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Story one

The beginning of my wanderings and the search for uninterrupted prayer

By the grace of God I am a Christian, a great sinner in earthly matters, a wandering vagabond of the lowest rank, constantly on the move. My belongings are as follows: a bag of bread on my back, and a copy of the Holy Bible in my pocket. That is all. On the twenty-fourth weekday after Trinity Day I came to church for lunch to pray. The Apostle was reading from his Epistle to the Corinthians, from chapter 273, where it says: continue in prayer. This expression particularly caught my mind, and I began to think how one could pray uninterruptedly, when every person needs to engage in other activities to maintain his or her life? I searched the Bible, and there I was able to see with my own eyes what I had heard – that one has to pray without interruption, pray at all times with a spirit and wear prayerful hands at every place. I thought, I thought, and I did not know how to decide.

But I thought: What should I do, think to myself, where will I find someone to explain it to me? I’ll walk around the churches where good preachers are famous, maybe I can hear something to my liking. And I went. I heard many good sermons about prayer. But they were all about prayer in general; what prayer is; how to pray; what the fruit of prayer is; and nobody told me how to succeed in prayer. I heard sermons about prayer of the spirit and continuous prayer; but they never told me how to achieve such a prayer. So listening to sermons did not bring me what I wanted. Why, after listening to them and not understanding, did I no longer listen to public sermons, and, with God’s help, made the effort to search for an experienced and knowledgeable interlocutor to explain to me the doctrine of continuous prayer, following my unrelenting desire to know this?

I love my father! – I said.

How then can you be saved? Live by the commandments, and pray to God, and you will be saved!

I hear that it is necessary to pray constantly, but I do not know how to pray constantly, and I do not even understand what persistent prayer means. Please, my father, explain it to me.

I do not know, dear brother, how to explain it to you. Ah! I have a book, it is explained there; and Elder Dmitry gives a spiritual instruction for the inner man. Read on this page.

I began to read what followed: “The Apostolic sayings: pray constantly – we must understand that prayer with understanding is constant: the mind can always be fixed on God and constantly pray to him.”

Explain to me how the mind can always be fixed on God, not be distracted, and pray constantly.

This is very strange – only those to whom God Himself grants it can do it, the abbot said. And he did not explain it.

Having rested at his place, and thanking him for his kind reception, I continued my journey, not knowing where I was going. I was distressed at my lack of understanding, but for comfort I read the Holy Bible. I walked for several days on the main road; finally, at dusk, an old man met me, who looked like a monk from the desert. After a while I recognized him as an old friend of mine.

At my question, he said that he was a hermit from the desert, located about 10 miles away from the main road, and invited me to go with him to their desert. In our monastery, he said, travelers are welcome, comforted and fed along with the seminarians at the hostel.

I did not really want to go, and when he asked me to come along, I replied: “My peace depends not on a room, but on spiritual persuasion; I am not after food, I have plenty of biscuits in my bag.”

So, of what order are you looking for instruction and what are you puzzled about? Come, come, my brother, come with us; we have experienced elders who can give spiritual advice and guide you on the right path, with the light of God’s word and the reasoning of the Holy Fathers.

Here you see, Father, that about a year ago, when I was near lunch, I heard in the Apos­tle this command: “Continue praying.” Not being able to understand this, I began to read the Bible. And there, too, in many places, I found the command of God to pray continuously, always, at any time, in any place, not only during all activities: not only in waking hours, but even in sleep. “I sleep, but my heart watches.” This puzzled me greatly, and I could not understand how this could be done and what methods were to be used; a strong desire and curiosity arose within me; and day and night, my mind could not figure it out. That is why I began to go to churches, to listen to sermons on prayer; but no matter how many I listened to, I received no instruction on how to pray continuously, nor did I learn what such prayer means. I often read the Bible and checked what I had heard, but I did not find the desired knowledge. And so I remained in wonder and confusion.Saint Isaac of Ninevah says:

A saint crossed himself and began to speak: “Thank God, dear brother, for this discovery. In you there is an irrepressible tendency toward the knowledge of uninterrupted inner prayer. Know in this calling God, and be calm, assured that up to this point you have been tested for the conformity of your will to the voice of God, and it was understood that not through the wisdom of this world, nor through the curiosity of the outer world, can one attain the heavenly light of uninterrupted inner prayer, but, on the contrary, by the simplicity of the heart. Therefore, it is not surprising that you could not hear about the essential matter of prayer, nor could you learn the science of how to achieve uninterrupted action of this. In truth, though many preach about prayer, and there are many different treatises on it by various writers, yet since all their reasoning is mostly based on intellectuality, on the cogitations of natural reason, and not on active experience, they rather teach about the belonging of prayer than about its essence. One perfectly rationalizes about the necessity of prayer; another speaks about its power and goodness; a third about the means to perfection of prayer, that is, about the fact that for prayer a certain diligence, attention, warmth of heart, purity of thought, reconciliation with enemies, humility, sorrow, etc. are necessary. And what is prayer? and how can one learn to pray? – these, although the first and most necessary questions, are very rarely explained in detail by the preachers of our time; hence they are the more difficult to understand from all the above-mentioned considerations and require a mysterious guidance, not just school-based scholarship. And what a pity that trivial empiric wisdom forces us to measure God by the human scale! Many people think completely distortedly about the matter of prayer, thinking that preparatory means and exercises create prayer, and not prayer that gives rise to exercises and all the virtues. In this case, they mistakenly regard the fruits or consequences of prayer as means or methods for attaining it, thereby degrading the power of prayer. And this is quite unpleasant to Sacred Scripture: for the Apostle Paul gives the instruction about prayer in the following words: “Above all else I pray, that I may be able to speak words of prayer” (Abiding in Prayer). – Here is the first teaching of the Apostle’s mention of prayer: that he sets the matter of prayer first. Many good works are required of a Christian, but the matter of prayer should come first, for without prayer no other work of goodness can take place. One cannot find a way to the Lord, understand the truth, rid the flesh of its passions and lusts, be enlightened in the heart by the light of Christ, and be salutably joined with Him without prior, frequent prayer. I speak of frequent prayer, for both its perfection and correctness are left to our opportunity, as the Apostle Paul says: “We are to pray at all times, how we ought to pray” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Therefore, only frequency and regularity remain to our opportunity as a means for achieving the purity of prayer which is the mother of every spiritual good. Take the mother, and she will give you children, says the holy Father John of Damascus, learn to acquire the first prayer, and you will be able to perform all the virtues in a convenient manner. And this is unclear to those who are not familiar with practice and who know little of the secret teachings of the holy fathers.

In this conversation, we have deliberately approached very close to the desert. In order not to miss this wise old man, but rather to obtain approval of my wish, I hastened to tell him: please, honest father, explain to me what continuous interior prayer means, and how to learn it: I see that you know this in detail and with experience. The old man accepted my request with love and called me to himself: come to me now, I will give you the book of the Holy Fathers, from which you can clearly and thoroughly understand and learn prayer through the help of God. We entered the cell, and the old man began to say the following: continuous interior Jesus prayer is a continual, never-ending, invocation of the Divine name of Jesus Christ with the mouth, mind, and heart, with the image of His ever-present presence, as well as His plea for mercy, in all activities and at every employment. It is expressed in these words: Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me. And if anyone becomes accustomed to this invocation, he will experience great joy, and will feel the need to always perform this prayer so that without prayer he cannot exist, and it will flow out of him by itself. Now, do you understand what non-stop prayer is? Very well, my father! Teach me, for the sake of God, how to achieve it! I shouted with joy.Now listen — I will read how to learn continuous interior prayer. – The elder opened The Love of God, found the lessons of St. Symeon the New Theologian, and began: “Sit silently and alone, lower your head, close your eyes; breathe more quietly, gaze with the imagination inside your heart, bring your reason, that is, your thought, from your head to your heart. As you breathe, say: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me. Cast away thoughts, have patient patience, and repeat this exercise more often.’

Then the elder explained all this to me, showed me an example, and we also read The Love of God, and St. Gregory of Sinai Calistus and Ignatius. Everything we read in The Love of God the elder explained to me, and also explained it in his own words. I listened with delight, absorbed everything, and tried to memorize as much as possible. So we sat up all night and, without sleeping, went to Mass.

        The elder, releasing me, blessed me and told me to go to him with sincere confession and revelation, because without his guidance it is inconvenient and unsatisfactory to try to work alone on interior spiritual exercises.

        Standing in church, I felt a burning desire to learn interior unceasing prayer and I prayed to God for help. Then I thought about how I would go to the elder for advice or for a revelation of the Spirit, because at the inn more than three days I would not be allowed to stay, and there are no apartments near the desert? Luckily, I found a suitable place. I rented it for the whole summer to keep the garden for one man and stayed in that garden alone. Thank God! – God showed me a quiet place. And so I began to live and study, according to the method given to me, interior prayer, and to go to the elder.

        For a week I diligently studied by myself on the farm the interior teaching of prayer, exactly as the elder had explained to me. At first things seemed to be going well. Then I felt a great burden, a sense of ennui, sleep overcoming me, and all kinds of thoughts surged upon me. With bitterness, I went to the elder to tell him my situation. He, kindly meeting me, began to say: “This, beloved brother, is a battle of the dark world against you, in which nothing scares it more than heartfelt prayer, and so it tries hard to interfere with you and divert you from prayer. But the enemy also acts not otherwise than by the will of God and blessing, that much is necessary for us. Apparently you also need a test until humility; and therefore it is still too early to set about the higher inner pathway with too much zeal, lest you fall into spiritual selfishness.”

Here I will read you about this case of instruction from the Book of Loving Kindness. The elder found the teaching of Elder Nicholas the Monk, and began to read: “If after working a little, you are unable to enter the country of the heart as you have been instructed, then do what I tell you, and with God’s help you will find what you are looking for. You know that the faculty of speech is in every person in the throat. If you wish) and let it speak continuously this: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!”I followed the instructions of the holy father, and on the first day I barely had time to finish my twelve-thousand rule by late evening. On the second day I did it easily and with pleasure. At first, I felt fatigue or as if my tongue was paralyzed and my jaw stiff, but these sensations were pleasant. Then I experienced a slight pain in the back of my mouth, and then I felt a slight pain in the little finger of my left hand, which I used to trace the letters, and this produced a pleasant sensation. At the same time, all this seemed to stimulate and compel me to pray even more strenuously. Thus, for five days I faithfully prayed twelve thousand times, and with the habit I gained came pleasantness and enjoyment.

            Then he went to the old man for revelations and told him in detail. He listened, then began to say: Glory be to God for the revelation of your passion and ease of prayer! This is a natural thing that comes from frequent exercise and asceticism, similar to a machine in which a push or a force is given to the main wheel that keeps moving by itself; in order to keep it moving, this wheel needs to be oiled and pushed. Do you see how wonderful abilities God has granted the human nature, which can be felt even apart from grace and not in purified sensibility and in a sinful soul, as you yourself have already experienced? And how wonderful, how wonderful and enjoyable it is when the Lord graciously opens the gift of spontaneous spiritual prayer and purifies the soul from passions! This state cannot be imagined, and the revelation of this prayerful mystery is a foretaste of the sweetness of the heavenly earth. This will please those whose hearts are simple and love-seeking the Lord! Now I allow you: pray as much as you wish, as much as possible, try to devote all your time to prayer, and without hesitation, call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, humbly surrendering yourself to the will of God and expecting His help: I believe that He will not abandon you and will guide your path.

            Having accepted this instruction, I spent the whole summer in continuous prayer, and I had great peace. In my dreams, I often dreamed that I was creating a prayer. And on the day when I happened to meet someone, I thought of everyone as if they were relatives, even though I did not talk to them. My thoughts completely ceased, and I did not think about anything except prayer, to which my mind began to incline, and my heart spontaneously began to feel warmth and some joy. When I happened to go to church, the long empty service seemed short and was no longer tiring for the body, as it had been before. My own chapel seemed to me a wonderful temple, and I did not know how to thank God for sending such a salvation to such an unrepentant sinner and for his guide and mentor.

The death of the old man and the beginning of an independent path

            But I did not enjoy the instruction of my loving and wise old man for long, at the end of the summer he died. I, with tears, took leave of him, thanked him for his paternal teaching to me, a wretch, and asked for his prayer beads after him as a blessing. So I was left alone. Now the summer was past and the town was cleared. I had nowhere to live. The man paid me my wages, gave me two kulaks for security, and put a sack of flour on my way, and I went wandering again to different places; but I no longer walked as I did before, in need; the call of the name of Jesus Christ was joyful to me on the road, and all people became better to me, it seemed to me that everyone loved me.

Once I began to think about where I should spend the money I had received for preserving the city and what I would do with it. E! fix! The elder is no longer here, and there is no one to teach; I will buy myself the Book of Love, and I will study inner prayer based on it. I crossed myself and started my journey with prayer. I reached a provincial city and began to ask for the Book of Love; I found it in one place, but it cost three kopecks, and I only have two; I bargained and bargained, but the merchant did not give in at all; finally, he said, “Go to this church, ask the parish head; he has an old book, perhaps he will give it to you for two kopecks.” I went and indeed bought the Book of Love for two kopecks, all torn up and old; I was disappointed. I patched it up, covered it with a cloth, and put it into my Bible bag.

            Now here I go, continuously making the Jesus prayer that is dear to me and sweeter than anything in the world. Sometimes I walk seventy or more versts a day and do not feel that I am walking; I only feel that I am saying my prayer. When a strong frost freezes me, I begin to say the prayer more intensely, and in no time I warm up. If hunger begins to defeat me, I call on the name of Jesus Christ more often and forget that I want to eat. If I become ill, stiffness in my back and legs begins, I start listening to the prayer, and I do not even feel pain. If someone offends me, I only remember how I was consoled by the Jesus prayer; the offense and anger immediately pass, and I forget everything. If I suddenly go crazy, I have no worries or concerns, I do not look at anything curious, I am alone in solitude; but still, one thing I want all the time, to constantly say the prayer and when I am doing it, it is really fun for me. God knows what is going on with me. Of course, all this is sensual, or, as the late elder used to say, natural and artificial, due to habit; but I am not yet able to begin studying and mastering the spiritual prayer that is in the heart, due to my unworthiness and stupidity. I am waiting for God’s time, hoping for the prayers of my late elder. Therefore, although I have not yet achieved continuous spontaneous spiritual prayer in my heart, but thank God, now I clearly understand what the saying in the Apostle entails:
“Pray without ceasing.”

Story of a friend

Journey to Siberia and the story of the captain

I wandered from place to place for a long time with my prayer, accompanied by Jesus, which cheered and comforted me on all my journeys and in all my encounters and accidents. Finally, I felt that it would be better to stay in one place, both for the sake of privacy and for studying Loving-kindness, which I had been reading a little bit in my rest periods or during the day; however, there was a strong desire to delve deeper into it and to draw true guidance to the salvation of the soul through heart prayer. But since it was impossible for me, according to this desire, to find a permanent residence or to take up any worthwhile work on account of my left hand’s paralysis since my infancy; and since I was unable to have a permanent place of residence, I went to the countryside of Siberia, to Saint Innocent of Irkutsk, with the intention of walking through the forests and steppes of Siberia without making a sound, and so that I could practice prayer and study more easily. So I went, constantly making a silent prayer. After a short time, I began to feel that my prayer was gradually taking hold of my heart, that is, my heart, beating as it usually does, began somehow to speak its prayerful words with each beat, for example: 1) Lord, 2) Jesus, 3) Christ, etc. I stopped praying with my lips, and began to listen with diligence to what the heart says; remembering how the late elder explained to me how pleasant this was. Then I began to feel a subtle pain in my heart, and in my thoughts I felt such love for Jesus Christ that it seemed as if I would have rushed to His feet and would not have let them go, cuddling them with joyful, tearful, but thankful kisses because of the comfort He offers to His name. Graciously,

With my sins, or with the corruption of my soul, or with the need for spiritual life, or with better instruction and experience, towards the end of summer, temptations began to appear. More specifically, I went out on a great road, and in the twilight, two people who looked like soldiers’ heads caught up with me; they began to demand money. When I said that I had no coins, they did not believe it and shouted blatantly: ‘You are lying! Wanderers make a lot of money!’

One of them said: ‘What’s the use of talking to him?’ He struck me with a stick on the head so that I fell unconscious. I do not know how long I lay unconscious; but, upon waking up, I saw that I was lying near a forest by the road, totally paralyzed and my bag was nowhere to be found; only the ropes that it had been carried on were cut. Thank God, they did not take the passport that was lying in my old hat, in case I had to provide proof that I was being asked for. Getting up, I wept bitterly, not so much from the headache as from the fact that they had taken away my books, the Bible, and The Work of Love, which was in the bag. I did not stop crying all day and night. Where is my Bible, which I had read since childhood and always carried with me? Where is my The Work of Love, from which I drew both instruction and consolation? I am poor. I have been deprived of both my first and last treasures in my life before I have had the chance to eat them. It would be better for me to be killed than to live without this spiritual food! I cannot buy them anymore!

             I moved my legs hardly for the next two days, being overcome by this grief; and on the third, completely exhausted, I fell under a bush and fell asleep. And here I saw in a dream, as if I were in a desert, in the cell of my old abbot, mourning my misfortune. The abbot, comforting me, began to say; this is a lesson to you in detachment from earthly things for easier passage to heaven. This has been permitted to you so that you will not fall away, but your spiritual greed. God wants a Christian to completely abandon his will, desires, and any passion for such things and to completely submit to His Divine Will. He sets all circumstances to benefit and save a person. Everyone wants to be saved. And therefore, cheer up and believe that the Lord will create a temptation and an excess. And you will soon be comforted far more than you currently mourn. At these words, I woke up, felt a strengthening of my strength, and in my heart there was a dawn and calm. May God’s will be done, I said, crossed myself, got up, and went on. Prayer again began to act in my heart as before, and I walked quietly for three days.

            Suddenly, as I was walking along, I saw a column of wells led by a convoy. Comparing them with the men who had robbed me, I saw two of them, and since they were walking on the edge of the others, I fell at their feet and asked them earnestly, “Where are my books?” For a while they paid no attention to me, but then one of them began to say, “If you give us anything, we will tell you where your books are. Give us all of it.” I promised that I would give it, and that I would give it for the sake of Christ if necessary; here, if you want to take my passport as security. They told me that my books were in the wagon with other stolen goods. How can I get them? Ask the captain who is leading us. I ran to the captain and explained everything in detail. By the way, he asked me, “Do you know how to read the Bible?” “Not only can I read it all,” I answered, “but I can write it too: you will see a note on the Bible that it’s mine; and on my passport it’s the same name and the same surname.” The captain began to say, “These are fugitive thieves’ soldiers; they lived in a dugout and robbed many people. They were caught yesterday by a cunning gopher who wanted to take three rats from them. Perhaps I will give you your books when they are here; but go with us for the night; here, four versts away, and then you will not have to stop the stage and the wagon for you.” I was happy to follow along behind the captain’s horse, talking to him. I noticed that he was a good and honest man, not young anymore. He asked me who I was, where I was going and where I was going. I answered all of this in truth, and so we reached the stagehouse for the night. Finding my books, he gave them to me and said, “Where are you going to go at night now, stay at my place for the night.” I stayed.

            After receiving the books, I was so happy that I didn’t know how to thank God; I pressed the books against my chest and held them until my hands were numb with pain. Tears streamed from my eyes with joy, and my heart beat with excitement!

            The captain, looking at me, asked, “It seems you love to read the Bible.” I could not answer him in my joy, but only wept. He continued, “I myself, brother, read the Gospel carefully every day. Driving the uniform off his shoulder, he took out a small Gospel printed in Kiev, all squinted with silver. Sit down, I will tell you what led me to this. But give us some dinner!”

            We sat down at the table, the captain began to tell us: I had served in the army since my youth, not in the garrison; I knew the service and was loved by my superiors as a good ensign. But the years were young, and my friends were too; I was unfortunate and got into the habit of drinking, and at the end, I contracted a serious illness; when I wasn’t drinking, I was a good officer, but once I smoked, I was in bed for six weeks. They endured my condition for a long time, and finally, because of my boss’s harshness, expressed in a clear way, they demoted me to a private for three years, with a transfer to the garrison; and if I didn’t improve and leave my addiction, they threatened me with the most severe punishment. In this miserable state, no matter how I tried to stay sober, and how I tried to cure myself, I could not quit my addiction, and that was why they wanted to move me to the prison companies. When I heard this, I didn’t know what to do.

            One day, I was sitting in the barracks, brooding. Suddenly, a monk entered our midst, with a booklet for collecting money for the church. Everyone who could, gave. He approached me and asked: “Why are you so unhappy?” I spoke with him and told him about my trouble. The monk, sympathizing with my situation, began: “It was the same with my brother, and this is what helped him: his spiritual father gave him the Gospel, and firmly instructed him that when he wanted to drink, he should not read a single chapter from the Gospel; if he wanted to again, he should read the following section. My brother started doing this, and in a short time, his addiction to drinking disappeared, and for more than fifteen years, he has not touched a drop of intoxicant. Do the same as me, and you will see the benefits. I have a bible with me; I will probably bring you one.”

Having heard this, I said to him: I could not help your Gospel, because no efforts of mine nor any medical texts could keep me? I said this because I had never read the Gospels. Do not say this, the monk objected, I assure you that it will be useful. The following day, a monk brought me this Gospel. I opened it, looked at it, read it, and said: “I will not take it; nothing here is understood; and I am not used to reading Church seals.” The monk continued to persuade me that there is a beneficial power in the Words of the Gospel, because it contains what God Himself said. You will need nothing that you do not understand, but read it carefully. One saint said: “If you do not understand the Words of God, the devils understand those you read and tremble; the passion for drunkenness is always aroused by the devils.” But I will tell you something more: John the Golden-Mouthed writes that even the shrine in which the Gospel is kept frightens the demons by its smell and is difficult to be approached by their treachery. I do not remember if I gave the monk something, took the Gospel from him, put it in a box with my other things, and forgot about it. After a while came the time when I had to ask for a grace, death wanted charity, and I snatched the box more quickly to take out money and run to the tavern. The first thing I saw was the Gospel, and I quickly remembered everything that the monk had told me, unfolded it and began to read the first chapter of Matthew. After reading it to the end, I did not understand anything; and I remembered that the monk had said: “There is no need to understand anything, just read carefully.” Let me see, I thought, I will read a different section; as soon as I started reading it, a knock came at the barracks: “To the beds.” So I could not leave the gate; and I stayed where I was.Listen, from the moment I was cured of my drinking, I made a vow to read the Gospel every day, all my life, one Gospel a day; regardless of any obstacles. And now I do. If I work a lot, and get very tired, then lying down in the evening, I force my wife or my son to read a whole Gospel to me, and I stubbornly stick to this rule. As a sign of gratitude and in honor of God, I had this Gospel made in pure silver, and wear it on my chest all the time.

            With pleasure, I listened to the Captain’s words, and said to him: I saw an example of this myself in our village, at a factory – there was a very skilled craftsman who was good and dear in his craft, but unfortunately he also drank, and often. A God-fearing man advised him to recite 33 Hail Mary prayers in honor of the Holy Trinity, and in accordance with the number of Jesus Christ’s 33 years on earth. The craftsman listened, began to do it, and soon gave up drinking. What more? In three years, he left for the monastery.

            And above all, the captain asked, – the Hail Mary or the Gospel? – The same thing, I answered, – since the Gospel is a Hail Mary, it consists of all the Gospel truths. The Holy Fathers say that the Hail Mary is a shortening of the whole Gospel.

            Finally, we prayed; the captain began to read the Gospel of Mark from the beginning, and I listened and prayed in my heart. At about two o’clock in the morning, the captain finished the Gospel, and we went our separate ways.

As always, I got up early in the morning; everyone was still asleep, and as soon as it started to lighten, I rushed to my beloved Dobrotolubiya. With what joy I opened it! It was like seeing a dear father who was far away, or like an old friend, brought back to life from the dead. I pledged my love to it and thanked God for having brought it back to me; immediately I began to read Feolipat of Philadelphius, in two books of Dobrotolubia. I was surprised by his teaching, where he suggested doing three different things at the same time, for one and the same man: while sitting at table, he said, give the body food, give the ear reading, and give the mind prayer. But the experience of the wonderful evening, truly revealed to me this secret that the mind and the heart are not the same thing.

            When the Captain got up, I stepped outside to thank him for his kindness and to say goodbye to him. He gave me a cup of tea, offered me the whole thing, and said goodbye. So I went on my way, rejoicing.

        Walking along the road for half a verst, I remembered that I had promised the soldiers an entire wallet that I was unexpectedly now in possession of. Should I give it to them or not? One thought told me: they beat me up and robbed me, and I cannot give them my wallet to use for their own benefit, because they are under arrest. Another thought told me otherwise: remember what is written in the Bible: ‘——— If an enemy wants you, he will destroy you.”Having made up my mind, I returned and just as I approached the barracks, they led all the prisoners out to be driven to the next station; I ran quickly up to them, snatched my former wallet from my hands, and said: Run away and pray: Jesus Christ is merciful; He will not abandon you! And with that, I turned away from them and walked on my way.

We walked another 50 verst along the main road before I decided to branch off the path to a quiet place in the forest to read and get some peace. I wandered for a long time through the forests, occasionally passing small villages here and there. Sometimes I would spend the whole day in the forest, diligently reading Dobrotolubiye; I gained much inspiration and wonderful insights from it. My heart burned with zeal to unite with God through inner prayer, which I aimed to learn, under the guidance and supervision of Dobrotolubiye; and together with this, I felt regret that I could not find a place of refuge where I could read in peace.

At the same time, I was also reading my Bible and felt that I was beginning to understand it more clearly, not as I once did, when a lot seemed confusing to me, and I often felt dismayed. The Holy Fathers rightly say that Dobrotolubiye is the key to unlocking the mysteries of Sacred Scripture. Under its guidance, I began to understand the deeper meaning of God’s Word; I began to see what an inner secret the human heart is, and what real prayer is, what worshiping with the spirit is, what is the realm within us, what is an indescribable longing of the Holy Spirit, what abideth in me, what give me thy heart, what is meant by clothe thyself with Christ, what is meant by sealing the spirit in our hearts: Father and the rest; and when I began to pray with my heart in this way, everything that surrounded me was presented to me in a wondrous way: the trees, the grass, the birds, the earth, the air, the light, and everything seemed to tell me that they exist for man, they testify to God’s love for man, and they all pray and sing the praise of God. And from this I understood what is called in Dobrotolubiye ‘the teaching of the creature’s words’ and saw how one can talk to the creatures of God.

Meeting with a forester in a silent forest

I wandered around for a long time. Finally, I came to such a deserted place that for three days there was no village nearby. My bread was all gone, and I was quite worried about not dying of hunger. When I began to pray with my heart, despair passed, and I submitted everything to God’s will, and became cheerful and calm. As we walked along the road that was next to a huge forest, I saw a village dog coming out of the forest; I called to it, and it came and began to lick me; I was delighted, and thought: “Here is God’s grace!” – surely there is a herd grazing somewhere in this forest, and, of course, it is the shepherd’s dog or, perhaps, a hunter is going hunting. Whether it is, whether it is, but at least I can beg for some bread, because I have not eaten anything for two days, or I can ask where there is a village nearby. Returning to me, and seeing that there is nothing for me to take, the dog went back to the forest along the narrow path it had come out on. I followed it; after walking through two hundred spruces, I saw that the dog went into a cave from which it began to bark.

There, through a thick tree, a man appeared, thin, pale, middle-aged. He asked me how I had come here. I asked him why he was here. And we spoke kindly to each other. The man invited me to his hut, and told me that he was a forester and was guarding this forest, which had been sold for logging. He offered me bread and salt and we began to talk. Let me envy you, I told him, that you can live so comfortably alone from people, not like me, wandering from place to place and struggling among all kinds of people. If there is hunting, he said, then perhaps you live here too, not far from an old hut of the former guard, it may have collapsed, but it is still possible to live in the summer. You have a passport. There will be bread for us; every week they bring bread here from our village; and there is a stream that never dries up. I myself, brother, have been eating only one loaf of bread for ten years, and only drinking water, and I have never had anything more. That’s it, that’s what it is. In the autumn, when the workers are done, two hundred workers come here, and this forest is cut down, then neither I nor you will have a place to live here.

