virtues are pleasant, if anyone goes through them with humility; besides this, labor is vanity; the same: do not have all the care for the flesh, but set a limit to it against the strength of abstinence, and turn all your mind to the internal; for physical training in small amounts is useful, but inner attention is always useful. But the Holy Hesychaus speaks about this: he who does not know how to walk the spiritual path, does not care or correct for passionate thoughts, but takes all the exercise and care of the flesh: this one either overeats and rages, becomes sad and angry, and remembers evil, and thus darkens the mind, or taxed with immeasurable abstinence, it confuses the mind. And again the Holy Diadochus said: in this way, because of the multitude of foodstuffs, a certain body is burdened with fear and the mind becomes evil; With this exhausted mind from much abstinence, a certain decrepit and unloving word-visual part ends. It is appropriate, therefore, against bodily movements and to provide food well, so that when the body is healthy, it languishes as long as it needs to eat; Whenever it hurts, it becomes moderately fat. It is not appropriate for the ascetic to become weak in body, but to be strong enough to achieve the feat of might. And again Climacus: I saw (speech) this hostile to the one who is at rest, and I give cheerfulness to the mind, and so on. It is fitting for us to have a healthy body, and not a fierce one; for smart work also requires bodily strength. For this reason, you need to run fast and do immeasurable fasting and permission. For everyone who wants to have the experience and reason to have good judgment about fasting and the amount of food taken, this is, about the quality and quantity of that food, the disposition of St. Gregory of Sinaite; The speech about this is this: a liter of bread is enough for someone who is still hungry, and a day’s worth of water or wine, three or four cups are enough for someone who wants to find God: and from those sweet things that are found, take little from everyone, so as not to be satisfied: for he will also run away from the offerings, and will not disdain God’s good works, thanking Him for everyone, and behold, meaningful reasoning. For those who are weak by faith, and especially by soul, the illumination of 33 foods is beneficial to them, the Apostle commands them to eat the potion, before they believe that they will be preserved by God. There are three rules for having food: abstinence, contentment and satiety. There is abstinence; I am content, even if I am neither hungry nor burdened; satiety is not enough to be burdened; And if you eat again after you are full, the door is to gluttony, through which fornication enters. But you, having considered this, choose according to your strength what is appropriate, without transgressing the statutes: for there are those who are perfect, and behold, according to the Apostle, to hunger and be filled, and to be powerful in everything. Finally, you need to remember this too, as those who know the art of smart doing learn not to sing psalmody 34 manually (for beginners this is appropriate and passionate), and to pray ever for one’s sins, or for evil thoughts and passions, for the sake of a multitude of converging words, both in the praise of God, and in the vision of creatures, or looking God's providence, or rebuke and promise, or eternity and incomprehension, and other similar things, but a passionate and weak mind cannot contemplate them. And from here the thought falls into daydreaming, with the sole intention of keeping the quantity, which is usually followed by a joyful opinion and heartfelt praise, about which Saint John Climacus, having learned such a skill, said: do not begin to talk too much, lest your mind be distracted by the exaction of words: one word of the tax collector will propitiate God, and one word will be faithful to save the thief: verbosity for multiply the mind by imagining and squandering it, but shortness of speech is good. For good and righteous reasons, the New Theologian wrote: as if the passions have been cured, singing is naturally given to the tongue. How can anyone sing the song of the Lord in a foreign land with a passionate heart? Other than that, I don’t want anyone to learn how to do smart work, but first of all I can’t know this beginner level, and what is the pretext, what is the combination, captivity and passion. And he who does not know these things does not know his own fall and rise; and without recognizing such temptations, he is deprived of hourly repentance; do not have constant repentance, do not know your weakness; We are deprived of this knowledge, and we are alien to heartfelt contrition and confession to God; other than these, he does not come into the fear of God; and having no fear, you don’t know how to constantly pray for your sins, but, like the lordship of 35, he observes the number exactly in his singing. Saint Cassian assigned the same order of mental work, saying: for these minor sins, in which the righteous falls and rises seven times a day, let us never remain except lamentation and repentance: for lack of it, or ignorance, or oblivion, or involuntarily. Either out of need, or out of carnal weakness, every day, whether we want or not, we sin, according to the Apostle: I do not for what I will. And again: I am a damned man! Who will deliver me from this body of death! Anyone who has learned to do smart things, no matter how much he prays, or even says, acts the Jesus Prayer, for his own sins, or prays for evil thoughts, as he said, and not let him sing a lot in psalms. Those who sing a lot do not understand what they sing, as the New Theologian says: For there is a lot to sing, but those who do not know what they are singing are commanded to do so. Likewise, Saint Isaac said: Do you want to be nourished by the grace of 36 your service? Leave the absolute quantity, and do not put any reasonable measure in them. And Saint Gregory of Sinai said: Ovi teach to sing a lot, but Ovi teach little; You don’t sing a lot, but imitate those who sing a little. For there are many active singers, and not silent ones: for it is fitting for us to be an angel and sing according to our residence, and not carnally, and not like a river, pagan. Even though we sang with a voice and a cry, for the sake of our laziness and ignorance, we were quickly betrayed, and no one from the Saints went to great lengths of labor, composing words and writings about a single psalmody. Why is there a need to write a lot about this, even if everyone, not just the monks, but also the people of the world, know and can sing, if only they will, as has already been said? About this one short and five-word prayer, counted in five words, according to the apostolic voice: Ã, Lord, in, Jesus, D, Christ, D, have mercy, E, me, the first Holy Hesychaus wrote two hundred chapters, adding nothing else to those, just keeping one mind and this sacred prayer of Jesus. Likewise in the Saints John Chrysostom, Ignatius, Photius and Callistus, former successors to the Patriarchate of the Throne of Constantinople, their entire books, each individual, expounding to the wisdom of this one short prayer and attention, as the speech of Saint Simeon, Archbishop