Having heard all this, I was so delighted that I fell down at his feet. I did not know how to thank God for such kindness. For whatever I longed for and wanted, I now unexpectedly received. Until the end of the autumn, there were still four months left, and so I could now take advantage of the silence and calmness that was convenient for attentive reading of the Love of Goodness in order to study and achieve fervent prayer in my heart. So I gladly stayed to live in the hut indicated to me. We talked even more with this simple brother; he began to tell me about his life and his thoughts.

“I was once,” he said, “the last man in my village; I had a craft, I painted kumach, but I mixed blue with the paint, and I lived in plenty, though not without sin: I cheated a lot in trade, wasted money; I swore a great deal, drank, and fought. There was an old clergyman in our village who had an ancient, ancient book about the terrible judgment. He used to go to the Orthodox Church, and read from it, and people gave him money for it; he went to see me too. Sometimes – give him ten kopecks and he would go for five of them. I happened to be listening as he was sitting at work, and he was reading about the torments that await us in hell, about how the living will be changed, the dead raised to life, about how God will come to judge, about how the angels will blow into the trumpets, and what fire, pitch, and worms there will be, ready to devour the sinners. The first time I listened to this, I was afraid; I thought: I can’t escape the torments! I’ll take it to heart, and try to save my soul; maybe my sins will be forgiven. I thought about it, and then I left my craft, sold the house, and, as I was alone, I went to become a begger for people, so that they would give me bread, clothes, and wax candles for prayer.

I’ve been living here for over ten years; I only have one meal a day, and that’s only one piece of bread with water; I get up early in the morning and kneel to the ground to give thanks before the icons; when I pray, I light seven candles in front of the pictures. In the daytime, when I go into the forest, I carry the chains on my bare body in two bundles. I don’t swear at my master, I don’t drink wine or beer, and I don’t fight with anyone; I don’t know babes or girls from the same family. At first, I liked living this way, but towards the end, disturbing thoughts haunt me. God knows whether your sins will be forgiven, and life is hard. And is it true what is written in the book? Where will man rise from the dead to life? Another one has died a hundred years or more ago, he is no longer in the earth – burial plot either. And who knows whether there will be a hell or not? After all, no one has come from that world; it seems to me that when a person dies, and rots, they disappear without a trace. Perhaps the book was written by fakir priests, and the leaders themselves to scare us stupid people, in order to make us live more modestly. So, on the earth you live in labour, and you achieve nothing, and life in the other world will be nothing – what is the point of that? Isn’t it better to live on earth more comfortably and pleasantly? These thoughts torment me, he continued, and I am afraid that I won’t take up my old craft again!”

When I heard this, I felt sorry for him and thought to myself: it is said that some scholars and wise people are free thinkers and believe in nothing, and our brothers – simple folk who imagine themselves to be disbelievers! Perhaps darkness has been allowed access to all of them, and it attacks the simple more easily. As much as possible, try to strengthen yourself against the enemy with the Word of God. Therefore, if there is anything you can do to help and support their faith, I took out of my bag The Good Shepherd, found the chapter of St. Isaac the Syrian, read it, and began to explain to him that abstaining from sins, fearing the torments of hell, is unprofitable and sterile, and that it is impossible for a soul to be freed from imaginary sins, nor to be saved from mental sins. Therefore, all this is obtained through inner prayer, and not only by fearing the torments of hell, but even by desiring the kingdom of heaven. If someone does meritorious deeds, the Holy Fathers call this work mercenary. They say that fear of torment is the way of a slave, and the desire for reward in the kingdom is the way of a mercenary. And God wants us to go to Him by the way of sonship, that is, to behave with zeal and devotion to Him and enjoy a saving union with Him in our souls and hearts.

            However much you may exhaust yourself – what would you wish to do now in the way of physical labour and asceticism? But if you do not always have God in your mind and if you do not constantly practice the Lord’s Prayer in your heart, you will never be at peace with your thoughts, and you will always be prone to sin, even under the most minor of circumstances. Accept, brother, to practice the Lord’s Prayer continuously; this is easy and convenient for you in this solitude. You will soon see the benefits of this. Evil thoughts will not come to you, faith and love for Jesus Christ will be revealed to you; you will learn that the dead will rise again, and the terrible Judgment will seem to you as it really is. And there will be such ease and joy in your heart from the Lord’s Prayer that you will be amazed and no longer bored or disturbed by your life-saving work.

            Then, as I could, I explained to him how to begin and how to continue the Lord’s Prayer continuously and how the Word of God teaches us to do so, and teaches us so by the Holy Fathers. He seemed to agree and came to his senses. After this, I left him and locked myself into the old hut I had been shown.

The Practice of the Lord’s Prayer in Solitude

God, my God! What joy, peace and delight I felt as soon as I entered this cave, or rather, the tomb. It seemed to me to be a magnificent royal palace, full of every kind of comfort and amusement. With joyful tears I thanked God, and reflected: Now, amid such calm and silence, it is time to turn my mind to my business and ask the Lord for enlightenment. So I began, first of all, to read The Book of Good Manner, in the proper order, from beginning to end, with great attention. I read it through in a short time, and saw how wise, holy and profound it is. But since it deals with many different subjects, and has various instructions from the holy fathers, I could not understand everything and summarize all that I particularly wanted to learn about interior prayer, in order to learn the method of continuous automatic prayer within my heart. This was something I very much wanted, according to the commandment of God through the Apostle: Desire the gifts of the Spirit and also: Do not put out the Spirit . My mind is not capable, my understanding is not enough, and there is no one to explain it. I begin to bother God with my prayers. Perhaps God will somehow enlighten me. After that, I did nothing for a whole day, but was in unceasing prayer, without stopping for the slightest moment. My thoughts were calmed, and I fell asleep: and behold, in a dream, I see myself in the cell of my deceased elder, and he is interpreting the Book of Good Manner, and says: This holy book is full of great wisdom. It is a secret treasure of knowledge about God’s mysterious purposes. Not all places and not all people are available to it; yet, within the range of the understanding person, it contains such instructions for the wise – wise, and for the simple – simple. Therefore, you, servants, should read it not in the order in which the books of the holy fathers are arranged one after another. There the order is theological. For an unlearned person who wants to learn from the Book of Good Manner the art of interior prayer, it should be read in the following order:1) First, read the book Nikifora the monastic (in 2 parts); then 2) the book by Gregory Sinai, all except for the short sections; 3) Simeon the New Theologian on the three figures of prayer and the word about faith; and following this 4) the book Kallistos and Ignatius. In these fathers there is a complete exposition and teaching about the inner prayer of the heart, understandable to everyone.So, first of all, I began to find the heart seat, as instructed by Saint Symeon the New Theologian. I closed my eyes, looked with my mind — that is, with my imagination in my heart — and listened carefully to its beating. Thus, I first engaged in this practice for half an hour, several times a day; at first, I noticed nothing but darkness; then, it soon began to appear as a heart, and signified movement in it; then, I began to introduce and withdraw the Lord’s Prayer together with breathing into the heart, as instructed by Saint Gregory of Sinai, Calistus, and Ignatius, that is, by inhaling air, with the rational contemplation of my heart, I imagined and prayed: “Lord Jesus Christ,” and, with exhaling air from me, prayed: “Have mercy.” At first, I engaged in this practice for an hour, then two, then the more I did so, the more frequently I engaged in this practice, and, finally, I spent most of the day engaged in this practice. When weariness or laziness, or doubts arose, I immediately began to read in the Works of the Holy Elder Dorotheos the places that instruct about the spiritual workings of the heart, and there I again began to draw my thoughts to prayer and to make a serious effort. In three weeks, I began to feel pain in my heart, then some pleasant warmth in it, comfort, and peace. This encouraged and inspired me to exercise more and more diligently in prayer, so that all my thoughts were occupied with prayer, and I felt great joy. From that time on, I began to feel different moods in my heart and mind. Sometimes it felt pleasantly warm in my heart, there was such lightness, freedom, and joy that it gave me a sense of elation. Sometimes there was a burning love for Jesus Christ and for all of God’s creation. Sometimes, tears of thankfulness to the Lord, who had been merciful to me, a helpless sinner, came forth of their own accord. Sometimes the thought that had previously been so absurd became so clear to me that I could easily understand and reflect on things I had previously not even been able to conceive of. Sometimes a sweet warmth filled my whole body, and I intensely experienced the presence of God everywhere. Sometimes I experienced the greatest joy from the name of Jesus Christ, and I came to know what it means that He said: “The reign of God is within you.”“

Experiencing such and similar pleasant joys, I noticed that the results of heart prayer open themselves up in three ways: in the soul, in the feelings, and in revelations. In the soul, for example, there is a sweetness of God’s love, an inner peace, a capture of the mind, a purity of thoughts, a sweet remembrance of God, in the feelings, a pleasant opening of the heart, a filling of all its parts with sweetness, a joyful pulsation within the heart, lightness and vigor, pleasantness of life, lack of response to illness and sorrow. In revelations, illumination of the mind, a perception of the scriptures, a knowledge of the words of creation, the release from confusion, and a knowledge of the joy of living an inner life, a guarantee of God’s nearness and His love for us.Months passed, I spent alone in this spiritual occupation and enjoyed these sensations. I had become so accustomed to heartfelt prayer that I practiced it continuously, and finally came to feel that prayer was already self-generated, coming to my mind and heart without any prompting from me; it even functioned in my sleep in the same way, and was not interrupted by anything I did. My soul thanked God and my heart was in perpetual joy.

” Lord, increase your works. You created all wisdom.” I have met many wonderful events and incidents along my path. If I were to tell all of them, I could not finish in one day. But, for example: one winter’s evening, I was walking through a forest to spend the night in a village that was two versts away. Suddenly, a big wolf attacked and started running towards me. I had a wool rope in my hands (I always carried them with me). So, I hit the wolf with the ropes. Well, what happened? The ropes slipped out of my hands and somehow caught on the wolf’s neck. He ran away from me and, jumping over a juniper bush, got entangled in the bushes with his hind legs, and the rope got caught on a dry tree’s branch, and he started to struggle; but it was inconvenient for him to get free, because the ropes were tightening his neck. I crossed myself with faith, and proceeded to free the wolf; but also because I thought that if he tore the ropes and ran away with them, my precious ropes would be lost. As soon as I approached and grabbed the ropes, indeed, the wolf tore them and ran away without a trace. So I, thanking God and remembering my venerable master, arrived safely in the village, entered the inn and asked to spend the night there. I entered the house. In the front room, two men were sitting at the table, one was an old man, and the other was a fat middle-aged man who looked like he wasn’t ordinary. They were drinking tea. I asked the man who was at their horse, who they were? He told me that the old man was a teacher at the folk school, and the other was a clerk in the provincial court: both of them were noble. I was carrying them to the market, two versts away from here. After staying there for some time, I asked the old woman for a needle and thread, went to the candle, and began to sew my torn ropes. The clerk looked at me and said, “You must have fallen on your knees while praying, that’s why you tore the ropes.” “It wasn’t I who tore them, but the wolf… Did wolves pray?,” the clerk said, laughing. “I told them the whole story and how valuable those ropes were to me. The clerk laughed again and began to say, “In your sect, there are always miracles! But what is there saintly about it? You simply threw it at him, and the wolf got scared and ran away; because both dogs and wolves are afraid of throws, and it is not strange to get caught in the forest; almost nothing happens in the world, so we should believe in everything.” Upon hearing this, the teacher began to talk to him: don’t be so foolish, good man! You don’t have a proper education, but you surely wanted to learn the brief sacred story of the Old and New Testament, which was compiled from questions and answers for schools. The old man whose ropes were in my hands was a saint: what did it mean? Not anything else but the making of the newborn state of the first man in a sinful man’s return. When a soul is sanctified, the body is sanctified as well. The ropes were always in the hands of the saint; so, through the touch of his hands on them and by their emanations, holy power, which is the power of the innocent state of the first man, is transmitted onto them. This is the mystery of the spiritual nature!.. This power is naturally felt by all animals and still is; for the nose is the most important organ of sensation in all creatures. This is the mystery of the sensual nature!.. You have all the powers and wisdom. And we are so simple: here is how you pour a jigger of vodka: you shake it off, and it has the power, said the clerk, and he went to the closet. This is your business, said the teacher, and now we ask the scholars to provide us with their knowledge. I liked the way the teacher said this; and I, approaching him, said, “I dare to tell you something else about my old man, and I explained to him how he appeared to me in a dream, how he taught me, and how he emphasized the word ”Dobrotolubiya“. The teacher listened to me with attention. And the clerk was lying on the couch, grumbling, “It is true what they say that people with common sense go crazy, read the Bible, and then go back to normal. That is the way it is! Any woodsman would be able to draw in his sleep on books! It is simply so that he got a book and smeared it with soot… This is a miracle? Oh! This will pass!,” he muttered, turned to the wall, and fell asleep. Listening to this, I turned to the teacher and said, “If you please, I will show you the same book, on which it is clearly underlined and not smeared in soot.”Then one spring, arriving at a village, I had to stop at a priest. He was a good and lonely man: I stayed with him for three days. Having looked at me during this time, he began to speak to me: stay with me, and I will give you a salary; I need a reliable person; you have seen that we are building a new stone church instead of the old wooden one. I cannot find a trustworthy person who would look after the workers and sit in the chapel to collect alms for the construction; but I see that you would be able to do this, and you would have a good life along your way; you would sit alone in the chapel, and pray to God; there is a small room set aside for a watchman. Although I initially refused, I agreed at his persuasive request. So I stayed there for the summer until the autumn. That is how I came to live in the chapel. At first, I was comfortable and had no trouble practicing prayer, even though many people came to the chapel, especially on festive days, to pray, sit, and take something from the collection dishes. And whenever I read either the Bible or The Book of Duties by St. Basil the Great, some of the people who came there would start talking to me, and others would ask me to read something to them.

An hour was approaching the end of the summer; many of those who came to the chapel began to come to me, not only for reading and advice, but also with various life sorrows, and even for recognition in finding losses and disappearances; apparently others considered me a witch. Finally, the girl mentioned above in distress came for advice as to what she should do. Her father had the intention of giving her in marriage to an obscure man, also a widower, and he would make her his wife. But what is this legitimate marriage, she exclaimed, it is of no importance! I want to run away, wherever my eyes may look. I told her: where can you escape without being discovered? Nowhere can you hide without being found; but it is better to pray harder for this from God, so that He may, by His providence, thwart the intention of your father and preserve your soul from sin and from heresy. This will be safer than your flight.

            “’These are sacred things,’” the priest said. “If they are sacred,” I answered, “and they have avoided contact with people, then what else can a weak sinner do?” Finally, I took leave of this kind priest and he led me off with love.

A story about a girl rescued from danger

            Ten paces further, I stopped to spend the night in a village. On this occasion, I saw a desperately ill man, and advised the locals nearby to treat him to the holy sacraments. They agreed, and by morning they had sent for a priest from their parish. I stayed to wait to receive the sacred gifts and pray for this great sacrament. I went out into the street, sat on a bench and waited to meet the priest. Suddenly, to my surprise, a girl ran out of the back yard and came to me crying, “Get me out of here!”

            “How did you get here?” I asked.             “I was supposed to be a handmaiden, and they conspired to take me for a lunatic, so I ran. While I was bowing to me, she began speaking: Have mercy, take me with you and take me to a monastery for women, so that I can offer prayer to Jesus. I don’t want to get married. I’ll live in a convent and there they will listen to me and accept me.”             “But no one will ask for me,” I said. “I don’t know any convents in this part, and how can I take you if you don’t have your passport? First of all, you won’t be accepted anywhere; there’s nowhere to hide in this time, they’ll persecute you to your place, and they’ll even punish you for vagrancy. Go home instead and pray to God, and if you don’t want to get married, choose a house of penance. This is called salvific disguise, this is what St. Clement’s mother and the Holy Martyr Marina did, who found refuge in a male monastery along with many others.”             While we were sitting there, four men were seen driving a car along the road and hopped up to us. They grabbed the girl and put her in a cart and, with one man, drove off; while the other three tied my hands and drove me back to the village where I had lived in the summer. When we spoke any excuse, they only shouted, “We will let you know how to tame girls!”             In the evening, they brought me to the village council and put iron on my legs and put me in jail until dawn, until a trial could be held. The priest, hearing that I was in jail, came to visit me; he brought me food and comforted me, saying that he would speak for me with the church’s elder and say what kind of person he is. After talking with me, he left.

Later in the evening, the notary came through the village, and he was told what had happened. He ordered a meeting and had me brought to the judge’s house. We entered, stood there and waited. The notary came soon after, dressed in his robe, sat down at the table, and shouted: Hey, Epifan! Didn’t your daughter do anything wrong on the estate? Nothing, Father! This guy has never been implicated in any bad deeds? No, Father! That’s how we will decide the case: you and your daughter will settle it yourself; we will put this young man on trial tomorrow and punish him thoroughly, and assign him to stay away from here. That’s all! After saying this, the notary got up from the table and went to bed; and me were returned to prison. Early the next morning two men, the captain and the corporal, brought me out and released me; and I went, thanking God for having allowed me to endure for His sake. This comforted me and warmed my heart even more with continuous prayer.Then he began to say: Watch over your spirit and do not worry! Remember what the Apostle said: “There is more virtue in you than in the world.” Now you have learned by experience that no temptation is allowed greater than the power of man; but “with temptation God also makes trial, and prompt to come the desire for sainthood.” Hope in this Divine help strengthened and guided the jealousy and diligence of the holy prayer-writers, who not only led their lives in ceaseless prayer by themselves, but with love taught and opened it to others, as need be and as time permitted. Of this Saint Gregory of Nyssa speaks thus: “It is not only befitting for us, by the commandment of God, to pray incessantly, in the name of Christ, but we must teach and open this to all other monks, laymen, wise and simple, men, women and children, and urge everyone to watchfulness. Likewise does Saint Callistus of Antilocus say: “Neither rational doing about the Lord (that is, inner prayer), nor sightly knowledge, nor ways of spiritual ascent that should grieve, should be kept to oneself, but should be recorded, disclosed, and expounded, for the common interest. Also does the Word of God say that “we are to help one another, for a city built on a rock cannot be shaken.”

            To spend this day in peace, without obstacles to spiritual joy, I asked the church guard to let me stay in the cottage until the next day. I spent the entire day in indescribable joy and heartfelt sweetness; I lay on the pallets in this unfurnished guardhouse, as if I were resting on the bosom of Abraham: prayer did a great deal. Love for Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin was like a sweet wave that was gathering in my heart and as if the soul was immersed in a pleasant excitement. At night, suddenly I felt a powerful pain in my legs, and I remembered that they were wet in my shoes. Ignoring this, I began to listen even more carefully to my heart in prayer and ceased to feel pain. In the morning, I wanted to get up, but I found that I could not even move my legs; they had completely relaxed, like stockings; the guard struggled to lift me off the pallets. So I lay there for two days, immobile. On the third day, the guard began to drive me out of the hut, saying: if you die here, go after me. As soon as I somehow managed to get out on my arms, I lay down on the church railing.

            I lay there like this for two days. People who passed by me paid no attention to me or to my requests.

            Finally, a man came up to me, sat down, and started talking. By the way, he said: What do you give? I can heal you. It was exactly the same with me; I know about this medicine. I have nothing to give you. And what’s in your bag? Only crackers and books. Well, can you give me just a little time if I heal you? And I can’t work; you see, I can barely move my one hand, and the other has nearly withered. So what can you do? Nothing, except that I can read and write. And to write! Well, teach the boy, my son, he knows little about reading, and I want him to write. But the masters demand a high price, 20 rubles for instruction. I agreed, and they took me out with the guard and placed me in this man’s rear yard in an old, empty shed.

After recovering in this way, I began to teach the boy. I wrote instead of the scripture the Lord’s Prayer, and made him practice writing, showing him how to write the words properly. It was easy to teach him, because during the day he was a servant to the master, and came to me to study only when the master was sleeping, that is, from dawn to late afternoon. The boy was clever and soon began to write. When his master saw him writing, he asked him: Who teaches you? The boy said that the blind traveler who lives with us in the old bath-house. Curious, the Polish master came to see me while I was reading The History of Patron Saints. After talking with me, he asked: what are you reading? I showed him the book. – Ah, this is The History of Patron Saints, he said. I had seen this book in a priest’s house when I lived in Vilna; however, I had heard about it that it contains some strange magic tricks and prayer arts written by Greek monks, similar to the way that fanatics in India and Bukhara sit and puff up their chests, doing away with their rational feelings and worshipping this “natural” feeling because they believe it is godly. We should pray simply in order to fulfill our duty before God; stand up and recite the Lord’s Prayer as Christ taught it; that is enough for a whole day, and it is not necessary to recite the same thing over and over again; it might drive you out of your mind, and you might harm your heart.”Do not think, Father,” he said, “about this holy book. It was not written by ordinary Greek monks, but by great and holy people whom your church venerates, in some way Anthony the Great, Makarius the Great, Mark the Anchorite, John Chrysostom, and others. Indian and Bukhar monks inherited the heartfelt way of inner prayer from them, but they twisted it and distorted it, as my elder told me. And in the Book of Virtue, all the exhortations on the inner nature of prayer are taken from the Word of God, from the Holy Bible, in which the same Jesus Christ, who commanded us to read: ‘Our Father’, also enjoined constant heartfelt prayer, saying: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul’… Beware, be on your guard and pray… To be in Me, and I in you.’ And the holy fathers, quoting the testimony of King David from the Psalter: ‘Taste and see how good the Lord is’, interpret it in such a way that a Christian must seek and attain sweetness in prayer by all possible means, and must constantly seek consolations in it, not simply recite the Our Father once a day. Here I will read to you how these saints condemn those who do not try to gain and understand this sweethearted prayer. They write that such people sin in the following ways: 1) they find divine scripture contradictory, 2) they do not assume the highest and most perfect state of the soul, but are content with only external virtues, and they therefore lack the thirst for truth, and are thus deprived of the joy and bliss of genuine virtues, and they often fall into pride and vanity, and they give way to these sinful feelings. You read something beautiful,’ said the manager. ‘Why should we mere mortals strive for that?’ Here I will read to you something simpler, about how good people were taught unceasing prayer in everyday life. I found in the Book of Virtue a phrase by Simeon the New Theologian, about George the Young Man, and I began to read it. The manager liked this, and he said to me, ‘Give me this book to read in my spare time, when I have the time.’ Perhaps I will give it to you one day, but I can’t read it any more, because I read it every day, and I can’t do without it. But at least copy what you have just read for me; I will pay you. I gladly copied what I had just read. He read it to his wife, and they both liked it. Sometimes they began to send for me. I went to them with the Book of Virtue; I read there, and they sat there over their tea, listening. Once they asked me to stay for dinner. The manager’s wife, a kind elderly lady, sat with us and ate fried fish. Once, through carelessness, she swallowed a bone; no matter what the officials did to her, they could not get it out, and she felt a great pain in her throat, and she lay down for two hours. A doctor was sent for 30 miles away, and I, saddened by this, went home in the evening.”In the night there was a thin snow, and I heard the voice of my old friend, but saw no one; the voice said to me: Here is your master who has healed you, but what can you do to help the mistress? God has commanded us to sympathize with our neighbor. Gladly, if I could, I would help her in whatever way I could. I do not know any means. But here is what you can do: she has a loathing for tree oil from the very beginning of her life, not only does she not like to use it, but she cannot stand the smell of it without feeling sick; therefore, give her a spoonful of tree oil to drink, and she will vomit it; the bone will slip out, and the wound in her throat, which has been cut by the bone, will be smeared with the oil, and she will recover. How can I give it to her when she hates it? She will not drink it? I woke up and went immediately to see the master, and transferred to him the need as a whole. He said that now he would make this oil; here is, her throat is already swollen and she is moaning and gargling. Still, we will try it; the oil is harmless, but it will not help. He poured some into a glass, and we let her drink some; then vomiting began immediately and the bone came out with blood; she felt calmer and fell asleep soundly. In the morning I went to visit, and found her quietly sitting over her tea, with a tablet beside her, and together with her husband, they were amazed by the cure. More than that, as we were told in our dream, she did not like the tree oil, for no one, except both of them, had known that. Then, the doctor came; the mistress told him what had happened, and I told her what had happened to me. The doctor, listening to it, said: neither this nor that case is strange; in both of them, nature itself had taken over, but I am going to record it for memory. He took a pencil and wrote in a memory book.

At last I reached Irkutsk. After bowing to the relics of St. Innocent, I began to think to myself: where should I go now? And I really did not want to stay long in the city, because it was crowded. I thought about it, walking down the street; I met here a local merchant, who stopped me and said: are you a traveler? Why don’t you come to me? We went to his rich house. He asked me who I was, and I told him my origin. After listening, he began to speak to me: I would like you to go to old Jerusalem. There is a shrine like no other anywhere! Of course, I would have been happy to go, I replied, but I have no money to get there in a dry way; I can walk to the sea, and I have to pay much to cross it, so there are a lot of money. Do you wish, said the merchant, I will give you a letter to my son in Odessa; he lives there and has trade relations with Constantinople; he has ships, and he will be happy to take you to Constantinople, and there he will instruct his agents to hire you a place on the ship to Jerusalem and pay you the money. This is not very expensive. When I heard this, I was filled with joy, thanked this benefactor of mine very much for his mercy, and thanked God even more for showing me such a fatherly love and care for this wretched sinner, who does not do any good, neither to himself nor to others, and who steals bread from others in idleness. And so I spent three days with this beneficent merchant. He wrote me a letter to his son, promising me; and here I go now to Odessa with the intention of reaching the holy city of Jerusalem, though I don’t know whether the Lord will allow me to venerate His life-giving Throne.

            Before leaving Irkutsk, I went to see the spiritual father with whom I had been talking and told him: “Here I am on my way to Jerusalem; I came to say goodbye and thank him for his Christian love for me, the unworthy traveller.” He said to me: “May God bless your journey! But since you have not said anything to me about yourself, who you are and where you come from, I have listened to a lot about your travels from you; it would be interesting to know about your origin and life before your pilgrimage.”

            Very well, I said, I will be happy to tell you all about it. It is not a long story.

Biography of a Pilgrim and his former secular life

            I was born in the village of Orlovsky Province. After my father and mother there were two of us, me and my older brother. He was ten years old, and I was two years – the third. That’s when my grandfather took us in for breeding; he was an old wealthy and honest man, kept a busy yard on a major road, and he had many travelers stop in. We began to live with him. My brother was lively, and he was constantly running around the village, and I was more busy around my grandfather. On holidays we went to church with him, and at home he often read the Bible, this same one that I have. My brother grew up and got out of hand; he learned to drink. I was already seven years old; one time I was lying with my brother on the stove, and he threw me off and injured my left hand. Since then and up until now, it has completely withered.

                  My grandfather, seeing that I was not able to do the farm work, began to teach me to read, and since we had no ABCs, he taught me from the same Bible, in a way: showing me the letters, he made me form words and pay attention to the letters. I myself do not understand how, following him, I learned to read over time. And finally, when my grandfather began to see badly, he often made me read the Bible, and he listened and corrected me. It was not uncommon for us to have a land clerk, who wrote beautifully, I watched him, and I liked how he wrote. That’s how I learned to write. My grandfather was happy about this and taught me as follows: now God has opened up a knowledge to you, you will be a man, and therefore thank the Lord for it and pray more frequently. Therefore, we went to all services to church, and at home we prayed often; I was made to read: “Have mercy on me, O Lord,” and grandfather and grandmother put their heads down or kneeled. Finally, I was seventeen years old, and my grandmother died. My grandfather began to tell me: we have no lady in the house, and what about without a grandmother? Your older brother has been roaming around, and I want to marry you. I was embarrassed, imagining my disability, but my grandfather insisted, and I was married, a proper and good girl, twenty years old. A year passed, and my grandfather became ill near death. Calling me, he began to say goodbye and said: “Here is your house and all your inheritance; live by conscience, do not deceive anyone, but most of all pray to God. Don’t expect anything except God, go to church, read the Bible, and remember us both with the old lady. Here’s one thousand rubles for you, be careful, do not spend them in vain, but do not save them, give to beggars and the churches of God.”