of Selun, which he himself appended in his holy book up to six chapters, commanding spiritual and worldly people to act, like their breath, with their mind and lips this sacred prayer. Also Saint Nile the Faster, John Climacus, Philotheus the Sinai, Maximus the Confessor, Simeon the New Theologian, Nicetas Stiphatus, Diadochos, Peter of Damascus, Gregory the Sinai, Barsanuphius, Philemon, Isaac the Syrian, and to this day Nil Sora. All of these, and many more, have written many chapters about the sacred and intelligent work, having already seen this inconvenient depth, trying to show us its procession in the clearest way. There is no one who knows this, not only from the laity, but also from the monks themselves, which is conveniently comprehended, like external singing, which has already been discussed. Just as a ship standing at the breeze can be burdened and defecated by any person, and have no obstacles or bewilderment, except for single labor; When he is released into the sea burdened, then there is only one skilled pilot to steer him: this is what we mean by external singing and mental prayer to differentiate. It is fitting, holy fathers and brethren, to obey the teaching of so many Fathers of Saints, who teach about sacred mental work, and not, in the image of a donkey turning a stake, 37 trample the one-circular path of continued singing, not wanting to do right by the simple path of the kindest mental silence and prayer. The saints are so passionate about this sacred work, as they are commanded to pray for those who are ignorant of this intelligent light of the heart, enlightened by the name of Christ our God. No one will question the rest, leaving long singing, as if we are depriving the monastic rule. Just as those who believe in Christ fulfill the whole law, even if they abandon it, so those who exchange a lot of singing for sacred mental work fulfill their entire rule. And just as the law sent everyone to Christ, and this is what it wants: so also psalmody, teaching us in advance, gives attention to heartfelt attention and prayer, even if it itself is diminished, for this is what it wants. If anyone, ignorant of the skill of sacred mental work, and not wanting to learn this, invents many faults, desires to say or philosophize contrary to this preface, let him read the holy books recalled here, which have been set forth by the Most Holy Patriarchs, and the Reverend Fathers. Most of all, this real book of Saint Hesychius: and I believe in God, as it will calm my soul. Or, as if suffering from an incurable illness, he will turn his blasphemy against the Holy Fathers, who wrote this, and even more so, speaking against the Holy Spirit who spoke in them: it will not fall upon him either in this age or in the next, according to the word of the Lord. Amen. Having given, to the best of our ability, the answer to those who are sick with doubt, and confront them with their gums and their contradictions, you need to act on the unfinished, and accept the verb from the gospel, which says: Lord, did you not sow good seed? Where did the tares come from? There is no way that evil might not creep up on good, just as charm is woven into this sacred, intelligent work, like the spoken smilax 38 of a tree. This origin comes from opinion and self-indulgence, which is the medicine of humility, the test of Scripture, and spiritual advice, and not the skill of learning in smart work. Saint Gregory of Sinai said that we should not fear or doubt God, calling upon God: even if we have been seduced by harm in the past, understand that we have suffered from self-indulgence and arrogance. The guilt of arrogance, fasting unreasonable and immeasurable, which the fasting person imagines is correcting virtue, and not for chastity, said Saint Dorotheos, and solitary living also: and laying down the first guilt, this Saint said: for this reason, the royal path must always be kept silent: for it is convenient for the immeasurable in everything to follow the message, it is a delight for him преемница бывает. Cutting off the second, he says: for there are those who are strong and perfect in combating demons, and cut off the sword, which is the word of God, against them. The very image and work of delusion is the enemy’s participation in the lust of the inner loins, while the second is a ghost in the dreaming of the mind. And about the first one. Believing caution, the speech: even if the enemy transforms the spiritual inside of the natural loins, as if he wants, instead of spiritual warmth he induces his burning sensation, instead of joy. Bringing wordless joy and wet sweetness, and like acting grace, its charm compels one not to eat: but time, and skill, and feeling, is revealed to create this habitually. Concerning the second danger, he teaches by saying: But you, even if you are silent, will not receive anything, if you see something sensually, or intellectually, inside or outside, even the image of Christ, or Angels, or the Holy Spirit, or light, or fire, and so on. Here the stumbling man will again come to life, and, having rushed in, he will guiltily create the charms of clever deeds. They think that this is not mixed with external singing: in both cases, let it be true, for in everything, whether in singing or in prayer, this delight is equal to the lack of skill of the doers, as Saint John of the Climacus said: let us test, and look and measure, for what sweetness comes to us in singing from the prodigal demon, and what from spiritual and existential words в вас благодати и силы; and again: while singing and praying, watch for the sweetness that comes, so that it will not be dissolved by bitter medicine. Look at the rest, doesn’t the charm of those who sing equally concern those who study in prayer; but those who do not practice intelligently are in danger if they end the song rule; about evil thoughts and lustful lies 40 they do not have words of need: for this reason they do not recognize when the lustful part itself lies, and when it delights in the participation of the enemy, and below they know how to escape from them. But, as the scripture says: the army hears and accepts the wounds: who they are to attack, and for the sake of war they do, they do not recognize, even if on their back, and even more so, on their faces sinners commit iniquity. From here, having realized that it is not smart work that is responsible for delusion, but only our self-indulgence and arrogance, it is not proper for us to run away from this: it is not this delusion that inflicts on us, but even more so, the mental eye opens to the pursuit and knowledge of delusion, but no one can powerfully know about it forever, who is not trained in this sacred mental work, even if he becomes great fasting and silent. Understand that this good is also a doer, as if, when the warmth from the loins has been restored, about itself, except for the thoughts of the prodigal, it reaches the heart, not to be horrified about it, nor to be faint-hearted, but rather by the sole will and mind to avoid sowing, and, like an indecent thing, to send back. Otherwise, if anyone accepts this, or thinks there is grace, he will be deceived. The most charmless action of beginners in prayer is to begin mental prayer in the heart, and finish it in the heart, as if to cover the mind in the depths of the heart, and not the lustful part, in the speech of His Holiness Patriarch Callistus. Most of all, one must first understand that during the hour of prayer attention should not be placed on half of the heart, below from below the heart, but from above, let the mind guard the environment of the heart. This is the fault of this: I have learned beforehand that even if the mind acts in prayer from the middle of the heart, it simply looks at half the heart, then, although unwillingly, time touches the lustful warmth, as if it draws closer to the loins. Even if he recognizes this, he will turn away from it, otherwise it will take a lot of work and embarrassment to raise the inexperienced for the sake of his attention. From below the heart, if anyone dares to create attention, such a mind, reclining entirely on his loins, and from there in vain in the depths of the heart and acting in prayer, he creates adultery in his heart, inflaming his own desires with lustful lust and his good will, giving room to the enemy within himself, which is an obvious charm, which has many of the present time from having partaken of ignorance and suffered, the hedgehog suffered, jumped back and learned to do smart work, saying: as if this is the work of only passionless people. And so there was a stumbling block for ourselves and for everyone who wanted to begin this intelligent attention; It would be better for them to drown with a stone hanging around their necks, rather than to offend themselves and many workers. She had not yet confessed her foolishness and self-inflicted daring, but there were still teachers, saying that everyone who wants to learn intelligent attention will suffer in the same way: don’t do this. For this reason, everyone should overshadow the heart from above with the mind, and in vain in vain in its depths, act a prayer: that is, according to scripture, the environment of the heart, and not on the side of the chest, on which the mind sits, like a king on a high throne can move away from his loins and send back the lustful warmth, especially seeing from the height thereof all those who are lying before you below, to turn away some, to drive out others, and to kill others, who are the babies of Babylonia, on the stone that is Christ. Epilogue to the book of Blessed Father Nilus of Sorsky The holy fathers, who by the only commandments of Christ teach to curb passions and cleanse the heart from evil thoughts, these two instruct, like the strongest weapon, to have as a worker, this is the fear of God, and that is the memory of God, according to the saying: by the fear of the Lord everyone avoids evil; and: I have foreseen the Lord before me, but I will not move: I offer myself to anyone who has the memory of death and Gehenna, and also, reading the Holy Scriptures. All this is good for a kind and reverent husband: but for those who are insensible and petrified, even if Gehenna itself, or God himself opens himself sensually, will in no way instill fear in them. Moreover, the mind itself in new monks soon becomes dulled by such memories, and runs away from them, like a bee from the smoky incense. If the memory of such is good and useful in the hour of battle, then, in addition to this good, the most spiritual and skillful fathers have appeared and even greater and incomparable good, capable of helping even the weakest. And the first was the likeness and image, grinding the millstones with his own hands and strength; the second, grinding in the mill 41 with water and art: just as water itself moves a stake and a stone, so the sweet name of Jesus, with the memory of that God who exists, who lives all-full in Jesus, moves the mind into prayer, about which Hesychius, great in theology, signifies, says: the soul is blessed and delighted by Jesus, with a certain joy and love and with confession, He sends praise to the Benefactor, thanking and calling on Him with joy; and again: just as this life is not possible, without eating or drinking, it is impossible to live without storing the intelligent into something spiritual and pleasing to God to achieve the soul, or to be freed in the mind from sin, even if someone forces himself into fear for the sake of torment, without sinning. And one more thing: the thoughts that have entered the heart, we, who do not want and strengthen and stand, drive away the message of the Jesus Prayer from the depths of the heart. The great elder, our venerable father Nil, the hermit of Sorsky, has the same rite of teaching the sacrament in practice, and he compiled this little book, showing in it the beginning of smart work, the victory and victory of the invisible warriors and ours. The first way would be success, except for intellectual attention, but it is very inert and painful. The second is that the worker quickly and easily approaches God, says Gregory of Sinaite. There, there is one external prayer and teaching, and doing the commandments: here are both, external and internal preservation. Whenever a novice monk, after renouncing the world and the actions of great and mortal sins, makes a covenant before God to repent not only of small daily and forgivable sins, for which the Lord himself commanded to pray unceasingly, but also of the actions of those very passions and evil thoughts, and having entered into the heart with his mind, he will begin to call upon every army and every evil thought, gentlemen. Jesus; or, through his weakness, he will agree to the saw of the enemy, and, having acted contrary to the commandment of Christ, falls to the Lord with heartfelt prayer, repenting, contemplating himself, and in this, even until his death, he will remain, falling and rising, conquered and victorious, and asking for vengeance day and night from his rival: will not this have good hope and receive salvation? There are times when, as art teaches, there are falls (though not to death) for those who strive, either mental or sensory; like this: the verbal part, rage and lust, from the tripartite soul; or through the bodily senses, which is: seeing, hearing, speaking, tasting, touching and smelling. There is, as Saint Dorotheos said, act with passion, and there is resist passion. And the active passion, whenever it hears a single verb, is embarrassed, or says five verbs, or ten, against a single verb, and is at enmity and is confused, and always ceases from rebellion, and remains, thinking evil against the one who spoke the verb to him, and holding grudges, and saddened, as if he did not speak multiply, from their own speech, and prepares in himself even more fierce verbs, in the hedgehog say to him: and he always says: Why didn’t I tell him this, and the imam told him this, and he always gets angry. This is one dispensation, and this is the evil habit of doing evil: May God deliver us from such a dispensation! For such a dispensation is subject to all punishment. There is another, who, when he hears the verb, is embarrassed and says that five or ten verbs for one, and grieves, as the other three potters cannot speak, and grieves, and remembers evil, but does a few days, and is transformed; another creates a week in these, and is transformed; and the other creates one day and is changed; the other