                  My grandfather died, and I buried him. Brother became jealous that the estate and the manor were given to me alone; he began to be angry with me, and even an enemy helped him in this, so much so that he even wanted to kill me. Finally, this is what he did at night when we were sleeping and there were no servants: he broke the lock where the money was stored, pulled it out of the chest, and set fire to the lock. We heard it when the whole house and the courtyard were on fire, and we barely got out of the windowpane, only in what we were sleeping. The Bible was lying under our heads, and we took it with us. Looking at our house burning, we said to each other: “Thank God! Even though the Bible survived, there is something to console us in the fire.” Therefore, all our property was burned, and brother left without a trace. We later found out when he began to drink and boast that he had taken the money and set the manor on fire.

There remained only myself, naked and barefoot, a wretched beggar, who, after borrowing a small hut to live in, began to live like a beggar. My wife was a skilled worker: she wove, spun, sewed, and got people to work, but she worked day and night, while I, because of my crippled hands, was unable even to weave braids. She would be weaving, and I would sit by her side reading the Bible, and she would listen, and sometimes she would cry. When I asked her, “What is it that made you cry, for God’s sake, we are alive!” She would answer, “I was very moved by the fact that the Holy Scripture is so beautifully written.” We also observed our grandfather’s precepts, frequently fasted, chanted the akathist of the Theotokos in the morning, and in the evening we made a thousand bows, so as not to be tempted. So we lived peacefully for two years. But what is strange is that although we had no idea or knowledge of inner prayer, which is being done in the heart, but we simply prayed in words, and we made meaningless bows like crazy, and although it was difficult to impose on ourselves long outward and meaningless prayers. Perhaps a teacher told me the truth that there is a secret prayer within a person that he himself does not know, how it is done, unknown within his soul, and it stirs him to pray, whatever one knows and is able to do.

    A fair Russian saying: “Man counts on, but God has,” said I, “my spiritual father came, too. I thought that today I would go the way to the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, and it turned out otherwise; an unforeseen case left me here for three more days. And I could not bear to not come and give you this news, and take a decision in my resolve at this unforeseen case which unexpectedly occurred in this way.”

            Look what happens on the path of life! And yet God and His holy providence govern our plans and intentions, and it is written: “And what we are seeking and want, is of God.” After hearing this, my spiritual father said: “I am glad, dear brother, that the Lord has unexpectedly provided to see you again soon. And since you are now free, I will gladly keep you longer, and you will tell me more about your instructive meetings along your long journey of wanderings. I have listened to all your previous stories with pleasure and attention. I am happy to help you do so, and I began to speak.

            There were many things, good and bad; there is too much to tell about everything, and many things have been forgotten, because I tried to remember only what led and stirred my lazy soul to prayer, and I rarely remembered anything else, or rather, I tried to forget the past, following the instructions of the holy Apostle Paul, who said: “I desire to be fully satisfied and to be secondly forgotten, but to be first in the mind of the one who is above.” And my late venerable elder said that the temptation to worship comes from two sides, evil and desire, that is, if the enemy does not have time to distract from prayer with vain thoughts and sinful intentions, then he recalls instructive memories or tells the reason for prayer, which is intolerable. And this is called clear robbery, in which the soul, having abandoned the conversation with God, turns to a satisfying conversation with itself or with animals. And he taught me that during prayer, one should not accept even the most beautiful spiritual thought, and after a day, if one happens to see that more time was spent in instructive reflection and conversation than in substantial meaningless prayer of the heart, then this should be considered as an excess, or as self-interest for the necessary, for spiritual greed in prayer. But one cannot forget everything. Some of it, of course, has sunk so deeply into my memory that I have not remembered it for a long time, but I remember, for example, one pious family to whom God entrusted me to stay for several days with the following incident.

During my voyage through my Tver province, I had to pass through some arid town. I had very little grain left and so I entered a house to beg for bread on the road. The landlord said to me: “Thank God you came at the right time. Just now my wife took the loaves out of the oven. Here, take this warm mat, and pray to God for us.” Thanking them, I began to put the bread in my bag, and the hostess, seeing this, said: “What a skinny sack, all worn out! I’ll change you a new one, and she gave me a good, firm sack. Thanking them heartily, I went on. At the exit, in a small grocery shop I asked for some salt, and the merchant poured some into a small bag for me. I was truly grateful to God for showing me such kind people. Look, I thought, now I will have no concern for food for a whole week, and I will sleep well and be satisfied. God bless your souls!

             Walking five versts from this town, I saw an impoverished village and a poor wooden church, but well-decorated on the outside and painted. As I passed by, I wanted to pay homage to the House of God and entered the churchyard to pray. Next to the church, on a lawn, there were two small children, about five or six years old. I thought that they were the priest’s children, although they were very well dressed. So I prayed, and continued walking. Not having gone ten steps from the church, I heard a scream behind me: “Begger! Beggar! Stop!” This was what the little boys were shouting and running towards me; they caught hold of my hand: Let’s go to our mother, she loves beggars. I am not a beggar, I told them, but a passing person. And what is this bag? “Let’s go with you, Mother will give you money for the journey.” And where is your mother? “Behind the church, next to the elm tree.”

             They took me to a wonderful garden in the middle of which I saw a magnificent manor house; we entered the pavilions, which were clean and decorated wonderfully! And out came Lady M. “Please, please!” I said. “Where has God sent you to us? Sit down, sit down, dear! She took my bag off me and placed it on the table, while she sat me down on a comfortable stool; would you like to eat or drink tea? And do you have any needs? I thank you all the time for your kindness and polite hospitality; I beg God to bless you for such an evangelical kindness.

Speaking these words, I felt a strong urge to return inside. A prayer had taken fire in my heart and I needed quietness and silence to give room to this spontaneous flame of prayer, to hide from people the external signs of prayer, such as tears, sighs, and unusual movements of the face and lips.

Then I stood up and said to her: Please forgive me, mother, I have to go. May the Lord Jesus Christ be with you and with your dear children. Alas, no! God save you from going, I will not let you go. It’s almost dusk, and my husband will arrive from the city, where he is serving as a judge in the district court. How happy he will be to see you! He considers every traveller to be an envoy of God. And if you go, he will be very upset not to see you: besides, tomorrow is Sunday, you will pray with us at lunchtime, and what God has sent, you will share. We have guests every holiday – up to thirty poor brothers of Christ. And what about telling me anything about yourself – where you are coming from and where you are going? Speak with me, I love to listen to spiritual conversations of godly people. Children, children! Take the traveller’s bag and take it into the hosiery room, and he will stay there. Hearing these words of hers, I was astonished, and I thought: Is it a real person that I am speaking to, or is it some kind of apparition?

            There was nothing to do, and we left. When we entered the garden so that I would be more comfortable keeping silent and not speaking, I bowed to the lady at her feet and said: I beg you, mother, in the name of God, tell me how long you have been living this godly life and how you have attained this piety? Perhaps I will tell you everything. Here you can see, my grandmother’s granddaughter, Saint Joasaf, whose relics rest in Belgorod. We had a large house in the city, whose outbuilding was rented by a poor nobleman. He eventually died, and his wife remained pregnant, gave birth and died after childbirth. The child was left an orphan, and my mother took him into her care. After a year, I was born. We grew up together and were taught by the same teachers and teacheresses, and we became accustomed to being like brothers and sisters. After a while, my father died, and our mother left the city life and came here to this village to live. When we came of age, she married me off to her own pupil, gave us this village, and built herself a cell where she settled in the monastery. Having given us our father’s blessing, she made us the following final request: that we live a Christian lifestyle, pray diligently to God, and, above all, make every effort to fulfill the most important commandment of God, that is, love for our neighbors; live simply and humbly, help the beggars who are Jesus’ brothers, raising and educating children. That is how we have lived here alone for ten years, trying to fulfill our mother’s final will as much as possible. We have a beggar, in whom more than ten people with disabilities and illnesses now reside; I suppose we will go to them tomorrow.

There is no book about prayer, I asked. I love to read about prayer. There is a new book about prayer, written by a priest from St. Petersburg. The gentleman gave an explanation of the Lord’s Prayer: Our Father, and we were happy to begin reading it. A little later, a lady came to us, brought some tea, and the children brought a whole cookie, all made of silver, like biscuits, which I had never eaten. The gentleman took the book from me, gave it to the lady, and said, “Here, let’s make her read it, she reads it wonderfully, and we can have something to eat.” The lady began to read, and we began to listen. As I listened to the reading, I also listened to the prayer being said, inside my heart; as the reading continued, the prayer grew stronger and more enjoyable for me. Suddenly, I saw someone quickly pass before my eyes, as if in the air, like my late grandfather. I started, but to hide it, I said, “Excuse me, I dozed off for a while.” Here I felt as if the spirit of the grandfather had penetrated my spirit, or had lit it up, and I felt some light in my mind and many thoughts about prayer. As soon as I made the Sign of the Cross and tried to banish these thoughts, the lady read the whole book, and the gentleman asked, “Do you like this work?” “Very much,” I answered, “and the Lord’s Prayer Our Father is superior and more precious than all the prayers we Christians have; for it is explained by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and the explanations given in this book are very good, but they are mostly directed to Christian activity, and I had to read in the holy fathers an esoteric, mystical interpretation of it.”

            Which book did you read it in? For example, in the Confession of Maximus the Confessor, and in the Prologue of Peter Damaskinos. Please, can you remember what, tell us! Please. The beginning of the prayer: “Our Father who art in heaven” . In the book that has been read, it is interpreted that under these words one should understand instilling brotherly love for one’s neighbor, as children of the one Father. This is very fair, but in the Holy Fathers the explanation is even deeper: they say that in this expression one should fix one’s mind on heaven, to the heavenly Father, and remember one’s obligation to constantly present oneself in the presence of God and to walk before God. The words: let your name be hallowed, are explained by the book with precision, so that one should not utter the divine name without reverence, or in an unjust oath, in other words, so that the most holy name of God should be pronounced with holiness and not be used uselessly; and the secret interpreters see here a direct request for inner heart prayer, that is, so that the most holy name of God should be imprinted on the heart and self-prayer should sanctify and consecrate all the feelings and spiritual powers. The words: may your kingdom come are interpreted by the secret interpreters as follows: may your inner world, peace and spiritual joy come to our hearts. In the book, it is interpreted that under the words: give us today our daily bread one should understand a petition for the necessities necessary for bodily life, not superfluous, but only necessary and help sufficient for others. And Maximus the Confessor, under the name of daily bread, understands nourishing the soul with heavenly bread, that is, with the Word of God, and uniting the soul with God, through God-understanding and constant inner prayer of the heart.

Oh, this is a great business, and almost impossible for the inhabitants of the world to achieve interior prayer, exclaimed Mr. Pan; although God helps us to send the external ones with no effort. Do not think so, Father, he said. If this were impossible and extremely difficult, then God would not have commanded it to everyone. His power is also in weakness; and the experienced saints propose methods that facilitate the path to inner prayer. Of course, for the hermits of the world, they indicate special and higher means, but even for laypeople they prescribe easy and guiding means to achieve interior prayer. I have never read about this in detail, said Mr. Pan. Please, please, I will read to you in the book Dobrotolyubye (The Love of Goodness). I brought my Dobrotolyubye, found the article by Peter Damascenus in part 3 on page 48, and began to read the following: “It is necessary to learn to call the name of God more than to breathe, in every time and place and matter. The Apostle says: Constantly pray, that is, he teaches that one should have things in mind if one does anything; that one should have a reason to remember and glorify God, and thus one is always praying, and one’s soul is always rejoicing.”

They really liked this. Mr. Pan embraced me with delight, thanked me, looked at my Dobrotolyubye, and said: “I will certainly buy myself such a book; I will soon get it from St. Petersburg; and for remembrance, I will copy this article that you have read, – tell me.” And he soon, perfectly copied it. Then he exclaimed: “My God! I do have an icon of St. Damaskinus (this is probably the icon of John Damaskinus). He took a frame, put a written sheet under the glass, and hung it under the icon, saying: “Here, the word of God’s intercessor, under his image, will often remind me to perform this helpful counsel in his activity.”

            After this, we went to dinner. We sat at the table, as usual, with all the people there – men and women. What a pious silence and quietness was at the table! After dinner, we all – people and children – prayed for a long time. They made me read the akathist to Jesus of the Most Gracious Name.

“After their ministers retired, the three of us remained in the room. The lady brought me a white shirt and stockings– I bowed down before her and said, ‘I will not accept your stockings, I am not a seamstress by birth, and we have always worn dresses. She ran back in and brought her old coat, fine yellow cloth, and cut it in two. The husband said, “These poor man’s pants are almost torn. He brought new boots and put them on his shoes. Then he said to me, “Go to that room.” I put on clothes and went out to them again. They sat me down on a chair and began to put on the boots. At first, I did not cooperate, but they ordered me to sit still and said, “Christ washed the feet of His disciples.” I had nothing to do, so I started crying, and they started crying as well.”

Accept my brother, I asked you not out of mere curiosity, but out of friendliness and Christian fellowship in you, and also because two years ago I saw an example that gave rise to my question to you. You see, a beggar came to us with a soldier’s pension certificate, an old man, very poor, almost naked and barefoot, speaking little and simply, as if he were a steppe peasant. We took him to our poorhouse; after a few days he fell seriously ill, so we moved him to this gazebo, put him at ease, and began to take care of him ourselves, my wife and I. He was close to death when he got up, asked me for a sheet of paper and a pen, asked me to close the door and not let anyone in while he wrote a will to his son, who asked me to send it to Petersburg to his address. I was surprised when I saw that he was writing not only in a beautiful, very educated handwriting, but also a wonderful, correct, and very tender document. I will read the will to you tomorrow; I have a copy.

Being in such a painful state, I realized my transgressions, repented, confessed, and gave freedom to all those people I served, vowed to torment myself with all kinds of work and hide in a wretched figure in order to suffer the consequences of my transgressions as the last servant of the lowest class of people. As soon as I firmly decided on this, the visions that disturbed me ended immediately. I felt such relief and joy from reconciliation with God that I cannot fully describe it. That is when I also learned firsthand what paradise means and how the kingdom of God is revealed within our hearts. Soon I recovered, fulfilled my intentions, and secretly left my native land with a soldier’s retirement passport. And for 15 years now, I have been wandering all over Siberia. Sometimes I took paid work for hard labor, and sometimes I supported myself by the name of Christ. Oh! Amid all these hardships, what happiness and peace of conscience I enjoyed! Only one who has been rescued from a terrible hell by the mercy of the intercessor can truly feel this. Having told this, he gave me his will to be sent to his son, and the next day he died. But here is a list of his will in my bag, which I put in my Bible. If you wish to read it, I will get it for you now. Please be kind!

In the name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Dear son,

It has been 15 years since you have not seen your father, but he remains in the unknown, occasionally reporting about you and nurturing paternal love for you, at the same time sending these last words to you as a lesson for life. You are aware of how I suffered for my indiscretion and careless life; but you do not know how I was blessed on my unknown journey, enjoying the fruits of repentance. I am peacefully dying in the care of my good God and in the benefactor of your kindred, because mercy effused upon the father is to be received by the considerate son. Give him my gratitude as much as you can. Leaving you my parental blessing, I beg you to remember God, to keep your conscience, to be careful, kind, and prudent; to treat your subordinates as kindly and lovingly as possible, not to despise beggars and strangers, remembering that the dying father is also tormented in poverty and misery of his soul.

            Invoking upon you the grace of God, I peacefully shut my eyes in the hope of eternal life, with the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

            Your father.

            So we lay down with the kind Herr and spoke. And so I asked him: I wonder, father, are you not without trouble and without concern with the diviner? After all, many of our brethren travellers wander around, or lie around, doing nothing, as I have seen. There have been few such cases, more and more true travellers are coming, he replied. So we give more praise and keep such idle people with us to live. They often improve and become humble and gentle people after living among our good beggars, the brothers of Christ. A few days ago, there was an example of this. One of the city’s townswomen became so decadent that everyone drove her out of their gates with sticks, and no one even gave her a piece of bread. She was hungry, violent, and a thief. In this state, she came to us, begging for bread and wine, to which he was an extraordinary hunter. We welcomed him kindly, saying: live with us, we will give you as much wine as you want, but only on condition that you go to bed as soon as you have drunk, otherwise, if you even have a little bit of disobedience, then not only will we curse you and never accept you, but I will also make you a relation like an executioner or a farmer, a wandering man. Having agreed to this, he stayed with us. For a week or more he actually drank a lot, as much as he wanted; but he always stuck to his promise and with kindness to the wine (to not lose it) went to bed, or went out into the garden, lay there and kept quiet. When he came to his senses, the beggar brothers persuaded him and gave him advice to hold back, although at first little by little. So he gradually began to drink less and, finally, after three months he became a restrained person and is now somewhere employed, and does not eat the other man’s bread. So on the third day he came to me to thank me. What wisdom, guided by love, has been done! I thought to myself and exclaimed: Blessed be God, who shows His grace in the gate of His gate!

            After these conversations, we with the Herr, having rested for an hour or a half, heard the morning service till dawn, gathered together and came in, and just as the good Herr was here, with his children. We listened to the morning service; and immediately after it, the Divine Liturgy began. We with the Herr, and with one little boy, stood at the altar, and the Herr and the Herress with the child at the altar window to see the deification of the Holy Gifts. My God! How they prayed together, and burst into tears of joy! How luminous their faces became, so that I watched them out of sheer emotion until I cried.After the service, the priest, the servants, and all the beggars went to the dinner table together, and there were up to forty beggars, including the lame, the sick, and children. They all sat down at the table. What a silence and silence! With courage, I said to the gentleman: In the convents, the lives of saints are read at mealtime; here, if you can, let me do it too. The gentleman turned to the lady and said: “Indeed, Masha, let’s make such a system. It would be insulting.” I read at the first lunch, then you, and then the priest, and then the brothers, one by one, who knows how. The priest, while eating, began to say: “I love to listen, but a humble servant can’t find the time to read or teach. When you come home, you don’t know how to return to all the chores and worries; there is something to do and something else to do; there are a lot of children, and there is plenty of cattle, and all day long there is a bustle, not to read or to preach. What you learned at seminary, you have forgotten long ago.” Heard this, I jumped, and the lady, sitting next to me, shook me by the hand and began to say: “The priest says this out of humility, he always humbles himself like this, and he is the kindest and most godly person in the world. For twenty years, he has been a widow and has raised a whole family of grandchildren, and he often serves.” At this, the words of Mykita Styfat in the Philokalia came to mind: “The inner mood of the soul measures the nature of things, that is, who one is, the person judges others.” And he goes on to say: “Who has attained true prayer and love, he has no discernment of things, he does not distinguish the righteous from the sinner, but he loves all equally and does not condemn, as God does; the sun shines and rains on both the righteous and the wicked.”I felt a prayerful desire, a strong need for prayerful outbursts, and solitude and silence were out of the question for the next day. I felt in my heart as if there was a flood that wanted to break through and flow into all the limbs, but the more I delayed it, the greater the pain in my heart became, a kind of consolation that demanded silent calm and filling with prayer. Here I discovered why genuine creators of prayer, who were self-serving in them, fled from people and hid themselves in obscurity, and I also understood why the Holy Elder Isichii and even a useful, but unrestrained, conversation is called chatter, as St. Ephrem the Syrian says: Good words are silver, and silence is pure gold. Meditating on all this, I went to the poor, where everyone was resting after lunch. I climbed up to the attic, calmed down, took a rest, and prayed. When the beggars arose, I found the blind man and took him outside the yard; we sat there alone, and began talking.

After reading this, I began to think that it was very convenient for me, and I started to pray silently over my sewing work, and I enjoyed it. Those who lived with me in the hut noticed this and began to laugh at me; are you a sorcerer who keeps muttering to yourself, or what are you praying for? In order to hide it, I stopped moving my lips and only began to pray in one language. Finally, I became so accustomed to praying that language itself spoke to me day and night, and I enjoyed it.We used to go with the blind man, walking slowly and gradually, at a pace of ten or twelve versts a day, and spending the rest of the time in secluded places, reading The Lover of Goodness. I read everything to him about heart prayer, according to the order indicated to me by my late father, that is, starting with the book Nicéphorus by the monk Gregory Sinai, and so on. With what avidity and attention did he listen to all this, and how much he enjoyed it! Then he began to ask me such questions about prayer that my mind was unable to answer them. Having read the necessary passages from The Lover of Goodness, he began earnestly to ask me to show him concretely how to find the heart by the mind, and how to bring the divine Name of Jesus Christ into it, and how to pray with an inner joy. I began to tell him: here you can see nothing, but you can imagine and imagine whatever you have seen before, that is, a person or some thing, or some part of yourself, for example, a hand or a leg, you can imagine it as vividly as if you were looking at it, and you can direct and focus your eyes on it, even if you are blind? Yes, I can, replied the blind man. So imagine your heart, turn your eyes, as if you were looking at it through your chest, and imagine it as quickly as possible, while listening carefully to its beat and its drumming beat by beat. Once you have got used to this, begin to use prayerful words with each beat of the heart, looking at it. Thus, with the first beat say or think Lord, with the second Jesus, with the third Christ, with the fourth have mercy, and with the fifth on me, and repeat this many times. This is convenient for you, because you already have the beginning and preparation for heart prayer. Once you get used to this, start introducing and withdrawing the entire Jesus prayer into the heart along with breathing, as the Fathers teach, that is, inhaling, say, imagine: Lord Jesus Christ, and exhaling, say, have mercy on me! Engage in this more often and more, and soon you will feel a fine and pleasant pain in your heart, then there will be warmth and throbbing in it. In this way, by God’s grace, you will achieve an inner prayer to your heart that gives you pleasure. But in doing so, be very careful not to have any visual images in your mind, and any kinds of images. Do not accept any images; for the Holy Fathers strongly forbid maintaining blindness during inner prayer, so as not to fall into vanity.The blind man, having listened to all this with respect, began to practice the procedure with diligence, and at night, when we stopped for the night, he mainly engaged in this for a long time. After a few days he began to feel intense warmth and an indescribable pleasure in his heart, and he had an unshakable passion for prayer, which opened the door to his love for Jesus Christ. At times he began to see light, although he saw no objects or things in it; sometimes it seemed to him, when he entered his heart, that a flame of a lit candle burned sweetly within the heart and, bursting out through the throat and shining light on it, allowed him to see even distant things, as happened one day.

      The Poor Man said to him: “Love Jesus Christ with all your heart and show your gratitude, but be careful not to accept visions as immediate revelations of grace. For this often happens, and is quite natural.” The human soul is relatively independent of place and matter. It can see in the dark, and even what is very distant, just as things that happen nearby. We simply do not give strength and drive to this spiritual faculty, and we suppress it, either by the drowsiness of our bodies or by the confusion of our thoughts and scattered thoughts. But when we focus on ourselves, become distracted from everything around us, and concentrate, then the soul enters its proper sphere and acts to the fullest extent, which is its nature. I have heard from my deceased elder that not even prayerful people are able to do so, but those who are capable or suffering, in a dark room can see light, as it emerges from all things, distinguish objects, feel their double, and penetrate into another’s thoughts. And that when we pray with the heart, it proceeds directly from the grace of God, it is so enjoyable that no word can say it, and nothing of a material kind can be applied or compared to it. All the sensual is low in comparison to the sweet sensations of grace in the heart. My blind man listened to this with diligence, and became even more humble; his heartfelt prayer developed more and more, and was pleasing to him. I rejoiced at this from my heart and thanked God that He had allowed me to see such a blessed servant of His.

          Finally, we came to Tobolsk, I took him to the asylum, left him there, and, with loving farewells, went on my way.

For a month I walked slowly and deeply felt how instructive and encouraging good living examples were; I often read “The Motherly Care of Detectives of Piety” and believed everything I had told the blind prayer devotee. His instructive example burst into me a zeal for God’s service, gratitude, and love; the prayer of the heart so pleasantly impressed me that I wondered whether anyone on earth was happier than I, and wondered what greater and more cheerful indulgence there could be in the kingdom of heaven. I not only felt this within my soul, but all things before me appeared in their wonderful form, and all attracted me to love and thanksgiving to God; people, trees, plants, animals – everything was dear to me, and I saw an image of the name of Jesus Christ in everything. Sometimes I felt such lightness as if I had no body, and did not walk, but instead floated in the air like a feather; sometimes I entered myself completely and clearly saw all my desires, marvelling at the wise composition of the human body; sometimes I felt such joy as if I had become a king and, for everyone’s sake, wished that God would hasten to die and pour forth praises at His feet in the realm of spirits.

Trial on the Road and the Story of an Old Soldier

It was evident that I was excessively enjoying these sensations, whether because it was a matter of God’s will, but after a while I felt a tremor and fear in my heart. I thought, ‘could it be that I am again experiencing some calamity or trouble, like that for the girl I taught the Lord’s Prayer in the chapel.’ Thoughts began to rush upon me and I remembered the words of St John of Kappadocia, who says that he who frequently teaches hand over himself to shame and suffers calamities and temptations for those who have profited from him spiritually. Facing these thoughts, I intensified my prayer by which I rejected them entirely, and was encouraged and said to myself: ‘It is the will of God!’ I was ready to endure anything that Jesus Christ would not send me because of my wickedness and pride. Besides, the ones I had recently revealed the secret of the heart’s entrance and inner prayer to were also prepared for our meeting directly by a secret teaching of God. Calmed by all this, I went happily and prayed again, and enjoyed the old days. For two days it was rainy weather, and the road was so muddy that it was scarcely possible to pull my feet out of the dirt, and I walked through the plain. I did not meet a single village; finally, in the early evening, I saw a yard near the road, and I thought: “Here I will ask for a rest and spend the night, and tomorrow morning, if God gives us permission: maybe the weather will be better.”

I sat there, thinking that she would not calm down soon, and said to her: Mother, where should I sleep? I am tired from the road. Here is my bed, father, and I put a bench next to the front window, spread the bed and put my pillow on it. I lay down and closed my eyes, as if I were sleeping. The housekeeper rummaged around for a long time; finally she got up, put out the fire and went to me. Suddenly, the whole window, which was in the front corner, the frame, the panes and the pieces of the door frame, broke with a terrible crash, the whole house shook, and a painful groan, scream and banging sounded outside the window. The grandmother jumped in fright to the middle of the room and fell to the floor. I jumped up, not knowing what to do, thinking that the earth was opening up under me. I saw two yamniks bring a man into the house, covered in blood, so that his face was not visible. This was even more terrifying for me. It was the valet who had been riding in here to change the horses. The yamnik, having failed to turn correctly into the gate, banged the window out, and as there was a ditch in front of the house, the carriage turned over, and the valet, falling, severely hit his head on the sharp pole that was attached to the hitch, which was defective. The valet asked for water and wine to wash his wound, smeared it with wine, and himself drank a glass and shouted: Horses! I stood by him, saying: How do you feel, father, with such pain? The valet was once sick, he answered, and rode off. The peasant women dragged the grandmother to the fireplace in a corner without feeling, covered her with a blanket, saying: It was a dream she had from fright; she will recover. And the caretaker was hung-over and went back to bed.

     nbsp;       Six years after this incident, passing by a women’s monastery, I went into the church to pray. A strange abbess took me inside after lunch and ordered tea. Suddenly, unexpected guests arrived, and she went out to meet them, leaving me alone with the nuns, her cloistered sisters. The humble nun who poured the tea surprised me by asking: how long have you been here at this monastery, mother? Eight years, she replied; I was brought here madly, and God was gracious here. That is how the abbess left me in the cloister and took her vows. What madness has happened to you? I asked. It was terror. I was sent to work at such a point and at night during sleep, the horses broke my window, I was terrified, and I went mad. My relatives took me to holy places for a whole year, and here I was just cured. When I heard this, I was flooded with joy and praised God, wisely for the good of one who builds.

     nbsp;       There were many different instances, I said to my father. If we tell them in order, we won’t finish in three days. There is one more occasion to tell about.

A meeting with a village priest and a devout girl

  nbsp;nbsp;On a clear summer day, I saw a cemetery near the road, or what is called a cemetery, that is, a church, and some houses for clergymen. A benediction was celebrated at noon; and I went there. People from the surrounding area were also going there; and others, not reaching the church, sat on the grass and, seeing me, who was hurrying, told me: don’t hurry; sit quietly until the service begins; it seems that they worship here for a very long time, the priest is sick, and he is such a fat man. Indeed, the service lasted very long; the priest was young, but thin and pale, and he acted very slowly, however, very devoutly, and at the end of the divine service, he made a wonderful clear sermon about the ways of attaining love for God.