annoys, is at enmity, is embarrassed, confuses, and is rejected. There are so many differences in dispensations, and even under hell these things are all the more effective. Of these and of all others, it is a reality that a passionate person cannot be cleansed by the daily grace of Christ from imaginary small sins, and not unto death. Let us proceed to decide how such sins are forgivable for beginners and passionate ones. Saint Dorotheos said the same thing: when someone hears a verb, he grieves within himself, not because he accepted the annoyance, but because he did not endure it. This is the dispensation for those who strive, and those who resist passion. Another strives and toils, but the latter is overcome by the chill of passion. The other does not want to repay evil, but he admires the evil. The other struggles, not even saying that it is evil, but grieves because he accepts the annoyance; but he looks at himself as if he grieves, and repents about it. The other does not grieve because he accepts the annoyance, but instead rejoices. These are all resisting passions: by will, the passion is tired, and they do not want to act, but they also grieve and strive, but the fathers retorted, as every thing that the soul does not want, is of short duration. I tell you a parable, to whom it is like to act with passion and accept it: it is like a man shot by his enemy, and I receive arrows in my hand, and I put them in my heart: but resist passion, I am like one shot by his enemy, but wrapped in armor, and I do not accept the wound. Such a person, even if he is passionate, can, by the grace of Christ, receive forgiveness for such daily sins, not by suggestion, but involuntarily occurring, about which the Lord commanded Saint Peter, to forgive up to seventy times seven for every day. And St. Anastasius of Sinai affirms this, saying: we understand and reflect on those who receive the Holy Mysteries of the Body and Blood of the Lord, as if some sins are small and venial, such as: with the tongue, with the ear, or with the eye of stealth, or with vanity, or with sadness, or with rage, or with such things, blaspheming oneself and confessing God, and so they accept the Holy Mysteries, we believe, as in the cleansing of such sins the reception of the Holy Mysteries happens to them. Saint Pimen’s speech is similar: I want a person who has sinned and repents, rather than one who does not sin and does not repent, and so on. And having already spoken at the beginning about the skillful suppression of passions through mental prayer and commandments, the very action of the mental battle against the passions should already be revealed more openly. Does the enemy find any motive or passion or evil thought? the worker calls on Christ for this, and the devil perishes with his excuse. Whether you have fallen from weakness in thought, or in word, or in rage, or in carnal desire; prays to Christ, confessing to Him and repenting. Is he overwhelmed by despondency and sadness, oppressing his mind and heart; He comes to the memory of death and Gehenna, and that existing God, and, having worked a little with these, calls on Christ. Also, having found peace from the army, he again prays to Christ to be merciful to him about his sins, voluntary and involuntary: and simply in the hour of battle and spiritual peace he runs to Christ, and Christ appears to him in all his adventures, good and evil. And he is not driven by such an opinion, but rather corrects what he is praying for, or pleasing God: all his prayers come from the fear of torment, and from repentance for sins, have a beginning and an end: for one is the mind of external prayer, and another of this internal: he, singing in numbers, trusts in God, leaving this, condemns himself; this one, being struck by our conscience in the everyday sins that we are talking about, and enduring the invasion of the enemy’s excuses, constantly cries out to Christ, bearing in mind this saying: even if you step on the whole ladder of committing, pray for the remission of sins. And again: I want to speak five words with my mind rather than darkness with my tongue. And so, without any doubt, he fulfills the resistance spoken by Saint Dorotheus with passion: more negligible and greater than that, even this Saint, even to the point of grief, makes resistance to be, and decides in a parable: as if they are like those who are shot by the enemy, clothed in armor and not accepting the ulcer. The Holy One received this from the Prophet: behold, he said, he was grieved, and he departed from decrepit, and I will heal his ways. As Chrysostom said: even if you complain about your sins, you will receive great healing. Here there is not even a single point of sorrow, but also prayer, and contrition, and repentance, and a good offer for keeping the commandments, groaning and confession. Just as the prayer itself instructs those who are coming to sleep, saying: if I have sworn by your name, or have blasphemed my thoughts, or have reproached someone, or slandered someone with my anger, or have grieved, or been angry about something, and other memories of venial and involuntary sins that happen to those who are trained in smart work: many do not want to bring up their own honors to it, looking at the daily fall of sin, and thinking that everyone who studies in this sacred work should be clean from such things: it is not as if it appeared. Besides, if someone acts by the will of passion, and so every time passions and sins come to the stink in the stomach, and to death. The first one comes to humility from these, and is aware of his weakness, and repents; the second to bitterness and eternal destruction, from his daring. If anyone says that it is powerful, and in addition to smart work, to be cleansed from such sins, through the grace of Christ, by repentance: this is answered by the repetition of what is written here: give me, O such one, from one country the commandments of Christ, from the other the everlasting prayer that you may forgive us our debts. Give me a true sentence, not to transgress the only commandments, not to lust, not to be angry, not to condemn, not to slander, not to lie, not to speak idlely, to love enemies, to do good to those who hate, to pray for those who commit mischief: also to avoid lust, love of money, lustful thoughts, sadness, vanity and contempt, and simply all sins and evil thoughts. And with such a proposal, begin to learn how to do smart work, and pay attention diligently, how many more days through your proposal you have broken the commandments, and how many sins, passions and evil thoughts have wounded you. Be jealous of this widow, who sits with the judge day and night, and begin to cry out to Christ at every hour, for every commandment you have broken, and for every passion and evil thought, even if you have been overcome by them. Heed the holy scripture of the counselor of goodness: and having stagnated time in the sitsev, come and teach me what you see in your soul. Is it possible that even without recognizing the impossible existence of a thing, it is impossible to accommodate the face’s attention in external prayer, except for a single mental activity? This teaches its steward such sacraments, and informs his soul that he does not destroy his rule, abandoning much psalmody, canons and troparia, and directing all his diligence to mental prayer, but most of all multiplies this. Just as the law has the power and desire to bring everyone to Christ, even if the thought of this diminishes: so much singing sends the doer to mental prayer, and does not extend to the entire monastic life; and the very skill of this teaches, when one prays oneself, one recognizes that there is a certain barrier between us and God, like a copper wall according to the Prophet, which does not allow our mind to look clearly in prayer to God, to listen lower to the heart, in which all the strength of the soul is contained, and the source of words, good and evil. And yet this holy book teaches the great danger of those who want to remain silent, and reveals the guilt of delusion: for this reason, sending the reader there, with one word. The Holy Fathers divide all monastic life into three ranks: first society; the second is called the royal way or the middle way, which means living in two or three, the common acquisition of the needy, common food and clothing, common labor and handicrafts and every kind of industry for life: over all this, cutting off their own will, obey each other, in the passion of God and love. The third is solitary retreat, which is the work of perfect and holy men. Nowadays, the netsy, not heeding the powers of the Holy Scripture, have invented for themselves, not of their own free will, not according to the tradition of the Holy Fathers, the fourth rite, or life: everyone builds cells wherever he wants, either far away or nearby, they live in solitude, everyone preferring their own will, and pursuing acquisition with care, and so on: and but to such their rank and life they are likened to a hermit, according to the renunciation of the Holy Fathers and the terrible prohibition of all those who are sick with spiritual passions and who dare to fight alone as a hermit with demons, like the essence of an autocrat and a self-student: for having invented life for themselves, they themselves stumble in it, unable to live peacefully and constantly on it, as if not according to their measure and spin. Anyone who looks closely at the laborious book of St. Gregory of Sinaite will find there nothing more than what can be called self-indulgence and single combat, as if a solitary and unsociable life. Most importantly, the writer of the life of this Saint shows that not a single one of his disciples was allowed to live in his own cell, either nearby or far away. But in three laurels and two feasts 42 a multitude of monks, old and young, gathered together and gave them the rite of cutting off their will and obedience. He taught them all about smart work, saying: teach others not everyone to eat, but those who are rude and not bookish, those who are novices; Having listened to all the virtues, have the sacrament, for the sake of humility; It is not given to the disobedient, lest they be deceived, either by being rude or by being reasonable. The self-inflicted person cannot avoid the crime, and so on. And this blessed old man Nil himself, having spoken many and terrible words about those who want to live in solitude, who are passionate, who have wasted, and highly praised the royal path, speaks of the order and charter of this life in the Holy Mount Athos, where to this day the most ancient and new construction of cells, like a living image, shows everyone the royal path. There are more cells, even with a church, or besides a church, all of them have space for two or three, and not for one. If only there were a royal path, whether everyone could live near or far away; What is the need or need for two or three memories? According to this opinion, either two or three, or there will be a plurality, everything is one and identical, everyone has their own will and reason with them. And this life is the image and description of this young brother, who moved alone into the cell, answering those who asked: behold, I have already gone away; The fathers brought him from his cell and ordered everyone to go around and ask, saying: forgive me, fathers, for I am not a hermit. Therefore, the elders decided: if you see a young man ascending to heaven, eat by the nose, rapture him to earth. But what is the word of such: let me not become angry, I say, and I will not be angry with my brother, but I will shy away from idle talk and condemnation, living alone. Don’t you think, friend, that this, even as you say, and the like, humble and shame a person, and do not elevate, as the fathers decided that it is good for youth to fall, but vanity, and opinion, and wickedness, and the like, they have and pompous? For this reason, it is better to eat, while living with a brother, to recognize one’s weakness and measure, and, contemplating oneself for this, to pray repentantly before the Lord, and to be cleansed by the daily grace of Christ, as we have already spoken about this, rather than carrying vanity and opinion with wickedness inside, covering and nourishing it with a solitary life, for the sake of which there is not a trace of solitary silence see, says the Climacus, with all the great FATHERS. And this very solitary life does no little harm to the habit of pretending to be passionate: silence, as the Great Barsanuphius said, brings the guilt of arrogance. If silence leads the weak to arrogance, yet the very passions of the soul force him to this: what hope is there to dare such a single combat, and not obey the teachings of the Holy Fathers, even in two or three. To remain silent on the royal journey? If anyone with strong faith binds his thoughts and will to the advice of his brother, such a one truly comprehends, in addition to work, the commandment of the Lord, not to worry about your soul, what you eat or what you drink, nor about your body, what you put on. And the doing of such, and sitting, and going out, with the advice and will of the brothers, according to the one necessary consumption of their life, will escape the oppression of the enemy and the insolence of the enemy, twisting and shaking every autocrat, like wheat in a sieve. This very communal life, by the sole commandments of Christ, gives the monk zeal for every work, and Satan resists him, self-love and passion cannot be contained here, even though they force themselves and accept arson by the enemy, who move from business to business and from care to care to every passionate person who lives for himself alone. And a truly terrible miracle has been seen on such people in modern times: having left their solitude, having communicated with the brethren, who do not have yours or mine, the hedgehog is called by the Father pekul 43 of the evil one: knowing them that they did first of their own will and for their own acquisition, handicrafts in number every day, many and not in lot, having assigned them for every week that exactly the number of things to do, which they do for themselves every day; They despondently decided: this is painful for them; Whenever they are allowed to do even more, this will not be possible; By reproaching those who are tormented, they answer that what they do on themselves gives them some kind of zeal and jealousy, but instead of this, grumbling