The priest invited me to his room for lunch. At the table I said to him, ‘How piously and for so long you serve!’ “Yes,” he replied, “although this does not please the parishioners and they complain, but there is nothing to do; for I love every prayerful word first to think it over and take delight in it, and then to speak it aloud, and otherwise, without inner experience and compassion, every word spoken will be useless both for myself and for others; the whole point is in inner life and attentive prayer!” And how little people are engaged in inner work! This is because they do not want to, do not care for spiritual, inner education,” the priest said. I asked him again, “And how is it to be achieved?” This seems very difficult. In order to be spiritually enlightened and to be an attentive inner person, you should take one text from the Holy Scripture and keep your attention and thoughts on it for as long as possible, and the light of understanding will open up. You should also do the same in prayer: if you want it to be pure, correct and fruitful, you should choose a short, simple prayer with strong words, repeat it many times and for a long time, and you will feel the sweetness of prayer. I was very pleased with this teaching of the priest, as it is practical and simple, yet deep and wise at the same time! I mentally thanked God for showing me such a true shepherd of his church.

I was a young and beautiful girl; my parents arranged my marriage: in order to have a wedding tomorrow, the groom came to us, and suddenly, without taking ten steps, he fell down and died, never breathing! I was so frightened that I refused to marry and decided to live in celibacy and go to holy places to pray to God. However, I was afraid to set out on the road, in case I was rebuked by evil people because of my youth. An acquaintance of mine, an old woman, taught me how, wherever I go along the road, I should constantly recite the prayer of Jesus, and firmly assured me that, under this prayer, no misfortune could happen on the road. I believed this, and I walked safely, even to distant holy places; my parents gave me money for this.& nbsp; & nbsp; I lived alone for three years. The boy who served me had quick skills and did all my household chores, cleaned the room, stoked the stove, cooked my porridge, brewed the samovar. But at the same time he was an extremely frisky idle person, constantly running about, knocking, shouting, playing and disturbing me very much; and I, because of my illness and boredom, always liked to read religious books. I had a wonderful book by Gregory Palami about the Lord’s Prayer; I almost constantly read it, while making the prayer itself. My boy bothered me, and no threats or punishments could keep him from his tricks. Well, I came up with a way to do it: I sat him on the desk in the room, ordering him to constantly recite the Lord’s Prayer. At first he did not like it very much, and he tried to avoid it as much as possible and often chanced. So I devised a remedy: I kept a knife near me. When he was reciting the prayer, I quietly read a book or listened to him recite; but as soon as he fell silent, I showed him the knife, and he was afraid and began to recite the prayer again; and this calmed me down, because there was silence in my house. After a while I noticed that I no longer needed the knife, the boy became more willing and more diligent in fulfilling my orders; afterwards I saw a complete change in his lively character, he became quiet and quiet, and did the housework better. This pleased me, and I began to give him more freedom. In the end, what happened? He got so used to praying that he almost always did it without any coercion on my part. When I asked him about it, he replied that he simply wanted to pray all the time. What do you feel while doing that? Nothing, I only feel that it’s good for me when I pray. But how can you say that? It’s fun, isn’t it? Yes, it’s fun.[…] Thank God, I hadn’t received some other disaster; because alas, I may yet have received not only the fruitless labour labour, but some worse disaster; for I received no good from it, but only indifference. He was already 12 years old when the war broke out in Crimea, and I went to see my daughter in Kazan, and he came with me. They put him in the kitchen with other people, and he was very sad because of this, and he complained to me that people, playing and chatting among themselves, also mocked him and impeded him in his prayer; and finally, after just three months, he came to me and said: I am going home; I am bored here and it is noisy. I told him: How can you go so far alone and in winter? Wait until I go, then I will take you with me. The next day my boy disappeared. Everyone went looking for him, but no one found him. Finally, I received a letter from people who had remained in our village in Crimea, saying that my boy had been found dead on April 4, two days after Easter, in my empty house. He was lying on the floor in my room, his hands on his chest, the cap under his head and in the same cold dug-out he had worn when he had come to stay with me and had gone. So they buried him in my garden. When I received this news, I was very surprised at how quickly the boy had found his way to the village. He had gone on February 26, and on April 4 he had been found dead. In one month he had travelled about three thousand kilometres, thank God, even on horseback. After all, he would have to travel a hundred kilometres a day. And besides, he did so in cold clothing, without a passport or a single coin. Suppose someone did pick him up along the way, but that’s all without any special plan or care from God. Here’s my boy, said Father, he has tasted the fruit of prayer, and I, at my old age, still haven’t understood its measure.

After this I began to address the Righteous Father: “Oh, master, the book by St Gregory Palamas, which you wanted to read, I know. But in it everything is mostly about the inaudible Jesus prayer, whereas if you read the book called Dobrotstolubiye, you will find the complete and perfect doctrine of how to achieve the spiritual Jesus prayer in the mind and heart, and to taste the sweetest fruit of it; at the same time I showed him my Dobrotolubolie (Caritas). He, I noticed, willingly accepted my advice and promised to get a copy of such a book.

            My God, I thought to myself, what wondrous wonders of God’s power cannot come from this prayer! And how wisely and instructively this event took place; the boy was severely schooled in prayer, and it even served as a means of consolation! Are not these very occurrences of God’s power the same as our sorrows and misfortunes that we encounter on the prayer path? And why do we fear and be disquieted when the hand of our heavenly Father, full of boundless love, shows them to us, and when these tribulations teach us to study prayer more diligently and lead us to an inconceivable consolation?”After finishing these narratives, I said to my spiritual father: Forgive me, for God’s sake, I have already spoken much, and the holy fathers consider talking, although it is spiritual, but not measured, as nonsense. I must go to see my companion from Jerusalem. Pray for me, hopeless sinner, that the Lord, with his great mercy, will arrange my path for good. Almighty God, we wish, my dear brother in Christ, he replied, and the grace of God lights your path and accompanies you, like the angel Raphael with you!

            One of these ways is common to both success in prayer and success in the Christian life, and it goes something like this: unconditional obedience, as Simeon the New Theologian says; works of good works and asceticism, as the Church says in its hymns: “the works you did find, divinely inspired, in visions from the East” (Tropes of the Holy Fathers); external prayer for internal prayer: Lord, teach us to pray ; special gracious influences , such as: Capso Calivite once put her hand to the icon of the Mother of God, after two years of prayer to her, suddenly felt sweetness and warmth falling into her heart; the young Georgi, during a simple prayer, suddenly saw an inner light and accepted an incessant automatic prayer, etc.

            There are also other essential ways that seem to be directly related to internal prayer. There are three of them, as we find in the Holy Fathers.

            1) The part of calling upon the name of Jesus Christ;

            2) The attention paid to this calling; and

            3) The entrance into oneself, or, as the Church Fathers put it, the entrance of the mind into the heart.

            Since these methods essentially open the kingdom of God to us quickly and conveniently, and reveal the treasure of internal spiritual prayer in our hearts, it is very proper to call them the keys to this hidden ark.

First Key: Invocation of the Name of Jesus Christ

          If quantity leads to quality, then frequent, almost continuous invocation of the name of Jesus Christ, though initially scattered, can lead to attention and warmth of the heart. Since the human nature is capable of assimilating a familiar feeling through frequent use and habit. To learn to do something well, one should do it much more often, as a spiritual writer once said; and St. Isaac says that frequency generates habit and turns to nature (chapter 7). This, as observed by experienced men, is the case with regard to inner prayer as follows: one who wishes to achieve inner prayer decides to invoke the Divine Name frequently, almost continuously, i.e. to utter the Jesus Prayer orally: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner; sometimes it is even abbreviated, i.e. Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, as St. Gregory of Sinai teaches. He adds that the abbreviated invocation is more convenient for the beginner, but does not exclude either one or the other, advising only not to frequently change the verbs of prayer, so as to become more accustomed to the invocation. And in order to further incite oneself to the continuous making of prayer, the student considers himself to be in a rule by looking at the time, knowing the number of times to invoke, i.e. to pronounce a certain number of hundred or thousand prayers with pen and paper during the day and night, not hurriedly, but by speaking, straining the tongue and lips. After some time, the mouth and the tongue of the practiced person obtain such a habit, that they move spontaneously without much effort by themselves, even without a voice. Then the mind listens to this movement of the tongue and gradually becomes purified from distraction and comes to attention to prayer. Finally, the frailty of the mind in the heart, as the fathers express it, i.e. the mind, having returned to the heart, warms it with the warmth of divine love, and the heart itself becomes free, without coercion, with inexpressible joy in invoking the Name of Jesus Christ and pouring out a plea: My heart watches. The fruitfulness of the frequent intellectual invocation of the Name of Jesus Christ was marvellously expressed by St. Isaac: as the rain that descends on the earth increases, it also moistens the earth, just as the earth of our heart, when the Name of Jesus Christ is invoked frequently and joyfully, produces and delights the heart.

            Although the method shown, based on the experiences and observations of the holy Fathers, is sufficient to provide a convenient guide to achieve the desired goal of inner prayer, there are also higher methods, so to say: the attention of the mind in the heart. This first method belongs primarily to those who have not yet been accustomed to attention and are not yet able to successfully work on the heart, or else it can be an introduction and supposition to the following methods. However, depending on the properties and abilities of each person, whichever is more convenient for them, they choose it, as Niketas the Monk says.

The second key: The attention of the mind in the heart

Attention is the maintenance (preservation) of the mind, as St. Nikon the Ascetic expresses it, or attention is the gathering of the mind towards itself, and its deepening into one particular subject, while all foreign thoughts and delusions are omitted. As it is necessary when praying, this is assured by the Holy Calist and Ignatius, quoting the words of St. Nil Posnik, that attention, which seeks prayer, will inevitably draw it to itself; for prayer, in its turn, imitates more than any other thing regarding it, and it is worth careful consideration

(Dobrotolyubie, II. 24). Similarly, St. Hysamius writes: as you listen attentively to thoughts, the soul will be stirred by the desire to pray (chapter 90); and further: the atmosphere of the heart’s joy and stillness is filled with vigilant attention (chapter 91), which “is so necessary for prayer as the lamp for the lamp’s light” (chapter 102). Likewise, Nikon the Ascetic, in expounding his teaching on inward prayer, concludes that if it is not convenient, following his example, to enter into the heart, then one should employ every kind of attention in prayer, which without any doubt will open the doorway to the heart and develop inner prayer, as is confirmed in the Old Testament Scriptures, which says, without any doubt, that without attention it is not possible to communicate with God, saying: “All events attend to know that I am God.”

            So, those who wish to attain inner prayer by means of attention should be as isolated as possible, avoid conversation with people, should not hasten with prayer or say much suddenly, but rather should develop it with a certain exposition, with the help of attention, on the basis of prayerful expressions, as when reading a book carefully, sometimes calling for its consideration, and pleading for its consolation, as it asks: sometimes, producing one prayer, to keep silent for a while, as if waiting for the answer of God, trying to maintain attention both in the case of distraction, and always keeping in mind that you have dared to stay in unceasing prayerful attention, in the purification of the mind from thoughts.

Third key: Calm breathing and rhythm

            The third key is the entering into the self or the heart. Without rehearsing on this point with our considerations, we will present the imagery and the teaching of the Fathers on self-penetration and entry into the heart, based on the ways tried by them as faithful guides to true spiritual internal prayer. The instructions about this on the part of the Holy Fathers will be presented here with their own words, arranged into three rows for convenience, in the following order:

The first row will be made up of the Fathers who left us a complete instruction on the Jesus Prayer, to wit: 1) St. Symeon the New Theologian, 2) Gregory Sinaite, 3) Nikifor the Monk, and 4) the Ascetics Calist and Ignatius of Xanthopulou.

            The second row consists of the Fathers who left us short but pithy statements on internal prayer, namely: 1) Theodoret, 2) Anatolius, 3) Olympius, 4) Isacius, 5) Isocrates, 6) Irineus, 7) Adrianus, and 8) Clement of Alexandria. These statements will be presented in italics.

1) St. Symeon the New Theologian, 2) Philoefor of Sinai, 3) Feolypte, Metropolitan, and 4) Varsonyof and Ioann. We place Abba Filimon in third place for his spiritually edifying story. He mentions the whole course of asceticism over and over again.By doing this, you will straighten out a true and unobstructed path to the third form of prayer, which is as follows: May the mind keep the heart in motion while it is praying, and may it turn continually within it, and from that depth of the heart may it send prayers to God. This is everything: work like this until you taste the Lord. When, at last, the mind is there, inside the heart, and the heart senses that the good Lord is present, it will no longer want to move away from the place of its being; it will say, like St. Peter, It is good for us to be here, and it will always look within the heart and turn there without ceasing, driving away all the thoughts that the devil sows. For those who have no idea about this matter and do not know it, it often seems difficult and oppressive. But those who have tasted the sweetness that it has and have enjoyed it in the depths of their heart, they cry out with St. Paul and say: Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Why did our holy fathers, hearing the Lord say that evil thoughts of murder, adultery, fornication, adultery, theft, false testimony, calumny, and that this is the sin of man’s heart, also hearing that in another place of the Gospel we are commanded to cleanse the inner vessels, so that the outer one also may be clean, have abandoned every other spiritual work and have devoted themselves entirely to this one task, namely to the preservation of the heart, being convinced that together with this work they can acquire all virtue, and without it they will never reach any good. They practiced it predominantly and wrote about it. Those who wish may read their writings, and may read what Mark the ascetic has written about it, what John the Revelator has said, Abba Isaac, Philotheus of Sinai, Abba Isaac, Barsonofius the Great, and others.

         There are three things to abide by above all else: concern for all, even the blessed, and not only the unblessed and temporal things, or else death to everything, a pure conscience in everything, so that it does not accuse us in anything, and perfect impartiality, so that your thought does not turn to any thing. Then sit in a special and silent place alone, close the door, turn your mind away from every temporal and vain thing, bow your head to your bosom, and thus keep attentive inside yourself (not in your head, but in your heart), returning your mind and senses to it and keeping them. Having your mind there, try to find it in every way, where the heart is, so that when you find it, your mind is already fully present there. First, you will find there a kind of darkness and hardness; but then, if you continue this practice of attentiveness day and night, you will obtain a certain unceasing joy. The mind, straining itself in this, will come to the place of the heart, and then it will immediately see there things that it has never seen or known. From this moment, from whatever side a thought arises or appears, before it enters inside and thinks or imagines, the mind immediately chases it away and destroys it in the name of Jesus, that is, our Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me! From this moment on, the mind will begin to be angry at the demons, to chase them away and defeat them. But what usually follows this discipline, with the help of God, you will learn from experience yourself, by preserving attention and keeping Jesus, that is, his prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!

2) Instructions of the Holy Grigory of Sinai

St. Gregory Sinaite expounds the teaching about inner prayer in the heart and the method of practice in three of his articles on silence and prayer, which are found in the Good Counsel part 1, c. 112-19. Here is a short excerpt from them:

            We should take up the spirit of life toward Christ Jesus, a pure prayer in the heart, and speak with the Lord like cherubim; but we, not understanding the grandeur, honor and glory of the grace of regeneration, and not caring to grow in spirit through the fulfillment of the commandments, and to attain the state of wise contemplation, indulge in neglect, through which we fall into passionate habits and plunge into the abyss of insensitivity and darkness. It sometimes happens that we even hardly remember whether God exists, and how we should be, as children of God by grace, we do not know at all. We believe, but with an inactive faith, and after being renewed by the Spirit at baptism, we do not stop living carnal. If sometimes, after repentance, we begin to fulfill the commandments, we do it only outwardly, not spiritually, and in addition we alienate ourselves from spiritual life, so that what is manifested in others appears to us as wrongs and errors. So until death, we remain dead in spirit, living and acting not for Christ, and not corresponding to that definition that the person born of the Spirit must be spiritual.

Meanwhile, the faith we have received in holy baptism, if we do not remove it by works of salvation, is buried in the earth like a treasure. But prudence and gratitude require us to work to bring it to light. How can this be done? There are two ways to do this: first, this gift is revealed by the painstaking performance of the commandments, so that the more we observe them, the more this gift becomes manifest; second, it comes to light and is revealed by the continuous calling of the Lord Jesus Christ, or, that is, by the constant remembrance of God. The first of these means is powerful, but the second is even more powerful, so that the first is empowered by it. Therefore, if we truly wish to uncover the hidden seed of grace within us, we must hasten to wean ourselves away from this second meditation and acquire the one and only habit of prayer in our hearts, without merely appearing to do it, until it has become the work of our prayer, inflaming our hearts with an ineffable love for the Lord. The effect of this prayer in the heart is twofold: sometimes the mind goes before, attaching itself to the Lord in the heart by constant remembrance, and at other times the action of prayer, having first been kindled by the warmth of the heart, draws the mind into the heart and fixes it on the Lord’s calling and devout disposition. In the first case, the action of prayer begins to be manifest, overcoming passions through the performance of commandments, through the warmth of the heart, and through the intensified calling of Lord Jesus Christ; in the second, the spirit draws the mind into the heart and keeps it there, restraining it from its usual wanderings. With this kind of prayer, the mind is either active or contemplative: with action it overcomes passions with the help of God, and with contemplation it sees God as far as humanly possible.

            When one’s mind becomes exhausted in such work, and one’s body and heart become ill from the intense effort of daily calling upon the Lord Jesus, then rise up and sing, or meditate on a passage of Scripture, or think about death, or read, or do needlework, or something else.

When you engage in this act of prayer, then it is appropriate for you to read only such books as contain teachings about the inner life, about sobriety and prayer, especially The Ladder of the Holy Mountains, the words of Isaac the Syrian, the ascetic books of Maximus the Confessor, St. Symeon the New Theologian, Ezechiel, Philo of Sinai, and others. Written works of another kind are best left for a later time, not because they are bad, but because it is unfitting for you to deal with them in your present state of mind and aspiration: they may distract your mind from prayer. Read not much, but with deepening and assimilation.

            Do not abandon prayer either. Some keep a large prayer rule, others abandon the prayer book altogether, praying to the Lord with one reasonable prayer. You should choose the middle way: do not add many prayers because this causes confusion, but neither should you abandon them, in the event of weakness or relaxation. If you observe that prayer operates within you and does not cease to move in your heart, do not abandon it and do not start a prayer book. This would mean abandoning God within you; to go outside and extend a conversation to Him. For those who do not yet have the operation of prayer, it is necessary to pray a great many prayers, and even excessively, in order constantly to be in such a pain-filled, multifaceted prayer, until the inner heart is heated by such painful work of prayer and the operation of prayer begins within it. Once someone has tasted this grace, one should pray in moderation, and be more in rational prayer, as the Fathers commanded. In the event of a relaxation of the inner, it is necessary to pray or read the writings of the Fathers. Excessive gymnastic exercise is appropriate when the wind has inflamed the sails; they are needed when the wind dies down and the boat comes to a stop.

            A great weapon against enemies is possessed by he who keeps his tears broken in prayer, in order not to be crushed by the delusions offered by prayer. One who preserves such a heart of joy will avoid all harm. The true, not magical, interior prayer is one in which the warmth, arising from the prayer of Jesus, puts fire into the heart’s soil and inflames its affections, like a volcano. It illuminates the soul with joy and light, and comes not from the clear land of a country, nor even from above, but penetrates from the heart, like a spring of water, from the life-giving Spirit. Love this one and return to acquire it in your heart, keeping your mind always not dreamy. With it you do not fear anything; for He who said, “Rejoice, I will not be afraid, is Himself with us.”

  Nikifor the Monk explains in his article on sobriety and the keeping of the heart (Part 2, p.36-43) how to enter into the heart. 

  Those who wish to receive the fire of the heavenly heart through their feelings, and to experience the Kingdom of Heaven for themselves, come and I will tell you the art of the heavenly life, or rather an art that introduces the creator therein by means of effort and hard work.  Through fallenness we have fallen outside; return to yourself, by turning away from the external. Making peace with God and becoming one with Him is impossible for us unless we first return to ourselves and enter within. Only inner life is truly Christian life. All the Fathers testify to this. 

  Yet a brother asked Avva Agathon:[br] What is more important, bodily labor or the keeping of the heart? The elder replied: A man is like a tree; bodily labor is the foliage, and the keeping of the heart is the fruit. Since, as the scriptures say, every tree that does not bear good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire, it is evident that you should devote all your care to the fruit, i.e. to the keeping of the heart. Nevertheless, for us, a leafy covering is also necessary, i.e. bodily labor. 

  St. Lysician says: shut the doors of the cell for the body, the doors of the mouth for the tongue, and the inner doors for the evil spirits. While sitting at a height (i.e. fixing the mind on the heart), watch, if you are capable, what and in what number approach the mother to enter the vineyard of your heart and to ripen the grapes. Having worked, the caretaker (i.e., listens to the heart), having risen to pray, then sits down again and courageously takes up the same task (i.e., attention to the heart and prayer). 

  St. Makariy the Great teaches that the main task of the ascetic is to enter into his heart, to create a struggle against Satan and resist his thoughts, to fight against him. 

  St. Isaac the Syrian writes: “If you enter into your inner treasury, you will see the heavenly treasure. Inside you, the gateway into the kingdom of heaven is hidden; in your heart. Therefore, wash yourself from sin, and conceal yourself in your heart; there you will get the steps by which to ascend into the heights.” 

  Here is a saying of Carpia: much struggle and effort is necessary in prayer to find a directed state of thoughts, it is the other heaven of the heart, where Christ lives, as the Apostle says: “Do you not know that Christ lives in you?” 

Here are the words of St. Symeon the New Theologian: Since the time when man was exiled from Paradise and removed from God, the devil and demons have had the freedom to invisibly move the illusory power of every person day and night. There is no other way to protect oneself from this kind of reason than by constantly remembering God. Anyone who remembers God can restrain his mind from wandering and his thinking power too. Just as this is the teaching of the Holy Fathers. It is almost always acquired from others through teaching. Very rarely have people received it directly from God, because of the warmth of their faith. Therefore, it is necessary to seek out a teacher who knows the business. If there is no such teacher, then, with the help of God in the chastening of the heart and tears, do what I tell you.

            Together with such a lofty and joyful entry into the heart and worthy of its attention, the whole face of virtues comes to us: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, and more.

4) Advice of Kalistos and Ignaty Ksanatopulos

            Kalistos and Ignaty Ksanatopulos depict their lessons on inner repentance in the heart in a total of a hundred sections contained in the Dobrotolubiya (part 2, pp. 56-131). Here is the main thing for us:

            The beginning of life in God is zeal and all efforts to live by the saving commandments of Christ; the end is the manifestation of what is beautifully imagined in us by the divine grace of baptism, or what is the same, to put on the old man with his actions and desires, and to put on the new spiritual one, as the divine Paul says: My child, let those things be hidden in you, even as far as Christ is present in you.

            When we are baptized, says St. Zlatoust, then our soul shines more than the sun, is cleansed by the Holy Spirit. Like the pure silver that lies against the sun’s rays, and it also radiates, not by its own being, but through its illumination by the sun; so the soul, cleansed in baptism, receives the rays of the glory of the Spirit, and is itself inwardly glorious. But, alas! this glory, ineffable and terrible, only for one or two days remains in us, and then we extinguish it, by bringing about a storm of worldly worries and passionate affairs.

            In the divine basins, that is, in the holy bath, in the tunny we receive the perfect divine grace. If, after this, we hide it under the dusty veil of worldly worries and passions, we can restore it again and purify it with repentance and the fulfillment of God’s commandments, and see its natural radiance. This happens in proportion to each person’s faith and the ardour of efforts to live by faith, especially with the blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ. St. Mark says: Christ, this perfect God, gave the perfect grace of the Holy Spirit to those who were baptized, which requires no programme from us; it unfolds itself in us and is clearly accomplished in proportion to the fulfillment of the commandments, until we reach the fulfilment of Christ in accordance with our age.

Therefore, realizing our weakness and putting all our hope in the Lord, loving the commandments with the willingness to give up our very lives rather than violate any of them, let us devote all our efforts to getting used to and establishing this uninterrupted invocation of the salvific name of the Lord, which is destructive of every evil and constructive. To help us do this, the holy fathers pointed out a specific activity, calling it the art of arts. We offer here Saint Nikon’s natural art, how to enter within the heart through breathing, which greatly contributes to the concentration of thoughts.Let it be known that if we teach our mind to go along with the breath into the heart, then we will also see that, going there, it becomes one and undivided, holding on to a single thought and call to our Lord Jesus Christ. On the other hand, when it goes out and draws to external objects, it is reluctant to divide into many thoughts and memories. In order to maintain the simplicity and separateness of the mind, it is prescribed by experienced fathers that one who desires to acquire the habit of inclining the mind to chant in the heart should sit in a silent and dark place, especially at the beginning of this good endeavor. For seeing external objects is naturally the cause of dispersing thoughts. When a silent and dark atrium hides them from us, the thought becomes more easily gathered in itself, as Basil the Great says: the mind, which is not distracted by the senses to the world, turns to itself.

Pay close attention to the fact that the essence of this effort lies in a one-minded, heartfelt, pure and unbroad call to our Lord Jesus Christ, and not in this alone, of going to the heart through breathing and sitting in a silent and dark place. All this and the like were invented by the fathers not for any other purpose than to provide a means of gathering thoughts and returning them to ourselves from their usual wandering. But from the habit of being gathered and listening to ourselves, a habit of pure and unfeeling prayer with the mind in the heart is born.

            And know also that all such modifications of the body are prescribed, are defined by detailed rules, and are considered necessary until the pure, unceasing prayer enters the heart. When, however, by the favor and grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ you have reached this, having forsaken many and various works, you will have a more united word with the one Lord of the pure and undistracted heart prayer than with the many modifications.

            Therefore, if you wish to experience the life of Christ Jesus, try to achieve the ability to pray to the Lord in the heart at any time and in any hour, and in every matter, in a pure and unceasing manner, so that you may thus, from the age of an infant, reach the state of a full-grown man, in keeping with age, in performing the works of Christ. Remember also that when, at times, a pure and undistracted prayer comes to you, you must in no case spoil it by your prayer rules. Thus does Philimon teach: whether at night or in the day, the Lord will give you the opportunity to sense pure and undisturbed prayer, and you should then abandon your rules and, to the best of your ability, try to cling to the Lord God, so that He may enlighten your heart in spiritual works.

            When, however, you have attained a permanent state of prayer in the heart, then, as Isaac the Syrian says, you have attained the end of all virtues and have become the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit; then prayer will not cease, whether you are sitting, standing, eating, drinking, or doing something else; even in the depths of sleep, prayer fragrances will flow from the heart easily; if it is silent during sleep, it will nevertheless act secretly within, without interruption.

2nd group of instructions

1) Words of Isaiah the Precursor

            1) Attention is a continuous absence of thought from the silence of the heart, in which it breathes, constantly and continuously, calling on Christ Jesus, the Son of God and God, and only Him, and standing steadfastly against its enemies, and having the power to leave sins (to confess them).

            2) Composure is the firm establishment and residence of the mind at the door of the heart, so that it sees how foreign thought, these thieves and robbers, come close, hears what they say and do, and how these destroyers, by means of demons, draw up and enclose an image in an attempt to deceive the mind by means of dreams and allure it. If we are to pass through this action with difficulty, it will clearly show us the technique of mental fear (chapter 6).

3) Images of sobriety: the first is to look unremittingly towards the dream or by example; the second is to always have a heart that is profoundly silent and mute without thought, and to pray; the third is to constantly call upon the help of the Lord Jesus Christ in humility; the fourth is to always have a constant remembrance of death; the fifth is the most effective of all – to look only to heaven, never blaming the earth for anything (chapters 14-18).

         8) The devil, as a roaring lion, roams about with his legions of demons to destroy any who fall into their power. Let us never cease to keep watch over our hearts, keep healthy, have a straightforward mind, and pray to our Lord Jesus Christ, our God. For no help can be found greater than the help that Jesus alone, as our Lord and God, gives us throughout our lives, for He alone knows demons’ schemes and diabolic devices (chap. 39).

            9) In the same way as the savour of salt makes bread and other food palatable, preserves meat from putrefaction and keeps it whole for a long time, so too be aware of the wise way to preserve the delights of the inward life and its magnificent activities. For this delightfully makes both the inner and the external man feel well, banishes the stench of petty thoughts and keeps us steadfast in good deeds (chap. 87).

            10) The more attentively you listen to your reason, the more willingly you will pray to Jesus; and conversely, the more you are inattentive to your reason, the more you will depart from Jesus. And, as the first one strongly illuminates the air of reason, so the second one, which is an evasion of soberness and a sweet calling of Jesus, will generally obscure it altogether (chap. 90).

            11) Heroic prayer to Jesus, full of joy and delight, continually fills the heart’s atmosphere with a comforting silence. The cause of the heart being fully cleansed is Jesus Christ, the Son of God and God himself, the Righteous Judge and Creator of all good. For He himself says: “I am the God who makes the world” (chap. 91).

            12) The divine state is engendered by unceasing remembrance and calling upon our Lord Jesus Christ, the unique work that we must faithfully pursue, if we are not to neglect constant prayer and constant sobriety before him in our mind. Indeed, whatever we do incessantly must be directed toward the worship and calling of our Lord Jesus Christ in the same manner, so that He, the Lord, may give us the grace of imparting the communion of His name. For practice has become the mother of habit, both in virtue and in vice; and the habit then rules as a nature. Having reached such a state, reason seeks out its enemies, like a vicious dog in the bushes, but one seeks them to devour, whereas the other seeks them to wound and scatter (chap. 97).

13) The experienced in deeds, great David says to the Lord: “My kingdom will remain with you.” So, the preservation of our interior and imaginary calmness, from which all virtues are born, depends on the assistance of the Lord, who gave us his commandments, and drives away the useless distraction that often destroys interior calmness, like water extinguishing fire. Therefore, do not allow yourself to fall into slumber from negligence and be led to ruin; but with the name of Jesus, whip your enemies. This is the sweetest name and will take delight in your breath; and then you will recognize the usefulness of calmness (chp. 100).17) This is the wonderful fruit of the mind resulting from the silence wherein sins first strike the mind with only thoughts, so that if they are accepted by the heart, they become then gross sins of the senses, all of which are cut off by the virtue of temperance in our inner man, which does not allow them to enter and to enter and to enter into Jesus Christ (chap. 111).21) On the right, the unceasing purity of the soul is fruitful and plentiful, and one can immediately see dreamy thoughts that arise in the mind. On the left, the conversation is to reveal and expose the thought that made a bid to enter the air of our mind through the perception of a sensual object. What immediately extinguishes and scatters every effort of opponents, every word, every dream, every idol, and every column of evil, is the call of the Lord. And we can see for ourselves how strongly Jesus, our great God, strikes them and how he protects us, the humble, poor, and unfit (chap. 153).

            22) A ship cannot sail many miles without water; neither can the mind achieve success and salvation without sobriety, humility, and constant prayer to Jesus Christ (chap. 168).

            23) Through constant mental prayer, the air of the heart becomes clean of the dark clouds and winds of evil spirits. When the air of the heart is clean, nothing prevents the divine light of Jesus from shining in it, unless we rise up in proud and doubtful ways, wind up to the unattainable, and are deprived of the help of Jesus; for Christ hates this, being the example of humility (chap. 175).

            24) Just as it is not appropriate to write letters in the air but to carve them onto solid matter so that they can last for a long time, so too should we combine Jesus’ prayer with firm sobriety so that the beautiful virtue of sobriety, together with him, may be complete in us, and through him in him, in him in him.183).

            25) The preservation of the mind with God’s help and for the sake of the one God who acts, having settled in the soul, gives the mind wisdom to pursue deeds for God; it also ensures its beneficiary of the ability to plan external affairs and words with impeccable reasoning (chap. 194).

            26) Blessed indeed is he who clings so firmly to the thought of Jesus’ prayer, calling out to him incessantly in his heart, like the air that clings to our bodies, or the flame that clings to a candle. The sun, passing over the earth, creates day, and the holy and revered Name of the Lord Jesus, ever shining in the soul, gives rise to countless sun-like thoughts (chap. 196).

            27) When clouds disperse, the air is pure; when the sun of truth, Jesus Christ, disperses fleshly dreams, then thoughts resembling light and stardust usually arise in the heart through the sanctification of the air of the heart by Jesus (chap. 197).

2) Words of Filotheos of Sinai

            1) Divine piety is a language that has this goal: to soothe the heart with the memory of God as though it were a “marigold” or precious stone. It helps to leave everything, even the body, and to despise the real life, for the sake of obtaining the only God in our hearts (chap. 1).

            2) From the morning hours, it is needful to stand with firmness and perseverance before the door of the heart, with a firm memory of God and an uninterrupted prayer to Jesus Christ, and to push away every mortal sin on earth with this thought (chap. 2).

            3) Temperance is rightly called a “way”, because it leads to the kingdom and to the inner man and to the future; and to a “wise maker”, because it cultivates, refines, and completely transforms spiritual habits and passionate impulses (chap. 3).

            4) Where there is humility, memory of God with sobriety and attention, and prayer oftener directed against enemies, there is the place of God, or the heavenly heart, in which the legions of devils are afraid to stand because of the fact that God is dwelling in this place (chap. 4).

            5) The first gate leading into the thought of Jerusalem (Edentia), to the attention of the mind, is the discreet silence of the lips, although the mind is not yet silent; the second gate is the moderation of diet and drink and sleep; the third gate is that which cleanses the mind and the body, constant recollection and meditation on death (chap. 6).

            6) Sweet memory of God, that is, of Jesus Christ, with passionate grief and loathing of everything evil, generally destroys all the charms of thoughts, various suggestions, words and dreams, shameful imaginations, and, briefly, everything that is hostile to the souls of our hearts. This Jesus easily burns up everything. For Christ alone is the way to salvation; this is what the Savior himself has said, saying: “Without me you can do nothing” (chap. 22).

            7) In every year and every moment, let us strive to keep our hearts clean from thoughts that darken the soul’s mirror, in which the one Jesus Christ must be engraved and inscribed. Let us seek the kingdom of heaven in our hearts and, of course, we will find the mystery within ourselves – the grain, the pearl, the leaven, and everything else, if we cleanse the eye of our mind. For this reason, our Lord Jesus Christ said: “The kingdom of God is within you” (v. 23), meaning through it the Divinity that is within the heart (v. 23).

            8) In the inner war, do as follows: combine prayer with sobriety, and sobriety will strengthen prayer, and prayer will strengthen sobriety. Sobriety, constantly watching over everything within, notices how enemies try to enter, and, by its power, it hinders them from entering, while at the same time calling upon the Lord Jesus Christ to drive out these wicked soldiers. In this vigilance, an invasion in the form of contradiction is threatened; and Jesus, who is invoked, drives out the demons from their dreams (v. 25).

            9) With extreme vigilance, guard your mind. As soon as you notice an enemy thought, immediately refute it, but at the same time hurry to call upon the Lord Jesus Christ for vengeance. Sweetest Jesus, when you speak, will say: “Behold, I am with you, to give you succor.” But even after your prayer has subdued all these enemies, continue to listen attentively to the mind. Here again waves of thoughts, having multiplied the previous ones, will rush upon you one after another, so that the soul seems to be plunging into the abyss and is ready to perish. But Jesus, excited by His disciples, again, as God forbids the evil winds of thoughts, and they subside. You, having gained freedom from the enemy’s attacks, for an hour or a moment, glorify Him Who saves you, and immerse yourself in thoughts of death (v. 26).

            10) With every heartfelt attention in the spiritual feeling, you will carry out your path through attention and prayer, as they are combined daily, doing something like the fiery chariot of Illy, raising to the heavenly heights whoever is involved in them. And what do I say? In him who has stabilized in sobriety, the pure heart becomes a virtual heaven, with its sun, moon and stars, becoming a habitation of the ineffable God by secret vision and descent (delusion of the mind) (v. 27).

3) Words of Feolytp, Metropolitan of Philadelphia

1. The setting of the sun makes it night – and when Christ departs from the soul, it then becomes engulfed by the darkness of passions, and the wild beasts of instinct begin to torment it. Golden Sun has sunk, and the wild beasts are hiding in their lairs. Christ illuminates the mind that prays; and each of its mental images departs, and reason goes about its own work, that is, divine instruction until evening (letter 45).

            8) Trust me, I tell you the truth, that if you have the mother of all good affairs in your prayers, you will not cease to behold it, until you enter within it and reach its ineffable glory and joy. It removes all obstacles, smooths the way of virtue, and makes it easy for those who seek it. (Letter 48).

            9) As you are thinking, read the verbs of prayer, and speak to the Lord, continually crying out and not lamenting; constantly praying, following the ceaselessness of this widow, who begged the unbridled judge. Then (this means that) you will walk in spirit, not heed your body’s desires, and not stop the continuity of prayer with earthly thoughts, but become a temple of God in which God is sung silently. By praying in your thoughts, you will eventually achieve unceasing contemplation of God, see the hidden secrets of reason, glimpse the invisible in its hidden sightings, serving God, who is one to the one, in love alone (Letter 48).

4) Words of Charbel the Great and John the Prophet

            1) The enemies are weakened by the invocation of God’s name. Knowing this, we will not stop calling on God’s name for help. This is prayer, and Scripture says: Pray unceasingly (Rep. 422).

            2) Remember that God is the heart teacher, looks upon the heart, and call on Him in your heart. This is what is said in Scripture: Close your doors and pray to your Father who dwells in secret. Let us close our mouths and pray to Him in our hearts, for he who closes his mouth and calls upon God, or prays to Him in his heart, fulfils the commandment (Rep. 427).

            3) Your heart’s work must be to pray to God incessantly. If you want to succeed in this, begin and seek not lazily, hoping that God will bless you with success (Rep. 26).

            4) Incessant invocation of the name of God is a medicine that kills not only passions, but the act itself. As a doctor searches for a suitable cure or a plaster for the wound of the sick, and they work, while the patient does not know how (Rep. 421).

1) It was told about Abba Filimon, the hermit, that he found himself in a cave near Laura, called Romiyeva, and gave himself over to ascetical struggles, mentally repeating what was said to have been said of himself by Arsenios the Great: “Filimon, what then? A good time was in this cave. His job was to string strings and weave wicker baskets, which he gave to the economy, and from him received small bread cakes, which he ate. He did not eat anything except bread and salt, and not every day. He probably had no concern for his body, but, practising contemplation, he was in divine illumination, and, being satisfied with this ineffable mystery, he was in spiritual training. Going to church on Saturdays and Sundays, he always went alone in deep thinking, not allowing anyone to approach him, so that the mind would not be removed from its action. In the church, however, standing in the corner and bowing his face down, he shed streams of tears, constantly having the prayer of lamentation and turning the hearts and images of the saints with care, especially that of Arsenios the Great, whose traces he made every effort to follow.

2) About that man it is said that he remained in the closed kingdom, not edged with growing trees on all sides, as in a solitary cave where no one could see him but God alone. It is said that his food was bread with salt mixed with water, and otherwise he kept up the disembodied existence, and that he rejected meat for twelve years, living according to, what we could discern from his writings, the rule of knowledge of God, whose eternal fragrance he felt mingled in his mind. He was penetrated with the grace of the Holy Spirit, so that interiorly he experienced the blessing and felt its sweetness, which cannot be told; and because of this the gate, which appears to be a barrier to all others, became to him a door to riches and hideliness. Later he imbibed many such kind gifts and gifts of holy deeds, which made him himself to be filled with divine joy. And he did not stop there, but made an effort to walk in light and honour and new commandments. But when he reached that point, the beginning of illumination which is necessary for the ordination of a priest according to what is written in the Rule of the Desert, he was afraid to be ordained. When asked by his confessor about this, he had a vision into the future, and in it he saw Jesus Christ saying to him: “Look, you have not yet received anointing of the Holy Spirit, but you are drawing him nearby.”

2) When falsehood began to spread in Alexandria and its environs, he left it and moved to the Lavra of Nicanor. The god-loving father Pavic gave him his separate place and provided him with solitude. For a whole year, he did not allow anyone to see him, except when he brought him the necessary bread. The Holy Resurrection of Christ came; when they spoke together and the conversation turned to the life of a hermit, Filimon realized that even this pious brother Pavic had a beautiful intention (to live as a hermit), that he instilled in him many ascetic words – written and unwritten – showing everyone that without complete seclusion it is impossible to please God, that without complete solitude even Moses’ deeds are vain, and deeds generate grief, grief – fear, fear – humility, humility – insight, insight – love, and love makes the soul healthy and unselfish, and then a person realizes that he is not far from God.3) He (Filimon) said to him: it belongs to you by means of silence to completely purify the mind and give it unceasing spiritual activity. Just as the eye, turning on the sensual, is amazed by the visible, so a pure mind, turning to reflection, is absorbed by the spiritually seen, so that you cannot even dismiss it from it. And the more by means of silence it is revealed and purified from passions, the more it pleases and the operation (spiritual activity) of the spirit. The perfect mind is when it tastes the essential activity and becomes united with God. Then it, having the dignity of a king, no longer feels poverty and is not fascinated by temporal desires, even if one offers it all the kingdoms. Therefore, if you want to attain such virtues, flee from the world and with diligence follow the path of saints, abandon concern for your external appearance, wear a humble garment and modest adornment. Keep your deeds simple, your speech unpretentious, your behavior impious, your voice unmelodious. Love to live in poverty and be despised by all. Most of all, be diligent about preserving your mind and sobriety, be patient in all difficulties, and preserve the spiritual goods you have already acquired, unharmed and immovable. Treat yourself carefully and do not accept any of the passions that sneak in secretly. For although silence restrains the passions of the soul, if you allow them to flare up and become aggravated, they usually become even more intense, and those who allow this are even more strongly sinners. Similarly, physical wounds that are rubbed and torn are incurable. Perhaps one word can divert the mind from the memory of God, when the demons are tempted, and the emotions agree with them. It is a great feat and a fearful thing to preserve the soul. Therefore, it is necessary to completely withdraw from the world and, having torn the soul from any compassion for the body, become homeless, penniless, ownerless, coined, ingrates, carefree, unencumbered, ignorant of human affairs, humble, compassionate, kind, meek, silent, quiet, and imprinting in the heart. For it is impossible to write on wax without immediately erasing the letters already drawn on it, as the Great Basil teaches us. This was the image of the saints who, by completely withdrawing from all worldly customs and preserving in them the unbroken heavenly meditation, were enlightened by divine laws and shone with godly deeds and words, by having died to everything on earth through restraint, divine fear and love. For unceasing prayer and teaching in the divine scriptures open the spiritual eyes of the heart and see the King of forces, and great joy arises, and the divine desire, unbridled in the soul, bursts out with full force, while the body is preserved by the Spirit’s activity, and the whole person becomes spiritual. This is what the creators of blessed silence and the most intense ascetic life desire, who, having torn themselves from all human comfort, talk continuously with the only One existing in heaven.4) Listening to this, that pious brother, and being moved by divine love, left his place and, together with Filimon, reached the hermitage where the greatest of the fathers had made their way to holiness. They settled in the Lavra of St John the Choleric, entrusting their care to the Lavra’s economy, since they wished to live in silence. They remained there in the grace of God in complete silence, celebrating the Sabbats and Sundays in common worship, while on other days they remained in solitude; and each one performed his prayers and services in private.9) One brother, whose name was John, having tossed aside worldly concerns, came to the Saint this great father Philip, and, embracing his feet, said to him: What shall I do that I may save myself? For my mind flits here and there, not where it should. And he, after a while of silence, said: This sickness (of the heart) is the mark of those who are of exteriorness, and it dwells in them. And it is in you, because you have not yet received love of God, the warmth of love and knowledge of Him has not yet come upon you. The brother said to the elder, What shall I do, Father? He said to him, Go, take a secret admonition into your heart, and it will cleanse your mind of it. The brother, not being initiated into what this was signifying, says to the elder, What is this secret admonition, Father? And he said to him, Go, be sober in your heart, and in your mind speak soberly with fear and trembling: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me. Thus the All-Righteous Diadochus records the beginning.11) A brother asked him once more: I see many vain thoughts during my sleep. The elder said to him: Do not be lazy and give up. But before you fall asleep, pray with all your might in your heart, resist the thoughts and moves of the devil that would try to lead you against your will, and let God receive you. As much as you can, remember to go to sleep with psalms on your lips and wise instructions, and never let carelessness let your mind accept the thoughts of others, but with what thoughts you were praying, to that you turn and fall on the bed so that when you sleep, they are still in you, and when they stay in you, and when they are about you. Say the holy symbol of the Orthodox faith before you fall asleep, for the strengthening of God’s memory is the source and protection of all good things.

            Then he said to him: think about fleeting things that are in the soul, such as are the sicknesses of a perfect soul that has indulged in carelessness; for this is what the scriptures teach us to observe as regards our minds, namely, that we should sing with intelligence without distraction, and prayer with pure intelligence. Therefore, brother, God wants us to manifest our zeal toward Him, first by works (ascesis and good deeds), then by love, and by constant prayer, and He will give us the way of salvation. It is obvious that there is no other way that leads to Heaven, except to completely detach oneself from everything that is evil, to obtain everything that is good, to achieve perfect love toward God, and to remain with Him in holiness and truth, so that when a person does this, he will soon rise to the heavenly court. But at the same time, one who desires to ascend must immediately put to death the desires that exist on earth. For when our soul delights in contemplating true good, it no longer returns to any of the passions that are aroused by sweet, sinful indulgence; but having renounced all bodily pleasures, it receives the revelation of God in a pure and unspotted mind. Therefore, we need to preserve ourselves with great care, to carry out many bodily works and to purify our soul, and to summon God into our hearts, so that we may do other things blamelessly according to His divine commandments, and that He Himself may teach us to keep His laws, radiating His actions upon us by means of the grace of the Spirit. Through works and temptations we must cleanse our image, according to which we were created as rational beings capable of understanding and becoming like God, with feelings that are clean from all impurity through being transmuted in the furnace of temptation, and imbued with the dignity of kings. God and the human race created them to share in any good that can be contemplated mentally, the joys of angelic glory, dominion, power, beginning, authority, unapproachable light, resplendent glory. But when you improve some virtue, do not let your mind be lifted above your brother, for you have improved it, but he has become angry; for this is the beginning of pride. When you struggle with some passion, do not be sad or discourage yourself because the enemy is holding out steadfastly; rather, stand up and turn to God with a pure heart, speaking with the prophet: Judge, O God, those who mistreat me, for I am not strong against them. And when he sees your humility, he will quickly send you his help. When you journey with someone, do not have a frivolous conversation, but give your mind a spiritual performance that it had to have in order to establish in him this good habit and forget the earthly pleasures, and he will not leave the port of impartiality.

13) But after a short time, he came again and, beginning his discourse, asked: What should I do, father? In my nightly service, sleep weighs me down and prevents me from praying properly and from growing in spiritual life. And I want to take up work when I am singing. The old man said: if you can pray properly, do not touch with your hands any work; but when you are overcome by drowsiness, take it a little against your will, and then pick up a needle, and, touching it with your hands, do some work. He asked again: do you yourself, father, not become overcome by sleep during your service? The old man said: it is not so easy; but when drowsiness sometimes attacks me, I move a little against my thought, but I begin to read from the beginning of the Gospel of John, fixing my spiritual gaze on God, and it immediately disappears. I do the same thing with my thoughts, when I encounter one of them as fire with tears, and it disappears. But you are not yet able to arm yourself against them; but keep at all costs the hidden teaching and try to fulfil the prayers set forth by the holy fathers, both day prayers – the third, sixth, seventh and evening – and the night services. And by all possible means, try to do nothing for the sake of man, and beware of having a quarrel with any of the brothers, so as not to remove yourself from God. Also, try to keep your mind from being scattered, and listen attentively to your inner thoughts. When you are in church and wish to receive the sacraments of the holy mysteries of Christ, do not leave it until you receive the complete world. Having stood in one place, do not leave it until the dismissal; at the same time, think within yourself that you are in heaven, and await God with the holy angels, ready to receive Him into your heart; prepare yourself for this with fear and trembling, so as not to be worthy of being the partaking of the sacred powers.

14) A brother who lived with me also told me the following: Sitting with him one day, I asked him if he had been tempted by demonic assaults while living in the wilderness. He replied: Forgive me, brother, if God permits the temptations of the devil to come upon you, which I have been subject to, I do not think that you could endure their bitterness. I am seventy years old, or a little more, I have endured many temptations while living in different deserts in complete silence; what I have experienced and endured from these demons is not worth telling to those who have not yet been silenced by temptation. In such temptations I have always done this: I placed all my hope in God, to whom I gave vows of surrender, and He soon rescued me from every need. Why, brother, do I no longer manufacture any plans of my own? But knowing that He cares for me, I easily endure the temptations that come upon me. And all I offer Him is to pray relentlessly. Great help in this comes from the hope that the greater the sufferings and troubles, the greater the crown for the patient, because the righteous Judge balances them out with each other. Knowing this, brother, do not be lazy. You have entered into the midst of the struggle, so fight, and fight, being inspired by the fact that there are many fighting for us against the enemy of God, more than there are enemy armies. But how could one dare to resist such a terrible adversary of our race if the arm of God’s Word did not embrace us, does not encircle us, and does not cover us? How would man’s nature be able to withstand his clutches? For, as Job says, “Who has opened the way of his garment? Who will come to his destruction? Sparks of fire shoot from his nostrils, and flames are scattered like sparks. Fumes of fire come out from his nostrils like coal. His soul is like a coal, and there stands a hammer like a stone. He kindles the depths like a brass cauldron, and he conceives the waters as a quiet bosom, and the abyss as a prey. All things are high, but he is king over everything in the waters.”15) His brother also told me that Abba Filimon had another virtue: he could not bear to hear vague talk, and if someone, forgetting, said something that was not connected with the salvation of the soul, he did not even react to it. Also, when I went to do any business, he did not ask, “Why did you go?” And when I returned, he did not say, “Where were you? What did you do there?” With that, one day I went to Alexandria for a necessary business, and from there, for a church matter, I went to Tsargrad without telling the servant of God. Then, after spending enough time there, visiting the reverent brothers there, I finally returned to him in the desert. When he saw me, the old man was glad, and with the usual greeting, having composed a prayer, he sat down; but he did not ask me anything at all, but was busy with his usual intelligent activity.18) Before this, he added the narrative of a hermit, saying that he had already attained perfect virtue, and receives bread to eat from the hands of an angel, but because of distraction (loss of concentration) he has lost such honor. For when the soul loses its disturbed and tense attention, then such a soul is overcome by night. Where God does not shine, all things flow away, as in darkness; and then the soul cannot look upon the one God and tremble at his words. “God is near to me,” says the Lord, “and not God is far away. Either a person hides himself in secret places, and will I not see him? Did I fill the heavens and the earth with bread?” And he made reference to many others like those who are suffering. He also brought up the fall of Solomon, who, he says, acquired such great wisdom and, being all honorable, as a morning star rising in the sky, lit up everyone with the light of wisdom, but for the sake of a little favor, lost that honor. Therefore, it is fearful to indulge in laziness; but it is necessary to constantly pray that some other providence would not take us away from God and replace His mind with something else. Only a pure heart, having become the abode of the Holy Spirit, sees itself in a mirror, as it were, as God Himself.Therefore, make every effort to practice the virtues and the deeds that lead us to godliness, the visible purity of which is the fruit of spiritual insight, natural to reason. For deeds are the means by which we ascend to perception, as the insightful and theologist reason says. For if we dislike what we do, we will be devoid of all wisdom; for no matter how much a person achieves in the highest virtue, he still needs the rigorous exercise of asceticism, which restrains the animal passions and the rigorous control of every thought. By this path, we can hardly attain the union with Christ. The more our righteousness increases, the more we become spiritually ennobled; and when reason is perfected, it clings to God completely, and is illuminated by divine light; and it is enlightened about the mysteries of divine mysteries. Then it truly understands where wisdom is, where strength, where the ability to know all things, where longevity and life, where the light of the eyes and the world. Because, while it is engaged in the struggle against passions, it is not able to enjoy this. And the virtues and the vices make reason blind; they keep one from seeing the virtues, and the vices keep him from seeing the vices. But when he receives peace from the tumult of corrupt passions and is endowed with spiritual gifts, he becomes completely luminous, not turned away from the perception of spiritual things. Such a person is not attached to anything of this world, but has come, from death, into a new life.20. This and more he said about this life of Vasilii, his brother who lived with Avva. But who will not be surprised by his great humility even in the following? Having been ordained a priest many years ago, and having touched the heavenly life with his mind and his spirit, he shunned divine services so much that, throughout many years of his ascetic life, he used to agree to participate in the holy communion, only rarely. But even though he was constantly in danger of doing so, he did not partake of the divine sacraments when he had to go among people, even though no earthly words were uttered, but only something useful for those who sought to have a conversation with him. If he wanted to partake of the divine sacraments, he used to spend a long time before God, appeasing Him with prayers, psalmody and confessions. He feared the voice of the priest, who used to say, “Holy to the holy one,” for at that moment, he said, the whole Church is filled with holy angels, and the King of the forces secretly celebrating the sacraments, transforms the bread and wine into His body and blood, casting Himself into our hearts through the sacrament of communion. Why, therefore, should we endure so much uncertainty and hesitation before partaking of the holy celebration of Christ’s purest mysteries, so that through them we may become partakers of the light which shines from them? Many of the holy fathers saw holy angels guarding them from all that is unworthy, and they too were silent.

            21) And this is what the brother said: when the elderly man needed to sell his handicraft himself, so that there would be no kind of deception, no blasphemy, no vain word, or some other kind of sin, in order not to talk or bargain, he pretended to be a hermit; and whoever wanted to buy his handicraft would take it from him and pay for it, as he pleased. He worked on small baskets, and he received them with thanksgiving, without saying a word, this poor man.

Summary of the fathers’ lessons

            Finally, we offer the following summary of the fathers’ teaching in this book.

            Here is what the fathers have told us as a way of praying and the conditions for success in it:

      The “part”, that is, the repetition of the Jesus Prayer many times.

      The “attention”, or the immersion of the mind in Jesus Christ, by casting away other thoughts.

      The “variation” of the prayer words, that is, the recitation of the Jesus Prayer sometimes complete, sometimes shortened.

      The “interaction”, that is, when there is a prayer, then reading the psalms, then sitting, then standing, then again the Jesus Prayer, and then the afternoon reading of the fathers.

      The “walking before God”, that is, always feeling God’s presence and at every action remembering God.

      The “casting off the world”, when thinking about death and about the joy of prayer.

      The “constant calling out the name of Jesus Christ” at any time and in any place, if alone then out loud, and among people only in thought.

      Sleeping on the bed with the Jesus Prayer.

      The external prayer for the internal prayer.

         So, soul, who desires to achieve internal prayer and is eager for constant union and the most delicious communion with Jesus Christ, come, consider this, and observe the instructions of the holy fathers as follows:

         1) Sit down or better stand in a dark and silent corner in a prayerful position.

           2) Before beginning, offer a few prayers and do not distract the members.

            3) Find the seat of your heart under the left breastbone and establish your attention there.

            4) Bring your mind from the head to the heart and say: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!” say it quietly with prayerful fear and using either the lips or one mind, whichever is more convenient for you. Do not speak too hastily, but with reverent fear.

            5) Try during this time to maintain attention as much as possible and not to take into account any thoughts, neither bad nor good.

            6) Have patience and put forward a quiet spirit for a long time without thinking of anything at all.

            7) Maintain a moderate modesty and obedient humility.

            8) Keep silence.

            9) After lunch, gradually read the Gospels and the Fathers who meditate on inner activity and prayer.

            10) Sleep for 5 or 6 hours a day.

            11) Sometimes, with an external prayer, ask for the inner call to action.

            12) Do not touch crafts that distract.

            13) Most often, trust your experiences and the instructions of your religious leaders and parents.

            ”Lord, give me the strength of my goodness!“ – used to shout the prophet David. Shout also, O my soul, with such words: Lord, hasten sound and firm decision to my attention! For it is from you that we have what to WANT and what to DO; and with your assistance and help, by the purification of mind and heart through attention, let me prepare them for your dwelling, Triune Lord!