and laziness grow. The rest is truly said, as if everyone living sociably in two or three is liberated by the very coexistence of pride and passion, and must strive for every task according to the same commandments of Christ. In addition to such teaching and faith, a slave or a hired hand is deprived of his reward, imputed to be, and to pass through a non-living life. Just as the only weak and passionate person is driven by arson and compulsion to do any outward work through self-love and partiality: so also the sociable one commandments, or Christ, move zeal to do what happens in their life. For this reason, it is necessary and necessary for us, who are passionate, holding on to the royal path, to remain silent in two or three ways: as if we will run away from delusions, we will not be enslaved to self-love and passion, and we will get rid of self-inflicted vice: instead of all of these, we will find a convenient path and an open door to doing the commandments of Christ and learning intelligent sacred rites. But let no one wish for solitude and the desert, as Saint Cassian said, but let him go, perfect and purified from all passion, and let him wholly in the assembly of those who live in common with others boil down all his untruths and oshumov 44: this one can go to it: and this is not out of cowardice, or flowing away from zeal, but may he acquire the Divine vision, desiring a perfect and bright vision of the Lord God: this is precisely what can be achieved in solitude. Passions that are not healed, even if a monk takes him with him into the desert, are covered, but will remain in him, and not destroyed. The desert precisely informs the corrected custom of opening the entrance to cheerful vision for those who have it, and fulfilling visions of bright spiritual sacraments; all of them, who are uncorrected in their customs, harbor malice in the desert; not exactly this, but the most cruel pretending, or multiplying it more, and until then the monk thinks of having patience, until no one comes to his company. Whenever he accepts this guilt, he returns to his first custom: then secret passions utter, and like horses, unbridled and fattened by standing for a long time, they will quickly carry their rider into trouble. Even if the teaching of the brotherhood and the punishment are rejected by us, marvelous branches of malice will vegetate in us unless they are cleansed: and this wall of patience, which lives in common with battle, a guard for the sake of their honor, a guard for the sake of shame and temptation, the guardian provided to us, through negligence perishes from us. Just as every poisonous or fierce asp hides and covers himself in a cave and nest of the desert, isn’t he also cruel and harmful? However, during this time it does not harm, and does not know its own measure, whether it is kind or evil; as if there is something to come to remorse: and this is not due to the good dissolution of the asp, but the deserted and inhuman place does not allow him to do evil: when he finds time for harm, hidden poison and bitter cruelty pours out from himself. Likewise, those who seek fulfillment in the desert should not be angry at people, just not to be angry: remembering this, as when they were alive in the desert, and at the reed, which was thick or thin for work, and also at the cut, which was blunt and did not cut the cattails, and also at the flint, when it was always accelerating to the cathedral singing, and not a spark. expelling fire, we were bitterly angry, as if, for this reason, we were embarrassed by the thought of cursing not only the dumb creation, but also the demon himself. Moreover, this is not sufficient to achieve accomplishment, unless you live with a person, and it is on them that anger is fulfilled. Even if we don’t first acquire patience in ourselves, we are moved to anger towards soulless and dumb things, small things for the sake of guilt. For the Holy Climacus says: he who is ill with spiritual passion, and begins to remain silent, is like one who has jumped from a ship into the abyss, and imagines himself coming safely to earth. The little ones are still struggling with feces, and at this time silence comes, even if they have an instructive one: solitude, for it requires angelic strength, and again, silence, for it crushes the inexperienced. In three valiant dispensations, all monastic life will be sustained: in painful departure and unity; either with one or two in silence; or in general life you patiently turn gray. Do not turn away, says the cathedral, to the right hand or to the left, but the royal path. The average of those prophesied will not be useful to many: but for one, woe, if he falls into sleep, or laziness, or despair, there is no way to raise him up among men; And where there are two or three congregations about My name, I am in the midst of them, says the Lord. It is not so that a monk is like a monk to a monk: this is, it is not so that a solitary person is saved from stumbling, as if he had another monk with him. I heard the graying men in silence, like hawks in a cage, boiling within themselves from grief and rage, and on the face of the saddened being who was galloping; Therefore, I am not an individual who gives pious advice, lest the demons come from people. These writings from the Holy Fathers are little remembered here, solely for the sake of the undoubted testimony of the royal unfallen path, about which the ancient and recent Fathers write, pleasingly in two or three lives. Having assumed that some people should not live communally, but live individually close or far away in their cells, and come together in time for advice, this is the middle and royal path: but there is no such thing, there is no. Any unsociable sitting, whether there are cells nearby or far away, is the measure of this middle path, but solitary living and combat with demons: this was the case at the monastery of St. Gerasimos on the Jordan, and in such living, in ancient times and now, many passionate and weak people have been harmed. For this reason, they command the saints to live communally in two or three, so that by obeying each other in the passion of God, we recognize our weakness. Whenever two people dream of living communally, they will make a covenant for themselves to begin spiritual or physical work according to their own strength and need, and not excessively or untimely, especially according to the reasoning of the scriptures of the Holy Fathers; I also thought alone about some matter or outcome, and spoke to my brother about this, but having considered the thing, whether it was timeless, or not out of need, he would not deign to do it; The brother again, seeing his good reasoning, and without forming his own thoughts and minds, will obey his advice, as if I have evidence from Scripture: will it not be a renunciation of his will and spiritual advice? And again: when he considers, as if according to need, and during such a speech, his brother, and agrees with his reason and will: did not the second renounce his will, and obey his brother’s advice? And so in every undertaking and undertaking, whether this one or another, by renouncing their will, giving good notice to a brotherly undertaking, or accepting this from a brother, they