End third meeting: A story from a miner

I, my friend, recall that last year I left here with a deaf old man, holding a letter from the merchant of Irkutsk to his son in Odessa, to send me to Jerusalem. So we safely reached Odessa in a short time. My companion immediately hired a seat on a ship to Constantinople and left, while I, having stayed behind, went in search of the letter of the merchant’s son. Soon, having found his apartment, I, to my great surprise and regret, found this my benefactor alive: it had been three weeks since he had died after a short illness and had been buried. This greatly saddened me, but I trusted in God’s will. The whole household was in poverty, the widow, who had been left with three small children, mourned so deeply that she kept crying, collapsing several times a day, and suffering; it seemed that she would not live long in such deep sorrow. Nevertheless, she welcomed me kindly; lacking the means, given the circumstances, to send me to Jerusalem, she allowed me to stay with her for about two weeks, until the deceased’s father came to Odessa to manage, settle accounts, and arrange the merchant’s affairs of the orphaned family. So I stayed there.At last, as I was leaving Odessa, 70 stades further, I encountered a wonderful incident: a large convoy of goods, accompanied by 30 oxen, was travelling past, and I overtook them. One driver, the leader, was walking by his horse, while the others, gathering into a bunch, were going behind. I had to pass a pond where the broken-up spring ice was turning and splitting into the water in a circle with a terrible noise. Suddenly, the young driver in front stopped his horse, and the whole convoy stopped behind him. The drivers gathered round him and saw that he was undressing. They asked him why he was undressing. And he gave them an answer that he was very keen to swim in the pond. The drivers were surprised, some starting to laugh at him and call him mad, while the senior driver, the young driver’s brother, began to prevent him and shove him, telling him to get back on the horse. The driver defended himself and refused to obey. Some of the young drivers, joking, began to use buckets, from which they drew water for the horses and splashed the man who wanted to swim; they splashed him in the head and over the back, saying, “You are bought with this!” As soon as water touched his body, he cried, “Ah, how good!” and sat down on the ground, and they continued to splash him; then he soon lay down and died. They all were frightened, not understanding why this happened. The elders were concerned and said they should notify the court about it, and the others concluded that such a death was ordained for him from birth.

I don’t know what to say to you about this, dear brother, except that there are many wonderful and inexplicable things in nature. I think this is what God has arranged to make it clearer to man what His rule and providence are over nature in the extraordinary and immediate changes of its laws in certain cases… I myself had the opportunity to witness such an event once: not far from our village is a very deep and precipitous ditch, although not much bigger; it is even scary to look at its dark bottom. A bridge has been built across it for pedestrians. A peasant from my parish, a decent person of good behavior, suddenly felt an irresistible desire to jump off the bridge into that deep ditch. He struggled with this thought and urge for a whole week; finally, he could no longer stand this strong urging, he got up in the morning, hurriedly went over and jumped into the ditch. Shortly afterwards, I heard a scream and they pulled him out of the ditch with his legs broken. When asked about the cause of his fall, he replied that although he now feels great pain, he is at peace in his soul, that he has fulfilled his irresistible urge, which had been stirring him all week, so that he was ready to sacrifice his life in order to fulfill his desire. For more than a year he was treated in a city hospital; I visited him often, and, seeing the doctors around him, I wanted to know, like you, what they had to say about the cause of this case. The doctors unanimously told me that it was a “rash…” When I asked them for an explanation from science, what it was and how it affected a person, I heard nothing more from them than the fact that this is a mystery of nature, not yet revealed by science… But from my side, I noticed that if a person, in the face of this mystery of nature, put his desire into effect, his “rash” would not achieve its goal. In fact, there are many encounters in our lives that cannot be understood clearly…

While we were talking like this, it got dark, and I stayed there to spend the night. In the morning, the station sent its clerk to obtain permission to bury the deceased in the cemetery, and that the doctor had found no signs of insanity during the autopsy of the body, but attributed his death to a sudden stroke.

So look at this, said the priest, and medicine could not determine the cause of his overwhelming urge to water.

Therefore, after saying goodbye to the priest, I went on.

“ And while I was travelling several days and was quite tired, I came to a large market town called ‘White Church’. As it was getting dark, I began to look for a place to stay. Near the market, I met a man who looked like a traveller, too, asking around about the house of a local man named Yevreynov. Seeing me, he approached and said, ‘Obviously, you’re also a traveller, so let’s go together and find this local man Yevreynov. He’s a good Christian, he has a wealthy inn and he loves to receive travellers; here’s a note I have about him.’ I agreed happily, and we soon found him. Although we didn’t meet the owner of the house, his wife, a kind old woman, welcomed us kindly and led us to a loft room to rest. We settled down, had a rest, and the master arrived and invited us to dinner. After dinner, we talked, and somehow the conversation turned to the reason why he is called Yevreynov. ‘I’ll tell you a wonderful story about this,’ he replied and began his story. ‘Look, you see, my father was a Jew, a native of the town of Shklov, and he was a sworn enemy of the Christians. From a very young age, he was preparing to be a rabbi and he diligently studied all the Jewish conspiracies to refute Christianity. One day, as he was passing through a Christian cemetery, he saw a skewer with a thread, nailed to the edge of a freshly dug grave. He fell asleep, but then an unknown man appeared before him and angrily reproached him, saying: ‘How dare you mock the dusty remains of my bones? I am a Christian, and you are an enemy of Christ!’ This vision appeared several times during the night and deprived him of sleep and rest. prayers and spells were read over him, but the vision not only did not leave him, but it became more frequent and fiercer. He did not want to do such a thing, but he made such an undertaking: ‘I would be glad to do whatever you want to do in order to get rid of this painful and unbearable vision.’ The request was signed, and the vision ceased and never bothered him again. He moved to this place and married my mother, a good Christian, and he led a pious life in prosperity.

         After dinner, thanking God and the host, we went to our room for some rest. We were not yet tired, and so we talked with our companion. He told me that he was a merchant from Mogilev, who had lived for two years in Bessarabia as an orderly in one of the monasteries there, but only on a temporary passport, and who was now going back to his homeland to obtain permanent release from the merchant’s society for monastic life. He praised the monasteries there, their statutes and regulations, and the strict life of many pious elders who lived there, and assured me that the monasteries of Bessarabia were enemies of the Russians, as heaven is to earth. He persuaded me to go there too. At this time, as we were conversing, they brought a third roommate to us, an officer who had been dismissed from the army for a while and was going home on leave. We saw that he was very tired from the road. After praying together to God, we went to bed. Waking up early in the morning, we began to prepare for the journey. And the moment we wanted to thank the owner, we suddenly heard a service. The merchant and I began to discuss how we would go, having heard the service and not having visited a church of God. It would be better for us to stay for the morning service, having prayed in the holy temple, and then our journey would be more satisfying. So we decided, and we called the officer with us. And he said to us: “There is no excuse in the road, and what is the benefit to God that we will visit the church? Once we get home, we will pray there! Go when you want, but I will not go. While you are waiting for the morning service, I will go five versts ahead, and if you want to bring home… feed me in advance, and God will direct you.”

         So we went to church, and the officer went on his way. Having served the morning service (there was also a morning service), we returned to our room and began to pack our bags. We look: the hostess brought us a samovar, and said: “Where are you going? Here, have a cup of tea, and have breakfast with us; do we let you go hungry?” Half an hour hadn’t passed, and we were sitting by the samovar, when suddenly our officer ran to us, in a hurry. He said:

      – I have come to you with sorrow and joy.

& nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; – And look! When I said goodbye to you and went away, I wanted to go to the tavern to exchange the assignation for small coins and have a drink to make it easier for me to go. When I entered, I exchanged the money and then flew away like an eagle. Going three versts, I wanted to count the money, as if it were not so expensive to the tavern-keeper. I sat down to the side, took out my wallet, checked it again, and everything was fine. Suddenly, I grabbed my passport, which was lying right there, but it wasn’t there; it was just notes and money. So I was scared as if I had lost my head. And I understood: of course, I had protected it when I was paying in the tavern. I need to go back there. I run, I run, and then again, disaster will take me: well, how can it not be there! Tragedy will fall on me! Once I arrived, I asked the tavern-keeper, and he said: “I haven’t seen it.” Again, despair took over me. I need to search and walk in the places where I stood and strolled. And what? Luckily, I found my passport, as it was folded, and it lay among the straw and garbage on the floor, completely crushed under the dirt. Thank God! I rejoiced; it was as if a mountain had fallen from my shoulders! Although for untidiness and dirt under the teeth, they are fried to death, but that’s fine, at least I can come home and back with my eyes. And I came to you to tell you about this, and while I was running in fear, I wiped my leg so hard, right to the bone, that I can’t walk anymore, and I ask for a salve to bind the wound.

            – That is true, brother! This is what you deserve for not listening and not coming with us to pray – the merchant began to speak. – Here you wanted to go far ahead of us, but you turned back against us, and you even sinful. I told you not to make any quick conclusions, and that is how it happened! But not only did you not go to church, you also said such words: ‘What is the benefit to God that we pray?’ This, brother, is not good… Of course, God does not need our sinful prayer, however, out of His love for us, He likes it when we pray. And not only the sacred prayer, which the Holy Spirit himself assists in offering and incites in us, is pleasing to Him, for He requires this of us, enjoining: ‘Remain in me and I in you’; but even every little thing done personally for Him, every intention toward salvation, our stimulation, is valuable to Him. For all this immeasurable mercy, God rewards generously. God’s love bestows benefits a thousand times more than this insignificant human act deserves; if you do something for God for a small contribution, He will give you a golden treasure. If you are even about to go to the Father, He is already running to meet you. You say in a short and dry word: ‘Accept me! Have mercy on me!’ But He is already embracing your neck and embracing you. What is the glory of the Heavenly Father for us, unworthy of us! And with this love alone, He rejoices in every little saving move of ours. To you, it seems that what glory is there from the Lord and what benefit to you, if you pray a little and then amuse yourself again, or even do some unimportant good deed, for example, read a prayer, drop a head or ten bows; you sigh from the heart and call on the name of Jesus Christ, or notice some good thought, or arrange to read something salvific, or refrain from food, or keep a small offense in silence… All this seems to you insufficient for your complete salvation and as if it were fruitless. No! each of these small acts is not lost in the wind, it will be counted by the all-seeing Eye of God and receive a hundredfold reward, not only in eternity, but in this life also. This is what St. John the Golden-Mouthed says. “No good deed, he says, however insignificant it may be, is disparaged by a just Judge. If sins are examined with such exactness that we give an account for our words, our desires, and our thoughts, the most virtuous deeds, no matter how small they may have been, will be counted with particular exactness and in this life.”

I will give you an example, which I personally witnessed last year. In the Bessarab Monastery, where I lived, there was an elderly monk of good life. One day he was tempted, and he very much wanted some dried fish. And since this was not possible to obtain in the monastery at that time, he decided to go to the market and buy some. For a long time, he struggled with this thought, and reasoned that a monk should be content with the common brotherly food and should do everything possible to distance himself from greed, and that it was also inappropriate for a monk to walk about the market among the crowds of people. Finally, the cunning slander overtook his reasoning, and he, giving in to his own vanity, dared to go after the fish. Coming out of the monastery and walking through the city street, he noticed that he did not have a yoke in his hands, and he began to wonder: “How can I go as a warrior without a sword? It is vulgar, and the worldly people, meeting him, would condemn him and be tempted by seeing a monk without a yoke.” He wanted to turn back to take them, but, examining his pockets, he found them here. He took them out, crossed himself, put his hand in his pocket and went on calmly. Approaching the market, he saw a horse standing near the stalls, with a large wagon full of large baskets. Suddenly, the horse, afraid of something, began to run away with all its might and kick with its hooves; it ran up to it and, grabbing it by the shoulder, threw it to the ground, though it did not hit it very hard. Following this, two steps away from him, the wagon tipped over and the basket broke into pieces. Quickly getting up, he was naturally scared, but at the same time surprised, as God had saved his life, because if the wagon had fallen even one small second earlier, he would have been broken into pieces, like the wagon. Without thinking any more about it, he bought the fish, returned, ate it, and, having prayed, went to sleep … In a light sleep, a certain unknown noble old man appeared before him and said: “Listen, I am the patron of this monastery, and I want to advise you, so that you understand and remember the lesson, how the struggle with sensual pleasures and indolence in self-understanding and self-devotion gave the adversary the opportunity to approach you, and he had prepared a certain disastrous case for you, which suddenly appeared before your eyes.Indeed, God’s love for us, sinners, is unfathomable! Isn’t it strange that for such a small thing, for taking a cling from his pocket and putting it on his hand, and for calling out the name of God once, a person is given his life! And on the scales of human destiny, one short moment of Jesus Christ’s call outweighed many hours spent in idle chatter… Truly, there is a great sacrifice here for a small part – a gold coin… Do you see, brother, how powerful prayer is, and how powerful is the name of Jesus Christ, which we invoke! St. John of Karpathos in his book Dobrotolubie says that when we invoke the name of Jesus in prayer and say: “Have mercy on me, a sinner”, then a mysterious voice of God answers each such request: “Child, your sins are forgiven this hour.” Our prayer is no different from that of the saints, the righteous, and the martyrs, because, as St. Gregory of Nazianzus says, “prayer, although it is spoken by us who are full of sins, immediately cleanses” (Homily 2). God’s great mercy toward us, and we, who are sinners and negligent, do not want to give even a little time to Him in gratitude and exchange the most important prayer for life’s worries and troubles, forgetting God and our duty! For this reason, we are often subjected to misfortune and misfortune, but this, too, to our understanding and to turning to God, determines God’s loving providence.

He took out a book from his pocket and began to read a wonderful story about a holy Agathonikos, who had been accustomed by his pious parents from childhood to read, before the icon of the Virgin Mother, the prayer “Hail Mary” and others every day. He did this every day. Later, having reached full maturity, he began to live on his own and, preoccupied by worries and worldly affairs, seldom read the said prayer, and finally left it altogether. One evening he received a traveller to stay with him for the night. The traveller told him that he was a hermit from Phyvaide and that he had a vision urging him to go to Agathonikos and rebuke him for neglecting the prayer to the Holy Virgin Mother. Agathonikos gave the reason for his neglect as being that he had recited this prayer for many years and had seen no benefit from it. Then the hermit said to him: “Remember, blind and ungrateful one, how many times this prayer has helped you and saved you from misfortune? A companion fell from the carriage with you; he broke his leg, and you suffered no harm at all. Having recalled many such incidents, the hermit at last said: “Know, that all these happenings have been turned away from you by the intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos for the sake of the little prayer by which you daily stirred your soul to union with God … So look, continue on, and never leave it uncompleted.”After that, I walked for five days, enjoying the memory of the stories I had heard from the pious merchant from White Church; then I began to approach Kiev, when suddenly I felt a weight, a weakening, and gloomy thoughts; prayer was difficult, and I felt a sense of discouragement. So, in order to rest, when I saw a grove and a dense shrub by the roadside, I went there to sit in a secluded hut and read Christian Love in order to strengthen my weakening soul and calm my timidity. Having found a silent town, I began to read St. Cassian of Rome, in the fourth part of Christian Love, about the eight thoughts. After reading for half an hour with delight, I suddenly saw a man standing motionless on his knees, 50 steps away from me, deep in the woods. I was glad to see this, thinking that, of course, he was praying to God, and I resumed reading. After reading for an hour or more, I looked at this man again, and he was still standing motionless. I was deeply touched by this and thought, “Look at these godly servants of God.” While I was thinking about this, the man suddenly fell to the ground and lay down humbly. This surprised me, and since I could not see his face, for he was standing on his heels to me, I felt curious to go and see who this man was. When I approached, I found him in a thin snow. He was a country boy of about 25 years old, with a clean face and nobility, but pale, wearing a peasant coat and strapped with a cloth bandage, and there was nothing else to him – not even a bag or a stick. When I heard the rustle of my approach, he woke up and got up. I asked him who he was. He told me that he was an estate peasant from Smolensk province, who was going to Kiev.

            – Look, —– he answered, — I have been a shepherd since childhood, on my orphanhood, in our village, and everything was prosperous for ten years. Finally, one day, when I had driven the flock home, I did not realize that the old woman was missing the best sheep. And our elder was a wicked and inhuman man. When he came home in the evening and saw that his sheep were gone, he came to me, began to scold me and threatened that I would go and find her, but said: “I will beat you to death, break your arms and legs.” Knowing that he was so wicked, I went to find the sheep there where the herd grazed in the daytime. I searched, searched, and searched further into the night, but nowhere did I hear her. It was such a dark night, because it was autumn. As I went into the depths of the forest, and the forests in our province are impassable, suddenly a storm arose. It was as if the trees were rebelling! Wolves howled in the distance, and I was seized with such a fear that my hair stood on end; the farther I went, the worse it became, and I almost fell from the fear and the fear. That is why I fell on my knees, made a sign of the cross, and with all my might said:“Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” As soon as I said this, suddenly it became easy for me, as if there had been no sorrow, and all the fear went away, and my heart felt so good as if I had flown to heaven. I marveled at this, and I constantly wanted to say this prayer. And I cannot remember whether the storm was long, and how the night passed, but I saw that I could not find the sheep, so I went home, and the good feeling remained on my heart, and I wanted to say the prayer all the time. As soon as I came to the village, the elder, seeing that I had not brought the sheep, beat me to death; that is when he dislocated my leg. That is why, after these beatings, I lay almost motionless for six weeks, only knowing that I was saying my prayer, and it comforted me. Then I recovered somewhat, and began to walk the world; and when it seemed to me that it was boring to be pushed and shoved among the people, and that there was too much sin, I started to travel to holy places and forests. That is how I have been travelling now for a year.

            Listening to this, I rejoiced in my soul that the Lord had enabled me to see such a blessed person, and asked her:“Are you always engaged in this prayer now?”

    without it, I answer, when I only remember how good I felt in the forest that, as if someone pushed me to my knees, and I would pray. . . I do not know whether my sinful prayer is good, because when I pray, I sometimes feel great joy, and I do not know why, lightness, sadness; but at the same time I always want to pray until death.

            – Do not be alarmed, dear brother: all is good and favourable to God, whatever happens during prayer, say the Holy Fathers, whether it is ease or difficulty; it’s all fine. No prayer, no good or bad, is wasted before God. Lightness, warmth and pleasure show that God rewards and consoles us for this deed, and hardship, sadness and dryness mean that God purifies and strengthens the soul and, with this beneficial suffering, saves it, preparing it with humility to enjoy the future graced delights. Here is proof of this. I will read you a passage from St. John the Ladder.

            I found this article here and read it to him. He listened with interest and great pleasure, and thanked me very much for it. So we said our goodbyes. He went deep into the woods, and I, having come out on the road, continued my journey, thanks to God’s grace in giving me, a sinner, this useful instruction.

            The next day, thanks to God’s grace, I arrived in Kyiv. My first and most important wish was to talk, confess, and receive the Holy Mysteries in this holy place, and so I stayed closer to the saints’ tombs, so that I could walk to the temple of God more easily. A kind old Cossack welcomed me into his house, and, since he lived alone, I had peace and quiet there. During the week I spent preparing for confession, it occurred to me to confess as thoroughly as possible. I began to recall and list all my sins from my youth down to the smallest details, so that I wouldn’t forget anything; I began to write down everything I remembered, down to the smallest details, and wrote a large sheet. I felt that seven miles from Kyiv, in Kitiivskaya Desert, there is a confessor who lives a penitential life and is very wise and prudent,   – who does not visit him in spirit comes to his senses and is restored with a salutary instruction and relief in his soul. This greatly comforted me and I went to him immediately. After counsel and discussion, I gave this sheet to him for examination. After reading it, he said to me: “Dear friend, you have written much in the air. He exhorted me: “1) it is not right to mention on the confessional bench those sins in which you used to repent and were absolved of them and did not repeat them, otherwise it would be a distrust of the power of the sacrament of confession; 3) the Holy Fathers forbid confessing sins with all their characteristics, and confessing them in general, so that your private examination of them would not arouse temptations in you and in the confessor. You have read all this, but you have overlooked the most important part of it, that is, you have not named the most heinous sins, nor have you realized and written down that you do not love God, you hate your neighbour, you do not believe the word of God, and you are full of pride and ambition in all your sins; there is in them a whole abyss of evil, and all the excesses of our sins are rooted in it.

             – It is a pity, dear, that you have understood so little of what I explained to you. In order to teach you more quickly, here is a list that I myself always confess to. Read it and you will clearly see the exact proof of what I am telling you now.

1) I do not love God. For if I loved Him, I would constantly think about Him with heartfelt pleasure; every thought of God would bring me joy. On the contrary, I often and more eagerly think of things that concern my earthly life, and the thought of God is a troublesome and dry matter for me. If I loved Him, communion with Him through prayer would nourish me, delight me and lead me to a constant communion with Him; but, on the contrary, I not only do not enjoy prayer, but even find it tedious and struggle against my reluctance; I become lazy and, to escape from prayer, I am all too ready to engage in something frivolous or unimportant, so that I can reduce or stop praying. In idle pursuits, time passes unnoticed, and when I am engaged in God’s business, every hour seems to me a whole lifetime. Whoever loves, constantly thinks of his friend, imagines him, cares about him, and, even in the course of all his business, his beloved does not leave his thoughts. But I hardly dedicate an hour to pondering God’s messages and plunging myself into His love, and twenty-three hours I willingly offer sacrifices to my passionate idols! I am dry, sad, and lazy. Even when I am involuntarily absorbed in other things than divine conversation, I try to switch back to the conversation that pleases my passions. I eagerly study news, civil decrees, and political events; I diligently seek satisfaction for my curiosity in worldly sciences, arts, and acquisitions, whereas the teaching in the Word of the Lord, the knowledge of God and religion, makes no impression on me, does not nourish my soul, and I consider it not only a frivolous occupation of a Christian, but a mere idle pastime. In short, if love for God is discerned by keeping His commandments: “If you love Me, keep My commandments,” says the Lord Jesus Christ, and I not only fail to keep His commandments, but even make little effort to do so, then the purest truth requires us to assert that I do not love God and His Christ… This is “a proof that a person does not love God and Christ if he does not keep His commandments” (Ex. 13:9).3)  I do not believe anything religious.  Nor in immortality, nor in the Gospel. If I were firmly convinced and unmistakably believed that beyond the tomb there is life with recompense for earthly deeds, I would be continually thinking about it; the very thought of immortality would terrify me, and I would treat this life as an alien who is preparing to enter his homeland. On the contrary, I do not even think about eternity and I consider the end of true life as the limit of my existence. A secret thought lurks in me: who knows what will happen after death? If I say that I believe in immortality, I say so only out of reason, and my heart is far from a firm belief in it, as the conduct of my deeds and my constant concern for the improvement of sensual life openly testify. If the Holy Gospel, as the word of God, were to be received in my heart with faith, I would without ceasing occupy myself with it, study it, enjoy it and even look at it with deep reverence. Wisdom, goodness and love, hidden in it, would lead me in amazement, I would enjoy the teaching in the Law of God day and night, feed on it as on daily food, and with deep reverence would be attracted to the observance of its rules. Nothing earthly would strongly divert me from this. On the contrary, if I rarely read or hear the word of God, then it is either out of necessity or curiosity, and without paying deep attention to it, I feel dryness, barrenness and, as if reading something ordinary, leave it without any fruit and willingly replace it with reading on secular matters.(p14) After I read this information to me from the confessor, I was horrified, and I thought to myself: “My God, what terrible sins are hidden in me, and I have not noticed them yet!” So, the desire to cleanse them made me ask for guidance from this great spiritual father, in any way, by knowing the causes of all evil, to find a way to rectify them. And so he began to explain to me.

With respect, having listened to all this, I begged this Holy Father to baptize me and grant me the Holy Mysteries. So, on the morning that I had received communion, I wanted to return to Kyiv with this blessed instruction, but this good father, intending to go to the Lavra the following day, kept me in his desert cell for the time being, so that I could freely pray in this silence. And indeed, all those days I spent as if I were in heaven: with the prayers of my elder, I, the unworthy, enjoyed perfect tranquility. The prayers flowed so easily and peacefully into my heart that, at that time, I apparently forgot about everything and myself, and I thought only about the one Jesus Christ!

So, I wanted to leave from there and went out into the courtyard, when I unexpectedly saw a person in a particular alcove, who, on the look of it, was not Russian, lying on the bed and reading a book. He invited me to himself and asked who I was. I told him. That’s when he began to speak: “Listen, dear, would you be willing to serve, even for a week, until I am healed with God’s help? Do not refuse, my servant!”

            – If you want to, he said, I will tell you (and he spoke in a scholarly manner, for he said that he had studied at the Academy of Athens) about the intonation of the Lord’s Prayer.

Now consider this: is one prayer identical to another? Do Orthodox Christians profess the same faith? The general concept that this most important and sublime of all prayers contains two objects — Lord Jesus and His mercy — is known to everyone. Why, then, do not all express it in the same intonation, i.e. in the pronunciation? Why do not they all pronounce it on the same note, but rather in a particular and distinct tone, especially at certain points? Many might say that this is due to practice, or to imitation of others, or to a notion that corresponds to each person’s particular view, or, finally, to whichever is easier and more convenient for the person concerned to pronounce, given his ability to speak. I think differently. I would like to seek here something higher, something unknown not only to the uninitiated, but even to those who pray themselves: is there not some mysterious movement of the Holy Spirit here, which “sighs with unuttered groans,” in the uninitiated: how and about what should one pray? And if each prays in the name of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit, in accordance with the Apostle’s declaration, then the secretly acting Holy Spirit, who “intercedes for those who pray,” simultaneously gives each person, against his will, the gift of grace: to one it offers reverential fear of God, to another love and to another firmness. And therefore, the one who has received the gift of grace, fearing God with reverence and glorifying the Almighty, expresses in his prayer with a special feeling and delight the word “Lord,” in which he has in mind the greatness and power of the Creator of the world. The one who has received the mysterious outpouring of love into his heart, is particularly moved and enthralled by the exclamation “Jesus Christ,” like an old man who, without any particular feeling of love and sweetness, could not even hear the name “Jesus” spoken in ordinary conversation. The one who firmly believes in the divinity of Jesus Christ, the One who is consubstantial with God the Father, is filled with enthusiasm and even more firm in his faith when he utters the words “Son of God.” The one who has received the grace of humility and who deeply realizes his own powerlessness in the words “have mercy on me,” is grieved, humbled and, with a particular emphasis, flows out with the last words of the prayer in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, nourishing the hope of God’s mercy and being aware of his own failures. This, I believe, is the reason for the difference in intonation in the pronunciation of the prayer in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ! … And from this deduction, one can, with a feeling for discernment, understand (for the glory of God and for one’s own instruction) who is particularly taken by the feelings of the moment and who has what spiritual gift. Some people said to me, “Why are all these signs of secret spiritual gifts not manifested simultaneously, together? Then each word of the prayer would not be infused with the same excited intonation of the person praying.” I answered this thus: “For the grace of God divides the gifts of the Holy Scriptures, which is why no one can experience this and enter into the domain of grace with a limited mind.”An old man stayed with me for five days, and he gradually grew stronger. The time was instructive to me, for I did not notice the time passing because, in this little house, as if in a silent prison, we did absolutely nothing but prayed in secret, invoking the name of Jesus Christ, or talked about only one thing, that is, we did not even think about anything else. One day a devotee came to us and complained bitterly, cursed the Jews, and claimed that they were deliberately causing him trouble and deceiving him. He was so angry with them that he cursed them and even declared them unworthy of living on earth because of their stubbornness and insincerity. Finally, he said that he had an unbreakable grudge against them. When he heard this, my old man began to teach him: “It is useless, my friend,” he said, “you are cursing and hating the Jews. They are just as much creatures of God as we are. We must pity them and pray for them, but not curse them. Believe me, your hate for them comes from the fact that you are not strengthened in God’s love and do not have an inner prayer. I will read you about this in the Holy Fathers. Listen to what St. Mark the Ascetic says: “A soul that has been united with God inwardly is like a harmless and harmless child, and no longer condemns anyone, not Greek, not Jew, not Christian, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, not Jew, notHere I began to approach Pochaev. Not reaching a hundred versts, a soldier overtook me. I asked him where he was going; he told me that he was going to his homeland, to the Kamianets-Podilsky region. Walking with him for ten versts in silence, I noticed that he was sobbing heavily as if he was grieving for something, and was very glum. I asked him: “Why are you so sad?” And he began to cling to me and said: “Good man! If you have noticed my sorrow, then tremble strongly and swear that you won’t tell anyone, and I will tell you everything about myself, because death is coming, and there is no one to talk to.”

            “Do you hear this?” he said, “I was conscripted from the peasantry. After serving for five years, I found it unbearable to endure, and I was often beaten for misconduct and drunkenness. So I decided to run away. Now it has been 15 years since I was on the run. For six years I hid myself here and there. I broke down shop windows and stole from everywhere alone, and sold the stolen goods to various swindlers. I met a soldier who was going home with an unblemished record from a distant province. My soldier died, and I took all his goods. I went boldly into the distant Astrakhan province. There I became prudent and began working as a laborer. My wife and I also survived all that was left over from my old days. Once I had a hard time, so I took my old miserable horse to a seller and sold it for half a ruble. Then I went into the forest to wait until midnight. When I lay there, I fell asleep heavily. My head and hands were left exposed. Then this sinister cloud as if descended to the earth, and my old grandfather, who had died twenty years ago, emerged from it. A few bags of goods that I had stolen at different times. I was even more frightened. Squeeze him!” And suddenly the earth began to compress and press me from all sides so strongly that I could not bear the pain, suffocation and exhaustion, and I started screaming, “Have mercy!” Squeeze him harder!” And I felt such a terrible pain and suffocation that no torment on this earth can compare with it. Finally, this grandfather of mine took me close to a horse that I had stolen the day before and shouted, “What is this?” Squeeze him as painfully as possible!” And I felt such a strong pain and suffocation that I cannot even describe how cruel, terrible, and exhausted it was; it was as if a living force was pulling out of me and choking me with terrible pain so that I could not stand it and had to fall unconscious if this torment was only a little less severe. I got into my cheek, which I spread. At that moment, with this blow, I woke up in fear and, struggling as if exhausted, I could barely get up and go home. I have been ill with a scar on my leg for a long time, as you see, and now there is a scar that was not there before. I became more sensitive and, eventually, I began to be afraid of people and ashamed as if everyone knew about my former fraud. I started acting differently. Therefore, in a fit of despair, I wanted to throw myself. But I had an idea that I was not going to live very long, and I would soon die, because all my strength had been exhausted, so I decided to go to say goodbye to my homeland and die there. What should I do? After all, I have no stamina!”

            – It’s empty, brother! The devil is putting these thoughts into your head. God is infinitely merciful and has compassion on sinners and forgives those who repent soon. After all, you know the Lord’s Prayer, that is, “Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Here it is, recite it constantly.

            – How can I not know this prayer! I used to steal sometimes and read it to be braver.

            – So look at this: God did not rip you apart when you said this prayer while going into sin; and if you pray this prayer on your way to repentance, you will soon feel relief, all your fears and burdens will disappear, and you will be a completely calm, pious person. I assure you of this, because I have seen it happen again and again.

            In this way, I told him several cases in which the Lord’s Prayer exercised a miraculous power over sinners. Finally, I began to persuade him to come with me before his homeland to the Mother of God of Pochaiv, a shelter for sinners, to confess and receive communion. All this, my soldier listened with interest and, as was evident, with joy. So he agreed. We went to Pochaiv together, on the condition that we would say nothing to each other, and continue to recite the Lord’s Prayer without stopping. We walked for a whole day like that. On the third day, we arrived in Pochaiv, and I once again assured him that the most blessed name of Jesus is unbearable to his enemies, and will be able to save him. At the same time, I read him the prayer from the “Doubting Thomas”, particularly emphasizing its special importance when preparing for communion with the Holy Mysteries of Christ. He obeyed, and immediately confessed and received Communion. Although thoughts often still came to him, they were easily chased away by the Lord’s Prayer. On Sunday, to make it easier to get up in the morning, he went to bed earlier, and continued to recite the Lord’s Prayer without stopping, while I sat in the corner and read my “The Book of Kindness” with a bell. After an hour he fell asleep, and I began to pray. Suddenly, after twenty minutes, he jumped up and, having awakened, quickly ran to me, in tears, and with great joy said: “Oh, brother, what I saw now! How easy and joyful it is for me! I believe that God does not torture sinners, but He has mercy on them. Glory to You, Lord, glory to You!”

         I was surprised and glad, and I asked him to tell me in detail what had happened to him.            -“And this is what happened: as soon as I fell asleep, I found myself on the same meadow where I was being tortured. At first I was afraid, but I saw that instead of a cloud, the sun was shining, and a wonderful light shone on the whole meadow, and I saw red flowers and grass on it. Suddenly, my grandfather came close to me, so handsome, that you can’t believe it, and he said to me in a gentle and friendly whisper: “Go to the church of St. George the Victorious in Zhytomyr; they will take you as a church watchman; live here until the end of your life and pray without ceasing; God will have mercy on you!”

He stood behind the church. Then someone came out, although not very well dressed, but looked noble, and asked me where candles were sold. I indicated the place. The woman went away, and I remained to pray at the feet of the Mother of God. I prayed and went on my way. After walking for a while on the street, I saw a window open in a house, and a gentleman was sitting there reading a book. I could not pass that window, and I saw that it was the same man who had asked me about candles in the church. As I passed, I took off my hat, and he called me to himself and asked: “Are you a traveler?” and, inviting me, asked who I was and where I was going; then he offered me tea and said: “Listen, little boy! I am also going there on a promise and am traveling on foot. It is useful.I liked very much his reasoning on prayer and asked him: “From what particular gospel precept do you derive your teaching on prayer?”—From all four evangelists, he replied, from all of the New Testament, reading it in order. Having read and studied it for a long time, it has become clear to me what a gradual progress and the correct relationship[19] exists in the teaching on prayer throughout the Gospels, both in the order they appear (systematically) and in the fact that they form a sort of hierarchical chain. For example: the doctrine of prayer is introduced at the beginning, then its external manifestation in words; then, the conditions necessary for prayer, the means of learning to pray, and examples. Finally, the secret doctrine of inner, spiritual, continual prayer to Jesus Christ, which is superior to formal prayer; then, its necessity, beneficial fruits, etc. In short, everything is explained in detail, fully knowing the practice of prayer in systematic order or chain (systematic progression) from beginning to end.He gladly agreed and said to me: “Read to me your Gospel, and look into it and comment on what I will say” (he gave me a pencil). Please take a look at these notes. – Here you see – he began – first, in the Gospel of Matthew, the sixth chapter. Read from verse 5 to verse 9. Do you see here the preparation for prayer or the introduction that teaches not to start prayers out of vanity and in a noisy manner, but in a discreet place and in silence, and to pray only for forgiveness of sins and for union with God, not to invent many unnecessary requests about the various physical needs. Then continue reading this same section from verse 9 to verse 14. Here the formula of prayer is given, that is, in which words it is to be pronounced. It has in it wisdomfully combined everything that is necessary and desirable for our life. Then continue reading verses 14 and 15 of the same section, and you will see the condition that needs to be observed in order for the prayer to be effective; for without forgiveness by us of those who offend us, the Lord cannot forgive our sins. Passing to the seventh section, you will find in verses 7 to 12 the means to the success of prayer and approval in hope: “Ask, seek, knock”; this strong expression shows the frequency of prayer and the important practice in it so that prayer not only accompanies us in all our activities, but even exceeds them in time. This is the main attribute of prayer… You will find an example of this frequency of prayer in chapter 14 of the Gospel of Mark, from verses 32 to 40, where Jesus Christ himself repeats many times the same prayer. A similar example of the frequency of prayer is given by the Gospel of Luke (XI, 5-14) in the parable of a persistent prayer of a friend, and also in the frequent and incessant request of the widow to the judge (Luke XVIII, 1-15), depicting the instructions of Jesus Christ that one should always, in every event, not to give up.After this profound introduction, the teaching of secret interior prayer is still revealed in the Gospel according to John, and first of all, the conversation between Jesus Christ and the Samaritan woman is presented, in which the inner worship of God in spirit and truth, as God wants, is revealed, and it is constant and unceasing. (John IV, 5-25). Then in Chapter 15, from verse 4 to verse 8, the power, strength, and necessity of interior prayer, that is, the state of the soul in Christ, in unceasing memory of God, is even more clearly portrayed. Finally, read in Chapter 16 of the same Evangelist, from verse 23 to verse 25. See what a mystery is revealed here! Do you see that the prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, or the so-called Jesus prayer, that is, “O Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,” repeated often and many times, has a great power and makes it easier to open the heart and sanctify it. This can be seen by example. The Apostles, though they had been disciples of the Lord Jesus for many years and had already been taught the Lord’s prayer, that is, “Our Father,” by Him, were not yet able to make their prayers decisive. Jesus Christ revealed to them the mystery of what they lacked in their prayer so that it would be decisive. He said to them: “Do not ask anything in My name until now. If you ask something from the Father in My name, He will give it to you.” This is precisely what happened to them, because after that, when the Apostles learned to offer prayer in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, they performed many miraculous deeds, and they themselves were enlightened abundantly! Now do you see the connection and fullness of the teaching on prayer so wisely presented in the Holy Gospel? If we then go on to read the Apostolic Epistles, we will find there, too, a consistent teaching on prayer.

            Thus, by studying the Bible carefully and for a long time, we can discover many more hidden mysteries of knowledge hidden in the Word of God that escape from infrequent or cursory reading. Now, as I have pointed out, do you notice how wisely and consistently, that is, in a hidden systematic order, the New Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ reveals its teachings on this subject that we have now traced? In what wonderful order of sequence is it arranged in all four Gospels? For example, in St Matthew we find an attack or an introduction to prayer, its form, conditions, etc.; moving further, in St Mark we find examples; in St Luke parables, and in St John a secret exercise in inner prayer, although all of this is found in the Gospels (shorter or longer). In Acts, the practice and consequences of prayer are depicted; in the Apostolic Letters, just as in the Apocalypse itself, many accessories are inseparably linked to the matter of prayer! That is why I am content with just one Gospel in studying all the ways of salvation.

            The whole time he was pointing out and explaining things to me, I was highlighting all the highlights in my Gospel, which was with my Bible. All this seemed very wonderful and instructive, and I thanked him for it very much.

            Then we walked for another nine days in silence. This companion of mine had very sick legs, probably from getting used to walking for long periods, and so he hired a boat and took me with him. So we reached your borders and stayed here for three days, resting so as to set off immediately for Anzer, where he is eager to go.

            – This is a wonderful companionship! I think he is very pious and well-educated. I would like to see him.

            – We live on the same floor; I will probably bring him to you tomorrow. It is late now… Sorry!

Sixth Meeting

Brother to brother we help, because
the city stands firm and high; it is like a fortified kingdom.
(Song of songs 8:19).

– Yesterday, with my words and promises, I invited to my side and this worthy companion, who relaxed to journey by means of spiritual salvation, and whom you wanted to see.

– I am very pleased, as I hope my honest visitors are, to see both of you and to hear your useful and experienced word. Here I am: one is the venerable ascetic, and the other the reverential priest. Therefore, where two or three are gathered in the name of Jesus Christ, He is promised to be there Himself, and since we are now three in His name, then naturally His grace pours forth upon us even more abundantly!

– Yesterday, your companion’s account of your deep attachment to the holy Gospel was very wonderful and instructive. It is interesting to hear how this great holiness secret was revealed to you.

             — The gracious Lord, who wishes to save all men and to come to the knowledge of the truth, opened to me, through His great mercy, this knowledge in a wonderful way, without any human mediation. For — ten years I was a professor at the Lyceum, walking along the gloomy paths of seduction, taking up the world-changing philosophy, not following Christ, and perhaps I would have perished if not supported by something which I was living with my pious mother and my native sister, in boulevard … I met and became acquainted with a lovely young man who announced himself as a French, a certified student who had recently arrived from Paris and was looking for a governess. I was greatly impressed by his educated manners, and I invited him to come to my house as a guest, and we got along well. For two months he frequently visited me, and we often went out together, had fun, attended moralistic parties. Finally, he appeared at my home with an invitation to one of these fancy parties, and in order to convince me more fully, he began to extol the special vivacity and pleasantness of the place where I was to go. Having stated this a few times, he then asked me to leave my study, where we were, and to sit in the living room. This seemed strange to me, and I, having previously noticed his reluctance to be in my study, asked him about the reason. Moreover, the living room was adjacent to my mother and sister’s room, and talking about things of moral value there would have been indecorous. He maintained his wish by various arguments, and finally spoke out clearly: ‘There is an evangelical on this shelf between books; I so highly respect this book that I find it difficult to be in the presence of this conversation about our scattered subjects. Please, take it out of here, and then we will.’ I, out of sheer sincerity, laughed at his words, took the evangelical off the shelf, and said: ‘That should have been said to me long ago!’ And, handing it to him, I added: ‘Put it there in the room’. The moment I touched it with the evangelical, he was instantly taken aback and disappeared. This shocked me so much that I fell unconscious on the floor. Hearing a knock, the household rushed in and could not bring me to myself for half an hour. At last, under the influence of a great fear, trembling, an agitated excitement and a complete loss of feeling in my hands and feet so that I could not move them, I recognized a disease called paralysis, which was the result of some powerful shock or fright. For a whole year after this incident, under careful treatment from many doctors, I lay there and received no relief from the illness, which later indicated the need to retire from academic life. My old mother had by now died, and my sister had settled in to a religious life. So all this further burdened my illness. My only consolation in this painful time was in reading the Evangelical, which did not leave my hands since the beginning of my illness, as a promise of a miraculous event.Once, unexpectedly, a hermit who was going to live in the monastery visited me. He urged me not to rely only on medicines, which without the help of God would not be able to help, but to ask God and to pray diligently, because prayer is the most powerful means for healing all illnesses, both bodily and spiritual. “How can I pray in this state, when I am unable to bow down or raise my hands for the sign of the cross?” I objected to him out of carelessness. He told me: “Pray anyway!” And then he could not explain to me how to pray … After the visitor had gone, I began to think about prayer and its power and effect, recalling the theological lectures I had heard in the institution when I was a student. This was very pleasing to me, it revived in my memory the bright religious knowledge I had heard, it warmed my soul, and at once I began to feel some relief from my painful attacks. As the Gospel was always with me, and I believed in it, because of the miracle, and also recalling that I had heard the whole treatise on prayer at the lectures, which were based on Gospel texts, I considered it best to learn Christian prayer and godliness only after all. Having read it, I drew from it, like a wellspring, a full set of saving life and true inner prayer. With awe in my heart, I noted all the places and texts on this subject, and from then on I tried, although with difficulty, to put into practice these divine precepts. As I was engaged in this, my illness gradually improved and, as you can see, I have fully recovered. Having remained alone, I, in gratitude to God for His motherly mercies and healing and enlightenment, decided, following the example of my sister and the inclination of my soul, to dedicate myself to the life of a hermit, in order to receive and absorb these sweet commandments of the life of eternal life, pointed out to me in the Word.

INVENTOR.  — O God, how I wish to learn this secret, you who are weak and powerless, so that, through this means, I might be able to correct my idle life for the glory of God and for my own salvation!

This godly Christian question naturally arises in everyone, due to a sense of injured and relaxed human nature and the remaining impulses toward truth and righteousness within it. Everyone, though somewhat attached to the conviction of immortality and the reward of eternal life, is inevitably caught up in the thought of how to be saved, when he turns his gaze to heaven… When he finds it difficult to resolve this task, he asks for advice from sensible and knowledgeable people, then reads the teachings of spiritual writers on this subject, learning the truths and rules that have been distilled. In all these admonitions he encounters what are put forward as the necessary conditions for salvation: a godly life, deeds, and labor on one’s self for resolute self-abnegation, leading to the creation of good deeds, to the constant fulfillment of all God’s commandments, which testify to the firmness and steadfastness of faith. These are performed with deep humility and in conjunction with one another, for just as all virtues depend on each other, they must support, refine, and inspire one another, much as the rays of the sun show their strength and light when they are concentrated through a glass in one point. And otherwise, “indignant is the wicked man and there are many evildoers” (Prov. 21:6).

Thus, whoever desires salvation gladly begins to follow the instructions and to study everything heard and read. But, unfortunately! on the very first step of his endeavor he finds no opportunity to achieve his goal, foreseeing and even feeling that his corrupted and weakened nature will prevail over the convictions of reason; that his free will is bound, weakened, and the power of the spirit is weakened. With such conscious awareness of his impotence, he naturally moves to the thought that there are no means to enable the execution of what the law of God commands, what Christian piety demands, and what those who are worthy of salvation and sanctity have done. As a result, and in order to reconcile the demands of reason and conscience with the inability to perform the required actions, he turns to the preachers of salvation with the question: how can one be saved? How can one justify conditions of salvation that are inaccessible to him? And can the preacher himself unconditionally perform everything he teaches?

This is a general concept of prayer for those who are unfamiliar with the writings on inner prayer and the contemplative works of the Holy Fathers. Finally, a seeker comes across a book called “ The Theotokos”, in which twenty-nine holy fathers have clearly described the doctrine of true and substantial heart prayer. Here the mystery of salvation and prayer begins to rise for him, and he sees that it is to pray truly that means to direct the mind and memory to the inexhaustible remembrance of God, to walk in His divine presence, to rebel to His love through the thought of God, and to unite the name of God with the breath and movement of the heart, by leading Jesus Christ or creating the prayer of Jesus at any time and place and in any occupation, continuously.

            For salvation of the soul, true faith requires good deeds — virtues, for faith without works is “ dead,

because by deeds a person is proven, not by faith alone, and if you enter the womb, obey the commandments: do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not be a mother and love sincerely, for you ”. All these commandments must be observed together. If the whole law is observed, you will sin in one matter, and be guilty of all”. This is what St. James teaches us.

            And St. Paul, conceiving human weakness, says that the law of works cannot justify the whole body”. I know that the law of the spiritual is, I am a fleshly person, sold into sin, powerless, incapable of justifying the commandments. He has no ability until he asks for it, until he prays for it. Do not ask, and you shall not receive “, is St. Paul’s reason. And Jesus Christ Himself says: without Me you can do nothing “. And how to deal with Him, this teaches as follows: If you are in Me, I will be in you “. Whoever is in Me will bear much fruit “. And to be with Him means constantly to feel His presence, to constantly ask in His name: whatever you ask in My name, I will create “. Therefore, the ability to perform good deeds is acquired through prayer! An example of this is seen in the Apostle Paul himself, who three times prayed for the victory over temptations, bending his knees before God the Father, so that He might give confirmation in the inner man, and finally commanded prayers first of all to do and to continually pray about everything. From all the above it follows that all a person’s spiritual salvation depends on prayer, and therefore it is necessary, first of all, because it rouses faith, and through it all the virtues are fulfilled. In short, with prayer everything will succeed, and without it no Christian virtue can be accomplished.

            Therefore, perseverance and constant persistence is solely represented by prayer; all other virtues have their own time, and in prayer it is commanded to practise without ceasing, Always pray ”. Enough to constantly pray, to pray at all times, in all places.

            True prayer requires certain conditions: it must be offered with purity of thought and heart, with fervent effort, with firm attention, with trembling reverence, and with deep humility. But who in sincere consciousness will not agree that he is far from the above-mentioned conditions for true prayer, that he sends his prayer more out of necessity than out of passion, more by forcing himself than out of a desire to pray, out of love for prayer? This is what Holy Scripture testifies, that man is not able to keep his mind completely pure from unlike thoughts: “Does it belong to man to conceive evil from his youth?” God gives us a new heart and a new spirit, “to desire and to be children of God.” And the Apostle Paul himself says, “My spirit (that is, my voice) prays, but my mind is without fruit”; and “I do not know whether we pray with the saints” – he confirms this. And as a result, we cannot show the essential qualities of our prayer!

            What then is the portion of each person’s will and strength to save his soul? He cannot acquire faith without prayer, nor can he do good deeds; and finally, he cannot truly pray. What is left to his portion, to his freedom and forces, to not perish but to be saved?

            Since every deed has a quality, the Lord has manifested this by His will and gift. And in order to more clearly show the dependence of man on God’s will and to immerse him more deeply in the humility of wisdom, God has left to man’s will and forces a certain quantity of prayer, and explained that he should pray at any time, in any place. And in this way, the secret way to achieve true prayer, as well as faith, the fulfillment of commandments, and salvation is revealed to us. Thus, a certain number of prayers has been given to man’s portion – his will is given part of prayer… This is precisely how the Fathers of the Church teach. St. Makarios the Great says, “to pray, though often, is in our power, but to pray truly is the gift of grace.” Euthymius of Constantinople says that constant prayer becomes a habit and turns to nature; that without frequent invocation of the name of Jesus Christ, it is impossible to purify the heart.

The Holy Fathers recommend above all else, to begin to practice virtuous deeds and the virtues by praying frequently and continuously in the name of Jesus Christ, because very often even an unclean prayer can be purified through frequent and sustained prayer. The Blessed Diody says that, if a person prays frequently, he or she will not sin. What practical recommendations of the Holy Fathers, full of discerning simplicity, and how ably they highlight the means of spiritual perfection! They have a profound contrast with the moral advice of theoretical reason! Theoretical reason says: do this and that well, arm yourself with courage, use your willpower, make sure that the good consequences of virtue, for instance, will lead to your perfection, and many good things will welcome you that is, “clear your mind and heart of vanity, fill its place with edifying reflections, do good, and you will be honoured and at peace! . . .” All this, despite your efforts, will not achieve its objective without prayer, or the intercession of the Lord. Let us now open out further the good counsel of the Holy Fathers, and see how they describe, for instance, the purification of the soul. St. Leontius says:”When your mind is darkened by impure thoughts, by the name of Jesus Christ, you must defeat your enemies by frequently repeating it. There is no other weapon more powerful and effective, either in Heaven or on Earth.” St. Grigoriy of Sinai teaches: “Know that no one can keep his mind without the help of others, so in the case of impure thoughts, call the name of Jesus Christ more frequently and repeatedly, and thou will find that your thoughts will suddenly vanish.” What a simple and easy method, and one so opposite to the advice of theoretical reason, which seeks to achieve perfection by our own efforts! Having understood the practical advice of the Holy Fathers, we then come to this essential observation, that the very chief, the only and the most convenient means to obtain salvation and the perfection of the soul is through the partaking and continuance of prayer, whatever mode it may be!

            Christian soul! If you do not find the strength to worship God in spirit and in truth; if your heart does not yet feel the warmth and the sweet taste of spiritual and inner prayer, then offer in prayer sacrifice what you can, what is within your control, and proportionate to your strength. Let the lower organs of your lips be like the first with an unceasing prayerful cry; let them ever and ever call upon the mighty name of Jesus Christ. This is not a great effort, and it is within the reach of everyone. In this, a tested command of the saint demands. The Apostle says: Let us offer constantly sacrifice to God or the fruit of our lips, in the name of his Sacrifice “.  Part of prayer inevitably becomes a habit and turns into a nature, draws the mind and heart into the proper mood over time. Imagine, if a person inadmissibly performed this one commandment of God concerning constant prayer, he would have thus fulfilled all the commandments, for if he continuously, at all times and in all things and occupations prayed, secretly calling on the divine name of Jesus Christ, though at first only in body, then he would have no time for sinful pleasures. Every sinful thought would encounter an obstacle in its spread, every sinful deed would not be so fruitful in a blank mind: many words and meaningless words would be reduced or completely destroyed, and every misdeed would be immediately cleansed by the gracious power of the divine name. Regular practice in prayer would often divert the soul from sinful deeds and lead to its full knowledge – to union with God! Now you see how important and necessary is the quantity of prayer? Part of prayer is the only way to acquire pure and true prayer, it is the best and most effective preparation for prayer and the surest way to achieve the goal of prayer and salvation!

            A spiritual writer says about this very well. He says: “I know that for many false and shallow philosophical Christians who are always looking for some false greatness and noble pretense in the eyes of reason and pride, simple, easy and one-time, but frequent prayer, seems to them a negligible or insignificant occupation, or a low occupation. They forget the commandments of Jesus Christ: ‘Unless you are like children, you will not enter into the Kingdom of God’.

            So, given all these arguments that the frequency of prayer, with all its weakness, is very powerful, accessible to man and lies entirely within his power, – try it once for a day, observe yourself on the frequency of your prayer, so that the prayer invocation of the name of Jesus Christ is many times more infused; and this superiority of prayer over daily tasks will inevitably prove to you that you did not lose, but gained a day for salvation; that on the scales of God’s judgment, frequent prayer will drag your weaknesses and deeds up, and smooth out the sins of that day in the unforgiving book of conscience, put you on the scale of righteousness, and give you hope of receiving sanctification and eternal life. (From the manuscript of the author, received by Fr. Ambrose from Dobro Monastery).

      CONSTRUCTOR. – With all my heart I thank you, holy Father! you have delighted my sinful soul with this reading. Thanks to God, bless me to write this list for myself – I will copy it for a few hours. Everything read is so wonderful and joyful, and my stupid mind understands it clearly and exactly, like in The Good-Lover, the holy fathers reflect on this. Bot, for example, St. John of Karpafia in Part 4 of The Good-Lover also says that if you do not have the strength for moderation and active asceticism, know that God wants to save you through prayer. And in your notebook, everything is as wonderfully and clearly spread. Thank you, first of all, to God, and secondly, to you, for having had the opportunity to hear this!”

PROFESSOR. – And I have listened with great respect and pleasure to your lecture, Reverend Father! All the evidence is, according to the most rigorous logic, true for me; but for this reason it seems to me that the possibility of uninterrupted prayer is conditioned by circumstances that are generally favourable to it and by the opportunity to be alone in complete peace. For it is true that frequent or incessant prayer is a powerful and unique means of acquiring the grace of help in all the things of piety and sanctification of the soul, accessible to human powers, but this method can be used only when one has the opportunity to be alone and in peace: far away from duties and worries and disturbances; then they are obliged to do nothing but fight against laziness or boredom from thoughts; but if one is obliged to a position, obliged to continuous duties, and is forced to live in a noisy society, and would often like to pray, then it is impossible to do this by virtue of the inescapable distraction that results. Therefore, the only method of frequent prayer, under conditions of only favourable circumstances, cannot be used by everyone and is not accessible to everyone.

      PATRIARCH. – Unnecessarily so you think! Not even for the fact that the heart, taught by internal prayer, is able to pray and call on the Name of God without hindrance, at any time, in any noisy surroundings and amidst all kinds of mental and physical tasks (the speaker knows this himself, and someone who is not is required to be gradually taught to do so), it is absolutely certain that no distraction can block prayer. For the secret thought of the human being is not subject to any outside interference, and is completely free within itself, and can at any time be sensed and transformed into prayer, even the language itself can mysteriously and without any external sound pronounce prayer in the presence of many people, as well as during external activities; and, while our activities are not so important, and our conversations are not so interesting, it is possible to find the convenience, within them, to temporally and often call upon the name of Jesus Christ, even if the mind is not yet accustomed to continuous prayer; although, of course, retreat from fellow-men and distracting objects constitutes the main precondition for attentive and uninterrupted prayer; but, in the case of the impossibility to take advantage of this, one should not excuse oneself for having a prayer that is too free: since a person’s ability, always available, is both the healthy one and the sick one, and it lies in his desire. Examples proving this are those who were burdened with duties, rather attractive positions, worries, affairs, and work, not only who always called the Divine Name of Jesus Christ, but even through this they learned and achieved continuous internal prayer of the heart. Thus, Patriarch Photios, who was elevated to the patriarchate from among the senate, constantly called the name of God, and even through this he learned and attained undivided heart prayer. Thus, the simple-hearted Kalistus on Mount Athos, in carrying out a difficult job of a cook, learned uninterrupted prayer. Thus, the simple-hearted Lazarus, burdened with incessant labors for the brothers, constantly, during all the noisy activities, intoned the Jesus Prayer and provided comfort. And many others who similarly trained themselves in incessant invocation of the Divine Name. If it were not possible to pray amidst distracting activities, or in the midst of people, then, of course, the impossible would not have been ordered. St. John Chrysostom, in his sermon on prayer, says the following. “No one should think that it is impossible to pray constantly to those who are busy with life’s cares or who cannot be present in church. During whatever place you find yourself, you can sacrifice to God in your mind through the means of prayer.” It is possible to pray everywhere. And, indeed, if a person pays careful attention to himself, he will find the convenience to pray everywhere, as long as he is convinced that prayer must be the main occupation before all his duties. He should not be over-worn in his concerns, so as to thereby make more time available for quiet prayer.

      Professor.  – I agree that during all mechanical activities it is possible, and even convenient, to perform ongoing or even continuous prayer, because mechanical needlework does not require intense concentration and deep reflection, and therefore my mind can immerse itself in unceasing prayer and my lips can follow it. But when I have to engage in something purely intellectual, such as attentive reading, or the contemplation of a profound subject, or a composition, how can I simultaneously pray with my mind and lips? And since prayer is primarily a matter for the mind, how can I then give different tasks to the same mind?