become accustomed to a good and undefeated life, having a proposal and firm faith, a great gain for their soul, as long as someone counts his will before his brother in all sorts of things, trouble is not seen in them. spiritual and transgression of the commandments of Christ. And if, in order to justify it, the inquisitive creeps out of its lack of understanding: and this, believing the fall of the soul of its being, turns to God and brother with repentance, receives forgiveness by the daily grace of Christ, as a person has fallen and rises, doubting nothing. And behold, there is a royal path, not falling, and not he, a hedgehog of life. Also, this blessed old man Nil, announcing the average measure of food and drink, accepts from the words of St. Gregory of Sinaite: as everyone who wants to find God should partake of all sweets with abstinence. This sweet thing is perplexing to many, whether it is seeds and vegetables, or oil and fish: otherwise it seems that this word is about seeds and potions, or vegetables and honey; This is lean and dry food, and has never been eaten by anyone, but everything about fish and oil and wine is acceptable. This bewilderment can be resolved from the words of Saint Iraklid the Bishop, who says: with reason, the one who partakes of the sacrament, and with reason, withdrawing from these, does not sin in any way: for the righteous, as he said, the law does not lie. It is easier to drink wine with reason than to drink water with contempt. And see with a pious mind the wine-drinking men of the holy past, and those who drink water without words with pride, the foul and corrupt people. And do not reproach or praise anyone for eating and drinking, but please or reproach the mind of those who accept it for good or evil. The Jews sometimes blaspheme the Lord, the Apostles, saying: Why don’t your disciples fast like John’s? And again I attacked the disciples and reproached them with the words: your teacher eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners. The Savior answered them: John came in the way of righteousness, neither eating nor drinking (I say, meat and wine; for it is impossible to live except for others), and they say: I have a demon: and the son of man came, eating and drinking, and they say: Behold, a man of food and drink of wine, a friend of a publican and a sinner. So what are we going to do? Let us follow below those who reproach, and below those who praise. Do we fast wisely with John, even if they say, “I have a demon,” or with Jesus, we drink wine in moderation, even if they say, “These men are poisonous and wine-drinkers?” Yes, we know that below food is what truly is, below drink, but faith, love and deeds are extended. When every action is followed by faith, there is no condemnation for eating poison or drink for the sake of faith: everything that is not from faith is sin. Moreover, let no one say from those who love pleasure, or from those who sin in any way: by faith I partake of food; or otherwise, acting out of a wordless desire, or a corrupted conscience, but not pretending to hide behind faith. I saved the commandment from those fruits to know: the fruit of those who live by the Divine word, both in spirit and in mind, is love, peace, long-suffering, meekness and self-control. The rest is for the healthy flesh to avoid fattening foods, for the infirm, or sick, or sad, or to the situation that is in need of giving then food and drink, the essence of which is as a healing drink as a medicine for the sad. Let everyone retreat from those who harm the soul: anger, I say, envy, vanity, slander and opinion. Obviously there is, as according to John’s life of the angels, there is a potion, and a vegetable, and dry bread, and water, there is dry food; according to Christ's Divine life, seeds, oil, fish, and wine, food is sweet: thus Christ did not shamefully before suffering, just as after His rise, He took communion. These sweet meals are clearly shown in the lives of the venerable Father Simeon the Fool for Fool, and John his brother: both of them brought food from the Angel, light bread, fish and wine, eating and drinking with a certain Christ-lover who visited them in the desert. For this reason, St. Gregory of Sinai also calls such food sweet to be, and they partake of it in time and with reason for the glory of God: friends therefore, sinning in the right mind, accept this for permission and lust; Drinking with prohibition leads to the achievement of perfection. What if, in the midst of the lives of John and Christ, there is no resistance; In both cases, the fathers, in their judgment, not only because of our physical weakness, but also because of our spiritual weakness, teach Christ to imitate God’s life, and not John’s equal-angelic one. Just as passions, according to Climacus, humble us, but they elevate us: so too do virtues know how to humble and lift up the weak. He suffers from the passion of opinion and wickedness, but he also suffers from fornication and lust for luxury: and for the first, the immeasurable fast is poured oil on the fire, and for the second, the solution is to warm the serpent in the depths. This is how you heal, measure and judicious consumption of foodstuffs, as the great Basil said: it is against anyone who is fasting to take food in moderation; Not exactly this, but he also corrected his constant lack of eating by prudent diligence about the body. And let the zealot be filled with no reproach about this, as Saint Cassian said: for immeasurable fasting, or permission even for beatings, are from the devil, since immeasurable and unreasonable abstinence brings more harm than eating to the point of satiety. Our Holy Fathers, scolding us not into the pit, but rather moving away from the pit, command us to drive us to the middle path, and not to the high untimely mother-in-law. And they themselves, having passed a supernatural life, differences and we are all unaware of the minds of the acquisitive, in whose image we were striving for high fasting and labors: and from them I will oppress my flesh with suffering, for the one love of Christ, imitating the suffering that was free for us for the sake of: Yakom was the elder of the great Pachomius, who never tasted boiled meat or meat, neither wine, saying: For Christ's sake, crucify yourself and taste the gall: then do I want to take oil and wine into my mouth? Others, for the sake of their sins, suffered immeasurable fasting and labor: like Mary of Egypt, and Paphnutia, and others like them. I fasted for the sake of great chastity and dispassion. Netsy, born according to the promise, and from the womb of the mother was sanctified by God, endured supernatural labors and fasting: like the great wonderworker Nicholas, Theodore Sikeot, and others like that. Having touched the heavenly fire, their souls were inflamed for unspeakable labors and fasting, as if they could not feel these: for example, Simeon the Divnogorets, and all the holy martyrs. In others, there is only one feeling that touched the heart with the memory of Gehenna or the terrible judgment of Christ, so much so that it is not only that they do not feel sickness and labor, but that they also forget themselves: like an old man he is, like mortals who are numb from the feeling of