      Administrator.  – The solution to your problem will not be difficult if we take into account that prayers are divided into three categories: 1) beginners, 2) those who are able to do it, and 3) those who have learned to pray. Therefore, beginners can also have frequent, hourly stimulation of their minds and hearts toward God, and the recitation of a short oral prayer; and those who are able or who have entered a constant state of mind can engage in reflection or composition in a continuous presence of God, as the basis for prayer. This can be expressed by the following example. Imagine that a strict and demanding Tsar has ordered you to compose a reflection on a deep subject presented to you – in His presence – at the foot of His throne; no matter how completely you are engaged in your subject, the presence of the Tsar, whose hand is life, controlling you, will not allow you to forget, even for a moment, that you are reflecting, thinking and composing, not alone, but in a place that requires special reverence, respect and decency. This feeling and the vivid sense of the King’s proximity clearly expresses the possibility of engaging in continuous inner prayer and during mental exercises.

      As for those who, by long practice or the grace of God, have acquired heart prayer, such people not only during deep intellectual activity, but even during sleep do not cease continuous prayer, as the Wise One said: ” I sleep, but my heart wakes.” – And God’s Name, who by Himself awakens me to prayer, penetrates the mind and the whole soul in the unceasing flow of prayer, in which state the one who prays was not in and in which he was, no matter how abstract and intellectual he was engaged. 

      His Grace, please allow me to express my thoughts. In the article you have read, it is clearly expressed that the only way to salvation and perfection is part of the prayer — no matter what it may be — For me, this is incomprehensible, and therefore it seems to me: what will it be useful for if I pray and invoke only in the language of “Im-Jem-Boshe, but not so?” This will be nothing but futile speech! The result will be only that the language becomes perfunctory, and the mind, which prevents this in its reflections, also suffers damage to its functional capacity. God demands not words, but an attentive mind and a purified heart. Is it not better, though rarely or at fixed times, to perform even a short prayer, but with attention, diligence, warmth of the soul, and a worthy concept? Otherwise, even if one repeats a prayer day and night, but without spiritual purity and deeds of godliness, one will not gain anything helpful; but by remaining in a purely external soliloquy, and finally tiring and getting bored, one will come to the point where, having completely cooled one’s faith in prayer, one will completely abandon this fruitless exercise. Furthermore, the futility of a mere oral prayer may be seen in the rebuke given by Holy Scripture, as for example: “These people worship Me with their lips, their hearts being far from Me.” “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven.” “I would do a good deal better to say a word with my intellect than a word with this tongue.” and so on. All this expresses the fruitlessness of external, careless prayer with the mouth.

       The conclusion you have drawn could have some basis, if it were not combined with the advice of the oral prayer, i.e. continuity or perseverance; if prayer in the name of Jesus Christ did not have its own power, and did not attract attention and diligence to it as a result of gradualness in the practice of prayers… But since this is about the frequency, duration and continuity of prayer (even if it is initially unconcerned or dry), let us examine this more closely. One spiritual writer, encouraging the greatest benefit and fruitfulness of frequent prayer, expressed in monotonous words, concludes by saying: “Although many ignorant people consider this verbal and frequent creation of the same prayer to be futile and even annoying, calling it mechanical and absurd; the secret, which is later revealed by this mechanical exercise, does not know how this unconcerned and frequent voice becomes a genuine cry of the heart, deepens into the interior, becomes more pleasant, becomes natural to the soul, illuminates it, nourishes it, and leads to union. boys, who were taught the alphabet and reading; this meaningless enumeration of letters was for them a mystery. to purify the soul, do you first cleanse the body? by imposing a fast, do you deprive your body of nourishing and irritating food? God-pleasing, so conveniently forgotten by you… And you experience personally that through the external fast of your body you acquire an inner refinement of your reason, peace of heart, a weapon to subdue passions, and a reminder of spiritual exercise. And with the help of external materiality, you acquire inner spiritual benefit. prayer, which, by its long-term nature, develops the inner prayer of the heart: it kindles and promotes spiritual union with God. It happens that whoever dares to call continually on the name of Jesus Christ, or, that is, to constantly recite the Lord’s prayer, usually first feels the work and struggles with laziness, but the more they practice this, the less they become accustomed to this occupation, so that subsequently their efforts are carried out unbearably, and without a voice they say the prayer. to bow down and listen to this spontaneous action of the mouth, being thereby aroused to attention, which eventually becomes the source of heartfelt and genuine prayer. of the objections you have raised as evidence, this is explained by an appropriate examination of them. They did not recognize it with their heart. This is said to them and does not apply to the reading of a prayer, which Jesus Christ expressly and positively, or surely, commanded thus: “Pray always and do not be a prophet.” Or without sense, or in an unfamiliar language in church, understanding this to be public instruction, not a prayer itself, of which he rightly says: “I want Christians to make their prayers everywhere.” He generally advises: “Always pray.” Is this the correct understanding of Holy Scripture?

      CONSTRUCTION WORKER. It is indeed the truth, an honest father! I have seen many people who, without any enlightenment, and without knowing the importance of prayer, spontaneously reciting a continuous Jesus Prayer, have thus achieved things such that their lips and tongue could not refrain from expressing a prayer that later so delighted and illuminated them, and made them weak and unwise.

      SCHEMER. Yes! Prayer seems to transform a person. Its power is so powerful that no force of passion can resist it. If it is convenient, then at the end I will read to you, brothers, a short but interesting article that I took with me.

      ALL. We will listen with humble pleasure!

      SCHEMER.

Confession about the power and effect of prayer

            Prayer is so powerful and powerful that whatever you do, pray, and prayer will lead you to a right and righteous deed.

            Nothing else is needed for God-desireful doing than to love, says the blessed Augustine: for whoever truly loves, he cannot even want to do anything harmful to his beloved… Since prayer is the outpouring and action of love, the same can truly be said of it: do whatever you want, and you will achieve the purpose of prayer, you will be sanctified by it!

            In order to better develop the concept of this subject, we will explain with examples:

1) Pray, and think whatever you want, and your thoughts will be purified by prayer. Prayer will give you the illumination of the mind, tame and suppress all inappropriate thoughts. – This is what St. Grigoriy Sinaity says: “If you want to expel thought and purify your mind, cast them out through prayer, for there is no other weapon to restrain thoughts than prayer.” This is also said by St. John of the Ladder: “By the Lord’s Prayer, you will defeat imaginary enemies. There is no other weapon than this you will not find.”

            2) Pray, and do whatever you want, and your deeds will be godly, and useful, and life-saving for you.

1) Prayer is powerful against every temptation, Mark the Ascetic says; it is beneficial in everything, and conquers all the evil of sin (P.A. Palas’juk). For example, a boy desiring to kill himself was healed when he prayed with faith to God. So the Lord, after hearing his prayer, healed him and gave him spiritual peace. A man, whose body was sick and sickened the mind, was healed with prayer and the body was healed, and the mind was healed. Thus prayer conquers sickness, robbed dignity, and is charming, calling the strength of the Christian.

    And now you see how much deep wisdom is concentrated in this wise saying: “Love, and do what you wish. Pray, and do what you wish!”    How joyfully and hopefully everything is said to the sinner, burdened with weaknesses, – to one who struggles under the burden of fighting passions!

 Prayer – this is the all-encompassing means for salvation and perfection of the soul… Yes, but with prayer there is closely connected the condition: “Pray unceasingly”, the word of Bomi asserts. Therefore, prayer then shows its all-encompassing power and fruit when it is performed frequently, unceasingly, because frequent prayer certainly belongs to our own will: as well as purity, diligence, and perfection of prayer are gifts of grace.

 Therefore, let us pray as often as possible, devoting our whole life to prayer, although initially careless of it! Frequent practice will teach attention, and quantity will necessarily lead to quality.

 In order to learn how to do something well, we need to do it as often as possible, said one experienced spiritual writer.

 PROFESSOR. Indeed, great is the virtue of prayer! And zeal for its frequency is the key to unlocking its beneficial treasures. But how often do I come across a struggle in myself between zeal and laziness! How desirable it would be to find a means and help to overcome, and to be convinced and excited by constantly engaging in prayer!

 CONSULTANT. Many spiritual writers present various means, based on a sound understanding – to excite diligence in prayer: for example, as follows:

 1) They advise to delve into reflections on the necessity, advantage, and fruitfulness of prayer for the salvation of the soul.

 2) They firmly convince you that God certainly requires prayer from us, and His word everywhere preaches this.

 3) Constantly remind yourself that, through sloth and negligence about prayer, you cannot keep up with the affairs of piety and achieve peace and salvation; and therefore you inevitably suffer this both as a punishment on earth, and torment in eternal life.

 4) Incite your determination with the examples of God’s Saints, who all, thanks to constant prayer, have attained sanctification and salvation, etc.

However, all these resources have their own value and flow from a true understanding, but a disease-ridden, indulgent soul, taking them and using them, rarely sees their fruitfulness, because they are bitter to her pampered taste and weak for her deeply damaged nature. For some Christians do not know that we are to pray often and earnestly, that this is what God requires; that we shall suffer punishment for neglecting prayer, that all the saints have prayed earnestly and incessantly; yet, despite this knowledge, their beneficial effects are so rarely seen! Every observer sees in himself that he either does not or does not sufficiently justify his actions by these thoughts of reason and conscience, and he often lives as poorly and indolently as he does when reminded of this.

Therefore, the experienced and wise Holy Fathers, knowing the weakness of arbitrary impulses and the debauchery of the pleasuresome human heart, act especially on this, and from this side, like doctors heal bitter medicines with sweet syrups and the body that pleases the patient with honey. They open the easiest and most effective medicine, which destroys an existing evil by the help of God – to reach perfection and the sweet hope of love for God in prayer. They advise us to think over this state of the soul as often as possible, and to read carefully the Father’s narratives, which reassuringly assure us how accessible and easy it is to achieve these sweet inner sensations in prayer; and how desirable they are: the pleasure that comes from the heart; the soothing warmth and light that flow within; the inexpressible enthusiasm, joy, lightness, deep peace and ultimate bliss that is instilled in the heart by prayer. By delving into these reflections, the weak and cold soul is warmed, strengthened, encouraged by success in prayer, and is lured as it were into the experiences of the practice of prayer, as the Holy Isaac the Syrian says: “The bait for the soul is joy that is generated by hope, flourishing in the heart; He also continues: “At the beginning of this action and to the end, some means and hope of carrying it out are provided; and this entices the mind to lay the foundation for the cause and in thought to this end, to borrow reason for its pleasure in the cause.”

Elder Isychie also describes how flooshing in prayer and persevering in renewing one’s diligence for prayer brings about the following: “Then it is not for nothing that we are willing to enter into heart-mind silence, as for the sweet feeling and joy of it in our heart.” (e. 50).

A clear example of this as a powerful means is seen in many places in the detailed descriptions of prayerful delights; it is especially necessary to read about the struggle against the laziness or dryness of prayer, considering oneself unworthy of these delights and humbly reproaching oneself for lack of diligence in prayer.

       SCHEME.  – The clearest word about this subject is said by one of the great theologians, St. Macarius of Egypt, in the following way: “Just as in the planting of a vine, effort and labour are put into it in order to obtain a harvest, and if there is no harvest, everything is in vain; and similarly, in prayer, if there are no fruit of the spiritual kind, that is, love, peace, joy, etc., or the hope of such fruit, that is, the enjoyment of sweets in our hearts, then we are to perform them” (chapter 3, chapter 5). Do you see how clearly this holy Father has allowed the question of the necessity of enjoyments in prayer?… But here, moreover, I have recently come to remember a fact that is the main cause of the urge to indulge; and therefore, the study of this nature can also serve as a powerful means of stimulating effort in prayer, the means of which the teacher so wishes to seek. Having discovered that there can be no action without a cause, and following the ladder of sensible things from the lower to the higher, he finally reaches the chief cause of God. Therefore, no nation or wild tribe has ever had, nor does it have, any notion of God, which draws him into the heights, and some urge him to something unknown…On this basis, all natural religions take shape, and what is so wonderful is that the essence or soul of every religion is an obscure prayer that manifests itself in some form of movement and the obvious understanding of the heathen people!… How strange this phenomenon appears in the eyes of reason, all the more so that it demands from it that it unravel the mysterious cause of this strange phenomenon, which is expressed in the natural urge to pray.

            The psychological answer to this is not complicated: the root, division, and power of all passions and actions in man lie in innate self-love. This is clearly confirmed by the radical and universal idea of self-preservation. Every desire, every enterprise, every human action has the purpose of satisfying self-love, and searching for one’s own well-being. The satisfaction of this need accompanies all the life of a natural man. But the human spirit is not satisfied with anything sensual, and innate self-love never quiets down in its striving; therefore, desires develop more and more, the aspiration for good grows, fills the imagination, and sets this feeling in motion. The self-expression of this inner feeling and desire comes naturally, it is a natural arousal to prayer, it is the need of self-love, which hardly achieves its goal. The less a person achieves success and the more one is concerned with one’s own good, the more one desires, the more one expresses a desire in prayer; one turns with a request to an unknown cause of all existence. Therefore, innate self-love – the main essence of life – is the root cause that arouses a natural man to prayer!

            The wise Creator of nature has placed in the nature of man the ability of self-love precisely as a bait, according to the words of the Fathers, which would lure and bring the declining human being to a mountain-like conversation.

       Oh, if only people did not abuse this ability and kept it in the strong position of their spiritual nature! Then they would have a strong encouragement and a means on the way to moral perfection. But, unfortunately! How often does this noble ability become a ridiculous passion of vanity, when it is turned into an instrument of the instincts of their nature!

       I thank you from the bottom of my heart, my dear visitors! My soul-nourishing conversation has given me great pleasure and has told me a lot of instructive. May the Lord grant you His grace for your instructive love.

       Everyone said goodbye.SEVENTH MEETING: Spiritual Conversations

Say a prayer for each other and heal yourselves (James V, 16).

Father. We, along with a pious companion, a professor, could not withstand the mutual desire to set out on a journey and not go to you completely to say goodbye and ask for your prayers for us …

Professor. Yes, your sincerity is understandable to us, and the saving conversations with which we enjoyed your company among your friends. This memory will remain in our souls as a pledge of communion and Christian love, even in the distant country to which we are striving.

Thank you for your memory and love, and while you are here, two travelers have stopped by: a Moldavian monk and a hermit who lived twenty years in silence in the forest. They want to see you, I will now call them …

Here they are!

Father. Oh, what a blessed life in the forest! And a convenient way to bring the soul to union with God! The silent forest, like the Garden of Eden, in which the tree of life is growing in the prayerful heart of the hermit. If I had some means to feed myself, I would not have left the hermit life.

Professor. Everything seems particularly good to us from a distance, and from experience, everyone is certain that every place, having its conveniences, has its disadvantages too. Of course, for those who have a melancholic temperament and a desire for silence, a solitary life is comforting, but how much is there and what dangers on this path! The ascetic story presents many examples where it can be seen how many hermits and hermits have completely deprived themselves of communication with people, have fallen into self-deception and into deep loss of faith.

      RECLUSE.  – I am amazed how often in Russia, not only in monastic monasteries, but even by some God-fearing lay people, one is forced to hear that many who are passionate for a life without people, or for inward prayer practice, are deterred by fear of perishing from temptation. Insisting on this, they give examples to support their conditions; so, as they themselves refrain from inner life, they also turn others away from it… I believe this stems from two causes: either from a lack of understanding of the matter and spiritual ignorance, or from their own indolence to ascetic contemplation and jealousy, so that others will not surpass them in these higher achievements, who stand at a lower level compared to them. The Fathers of the Church, when they reflect on this matter, directly and resolutely exhort not to fear or doubt, by calling on God. If some have fallen into self-delusion or madness of the mind, it has happened to them from pride, from the lack of a mentor, and from accepting appearances and dreams as truth. If such a temptation should happen, it would lead to discernment and enthusiasm; for God’s quick help intervenes in this indulgence. Dare! I am with you. Do not be afraid, says Jesus Christ. (Gr. Cited in the text above) From this it follows that it is pointless to fear and intimidate from inner life under the pretext of self-delusion: for humble awareness of one’s sins, openness to the mentor, and “ignorance” in prayer are a firm and safe bulwark against temptation, which many fear so much, and therefore many fear, and many so strongly fear, and many are in temptation, as the experienced words of St. Philotheus the Sinai also say: “Many a monk does not understand the temptation of his own mind, which is experienced from demons; that is, they diligently practice only one activity (in external virtues), but they do not care about the soul, that is, about inner contemplation, do not care, do not care,” confirms St. Antonius the Great. “Even if they do hear of others whose inward life has been influenced by grace, they consider it to come from envy,” adds St. Antonius.

      PROFESSOR.  – Allow me to ask you: it is common, of course, for anyone to listen to himself and to have awareness of his sins; but how should one be in such a case when there is no such mentor who could competently guide on the inner path and, taking the revelations of the soul, could impart a correct and trustworthy knowledge of spiritual life? In such a case, it is, of course, better not to touch contemplation than to pursue it unabashedly and without a guide?… Next: it is inconvenient for me how, in the presence of God, one can preserve perfect “ignoredness”? This is not natural, because the soul’s mind or reason can not imagine anything in the imagination without form, in ignorance. And why, when the mind is plunged into God, should one not picture in imagination Jesus Christ or the Most Holy Trinity, etc.?

       Ashmolean.  – Although the guidance of an experienced and knowledgeable spiritual instructor, or elder, to whom one could openly confide and benefit from, day after day, in inner training and inner prayer is the main prerequisite for the practice of heart prayer, and which lives in silence: parents who recommend this are an exception. The Monk Nikephoros clearly teaches about this as follows: “In the practice of inner heart activity, a true, knowledgeable instructor is necessary. If one does not have such a person, one should diligently seek one: if one does not find one, then with sorrow in one’s heart, one should ask God for help to get guidance and instruction in the teaching of the Holy Scripture.” At the same time, we must take into consideration the fact that a sincere and diligent seeker can find a useful and instructive word even from a lay person, since the Holy Fathers also testify that if one asks a Saracen with faith and righteous intention, he too can impart a word of instruction; if, however, one demands guidance from a prophet without faith and with right intention, he will not satisfy one’s need … An example of this is found in the Grand Egyptian Maurice, to whom one day a simple peasant made an insight and thus put an end to his passion. As for “to be unawares,” that is, not to imagine or accept any kind of vision, whether of light, an angel, Christ, or any saint, and to turn away from any kind of dreams; this is what the experienced Holy Fathers recommend, of course, because it is easy for the inexperienced to become carried away by these dreams, to venerate them as favour-hungry phenomena, and to fall into self-deception, at the same time, as the Holy Scriptures present, that “the devil transforms himself into an angel of light.” And since the mind naturally and conveniently can be in “unawareness” and maintain it and be present in the presence of God’s presence, this is seen from the fact that the power of imagination can perceptibly imagine something in “unawareness” and hold the image in mind in the presence of objects that are not subject to the sense of sight, that do not have an external form. For example: the imagination and self-perception of our soul – the air, warmth, cold; while on the cold, one can quickly imagine warmth in the mind, even though it has no form, is not subject to the sense of sight, cannot be measured with touch by what is on the cold! Similarly, the presence of the spiritual and incomprehensible essence of God can be imagined in the mind, understood in the heart in “unsightedness.”

BUILDER. – I, too, have heard in my travels from pious people and those seeking salvation that they fear to touch upon the inner work from remembrance of the enticements. Some also I have found to have benefitted from the teachings of St. Gregory the Sinaite in his work “Charitable Love”, who says that “heartwork cannot be magical (not in the same way as intellectual work), because even if the enemy wanted to transform the heat of the heart into its unrestrained burning, or to replace the joy of the heart with moist enjoyment: but experience, time, and feeling will naturally distort these his attempts, even for those who are not so much inclined to it”.Cistercian. – I think that the spirit of depression and doubtful thoughts are best stimulated by dispersion of reason, and not by holding one’s mind and oneself in silence. The ancient sages of the Patristic Fathers won over despair by gaining inner inspiration and strengthening in hope of God, in calm silence and solitude; and they gave us a useful and wise counsel in this case: “Sit quietly in your cell, and it will teach you everything.”

      PROFESSOR. – In my honest opinion, I would like to hear your critical examination of my thoughts about the praised silence and the beneficial effect of solitude, which the hermits love to maintain so much. Here is how I reason about this: since all people, by the law of nature, ordered by the Creator, are in necessary dependence on one another; and therefore they are obliged to help one another in life, work and be useful to one another, this sociability is the foundation of the well-being of human society, and love of neighbor. And the silent recluse, who has withdrawn from contact with people, what can be useful in his inactivity for others, and what is the benefit to the well-being of human society? He completely destroys the law of the Creator regarding the union of love for his fellow man and the beneficial influence on his neighbor!..

       Cistercian. – Since your view of silence is not correct, the conclusion is not correct; let us analyze it in detail:

            1. The secluded silent person is not only not in a state of inaction and emptiness, but he also acts and even more than those who participate in social life. He tirelessly acts with his highest rational nature: he observes, understands, watches the state and the course of his moral being. This is the true purpose of silence! And how useful this is for the development of his own moral life, so much more for those others who, deprived of the opportunity to immerse themselves in themselves, it is for the development of moral life, because the observant silent person, communicating his inner experiences, either verbally (in exceptional cases), or by conveying them in writing, blesses and benefits. He promotes more and higher than the public and private benefactor, because the private, sensual charity of worldly people is always limited to a small number of charity; and the benefactor, acquired by convictions and experienced ways of improving spiritual life, becomes a benefactor of entire nations; his experiences and teachings pass from generation to generation, which we see and use since ancient times. And it is not different from the generous mercy of Christ for the sake of Christian love, but even exceeds it in its consequences.

2. The beneficial and useful influence of silence on others is revealed not only in the teaching observations of the inner life, but even the example of its detached life serves the attentive layman, bringing him to self-awareness and leading him to a sense of awe… stimulating him to a godly life, reminding him of what a person can be on earth, and how accessible it is to bring man back to his original contemplative state, from which he came out of the hands of the Creators. The silent hermit, by his silence, teaches, serves by his example, admonishes and convinces people to seek God…

3. The benefit demonstrated comes from the silence of the true, enlightened, and grace-filled person. But even if the hermit does not have these gracious gifts to be a lamp unto the world, but has embarked upon the path of silence solely to hide himself from his like-minded fellowmen, through his laziness and negligence, and the bad and seductive example he provides, he would still do great good and have a beneficial influence on society, just as the branches that are dry and barren eliminate harmful plants to allow better and more useful ones to grow unobstructed. And this is already a great deal, and this is already a public benefit, for the hermit, by his solitude, removes the temptation that would inevitably have arisen from his seductive life among people, and would have harmed the morality of others.

St. Isaac the Syrian refers to the importance of silence as follows: ‘When we put all the affairs of this life on one side and silence on the other, we will find that the latter outweighs on the scales (p. 41). Theophanies, miracles, and powers in the world are not comparable to the silent ones who are immersed in silence, like dishonor upon silence, and who speak nothing but pure, undisturbed mystical prayer and who cause many people to turn to God’ (pp. 22-24).

Even the most instinctive sages realized the benefit of silence: the Neoplatonic philosophical school, which had many famous schools of thought under the direction of the philosopher Plotinus, fully developed an internal, contemplative life that is mainly achieved through silence… One spiritual writer said that if a state were fully developed in terms of enlightenment, it would have a need for people to pursue other, contemplative goals besides social civic activities, to maintain the spirit of truth and to accept it from all past ages, to preserve it for future ages, and to pass it on to posterity. Such people within the Church are hermits, anchorites, and anchorites (silent contemplatives).

Building a humanist. – It seems that no one has clearly appreciated the advantages of silence as St. John of the Ladder does: “Silence, he says, is the mother of prayer, the return from sinful captivity, an insensible success in virtues, and an unceasing ascent into Heaven.” And even Jesus Christ Himself, in order to show us the benefit and necessity of solitary silence, often left the public teaching and went to solitary places to pray and to rest.

So they began to study together, exchanging with one another what each understood, and the subject of the study was the same. And what happened after a few days? The idle one became diligent, came to love the study, and his indifference turned into effort and diligence, which had a beneficial effect on his character and morality. And his diligent fellow became even more capable and hard-working. They benefited one another in action, and this is natural, because a person is born into the society of people, develops sound concepts through people, learns the customs of life, the moods of feelings, and the desires of desire. In short, he adopts all things according to his own kind. Therefore, since the lives of people consist in a close relationship and a powerful influence upon one another, whoever lives among people becomes shaped by their customs, actions, and habits. Thus, a cold one can be warmed, a dull one can be sharpened, a lazy one can be set in motion by someone as active as himself. The spirit of the spirit can transmit itself and can have a beneficial effect upon one another: it can draw him to prayer, to attention, to encourage him in despair, to deflect him from sin, and to boost him toward holy activity. It can thus be supportive to one another, and can become more pious, more energetic, and more godly. We can see from this that God is not satisfied with many petitions and supplications (as is the case in powerful lands), but that the spirit and power of prayer purify and sharpen the soul for whom they pray, and present it as capable of union with God. If such a fruitful mutual prayer exists among those who live on earth, it is self-evident that prayer for those who have passed away is likewise mutually beneficial in the closest bond of the heavenly world with the earthly one; it can likewise draw the souls of the militant Church into communion with the souls of the triumphant Church; or, in other words, with those who have passed away. Although all that I have said is a psychological judgment, by investigating the Scriptures we will be convinced of its truth! 1) Thus says Jesus Christ to the Apostle Peter: “Pray that your faith may not fail.” Here the power of Christ’s prayer strengthens Peter’s spirit and encourages him in the face of temptation to faith. 2) When the Apostle Peter was in prison, the church prayed earnestly for him. Here we see the help of the prayer of brotherly solidarity in the joyful circumstances of life… 3) But the clearest commandment about praying for our neighbors is expressed by the holy Apostle James in the following words: “Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. For much may be accomplished through the prayer of a righteous man, and it will speedily be granted.” Here the above-mentioned psychological conclusion is clearly confirmed.

This is a perfect and accurate interpretation and proof of your words, but it would be interesting to hear from you the manner and form of prayer for others, because I think that if the fruitfulness and efficacy of prayer depends on the living participation in others, and mainly on the constant influence of the spirit that prays on the spirit that needs intercession, then there cannot be any intercession that places itself in God’s incontestable presence, and pours out its soul before God in its own need? And if one only remembers one’s neighbour once or twice a day by his participation and by asking him for God’s help, will that be enough to bring the person for whom one is praying closer to God? In short: one wants to know how to pray for others.

      Professor. – What a wonderful and precise interpretation and proof of your words, but it would be interesting to hear from you the manner and form of prayer for others, because I think that if the fruitfulness and efficacy of prayer depends on the living participation in others, and mainly on the constant influence of the spirit that prays on the spirit that needs intercession, then there cannot be any intercession that places itself in God’s incontestable presence, and pours out its soul before God in its own need? And if one only remembers one’s neighbour once or twice a day by his participation and by asking him for God’s help, will that be enough to bring the person for whom one is praying closer to God? In short: one wants to know how to pray for others.

      Monk. – Any prayer that is offered to God must not, nor can it, exclude making one’s self present before God: for if it is offered to God, then it is naturally in His presence… As for the manner of praying for others, it is important to note that the power of this prayer depends on sincere Christian participation. And therefore, on reminding about him, or at the time appointed for this, the mental gaze must go to God to offer the prayer in the following form: Almighty Lord! May your will be done, which is concerned with the salvation of all and the coming to the knowledge of the truth: save and have mercy on your servant (young man’s name). Accept this desire of mine as the cry of love, commanded by you.

            These words are usually repeated at the time of the soul’s movements or when the rosary is prayed. From my experience, I have learned how beneficial such prayer is for the one for whom it is prayed.

      PRIEST. – Instructive conversation and inspiring thoughts gleaned from your visions and reasoning oblige me to keep them in my forever memory, and to have respect and thanks in my heart for all of you…

      MASTER BUILDER AND PRIEST. – Therefore, the time of our departure has come; we earnestly ask for your prayers in parting and companionship from you!

            – O God of the world, raising from the dead the Shepherd of the great flock, by the blood of the Eternal Covenant, Our Lord Jesus Christ, may He make it your will in all things, creating in you His good pleasure, becoming pleasing before Him, Jesus Christ, to Him be glory forever and ever.