memory, falling like dead, and many frosts. All of these, in reason and good intention, by the grace of Christ, have accomplished high virtues and fasting, not knowing for themselves what kind of virtue they are passing through: but with one mind, each of them carries a spiritual feeling, committing to themselves every good deed: not fasting, for the virtue of being is imputed below other labors, but one thing that you naturally set for yourself I preferred Christ, as we were created. They are not servile and unreasonable, and not exactly having in themselves a single feeling, more than declaring a gift from the foretold, but less cognizing when such, jealous of the fasting and labors of the saints, not with good reason and proposal, imputing this, as virtue passes. The devil, crouching like a dog to catch, plunges into their belly the seed of a joyful opinion, from which the inner Pharisee will be educated, and so, day by day, destroying 45 he betrays such to perfect pride, for the sake of which they are allowed by God to the realm of Satan. For although Paul and Peter and others like them are holy and amazing men; both are people; In the same place, the Saints themselves require great caution, so as not to have any inclination towards arrogance. Nothing so conveniently induces pride as a conscience that is aware of its many merits, and a soul that lives in hope of it. She preferred the thing of food and drink to unreasonableness, and rejected the reason of those who hesitate or accept this good or evil. It is good, truly and prudently, to give us the Holy path of the king, declaring this to be unfallen: who, cohabiting with a brother in silence, would be such as to pray to God to reveal to him, which virtue has not yet been corrected? Are they not all like this, looking at the height and fulfillment of the commandments of Christ, seeing themselves insufficient, even if they were holy and fulfilled? If, as the Theologian said, we deceive ourselves by saying that we do not sin; and again the great Paul: I am pleased, he said, in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. There are many solitudes of the hermit and in blindness he created this, with simplicity and not a cunning mind and disposition, but with a clear opinion: and for this reason the Lord, raising them to humility, sent them to virtuous men living in the cities: like this ambassador grazing with buffaloes to the abbot, commanding him put him in charge of grazing pigs, and the other one surrendered to communal obedience, which he was unable to endure, recognizing his weakness and praying to be released back into the desert; the new ones, who are incurably ill, are worse than Satan. Other good speech of Ladder, as if it catches the solitary silence of the inexperienced. And the Great Barsanuphius: silence, speech, guilt brings arrogance, and so on. And no one will be surprised at this, since everyone who fasts, rushes and vigils, sings psalmody and lies on the ground, and something similar to this, even if he thinks that he is correcting virtues, for this reason he sins in offering to God: if anyone thinks that he is doing good, from those who have, and those who are crying, he thinks that he is doing good, and especially he is towering over the have-nots. tears, labors vainly, says Climacus. Question: And how, someone says, when someone does such a powerful thing, does he not think that he is doing something good? Answer: For this reason, and for the sake of what was said above, we do not exactly have right reason and spiritual feeling in us, but below we recognize it in a word, and we seek solitude and the high correction of the Holy Fathers. There is, truly there is such a twisted and firm thought, as if not to look precisely, but below to think about the virtue of being any correction, as if there is little talk about this. If this were not so, how powerful would it be for the Saints to have for themselves under all creation, or, as someone approaches God, only to see himself sinful, and so on? And behold, there is a difficult alphabet, the hedgehog of who knows how to spin his own and the measure with what reason and proposal he wants to practice virtues. Otherwise, even if from the grace of God there is a certain feeling or thought of humility as an intercessor; On the other hand, there is a natural movement or thought in everyone, inclining towards humility, or vanity, towards the fear of God, or boldness: this is the dissolution of the gift to the gums, or to the ears. If someone says that everything that is calico is postizable in small things; To this the Holy Fathers answer, let him adhere to the royal path, the middle and unfallen one, even if there is a sociable silence in two or three. In abundance, the enemy gives zeal for the great fasting and labors of the saints, as Saint Isaac said: for solitary silence and silence, as if from here he would catch those who listen to his advice. Saint Cassian said the same thing about these words: mortification, speech, flesh and meaning, abstinence should not be more than natural strength and a gift from God, which the Lord granted to many famous Saints for feat and great acuity, through a special inspiration he attracted them. If you don’t have those divine powers, you don’t want the Saints to inherit the labors of sharp and unusual mortifications, but examine them carefully and be amazed, and humble yourself, according to the saying of the Holy Climacus about the poor: for this, he says, the royal treasures see, they recognize their wretchedness in many ways: so the soul, having read the great virtues of the fathers, everyone performs his wisdom most humbly. Saint Justin says: heavenly grace reaches everyone, but in unequal measure: the Lord wants to save everyone, but not to consecrate them. Moreover, from here, do not imagine that you are disadvantaged, since you cannot live in your flesh, like the Holy One, keenly and dynamically: for you too can complete it with warm lust and diligence in inner work with humility, and thereby please God. The porphyry-bearing prophet did not say: alkah, or vigil, or lay on the ground, but I humbled myself, and the Lord soon saved me. And again Saint Cassian said: with every diligence we will seek the gift of reasoning, so that we can preserve this strength. For the source is an abyss, but for reason there is humility: I do not exist in the light, everything is gloomy, and I do not exist in humility, all of ours is vanity. How can we acquire this? Hear what the Lord said: without Me you cannot do wicked things. Let us therefore pray to the Lord earnestly, that He may grant us, in all our deeds, to have humility, which comes from faith and the fear of God, and to practice meekness and perfect non-covetousness, through which perfect love is corrected, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ. To him be glory forever. Amen. In other lists it reads: teric bread with an explanation: that is, made from bran. No wonder that from the Greek word: πίτυρχ - bran, it came out: tyric, or teric (instead of: five-fold). Note Search Hard work for the landowner Ivy-like plant Pe kul (Little Russian word meaning: care), here: care that occurs at the instigation of the evil one. To sound means: to remove foam.